Final Fantasy Hacktics

For future reference if anyone wants to know how to undo a hack - if you're really desperate there is a way and it doesn't require even close to the same level of knowledge to actually create the hacks, just tracking down where the code was changed and in which files, information contained clearly in the XML file.

If you're trying to simply remove one hack from your ISO and don't want to have to start everything from scratch with a Vanilla ISO, here's what you can do:

- Download a HexEditor - I'm personally using Frhed.

- Download CDMage from this site.

- Open the XML file for the hack you're trying to undo in Notepad.

- In the XML file, Edit-> Find the name of the hack as it appears in orgASM - you'll find something like this:

<Patch name="Regain 10% of Max MP after each turn">
    <Description>Regain 10% of Max MP after each turn</Description>
    <Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="F6EBC">
      2E000296
      9919033C
      09004224
      9A996334
      18004300
      1980033C
      902D638C
      10100000
      0A0062A4
      10000234
      250062A0
      FD350608
      5B000392
    </Location>
    <Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="1267EC">
      AF770508
      00000000
    </Location>
  </Patch>

- <Location File=" will show the file the hack altered, in this example it says BATTLE_BIN so it edited Battle.BIN.

- Open your ISO with CDMage.

- Extract the file(s) the hack altered.

- Open them up in your Hex Editor.

- Do the same with for Vanilla ISO.

- Back to the XML file - next to the file the hack alters will be the offset such as F6EBC above in the example; copy that offset.

- Back in Frhed, go to the modified file, press Ctrl+G, type "x" into the dialogue box (tells Frhed it's a hexadecimal number) and then paste in the offset you copied and press enter.

- Do the same with the Vanilla version of the file.

- Last time back to the XML file, check the hex code underneath the location tag - however long the code is you need to copy and paste the same amount of data from the Vanilla file onto the modified file - for example, if your XML shows something like this:

    <Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="F6EBC">
      2E000296
      9919033C
      09004224
      9A996334
      18004300
      1980033C

Then you need to copy 48 characters (24 bytes) of data from that offset in the Vanilla file and Paste OVER (DO NOT INSERT) the same data in the modified file - Frhed will paste over (Paste Write) by default but some other Hex Editors do not.

- Repeat this for each of the offsets/files that the hack changed.

- Finally, reopen the modified ISO and import the files you changed.

You need to weigh up whether it's quicker to do this or start from scratch, it depends on how much you've modified your version of the game vs. how much you want to remove. I've personally done this twice because it would've taken me longer to start from scratch.

Good luck!

Yes, you can.

You need to set it so the Dark Knight class has a 5 in the Knight block. Lastly, in the "Shares with" column set that to Knight.

If you mean you want the new Dark Knight's skillset to also include the skills of the regular Knight then you will need to make a new version of the Dark Knight + new Skillset to include all of those skills, then repeat the steps above.

Well, as far as I've been able to tell, the issue seems to be with the EQUAL TO/NOT EQUAL TO operators as using GREATER THAN or LESS THAN works a treat.

Damn.

Well thanks Choto, I'll see what I can do just by mucking around with it.

Hi again!

I'm currently having problems with the Identity restriction with RAD3 and wondered if anyone could help: simply, it doesn't seem to be working for me.

I have added in 04 for the identity restriction so that only Ramza can use it and I've attached a screenie of the spreadsheet with this.

I have also attached a screenshot of World.BIN extracted from my ISO in a hex editor showing that the change has gone through all the way into the ISO.

However, everyone can access this class and I'm quite stumped as to why.

Thanks!

Unfortunately, I am also unable to get the Identity restriction to work with RAD. I will post screenshots later but I have set the "IDENTITY EQUAL TO" field for a particular class to 04 which should restrict it to Ramza in Ch4.

However, everyone can access the class.

I am also using Microsoft Excel so no issues there.

Alright, thanks guys. I had the .478 Patcher from a few weeks ago, nice that there's an update

Almost got the game in a state where I can just play it through beginning to end rather than playing 30 second intervals and 30 mins fixing bugs! Finally...

Hiya!

Nailed it. It's one of Razele's hacks found in this thread: http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=1785.0

The hacks that change formulas 09 (Demi), 0D (Raise), 0E (Death), 10 (Life Drain), 35 (Revive), 47 (Blood Suck), 4D (Mutilate), and 53 (Hurricane) to use Min(999,MaxHP).

Here's the code:

<Patch name="Change % HP formulas to use Min(999,MaxHP)">
    <Description>
      Formulas affected include 09 (Demi), 0D (Raise), 0E (Death), 10 (Life Drain), 35 (Revive), 47 (Blood Suck), 4D (Mutilate), and 53 (Hurricane).
    </Description>
    <Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="11F624">
      2108E003
      DF54000C
      1980023C
      21F82000
      1980033C
      FA386390
    </Location>
    <Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="EC7FC">
      982D428C
      00000000
      2A004290
      054e0508
      E803432C
    </Location>
    <Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="0ec814">
      02006014
      00000000
      E7030234
      1980033C
      902D638C
      0800E003
      00000000
    </Location>
  </Patch>

Thanks

Hi Raven,

I looked into this more and the problem isn't with this skill specifically or even gravity-based skills as I've been getting the same issue now with any skill that revives someone, even when I haven't done anything to the skill in question. For a little while, I didn't make the connection but it seems basically any formula that displays a value that is calculated based upon the target's HP is causing my game to crash.

It seems an ASM hack I've downloaded and installed has somehow caused issues as I started from scratch with a new ISO, installed my own patches without any ASM hacks and it's working fine. So I'm now looking into adding each of the ASM hacks I wanted, one by one, to work out which is causing the issues.

Thanks for the help

Hi Raven,

Thanks for the reply. I've tried each of these things and am unfortunately still getting the same problems. In desperation I even tried copying the Gravity skill over this one and using that without changing a thing - it still crashes!

I've already made a few arrow skills so the "Charge" skill set has been set to default.

It's really weird but for now I may just give up on this ability - perhaps there's some hardcoding for gravity-based attacks?

Hi All!

Got a little issue I can't work out how to fix. I'm currently trying to make a ranged attack for the archer that works like the gravity spell. For some reason, this attack causes the game to crash when a target is selected as if it's having trouble calculating the damage it should apply. I'm using the same formula as Gravity (formula 9) and have also tried formula 53 but no matter which I select I'm seeing crashes and it's always when I select a target.

Please see a screenshot of the options selected for the attack in the FFTPatcher. Also, don't worry about the fact I'm using empty skill slots as all the others work perfectly.



Thanks guys.

I'll reply more on this when I get home but it's worth mentioning that ePSXe is -very- finicky when it comes to FFT. I'll paste the settings I have which display everything correctly later and see if that helps.

If not then it's definitely patching issues.

Yes it is alot more finicky to add formation sprites, which is ironic since it's only a single one-directional sprite and portrait vs. an entire sprite sheet.

Once you get the process down though you'll find yourself whizzing through it.

Unfortunately, I can tell you now from experience (having done this myself) there's no easy way to do this because once you've done the Battle and Formation (Menu) Sprites, guess what? His sprite in cutscenes (events) is independent and therefore will require you to modify that.

There's about 30-40 different sprite sheets with Ramza on in various poses and all will need to be modified.

If, per chance, you've changed his sprite to the "FFT Mercenaries" sprite on this site (the black armour with a sand-coloured cape) then you're in luck as I've already modified a great deal of the cutscenes with Razma to use this sprite so I can send to you (only Ch4 though I'm afraid).

EXACTLY the same issue as the above, it seems that this problem exists with new classes unfortunately.

Does anyone know a class in the game below ID 30 that does not appear in a battle? I don't want to see an NPC with my new class, basically.

Aaargh!

Yeah I just found that the program adds about 10-15 sheets at the end that are blank so if you truncate the file it simply trims it back down to size. Unfortunately, I didn't find this out until after I bricked my old ISO *weeps*.

Thanks for the quick reply though and the help

Hi Guys,

I've been mucking around with my FFT for awhile now thanks to alot of help on these forums and so far been fine on my own but I've hit a bit of a wall.

I'm currently trying to edit Ramza's sprite in various events in the game. I've made all the edits, the files are ready and in the correct formats etc. The issue I have is that when using EvtChrView, when saving the file it increases the filesize from the normal 4110KB to 4500KB. This happens even when I don't edit the images contained in the file. So if I simply open up the default EVTCHR.BIN and resave it using the program, it increases the file size to 4500KB?

I tried inserting this back into the ISO using MagicISO (since I couldn't do it with CDMage as it would truncate the file) and the ISO is now unreadable.

Could anyone help with how I can save this file without inflating its size?

Thanks!