Final Fantasy Hacktics

Thank you everyone for your responses. I appreciate it. 

I will definitely apply what has been shared/discussed here when I am tinkering with things in the game some. I guess what might be helpful is a Tutorial on how to Edit formulas in the game. Potentially, I'd like to make new formulas in the game or edit the preexisting ones and allow them to have the ability to Counter and/or add statuses. Does anyone know how I could go about achieving this?

Also, one other thing: I am trying to change the Jump, Throw, and Charge-based skills. In this topic [http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=250.msg4000;topicseen#msg4000] it talks about how Lancers and Archers, if they are assigned to even a different skill set tend to mess up. In this topic [http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=2890.0;nowap], it goes on to say that these types of skillsets are very finicky about how they are read/processed in the game (is that the right word?). Ideally, I'd like to make Archers more of a Ranger class with better skills. I'd also like to do something about Lancers and possibly even Calculators. Possibly.

So here's my question: Is there a way I can give Archers/Lancers NORMAL Skill sets like the rest of the classes? If so, how? Is there a tutorial that explains how to do it?

Thank you everyone once again! Your responses are appreciated.

Greetings,

I am a novice hacker of sorts. My goal is to basically alter some of the formulas that already exist or to add new ones. There's obviously so many unused slots. I figured I could probably put one or two into good use-- assuming it's possible. I am not sure at this point.

At any rate, I was reading up on Zodiac's tutorial but I kept on getting stuck at certain parts. [ http://ffhacktics.com/tutorials.php?id=11 ]

Step 1:
At the part where he is describing the dummy test for a new spell, he makes Cure an Unholy spell. I downloaded psxrel.exe. I was able to make adjustments by typing in 0x5FC05 in the memory window ONLY. I did have the Disassembly, Registers, and Breakpoints open too but nothing had been done to them yet. On a side note, my Disassembly does NOT look like his. I'm not sure if it's supposed to or not but I know mine does not. Moreover, the file which I used was not a completely clean file; however, nothing had been done to cure.

Step 2:
I adjusted the values manually, like he requests-- 80, 53, 25. And I also change the MP and CT to 00. When I check to see, the changes do reflect the switch.

Step 3:
I target someone with my spell, quick save, and go to the Breakpoint window. This is the part I get stuck at. When I type in the Cure Y's value, I type in 0x8005FC08 and set the radio button on Memory with only Read checked. The 'size' is 1 as well. When I do all of this, this causes the game to screw up and lag strangely. The changes do NOT show up in the Registers window. R5 does not show 801938FA.

Questions: Am I supposed to type in something else? Or is the edits I've made before interfering somehow with the coding? Also, how does one know what to put in the Breakpoint? Is it always going to be the Y value or does it depend on something else?

Step 4:
I'm stuck essentially and cannot go forward anymore. Also, my Disassembly does NOT show what is highlighted in the red box. Nor does it show on the bottom bar/footer "Breakpoint on memory read (5fc08)". In fact, it shows nothing.

Some help please?

I figured out my own work around. It's what Elfric suggested. I did have to do some of them manually because some of the chocobos were editted differently than the original chocobo palette. Either way, I got it figured out. This thread can be closed now.

Quote from: Choto on November 01, 2012, 03:23:44 pm
I'm not really sure what you're trying to do... are you trying to get an alternate palette of the Chocobo for the formation screen? If you edit the palettes using the Palette Editor, and set the moster palette to use the palette you want in FFTPatcher... i think that should take care of it.

otherwise... reread all the sprite animator stuff until you get it. It takes a couple times for things to sink in...

I am not sure how to use the Palette Editor. I tried tinkering it with it some. I tried to use "Copy Row" or something to that effect but it does not actually copy the row's color. It doesn't do anything, in fact. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. Is it incompatible with Windows 7?

@lirmont: It doesn't seem to show correctly for Chocobos. Am I missing a Reference or something? Is it supposed to? I don't see anything about how to go about extracting a file. I'm sorry to ask but could be more specific about where it talks about how to take out a single composite frame?

Wow, I spent almost 10 hours trying to figure this stuff out but anyway. After much trial and error, perseverance and patience, I have discovered some very useful tricks that will help expedite your extraction and rendition process with sprites when modifying UNIT.bin and WRLD FACE.bin. I'll lay it out step by step.

[For Human UNIT.bin]
Step 1: Open Shishi Sprite Manager, Microsoft Paint (Optional), and Graphics Gale (I used Free Edition).
Step 2: Select a character you wish to modify. For the purposes of this example, I will select Ramza Chapter 1.
Step 3: From Shishi Sprite Manager, open your FFT ISO.
Step 4: When open, go to Ramza 1 (should be the very first one).
Step 5: Assuming you have not replaced Ramza 1 with your designated sprite, do so now (I chose Young Noble Ramza).
Step 6: From Shishi, go to Export BMP and Export the now modified Ramza 1 sprite.
Step 7: Open Graphics Gale and open the now Exported BMP file for Ramza 1 (we'll call it RAMZA1.bmp).
Step 8: You will notice it will have a spread sheet of the different parts of Ramza and such. Zoom in about 300-400% to the SECOND frame from the top left of Ramza. It should be him basically facing sideways or at an angle.
Ramza 9: Use the 'Rectangular Selection' tool to draw a 24 x 40 square around Ramza. It does not need to be absolutely perfect but be sure you get it as close as you can, and, of course, that he's completely inside the box. Otherwise he will be cut out.
Ramza 10: Once a Rectangle has been made around Ramza, go to the 'All Frames' tab and from there select "CROP". Doing so should give you a perfect Ramza sprite for the UNIT.bin without having to deal with the annoying Load Palette stuff. Save it as RAMZA2Body.bmp.

Note: If, for some reason, the FFTEVGRP program does not recognize the sprite or allow it due to it exceeding 16 bytes, you may need to manually alter its palette. To do so, I recommend you first go to Palette Window and click on the black arrow pointing down to open up a menu. From the menu, select "REMOVE UNUSED COLOR". This will eliminate whatever excess colors that are not being used in the BMP. From there go to "All Frames" and go to "Color Depth." From there, format the BMP to 4bpp (16 colors) [Type A]. If, for some reason, Dither is checked uncheck it. There should be a 16 in the option box. If it is not 16, change it.

[For Human WRLD FACE.bin, Portrait]
Step 11: Go back to Shishi Sprite and use the "Print Screen" feature on your keyboard to get a copy of your screen (should be showing the portrait of Ramza).
Step 12: Paste it into Microsoft Paint (alternatively, you could just use Graphics Gale but it's a bit easier to do it through MS Paint).
Step 13: With your Square Selection tool, draw a rectangle at the very bottom where Ramza's face is. I suggest you zoom in 400% to get an accurate capture. It must be precise. Be sure ALL of Ramza's face is selected. There should be no extra pixels. You will see why later.
Step 14: Copy, and Paste. A duplicate of the file should appear hovering on the screen.
Step 15: Go to 'Crop' and crop the file so that nothing else is there but just the file. Rotate the file Left/Counterclockwise as it will likely be horizontal.
Step 16: Now that you have an original copy of your port. Save it just in case you screw up as Ramza1Port.bmp (24 bytes).
Step 17: With Graphics Gale, click on "File" and open a New file. It will give you options to use either a preset or use whatever is default. I highly recommend you make a new preset if you wish to extract multiple portraits. It'll save you time. Either way, click on 'Preset'. It'll open a drop down menu.
Step 18: Click on "EDIT" and "Add". Type in the dimensions 32 x 48 with a BPP of 16 (64000 colors). The portrait must fit EXACTLY in this dimension or you will risk having a wonky portrait.
Step 19: After you're done, it'll open up a blank slot. Copy and paste your picture there.
Step 20: You will notice you cannot Delete the excess colors. That's okay, you don't need to. Just go to "All Frames" -> "Color Depth" -> "16bpp." This will give your port the correct color resolution without having to use/abuse load palette.

I'll upload a guide for monsters tomorrow-- specifically chocobos on how to extract Ports and Units. It's a lot trickier and tedious than humans seeing how you the Palettes MUST match for it to be read by FFTEVGRP. Otherwise you risk having strangely colored monsters.

Well, good night for all. My first contribution to FFHacktics. I hope that helps!

Greetings all,
I am working on a personal patch where I can incorporate some of my own personal alterations-- including one that's been giving me terribly hard time: Chocobos. I'm trying to incorporate custom-made/altered chocobos that I can put into the Unit.bin and WRLD FACE.bin. The problem is, of course, Shishi, only displays the first chocobo palette and ignores the rest below it. I tried to use Sprite Animator to extract myself a good copy of a chocobo standing so I can use it for the UNIT.bin; however, I don't know to use it! I tried to follow the tutorials but they really don't make any sense to me.

Can someone please tell me, step by step, how to display the chocobo in the Sprite Animator as shown in this thread: http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=7409.100 ? I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks.