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FFTText Editor v1.1

Started by Xifanie, December 31, 2015, 08:09:22 pm

Xifanie

December 31, 2015, 08:09:22 pm Last Edit: February 22, 2022, 12:07:52 pm by Xifanie
FFTText Editor v1.1
NOTE: WotL is not properly supported yet with the current version

Easily locate text, in this convenient, neatly ordered editor!

See live what your text looks like in game, along with line lengths! (minus font colours)

Lots of settings!

What is this?
[indent=2]This tool allows to conveniently edit a .ffttext file generated by FFTacText, then generate a new one to load in FFTacText and easily + quickly generate/update your resources.zip. It is used by many of my tools to directly fetch text data for my hacks so that you know what is what without typing everything yourself.[/indent]

Requirements
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Excel 2007 or higher (with macros enabled)

Instructions
  • Extract Altima_8.ttf from FFT_Font.zip to C:\Windows\Fonts
  • Open FFTText Editor.xlsm
  • Check out the tutorial in the next post

Download
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful

Xifanie

December 31, 2015, 08:10:12 pm #1 Last Edit: January 06, 2016, 10:40:06 pm by Xifanie
This tutorial is still in construction 'n stuff

Introduction
[indent=2]The first thing you want to do, is open the Add-Ins ribbon (tab if you prefer, but I will be using the term ribbon as it is the official name used by Microsoft Excel). If you are on the FFTText sheet (or if you switch to it), this Custom Toolbar will appear:



Edit Selection
[indent=2]Opens the "Edit" sheet with the current selection.[/indent]
Edit All
[indent=2]Opens the "Edit" sheet with every entry of the current section from the first to the last non-blank one.[/indent]
Import .ffttext
[indent=2]Imports a .ffttext file generated by FFTTactext.[/indent]
Export .ffttext
[indent=2]Exports a .ffttext file generated by the spreadsheet ready for immediate patching to a FFT Image using FFTTactext.[/indent]
Clear Sheet
[indent=2]Wipes a sheet of its .ffttext contents.[/indent]
Resources.zip
[indent=2]Generates or Updates an existing Resources.zip with the information data of the spreadsheet.[/indent]

Now, if you are instead in the Edit sheet, you will see different options:



Save Edits
[indent=2]Straightforward, saves the Edit sheet's changes back into the FFTText sheet.[/indent]
Exit without saving
[indent=2]Back to the FFTText sheet.[/indent]
Add Pages
[indent=2]Append a number of pages at the end of the current entry. *[/indent]
Delete Pages
[indent=2]Removes a number of pages at the end of the current entry. *[/indent]
Notepad Emulator
[indent=2]I created a tool that is essentially a super notepad to help you out with your line lengths and such. Give it a try, you'll love it![/indent]
Show/Hide End of Line
[indent=2]Sometimes you need to pad at the end of the line with spaces to give the text proper formatting. You can choose to show/hide a character to see where the line actually ends.[/indent]

* About Pages:
[indent=2]A page is a given number of lines. For example, quotes are 3 lines. If the section only contains unit quotes (be it spell quotes, removal quotes, proposition quotes), I set the workbook to assume the page length is 3 lines. So unless you have all sorts of data inside the same section, a page should be as long as the number of lines the game would normally allow. 3 lines for unit dialogues, 4 for help/check boxes, 10 lines for brave story/propositions, etc.[/indent]

[/indent]

Legend
[indent=2][highlight=#D8D8D8]PSX/PSP Resources.zip text[/highlight]
QuickEdit: The text present under these columns is used in multiple sections.
[highlight=#E5E0EC]Japanese... stuff.[/highlight]: ¯\(°_o)/¯ Just delete it.
[highlight=#F2DDDC]Copied Resources[/highlight]: Fetches information from a QuickEdit column. There should never be a need to edit those.
[highlight=#E6B9B8]Copied Section[/highlight]: Fetches information from a QuickEdit column. There should never be a need to edit those.
[highlight=#EAF1DD]Empty Section[/highlight]: Contains literally nothing. You might be able to use these sections with ASM hacks for your needs.
[highlight=#B6DDE8]References[/highlight]: They are purely used as references and never exported into .ffttext files or resources.zip.
[highlight=#BEF0D4]Any[/highlight][highlight=#EE70B0] ot[/highlight][highlight=#8060FF]her[/highlight][highlight=#A0FFE0] co[/highlight][highlight=#E0B0C0]lor[/highlight]: I just tried to mix and match to have sections of the same "type" the same colour.[/indent]

Editing
[indent=2]Only ever use zoom multiples of 100% in the Edit sheet! Otherwise, the Altima Font will not be proportionate with the column width, and you won't be able to tell how close/far to the line limit you will be with that visual reference. There's always the numbers, but I really recommend using these zoom values only.[/indent]
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful

Rodil

I was finally able to start using this tool today and it was extremely convenient.  I was able to change over half of the ability names and descriptions in the game in a very short amount of time in a simple spreadsheet format.  An easy view of how the descriptions will look in the game was also super nice.  I haven't had a chance to test many features at all yet, but those I have have been really great.  Thanks Xifanie!

Choto

I did run into an exception with TacText while trying to patch a an iso with a file edited with the FFTText Editor >_>

I gotta try editing it again from a fresh base and see if I can find out what's causing it. Maybe a bad character like an ! or something?

but that aside, this thing is nothing short of friggin awesome :)

Xifanie

Oh... I completely forgot. The Microsoft Office suite has an option enabled by default where it will convert characters... for example "..." will be converted into a single character (unicode). I think that's the most likely reason you're getting that error.

I'm pretty sure it's under Excel Options/Proofing/Autocorrect Options, type "..." and remove that entry.
But you'll still have to replace all instances of that unicode character into "...".
I forgot if there's another common character like this... tell me how that works out. x.x
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful

Xifanie

January 06, 2016, 09:52:00 pm #5 Last Edit: June 10, 2016, 10:22:29 am by Xifanie
v1.01

  • Added "Scan for Invalid Chars" function, which searches in all FFTText cells for characters that would prevent a .ffttext file from working properly

  • Added the "Convert Characters" section in the "Settings" page. It automatically converts characters when importing/exporting files to ensure ease of use and proper .ffttext/resources.zip formats.

  • Changed Formula 0x64 to "Dmg_(PA * WP); if using Spear (PA * 3/2 * WP); if weaponless (PA * Brave /100 * WP)"


Note to self:

  • Change scan for invalid chars icon to a magnifying glass

  • Add Music/Songs column

  • Add PSP/Items/Strings.xml for PSX release (because the shop progression values for the PSX version are stored in there, for .483+)



Download me
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful

Heisho

Hi there,

I downloaded the file and using Excel 2010 but I'm keep getting this error message:

Run-time error 1004:
Unable to get VLookup property of the Worksheet Function class

What's wrong on my end?
  • Modding version: PSX
Grrr, arwg, hiss, and some other zombie noises...
  • Discord username: Heisho

Xifanie

Are you trying to use it for WotL? Because I've been told I've gone at it all wrong since FFTactext uses completely different Section Names for WotL vs PSX, meaning my spreadsheet is just not going to work for WotL.
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful

Heisho

Thanks for replying.

And yes, for the disgust of all, I'm doing a project on WotL.
Anyway it's ok, I think I'll have to handle it manually. The main attraction for me was the possibility to update the resources file, something that I found pretty convenient.

So I think I'll use it when I'm finished with this and start working on the PSX. I'm kinda fond of the PSP version and the headaches for being very hard to hack are part of my "training" on this. In fact I discovered a way to add additional fully functional Iaido abilities with no ASM hacks, which I'll implement on this project.

So thanks for the tool anyway I'll check it on its due time.

Regards
  • Modding version: PSX
Grrr, arwg, hiss, and some other zombie noises...
  • Discord username: Heisho

messiahgov

Hello Xifanie,

I run into a problem to actually use the spreadsheet. All macros and VBA is allowed, but whenever I press any of the Add-Ins buttons on the FFTText sheet, Excel gives me an error. The macro can't be executed etc. I totally allowed them at the Trust Center and pressing ALT+F11 shows the VBA stuff. But I'm a bit lost on how to fix that at all. Do I need some missing runtime or could there be some setting? I installed the "Altima_8" font, have a clean .ffttext and also the resources.zip in the same folder. Hoped it would help, but no, not at all. :D I'm using Excel 2016. Maybe I forgot to install some module for Excel at the Office setup?

Xifanie

No... the Altima thing is the only thing you should have to install.
I have no idea what could cause that to happen, and I only have Excel 2007 so I can't quite test 2016, sorry. :/

This is very confusing to me because it sounds like a problem allowing VBA to run, but you get the Add-Ins buttons (which does require VBA for them to appear), so I really have no clue. I don't know if anyone else with Excel 2016 successfully or unsuccessfully used this spreadsheet before.
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful

messiahgov

Thanks for your quick answer! So it might actually be a problem with Excel 2016 itself in combination with a Excel 2007 created file. Okay. I have the chance to use Excel 2007 on work (also 2010). I will try it there Monday. The VBA stuff should be installed by default at the Office setup, or? Means they should be there on work. I'm expecting some kind of pop window to let me choose the *.ffttext file etc. and the last time I at least tried to use some Excel spreadsheet, was here from FFHacktics and it's long ago (~2013). I was sure that's not a problem with the spreadsheet itself, but on my side. So after searching the whole forum/Google for spreadsheet + vba problems like mine, without any luck, I posted here and digged up your thread. In 2013 my main goal was to translate FFT to German and I got stuck at the hardcoded menu bitmaps, too long location names on map etc. I think I want to revive my project in the near future and was in search for new tools etc. and stumbled upon your FFTText Editor, which sounded to good to be true. :D

messiahgov

September 02, 2017, 06:35:01 pm #12 Last Edit: September 03, 2017, 01:11:41 pm by messiahgov
Just to clear the problem, it seems to be a problem for Excel if the sheet is placed deep on a HDD. Just moving the folder with the sheet at the HDD root solved the VBA problem. I can now load my *.ffttext without any problem as it seems. Also there where a problem with the "ChDir FolderFromPath" value, it couldn't find the last path from "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\FFHacktics\Last Tactext FilePath", just deleting those entry at the registry fixed it. Somehow it created registry values without any real path and errors as soon as it tried to open the file path window. But now it works, even with Excel 2016. ;)

daft_inquisitor

Any way to have this sheet work with Libre Office? I don't really have access to Excel, and don't want to pay for a copy for literally just this.  :|
  • Modding version: PSX

Xifanie

No.

But how many people who use my spreadsheets do you think actually pay for Microsoft Office? ¬_¬
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful

daft_inquisitor

One more quick question, for the "Copied" sections, are they vital to be exported? Like, does the game itself just reference those sections normally, or is it something that can be cleaned up a bit to save some space? I figure it's only a "copied" section in your spreadsheet to minimize the amount of text that needs to be modified, but just want to be sure before I end up breaking something.
  • Modding version: PSX

Xifanie

They're essential. For example, item names are used in different files and different sections whether you're on the formation screen, or on the squad screen, or the battle rewards screen and so on. So they should be identical.
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful

Xifanie

A "bug" was reported to me where no lines would be editable using "Edit All". This is caused by both a column and its reference column only having blank slots. Some people might want to use this for accurately creating dialogue boxes in events, but the tool wasn't mean to just try and Edit All blank columns without proper references.

There's also a bug that if you moved/renamed/deleted the folder with the last .ffttext file you loaded will cause an error. This will be fixed in the next release. (You can manually fix it by editing HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\FFHacktics\Last Tactext FilePath)
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful

EnderC

January 09, 2021, 03:17:48 pm #18 Last Edit: January 09, 2021, 03:47:46 pm by EnderC
I've got a bug to report: See the Edit for steps to solve this problem:

Starting with a fresh image, I've created a fftext file w/ TacText from the base vanilla game. I then imported it into the TextEditor and exported a second fftext file.

First, the second file (XML-saved) is much smaller than the original, even though no text was changed while in the Editor.

base: 3.95 MB (4,150,937 bytes)
edit: 3.50 MB (3,676,136 bytes)

Secondly, patching a vanilla image with FFTacText fails when using the second file with the following error:

DTE for CARD.OUT 2 failed.

Is the large file size difference expected? I've disabled autocorrect in Excel and I'm using a fresh copy of the worksheet in Excel 2010 on Windows 10.

Edit: Thanks to Elric for the fix:

Visit the Settings tab in the workbook and Uncheck (just hit Delete on the checkmark) CARD.OUT 2 under Export before you save your fftext file.

When you then import your fftext file into FFTacText, it will ask if you want to import the missing data from your image. Once you do this, you should be able to patch your ISO successfully. Probably a good idea to save over the exported file once you import the missing data in FFTacText afterwards.
  • Modding version: PSX
  • Discord username: EnderC

Xifanie

v1.1 Release:
  • Made character replacement a lot faster (importing/exporting/saving resources should all be significantly faster)
  • Fixed a bug where cancelling out of import/export or deleting a directory that was previously used for importing/exporting would force the user to delete a registry key to use the features
  • Fixed an issue with CARD.OUT 2 where several strings were saved as copies instead of blank entries, making Tactext unable to compress the section because of too much text
  • Modding version: PSX
Love what you're seeing? https://supportus.ffhacktics.com/ 💜 it's really appreciated

Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
<R999> My target market is not FFT mod players
<Raijinili> remember that? it was awful