Need help with the attack.out editor

[Zafire]

I am stumped beyond reason with this thing. I've mostly figured out how to do events in detail, and I've been having a load of fun with that. However, to make my "dream" patch I require a few.."new" events.

There is no real "attack.out editor" tutorial that I see. I looked around a bit, and if I missed it, I apologized.

I tried to use the event 193 (unused according to http://ffhacktics.com/wiki/Event_Scripts_and_Scenario_Order_correlation ), tie it to a "test" event in the ENTD, and change the map to Warjilis Trade City. However, the reality is that it sends me to a "black" version of Orbornne with Agrias, Lavian, and Alicia as the only units. They are not in the ENTD I set the attack.out editor to use, nor is the map what I set it up for. I actually tried several other unused ENTD's and got the same result.

I then tied it to other, well known events to see if I could simply replace events. I got mixed results. I tried 100, which was Grog hill, and the event seems to be uneditable with the attack.out by the use of "event script". Does "Event script" even do anything, by the way?

I then tried 45, which was Windmill Shed. Then tried to send it to 7 , the first event in Military Academy Auditorium from Windmill shed so after the event in Windmill Shed it would follow the regular game path once again. However, I got a loop. This is how it would go:

Orbornne event 1
Orbornne event 2
Orbornne event 3 (Should go to 45 windmill shed)
Windmill Shed with Orbornne event 1s text/events
then it loops back to Orbornne event 2.

I have messed with these 4 events so hard and I cannot get it off this loop. I don't even know WHY it is using Orbornne 1s event. I can't get it to change no matter what I do. The only thing I completely understand in the attack.out editor is that I can change the maps of already used events. Nothing else is making any sense to me at all, because everything I expect it to do is doing something completely random.

Anyway, I want to know my limitations with this thing because it definitely will change what I was going to do. There are plenty of events I am willing to scrap if need be. Is it even possible to make events that normally didn't have a battle, have a battle? I wouldn't even need a battle formation screen, it would be like that delita+ovelia battle vs the ninjas in WotL.

I hope someone can help me, event editing is becoming a fun hobby.

[3lric]

FIRST, I'm moving this to the EVENT EDITING section.

I am stumped beyond reason with this thing. I've mostly figured out how to do events in detail, and I've been having a load of fun with that. However, to make my "dream" patch I require a few.."new" events.

There is no real "attack.out editor" tutorial that I see. I looked around a bit, and if I missed it, I apologized.

I tried to use the event 193 (unused according to http://ffhacktics.com/wiki/Event_Scripts_and_Scenario_Order_correlation ), tie it to a "test" event in the ENTD, and change the map to Warjilis Trade City. However, the reality is that it sends me to a "black" version of Orbornne with Agrias, Lavian, and Alicia as the only units. They are not in the ENTD I set the attack.out editor to use, nor is the map what I set it up for. I actually tried several other unused ENTD's and got the same result.

I apologize the blank slots at the end of the attack.out (right after the added in Betha Sluice Scene) cannot be used, we found this out
recently and it hadn't been documented yet. There is other unused slots in attack.out as well, also near the end, that are not counted, so they
actually throw off the numbering a bit near the end. Best bet is to make some events over top of existing events. Finding a way to make room for
these is something we can figure out for you in the future, it can be done, but it does require some work (not to hard, but long and tedious)

I then tied it to other, well known events to see if I could simply replace events. I got mixed results. I tried 100, which was Grog hill, and the event seems to be uneditable with the attack.out by the use of "event script". Does "Event script" even do anything, by the way?

Event script is what ties the actual event to that attack.out slot in the attack.out GUI, if you change it the event will not play properly.
If you are going to edit 100, you need to edit 0FF and 101 as well. IF you see they use the same ENTD that is an easy well to tell they
are linked together. Basically in this situation this is how it works.

0FF  - Setup Event - This is our LOADING screen, the event itself will only be an event offset and a EventEnd() In the attack.out the Setup stores the Event Script number.

100 - Battle Event - This is where the event script to start the battle event is, you will not set a event script number here as it was already set by the setup event.

101 - Victory Event - This is where the victory event that plays once the battle conditions are met will be stored, this also does not have the event script number but it will have a AFTER EVENT DO - GO TO NEXT SENARIO (in other situations it might be GO TO WORLDMAP instead) in this case the next scenario is set to 103, since you want to jump to the event slot right after the Setup for the next event. I hope that make sense.

This is only an example for a Battle event, in a normal cutscene event, it would only be 2 slots, the second of which would contain the AFTER EVENT DO.
likewise some battles have more events due to in battle dialogue. So you will notice 4, 5 or even 6 in the attack.out with seemingly identical information.
Each of which are called when the condition setup in  the attack.out spreadsheet is met.

I then tried 45, which was Windmill Shed. Then tried to send it to 7 , the first event in Military Academy Auditorium from Windmill shed so after the event in Windmill Shed it would follow the regular game path once again. However, I got a loop. This is how it would go:

Orbornne event 1
Orbornne event 2
Orbornne event 3 (Should go to 45 windmill shed)
Windmill Shed with Orbornne event 1s text/events
then it loops back to Orbornne event 2.

I have messed with these 4 events so hard and I cannot get it off this loop. I don't even know WHY it is using Orbornne 1s event. I can't get it to change no matter what I do. The only thing I completely understand in the attack.out editor is that I can change the maps of already used events. Nothing else is making any sense to me at all, because everything I expect it to do is doing something completely random.

This is pretty much all explained above, best bet is to scrap the iso (or at the very least the Attack.out and TEST.EVT and import fresh ones and start again)

Anyway, I want to know my limitations with this thing because it definitely will change what I was going to do. There are plenty of events I am willing to scrap if need be. Is it even possible to make events that normally didn't have a battle, have a battle? I wouldn't even need a battle formation screen, it would be like that delita+ovelia battle vs the ninjas in WotL.

I hope someone can help me, event editing is becoming a fun hobby.

This is definitely possible, I know I'm marrying myself here but check out Journey of the Five to see all kinda of interesting stuff that can be done in events.

As for the Delita/Ovelia battles, I've actually just converted these from the PSP version to the PSX version for the FFT - The Lion War mod I'm working on, which adds PSP content to the PSX version.
Video HERE

Event Editing is something I always try to encourage whenever I can and if you need anymore help, don't hesitate to ask.

[Zafire]

As for the Delita/Ovelia battles, I've actually just converted these from the PSP version to the PSX version for the FFT - The Lion War mod I'm working on, which adds PSP content to the PSX version.

Well, I'm not really aiming to remake the Delita/Ovelia battle, it was just an example. What I AM trying to do is make a battle in the event which the death corps kidnap Teta that is LIKE the Delita/Ovelia event. I'm also aiming to do a few other things, but similar concept. I mean I could get all the units I want lined up properly, with the battle conditions for winning even popping up. I just don't know how to make the event end with a fight starting, and then resuming properly afterwards.

In any case, your entire post was very helpful. I look forward to playing with it tomorrow after work and seeing what progress I can make

[3lric]

I know it was an example, and I was showing that as an example, it was entirely possible, as would be things like it.

[Zafire]

OK well after playing your patch (Journey of the Five) and Koko's patch (Chains of Power) I've come to the conclusion what I want to do simply isn't within my capabilities with the knowledge I have. I am very impressed with the event edits btw.

Both of your patches make use of the attack.out by avoiding the world map completely and constantly linking battles together. The patch I was going to make (I'll call it FFT - Alternate Reality) was more or less the same game (Story-wise), just everything happening in a completely different way. For example, Delita fails to kidnap the princess at the beginning,  Gafgarion is a nasty antagonist that makes vanilla Orlandu look like a joke, Ramza is a much more serious threat, etcetc.

I am at a very big disadvantage with the attack.out editor because the only thing I can really do is change the battle maps. I can't even take battles out to add new events somewhere else because the world map would still try to send me into a ripped event, thus causing a loop. I was thinking of using the Beowulf colliery events (And making the Reis/Beowulf sidequest much shorter), but for some reason I can't edit them with the attack.out *at all*.

Just a little discouraging

[Xifanie]

I don't know where you got that from, but JotF extensively uses the worldmap. Also, CoP is Call of Power, not Chains of Power. :p

[Zafire]

Oh yeah? I guess I didn't play far enough in.

Well, how can you mess around with the world map? Any guides? Is it a programming thing, or simply changing a few hex numbers? What is the extent that it can be easily edited?

Also, why is colliery uneditable with attack.out?

If I'm in over my head, I guess I'll quietly admit defeat D:

[Xifanie]

There's no such thing as colliery being uneditable.

I can help you with the world map stuff. Elric is more suited for the ATTACK.OUT stuff since I honestly don't know how exactly it works. I made the original program to edit it, but it has more than one flaw... some things are improperly labeled, and every scenario number are off by one. Meaning if you edit slot 70, it's 71 in reality that you have to use in any other tool.

As for editing the world map conditions, there is my excel workbook which you can find here: http://xifanie.ffhacktics.com/zodiac/WORLD_MAP_INSTRUCTIONS.rar

There is no tutorial or anything about it, so you'd either have to figure out stuff on your own (like I did for everything FFT), or ask me. Pride still seems quite unavailable at the moment, so yeah, that leaves me. I think Elric has a picture to help with the stuff too.

[3lric]

The first 3 battles in Jot5 are linked. After that you can go to the worldmap, which is completely changed from vanilla for Jot5 (like pretty much
everything else in Jot5)

The stuff you need to learn isn't that hard, but it does require TAKING THE TIME to learn it. This stuff does NOT happen over night, I studied vanilla
events and attack.out like a flippin' college course for 2-3 months before doing anything complex. It really all depends on how much you want it
to work.

Here is the picture I made to help with editing the Worldmap, when you break things down like this, it helps make the process a lot easier.

spoiler: Worldmap

[Zafire]

I have spent the last three~ hours trying to understand this and I think I got a grip on it now. Thank you two very much. I only have a few questions before I try to edit it.

I am, for the most part, going to follow the original story. How does the game know what section of the story it is on? Is it simply the Call Event? Would I be able to do something like do Miluda II first, then Miluda at Thieves fort second, without editing any further than the World Map?

Also how do you handle locations with only one line of hex? For example Sweegy Woods. All it contains is a Call Event with no draw path or draw locations a possibility. Does this mean that you *HAVE* to link it with Gariland/dorter and you can't have it as a location open by itself?

What I mean with being unable to edit Colliery with attack.out is that no matter what I do it does NOT change. Here is a list:

0x1D2 : Bar: Goland Coal City (Refuse Beowulf's Invitation Chosen)
0x1D3 : Bar: Goland Coal City (Accept Beowulf's invitation Chosen)
0x1D4 : Coillery Underground - Third Floor (Setup)
0x1D5 : Coillery Underground - Third Floor (Battle)
0x1D6 : Coillery Underground - Third Floor (Victory)
0x1D7 : Coillery Underground - Second Floor (Setup)

I edited ALL of these to all reflect the same ENTD, same map, and same "After event go to scenario 7". Was just doing the extreme to clear up any doubt that I was NOT editing it. Colliery Underground third floor map does not change, it does not send me to scenario 007, and it still sends me to 1D7 after 1D6. These are the only events I am more than willing to part with to make new ones.

Thank you so much for your time, it's invaluable

[3lric]

I have spent the last three~ hours trying to understand this and I think I got a grip on it now. Thank you two very much. I only have a few questions before I try to edit it.

I am, for the most part, going to follow the original story. How does the game know what section of the story it is on? Is it simply the Call Event? Would I be able to do something like do Miluda II first, then Miluda at Thieves fort second, without editing any further than the World Map?

Also how do you handle locations with only one line of hex? For example Sweegy Woods. All it contains is a Call Event with no draw path or draw locations a possibility. Does this mean that you *HAVE* to link it with Gariland/dorter and you can't have it as a location open by itself?

What I mean with being unable to edit Colliery with attack.out is that no matter what I do it does NOT change. Here is a list:

0x1D2 : Bar: Goland Coal City (Refuse Beowulf's Invitation Chosen)
0x1D3 : Bar: Goland Coal City (Accept Beowulf's invitation Chosen)
0x1D4 : Coillery Underground - Third Floor (Setup)
0x1D5 : Coillery Underground - Third Floor (Battle)
0x1D6 : Coillery Underground - Third Floor (Victory)
0x1D7 : Coillery Underground - Second Floor (Setup)

I edited ALL of these to all reflect the same ENTD, same map, and same "After event go to scenario 7". Was just doing the extreme to clear up any doubt that I was NOT editing it. Colliery Underground third floor map does not change, it does not send me to scenario 007, and it still sends me to 1D7 after 1D6. These are the only events I am more than willing to part with to make new ones.

Thank you so much for your time, it's invaluable

There is a story progress variable at the end of events that progress the story, in events they look ZERO which zeros out the variable and ADD which adds
the variable, you will see this a lot in vanilla events.

Are you sure the attack.out is properly importing? I've never heard of any issues like that.

[Xifanie]

I'll change the format to improve readability, it's just parenthesis, commas, and spaces added.
You have to understand the concept of flipping bytes, which is very important here. 0x006E is a half-word (2 bytes value), and thus with its byte swapped, is stored as 6E00.
Variable 0x006E is Storyline Progression

This page will give you all the info you need about variables:
http://ffhacktics.com/wiki/Event_Instruction_B0

So we start with this at Igros Castle:

01006E00030019001A000200
01003802000001006E000400200006001A00
01001A02000001006E00040022001A00
01003702000001006E00040020001A000900
01000902000001006E00040022000900

Basically what happens is the first event at Igros has a Storyline Progression requirement of 0x0003. At the very end of the last event at Igros, it is increased to 0x0004 using ZERO(x006E) and ADD(x006E,x0004). When you are standing on Igros with exactly 0x0004 Storyline Progression, paths and locations to Dorter will draw, if they are not drawn yet.

• 0100: If Value is Equal to


• 1900: Load Event


• 2000: Draw Path


• 2200: Draw Location

Igros Castle
(0100,6E00,0300) (1900,1A00,0200)
If Storyline Progression (0x006E) = 0x0003 > Load Event: 0x001A (019 in ATTACK.OUT) calmly (0x0002)

(0100,3802,0000) (0100,6E00,0400) (2000,0600,1A00)
If Gariland―Sweegy path (0x0238) is not drawn (0x0000) > If Storyline Progression = 0x0004 > Draw Path: Gariland Magic City (0x0006) TO Sweegy Woods (0x001A)

(0100,1A02,0000) (0100,6E00,0400) (2200,1A00)
If Sweegy Woods (0x021A) is not drawn (0x0000) > If Storyline Progression = 0x0004 > Draw Location: Sweegy Woods (0x001A)

(0100,3702,0000) (0100,6E00,0400) (2000,1A00,0900)
If Sweegy―Dorter path (0x0237) is not drawn (0x0000) > If Storyline Progression = 0x0004 > Draw Path: Sweegy Woods (0x001A) TO Dorter Trade City (0x0009)

(0100,0902,0000) (0100,6E00,0400) (2200,0900)
If Dorter Trade City Location (0x0902) is not drawn > If Storyline Progression = 0x0004 > Draw Location: Dorter Trade City (0x0009)


Sweegy Woods
(0100,6E00,0400) (1900,1E00,0100)
If Storyline Progression = 0x0004 > Load Event: 0x001E (01D in ATTACK.OUT) battle-style (0x0001)


And when you are standing on Sweegy, it will load event 0x001E of ATTACK.OUT (which is listed as 01D)
If you have any more questions or clarifications, feel free to ask~

[Zafire]

Hopefully this is my last question for a while. Again, really appreciate the help. This is EVERYTHING listed on the Garland section of your excel spreadsheet:

And just to make sure I completely understand it...

01006D00000001006E0001001D000000  --- This opens text when you first get to the world map that explains its use
01002F02000001006E000100200006001800 --- This draws the path from Garland to Mandalia
01001802000001006E00010022001800 -- This draws the location of Mandalia
01002D02000001006E000100200018000200 -- This draws the path to Igros from Mandalia
01000202000001006E00010022000200 -- This draws the location of Igros
01006E00010019000D000200 -- This calls the event once you get to Igros

My likely bad wording aside, is there any way to change where you start off? There is nothing there that indicates that option to me. Like, if I preferred to start off at Igros instead of Garland.

I noticed this was at Orbornne:
01006E0022001A003900E800000000000000000000000000
01009F0001001A003C002D01000000000000000000000000

I have absolutely no idea what these are (009F=??)  so I was thinking this was potentially the "warp" from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2?

About the attack.out, yes I am sure it is importing. I am changing where I get sent from 005 (Last event in Orbornne) in the attack.out so it's obviously working. I've also tried the other Colliery locations with similar results. I can change the ENDT with FFTpatcher but I can't change anything else through attack.out.

[Xifanie]

If the page I linked you doesn't say what 0x009F is, then I don't know either. Whenever I learn something new, I add it to the list.

You're probably right about 001D calling that text box, as for the rest, looks good.

To change your current location, use:
Zero(x0031)
Add(x0031,x????)

x???? being the new location

Just put it at the end of the event.

[Zafire]

Wow, I was thinking that was far more complicated than it really was. That worked great. Thank you!

[Zafire]

Well I hit another brick wall. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. I changed everything so I would start out at Igros. I drew the paths so I would have Mandalia and Gariland open to me after I hit the world map. Here is what I did:

0100| IF
2F02| GARLAND/Mandalia Plains
0000| EQUALS nothing
0100| IF
6E00| STORY PROGRESS
0100|EQUALS 0001
2000|Draw Line
0600|Garland
1800|Mandalia
CHANGE 0600 to 1800
CHANGE 1800 to 0600

This just makes the path open in reverse. It works if I start off at Gariland.

0100 IF
1802| Mandalia Plains
0000| ISNT THERE
0100| IF
6E00| STORY IS AT
0100| 0001
2200| Draw Location
1800| Mandalia Plains

0100| IF
2D02| IGROS/MANDALIA LOCATION
0000| ISNT THERE
0100| IF
6E00| STORY
0100|IS AT 0001
2000|DRAW LINE
1800| MANDALIA
0200|IGROS


0100| IF
0202|IGROS CASTLE
0000 IS NOT THERE
0100 IF
6E00 STORY IS AT
0100 0001
2200 DRAW LOCATION
0200 IGROS
CHANGED 0202 TO 0206
CHANGED 0200 TO 0600

This was the big one I changed because, since I started off at Igros, I needed to replace Gariland.

Anyway, everything works fine if I start off at Gariland (It doesn't open Igros obviously since I changed it, but it *does* open Mandalia). Also, the World Message box pops up if I start off at Gariland.

Now if I start off at Igros, nothing happens at all. I go to the world map, on Igros, with all the menus available to me. I can even go in the Igros shop and purchase things.  No world map locations open up, and the World Message help box does not pop up either. I can force the locations to open from the event instructions, but I'd rather just do it right

[Xifanie]

You might need to enable the location Igros using ZERO/ADD... it might ignore the fact that you are at Igros if the location isn't drawn, I don't know.

And all your code is under Igros Castle and not Gariland, right? If you just edited Gariland's stuff, of course that won't work.

[Zafire]

You might need to enable the location Igros using ZERO/ADD... it might ignore the fact that you are at Igros if the location isn't drawn, I don't know.

And all your code is under Igros Castle and not Gariland, right? If you just edited Gariland's stuff, of course that won't work.

For the first part, yes. I enabled Igros location. I can shop there, visit the bar, etc. Here, let me show you my event edit. I'll just copy/paste the relevant stuff. I'm not quite sure what you mean by your second sentence. I am under the assumption (and I hope I am wrong so I can get this working lol) that as long as I'm on the world map in the proper storyline progression the paths would open if I told them to do so.

RemoveDarkScreen()
WaitForInstruction(x36,x00)
{1C}(r01)
{49}()
{82}()
{4A}()
Wait(00080)
{60}(r003C)
{3E}(r02000000FFFFFF3C00)
WaitForInstruction(x0C,x00)
{7C}()

//Below sends me to Garland to start off
//Edited to send me to Igros instead
ZERO(x0031)
ADD(x0031,x0002)

//Below adds one to storyline progression
ZERO(x006E)
ADD(x006E,x0001)

//Adds one to shop item availability
ZERO(x006F)
ADD(x006F,x0001)

//Adds "Cadets" to record
ZERO(x01BC)
ADD(x01BC,x0001)

//Adds ONE to Garland Magic City World Map Locations
//Edited to add ONE to Igros World Map Location
ZERO(x0202)
ADD(x0202,x0001)



//Garland Magic Citys Color 01=Blue
//Edited to change Igros Castle to Blue
ZERO(x0269)
ADD(x0269,x0001)

//Adds Rumor "The Death Corps"
ZERO(x02D1)
ADD(x02D1,x0001)

//Adds Rumor "The King Omdoria"
ZERO(x02D2)
ADD(x02D2,x0001)

//The Fifty Year War
ZERO(x02D3)
ADD(x02D3,x0001)

//Adds "Ramza" to Biography
ZERO(x03C0)
ADD(x03C0,x0001)

//Adds "Delita" to Biography
ZERO(x03C1)
ADD(x03C1,x0001)

//adds "Larg" to Biography
ZERO(x03C6)
ADD(x03C6,x0001)

//Adds "Goltana" to Biography
ZERO(x03C7)
ADD(x03C7,x0001)

//Adds "Omdolia" to Biography
ZERO(x03CA)
ADD(x03CA,x0001)

//Adds "Elmdor" to Biography
ZERO(x03DE)
ADD(x03DE,x0001)

//Adds "Alazlam" to Biography
ZERO(x03FF)
ADD(x03FF,x0001)

{4B}()
EventEnd()

[Xifanie]

No, you are wrong. If you are editing the section under Gariland magic city, the only way anything can happen with what is listed there (including paths and location drawing), is if you go to Gariland, end an event and appear at Gariland on the world map or try to leave Gariland (see Goug in vanilla). You need to move all your code to Igros if you want Igros to be able to run that code.

[Zafire]

I deeply apologize for my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by "Move your code to Igros"?

As in, overwrite the Igros lines in the hex editor with all my code from Gariland and viceversa?