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Messages - TheChad

1
PSX FFT Hacking / Re: EVTCHR Frame Locations
June 27, 2011, 05:11:31 pm
That's a good point LD - I'm not really sure.  I'll look a bit at that event code - maybe it's hard coded, or maybe Lucavi sprites play by a different set of EVTCHR rules.  In any case, this should hold true for the majority of evtchr uses.
2
PSX FFT Hacking / EVTCHR Frame Locations
June 26, 2011, 02:48:48 pm
I've spent a lot of time recently trying to get EVTCHR frames loaded into custom events.  Through trial and error, I've put together a map tying EVTCHR frames within a sheet to the hex value you call within the UnitAnim() Event Instruction.  Hopefully this will be useful to other event editors who wish to insert custom EVTCHR frames into their events.

A few notes:

RAM Block 1 is x00 using the LoadEVTCHR and SaveEVTCHR Instructions, so

LoadEVTCHR(x00,x66,x00)
WaitForInstruction(x34,x00)
SaveEVTCHR(x00)

Loads EVTCHR Sheet 66 into RAM Block 1.  RAM Block 2 is x01, which for sheet 66 would be:

LoadEVTCHR(x01,x66,x00)
WaitForInstruction(x34,x00)
SaveEVTCHR(x01)

When you go to use UnitAnim(), remember that the 4th input variable is now x01 for RAM Block 1, and x02 for RAM Block 2  (x00 is the normal sprite sheet animation, not EVTCHR).

There is no way that I know of to call a frame in the 8th column on the EVTCHR sheet.  If you look at the EVTCHR sheets in the vanilla game, these all seem to be glitchy images anyway, such as a sprite facing directly at the camera, and are never called in-game.

Curiously, loading the EVTCHR Sheet to RAM Block 2 gives you the option to call all 7 frames on all 5 rows (35 total frames), while loading to RAM Block 1 only gives you access to 23 total frames.  You get all of the first row, the first 5 and 7th from the second row, but then only every other frame from there on out.  If you look at the event instructions from Vanilla, you'll see the game almost always uses RAM Block 2, and only loads RAM Block 1 when a secondary EVTCHR load is needed.

Also, I don't have complete notes on this, but in my experience loading an EVTCHR sheet in both RAM Blocks precludes certain regular animations from occurring, such as a weapon strike during a cutscene.  This is somewhat inconsistent that I've observed, but if all of sudden you add both EVTCHR frames to your custom event and then all of a sudden your characters won't swing their weapon when called, try removing one of the EVTCHR loads.

The attached file tells you which animation frame is called for which hex value.  So if you want to load the first frame on the sheet, your event instructions would include either the following using RAM Block 1:

LoadEVTCHR(x00,x66,x00)
WaitForInstruction(x34,x00)
SaveEVTCHR(x00)

UnitAnim(x85,x00,xF4,x01,x00)

or the following using RAM Block 2:


LoadEVTCHR(x01,x66,x00)
WaitForInstruction(x34,x00)
SaveEVTCHR(x01)

UnitAnim(x85,x00,x58,x02,x00)

This example assumes you're trying to load EVTCHR Sheet 66 and replace the Unit x85 sprite.

If you wanted to load the frame at Row 2, Column 6, your only option would be to use RAM Block 2:

LoadEVTCHR(x01,x66,x00)
WaitForInstruction(x34,x00)
SaveEVTCHR(x01)

UnitAnim(x85,x00,x64,x02,x00)

Where my map has xXX, that means that that frame can't be called for the RAM Block.

Why do the EVTCHR Frames have such unusual starting values for the hex bytes?  I have no idea.  It was extremely frustrating at first trying to figure this out, lacking any good explanation that I could find.  Having the map though makes it relatively pain-free.

This should help other event editors get EVTCHR frames into their events without having to go through a lot of trial and error.

Chad
3
Spriting / Re: Lijj's Sprites
June 10, 2011, 10:11:46 pm
Lijj,

I don't know what dithering is, but that tree looks awesome!  I don't really know anything about spriting but I really like that last portrait you did - please stick with it!

Chad
4
The Lounge / Re: Music Thread
June 10, 2011, 02:24:13 pm
If I could only take one album with me for the rest of time it would be Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins.  The second in a run of three brilliant albums, this is the band at their absolute peak.  Some argue that it contains too much filler and would be better served being cut down to a single disc, but I wholeheartedly disagree.  The sheer size and sonic variety are part of the albums' charm.  From delicate ballads to punishing rawk, from sparse whispers to sweeping symphonic epics, this has a bit of everything, and discarding half of it would be unfathomable.  The production is top notch - you can tell a lot of care and effort went into crafting it, and the ambition really shines through.  The band set out to make one of the most epic records of all time, and at least in the context of modern rock I believe they succeeded.  I can't think of many other albums in the last 15 years that felt so grandiose and monumental.

Most important though is the way Mellon Collie makes me feel.  Listening to this album instantly reminds me of when I was 17 or 18 and all the feelings that go along with it - how everything mattered so intensely and so passionately, and how what now seem like the simplest little things could feel so massively important.  Stirring up those raw emotions is frequently inspiring for me, and it motivates me to work on my own projects (whatever they may be at the time), rekindling a desire to create something grand and epic myself.

Listening to Mellon Collie's two discs is like taking a journey through your youth; the highs, the lows, the angst, the passions, the ambition...it's nostalgic and revitalizing at the same time.  The journey is never boring, and by the time the final song fades out I'm almost sad that it's ended.

My favorite parts of the record:

The beautiful piano opener and closing coda which form a brilliant bookend to the album.
The transition from the opening title track to the sweeping strings of "Tonight, Tongiht."
The manic buildup and release at the end of "Tonight, Tonight."
The guitar and drum climax in "Jellybelly."
The beautiful arpeggios in "Galapogos," as well as the buildup to the final chorus.
The dreamy fade in to "Porcelina," coupled with the crunching guitar.  A 9 minute song that's not boring for a second.
The punishing fury of "Bodies"
The spacey acoustic coda of "Ruby," reprising the title track
The calm before the storm of "Stumbleine," such a sparse acoustic whisper
The watery guitar fade in of "By Starlight"
The full-band harmonizing during the bridge of "Farewell and Goodnight."

There are more, of course, but those are the absolute highlights for me.  I know Corgan's voice really bothers some people to the point of not being able to enjoy the band, but I like that he can effectively vocalize the emotion behind the songs.

This is my favorite record of all time.  And if you love the album as much as I do, be sure to check out the B-side boxset The Aeroplane Flies High.  Over 50 songs were written for Mellon Collie, and only 28 made the record.  There's plenty of gems that didn't make the cut.  Too much filler?  Should have been cut to a singe disc?  After listening to the Aeroplane set, I think they could have made it three discs without dropping the quality.  Aeroplane standouts that could justify a 3rd disc:

The Aeroplane Flies High
Marquis in Spades
Mouths of Babes
Ugly
Set the Ray to Jerry
Cherry
Medellia of the Gray Skies
Jupiter's Lament
Tonite Reprise
...Said Sadly
The Boy
Pennies
Rotten Apples
The Last Song (really love this one)

It's really amazing to me just how many great songs this band churned out during this period

Chad

5
Spam / Re: Paint war - REvamped
June 07, 2011, 10:24:13 pm
Kanbabrif cannot be bothered with any more of this nonsense.  Starry Frog!
6
Continuation - sets 3 and 4 of the testing.
7
PSX FFT Hacking / Effect Testing in Cut Scenes
May 17, 2011, 08:35:25 pm
One thing I've noticed while event editing is that effects can be rather...persnickety.  Some effects work just fine, and some I'm convinced will always be glitchy - they either won't center on the target like they should, or they only display part of the effect (as compared to the full in-battle effect), or some just crash the game altogether.

Additionally, using the Effect() event instruction, the effects do not have the same sequence or hex byte value as the in-battle effects video lists.  This can be particularly maddening as an event editor when you're searching for a particular event.  I've often coded what I was the proper effect, only to compile and watch and find I actually called a completely different effect.

To prevent all that guesswork, I made these Effect Testing events for myself so I could see exactly how each effect would work in a cut scene - which ones would work without glitching and what the exact ID of each effect is for calling it using Effect().

I figured these might be useful for anyone else adding effects to their events, so I'll post the ppfs here.  I don't have video software, but if anyone wanted to make videos of these that would probably be a lot more useful than these ppfs.  Then people could just skid through the video.

Anyway, these helped me, hopefully they'll help someone else.  They all replace the Orbonne event and just show each effect ID cast sequentially on a target.
8
Cheetah,

Here is a ppf with the zoom back to normal.  I also fixed the moving text box glitch and made some minor adjustments to the early camera moves to better keep the moving sprites in the center of the action.

Chad
9
Thanks Cheetah.  I actually did zoom the camera out to try to match the original scene, but that could be easily fixed.  I actually started at normal zoom but thought the 3/4 was what might have been used in the CoK video.  Of course, we can't have "wonky" sprites in a high-quality production like the Chronicles.

Feel free to make a video and post it on Youtube.
10
Works in Progress / Re: The Chronicles of Kanbabrif
April 30, 2011, 06:24:13 am
Thanks Eternal!

Regarding the music I just picked this one since it seemed to have the appropriate sense of urgency for Hamwitch chasing down Reis on the run.  But I assumed that if it were to be used for the actual Chronicles Cheetah and BP would still dub over using the medieval theme in the current video...in fact in that case maybe this event should be made with no music at all.
11
Works in Progress / Re: The Chronicles of Kanbabrif
April 29, 2011, 10:31:45 pm
Attention Cheetah...I want to introduce myself.  I am new to the community (check out that post count!) but have been lurking since December when I first discovered 1.3.  I finished my 1.3 playthough a few weeks ago and the entire experience was so rewarding that it inspired me to learn event editing.  I did a lot of reading on the forum and with the help of Kokojo and his Event Editing Tutorial I was able to make a custom event replacing the opening Orbonne Monastery event.

I learned an awful lot making that first tuturial, and when I saw this thread I figured I'd give this a shot.  I still have to watch all of the Chronicles, but from what I've seen so far it's pretty awesome stuff.  I don't have much editing experience but I do really enjoy learning how to do this.  I've attached PPF files of both the Tutorial event I made based on Kokojo's tutorial as well as a PPF recreating the Finath River scene from the Chronicles.  There are some very minor changes I made to the script (ellipsis dots replacing dashes) to help it flow better in the game's dialog boxes.

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out so I'm excited to see what you think.  If you like it I am interested in helping out with other event edits you and BP may need on this project.  I probably have a few hours a week I can devote to this kind of thing, so it might be a little slow, but I did make this Finath scene in about a week totaling maybe 12 hours of work.  Working on this kind of thing is something I enjoy to unwind after work or on a rainy day.

Please take a look and give me some feedback - I am very new to this but I'm excited to learn.  On both PPFs the opening Orbonne event is replaced, so you get right to the new event.

Thanks!

Chad
12
Hi.  I'm relatively new to this community but I was excited to read about your project.  It sounds like you've got some really interesting ideas.

I was trying to think of any alternatives to Animalist and all I've come up with a few ideas, none of which I think are any better than what you've already got.

Echoist - this would be based on the class being able to repeat actions once it's experienced them.

Renderer - this sounds clumsy but I'm trying to think along the lines of Relm's Sketch command in FFVI.

Reckoner - this actually sounds cool, but it's a bit of a stretch.  It's along the lines of the "including" definition of reckon, as in the class includes learned monster skills.

Assimilator - the class absorbs and incorporates monster skills.

I like how you're trying to better differentiate the elements and give them a greater role in your project.  Some random element-related thoughts I had are related to weather...I don't think there's nearly enough content in this suggestion to propose a weather class, but it would be cool if there was a skill that could change the weather on a map.  Maybe a skill called "Storm Front" which would change a sunny day into a random chance of rain, thunderstorm, or snow.  You could combine this with ratcheting up the effect of weather on elemental damage.  For a longer battle, tipping the weather could help a party take advantage of an elemental setup.  I don't even know if this would be possible to do...you'd probably have to prevent it from working indoors...and even if you could implement it, it's probably not something the AI could use to its benefit.  On a related note I had an idea about a Hail Storm which would hit every unit on the map with Ice 1 or something similar, unless a unit was "taking shelter" under an overpass or overhang.  That would kind of be like how lancers can't jump on a unit that's under a bridge.  Again though - this would probably be something that would be too easy to exploit and that the AI couldn't coordinate using properly.

I look forward to reading further updates on your project.