Welcome! You may have likely entered these pages through the thread on the Cave Story forums, on the CSMC
Discord Server, or you're just bored and you wanted to see if there's anything interesting you'd like to read upon.
Regardless of your motives, this page will provide information on how to install TSC+ Improved onto your Cave
Story mod, as well as provide methods of customizing the assembly and XML file for the more advanced users.
Tools required
Cave Story
Everyone knows this game, this does not even need to be in this
tutorial, but if you haven't come from the Cave Story forums, or
haven't been to Studio Pixel's website, then you can click on the
download links below to get the game!
NOTE: This hack is only compatibile with the original version from 2004.
Apologies to Cave Story+, CSE2, NxEngine, or PSP users. Addons like
Clownacy's Mod Loader or NICE work with TSC+ Improved.
Booster's Lab
The go-to program for Cave Story modding, and the most convenient
method of including custom assembly through its Hackinator feature!
Versions compatible with the XML (v451 and higher are recommended):
Doukutsu Assembler
Built as a supplement for the debugging tool OllyDbg, Doukutsu
Assembler is a customizable assembly patching program made for
the experienced, ASM-savvy user. It can also be used to convert
assembly to hex for patching through the hex patching tool in
Booster's Lab, Autohacker 2, or any hex editor of your choice.
1. Open up your mod in Booster's Lab.
Click on the BoostLab.jar file in the program's directory, and
then Load your mod through the Doukutsu file used.
Note: If you're working on a brand new mod, click "OK" when
the program tells you it's removing the (C) Pixel requirement
and converting the file types from .pbm to .bmp. Save all
changes after the automatic process is done.
2. Download the TSC+_Improved zip folder.
Click on the download link to the zip folder in either
the TSC+ Improved forum thread or even on the hyperlink
down below! Save the file whereever you'd like it on
your computer, even your homework folder!
Unzip the XML file and drop it into your Booster's
Lab directory (place it in the TSC Modifications subfolder
if you have the Enlight's Hackinator pack included).
3. Select the mod in the Hackinator.
Click on the Actions tab and select "Hacking Tool", and
click on the TSC+ Improved hack. Here is how the hack
should look when loaded in the Hackinator.
4. Toggle which TSC commands you'd like in your mod.
Depending on how you'd like your mod to go, you have a
variety of TSC commands to choose from. You also have
a few select options for some commands, as well as a
couple quality of life options for making running
TSC events a whole lot smoother for certain scenarios.
Click on "Commit!" and click OK, and then click on
File and Save all to make sure all changes made to
your executable are saved.
5. Go full on ham with your new commands!
You have the power to go fully creative with the
TSC scripts, be it for simple stuff like adding
nameboxes to your character dialogue, or creating
something that couldn't normally be done with
vanilla means by interacting with only one event,
like a character skin selector.
If you don't already know how to use TSC while
modding Cave Story, there is a tutorial that can
really help you out with becoming familiar to how
creating scripts in the game works. For lessons on
how to use any of the custom commands as seen in
the images to your left, there's a tutorial in this
page just for that, so you too, can be able to
create some clever TSC!
Doukutsu Assembler Instructions
NOTE: There is a guide for the program.
While this guide is very good at how to teach new users how
to plug in ASM without having to manually type it all through
Ollydbg, the tutorial you're reading here will be just to show
how to plug in the assembly for TSC+ Improved.