Need help, trying to do 1.3 tournament testing

[Odal]

Okay, first I'm really new to all of this.  I thought it was difficult enough just getting the emulator to work and then patching 1.3 to it.  Now I'm trying to see if I can test different teams in a tournament fashion.

I've read the thread above about getting the World Debug and FFTastics to work, but I know there's more to it than these.  I downloaded the files that were attached to the S4 thread, and have tried to understand the readme, but it seems to be specific information.

So far the best I can do is make my game play some memory card that was in the files I dl'd in the S4 thread (AI_Tourney_Beta_1).  I could load the save files, choose a place for the teams to fight, and when the fight would start it wasn't even the units in the formation screen.  Each map had some random units on it fighting each other.  I don't know if I need to generate my own memory card files, and if I do, how do I go about doing this?  I got the excel sheets from the link in the S4 thread, but how do I turn that into a memory card file?  Would that even be all I need to know?  The memory card file I loaded before didn't even work, so I think there must be more to it.

Every time I look for information for dummies I really can't find anything.  I'll keep trying to figure it out.  It's a pretty difficult task for a newbie like me to figure out, but I've been at it for days now, and I'm not about to give up!

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Odal]

Alright, I'm going to try to be more specific here:

So far the only sources of information I'm working on are:
A.)  Attachment at the end of the first post in the S4 Thread
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5888

B.) The sticky at the top of this forum.
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2651

From here on, I'm going to refer to the two above as their respective letters.

In A, there is a readme file that has most of the information I'm trying to figure out.  I've downloaded the programs that A and B require me to, but I stumble into problems on some of them.  I'm going to narrow down my problems to the two below for now.

CD Mage - I don't know what I'm trying to do here.  A's readme file says to import "FULL_ENTD3.ENT" or 'EMPTY_ENTD3.ENT", but I can only OPEN a file, and when I try to open one of those two I get an error.  I tried opening random things, but haven't had any real success.  I opened the .bin file for the game and didn't get an error, but it wants me to choose an image, and if I choose one that doesn't result in an error it wants me to save things?  I really don't know what I'm doing with this program overall.

Creating Memory Card - I've gone through the excel sheet and created one team and another team for them to face each other.  In A's readme file, it said to "select the whole red rectangle [from the excel sheet], copy and paste into a new file.  Save as a .gme file." Brackets mine.  I can't simply save as .gme though.  I can only save it as some variety of excel sheet.

I'm not even sure if I'm doing the right steps at all, as I'm just trying to complete ANY of the steps I can find.  Most of them I get stuck with, but if someone could maybe just help me with the two above problems, that would be amazing.

[Wiz]

Just for clarification, have you used FFTastic for that matter yet?

If so, just use the 1.3 CLF  (Character Library File) by first extracting from its .rar file via WinRaR.

Then, look at FFM's vid and he shows how to get it working with FFTastic.

When he wrote

There is a CLF of raw stats for ALL GENERICS with 1.3 growths attached at the bottom of this post. All you need to do is edit Zodiac sign, Brave and Faith in FFTastic. Just buy the abilities and equip them and you are set!

He was saying that you don't need to worry about the spreadsheet

Now for the most tedious bit. You can't trust the stats for FFTastic, since it uses the old growths. Instead, you need to work out the raw values for the stats. This can be done using 454Casull's spreadsheet. Just input the growth and starting base value and find the level 35 raw value. Copy and paste that value for the corresponding stat in FFTastic. Do the same for all the stats.

because the CLF does the stat Growths for you, so just ignore that.

You might have to tamper a bit to get the units working because in the slots 17-20 (1 being Ramza... Duh) are actually for guests because in the game you can only have up to 16 units at most. And a couple of the normal slots 1-16 (I can't remember which ones) are a little iffy  meaning you'll have to play around with getting the generics set-up for a bit.

Note: you actually don't need an additional memory card reason being you can make another save file within the MC you're using and edit that one accordingly in FFTastic.

Once you're done with FFTastic, save the data for the file you edited before converting back to it's .mcr (MC) format and you should be set.

And keep this in mind

I highly suggest you do items and abilities in FFT itself, since the edits could mess up. In other words, activate the 99 items option in FFTastic, make/edit your unit, and click for them to unlock and have 9999 JP for all jobs.

Hope this helps and solves it for you  

[pokeytax]

Okay, here is the easiest I can make it.  Not coincidentally, it's what I do, and it's basically identical to the current tourney - the only difference I know of is traps being enabled which has happened to me once.  You will need:

FFTastic - http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/fft/downloads/editors/FFTastic1_44.zip
The S3 beta patch - http://zodiac.ffhacktics.com/S3.rar
a clean .iso of Final Fantasy Tactics (keep a copy just in case)
(recommended) The unit template .clf - http://www.ffhacktics.com/forum/download/file.php?id=5310


1) Apply the patch (13030_AI_TOURNEY_BETA_1.00.ppf) to the .iso.
2) Load the memcard Lasting_Dawn VS Skip_Sandwich.gme and load the file.
3) It should work okay.  Don't mess around in game, just press confirm and select a map.

You don't need to mess with the Excel spreadsheet.  Just edit the save file with FFTastic.  Load the .clf and use the "Swap" function to add, say, a blank knight to your team, then adjust his abilities.

Summons cannot be added via FFTastic without issues, so add these from the formation screen immediately after loading your save.  Ditto with abilities like Wish.

[Wiz]

That beta download's different though where there's one team under guest AI and the other under enemy AI. Not only that, but it comes with only 6 maps that can be played with, unless you manually edit the others and know how to do so.

The first link on the front page is the way you need to go and I'll address how to do it in the next 5 hours or so so give me time. (I've been up all night trying to figure out how to get the same result from S3, and I think I've got it so now I just need to execute) The tutorial will be in the following edit... unless someone else wants to pitch in and make it simpler (probably) or help Odal step-by-step with what his issue is since I know very little about would it is right now

Just to further note, as the tourney readme says, team 1 needs to be placed in slots 9-12 while team 2 has to in slots 13-16 in FFTastic.

EDIT: Roughly 2 hours later, I come to find out that FFTPatcher, TacText, Shishi Sprite Editor, etc... don't work on the CPU I'm on (the previous one it did) so unfortunately this is as far as it goes for me (this one's XP from 2005 and the other Vista from 2008) . I can't think of anything else other than I believe the two files you mentioned FULL_ENTD3.ENT, and EMPTY_ENTD3.ENT respectively go into the FFTPatcher program, but I could be wrong.

And generating memory cards (already covered it, but I'll emphasize it further): Just dup one via copy/paste and use that to play around with.

Sorry if everything didn't work out well... I tried my best   There should be like a video tutorial for this specific S3 tourney patch on how to get it set up. I think when it comes to this kinda stuff (haxoring/using sick computer skillz), visuals for novices and non-experts of the like (haxoring) are easier to aid one than that of just text.

And that's coming from experience via YT vids compared to an online/text. Idk how many additional hours I would've spent figuring out how to get a saturn emulator running or the N64 one for that matter if it wasn't for Youtube. But yeah, I gotta find a way and see if I can upload vids onto the site without always having to type for 45 minutes for a comment (w.e. that may be) and talk about it in under 10 minutes (seems pretty convenient as a way to communicate via posts).

[Odal]

Alright.  So far you two have been a huge help!  Thank you!

It's good to know a lot of this stuff I don't even need to deal with.

Pokeytax, your method does work, however there is the problem Wizzy pointed out.  Only 6 maps to work with, and I didn't notice anything too weird with the AI yet, but I only tried a small map, so it might not have been noticable.  But at least I'm making progress.  And that is the easiest 3-step process to get teams set up for fighting each other, so thanks for that

Alright.  Next goal: Get more maps (and apparently the AI) working!

Thanks, you guys! <3

[Jon]

I think he means ffhacktics.com
You probably have the /forum at the end.

[Wiz]

I actually misspoke, I meant to say "the tournament link under the first comment of the S4 registration thread".

If all what you need is maps (this kinda an inference), just get the one's your team will be fighting on for round one and save yourself a ton of time and the next three you'll be on if you win round 1 (which you should  

[Odal]

Alright, after a few hours of testing, I already know what I'd change my current team to if I could.  Unfortunately it's much too late for that.  But, I think I've come up with a pretty good team. ).[/quote]Are you saying I can get those maps on to play with the AI the tourney uses?  If not I'd probably not bother.

I know there's some way, because people who are hosting tourneys are doing it, but if they don't wanna share their haxor secrets with me, that's okay  I do think it'd be fun to host a tourney or help out with them, if it makes them come and go quicker.  

The only thing I really want now is to find out how to make the game go at 2x speed.

[Wiz]

To answer your first question about the maps, no... I intended to address that when it comes to the BETA tourney patch. There's an arduous way from what I understand in getting them for the BETA and it's impractical to do so with the dumping of "this file, then hexiting it up my ass, etc...). The FULL (S3) tourney patch linked in the S4 registration thread (first post) comes with all of the maps enabled/ in working order.

And as for making the gameplay faster: Before you start the game up with the emulator, look for a video option (there should be one for the plugins and what not) and configure the framerate, which should be under Frames Per Second (FPS). 60 FPS is the speed the game plays at normally, and doubling it to 120 FPS would make the game run twice as fast. Mystery Solved.

Always here to help when I can.

[Odal]

And it seems I'm here to complicate these mysteries.  I'm guessing it's my video plugin, but it only lets me choose an FPS limit, which by default was at 200.  I've tried tinkering with all of the other options ("Use FPS limit", "Use Frame skipping", Auto-detect/Frame skipping limit"), but it's not changing from 58-62 FPS.

I think I have more video plugins than is listed, but I'll see what I can find.

Thanks a bunch for all the help.  You're awesome!


EDIT -  WOOOOOOW.  All I needed to do is push F4 to get rid of the FPS limit O_o

*facedesk* *facedesk* *facedesk*

EDIT 2 - Well, that ignores the limit, which makes the game retardedly fast.  Like at least 5x O_o  Looks like I got more tinkering to do.  When it's that fast all I can see is how it starts and ends, really, so I can't find where I need to change the fine details.

EDIT 3 - Okay, FINALLY got it.  I set 120 as the max frame.  Have the options showing at the top, though I'm not sure if I NEED them, but it allows me to see what I'm doing.  I hit F4 ignore the 60 frame limit, and then it'll speed up REALLY fast, then I hit End button until it stops at 120 FPS.  What an annoying process!

[Wiz]

Well that sucks, at least you can do it now. I'm pretty sure we're using different emulators. I've got epsxe v1.6.0 and only checked the FPS limit then typed in the FPS value I wanted (along w/ desktop resolution, and window size if I didn't want to play in full-screen).

If you want to know how to record your gameplay, I got tutorial via CamStudio under the general forum if you want to check that out and maybe contribute to 1.3 at the moment or for w.e. future ideas you may have in mind.

[Odal]

I know how to record, fortunately.  I know camstudio doesn't work for me with espxe, for some reason.  I get audio, but no video.  I know I can record with FRAPS though, and if recording audio happens to slow the game down, I'm sure it'd be just as good to record audio afterwards on Audacity.  I just gotta make sure I don't know (or am good at acting like I don't know) what's going to happen in the battle

Thanks though.

PS - And my EPSXE is version 1.7, so maybe that's why.  It wasn't the plugin at all though, since others I found were the same way.

[Wiz]

Not that I'm trying to denigrate your idea with Audacity or anything, but post-commentary is kinda dull to watch imho. Knowing what to expect and talking about the meta-game of it's not as exciting for viewers especially when they know they're not seeing the initial rxn where where the player's screaming at the top of his or her lungs:)

Azureblade49's playlist of a SMW Romhack called N-JAMM by metriod48 on YT is a prime example of this.

But still, being able to record is better than doing nothing at all. Personally, I love making vids because I'm documenting what is to me a piece of art and having those memories to share with the rest of the world assures to me that they're not going to waste. Hell, if I had enough money stored in a bank account to never have to work a day more (TWO MILLION DOLLARS- Dr. Evil Impression), recording videos along with being on the internet getting educated is all I would probably do, and the occasional sex here and there

Anyways, I stopped myself short from divulging the conversation into an auto-biography about me to say that I had to click a configure button that said "configure", which was referencing to the current plugin that I was using.

[pokeytax]

I only just now bothered with getting this running, hopefully this helps.

CD Mage - I don't know what I'm trying to do here.  A's readme file says to import "FULL_ENTD3.ENT" or 'EMPTY_ENTD3.ENT", but I can only OPEN a file, and when I try to open one of those two I get an error.  I tried opening random things, but haven't had any real success.  I opened the .bin file for the game and didn't get an error, but it wants me to choose an image, and if I choose one that doesn't result in an error it wants me to save things?  I really don't know what I'm doing with this program overall.

Use the Beta version of CDMage.  Open your game file after patching it with the full tourney patch in PPF-o-Matic.  Go into the BATTLE folder and right-click ENTD3.ENT. Choose Import File and import FULL_ENTD3.ENT.  You should be able to open and edit the included AI_Tourney_Beta_1.gme now.

Creating Memory Card - I've gone through the excel sheet and created one team and another team for them to face each other.  In A's readme file, it said to "select the whole red rectangle [from the excel sheet], copy and paste into a new file.  Save as a .gme file." Brackets mine.  I can't simply save as .gme though.  I can only save it as some variety of excel sheet.

You want to paste into WinHex.  Copy the Excel stuff, open WinHex and press Shift-Insert, then save as ASCII Hex and exit.  Don't forget to open the file in FFTastic and resave it before loading in ePSXe.

Editing an existing save with FFTastic is fine for basic usage.  FFMaster's spreadsheet is for setting up tournaments efficiently.