Category: hacking scene

  • New-Player Events

    Final Fantasy Modding Communities

    For clymax’s projects, click here. You can also follow him on YouTube or Twitter.

    This post explores events catering to new players and pertaining to mods of the Final Fantasy series.

    Events based on vanilla games are not included in this post but are covered in other posts such as this one here.

    For FF randomizers compared, see here.

    1. Whirlwind Four-Job Fiesta

    When: every summer

    Target: speedrunners, challenge runners, or casual players (different divisions for each)

    Base games: FFV (primary), FF I-IV and VI (secondary)

    Commitment: single run streamed or recorded (depending on division), with a run estimate of 2 hours

    Familiarity with Whirlwind or with FFV required: no and no

    Host: FFV Central

    Since: 2025 (event), 2024 (randomizer hack)

    Per FFVC event host clymax, for more info, see here.

    2. Moogle Cup by Worlds Collide

    When: continual based on enrollment

    Target: aspiring racers

    Base game: FFVI

    Commitment: mini-tournament

    Host: FF6WC

    Since: 2024 (event), 2020 (randomizer)

    Courtesy of Worlds Collide administrator doubledown:

    Are you a brand new Final Fantasy VI: Worlds Collide player looking to dip your toes into the exciting world of racing? Want to learn the ropes from seasoned veterans who are willing to share with you their greatest racing tips and tricks? How about making some great new friends and connections in a terrific community, and maybe earning a bit of glory along the way?

    Introducing the Moogle Cup, an ongoing series of mini-tournaments where we pair new or learning racers with mentors from the community to provide coaching and guidance. In the Moogle Cup, you’ll engage in some friendly competition with your fellow moogles, all of whom will have some of the game’s best racers riding shotgun to help everyone be the best moogle they can possibly be!

    A new Moogle Cup runs whenever there are enough sign-ups and mentors to hold the event, so sign up now to reserve your spot. Full details, including rules, sign-ups for racers, and sign-ups for mentors, can all be found on the [Moogle Cup Discord] channel. Don’t miss out!

    https://tinyurl.com/MoogleCupRules

    3. Duck Bootcamp & Derby by FFR

    When: January

    Target: aspiring racers

    Base game: FF

    Commitment: January training, February tournament

    Host: FFR

    Since: 2020 (event), 2016 (randomizer)

    Via FFR administrator DarkmoonEX:

    Hey there, FFV fans. Next week is the official start of the Final Fantasy Randomizer New Player Program, the Duck Bootcamp 2026: Duck to the Future. The FFR Team has been hard at working cooking up a solid program for you. The kick off will be on Sunday, January 4, at 9:00 PM with the 101 Class reveal stream. From there we’ll have six weeks of training for you to go through and learn everything about FFR.

    The weekly schedule will be:

    • Sundays: 100 Level Class Debut at 9:00 PM EDT on RPGLB Twitch
    • Monday Mornings: 100 Level Async Race Opens at 10:00 AM EDT on FFR Discord
    • Monday Evenings: 100 Level Class Race (Different Seed, Open to All) at 9:00 PM EDT on RPGLB Twitch
    • Wednesdays: 200 Level Class Debut 8:00 PM EDT on FFR Twitch
    • Thursday Mornings: 200 Level Async Race Opens at 10:00 AM EDT on FFR Discord
    • Thursday Evenings: 200 Level Class Race (Different Seed, Open to All) at 8:00 PM EDT on FFR Twitch
    • Fridays: Vod Reviews on FFR Twitch

    Full details are available on the FFR wiki. And once you’ve gone through your training, the Bootcamp will be followed by the Duck Derby, our new player tournament, in late February.

    We hope to see you there!

    4. Tellah’s Trainees by Free Enterprise

    When: ongoing

    Target: aspiring racers

    Base game: FFIV

    Commitment: 8 weeks

    Host: FF4FE

    Since: 2025 (event), 2018 (randomizer)

    Courtesy of FF4FE’s Wrexsoul:

    It is my pleasure and honor to announce the return of the Tellah’s Trainees Club! After a notable hiatus, the introductory club for new players is active once again. However, it wouldn’t be much of a return without some notable fanfare, would it?

    The Tellah’s Trainees Club has recruited some new leaders from the community to assist in broadening its scope and experience, two of whom were graduates of the original Tellah’s Trainees program. RobsatPlays and Drinks Glue have elevated the knowledge base and perspective of the future direction of the Club, having experienced it firsthand when it was formed. Currently, they are working alongside FE veteran BeautyInDiscovery to develop and unveil a competitive season format to add to the instructional curriculum of Tellah’s Trainees.

    For those with exposure to the World Collide community, its origin draws influence from the Moogle Cup and should be quite exciting!

    In addition to the upcoming season format, we wanted to broaden our scope so that graduates and veterans could have a more active role in the Club. While they continue to be instrumental in its success by providing tips and insight on the seeds, as well as answering questions from our newbie runners, it was time to have something else to help our up-and-coming runners continue to grow. So, to accommodate this, the Club has new site for information! Tellah’s Trainees Club Site

    The website will replace the previously used Google Sheet that housed all the flagsets for the curriculum that allowed those runners who joined the community after the rotation began to catch up. However, the site is much more than that! It includes intermediate flagsets that introduce other flags and club flagsets, as well as allow our fresh graduates to try out some previously used tournament seeds. Want to really stretch your knowledge? Try one of our rolled seeds in the Advanced section curated by our community that will have you muttering to yourself as you fight through adversity to complete the seed.

    So, I welcome both new players and veterans alike back to the Tellah’s Trainees Club and to be on the lookout for announcements of the upcoming season format, as well as our first seed in the new rotation!

    This post has been viewed 39 time(s).

  • New Graduate epigonone

    Hacking Academy of FFV Central

    FFV: Enhanced Battle Monitoring

    The FFV Central community congratulates the newest graduate from our Hacking Academy pilot.

    Known for his spritework in the Canon Remaster Style Pack for the FFIV Ultima Plus online patcher, epigonone’s following hack idea was approved for entry into the Hacking Academy:

    HP/MaxHP – ATB Bar

    A hack that adds the max HP in battle, while still showing the current HP and ATB meter, like the one that’s available on some other hacks. FF4 Ultima for example.

    Preview from Eventual Demo:

    Here are just some of the bonus features added in the eventual submission of the hack for academy review:

    • Distinguish MP damage and MP heal via color
    • MP display in main battle menu
    • Color-coded HP, MP, and ATB variants
    • Character status color and label cycles
    • Pageable tooltips in battle

    Thanks to xJ4cks for the playtesting and excellent coverage of some of the features on his blog here.

    More details on this academy hack to come.

    Badge Awarded:

    This post has been viewed 48 time(s).

  • PSA: Discord Opts Users In to Being Pinged

    With No Way Out Except Tediously Doing So for Each Individual Server

    Disclaimer: the opinions contained in this post are personal opinions of clymax and do not necessarily reflect those of anyone else in or outside of the FFV Central community.

    1. Case Study

    Unidentified Final Fantasy Modding Discord of ~2,400 Members

    September 10, 2025

    [Server Admin A pings everyone asking everyone in advance to please refrain from discussing irl topic X.]

    [User backlash ensues. More pings occur from other moderators.]

    User A: pinging everyone was a mistake tbh, it’s going to have the exact opposite of the intended effect

    I’m in over 100 servers all about totally different things and yet only one of them did ” HEY @ EVERYONE DONT TALK ABOUT THIS ONE THING!!! “

    i dont care about being pinged I’m trying to tell you that your idea of pinging everyone is horribly backfiring which surely you’ve already realized by now

    Server Admin B: i have a hot take………. why does everyone in ANY way care about being pinged

    like…….. literally who cares

    clymax: Imho it’s Discord that dropped the ball bigtime, allowing no way for a user to opt into or opt out of all notifications across all servers [including future servers].

    This means that pinging a user can amount to forcing them to [immediately] reassess whether to block notifications on this Discord specifically.

    Game-Modification Team Member: You can set your ping settings on a server as soon as you join it. I always recommend doing this so you don’t get hit by pings you don’t want.

    clymax: Many of us have 100 or 200 Discords. No one wants to go through and manually block each one, esp. when that list changes continually.

    [Editor’s note: Not flexing here, as what is there to flex? But because I’ve been in Discords large and small, I’ve observed how users have responded to being pinged in Discords both much larger than and much smaller than FFV Central.

    Also, images added for context.]

    2. Another Case Study

    Unidentified Retro Gaming Server of ~600 Members

    [Server Admin pings everyone continually on various updates to the server. Presumably, an exodus of members ensued, and the Server Admin found out why.]

    August 20, 2024

    Server Admin: Sorry everyone for all
    The notifications I was in the process of of building the server I will not @-everyone like that ag[a]in. Sorry for the inconvenience

    August 21, 2024

    clymax: No worries bro, the problem is with Discord tbh. Not only is the following option not available, but it’s also the opposite setting by default
    (see: https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/23790790573207-Disable-everyone-Notifications-Across-All-Servers )

    You’re doing a great job btw. Seems Discord just really wants ppl to ping each other more 🤣

    Server Admin: Yea it’s garbage but it is also my fault I just wanted to make sure everyone could see what they needed and could navigate the server I got carried away lol

    I appreciate it and yes lol seems that way. I have this server more set up so I shouldn’t need to tag everyone there is a directory we have channels for everything but will have a couple more for another project ppl can see what they need to and or want to leveling system entertainment channels the works lol

    clymax: Bro I get where you’re coming from. I have a project thread in RHDN forums for my FFV hack. Every time I update my post I have to resist the urge to bump my own thread 🤣 Otherwise it’s buried—rn it’s not even listed on page one anymore.

    Server Admin: 😂exactly I just feel like it’s more important than it really is I guess because of the time I put into it it’s my baby lol but @ is a bad habit

    clymax: Could even have a self-managed role to get news about latest Discord-server updates, but the updates will probably be less frequent as the server grows tbh

    Server Admin: We have that to[o]

    Yup the roll[role] selection there are a few to choose from or all of you want

    clymax: Nice

    Server Admin: Yea that way
    You can see what you want and hopefully not get notifications from what you don’t

    3. From Around the Web

    If I need to be the one showing you these memes, maybe you don’t use Discord as much as you think you did. Just maybe.

    Memes aside, even a cursory web search can let you gauge how Discord users feel about this subject.

    4. A Workaround for Server Admins

    Did you just send, or allow some user to send, an everyone or here ping?

    Congratulations, this is how I respond as a user, as Discord prevents users from opting out once across all and future servers. And I assure you it’s not just me.

    Before and after screenshots below.

    Yes, allowing pings to happen only ensures fewer and fewer will actually get the pings over time.

    Solution for Discord owners? Disable pings for all roles, including everyone and here, with the lone exception of possibly the moderation role.

    Create new self-managed roles of different types, with “alerts” clearly in the role name. Do not opt users in to any of these roles by default.

    Enjoy not exacerbating a problem that Discord created.

    So, what do you think? Agree or disagree? Comment below, or come check us out on our Discord (where role pings are disabled, I might add).

    This post has been viewed 31 time(s).

  • Is Romhacking.net Low-Key Shaming Alternative Sites It Beefed With?

    Any Mention of Romhack Plaza is Automatically Hyperlinked to Old Reddit Drama Thread—and More

    For clymax’s projects, click here. You can also follow him on YouTube or Twitter.

    1. Intro

    A project thread of mine in the RHDN forums apparently contains some image hotlinks (which I should be fixing anyway) that became broken after a certain point in time, possibly in mid-2025.

    To be clear, these images worked fine for a period of time.

    But why did these end up being broken?

    This is what I saw today when attempting to fix the images.

    It looks like any link to (update: mention of) Romhack Plaza (RHP) is being auto-converted to instead point to a Reddit thread regarding some old drama between the two sites (which Romhack Plaza’s predecessor already addressed here).

    Could this be an accident?

    Or is RHDN refusing to squash its beef with one it deems as its competitor?

    Let’s check another project thread of mine here.

    Seems not.

    We get that beef happens. But is that not something that the hacking community can overcome?

    Is this the kind of culture that we want to see being set in our community?

    2. Analysis

    The original image (not hotlinked this time):

    The original forum shortcode with hotlinked image URL:

    [img width=256 height=224]https://romhackplaza.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/FF5r-IC-Disc1-English-translation-v0.01-by-clymax_027.png[/img]

    The autoconverted result by RHDN:

    [img width=256 height=224]https://[url=https://www.reddit.com/r/romhacking/comments/18xgc3b/romhacksorg_admin_sabotaged_romhackingnet/][url=https://www.reddit.com/r/romhacking/comments/18xgc3b/romhacksorg_admin_sabotaged_romhackingnet/][url=https://www.reddit.com/r/romhacking/comments/18xgc3b/romhacksorg_admin_sabotaged_romhackingnet/][url=https://www.reddit.com/r/romhacking/comments/18xgc3b/romhacksorg_admin_sabotaged_romhackingnet/]romhackplaza[/url][/url][/url][/url].org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/FF5r-IC-Disc1-English-translation-v0.01-by-clymax_027.png[/img]

    Basically, RHDN’s automated script looks for:

    romhackplaza

    and auto-adds a hyperlink to the drama thread, like this:

    romhackplaza

    Based on further testing it was discovered that the URL shortcode is nested four deep in this case due to four edited submissions having been made.

    That is to say, each additional edited submission results in one further level of nesting of the URL shortcode.

    3. Validation

    Should we test our hypothesis? A different thread is used.

    “romhackplaza” was temporarily added at the end of the post.

    The result is now hyperlinked as explained in the previous section.

    The auto-added shortcode can be seen on re-editing the post.

    This shows that the auto-conversion is still active to this day.

    For what it’s worth, other variants were also tested but appear unaffected.

    4. Another Discovery

    It has since been reported to yours truly that you get a similar result if you try to mention Romhack.ing.

    Here is a test:

    And the result:

    where

    romhack.ing

    became

    Idiots that staged a hostile takeover.

    in reference to an incident we previously covered here.

    Crosspost on Twitter

    So, what do you think? Comment below, or come check us out on Discord.

    This post has been viewed 336 time(s).