Final Fantasy Hacktics

so the only defending animations hang the game if used as a skill animation?

Well, It kinda depends on how Mega_Tyrant is testing. We need to see if these values are used for the same animations in the second byte or if they behave differently in the second byte.

hmm cause i really need that defend animation for Big Shot and Angermax lol...

Well, we'll be testing them here. If a working combination is found it'll get posted here.

Sure thing.  At the moment I'm testing it on ramza but, what other sprites would I need to test them on as well.  I know ramza is SP1 but would I also have to test it out on other SP1 sprites as well?  Same thing with SP2 sprites.

I should have 2 or 3 hours free tomorrow so I'm gonna get my 2nd PSP (found it buried in my closet) up and running so I can test both the 1st and 2nd bytes.  I'm gonna test like mad and get as much done as I can.

XX YY ZZ -

XX -"Type" of skill being cast, which also calls animations.
YY - Normal Animations when the skill is used, Refer to the Animations part of the wiki, there is no incorrect information on that.
ZZ - Battle Message

another thing im wondering

u know how theres an alternate magic casting noise called "spell casting beta"

i wonder if theres a way to make it use that sound with magic. id love to use it for blue magics

That would be interesting if we could change the sound effects called upon by the abilities.  Now that I think about it I wonder if it's possible to replace the sound effects in the ISO with better sounding effects kinda like an undub but just with sound effects.

So the values in XX are definitely different from YY; and the YY ones seem to correspond to the animation list on the wiki (but with at least 1 inconsistency so far).

2C on the wiki doesn't make sense with the animation data.

Quote from:  wiki0x2C Found Item

However all the White, Black and Time spells use 2C as their YY value.
Asside from this one they seem to match up well.

hmm, so yy uses a different list than xx, that means a lot of xx values won't be usable then.

Yeah, a lot of the yy values from the list make no sense in the xx position.

Also, your testing of Ramza is on a Type 1 sprite. That will also cover Type 2 sprites.
The other types of sprite are:
Monster
Monster + Flying Flag (should also be covered by monster, but not sure.)
Monster + Lacavi SEQ
Chocobo (I'm testing this one now.)
Ultima 1
Ultima 2

In shishi they appear in two pull down menus labeled as TYPE & SEQ. The above types correspond to these pull down entries; MON/MON, MON/MON with the 'Flying?' box checked, MON/RUKA, CYOKO/CYOKO, ARUTE/ARUTE, & KANZEN/KANZEN.

Interesting thing I just noticed about the looping spell cast animation.  If someone elses turn comes up the character stops, then starts up again when it's their turn.

So far (Byte 1):

00   Crouch Charging
01   Spell Charging
02   Summon Charging (bubble effect at end)
03   Spell Charging
04   Crouch Charging
05   Spell Charging
06   Crouch Charging
07   Crouch Charging
08   Crouch Charging
09   Spell Charging
0A   Crouch Charging
0B   Spell Charging
0C   Crouch Charging
0D   Sing Charging
0E   Dance Charging
0F   Spell Charging
10   Spell Charging
11   Kneeling
12   Crouch Charging
13   Crouch Charging
14   Spell Cast (game freezes upon animation 2)
15   Walk (normal speed) (game freezes upon animation 2)
16   Walk (haste speed) (game freezes upon animation 2)
17   Spinning Clockwise (game hangs upon animation 2)
18   Kneeling(poison trap, the actual graphical effect of the poison rising appears wherever the skill was targeted)(game hangs upon animation 2)
19   Walk (haste speed) (game hangs upon animation 2)
1A   Defending (game hangs on animation 2)
1B   Dodge (game hangs upon animation 2)
1C   Walk (haste speed) (game hangs upon animation 2)
1D   Struck Animation (game hangs upon animation 2)
1E   Unconcious (game freezes upon animation 2)
1F   Walk (haste speed) (game freezes upon animation 2)
20   Spell Cast (game hangs upon animation 2)
21   Similar to 2nd part of speechcraft but it looks like he's reading from a book. (No visible book)(game hangs upon animation 2)
22   Spell Cast with Poison needle trap effect (game hangs on animation 2)
23   Dance Charging switches to cast animation though if your turn comes up again before the spell/attack resolves (game freezes upon animation 2)
24   Raises arm like charging spell but then the animation keeps looping (game freezes upon animation 2)
25   Spell Cast (game freezes upon animation 2)
26   Spell Cast (game hangs upon animation 2)
27   Spell Cast (game hangs upon animation 2)
28   Spell Cast (game hangs upon animation 2)
29   Spell Cast (game hangs upon animation 2)
2A   Freezes in place in whatever part of the walk animation they were in (game hangs upon animation 2)
2B   Spell Cast (game hangs upon animation 2)
2C   Spell Cast (game hangs upon animation 2)
2D   Standing (game hangs upon animation 2)
2E   Spell Cast (game hangs upon animation 2)
2F   Spell Cast (loop)
30   Standing

Here are the results thus far for the Byte 1 values for a Chocobo Type sprite.
I set Byte 2 to 01 for these tests because it causes the unit to disappear for the second half of the animation.
Actually on a side note, the Byte 2 value of 01 for the chocobo has a strange effect. If the unit targets itself it'll use a pose with one raised wing instead of disappearing.
Anyway, here's the data:

00 - Standing pose
01 - Flapping wings w/ standard spell charge
02 - Flapping wings w/ summon spell charge
03 - Flapping wings
04 - Squinting pose
05 - Flapping wings
06 - Flapping wings
07 - Squinting pose
08 - Raise wings up then down and into squint pose
09 - Flapping wings
0A - Raise wings up then down and into squint pose
0B - Flapping wings
0C - Raise wings up then down and into squint pose
0D - Stop in current pose
0E - Stop in current pose
0F - Vanish
10 - Flapping wings
11 - Squinting pose
12 - Shaky squinting pose
13 - One wing raise forward pose
14 - <Freeze>
15 - <Freeze>
16 - <Freeze>
17 - <Freeze>
18 - Flying at ground level then <Freeze>
19 - <Freeze>
1A - Hop with a single wing flap then <Freeze>
1B - Flying at ground level then <Freeze>
1C - <Freeze>
1D - Spin around once then <Freeze>
1E - Squinting pose then <Freeze>
1F - <Freeze>
20 - <Freeze>
21 - <Freeze>
22 - Green bubbles then <Freeze>
23 - <Freeze>
24 - <Freeze>
25 - <Freeze>
26 - <Freeze>
27 - <Freeze>
28 - <Freeze>
29 - <Freeze>
2A - Bow head then green bubbles effect then <Freeze>
2B - <Freeze>
2C - <Freeze>
2D - <Freeze>
2E - <Freeze>
2F - Wings raised pose
30 - Standing pose
31 - Wings raised pose
32 - Wings raised pose
33 - Standing pose
34 - Wings raised pose then <Freeze>
35 - Wings raised pose
36 - Standing pose
37 - Wings raised pose then white sploosh effect then <Freeze>
38 - Wings raised pose w/ standard spell charge
39 - Standing pose
3A - Wings raised pose
3B - Wings raised pose
3C - Standing pose then golem hand effect then <Freeze>
3D - Wings raised pose
3E - Wings raised pose
3F - Standing pose then white sploosh effect then <Freeze>
40 - Wings raised pose w/ standard spell charge
41 - Wings raised pose
42 - <Freeze>
43 - Wings raised pose
44 - <Freeze>
45 - Standing pose
46 - Wings raised pose
47 - Wings raised pose
48 - Standing pose then golem hand effect then <Freeze>
49 - Wings raised pose
4A - <Freeze>
4B - Standing pose then white sploosh effect then <Freeze>
4C - Wings raised pose w/ standard spell charge
4D - Wings raised pose
4E - Standing pose
4F - Wings raised pose
50 - Wings raised pose w/ standard spell charge
51 - Standing pose
52 - Wings raised pose
53 - Wings raised pose
54 - Standing pose then white sploosh effect then <Freeze>
55 - Wings raised pose
56 - Wings raised pose
57 - Standing pose
58 - Vanish then white splash effect then <Freeze>
59 - Vanish
5A - Standing pose w/ standard spell charge
5B - Vanish then white smoke puff effect then <Freeze>
5C - Vanish then red energy charge effect then <Freeze>
5D - Standing pose
5E - Vanish
5F - Vanish
60 - Standing pose then aqua splash effect then <Freeze>
61 - Vanish
62 - Vanish
63 - Standing pose
64 - Vanish then rising sparkles effect then <Freeze>
65 - Vanish
66 - Standing pose
67 - Vanish
68 - Vanish then white smoke puff effect then <Freeze>
69 - Standing pose
6A - Vanish
6B - Vanish
6C - Standing pose then dust puff rising effect then <Freeze>
6D - Vanish
6E - Wings raised pose
6F - Vanish
70 - Wings raised pose then golem hand effect then <Freeze>
71 - Wings raised pose
72 - <Freeze>
73 - <Freeze>
74 - <Freeze>
75 - Standing pose
76 - Wings raised pose
77 - Wings raised pose
78 - <Freeze>
79 - Wings raised pose
7A - Wings raised pose
7B - Standing pose
7C - Wings raised pose then rising energy streak effect then **This one doesn't freeze**
7D - Wings raised pose
7E - Standing pose
7F - Standing pose

I found a very interesting combination for a dragoon or monk attack.

Use the values 0F, 6A, and 00. Then make sure the ability is single target only.
This will give a bad ass jump kick / short dragoon jump animation.

0F 71 00 is similar but uses the Steal animation. It might be useful for a new steal ability.

0F 3C 00 is kinda wierd. The unit jumps up off screen, then the effect happens on the target and the unit reappears in their original spot with the teleport effect.

As you guys could guess, 3C is the teleport effect. If it could be combined with a custom formula it could be used to make a teleport skill. This would be advantageous for anyone who would rather use the two teleport movement skills for new movement skills instead without having to sacrifice teleportation all together. The only drawback is that the AI would probably not be able to use the new teleport ability without an additional ASM hack.

At any rate, my theory for the teleport skill would be to make it not target any spot occupied by any ally or enemy unit. Make sure it can't target the caster either. This will force the player to target an empty spot. Then in order for it to be functional it would need a custom formula that sets new coordinates for the caster based on the coordinates of the spot that was targeted. The effect would be that the player would disappear, then the formula would happen, and finally, the unit would appear at it's new coordinates.

Thinking about it; the custom formula could probably just be a simple call to the algorithm that already handles teleportation.

Quote from: "Vanya"I found a very interesting combination for a dragoon or monk attack.

Use the values 0F, 6A, and 00. Then make sure the ability is single target only.
This will give a bad ass jump kick / short dragoon jump animation.

0F 71 00 is similar but uses the Steal animation. It might be useful for a new steal ability.

0F 3C 00 is kinda wierd. The unit jumps up off screen, then the effect happens on the target and the unit reappears in their original spot with the teleport effect.

As you guys could guess, 3C is the teleport effect. If it could be combined with a custom formula it could be used to make a teleport skill. This would be advantageous for anyone who would rather use the two teleport movement skills for new movement skills instead without having to sacrifice teleportation all together. The only drawback is that the AI would probably not be able to use the new teleport ability without an additional ASM hack.

At any rate, my theory for the teleport skill would be to make it not target any spot occupied by any ally or enemy unit. Make sure it can't target the caster either. This will force the player to target an empty spot. Then in order for it to be functional it would need a custom formula that sets new coordinates for the caster based on the coordinates of the spot that was targeted. The effect would be that the player would disappear, then the formula would happen, and finally, the unit would appear at it's new coordinates.

Thinking about it; the custom formula could probably just be a simple call to the algorithm that already handles teleportation.

Whoa... Do you now how Awesome it would be to see someone Jump, have a Meteor Drop, then Teleport back down after the effect? That is just... great work Vanya! It sounds like there is a lot of possiblity for unique animations. I'm also curious about that Jump Kick you mention...

Very intersting work, I like it. I'm rather confused as to why we haven't figured this all out before. Though obviously I wasn't either...

Thanks! ^_^
I'm guessing cause no one has tested this stuff in detail until now.
The list on the wiki is incomplete and not very descriptive. I hope to remedy that.

By the way, I also found some animations that seem suspiciously like they would fit the unused doll weapons.
They could be related to shield blocking, but they don't seem to use shield graphics.

Speaking of weapon animations, I've also found the animations for striking weapons (knife, sword, staff, mace, etc.). guns, crossbows, thrust weapons, books, harps, throwing weapons, and bags/cloths. Some of these were already on the wiki. If we could some how expand the routine that checks for swords, we can do an entire array of abilities designed for specific weapons.

Using the dolls you say!? That is very interesting...hmmm what is it using in place of the doll? Just whatever the equipped weapon is?

Really? You found the elusive dolls animations? Interesting...