Final Fantasy Hacktics

Quote...is there any other way of doing this (making an NPC out of a generic) that doesn't require me to start a new file...?

Can use a game save hacker to change your characters around, like FFTastic.

Someone will have to correct me if I'm wrong, as I haven't tested it, but...
The only purely "safe" jobs to edit are the ones without names in Patcher. Like 3A and 3B. Problem is, they may have quirks of their own. For example, I seriously doubt they have a formation screen sprite; they'll probably use Ramza's or Delita's or someone's. Also, the empty ones at the bottom are likely flagged as monsters, and will be unable to change jobs via the job wheel.

Whoa. Lots of questions and lots of helpers! Cool!

Btw. Welcome azrael.

Why thanks, Ehrgeiz. Took me long enough, really ^_^..

I've been a major fan of FFT since it came out, and in fact was very excited a few years ago when I first started reading about people playing around with the possibility of tinkering with the game.. I believe, initially, the idea was to make our own FFT2, seeing as, at the time, it was deemed highly unlikely to occur..

I was quite unfamiliar with emulators then, and only somewhat recently decided to try and set one up.


I was quite pleased - your questions initially (as you can see) were very closely related to mine, and I couldn't seem to find the answers spelled out clearly anywhere else.

As for the save game hacker... I have FFTastic, though it's the only app I haven't been able to get to work... silly me can't figure out what file to load... in fact, I can't seem to even find one (.GME)

....


Ah-ha. Gotta love google. Turns out I need a save file converter (using ePSXe). So far, so good....


Ok, but here's a snag... this is one thing that's been bugging me a lot - I apologize in advance, I know I've already asked this, but can't seem to get what I need to know spelled out...

So, I have FFTastic working, and decided to go ahead and use it to make my wizard a 'Sorceress' .... perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but I couldn't get any changes to take effect...

converted the proper file to .gme, changed one generic's job to Arc Witch, and edited Ramza's brave from 74 to 75.. saved, and played game.. nothing. It occured to me that I probably needed to save, and then reconvert the file and replace... did that, and tried... nothing.

Either way, what was nagging me, is even if it DID work... how the heck do I assign a new sprite to Arc Witch... it is my understanding that she isn't present on the main sprite sheet, and as far as I know, ENTD doesn't deal with my roster at all, save for guest units and Ramza .... no..? I mean, I'd gladly go into ENTD and change the sprite for arc witch there... but the only Arc Witch I see is the one placed in the game for v1.3....



Seems every solution has one major snag in it... either I sacrifice an in-game sprite/job, or... eh.

Puzzles are fun....  >.>

Didn't mean to double post, but I had yet another edit, and didn't want the above post to turn into a page by itself... :/

So, I got FFTastic to work now.. change job worked - mostly... seems Arc Witch uses Balmafula's sprite (in formation, at least - didn't test in battle yet), with Reis's portrait... the only (major) problem with this method is that I cannot learn abilities or even see the list, for that matter... this is, more or less, just a 'cheat', in comparison with the scope of what I'm trying to achieve..


:/


Getting there, though..



EDIT: Wait - it just dawned on me - so, Arc Witch is Balmafula's job..? (since I've been replaying this game, I've yet to get a file that far - keep restarting with new ideas >-<   lol  )

If this is the case, then I THINK I know what must be done...

O_O

QuoteEither way, what was nagging me, is even if it DID work... how the heck do I assign a new sprite to Arc Witch...

Spriting forum and tutorial are thataway ---->

Quoteseems Arc Witch uses Balmafula's sprite (in formation, at least - didn't test in battle yet), with Reis's portrait... the only (major) problem with this method is that I cannot learn abilities or even see the list, for that matter

That's because Arc Witch has no skillset assigned to it in the first place.

QuoteArc Witch is Balmafula's job..?

Yup.  Cardinal is Dracual, Bi-Count is Rudvich (I think).

Edit:  You could just as easily do this with gameshark, too.  Set unit 02's base class to 4D or somesuch.

By the way, for clarification, SB informs me that it's event 188, not 102, that affects your starting six generics. I checked and verified this, though I gather SB's word was good enough

Interestingly, editing 102's units seems to have no effect whatsoever that I could detect (I only tried changing one, to be honest, but none of my changes registered at all - not in the cut scene, nor the attack formation.

Had a few text problems causing me delays, so I haven't been able to verify if my new class is working properly yet, but...

So far, so good!

Having some interesting issues...

Edited the units in 188 to my liking (Br, Fa, names..), and made one of them my 'sorceress' (Delita's Sis). Set the sprite to 3A (normally blank), which I replaced w/ CDMage. First trial worked, mostly, although I had a sprite problem - I chose the Miang sprite from the downloads section, but, although I could be wrong, I think it glitched due to sprite type issues (teta is type 2, Miang, type 1..) ... the arms seemed to be too high, as if the shoulders attached at about the chin... and one was slightly floating..

Changed the sprite to the custom Teta Ch. 3 one, works fine. However..

I noticed the custom class isn't entirely working properly.. Job reads as Sorceress in battle, skillset All Magic - sweet.  But when I try to use it, nothing happens and it bounces me back as if I hadn't selected anything (can't even open All Magic to select a skill to use..). I checked the status, and looked at the job list - and interestingly, instead of squire or sorceress, it says 'villain'. No description. Skillset is banish, deathspell2, mbarrier I think, etc.  When I get to formation screen, I CAN learn skills... but from the Villain skillset.... >_<    and finally, changing job results in BECOMING Villian - sorceress stats and job title only stick if I don't change anything.  Hmmph...

Any ideas on what's happening, and if this is avoidable..? Maybe just trying a different set of slots..??

are you making a skillset out of a generic skillset slot? i heard they get buggy when you mess with them.

also theres an easy way to turn type2 jobs into type1 so you can use the sprite of your choice.

Quote from: "Zozma"are you making a skillset out of a generic skillset slot? i heard they get buggy when you mess with them.

also theres an easy way to turn type2 jobs into type1 so you can use the sprite of your choice.

explain what  your talking about, please.
how do you do this?

Yea Zozma. How do you turn type 2 into type 1?
Is it by adjusting the arms, body, head, legs position?
Thats what i did with sephiroth last time before you guys told me to check on shishi for its type.

And yea....changing generic skillset will have some bugs =.=
I tried change dragon knight skillset by making new skillset and adding new skills but it seems to react with squire skillset =.=

I never learn any skills but when in battle, i can use the skills =.=
Also, i add around nine skills but when i use my generic characters, only four skills are available while for ramza2, seven skills are available.
Because of able to use the skills when i haven't even learn them, so from that, i assume it reacts with squire skillset as generic squire only have four skills, which only four skills available in dragon knight for generics and ramza2 have seven skills, which is the same amount of skills in ramza's squire. =.=

Bugggggggggg................=.=

QuoteI tried change dragon knight skillset by making new skillset and adding new skills but it seems to react with squire skillset =.=

Did you set it to be a normal skillset, or was it still set as Jump?  There are settings for skillsets in FFTPatcher that affect the way they behave.

I make a new skillset.
Yea, i know on action menu, you can change Jump skillset to normal; but the problem is all the skills i made, the area was only 2 panels from the character, meaning it is the range on the spear attack, when the skills are AoE =.=
So, that's why i made a new skillset from all those empty skillsets.

on the topic of changing type1 to type2, can you change type1/2 to mon also?

yes you can dwib, you can change them to any of the types.

but without using zodiac's 2 patches (expansion of the iso) and (sprite reassignment) you will be very limited because of file size restraints.

thanks to lists created by sentinal blade and updated by auradragon this topic has a file for download that lists the location of the sprite type bytes (found in battle.bin)

http://www.ffhacktics.com/forum/viewtop ... ght=#40720

and heres an example, you say you used one of those blank jobs to insert the type1 miang sprite? well a type 2 sprite looks like this 01 01 00 24

when what you need it to be for a type 1 is 00 00 00 24

to get a monster?
zodiac monsters are 03 05 00 24
normal non humanoid monsters are 03 03 00 24
flying monsters (have wing animations and walking animations) 03 03 01 24
Chocobo 02 02 00 24
Altima1 06 06 00 3C
Altima2 07 07 00 78

thers 2 more 04 04 00 24 and 04 04 01 24 which might be fore the weapon and other sprites but am not sure.

Oh....so meaning you just change the bytes in battle.bin and then you can replace the sprite type 1 with type 2?
Also, by what you said, means that we need to use zodiac's 2 patches in order to do this?

You don't need to use zodiac's patch, but size restrictions will likely make any changes other than type1 and type2 swaps impossible otherwise.

Oh...so this can be done without zodiac's patch?
Meaning simple change of type 1 to type 2 or vice versa is possible?

I think what he's saying is yes, it's possible, but highly unlikely that you will manage to do so unless it's a simple type 1/2 swap - the file size limits will be more restrictive, so a swap to monster/zodiac will be very difficult and time consuming.

As for the remark about 'generic slots' ... unless there are other slots marked for generic use other than the generics themselves, and maybe a few nearby, then no - I used 3A, one of the only two visibly blank slots in FFTPatcher Jobs tab, save for the big chunk near the bottom. It might have to do with a slot - this job was all over the place, so to speak - 3A for the sprite (assigned in ENTD - the sprite stuck though, so no issue there, I think), 1C Delita's Sis for the job slot (renamed Sorceress w/ FFTacText), which was using slot 04 for the skillset - 04 was blank under the skills tab, so I made it All Magic w/ the text editor, and assigned my choice of spells.

So, if it has something to do with the slots.... it's either 04, 1C, or 3A that's buggy.


?

i still don't get what type one or type 2 job are...

I _think_ type 1 / 2 is mostly negligible - it only matters to the game engine trying to animate the sprites, and noting that type 1 is mostly fighter-esque classes, whilst type 2 is mostly mage classes, and the like... my guess is it simply has to do with animating the sprites...

Eh, forgive me. I obviously really don't know what I'm talking about... ^^   just my guess, is all.

I found out where the conflict was... turns out slot 3A is used for 'Villain' job name, and in fact 3A IS the Villain.. silly me. I'll reply back later if changing this corrects the problem.   >.<

Can someone verify for me that sprite 3A on an expanded .ISO is blank? I was pretty sure I double-checked, but I want to be sure I'm not leaving a slug's trail of 'damaged' files in the process of trying to implement a few changes...