Now this is something I know there have been a lot of requests for, including from myself back in the day.
Well as the saying goes, "If you want something done right, do it yourself." and that is what I've aimed for here.
Just so there's no confusion: Images will be posted ABOVE the text referring to them. If a picture doesn't make
sense on its own, scroll down and read a bit.
Here's the list of programs you'll need for importing new formation sprites: Shishi Sprite Editor, Graphics Gale, FFTEVGRP, CDMage
This tutorial will start by assuming you have already replaced the sprite in your ISO with Shishi. If you haven't done that already,
do so.
Ready? Okay, good. You made sure to set the new sprite's SHP and SEQ to the proper Type for the new sprite, right? I'll wait.
Okay, for this tutorial we'll be replacing the Male Monk with Vanya's Spikey Warrior custom sprite.
Step 1: Open your ISO (or BIN or what have you) in CDMage (as "M2/2352 track" - nothing else seems to work for me).
If you do get an error as in the image above, just click Yes. This has never caused an issue for me and it frequently happens.
Locate the EVENT folder, scroll to the bottom and right-click UNIT.BIN and select Extract Files. Repeat this process for WLDFACE.BIN.
Step 2: Open UNIT.BIN and WLDFACE.BIN in FFTEVGRP. This is pretty self-explanitory, I hope. Here's a picture just in case.
Each one will be accessible through their own tabs at the top-left of the window once opened.
Step 3: Find the sprite you're replacing on the list in FFTEVGRP and use the Save BMP function.
(Its possible that this step may be redundant but I find it is the most effective way to get an image
file that FFTEVGRP will accept for Import later.)
I always just save them as the default filename FFTEVGRP creates for them as you can see here.
Step 4: Close CDMage (if you haven't already) and open your ISO in Shishi (Note: Failure to close CDMage
or Shishi when trying to load your ISO into the other program will give you an error.)
Load up the sprite you have already replaced in the ISO with Shishi and take a screenshot with PrntScrn.
Also if you do not have your new sprite saved in BMP format, select Export As BMP from the menu and save
the sprite into a new file. (Yeah, this probably didn't need an image but I'm being thorough.)
Step 5: Open Graphics Gale and create a new image. Paste your screenshot into this new image. This is
where we will get the graphics for the new formation screen. Just keep it open for later.
Step 6: Open the exported UNIT and WLDFACE images you got from FFTEVGRP in Graphics Gale. I like to zoom
these images up a bit to make lining up things for editing easier.
Step 7: Now we're going to load the color palettes for the new formation sprites. If you don't have a Palette window
open in Graphics Gale already you can get one by going up to View > Palette. In the Palette window click the little
underlined down-arrow and select Load Palette.
Next, click the File button and choose Import From File. This is why we exported the new sprite from Shishi as a BMP.
Open that BMP file and you will get a new window with a whole bunch of little colored tiles. On the left are the palettes
from the BMP you opened. On the right is the palette for the image you're editing, be it the unit or the portrait.
The top 8 rows are the unit palettes while the bottom 8 are portrait palettes. Drag and highlight the top row of colors
from the one you're editing, unit or portrait, and then click the left-most tile on the right. This will replace the entire
palette.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The 'Match pixels with colors' checkbox must be flagged (default) for portraits and must be
UNFLAGGED for the unit palette. If you don't get this right your images will look all wonky. I can't count how many
times I messed this up before I realized what the problem was.
Once you've got your new palette loaded to the tiles on the right, click OK and you should see a change in your image.
Repeat this process for both the unit and portrait images and we'll move on.
Step 8: Now this is where we need that screenshot of Shishi. with the new palettes loaded into the UNIT and
WLDFACE images we can now just copy and paste the sprites from the spritesheet and they will look correct. The unit
sprite is easy enough but the portrait will need to be rotated counter-clockwise 90 degrees. Once again, zoom is applied
for ease of editing.
Just grab that little box attached to the line once you've selected the portrait area and drag it up and left until everything
looks nice and aligned.
Then Copy from the spritesheet and paste over the old portrait. Now save your modified UNIT and WLDFACE images.
Step 9: Back to FFTEVGRP. If you followed all the steps thusfar there should be no errors here. Simply select Import BMP
and load up your UNIT and WLDFACE images. Note the blue exclamation points on the tabs for the different files.
These indicate unsaved changes. To save, just click the Save File button in the bottom right on each tab. You will also
want to click Save WLDFACE4.BIN (I have no idea what this file does, honestly, but I create and import it to my ISO
everytime and everything works so I continue to do so. If someone knows if this is redundant, let me know.)
Step 10: If you still have Shishi open, close it and re-open your ISO in CDMage just like in Step 1. You'll want to do
much the same as you did in Step 2 except now we'll be using the Import File function from the right-click menu. Do this
for UNIT.BIN, WLDFACE.BIN and the new WLDFACE4.BIN.
That's it! Close CDMage, load up your ISO and check out the new formation sprite!
Happy hacking! ^_^
