PK Hack (utility)
From Data Crystal
| PK Hack | |
| Game | (Universal utility) |
| Editor Type | Universal utility |
| Maintainer | AnyoneEB |
| Latest Release | 0.5.14 / January 19, 2008 |
| OS | Cross-platform |
| License | GPL |
| Website | PK Hack Homepage |
PK Hack is a modular universal utility. Currently, the only game-specific modules that are bundled with PK Hack are meant for EarthBound. There are few limitations to what can be changed; the greatest restriction is usually the hacker's free time. The program itself is written in Java. AnyoneEB did most of the coding, but as a whole it's the work of hundreds of hours of lots of people's efforts.
Contents |
[edit] Current Release
PK Hack v0.5.14 Build time: January 19 2008 04:08:08 EST
- Event-Based Map Changes Editor: Can write changes data to the expanded area (thanks HyperBound, Michael2)
- Battle Entry Editor: Improved, less confusing GUI
- Battle Entry Editor: BUGFIX: Does not break if user deletes and enemy then saves (thanks The_Kirby)
- BUGFIX: PK Hack can create valid empty preferences file (thanks Erik500002 et al.)
- BUGFIX: Data in the first expanded MB is now nullified correctly
- Map Editor: BUGFIX: Will not fill up your expanded area with door data
- Changed all instances of "anyoneeb.ath.cx" to "anyoneeb.net"
- Added Battle Swirl Editor
Previous releases can be found at the PK Hack Homepage.
[edit] A Brief Version History
[edit] PK Hack 0.1
The original PK Hack (version 0.1) was created in the late 1990s. It was an EarthBound utility that was limited to a simple enemy entry editor and a basic item editor.
[edit] PK Hack 0.2
PK Hack 0.2 allowed the editing of stats of enemies (HP, PP, experience gained, etc.), the editing of the effects and properties of items, and the changing of miscellaneous text. As a "joke feature", the "mini-ghost button" would, when pressed, "possess" the loaded ROM by changing the header to "BOO!". It should be noted that, though PK Hack 0.2 was very useful, most users used other programs in conjunction with it (ie: a text editor (to change the text of NPCs), a program to compress and insert bitmap images to be used for an enemy's sprite, and even a map editor). It was exclusively an EarthBound utility.
[edit] PK Hack 0.3
PK Hack 0.3 was intended as a replacement for PK Hack 0.2, but it never evolved from the alpha stages, and today is seldom used. PK Hack 0.2 does not work with some versions of Microsoft Windows, so it was a useful alternative for some users. PK Hack was not yet a universal utility at this time.
[edit] PK Hack 0.5+
Formerly known as JHack, a newer version of PK Hack was written from scratch in Java, and eventually replaced the older Microsoft Windows executable version. Unlike the former versions of PK Hack, this program makes new releases (somewhat) regularly with new features and bug fixes included. PK Hack 0.5+ tries organizes itself into modules, where each module edits a certain aspect of the game. Consequently, modules can be written for games other than EarthBound, making it a universal utility. PK Hack 0.5+ has modules replicating all of the editing features of PK Hack 0.2 (and 0.3) and much more. A list of the non-hacking-related features includes, among other things, automatic updating, a built-in bug reporting client, and many other things that the older versions of PK Hack did not have. It should be noted that PK Hack is still officially in the beta stage.
[edit] Java Resources
You will need Java2 v1.4.2+ to run this. Get it for Windows or Linux (labeled "J2SE v n.n.n_nn JRE", not JDK!) at the Java download page: 1.4.2 or 1.5.0. If you have Mac OS X, then you may need to update your Java to v1.4.1. This version came out on March 10, 2003, so you probably have it if you have latest version of Mac OS X. Run "java -version" from the console if you are unsure what version you have. If you have Linux you might have a Java clone already installed.
Run by double-clicking the .jar file. If that doesn't work, run it by typing "java -jar jarfile.jar" where jarfile.jar is the name of the .jar file. If that doesn't work, you need to get Java.
Source is included under the GPL. Extract the files from the .jar using "jar -xf jarfile.jar" where jarfile.jar is the name of the .jar file. You can also change the extension to .zip and extract the files with anything that can extract from .zip files. It is also on the internet.
PK Hack is documented using javadoc. Anyone interested in writing their own PK Hack modules will find this useful.
