FFT: Emergence 2 [EN/ES] (PSP) [WIP]

[AchillesLupus]

This corruption issue is very weird. I guess it is an issue of my how I am patching with TactText, because I open a clean ISO and then constantly re-patch once I do some changes and maybe I only need to do it when I finish every single change. I have all sprites saved in a backup so that's not an issue - also that's not too much time. The problem is that I need to redo again all text changes and that's a lot of time.

That beta patch was just there as a preview to see if it would work with just name changes, and the weird thing is that beta version is working to me. If you want, play v0.99 instead but it doesn't have any in-game text. I'll try to make the final version once I have a lot of free time.

Yeah I've been playing the v0.99 and I like it a good bit. The blind status also giving oil and slow is honestly a bit much imo, as well as quite a few of the encounters having enemies that can attack more than one unit across 4+ tiles is excessive as well. Only thing that REALLY put me off was the Oran encounter having the Fran sprite package haha. It's just weird seeing that its supposed to be Oran... but it's Fran. Like I said, I don't have too many issues with the 0.99 version other than the Fran part and some more balancing. Also, I didn't seem to get shadow blade from the Gafgarrion fight. Is it supposed to show up a little later? or did you tweak how you get his abilities from the original Emergence?

[darkskyx]

News: New hotfix for ENG patch available. Check out "info patch" zone if you wanna see each thing I'm currently working on.

Yeah I've been playing the v0.99 and I like it a good bit. The blind status also giving oil and slow is honestly a bit much imo, as well as quite a few of the encounters having enemies that can attack more than one unit across 4+ tiles is excessive as well. Only thing that REALLY put me off was the Oran encounter having the Fran sprite package haha. It's just weird seeing that its supposed to be Oran... but it's Fran. Like I said, I don't have too many issues with the 0.99 version other than the Fran part and some more balancing. Also, I didn't seem to get shadow blade from the Gafgarrion fight. Is it supposed to show up a little later? or did you tweak how you get his abilities from the original Emergence?

-That blind + oil skill should have been changed to be more of a mid or late game tool, I have to revise again some JP changes. Maybe some are wrongly at 0 JP or lower costs. Since I'm going to make all in-game descriptions, I'll revise each skill so I think in the official version it would be fine. Edit: I revised it. The skill was evadable so I though it was fine at a lower cost, but I guess it wasn't. Slow is a powerful mechanic and it was not intended to be used earlier. I can also nerf that skill to be used in an area around, but it had to feel like a "sticky bomb". This skill was intended to be strong until you get Mentalist. Let me know more balance issues you see.

-You no longer gain that much free skills by hit, I think that was also changed in E1. BTW, there was 2 exact shadowblade skills in Emergence 1, I made it so there was 2 different ones... so maybe you see some skills name weird in v0.99
I think there's no need to learn skills from enemies or monsters since you can learn many by crystals and a cost-lowered JP UP reaction skill as well. I can change it if you had an issue in some fights like versus Gaffgarion but when I tested that fight it wasn't necessary for me.

-Yeah, maybe I forgot to change Oran in that battle because it was just a test for sprites. But don't worry, since I have some good news:

I think I 100% found the corruption issue!!!! It was totally my fault by a dumb change. Test the new hotfix patch, it should be working fine now. I think ESP ver. wasn't affected and I finally understood why. Download the lastest one and let me know if it worked. (Basically: My clean ISO got mixed with my patched ver. somehow and I didn't notice it until I have looked at it, basically I think I patched it by a mistake. Not a big issue but I didn't remember to do so.
This is why I didn't have any issue - because I was patching it fine with my edited ISO - but you all had the real clean ISO so ofc it would get corrupted)

Maybe I'll work on the final version soon, IDK. What I can do is keep making changes slowly then copy-paste everything. WotL patches are not easy to update.

[AchillesLupus]

News: New hotfix for ENG patch available. Check out "info patch" zone if you wanna see each thing I'm currently working on.
-That blind + oil skill should have been changed to be more of a mid or late game tool, I have to revise again some JP changes. Maybe some are wrongly at 0 JP or lower costs. Since I'm going to make all in-game descriptions, I'll revise each skill so I think in the official version it would be fine. Edit: I revised it. The skill was evadable so I though it was fine at a lower cost, but I guess it wasn't. Slow is a powerful mechanic and it was not intended to be used earlier. I can also nerf that skill to be used in an area around, but it had to feel like a "sticky bomb". This skill was intended to be strong until you get Mentalist. Let me know more balance issues you see.

-You no longer gain that much free skills by hit, I think that was also changed in E1. BTW, there was 2 exact shadowblade skills in Emergence 1, I made it so there was 2 different ones... so maybe you see some skills name weird in v0.99
I think there's no need to learn skills from enemies or monsters since you can learn many by crystals and a cost-lowered JP UP reaction skill as well. I can change it if you had an issue in some fights like versus Gaffgarion but when I tested that fight it wasn't necessary for me.

-Yeah, maybe I forgot to change Oran in that battle because it was just a test for sprites. But don't worry, since I have some good news:

I think I 100% found the corruption issue!!!! It was totally my fault by a dumb change. Test the new hotfix patch, it should be working fine now. I think ESP ver. wasn't affected and I finally understood why. Download the lastest one and let me know if it worked. (Basically: My clean ISO got mixed with my patched ver. somehow and I didn't notice it until I have looked at it, basically I think I patched it by a mistake. Not a big issue but I didn't remember to do so.
This is why I didn't have any issue - because I was patching it fine with my edited ISO - but you all had the real clean ISO so ofc it would get corrupted)

Maybe I'll work on the final version soon, IDK. What I can do is keep making changes slowly then copy-paste everything. WotL patches are not easy to update.

That fixed it! It's up and running! I'll dabble with this a little more and give more feedback. I really appreciate it! Not getting it off hit wasn't a big deal, I was just trying to get a feel for when new abilities for Ramza would become available is all.

[darkskyx]

That fixed it! It's up and running! I'll dabble with this a little more and give more feedback. I really appreciate it! Not getting it off hit wasn't a big deal, I was just trying to get a feel for when new abilities for Ramza would become available is all.

Good to know. Finally! I'll erase v0.99 again as 1.0 beta is now the best one (as it shows most names and descriptions).

Oh btw, sprites for enemies are wrong in v0.99 and beta v1.0. I though it was the 2nd palette but it is the last one (5th) so I need to redo all the palettes and include every one in the game again (my bad for not testing it hehe - not too much work). Also, I forgot to include some portraits like Meliadoul one - as I had to redo my patch again (it is ok in v0.99). This will be fixed in the release version.

This beta patch can be harder earlier because Rogue & Rebel jobs (Thief & Ninja) are swapped for enemies and I need to fix it, so keep that in mind.

-

(Oct, 25) Edit: Now that ESP and ENG versions are playable -as the beta ver. was uploaded- I'm gonna try to rush v1.0 just for ENG version and then I will finish ESP version so the project will be moved to completed mods. I stopped making changes for a few days but I'll keep making changes with a medium or low priority. The only time it was a very high priority is when I finished beta version, that was intended to be the official one but there was a lot of work left to do.
It's not just the changes but also the testing and researchment I had to do what is delaying the project. I will also take the opportunity to polish more everything so it will have a better release. News: New intro image, I've finished every image from the ISO (Icon too) and I've learned how to change the title. Here's the ESP version:

[darun]

small feedback, i like idea behind this mod class rework, but...
i have feel that paladin class very op for starter and must be hidden like dark knight, i find very annoying when in 1st battle (cadets) 50% of pals start spawn judge blades on everything, i cant say that this fun, cos trigger me asap get same skills and ignore other classes as per se, no point lean archer if i can spawn range blade skills , same i can say for most other classes.  even rogue skills not break game like paladin.

[darkskyx]

small feedback, i like idea behind this mod class rework, but...
i have feel that paladin class very op for starter and must be hidden like dark knight, i find very annoying when in 1st battle (cadets) 50% of pals start spawn judge blades on everything, i cant say that this fun, cos trigger me asap get same skills and ignore other classes as per se, no point lean archer if i can spawn range blade skills , same i can say for most other classes.  even rogue skills not break game like paladin.

Good feedback. Those skills were added recently in 1.0 patch as a way to give Paladin more damage, but IT WAS A TEST and not a final change. I didn't do it correctly because I didn't test it yet to give the job fair JP costs. And since JP costs were shared with more units I forgot to test it... And that was a completely disaster. People might have played wrong the early game of this project. It was all my fault, I had been pushing so hard to release version 1.0 with all the skill names, at least as a beta that I did some things wrong in the process. That's why I am revising everything again and polishing every skill.

I agree with you that it is a powerful tool in the early game and shouldn't be available for every unit. I didn't think about enemies while doing that change. Also, it was a temporary change that I wanted to test so it shouldn't be there.
A Paladin mini-rework is on the way for the release patch to give some damage skills, and I'll delete those skills from that job again. That change I did could have been a good idea, but it would require more balance and it is not worth the time.
I'll add a new hotfix, if you want to play again the early game feel free to do so to see how it feels. Remember this project is still under beta phase.

Edit: I forgot to say it, but Dark Knight is instended to be powerful since you'll only have 1 and it is your main protagonist.

---

New hotfix patch!
I've added a few changes from next patch and two experimental skills for damage and heal (from dancer & bard) for Paladin as a test. Let me know how it feels.
This is again a experimental change, as I want to add some heal & damage to Paladin job but it can be weird as the skillset will be everywhere. I'm sure it can be very overpowered for the early game, but it is hard to have a skill that can scale good in this unit without destroying the early game.
The heal might be fine just adding more JP. I have the intention to remove the damage skill & add a similar one, adding more JP cost too.

[ngocquyvoice]

Hi DarkskyX.
Hope you are well!
I very love your job for this modding.
I downloaded Hotfix4 and test for 9 hours. I found some First Units's name like Jessie are missing, it's planked, only Bigg and Wegde are availabled.
Beside, i saw you mention "crystallization crash error" for anyone who want to make a mod. And now, could you fix this crystallization crash error for this Emergence 2? I just oppened modded iso via Tactext and Entry 60, 61 in BOOT.BIN[28E5EC] is not a short version. I try to fix but can't Patch the iso (DTE for OPEN.LZW failed. The ISO has NOT been modified).
Please help, there is no problem when the Chest appears, but when it turns into a Crystal, it immediately Crash.I spent all my time just to save state and load state and hope Chest shows up without error )
Thank you!

[darkskyx]

Hi DarkskyX.
Hope you are well!
I very love your job for this modding.
I downloaded Hotfix4 and test for 9 hours. I found some First Units's name like Jessie are missing, it's planked, only Bigg and Wegde are availabled.
Beside, i saw you mention "crystallization crash error" for anyone who want to make a mod. And now, could you fix this crystallization crash error for this Emergence 2? I just oppened modded iso via Tactext and Entry 60, 61 in BOOT.BIN[28E5EC] is not a short version. I try to fix but can't Patch the iso (DTE for OPEN.LZW failed. The ISO has NOT been modified).
Please help, there is no problem when the Chest appears, but when it turns into a Crystal, it immediately Crash.I spent all my time just to save state and load state and hope Chest shows up without error )
Thank you!

Hi. Well, let's talk about this issue (basically I forgot to fix it when I did my first 1.0 beta version):
I think I can fix it, and I will do it soon (when I can ofc). This is a beta and the gameplay is the main focus, I'm not testing every change since I started making version 1.0 from scratch (because I need to edit the vanilla version). If the gameplay is fine, that's everything I want to know.
Since nobody said that crystalization error to me, I thought maybe it wouldn't happen... But I'll keep an eye on it. It should be fixed in the final version since it is a known error, a hotfix wouldn't do it. Don't try to fix it because it requires a new version from scratch. And sorry for the inconveniences, but I'm doing changes when I can and I'm not testing enough. I just made a barely playable version and I'm editing the final version so people can play the beta with names and some descriptions.

I didn't touch Jessie and the initial events. I'm not sure what is happening but once I finish everything I'll test everything in a new run.

TL;DR: Fixes needs to arrive in the final version. I'll give priority to the English patch and finish it ASAP but I have more projects and little free time.

-

Now let's talk about why I disappeared for some time. Basically I was focused on other projects and playing games. I love tactics game and once a while I want to play them, but playing the same genre over and over again... well, that bores me. I wanna start making changes again and finish the beta so it can be finally playable without bugs. The most stable version without bugs was 0.99 (as it has the patch or Emergence 1) but it is no longer uploaded. I will start again with the final version hopefully soon and let's hope everything turns out well and I don't forget something. I don't know when it would be finished, maybe days or maybe months.

[darkskyx]

Hi everyone. I've been working lately in this project again. I've decided to give it at least a few minutes every day but there is a lot of work to do:
Description of all skills, skillsets descriptions, items descriptions... Even visually I need to finish it.

I think I should priorize to finish everything and then focus on the final touches to balance the gameplay, but since I'm actually revising every skill meanwhile I'm editing each description it's not easy... To do not waste so much time I'm not gonna test anything until the end (when I'm going to finish 1.0 patch).
If it is a lot of work, maybe I don't even finish all items descriptions until 1.1 patch that are less important.

Important: I've uploaded a FFTPatcher file for the preview of the changes of the next patch since I don't have time to upload a .ppf patch. Some changes were added in the last hotfix but there you have the latest ones. You can try to use 1.0v preview in a Emergence 1 ISO, but I didn't test if everything's ok.
Once v1.0 is released this file and the ones from the beta are going to be removed.

More new skills are coming since I discovered a few ones that wasn't that used. Make a new game if you want and let me know how the start of the game feels for Paladin skills.

Oh, one more thing: I discovered this webpage to know how inflict statuses work so it is pretty useful and I can finally fix some skills that I had problems with.

Edit (Feb 26): I finally finished to edit/revise all skill descriptions! That was the most ridiculous long text I had to edit until now. I'll release ENG version ASAP once I finish everything I had noted. The patch is close (I guess) but I need in-game testing. If I don't know what to do with some skills, maybe I won't put any description until patch 1.1. That patch is going to be the most complete for all text in-game and once I start it, I'm gonna revise everything again in a new gameplay run so everything will feel great.

Edit2: VERSION 1.0 IS ALMOST DONE! At least for text. I only need to revise changes in-game, do some final fixes & balance changes... and finally revise everything is okay. Once I start a new run, version 1.1 is going to be the one that will fix every little issue I see, all item descriptions and maybe I'll add some final balance changes for scaling too.

Edit3 (March 4): Good news! I started the final in-game text edition of patch 1.0! There's nothing left to do than to release this version copy-pasting text and adding all my work to the ISO, because all other minor fixes for late game or item descriptions were moved to be fixed in v1.0+, with some in-game testing of the late game and fixing everything in a new run until v1.1... I wanted to release even a more complete patch but I want to release ASAP since you people playing this 1.0 beta version have that cryst. bug.
I did some minor balance changes that I didn't have time to test so if something's wrong I have version v1.0x for that. Patch 1.1 is gonna be completed for the rest of the skills that I didn't remake yet.

[darkskyx]

Best news possible: I've finally released the hackmod officially, go test it! GO GO GO!

I'm waiting for the approval for moving this post to Completed mods. If I I see no movement in the following days I will create it myself & I'll move everything there.

There's only 1 thing I couldn't do and it is basically including a new PIC1.PNG and ICON0.PNG inside the ISO. If I do it the file is not corrupted but the patch file is so much bigger. Do you know a fix for it? Maybe I need to ask in Help section. Edit: Nevermind, done.

Also, to not confuse people and since it is not finished, I'm gonna upload the current beta Spanish version here until I translate my patch v1.0 again:

[Pandemoniu]

Thank you!

[乙en]

Thank you so much! I am looking forward to test it!

[darkskyx]

Hey guys I'm starting to test the game again from the start since I have some free time again.
I have encountered some bugs you already said to me and others that you don't:

-There are some names wrong that got moved. I don't know why. Nothing too important but it's not a bug I can fix soon.
I think this bug is related to adding more characters, because it displaced the names a bit. At first I tought it was due to other changes but it doesn't make sense. It will be fixed in v1.1 as it requires in-game text changes.
-Some cinematic cutscenes are wrong and shows characters in their old sprites but using the current one so the color glitches. I think it works like that because the game has animations for certain characters. I don't know if I can fix this since I'm actually replacing some unused in-combat characters (directly replacing it for new ones).
Since Vincent Valentine appears in the first cutscene MAYBE I can make it playable for the first fight, but I need to change dialogues.
-Rogue & Rebel (old Ninja & Thief) are still swapped in all the fights for the enemies so I need to test if there are issues around those units.

I can try to change some dialogues like from Simon (now Vincent) or fix some cutscenes, like those from Olan but: Paladin cutscenes will be wrong for sure.

Olan was changed to Goltanna, but I didn't realize that Goltanna was also used in cutscenes so I need to find a fix for that and it is not easy, basically I need to delete other unit that also has cutscenes.

I'll try to make a list of the wrong cutscenes that glitches animations here:
- Paladin replacing all squires (many times). Maybe using the original Squire fixes some animations but it would make the original Squire appear.
- Vincent replacing Simon (1 or 2 times)
- Goltanna, I'm sure he will have wrong animations. Edit: Fixed in v1.05.
- I'm not sure if Valmafra appears in the story and if she has animations.

I also figured out the first miniboss dialogue entrance is wrong: It shows "Rogue" name instead "Fuchs" - as well as Vincent replacing Simon that has a wrong name. Maybe I can change the portrait too but this requires event editing and I'm not sure if PSP version supports it. Wait a little so I can upload a hotfix about it. Edit: Moved to patch v1.1x.

[darkskyx]

Hey, again. New hotfix uploaded! New players should apply it as it fixes a lot of battles.

I found a way to fix the wrong sprites on events, with the incovenience of having to delete a unit and also having a wrong portrait. I prefer to try it this way since Argath has a second model that I don't really like and I can even use edit him with a new palette. I have to test again the Olan fight to see if there are issues.

Tested: Olan seems like it is not wrong in-game, maybe in the Argath battle he has a wrong image for dialogues, or maybe Olan has his sprite wrong in story dialogues.

Oh, important: I realized that animations are found in EVTCHR.BIN and I can try to fix some, but slowly or after v1.1+. The issue I see here is that the animations uses different palette effects which make it harder to just copy-paste pixels but maybe I can make it work. Edit: I figured out how palettes in animations work, it is not really a problem.

I'll try to upload .fftpatcher files for hotfixes (that will have minor fixes) for the Spanish version and also fix ASAP all the wrong battles when I can. FFTPatcher has also been updated with very good tools which helps a lot for my updates that will make my changes easier to make, like the entire swap of two units that needs to be also modified in each event.

Important: This summer I will have some free time so I will play FFT. Once I figure out the final changes while I'm playing the game for a second time to polish everything, I will do the big patch. So I think 1.1 version will be done by the end of the summer of this year. Edit: Well... I didn't have time for it lmao, so I'll move it to next winter.

Edit: Also I figured out a way to make custom animations. Go to this post and I will explain everything there in the future.

v1.1 will be the big patch that will fix the game until the end - at it should feel like the real v1.0 as I will fix everything I see wrong. Meanwhile, I'll keep uploading hotfixes. I recommend you to not fully play the game until v1.1 since it can be unbalanced. Play it again once I finish if you had issues with balancing and let me know your opinion!

Oh, BTW: All downloads were moved to my post in "Completed mods".

[darkskyx]

New update. New skills.
+1 skill for Mustadio (poison AoE for late game). +2 skills for Paladin.
Melia's Cursed Reconstruction was fixed and now it's the most broken and expensive skill in the game. You can basically recruit every unit. If you like it this way I can keep it. I can try to balance/modify it and make it a dance/pray skill.

There are a few skills I may add in the game that are still ideas:
A heal with an status effect. I think it will be % HP.
Experimental: A massive AoE heal that can be random heal and also can have status effect.
A new dance skill.
A skill that uses Embrace effect (red visuals)

But I only have a few spaces for skills left (like 2).

Let me know your toughts in my "Completed hackmod" post. Please update your game with a new clear ISO.

I know I said I wouldn't add everything into a .zip but people are still downloading v1.01 and it is not the best version. I've added a .zip with all the balance changes and removed the rest of patches.

Keep in mind I'll try to fix everything wrong in v1.1, including all in-game text. In fact, v1.1 must feel like the final version. From there, I can start making little balance changes.

[darkskyx]

I'm still on my holidays and while testing the game I found a huge bug so I had to say this:
This thing can break the game (not literally). If you use Divine Arts as a secondary ability you can use all the skills without buying any.
I'm not sure what makes this bug possible but not a single person reported it to me. I need some weeks to be able to fix it while I test it (because I don't have my PC). For the moment, do not try to abuse it.

I think I may know what is causing this bug, as some options are coded for monsters and the other one for humans and as I used Divine Art in a monster slot I think that it is causing that bug. I can make some temporary adjustments but it will be fixed in one of the next patches. Edit: I tested it and I fixed the bug. It shouldn't have worked this way but it did. I used Celia/Lette unused skillsets to fix it.

Edit: I'll working on v1.05 while I'm on my holidays as I have a laptop and I'm fixing all kind of issues I see. I guess I'll end it once I go to my home again.

[darkskyx]

About a new unit:
I wanted to include Red XIII but it doesn't have full animations. Also, I don't know what skills that unit should have. I was thinking about replacing that unit with Byblos but it shares palettes with Apanda.

Since I have 1 monster left (Dragon) I had the following idea:

Convert the unit of the following image into a unit that will be a REAL Dragon Knight. This Dragon will use the powers of the universe, with space-like skills visually. I saw some and it would be great to use. I'd need to find more skills to modify but it is a good final addition.

I'd have to modify an usable monster like Archaic Demon. Maybe I lose Archaic Demon portrait in the process but maybe I can ask for help for that.

I don't know about the name... I need a good name for his Job. Cosmos/Celestial Knight maybe? I can make his name to be random.

Edit: Also, I can try something: Since Elidibus (Boss from Midlight's Deep) is a unit that can be recruitable and also it is on UNIT.BIN... I can try to make it join the party. If it works I'll let you know. I could also make this unit to be that "Celestial" unit.

Let me know if you like the idea. (Sprite by Conman)

[darkskyx]

Hey everyone, I'm back to make progress of my FFT hackmod. I'm gonna start soon to make version 1.1 possible, with all the text changes and the final balance changes.
First, I'm going to upload v1.05 as I had it almost finished. I'll test it and if everything's good, I'll upload it (maybe I'll add a few changes and that's it). I wanted to make this think earlier, but v1.04 was good enough and maybe a bit rough for the start, which was already fixed in v1.05.
Second of all, the idea from my last post I'm not sure if I'll do it soon because replacing units can be a lot of work and it would be for the lategame in a secondary mission that is the . But it can be a good idea to give the last skills I had in mind to a new recruitable unit. I'll try to work on it, even if that unit is not available - to make it available in the future.
Third, I'll also try to finish all the item text changes which is also a painful thing to do for the Spanish and English version.
And finally, I hope to finish everything I want and I just let unfinished some optional things. There's still the boss fight and the late game for balance purposes and I need to replay again the game to see if there's something wrong.
Oh... and I'll try to replay it recording it as an official walkthrough (gameplay). While I'm doing that official walkthrough, I'll try to see if there are minor issues to fix... and it is very possible that I can make a trailer, I liked the idea long ago but I need some time for it.

Once I release v1.1, then I may try other changes like text changes, a patch to increase difficulty or a final new unit like I told you. But I don't promise anything, since I'll feel like I'll have finished the project.

v1.1 will be the official TRUE release, so I have a lot to work on. Thank you for the wait, as this was my project in the lowest priority I had and I should have uploaded v1.05 months ago. The bad news is that I'm a little sick right now, so I can't work fully on it - so I'll need some days/weeks for v1.05 and then I'll hope to get better. My intention is to finish it ASAP once and for all so you can enjoy it without the early bugs. You can also wait to play a new game once I make v1.1, which is going to fix a lot of issues. Once I start, I'll try to work on it every day. Cya soon!

Edit: I found that the Zombie + Traitor control skill from Meliadoul gave me issues in one of the last bosses, and it was unintended. Since this skill is too much powerful and it can steal you units, I'm not sure if I should allow it. It is cool that I made it work but I'm not sure if I should allow to use it. I'll keep an eye on it and I'll try to change it for the next patch, maybe moving it to the final boss. It can be annoying I guess.

[darkskyx]

Updated version v1.05. I'm gonna start working on version 1.1, let me know if you found any bugs.