FE ROM Hack Database (all hacks from FEU added)

You can manage your ROM hacks using your favorite ROM manager with it now.

Read its README for more details. Give it a Star if you like it.

You can even use some features without a ROM manager.

Edit on 2022/2/31:
I collected 1000th hack today :tada:

Edit on 2022/4/5:
All hacks (if link available) from #projects category have been added. :partying_face:

37 Likes

This is pretty impressive and really cool!

Impressive work here. I do have a minor issue to report while I read through the CSV: I’m credited as creating “FE6 Bugfix Edition” (FE6 BugFixEdition (9/3/2022 - Silence "fix" fixed)), when this hack was really created by Adthor.

1 Like

Ever since I made the Repo, I’ve been wondering if there was some way to make a Hack Repo. This looks like it might be the thing I’ve been looking for!

Edit: It would be cool to add a ‘last updated’ tag to romhacks, to specify version numbers. People have different ways of listing versions, so like, the last update I posted for FE7 Chaos Mode was, what, June 17th, 2015? V1.34? Not sure how you might add this info, and it would absolutely be tedious to add, but as a future QOL feature it could be nice to have.

What a neat little tool. Also, seeing my project in an online database does put a smile on my face :slight_smile:

Thanks for the report. It is fixed now. Clear the browser cache if you don’t see changes on the website. Click update button in your ROM manager if you don’t set its auto update feature on.

It only collects the latest versions so any entry in the database is supposed to be latest version, so that the player will know an updated version is accessible if an entry turns to red in the ROM manager.

Various versions may be necessary in some cases. Read the version rule to learn more.

Exceptions

Exceptions exist for versioning of some Chinese hacks, because:

  • they are only released in their own private chat group rather than public thread, and I don’t want to join too many chat groups to check their versions, so idk which version is official.
  • they use custom confusing version number instead of semantic version number so idk which version is latest.

I don’t want to spend too much time to check their versions, so I just add entries for them. They are free to create an issue according to the contribution guide in the README if they want to help to fix their versioning.

Notice that it also apllies to similar situations for hacks in other languages, which is not that common though.

The latest version will become outdated when a newer version is released.

How to check versions
  • The version of an English hack with official topic on open forum such as FEU or SF is easy to check. The URL of the topics have topic id and topic title. Current version number is usually included in the topic title. The topic id never changes, so the URL will redirect you to the correct topic with the latest version number in its title.
  • Japanese hacks are usually released in online uploader. You can search the hack title in their uploader to check the latest version.
  • Chinese hacks
 As I have mentioned it before, just wait for their issues if they want to report new versions.
Help to update the version after check

Feel free to create an issue for version update request as I mentioned it in README.

Pull Request

If you really want to pull a request for me to merge, edit the XML file mentioned in README and test it with OfflineList. Don’t touch other files because they are built from that XML file so any changes will be overwritten when rebuilding. Of course, feel free to do that if your pull request is only to show me the differences and I will close your pull request and update it by myself.

Is for PC only?

Which ROM manager are you using on your mobile? No idea of ROM managers for mobile tbh. It is supposed to work as long as it supports custom DAT files. You can still use the online features anyway.

Couldn’t found that has non root but it’s working ok. Great software

Yeah it feels amazing, it's such a strange feeling.


Untitled drawing (24)

2 Likes

Same! I feel recognized and empowered :triumph: :triumph:

1 Like

didn’t realize how many Chinese hacks are out there, huh didn’t know Fe had a lot of Chinese fans

How do i get the UPS for one of the romhacks on the online gallery?

Fire Emblem Echoes, Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Warriors, Three Houses have released official Chinese versions. Binding Blade has unreleased official Chinese version. Others have fan translated versions.

Not all romhacks have UPS. They may be released in other formats, such as IPS and BPS.

  • Most English hacks are linked to their topics on the forum, so you can get the patch in the topic or contact its author.
  • Most Japanese hacks don’t have topics created, so you need to search patch in their uploader. The uploader URL always change, so no link available.
  • Most Chinese hacks are released as raw GBA ROMs directly, so they don’t have patch at all. It is illegal to link to ROM according to the rule, so no link available.

I respect all authors in all countries, so no patch redistribution. Please use search engine like Google if the hack you want to play doesn’t have a link here.

3 Likes

@MisakaMikoto When you made this database, by chance, did you happen to download the patches for all of these hacks? Did you happen to store all of them in a standard .ups file configuration? Even if you didn’t download them all, did you maybe download a large majority of them?

I’m asking because I am planning to make a Romhack Repository. If you have a whole bunch of these hacks in .ups format, that would save me a lot of time on collecting them.

3 Likes

I didn’t store patches but it is easy to make patches technically.
Its core problem is the distribution permission. I cannot afford to confirm everyone is ok to redistribution. I don’t have time to communicate with authors for 1000+ patches.
And the version control of so many binary patches is troublesome and it will increase the repo size dramatically.
I think it is good to link to topics and the distribution of patches are supposed to be managed by their authors. If a link is dead unintentionally, raise it in the forum or discord and somone will make a new share link for it.
I don’t think it is good to provide direct links to patches. Considering the quality of most fan projects, people may miss important information and get confused soon if they don’t read the topics.

2 Likes

If the authors are posting the patches online, they have already made it clear their work is free to be distributed. If they only intended to share the work among friends, they wouldn’t make it available.

That’s sort of the point of posting a download link
?

This is like saying every time someone asks on the FEU discord if someone can give them a download link to a hack, you shouldn’t do that, because, ‘what if the original hack author wouldn’t want their hack to be distributed’?

That was true at the moment they were released. The author may change their mind later and remove the download link for some reason. For example, Staff of Ages and Midnight Sun. People who already have the patch can still manage it with their ROM manager, but the new distribution is not accessible.

Another case is the author distributes its work online, but doesn’t allow redistribution for some reason. For example, devkitpro and UT. They usually build their own sites so you know.

Some authors may post a thread on the forum, but you need to join a private chat group like discord server to get the patch. It is still available, but with quid pro quo. Therefore the database is a superset of patches available unconditionally in public.

Notice the keyword unintentionally, which means that is dead due to some unintentional reason such as dropbox link is broken. If the author removes it on purpose, it is the author who will disagree.

The database is for ROM manager like OfflineList, so the access problem is not considered. It shouldn’t contain any content of the patches. Therefore I don’t need to care those problem.

It is also a policy to protect the database. The authors have the copyrights of the patches they release, just like Nintendo has the copyrights of the games it release. Nintendo can take actions against websites providing downloads such as emuparadise, but they cannot take actions against websites which only provides work index such as OfflineList.That is the same here. Of course, the authors may not really concern whether you distribute them, like the Nintendo doesn’t care about the old games sometimes either. They don’t take the action, but they have the rights to do it. Your assumption may be reasonable, but I think it is important to avoid the risk for a huge database with so many works.

However, I don’t object to building such a repo. I only give my advice.

If you want to make a website to provide visiters with download links of the patches, you need to consider that.

I suggest to include additional extra info if you still want to redistribute the patches anyway. At least Readme and Credits should be attached. I can create patches again with patched ROMs, but I don’t have those text files, so you still need to download them by yourself. Even if you download all patches and reupload them to your website, how will you maintain it later? I think it a better way to set up a unified uploader and let the authors add their work to it by themselves, just like Japanese hackers.

Just imagine 5M per patch, then 1000 patches = 5G, and the .git folder will double it at least, then 10G+, it will break the limit of free git repo. I think it is good to let the authors to manage their own patches.

Another point you need to consider is the influence of the outdated information. It doesn’t harm if I didn’t update the checksum in the database, so the management is easy. However, if an author release a new version but you didn’t update your repo in time, visitors may download outdated patches from your website, which may confuses the authors and users.

Another case: the author released a new update with BREAKING CHANGES such as save area hack. Then users download the new patch from your site without reading the warning info or migration guide in the post, then their game save are broken.

At last, I really suggest people to put the link to the latest patch in the 1st floor of the topic. I will skip some hacks which are only accessible in discord servers or more effort needed to access. I won’t go through all floors to check the latest one.

2 Likes

I don’t really care enough to argue, but you make some good points. I’ll just leave it at that. :+1: