Have a question? Polls/discussion threads go in Community, hacking with FEBuilder questions go here (please attach a report7z via Drive/Dropbox etc.), and everything else is a Questions thread.
| Common Links | |
|---|---|
| Tell me what / how to play | |
| Fangame Directory | How to Patch a ROM |
| Projects | |
| FEBuilderGBA | |
| FEBuilder 2025 Fork | FEBuilder |
| UltraxBlade’s FEBuilder FAQ | Creating a Chapter in 16 mins |
| Wiki on Febuilder | |
| Custom Game Engines | |
| Lex Talionis Wiki/Guide | Tactile Custom Engine |
| Buildfiles | |
| SkillSystem Buildfile | Ultimate Tutorial 2.0 |
| Beginner’s Buildfile | FE8U Decomp |
| Modern C SkillSys | |
| Eventing | |
| FE8 EA Eventing Guide | Stan’s Event Codes |
| Assembly | |
| ASM For Dummies | Teq Doq |
| Graphics | |
| Ultimate Graphics Repository | Spritans Pin Dump |
| Sounds | |
| Ultimate Music Repository v3 | Anvil Studio |
| Maps | |
| FE Map Creator (also generates random maps) | Tiled Map Editor |
FEBuilder, Buildfiles, or what?
Pros & Cons
Comparison post about all the different engines.
| FEBuilder | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pros | Cons | ||
| Easy-to-use interface | Edits are permanent | ||
| Beginner-friendly & intuitive | Debugging requires your backups to compare data & resolve issues | ||
| In-depth documentation of FE8 | Testing custom ASM is clunky |
| Buildfiles | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pros | Cons | ||
| Edits aren’t permanent | No user-interface | ||
| Organized directory that you “build” | Steeper learning curve | ||
| Easier to design custom asm |
Most users begin with FEBuilder, but some transition over to buildfiles once experienced. Most hacks are made exclusively for FE8U (and it has the most features), so that is the default when otherwise not stated.
Other Engines
Lex Talionis is a custom coding framework for creating fire emblem styled games in python.
Lex-Talionis
SRPG Studio is an easy-to-use all-in-one editor for creating simple srpg projects.
Tactile (previously FEXNA) is a .NET coding framework & all-in-one editor.
Projects that use these engines are welcome on feuniverse, though they generally see a bit less traffic than fegba hacks.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Info
I can’t post links / images. Why not?
Your account must have existed for a day or so and you must have posted / replied a few times to be able to post images & links.
I have a great idea for a hack! How can I get a team of people to help?
99.9% of projects are essentially solo - the creator is the only one actually editing the game. However, there are many excellent free to use (with credit) assets, including portraits, tilesets, battle animations, and asm hacks/patches. So worry not, as it won’t feel like a solo project once you involve yourself with the community.
What emulator should I use?
We recommend mGBA in general, or no$gba for debugging with break points. VBA is advised against because you will miss bugs. VBA automatically turns bad commands into NOPs, so it won’t necessarily crash when mGBA or real hardware would. It is also slightly less accurate. If you rom hack it’s best to use mGBA so you’ll see any crashes and don’t force your playerbase to only use VBA. Please note you need to disable vba compatibility mode in newer mgba versions so the emulator accurately crashes when you break things.
Specialized Guides:
Focused topics
Video Guides:
Videos
More Directories:
Resource Directories
Discord - Invitation to join FEU Discord
Legacy
We have built upon the amazing contributions of many users, making the methods and information below become less relevant. An especially avid reader may find something of interest, though.
Legacy
| General Hacking | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Super Beginner Tutorial | Principles of Micro Editing [Hex Editor] | [Ultimate Tutorial] [Various Tools] | Nightmare Module Format Explained [Nightmare] |
| Expanding and Relocating Data Arrays [Hex Editor] | Repointing Tutorial [Nightmare/Hex Editor] | Text Editing for Dummies [FEditor] | Arch’s Guide to Chapter Construction (FE7/FE6) [Event Assembler] |
| Eventing for Dummies (FE7/FE6) [Event Assembler] | Archibald’s Bootcamp of Event Hacking (Video Series) (FE7) [Event Assembler] | Simple Event Editing (FE7) [Event Assembler] | A Guide to Modification by Hex (FE7) |
| A Better Way to Support Compatibility [using simple EA macros] [Buildfile] | How to Patch a ROM | Repointing the Text Array [Buildfile] | Patching ROM Hacks on Android |
| Graphics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Generic Palette Finding and Editing (ALL GBA) [VBA/Hex Editor] | Character Palette Editing without FERecolor (ALL GBA) [Various Tools] | FERecolor Palette Template Tutorial [FERecolor] |
| Guides on GBA Graphics Editor | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Item Icon Editing and Insertion | Editing Map Palettes | Map Sprite Insertion Mania |
| World Map | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| World Map Routes (FE8) | World Map Graphic Insertion (FE8) [GBA Graphics Editor] [Tiled] | World Map Insertion (FE7) [GBA Graphics Editor] | |
| Thread Title |
| Chapter Maps | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Inserting Maps and Tiled Changes in Tiled (ALL GBA) [Tiled/Nightmare] | Insert an Image to Use as a Map (ALL GBA) [Tiled] |
| Music | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sappy Graphical User Interface Explained [Sappy] | Music Hacking: The ELF Method | Inserting Custom Sound Samples [Sappy/Various Tools] | |
| Basic Voice Table Editing [Sappy] | Fix “Missing File VbalCboEX6.ocx” Error [Sappy] | Thread Title |
Niche Documentation:
| GBA Assembly Hacking | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Assembly Hacking in C | Assembly Hacking Conventions | Notes on Calling Subroutines | |
| 6c Structures/Procs | Short Treatise on Longcalling the Second | A (Short) Treatise on Longcalling |
| Other Games | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| FE6 | Hard Mode Bonuses for Raigh, Douglas, and Hugh | ||
| FE5 | General Documentation | Notes on FE5 Events | FE5 Procs [ASM] |
| FE4 | Miscellaneous Information from Archived Thread | ||
| FE3 | The Debug Menu | Text Table (External Link) | |
| FE1 | Adding New Weapons |
This thread is a revamp of The Grand Library of FEU by Arch.
Good luck with your project!