List of modification software

The following is a list of common software or tools used to hack and modify the Super Smash Bros. games.

BrawlBox

BrawlBox displaying Falco's opening scene texture in Project M.

The Melee stage Fourside in Brawl created with BrawlBox.

BrawlBox is used to open and edit various Super Smash Bros. Brawl files. While most well-known for texture and stage hacks, the program's development has blossomed into an armature editor, a model editor and, in future, a moveset editor similar to Project Smash Attacks or Open SA.

History

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BrawlBox was originally created by Kryal in 2009. Sometime after that, BlackJax96 took over development until he discontinued it in 2013. Today, libertyernie and Sammi Husky serve as BrawlBox's development team.

Open Smash Attacks

Open Smash Attacks is a Brawl moveset editor with the goal of serving as a side tool to BrawlBox by editing and representing files that BrawlBox cannot or can but poorly. Open SA is significantly more advanced than its predecessor, Project Smash Attacks; It can view the actions and hitboxes of most props and projectiles, open character files that PSA has trouble with, and work with files that house general actions for all playable characters. Open SA's major downside is the complexity involved in editing files and there are some facets that cannot be accessed or edited such as Pikmin hitboxes.

Project Smash Attacks

Project Smash Attacks was the predecessor to Open Smash Attacks. While now rendered obsolete by improved understanding of Brawl's code, the program still sees use by those interested in learning how to modify character movesets.

Due to its fame as the first application to allow for the customization of movesets, the term "PSA" is still used today to describe moveset hacks.

Sm4shexplorer

A screencap of sm4shexplorer that has built a patch folder and sent it to the SD card.

Sm4shexplorer is somewhat of spiritual successor to BrawlBox for use with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. It is in early stages of development, its most recent version is 0.07.1, and does not currently support Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. It could be considered the de-facto tool used for replacing files in Smash 4. Functionality with the program is minimal but crucial. It can extract and replace game data via a dump of the game on the computers hard drive. It can build patch folders for use with a SD card to replace anything in-game. The program has no capability to edit files, although a few beta plugins such as sm4shmusic allow to add new music into the game via a MSTB editor rather than just replace it.

CrossARC

CrossARC is a tool used for viewing and extracting the data.arc file in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The data.arc file contains the sum of the game's internal assets, such as music and models, in a compact compressed filetype. These extracted files can then be modded and placed on the microSD card using either ARCropolis or the Ultimate Mod Manager. CrossARC will also show various miscellaneous data like the internal pointer offset for a file depending on game version, and where the file is shared with others in the game files, such as certain models or textures that are used on all of a characters alternate costume slots.

SaltyNX

SaltyNX is a plugin-based file patching system which was used for Ultimate code-based moveset mods until the advent of Skyline. SaltyNX is less stable in comparison to Skyline and is most commonly seen in older moveset mods.

Ultimate Mod Manager

Ultimate Mod Manager is a mod management tool similar to BrawlBox and Sm4shexplorer for use with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The tool lets users dump their game's files to the microSD card, and once this is done, the homebrew allows users to compress and inject sorted mod folders into the game. The edit of the game then can be loaded in using LayeredFS, which is a must as all of the game's internal assets are stored as one large archive. A downside of this method is having to store the edited game copy on the microSD card in order to use any type of mod that requires it, no matter how small the files may be, alongside having to go under or around the same original size of a file when creating mods. It also requires mods to be reinstalled in a new dump every time an update releases.

Skyline

Skyline is a custom executable patch for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate which is designed to allow for runtime code hooking. It achieves this by the use of custom plugins which can be developed for its environment. Skyline is a prerequisite for Skyline-based code and moveset mods, which are stored as individual plugins.

ARCropolis

ARCropolis is a plugin for Skyline which serves a similar use to the Ultimate Mod Manager. It allows for the replacement of individual files as they are loaded in memory rather than by injecting them into a dump of the game, which in turn allows for larger file sizes. Due to this, some mods require the usage of ARCropolis to function as intended. It supports most major file types, and could be considered an alternative to the older Ultimate Mod Manager. ARCropolis is quickly becoming the primary mod loader of choice over Ultimate Mod Manager, due mostly due to the previously mentioned features and benefits it has.

ARCadia

ARCadia is a seperate homebrew application used for managing mods installed using ARCropolis. It currently lets its users turn individual mod folders on and off at the press of a button.