DKC Atlas Forum

[Cyclone]

I’m tying to learn some hacking and I think I got my head around the very basics but I’m a little confused here.

Giangurgolo’s Object Document and the Japanese Editor say that the byte value for a Gnawty is B413 but the Hex editor shows it as 13 B4. Can Simion or anyone explain why the bytes are reversed? Would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Simion32]

It's because the SNES's processors use little endian. Essentially this means any value larger than a byte will be read in reverse.

If you are looking at a two byte value such as 34 12 in ROM, it would really be read as 12 34... 78 56 34 12 would be 12 34 56 78, and so on.

[Cyclone]

Thanks.

How does one know which bytes to reverse and which stay the same? Looking at the hex values you don't know if it's a 1,2,3,4, etc byte value.

I am using a Hex editor called Translhextion it has modes for little/big endian but it didn't seem to change how the bytes were displayed. How does one interpret/convert these values to make sure they are correct?

Also is the way that Giangurgolo’s docs show the offset/byte values a standard way displaying things? I don't want to document everything in reverse lol.

[Simion32]

I also use Translhextion, but I don't bother messing with its settings. I just type the bytes in backwards (or whichever way they should go).

With objects, each object is a set of four 2-byte values: object function, x position, y position, and object short. Each of those values are stored reversed.

It would be easier to have objects written the way Giangurgolo has them. No idea if it's a standard but it may as well be.

[Cyclone]

Thanks. I 'think ' I understand it now.

[Blaziken257]

Ha ha... when I first started using a hex editor, that would throw me off a lot at first, but now I'm used to it. I think every other Nintendo system is little endian as well (I know for a fact that all Game Boy variants are little endian).

Also, here are some other things that are little endian: pointers and colors.

I have one question though: What's the point of little endian anyway? That just makes it more confusing for the hacker.

[Simion32]

I have one question though: What's the point of little endian anyway? That just makes it more confusing for the hacker.

Well, there may be some advantages to using little-endian (such as the way the hardware works or something). And I definitely don't think they wanted it to be easy for people to hack.