Basic Zsnes Howto/IPS Patching Guide for Windows Users

[BROJ]

    Okay, first of all, a disclaimer, some would say having a snes ROM (A.K.A. Read-Only-Memory. It's basically the data on the snes cart or game itself.), or any rom or iso, without owning the respective game cart, is illegal (The textbook argument.) or at least gray in the eyes of the law (The abandonware argument.). (Oh! And don't go thinking the FBI is watching your every move, unless you are doing some *serious* torrent uploading, they have better things to do with their time, so don't be paranoid! ) 
    Moving on, you'll need a program called an Emulator. (It basically interprets the game as the real system would, allowing you to play the games on your computer.) For this post I'm assuming you're running windows so I'd recommend zsnes. (user friendly, has an easy-to-use built-in cheat engine, and doesn't use much system resources.)

    In order to setup zsnes you should read the following guide (start at "Basic Usage"): http://zsnes-docs.sourceforge.net/html/readme.htm

    Next I'm going to recommend you get a Gamepad. (It is a peripheral device, otherwise known as a controller, that allows you to control your game with the controller instead of a keyboard, which is used by default.) The Logitech Dual Action 2 or Rumblepad 2 are the best, in my opinion. I just embeded those links to show you the prices of each. (and trust they're worth the price, it beats playing with the keyboard, and you'll avoid nasty limitations that the keyboard imposes. (for example. )

    Finally you're going to need roms for your emulator. (most people would send you to google so don't go asking for roms in the chrono compendium forums, zsnes forums or any other forums for that matter, it's poor etiquete and you should rather be talking about such things over PM, anyways.
    If you have a question about a bug in a specific game search through the Zsnes Forum's FAQ or Verified Bugs sections thoroughly before asking any questions in the other forums, unless you're running a hack then you're going to want to go to the hack creator's page But before you go to any of those areas, check to see if you're running the latest zsnes (v1.51 as of this post) and if your original rom has a good checksum using NSRT and maybe a savestate of the 'problem' in question, before you send in a bug report. Anyways back on track...)
    There are a couple of good sites to start you're search: (I'm not going to link you to the sites in an open forum, but rather show you where they are via PM. I will also assume you own the actual games corresponding to the roms you are seeking in an attempt to indemnify myself against any *potential* legal issues.)
Between these two sites they have nearly *every* rom you'll ever want or need. Otherwise Google is your friend here.

http://PM me for info/roms/snes/

http://PM me for info/dl.php?name=Super_Nintendo

    Okay, so you have a file (***.zip|.rar|.7z|...) that needs to be uncompressed or extracted, as it's also known, (If you have downloaded a .smc|.sfc|.swc|.fig file it is already uncopressed and you are ready to go! ) you're going to want to download 7-zip. Just install (run) the program and keep pressing next/finish until you're done. (no specific settings are needed) Find the file that you downloaded (ex. chronotrigger.zip, or .rar, or .7z) and right click on it goto 7zip->Extract Here. You now should have the uncompressed rom, ready for use. Consult the aforementioned Zsnes guide for instructions on how to use the file from here.

----Assuming you've figured everything out to this point, let's move on...----

    So you've been intrigued by some cool hacks that have been developed (Shameless Compendium Plugs: Chrono Trigger Retranslation | Chrono Trigger: Prophet's Guile | Chrono Trigger+) here or elsewhere and you would like to play them. There are two methods of doing this, both have their advantages.

--Method 1 >>Soft-Patching (Recommended Method)
Soft-Patching is a feature in Zsnes and a few other emulators that allows you to only have to drop the patch (.ips file) in the same directory as the roms. When the rom is loaded to RAM (Random-Access-Memory, basically the memory that reads *and* writes) the patch is automatically appended to the rom loaded in memory or ram, allowing you play the "patched rom without actually patching the rom itself.

--Method 2 >>Hard-Patching
Hard-Patching requires you to use a program such as Lunar IPS or Snestool, neither you have to install , in order to patch or append the rom itself, permanently altering the rom. (unless an anti-patch is provided) Exact instructions as to how to use the programs are located in the readme files provided with each respective program. (No point in plagiarizing the readme files if they're readily available. )

[MDenham]

(and trust they're worth the price, it beats playing with the keyboard, and you'll avoid nasty limitations that the keyboard imposes. (for example. )

USB keyboards (either as-is or through a USB->PS2 adapted) seem to be mostly immune to the limitation in question, though a different one seems to exist in that multiple keys on the numeric pad only register if they're not in the same row (the main portion of the keyboard, however, behaves correctly).

[Kebrel]

(and trust they're worth the price, it beats playing with the keyboard, and you'll avoid nasty limitations that the keyboard imposes. (for example. )

I never had or heard of that problem with m keyboard, any of them.

Regardless I have horrible luck with these patches, Curse that black screen of perpetual death.

[FaustWolf]

Excellent! Thanks for addressing this topic BROJ. This guide will seem basic to veterans, but it's important to put this up somewhere for people totally new to emulation.

[Glennleo]

Nice guide, and thank you for the wonderful plug, and link , for the new CT+ demo.

[Shinrin]

I have heard at times that Soft-Patching doesn't always work, it depends on how complex the hack is, Sometimes the game doesn't load at all or it will play normally. So it's better to hard-patch than soft-patch. Just make a backup of your rom before hard patching.

Maybe the soft-patching not working 100% of the time probably has to do with the header. If you really don't wanna hard patch see if it has a header and remove it.

[Vehek]

ZSNES doesn't seem to be able to soft-patch an unexpanded rom to an expanded rom. I don't think it can see the expanded space when it soft-patches.

[idioticidioms]

(and trust they're worth the price, it beats playing with the keyboard, and you'll avoid nasty limitations that the keyboard imposes. (for example. )

USB keyboards (either as-is or through a USB->PS2 adapted) seem to be mostly immune to the limitation in question, though a different one seems to exist in that multiple keys on the numeric pad only register if they're not in the same row (the main portion of the keyboard, however, behaves correctly).

I use an SNES Smartjoy Adapter that plugs into my usb port. Pretty nifty little thing I picked up for about 22 dollars. I can play SNES/NES/GBA/PSX that I've tested so far, and with a plugin, some NDS emulators allow me to use it, too. I just cut out the L2 and R2 buttons for the PSX roms and leave them keyboard based. I should just go to the next step and get one of those ps2 controller things that do the same thing, but I like my little SNES controller. Brings back many fond memories, just holding it.

As for patching, I usually just hardpatch with LunarIPS. I found that to be pretty self-explanatory when it came to patching roms. Still confused about how to make patches, but I never have any call for that so I'm not worried about it.