Hey everyone, I know I’ve been silent for a bit but I’ve just been busy with my day job so work on the program has been a little slow but I will be going back full force into development soon and will be posting updates again as well.

Figured I’d make a quick edit to this post adding actual info directly on the post as I was asked about what the program is and I don’t want anyone to also have confusion either so I apologize for that, this is also posted in the comments.

Boktai Trilogy Pile Driver is a full ROM editing hacking and modding tool that I’ve been developing in my spare time for all 3 of the Boktai games for the gba. I’ve been posting progress on development for a bit here.

currently it allows:
•gba rom file resizing up to 32mb allowing you to add and change content more efficiently and effectively
•ability to change any text and dialogue within the game including from in game menus (currently some bugs with making dialogue with more characters than originally there in some cases, this is being worked on)
•Swap dialogue icons with text editor as well
•Edit collision data
•ability to dump all 3 Boktai games files and import files as well (currently allows for things like very crude map and graphics editing)
•View all game resources
•View all maps and their blueprint data

To be implemented:
•Swapping in game music and sound effects
•Full easy to use map editor
•adding additional content such as more items equipment and key items
•adding and removing maps
•event and npc behavior editing
•And more as I notice what else is needed to be figured out or if anyone has suggestions for things the program could use as well

Finally acquired all three B2 sized posters, now to hang them up.

I really wish to know who made those illustrations for the releases outside japan, the artwork is simply amazing to be ignored, and been looking for the person who made for too long, so if anyone know who did, I would be eternally grateful ^^

I'm still working on development of Boktai Trilogy Pile Driver, just wanted to keep everyone a little in the loop, sorry for some points of silence but there is a lot going on behind the scenes on the ROM hacking tools development but I wanted to let everyone know it is still being worked on.

Showing some more collision editing with Boktai Trilogy Pile Driver with a tiny bit of info that I've learned using it, hope you all enjoy so far with these updates.

I've got the map room bundles that show groups rooms (how many maps are in the files) to now display the correct orientation which has made figuring out which map is which much easier when editing map collisions (This is the map from my latest post where I edited collisions) I'm still working on getting the actual tiles to load into the program for easy map editing but currently visual map editing is a little bit of a complex process and involves exporting visuals editing them within a program like photoshop, krita or gimp then importing them back and patching the game with the program.

Before and after simple test for custom tile injection for Boktai Trilogy Pile Driver, finally starting to figure out how the map tiles seem to work so I did a test changing the carpet design in the Library! As usual more updates periodically as I make progress.

Still working on development on the Boktai Trilogy Pile Driver program for making ROM hacks and edits of all 3 of the GBA Boktai games, figured I'd show me messing a little with collisions in the area of the programs namesake

Went to Japan and ended up with an extra loose copy of Boktai 3. Don't really wanna go through the hassle of reselling, figure I might try and get it to someone that actually likes the games. Genuine copy. Not really sure where else to put this but if anyone wants it for like 20$ + shipping just dm me.

EDIT: adding photos for people who want to see it.

https://imgur.com/a/TAhXUQf

Edit: this has been sold

I’m not home at the moment so I don’t have any screenshots to share until later but now you can also resize the games from 16mb up to 32mb for more storage space with my program when making full ROM hacks of any of the 3 Boktai games, the game still works and runs with no problems when it has been resized, so if you just wanted to resize the games max capacity you can, eventually I plan to work on increasing those limitations though.

This is a showcase of the early development map viewer and editor showing all the map blueprints for Boktai 2 along with a quick show of a slight map change, keep in mind that these are map blueprints which are linked to collisions, well at least that's what I've figured out so far so when changing them they don't change the map itself but you can change the maps collision permissions this way. Again more info to be dropped periodically as I make progress.

So as I mentioned in my last post this tool is still very early development but I wanted to show some of it off, so far as I mentioned I can edit in game text and icons that appear alongside dialog, I can also view the room layouts but I'm still working on getting the actual assets decoded so they show over the layouts, then I'll be working on getting a map editor made for that, will post more progress as it's made, well periodically as its made anyway.

So I'm currently developing a rom hacking and editor tool for Boktai 2 pretty much akin to the advanced map editor and other tools for Pokémon GBA rom hacking, it's still very early in development but when done will allow everyone to make full rom hacks of the game. This is the "Hello World!" test I did to see if the program was working so far.

So out of curiosity I decided to try and load Boktai 1 into my tool and well it works!!!!! all the same things that work for the second game also work for the first one, so this is no longer just a Boktai 2 ROM hacking and editing program but its now for both 1 and 2, I'm going to test it on the 3rd game as well to see if it also works for that one and if it does then this will move onto becoming a complete Boktai trilogy ROM hacking and editing tool!!!!

The test to see if my program works on Boktai 3 worked so my Boktai ROM hacking and editing program is now going to become a program for all 3 games, updates to come periodically!

UPDATE 2!

I have now uploaded patches for USA and JPN versions of the games!

Click the link here!

Please let me know if there are any problems, as it's tricky to verify other regions of the game when there are so many versions floating around the internet now. I would suggest using a clean rom before applying patches.

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Update 1

These patches currently work on EUR copies of the games. I will need to update them soon when I have time for them to work on USA and JPN copies too. I will write another update when they're ready!

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Hi all! 🌻

It will be summer soon, which means it's great weather to start playing Boktai again. I was playing on a canal boat this week. It's so fun to play this game in different places!

A few years ago (where does the time go?!) I made this post sharing a sprite mod that I had created. Time flew by and I realised I never looked into setting it up as a patch. I don't believe a sprite mod like this exists elsewhere so I would like to finally share it with the community.

These patches are for Boktai 1 & 2. They change Django's hair sprite to match the much nicer and representative style that features in the Boktai 3. It's only a small change, but it does make the games feel fresh; see the video in the previous post above for a closer look at the patch in action.

These patches only change the hair, not the rest of the body. That may be something to look at another time as I remember it being an interesting little project, but for now I'm happy with this!

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Please follow this link to find the patches for Boktai 1 & 2. I've never used Github before, so hopefully it's set up correctly.

You will need to use a patching tool to apply them to a ROM, which you should be able to find online. The one I have used previously is Lunar IPS but I imagine there are others available online to choose from. If you've applied the solar sensor patch before it's essentially the same process.

I hope you enjoy this little mod as much as I have. May the sun be with you! 🌞

A few notes!

• These were tested and also work with a solar sensor patch. I applied the sprite patch to a clean ROM first, and then applied a sensor patch.
• In B1, this will also affect Sabata's hair, as he shares Django's sprite with a pallete swap. He has his own hair style as normal in B3.
• Also in B1, it's not pixel-perfect as I couldn't find how to fit the sprites for when Django hugs a wall, and you might notice it looks like his hair flattens a bit against them as I had to make some little tweaks to fit the edits in as best I could. It's not too notiecable, but it works well I think in context. B2 sees a perfect copyover from B3 however.
• It also doesn't change Django's vampire form in B2. That could be a job for the future but I think that one still looks pretty cool.

It took a while between posts, but here's the guide to weapon combinations in Boktai 2

It is worth remembering that Emblems are required to create weapons of level 49 or higher

Obtained after reaching level 50 mastery with a weapon and speaking to the blacksmith, after obtaining an emblem. The other two are obtained after reaching level 99 mastery with the other weapons.

Spade Emblem = Sword type
Diamond Emblem = Spear type
Club Emblem = Hammer type

Heya again everyone !

Turns out Boktai 1 is a very quick game when you know what you're doing and you're playing on New Game +. So, since we'll probably finish it on our third episode, we decided to follow up with Boktai 2 on the same stream :)

Hoping to see some of you there ♥

(I won't be posting here every stream as to not spam the subreddit. If you like what you see, we'll keep streaming Boktai 1 and 2 every Thursday at the same time until we're done !)