Microsoft XNA vs Actual GBA ROM

[cloudropis]

I don't have ANY hacking knowledge, and I really mean ANY. I want to improve (but I think "start" is the most suited word) my hacking skill by doing some rom hack this summer, but I don't know what's easier to start with: hacking a GBA (FE7) rom, or doing a scratch new game with Microsoft XNA / .NET Framework (a la Immortal Sword). I THINK the latter has some FE related resources on the web like animations, scripts etc, and I don't really like the idea of being constrained by the GBA's cartridge limited space, or minor quality sound, but I'm really bareboned so I wanna start with the easiest thing. What way should I take?

PS Wait, WAIT! I KNOW C!!

Ehrm, seriously, I have basic c/c++ knowledge, started it this year in school, so I dunno if this is a point toward M$ XNA.

[AstraLunaSol]

Space isn't an issue

Like at all.

You'll have over 16 MB of space which can surprisingly hold a lot as long as you're good with space management. Sound with GBA is limited to midis and you have to tweak it, while with XNA you can just use MP3's I'm pretty sure.

IMO start with GBA, mess around with things and see if you like it, otherwise try XNA I guess.

GBA's limitations really just come in the form of sound (track number) and AI (Good example is thieves not being able to escape after stealing something unless on a specific chapter ID and on a specific tile) Map size too I guess, but GBA really has a good size for those unless you're making an FE4 remake.

[Crimson Red]

GBA is currently easier but if Bwd releases his engine or whatever and you wait a year for things to settle in, info to come out, etc. then XNA would probably not only be much better due to its features etc., but have a lot more flexibility, general capability, and might even be easier in the long-run, who knows.

For now though, GBA is still the thing, and it'll probably stay like that for at least several more months. I mean, NDS games can be hacked, but it's not easy enough to play them, hack them, etc., so it didn't happen. GBA is just too convenient for a lot of people. XP

[CT075]

if you have the capability of creating your own engine from scratch (the fact that you're asking this question means that you probably don't) then it's far easier to do that

otherwise stick with hacking

[cloudropis]

Isn't the FE like engine already released as "Fire Emblem XP Starter Kit"? Unless FEXP engine and FEXNA engine are two different things (I think not since they both use Ruby language based off RPGMaker XP, feel free to correct me), I saw that it can be downloaded off Bwd's forum.

[Agro]

They are different things. FEXP is an older version written in Ruby, while FEXNA is written in... XNA? Either way, they're not the same language and certainly not the same thing.

[CT075]

fexna uses c# and is on the xna system

fexp uses ruby and is on the rmxp system

[cyron]

Also isnt yeti not releasing fexna until its done?

[CT075]

yeah it's not available yet

EDIT

yes FEXP is released and is an FE engine but I wouldn't recommend it because it's really clunky and kind of not at all intuitive

Edited June 10, 2013 by CT075

[Klokinator]

I think fexna is going to be better than fexp in a multitude of ways, though now that I've seen both I can say that each one has its own merits, with a major speed increase (MAJOR) and a significantly better toolset as well as a more common coding language being the upside for fexna, while I think the ability to handle more music types in fexp is a bit better for that one. Fexna only has solid loop point usage for .wav files which are huge, while fexp can use ogg, mp3, and midis as well as a couple other file formats, which is the only reason I even bring it up.

However, I'm pretty sure fexna will be 100% better once yeti finishes all the code up.

[cloudropis]

Which means I'm gonna try hacking an actual rom and wait for Yeti to release the full engine.

Thank you guys!