Lunar IPS Patcher Tool
Lunar IPS Patcher Tool can be used to easily apply patches to your favourite Super Nintendo games. This application is lightweight and easy to use as the gui replaces the old hard to use DOS program.
This tool can be used to create and apply patches but is commonly used to apply .ips patches (Super Nintendo ROM Hacks) to SNES Rom files which enables users to play hacked SNES games.
In this article I will show you step by step how to use the Lundar IPS Patcher Tool
Lunar IPS Patcher Tool Download
First thing we need to do is download the Lunar IPS Patcher utility, You can download it by clicking here the latest version of the utility is 1.02. Download the file to your machine and unzip the file.
Listed below are the features of this utility.
- IPS patch creation/application support.
- full RLE encoding/decoding support.
- file expanding/truncating support.
- the IPS encoder creates files that are the same size or smaller than files created with SNESTool.
- the IPS encoder avoids the rare “0x454F46 (EOF) offset bug” that SNESTool’s IPS encoder has.
- logging feature for applying IPS patches (ROMFileName.log)
This utility is also available in Dutch and Swedish.
How to Use Lundar IPS Patcher Tool
First thing we need to do is find a SNES ROM hack to download, you can find one by checking out this page or this one. In this guide I will use the ROM Hack “Super Mario World: Return to Dinosaur Land” as an example.
Head over to ROMhacking.net and locate your game and download it. Once downloaded unzip the file and it should contain a .ips file as per below. This .ips file contains only the changes the developer has made to the game.
Next we need to copy the original games ROM to the same folder as the .ips file we just downloaded. If you look at the page where you downloaded the game you can see exactly which ROM file you need. You can see from below I need to locate the Super Mario World (U) [!].smc ROM.
Once you have found the correct ROM copy it in to the same folder as the .ips file (Shown below). WARNING it is very important you locate the correct ROM file or it will not patch correctly.
Now go back to the folder where the “Lunar IPS.exe” file was and double click this file to launch the tool. Click on the Apply IPS Patch tool.
Select the .ips file we downloaded and click open, then select the ROM file and click on open. If all went ok you should see the message “The file was successfully patched!”
We now need to open the ROM / SMC file as it will now be patched and will play the Hacked game.
If all went well you will be able to play the hacked game via an emulator now.
Below is a video I created on youtube which shows you the process to apply a patch using the Lunar IPS Tool.
Patched Games Not Working
If you have patched a game with the Lunar IPS tool and it is not working I have a few things you can try.
Locate another ROM / SMC file
It is possible the one you have is not the correct one.
If you have tried another ROM / SMC file and it still has not worked we can verify if it is the correct file. Download this utility and run it. Select your ROM file and compare the MD5 and SHA values to the Hacked game you are trying to patch.
Use Auto Patching In Emulators
Some emulators have auto patching support, This means you do not need to go through the patching process outlined above. For more information on this look at the next section
Playing ROM Hacks With SNES9X
I highly recommend you use SNES9X to play SNES ROM hacks. With SNES9X it has a build in ROM hacks auto patching feature, which means you dont need to go through the process of patching your ROMs to play them.
All you need to do it copy the .ips file in to the same folder as the original ROM and make sure the .ips and .rom file have the same name, for example
Super Mario World (U) [!].ips
Super Mario World (U) [!].rom
Now launch SNES9X and open the ROM file, The emulator will auto detect that a .ips (Patch file) is present and will automatically patch the game.
Top Rated SNES ROM Hacks
If you are looking for SNES ROM hacks to play you should take a look at the top rated hacks on our site.
