Forcing special characters into different palettes

[LastingDawn]

Well, I recall a while back people were having trouble with switching palettes on non generics, well I think today I might have stumbled upon a way to do it.

The only requirement is the sacrifice of a monster for each one...

Open FFT Patcher, go to Jobs, head down to any monster you want to replace, let's say for instance... Red Dragon, now 1-49 in M. Portrait are actually the graphic they will assume in battle, we'll use 33 for this instance, which is Zombie Zalbag. Putting in a palette higher then 0 for him will of course make him completely black since he has no extra palette. This method should work for all specials. Sorry if it's a bit of rough explaining, but if something wasn't understood, please don't hesitate to ask.


EDIT: The classification of M. Portrait, M. Palette and M. Graphic appear to be wrong. M. Portrait is the graphic the Monster will use, the Palette is of course the graphic. but M Graphic appears to be classification of monster, for instance, Reis's skills will work on a monster that has 0xF, in comparison to one that has 0x12, which normally isn't used... but it doesn't count as a Dragon regardless.

[Zozma]

so say i sacrificed the pigs,

so let me ask you this, if i select "ramza" as the sprite in entd editor
and set the job as THIS one specifically it will force the palette over?

and then if i take someone like say Balmafula as the sprite and in entd
editor select this same job that i used on ramza, will it keep her sprite and give her the other palette?

see im trying to make one single job, that can be used in entd editor to make any other job use the second or even third color palette.

[LastingDawn]

That unfortunately did not work... only one palette per job. It only works upon replacing a monster's graphic in their job profile, not in the ENTD, it will just show the normal special unit.

[Zozma]

thats too bad, i dont mean to change the palette number in entd, i was hoping i could use a monster job to force it... sigh oh well.
thanks alot tho its a nice idea if i dont want to have to create a totally new sprite thats just a recolor.

[Xifanie]

If you like take:
1B Arc Knight (Elmdor)
and set
M. Portrait: 1B
M. Palette: 01

Then take any ENTD and create unit with:
82 Generic Monster
1B Arc Knight
*If not generic monster, it will simply use the default palette.

It will use Elmdor's second palette. It's glitchy with any unit you have in you party when you check formation or when placing units on the field.
So only use that for making enemies.

[Zozma]

but in doing this there would be drawbacks right? first the unit will sound like a monster when it dies, also there wont be a way to put equipment on them at all will there? even so forced on a monster it doesnt add the hp and other stat bonuses as if they arent there... at least when i tried on monsters

still its nice to know one way to do it.

[Archael]

no no

the unit won't sound like a monster

all you'll be doing is selecting MONSTER from the Sprite sets

the unit will still have MALE / FEMALE checked, and will in every way behave like a male or female unit


remember this method we're talking about has nothing to do with the classification of the unit, only the SPRITE SET the unit uses

 

no drawbacks whatsoever, or else LD wouldn't have posted it

also this method can be explained a little better... all you REALLY have to change it the M. Graphic to the # Sprite Set you wish to use and it will work, avatar and everything. You only need M. Palette to force every "monster" sprite set in that job to use a specific palette, I think the original post needs to be fleshed out with more details on this method

also I think it was Argg0 who discovered it IIRC

[Zozma]

ohhhh monster from sprite set....

so then as long as its a special job this method will work? sweet ill have to give it a try when i get home... but do you have to create a special job for each individual sprite you want to do this to? cause that was my main thing...

[Xifanie]

You can take for example Sorcerer, which has Kletian's sprite and add any sprite you want
Basically you can have two sprites for any special jobs but we can't change the default one yet...

You can find a list to help yourself here: http://auritech.fantopolis.com/FFH/psx/sprites.php

[Zozma]

btw zodiac, on your sprites list the original Teta "furaia.spr" is also a type 2  and im pretty sure "Dami.spr" is a "monster" type

[Xifanie]

I really don't know how I forgot Teta...

[Zozma]

well really the sprite is useless other than for story purpose since it is too small to support attacking animations. but i guess for completeness...
its the same size as all of the common townspeople's sprites.

[Zozma]

okay this is sweeeet.. but is there a way to make the portrait color work the same way? cause it doesnt seem to change even tho i do have a matching secondary portrait...

(this screenshot shows the same sprite using 2 different palettes sweeet! thanks guys)

Edit: ! doesn't this mean you can create an enemy that looks like a mime... or even a 20yo m /f or anything for that matter with whatever job you want them to have as well?? a mime sprite without the mimic..
you could create generic dark knights/holy knights etc to fight.
i think people being aware of this trick will definately make even more room for customization...

[Xifanie]

Oh crap, I never noticed the portrait was unaffected... Maybe the last byte controls the palette of the portrait? Though that'd be weird.

[Archael]

yes you can zozma

in 1.3 we have Generic Holy Swordsmen that look like Knights

generic holy priests that look like priests

generic assassins that look like dancers

generic Princess that looks like a mediator

generic Engineer that looks like a chemist

etc etc for Random Battles, though not all of those required the M. Graphic trick

with the M. Graphic trick you can make whatever job u want look like Bard Dancer or Mime

[Kuraudo Sutoraifu]

Me likey the palette swap of Ramza with red armor, btw.

[Xifanie]

Basically this is the solution to the non-generics sprites that wwe could not get sprites for ID 80 and over. (80 is male, 81 female, 82 monster and rest doesn't work)

Calc, Bard, Dancer, Mime and all monster sprites were unavailable with that method.

Whoever this method allows choosing a second palette as well, but is much more limited (only 2 sprites per job) and more troublesome.

[Zozma]

one should also be able to create a character like miluda since there is a menu portrait all you have to do is make it so the job has M.Portrait set to hers (this may be the trick to using a recolored portrait huh? if only there is enough room... theres like 2 or 3 empty portrait slots on one of the menu face .bin files (miluda is in that one too)

[Cheetah]

If I remember correctly there are lots and lots of extra spaces for new portraits. Are we able to reassign the coordinates of the portrait used (not sure if I am using the same terminology)?

[Zozma]

we need someone who knows their "coordinates" (thats probably a good term since were talking about portrait locations) probably easily done in a hex editor if we know where all these coordinates are we can do the same for the menu sprites as well assigning the dancer menu sprite to say, lede for example. its the same concept.