How to find/kill whatever is messing up this code? (Asm help)

[Emmy]

Something strange is going on with my reaction code.  4 slots (Gilgame heart, Blank, Arrow Guard, Blade Grasp) are working perfectly to cast an ability.  4 other slots (Abandon, Weapon guard, Catch, Finger Guard) are casting abilities from random other slots including what it's supposed to cast and the other slots.  It prints the name of the other abilities when it casts them.

I don't think the issue is with the asm itself since it doesn't matter which order i place the abilities in the code, the same 4 slots don't work.  Which leads me to believe there's extra hard coding somewhere messing up these slots, but I have no idea what it is or how to find it. 

For reference the asm used for this is here: http://pastebin.com/GRM8uT4s

[Aqueous]

Need 2 things to help really.

What spells are being cast and your actual MIPS code rather than the hex.

[Emmy]

Mips code of Multi-reaction Deluxe

spoiler

ori r4,r0,0x0000
lui r6,0x8015
sll r2,r4,0x01
addu r6,r6,r2
lhu r5,0x1ec0(r6)
lui r2,0x8019
lhu r2,0x2d9c(r2)
nop
bne r2,r5,0x00000038
addiu r4,r4,0x0001
lhu r6,0x1ed0(r6)
ori r5,r0,0x000b
j 0x0017e3dc
addu r4,r17,r0
sltiu r5,r4,0x0008
bne r5,r0,0x00000004
lui r2,0x8019
lh r2,0x2d9c(r2)
j 0x0017e400
lui r1,0x8006

The first chart refers to the ability ID of the reaction, second chart to the ability ID of the cast ability with reversed bytes (bb01 = blank reaction, for example). 

Using blank abilities requires this code though (Multi-reaction = damage trigger):

spoiler

lui r4,0x8019
lw r4,0x2d98(r4)
nop
lbu r3,0x008e(r4)
nop
andi r2,r3,0x0040
beq r2,r0,0x00000028
nop
jal 0x0018ce88
ori r4,r0,0x01bf
andi r2,r3,0x0020
beq r2,r0,0x0000003c
nop
jal 0x0018ce88
ori r4,r0,0x01c0
andi r2,r3,0x0010
beq r2,r0,0x00000050
nop
jal 0x0018ce88
ori r4,r0,0x01c1
andi r2,r3,0x0008
beq r2,r0,0x00000064
nop
jal 0x0018ce88
ori r4,r0,0x01c2
andi r2,r3,0x0004
beq r2,r0,0x00000078
nop
jal 0x0018ce88
ori r4,r0,0x01c3
andi r2,r3,0x0002
beq r2,r0,0x0000008c
nop
jal 0x0018ce88
ori r4,r0,0x01c4
lbu r3,0x008d(r4)
nop
andi r2,r3,0x0004
beq r2,r0,0x000000a8
nop
jal 0x0018ce88
ori r4,r0,0x01bb
j 0x0018cc70
nop

Now, the issue I'm running into makes me think there's other hard coding that is messing up the slots of Weapon Guard, Abandon, Finger Guard, Catch; even though their old slots have been disabled and moved to support abilities.  It doesn't matter which order I place these abilities in the above codes, the same slots are messed up, while the Blank, Gilgame Heart, Arrow Guard, Blade Grasp slots work perfectly with these codes.

Is there a way to search for other hard coding that can affect a slot?

[Xifanie]

Using:
[indent=2]1BF : Weapon Guard
1C0 : Finger Guard
1C1 : Abandon
1C2 : Catch[/indent]

The way FFT usually does it, is take the first ID, make it negative, and addiu that to the current ID.
So in this case, if there is hardcoding for those (and in this format), I would guess it would be something like:
[indent=2]addiu r2, r2, 0xFE41 (-0x01BF)
sltiu r2, r2, 0x0004[/indent]
...but I couldn't find anything of the sort in any of the code. So, unfortunately, chances are that the Ability ID is checked for other ranges first by subtracting and using sltiu, then subtractrating again for every new check based on the previously calculated value. :/ No real way to search for that.
I forgot if it's possible or not that it would do something like -0x1C3 then branch if the value is negative or not... but I would guess in this case it would be extremely unlikely anyway.

Are you sure it's an exception? From my point of view, there could be the possibility that these abilities are not included in the range that affects the other abilities you mentioned. I really don't know anything about that ability stuff, just throwing that out there.

[Aqueous]

Might be silly questions but:

How have the reaction skills in question been positioned in FFTPatcher ie. what ability IDs have they been given? Have you rejigged any of the existing IDs?
The reactions not working properly: are they using all of these abilities in one reaction or is it just random which they use?

With those questions out of the way, I'd suggest looking at the first piece of code first. Without context it's difficult to see what the first piece of code is doing exactly, which is the problem with any hack affecting undocumented code. Eyeballing the code, two lines that stick out to me that you might want to check:

spoiler

ori r4,r0,0x0000
lui r6,0x8015
sll r2,r4,0x01
addu r6,r6,r2
lhu r5,0x1ec0(r6)
lui r2,0x8019
lhu r2,0x2d9c(r2)
nop
bne r2,r5,0x00000038  - Is there a pattern between the abilities that work properly and this branch triggering?
addiu r4,r4,0x0001
lhu r6,0x1ed0(r6) - This appears to be loading the ability it will counter with. If all of the Reaction abilities are getting to this point in the code, what's happening here?
ori r5,r0,0x000b
j 0x0017e3dc
addu r4,r17,r0
sltiu r5,r4,0x0008
bne r5,r0,0x00000004
lui r2,0x8019
lh r2,0x2d9c(r2)
j 0x0017e400
lui r1,0x8006

That's probably the most help I can give at the moment, quite a bit of it will be checking what the code is doing in real-time with breakpoints.

[Emmy]

The first table is the reaction abilities:

B701BB01
BF01C001
C101C201
C301C401

This part is the ability it casts:

6D016E01
4E011600
0F014300
4D014E01

The bytes are reversed here, but each piece corresponds to the same other piece.  So for example the blank slot (01bb) casts ability 016e in Patcher.  It doesn't matter which order I place them into the code, the same abilities work and the same abilities don't work. 

The reactions that aren't working appear to be selecting an ability at random.  It will cast with the reaction ability title of another ability.

[Aqueous]

Will need to step through the code in PSX then I think. The two lines I highlighted should be bringing in the correct IDs, if it was working properly. I'm hoping that'll be your best place to start.

[Emmy]

Finally got a lead as to something that could be affecting this.  The "Thunder Cats" bug is still in the game.  Finger Guard's vanilla slot has been rewritten to cast Bolt.  Panthers have Finger Guard (which I had rewritten to a support ability), and no Priority 0-2 abilities.  If it were working 100% properly, Panthers wouldn't react with anything, but I saw one react with Bolt. 

Not sure yet what is causing this to happen but I figure I might as well let you guys know if someone is still trying to solve this problem.

For reference, these are the Finger Guard hacks (Moves it to support slot, changes the coding of it to block Br/pa/ma drain and dance):

spoiler

<Patch name="Finger Guard blocks XX Formulas">
<Description>
Can block up to 4 formulas. If using less, set unused slots as copies of one that it does block. So to block only formula 2a, set them to 2a, 2a, 2a, 2a.  Nops at 0x121308 disable the check to see if unit can react.
</Description>
<Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="121308">
00000000
00000000
00000000
</Location>
<Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="121334">
00000000
</Location>
<Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="121344">
25100000
</Location>
<Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="124940">
C4470508
00000000
</Location>
<Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="EAf10">
E8FFBD27
1400BFAF
1980013C
E5382390
</Location>
<Variable name="Formula 1" file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="EAF20" default = "55"/>
<Variable name="Formula 2" file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="EAF21" default = "56"/>
<Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="EAF22">
013C
</Location>
<Variable name="Formula 3" file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="EAF24" default = "1D"/>
<Variable name="Formula 4" file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="EAF25" default = "62"/>
        <Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="EAF26">
        2134
        FF002230
        08006210
        020A0100
        FCFF2014
        00000000
        2A000134
        03006110
        00000000
        D6470508
        00000000
        BE20060C
        00000000
        1400BF8F
        1800BD27
        1980023C
        522E0608
        902D428C
        </Location>
    </Patch>

  <Patch name="Moves Finger Guard to support abilities">
    <Description>Finger Guard support in Equip Sword slot instead of reactions.</Description>
    <Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="121324">
8F00A290
00000000
20004230
    </Location>
  </Patch>