Final Fantasy Hacktics

Guide to Unit Creation
So everyone, here it is, the guide on how to replace Gafgarion the Dark Knight (the guest version) with your very own unique character. Don't worry, Gaffy will still be in the game as normal, only when he is in your party for those 2 story missions he might appear funny in the menu formation screen -he will be alright in battle- this is normal and a very small sacrafice you will need to make, sorry. However, now you can play some unit you created

Please note: this entire guide is relatively useless to anyone out there without a custom unit sprite sheet. Find/download/create one before you read on!!! (And obviously anyone without a FFT .iso/.img)

First we need a buncha programs, so go and get 'em!

Download from Google or somewhere these 2 programs:

gimp-2.6.7 (it is an art program)
PalSuite3 (it changes pixel colors)

Download everything from here in FFHacktics, that is because we will need it:

FFTEVGRP (this will replace portraits and menu units)
CDMage (this will help us get the UNIT.BIN and WLDFACE.BIN)
Shishi Sprite Editor (the latest one, please)
FFTacText (this is a must if you are creating jobs from scratch)
FFTPatcher (also a must for your units stats)
FFTorgASM (not a must but handy if you want some strange things)

Right...once you get this mountain of programs, it will be technically possible to make anything in FFT! However, since this is sorta a tutorial, I will make a Red Mage, but please feel free to bend the rules at any time! This is your game-your world!!

1)CDMage
Okay, let's start by opening up the CDMage. Open your .iso/.img file of FFT (try to put it in an easy to locate place). Once you have done this, it will prompt you to create an Image type, select the last one "Raw Image (*.iso,*.bin,*.tao,*.img,*.bwi,*.mm2)" and then a box will appear, just click Detect and then name the file the same as your .iso, this is a .cue of the iso, and if another box pops up, just click okay. Good, now click once on the Track 1, and on the right side 10 folders and four other files will appear, double click the EVENT folder. Scroll all the way down in this folder and find UNIT.BIN and WLDFACE.BIN, select both of them by holding Ctrl and then right click. Choose Extract Files... and save them in the same place as the .iso/.img and .cue you made. Now close CDMage and read on.


2)Shishi
Now let's open up the Shishi Sprite Editor (the latest version or this won't make any sense) and get the next part out of the way. Go to File and then Open ISO... and find of course your .iso/.img file of FFT and open it. Find 16 - Gafgarion (Guest) and notice that he is a TYPE1 unit. This merely means the size, but you must check and make sure that you have the correct TYPE. Now depending on whatcha got, go to Sprite at the top and import either your BMP or SPR sprite sheet. It should overwrite Gaffys info with your units. Now close Shishi. (Note: for all of you who just want a unit to appear in battle, you pretty much just did that.)


3)GIMP2.6
Next is the real working part. If you have already a seperate portrait in size 32x48 and a menu icon 24x40, both BMP files, you can skip this part. If not read on on how to make your own. It is not very difficult if you don't though. Okay first open up the GIMP art program and open up your sprite sheet. Push 'R' to get the rectangular box and box in the second unit on the sheet, it should be the one that is looking down but at a diagonal. I would zoom in first because it is hard to do when the sprites are tiny. Now in that long tall Toolbox bar, check near the bottom of it that the Position reads 38, the Size is set to px and the numbers are 24 by 40. Now copy this image, make a brand new page and when it prompts you to set the size, make it 24x40. In this new tiny white box, paste your character. Now go to the top choose Image, then Mode, then RGB, then again Image, Mode and now Indexed... and change the color from 256 to 16 and convert. Finally, save as redmage menu.bmp, so select to save it as a BMP file. Now do this exact same procedure but with the portrait, so first rotate the canvas of your sprite sheet counter clockwise under Image>Transform and make sure the size is 32x48. Paste this image as a new file called redmage portrait.bmp, also once again a BMP file with the Index set to 16!! That is important! Close GIMP once you got that all done. These are important files if you want your new unit to show up properly in the Menu screens. Whew...


4)PalSuite3
This here will take only a few seconds if you followed the instructions up to now carefully. If PalSuite3 doesn't recognize your portrait and menu unit, then you may have forgotten to change the colors in GIMP from 256 to 16. Anyways, open up PalSuite3 and go to File>Open and open up the 24x40 Menu Unit. Now go to Edit and then Resize and change it from whatever it is to 16 and okay it. Save as the same name but important(!) change it to a RIFF Palette (*.pal), NOT a GIMP Palette. Do the exact same thing for the portrait. Now you should have up to here 1 Menu Character, the .pal of it and 1 Portrait and the .pal of that.


5)FFTEVGRP
The FFTEVGRP will help us put our character fully into the game  Under File, open up both the UNIT.BIN and WLDFACE.BIN that we extracted earlier with the CDMage. So in UNIT.BIN find under Character 0D Gaffgarion. Under Actions at the bottom, Import both the BMP and PAL of your Menu character and then Save File. Now go to WLDFACE.BIN and find Gaffy under 0D Gaffgarion (again) and Import the BMP and PAL of your portrait, then Save File.


6)Back to CDMage
Now that we have all sprites good and ready, it is time to upload the new UNIT.BIN and WLDFACE.BIN to the .iso/.img of FFT. Open up this time the .cue file of your .iso/.img and again find the EVENT folder under Track 1. Now one by one, select first UNIT.BIN and right click and Import File UNIT.BIN and next WLDFACE.BIN, right click and do the same. Close CDMage when done.


7)FFTacText
Details, details, details...well we are gonna do this correctly, right? Open FFTacText and then ISO>Import either PSX or PSP ISO and well I think you know what to do. For me the FFTacText Editor takes like 30 seconds to open, patience is a virtue... Select Text at the top and choose QuickEdit to save us some precious time. Now this is the part where I am gonna make us a Red Mage, so if you want something else, just replace it. Hmm, so the first thing under the QuickEdit is the JobDescritptions, scroll down the list until you find 23 Dark Knight. This is the Guest version of Gafgarion's Dark Knight, and since we will later replace all Gaffys with the enemy one(don't panic, he won't attack you until the waterfall!), this Dark Knight is practically free for us to edit. In the box I will write something like:

The Red Mage uses both destructive{Newline}
and recuperative magic. He cannot{Newline}
use final magic, however.

Now change to JobNames and scroll down once again to 23 Dark Knight. Change it to Red Mage. After this, under SkillsetNames, this may seem strange, but we are not gonna use Dark Sword (mainly because I have no idea which one is which-guest or enemy), but rather change Dycedarg's Swordskill to Red Magic, because we can give Dycedarg Orlandu's All Swordskill later in one click. Now find 70 Sword Skill and rename it Red Magic. Under SkillsetDescriptions, scroll down again and replace 70 to read something like:

Red Mage Job command. Uses both{Newline}
black and white magic.

In JobRequirements, type the same thing you have for JobDescriptions (36 this time) but add under the text the conditions for job change:

The Red Mage uses both destructive{Newline}
and recuperative magic. He cannot{Newline}
use final magic, however.{Newline}
No conditions for job change.

I didn't give any requirements for job change, but you can if you want, naturally. Alright, now that in theory your whole new job is totally complete in name, there is just one thing left to do. Go back up to the top and make the drop down bar under Text appear, select ATTACK.OUT. You should see Unit names, scroll down to 23 Gafgarion and rename this to your very own custom name, probably your own name or something like Aeris or Bartz or whatever, it doesn't matter. This will make your own character's name appear in game  Next again under Text on the top is OPEN.LZW. Change again 23 Gaffy to the same name (don't make spelling errors!) and finally after that go to Text and choose WORLD.LZW, the second to last on the bottom. Switch to 9: Unit names and 23 to yours again and then switch to 10: Unit names and name 23. So, you should have renamed Gafgarion 4 times, make sure you did! Now save this as a .ffttext just so you won't in the future havta do all this again. Then go to ISO and patch your ISO and wait for a while, up to 2-3 minutes unfortunetly. Close FFTacText once you get the "Successful!" message.

FFTPatcher
Save the best for last. We need to do a lot here so read on carefully. 1st File>New PSX/PSP patch. Now I am guessing and assuming most of you out there have already played around with the mechanics of FFT, if not, no problem too. Alright, click the Jobs tab. Find 17 Dark Knight, this is our job we created. Since this is a Red Mage, I am gonna copy the info of 1F Temple Knight, because I figure a Red Mage is both magically and physically strong, and Beowulf's job seems to fit that just right. I cannot help you too much here because I am not a mind reader  but if you are following this guide, do as I say. Change the Skillset to 46 Sword Skill, and Beowulf's stats, and the Red Mage I believe can equip: Knife, Sword, Rod, Staff, Book(maybe), Shield, Hat, Clothing, Robe, Shoes, Armguard, Ring, Armlet, and Cloak. Now luckily this is Gafgarion's guest job, but normally you would have to scroll down and adjust the Status Immunity, because most units are actually somewhat boss like. Before we move on, go to 09 Lune Knight and change his Skillset to 4A All Swordskill. Select the Skill Sets tab. For 46 Sword Skill, you should see on the right side of the screen pretty much all of the Holy and Divine Knight sword techniques. We are gonna change these to as follows, starting from Stasis Sword: Fire, Fire 2, Bolt, Bolt 2, Ice, Ice 2, Poison, Cure, Cure 2, Raise, Regen, Protect, Shell, Esuna. That will make a balance of 7 Black and 7 White magic spells. The rest on the far right I will just leave alone. You can make your own Reaction, Support and Movement abilities if you want. And now for the conclusion:

9)Changing Gafgarion around
Go to ENTD tab and scroll down. Our goal is to change every single 17 Gafgarion, both Sprite Set, Name and Job to 11 Gafgarion. This is not hard, just time consuming. Now I won't tell you every single time what to do, I will tell you where the 17 Gafgarions are. You must simply select his name and change like I said, the Sprite Set, Name and Job all to 11. It should read if correct

Sprite Set 11 Gafgarion
Name 11 Gafgarion
Birthday August(leave this alone)
Job 11 Dark Knight

So, here are the numbers of the story events where Gaffy is 17 and needs to be changed:

100, 110, 114, 11B(already done, haha), 11E, 183, 193, 194, 195, 19E and 19F(he already is 11), all done with Gafgarion!

Now go to 188, that is the 1st real battle, in Gariland. You should see on the right side a list starting with Ramza, Delita and then a whole buncha Generic Units. Choose the first Generic Male (even if your character is female). This time, change the Sprite Set, Name and Job to 17 Gafgarion/Dark Knight. Change the Birthday to yours or your preference. Change the Faith and Brave to a set number you want (and don't set the faith too high or the brave too low or you will lose your unit after the battle!) You can even set the Jobs already unlocked, and the starting weapons, ect. Go wild! Let your Red Mage start with a more powerful sword, do whatever you want!! Just don't touch Initial direction and the whole X Y thing or your game may crash. Once you are finally done, save your patch and go to ISO>Patch and find your .iso/.img file and all done! (Note that you should add your character in a chapter after Zirekile falls, because you will lose your custom there! Replace an archer of the enemy team Red to team blue and add your custom here in Zaland Fort City, where you meet Mustadio!)

10)Run your game
This step is self explainitory  
I hope this helps everyone who wants a custom character. Please feel free to comment/ask questions.