Final Fantasy Hacktics

I am working on using FFTPatcher on an ISO of War of the Lions. I had previously applied the WotL Tweak patch, primarily to remove the slowdown issues. After applying some of the changes I made with FFTPatcher, I found the slowdown came back. Is there a way I can use FFTPatcher without losing the slowdown fix?

EDIT: Never mind, I figured it out. I just have to reapply the slowdown patch with FFTorgASM.

Here's the .xml file I used to apply the patch. I used the offsets you told me to use, so I'm not sure why things aren't working.

Here's the save state and thanks for the link.

Is it possible there's more hard-coding to Weapon Guard that we aren't addressing?

Either way, I think I want to put this on hold for now and look into adding formulas. Do you know which guide(s) talk about that kind of thing?

It's definitely equipped on the target and that's definitely the right ability since it shows up in the Support abilities on the job.

Alright, at the break point the r2 value is 80188b64, then when it reaches 0x184fb0: nop it becomes 00000000 and stays there for the rest of the steps.

A slightly off-topic question, but is there a difference between psxrel and psxfin? They seem like the same emulator with the same debugging options.

Here's what I'm getting from the break point until it hits a beq line each time I press F7. Sorry, but I'm really not sure if it's getting by it or not (I read Pokeytax's thread and it didn't help much here).

00184f9c: lui r4,0x8019           3c048019     ...<
00184fa0: lw r4,0x2d98(r4)        8c842d98     .-..
00184fa4: addiu r29,r29,0xffe8    27bdffe8     ...'
00184fa8: sw r31,0x0010(r29)      afbf0010     ....
00184fac: lbu r2,0x0092(r4)       90820092     ....
00184fb0: nop                     00000000     ....
00184fb4: andi r2,r2,0x0010       30420010     ..B0
00184fb8: beq r2,r0,0x00184fcc    10400004     ..@.

From what I understand, nop usually means it didn't work, but I don't know if passing through it like it did is normal or not.

Ah, okay, I was going to ask what that Little Endian box meant. The good news is the game is functioning normally now. The bad news is the ability doesn't seem to be doing anything. I try a normal physical attack from the front and it's only calculating class and shield evade, but not weapon. So either it's not working or it's not being calculated for the chance-to-hit display.

Also, just to be clear, what I want is to be able to stack Weapon Guard with any other Reaction Skill. Will this patch alone do that or would there be even more I have to do? If not, couldn't I just set Weapon Guard as an innate skill for every class?

Quote from: Elric on February 12, 2014, 06:39:50 pm
When you are finished making your edits. Save the Tactext file itself. Close Tactext. Reopen and load the Tactext file, then choose to patch it to your
iso (don't actually load the iso the second time you open it)

Thanks, that got TacText to work. So now why does the ASM patch cause all physical attacks to not work? FFTPatcher has a box marked "Ability ID", do I need to change that to match the original Weapon Guard?

I tried it and I've had a couple problems.
First, when I try to name the ability in TacText, I get the error "DTE for OPEN.LZW has failed. The ISO has NOT been modified."
Second, when I tried applying the ability in the game, every physical attack came up with a 0% chance to hit and all physical attacks deal no damage nor do they trigger any kind of reaction (the attacked character just stands there). This happened to everyone, not just people with the new Weapon Guard equipped.

Here is the patch I used:
<Patch name="Support ability 01E1 is Weapon Guard">
<Location file="BATTLE_BIN" offset="11dfac">
90820092
00000000
30420010
</Location>
</Patch>

Quote from: Choto on February 10, 2014, 10:05:16 pm
Now you just put that ability in a skillset so it's learnable/equipable.

I'm not quite sure how to do this step here. For starters, do I just use FFTactext to name the ability, or are there more steps? Also, was I correct that 01E1 on the Abilities tab in FFTPatcher corresponds to the same blank ability? If not, how do I set it up in a skillset?

Also, I didn't realize that I was basically remapping where Weapon Guard is checked. I thought I would have to clone it as a Support ability that just did the same function. I didn't realize that checking for specific abilities was part of the ASM script like that.

Quote from: Lockeadon on February 11, 2014, 10:16:53 am
you may want to give the job dark/evil looking status as well to make the sprite look different.

I was thinking of that, too, thanks. The weird thing is, I don't want him to stand out too much, if that makes any sense. I kinda think it's more amusing to have Aglus' ghost show up with no explanation and the characters don't even acknowledge him as anything more than just another enemy to fight. Yeah, I hate the bastard that much.

Quote from: Choto on February 09, 2014, 11:24:17 pmDid you ever try to finish that Weapon Guard hack? That one will be the simplest to start with since I laid it out.

I haven't yet. Part of it is because I'd been working on other things and also because, well, I was confused by the first step of renaming an ability. Yes, I'm total moron, I know. Looking at it further, I'm still not sure how exactly to set it. Looking at the Battle Stats on the WIKI and the code you gave me, it looks like I would want to use:

lbu r2, 0x0092(r4)
nop
andi r2, r2, 0x0010

That points to a blank spot in the Support Abilities list. I think I've even found the slot in FFTPatcher (01E1), but I'm still not sure how to make it work like Weapon Guard. Also, will this guarantee it's not overridden by other Reaction Abilities?

Quote from: Choto on February 09, 2014, 08:55:37 am
2) Formula hacks require ASM. Otherwise you can use the existing ones to get as close as possible to what you want. For the animation copy the flags in the animations tab in FFTP from an ability that does what you want. Change the effect to holy explosion

3) Yes but it requires some ASM. Shouldn't be too hard of a hack.

5) I'm assuming you mean follow the target unit once you start charging. The problem is if they move out of weapon range in the meantime. Since the charge abilities don't have those flags present in FFTP, it means it's hardcoded somewhere. Sooo... probly not. However you could use the ARH (ability requirement hack) to put the restriction of projectile weapons only.

2) & 3) I know they would require ASM hacking. I'm looking for help on how to figure out just what I need to do. Any of the guides I found weren't much help.

5) Crud, I was afraid of that. And I know about the ARH, but if the ability doesn't follow the target there's no real point.

I was really just looking for confirmation if adding a special job to an existing sprite set and then adding that to a battle was that simple, and it sounds like it is. Besides, it looks like "Deathknight" Algus had the same abilities as Gaffgarion, so if I want that I'll set 3A's default skill set to Dark Sword (20).

Yes, I know he won't have the same sprites as WotL. Maybe I'll work on that later, but I'm not too concerned about that right now.

Thank you for your help on this, though.

Okay, let me explain how I thought setting this up would work, and someone please tell me what and why it won't work (unless it does, of course).
1) In FFTPatcher, under the Jobs tab, pick a blank job (3A was suggested and it is blank, so that works), make it's base skillset 1F (Algus' special Squire class), and make sure it has Undead, Transparent, and Float as innate attributes (as well as immunity to Invite and appropriate weapons & armor).
2) In the ENTD tab, go to the encounter I want him to appear in (say, Yuguo Woods 01AE) and replace an existing unit (such as one of the Wizards) by using Algus' Sprite Set (07) and set his job to 3A.

I'm not looking to add or alter any sprites at this point. I'm content to just have the purple glow from Undead and the Transparent effect.

BTW, I'm sorry if it seems like I'm being difficult, because I'm not trying to be. I'm trying to understand every how and why of the game's mechanics so I know what I'm doing when I try to do any fancy stuff.

Quote from: Elric on February 06, 2014, 10:55:50 pm
I assumed you'd be using the Algus Undead Knight sprite from WotL.

The Algus in the game is not undead.

Yes, you can use that, but it will just look like normal Algus lol.

Well, I plan to make him floating and transparent like the other undead units you encounter in those stages. That's why I need to create a new job so I can set those all as innate.

Anyway, can I chose any blank job in FFTPatcher to do this or are there certain ones that cause problems?

Quote from: Elric on February 06, 2014, 10:14:10 pm
As long as you;

don't pass the sprite limit.
find sprite space in shishi.
make a new skillset and give it to Algus, (he uses someone else skillset with a unique name, like every other extra boss in WotL)

What do you mean by find sprite space in shishi? Algus' sprites already exist in the game. Can't I just use those?

Quote from: Elric on February 06, 2014, 09:51:46 pm
1) I already did this, look up FFT - The Lion War. It'll be out soon, and no you cannot simply add this stuff, there is no extra event space in Vanilla, we had to rearrange everything
several times to get everything to fit.

No, you misunderstood. I'm not looking to create an event, I just want to replace one of the undead units in a battle (like, say, Yuguo Woods) with an undead Algus.

Quote from: Elric on February 06, 2014, 09:51:46 pm
4) No, there is not ability space for this AND Dark Knight uses stuff that the PSX version doesn't have, like that cone shaped attack

I kinda figured this, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

I have a few things I want to look into doing and I wasn't sure if I should make a different topic for each or just put them all in one topic. Please let me know and I'll gladly change things.

Anyway, I'm looking for help on the following subjects. I'm not exactly looking for just the solution (though I would be grateful for it), I would like to know how each step of the solution was made so I could apply it to other, similar things. If someone would like to simply point to a guide(s) that tells me what I need to know, that would be fine, too.

1) I like how WotL has the bonus battles with Algus returning. I'd like to add him to one of the undead battles in the PSX game. From what I've seen, it should just be a matter of creating a class with Undead innate and then assigning Algus's sprites to it, but I want to know if there's more to it than that.

2) I know this will be tricky, but I'd like to add a Turn Undead ability for Priests. So I need to know how to add (or replace) an ability, add a formula (I'd like it to hit only undead Faith% of the time and reduce the target's Brave by MA+Y), and set it so the Priest is in standard casting animation while the enemies hit have the effect of Holy Explosion (I'm not looking to add new animations at this point).

3) Is it possible to make Class Evasion apply to both physical and magical attacks?

4) FFTPatcher has the Dark Knight abilities from WotL available in the abilities list. Am I able to just add them to a job's ability list or would additional hacking be needed?

5) Is there a way to make the Charge attacks target a unit and only work when a bow, crossbow, or gun is equipped?

Thanks for the quick reply.

I knew it was a separate math formula, I just wanted to make sure it functioned the way I thought it did (the lack of parenthesis made it a little ambiguous).

That sucks about Ramza, though. I wonder why the game's set up that way?

I have a few questions on how some things work. Sorry if I sound stupid for not understanding things right away.

1) I want Ramza to have Item available in the first battle. Do I use the Pre-Raw Stats Editor, the ENDT editor in FFTPatcher, or do I need something else altogether? If it is FFTPatcher, is it entry 188 like the rest of the starting group?

2) How does editing the Defense Boost ASM affect how Defense UP and Magic Defense UP work? Do they just stack?

3) Just for clarity, is the last malleable formula STAT1*(STAT2/CONST)*STAT3? Basically the same as PA*(Brave/100)*PA?

4) Didn't there used to be a sheet that let you select what items were available in stores? Why was it removed?