Library of the Ancients => Final Fantasy IV Research & Development => Topic started by: Gedankenschild on July 26, 2014, 08:46:52 PM
Title: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on July 26, 2014, 08:46:52 PM
Hi everyone!
I thought I'd share what I've been up to recently. After looking through Gemini's very helpful posts from years ago (Thanks!) about inserting 16-color portraits into the menu screen, I became curious. I decided to take a look at ASM and tried to at least understand what exactly his code was doing. After a couple of weeks of studying the guides and experimenting with debuggers I finally hit the jackpot and got my very first ASM hack to work: inserting the 4bpp Wonderswan enemies into the expanded SNES ROM and actually making it work! (YAY!)
It's obviously not finished yet and quite a few things need to be done. The code that loads the enemy graphics is also used to load the background tiles and menu elements like the pointer and damage numbers. Which is a very welcome side effect as far as I'm concerned... 30 color battle backgrounds, anyone? :happy: Also, other palettes like spell flashing and enemy death need to be changed as well. The more complex bosses cannot simply be copied over either, because of the more sophisticated way the game loads their tiles. But that's not much of problem - a tiny bit of simplification won't hurt that much, I think. Oh, and summons display as garbage, so they use unique tile loading code. Same is true for Toad/Piggy/Tiny status effects.
I rewrote the enemy palette/size/graphics pointer index documented by JCE3000GT (Thanks to you as well!) and I can say that code-wise everything seems to be working very well. Even the Four Elements battle (which had me worried) causes no problems thanks to the unsophisticated way the game manages the palettes, hehe... (Remember how Kainazzo turns yellow before transforming into Valvalis - totally unnecessary, but very fortunate for this project!)
I just pasted part of the battle background tiles back over the originals in 4bpp mode to make at least the field background look right in these screens. (That, of course, throws off the index and screws all the other bgs.)
(Edit: Replaced screenshot, original didn't survive the forum update)
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Grimoire LD on July 26, 2014, 09:41:03 PM
Oh man! That is so cool! Does that mean we can look forward to new portraits (and not those awful ones from FFIV:A) in a bit of time as well? Those monsters look quite glorious on the SNES, I must say!
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Pinkpuff on July 27, 2014, 05:07:56 AM
That looks totally awesome! Great work!
Say, I could actually use your help if you're interested, since you seem to know a thing or two about how to read graphics. I've been trying to get FF4kster to read the map tiles directly from the rom (currently it's just using pre-packaged image files instead). The 3bpp ones I was able to get no trouble, but for some reason the 4bpp ones (ship/airship) are causing me some issues. I posted my code over on this thread (http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=1856.msg20710#msg20710). I read various documents over on RHDN and did my best to implement what I understood to be the correct process but it doesn't seem to be producing the correct results.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on July 27, 2014, 10:45:53 AM
Oh man! That is so cool! Does that mean we can look forward to new portraits (and not those awful ones from FFIV:A) in a bit of time as well? Those monsters look quite glorious on the SNES, I must say!
I'm very much intended to port back whatever I can manage, so yes, that includes the portraits! That makes this a LONG term project, though... One of the main reasons I didn't really do anything about those menu portraits yet, is that I don't know what I should use! We had that discussion in that other thread, I was never that crazy about the GBA ones, but when I compared them to the new ones from the mobile port (that no one can get their hands on) I couldn't take them anymore at all. :sad:
When the monsters are done I want to try my hand on improving the battle backgrounds, I did some research on them and finally figured out how and where the tile layout and pallet association are stored in the ROM. (Is that something you would be interested in, Pinkpuff?)
Updating the enemies is of course not a simple copy and paste job, the remake (Wonderswan version, but since GBA is based on that I think it's true for both) is actually very wasteful with its ROM space. The palette swap enemies aren't actual palette swaps anymore - they all have their own tile sets! And their colors are arranged differently so that the palettes need to be rearranged by hand in order the work with a single tileset!
Say, I could actually use your help if you're interested, since you seem to know a thing or two about how to read graphics. I've been trying to get FF4kster to read the map tiles directly from the rom (currently it's just using pre-packaged image files instead). The 3bpp ones I was able to get no trouble, but for some reason the 4bpp ones (ship/airship) are causing me some issues. I posted my code over on this thread (http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=1856.msg20710#msg20710). I read various documents over on RHDN and did my best to implement what I understood to be the correct process but it doesn't seem to be producing the correct results.
Thanks for the kind words! I'd really like to help but I'm afraid I'm not much of a programmer... I can give you the code I changed if that helps. The screenshot I posted in the thread you linked to was obtained by simply opening the ROM in TileLayerPro in SNES 4bpp mode and going to the right address. It doesn't seem to me like the game has any particular, non-standard way of storing those graphics... :hmm: I did fool around with location graphics a bit by pasting the DMA routine of the airship over other location's routines, only to test whether the game could run 16-color graphics in towns and dungeons (yes it can).
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Pinkpuff on July 27, 2014, 06:54:17 PM
Wow, I totally overlooked the fact that you had already posted there; my bad!
I'm convinced that there's something wrong with my 4bpp reading routine, I just have no idea what it could be, since, as far as I can tell, it's following the algorithm exactly... the only other possibility I can think of is that it's not starting in the right place, but I'm certain it is... could it be that the algorithm I've been looking off of is incorrect? Anyway that's a discussion for another thread.
Thanks anyway though! ^_^
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: JCE3000GT on July 27, 2014, 11:09:27 PM
Wow this is very nice work I'm very impressed. I always knew the SNES version of Final Fantasy IV/IIus could be graphically improved. Do you think the map and overworld tiles could be done/enhanced too at some point?
One last question, how much room does the increased graphics take up?
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on July 28, 2014, 09:44:03 AM
Wow this is very nice work I'm very impressed. I always knew the SNES version of Final Fantasy IV/IIus could be graphically improved. Do you think the map and overworld tiles could be done/enhanced too at some point?
One last question, how much room does the increased graphics take up?
I did look at the map a little bit. As far as I remember, the updated version uses one palette more than the SNES version. And quite a few more tiles. I do believe that the SNES version loads all map palettes (overworld/underworld/moon) in each of those locations. A certain degree of rewriting things would be required to get it close and of course it would be more static... But even without that, a bit of touching up is not just possible but necessary! The really interesting thing here is that I'm confident the new overworld (and NPC) sprites should work. The game does indeed reserve 16 colors per sprite palette and then just leaves the last 8 colors empty - so the space is there!
The new graphics + palettes take up 6 banks. I expanded the ROM to 4MB - the same size as the WSC ROM. I guess it could have been squeezed together more tightly, but after seeing some of the WSC tilesets I realized, that ROM space would never become a problem... And I would have had to think harder when redoing the monster index! :happy:
Just for entertainment purposes take a look at the Evil Wall Tileset (the WSC/GBA one, not mine!) below. Why move it, if you can just paint it anew? :cycle:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Grimoire LD on July 28, 2014, 11:13:24 AM
This boggles my mind... in what universe was it easier for Square Enix to cut and paste the same image six or seven times slightly moving it instead of y,know... Moving the Sprite to the Right as custom battle code says!
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on September 03, 2014, 06:11:43 PM
Maybe it's time to post an update...
I was able to fix both battle backgrounds and the cursor and stuff by copying them to the expanded area in 4bpp and rewiring everything. I also finally got summoning to work by locating and rewriting the offset table that is only used when monsters are summoned (as opposed to fought in battle). Redoing the summon loading routine (to load 4bpp tiles) also switched weapon and slash sprites into 4bpp mode, breaking those... And for some reason floating enemy shadows are now also off! Oh well, I will look into that soon, but for now I wanna look at chillyfeez' special sizes data and fix some of the bosses and summons.
(Edit: Replaced screenshot, original didn't survive the forum update)
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Grimoire LD on September 04, 2014, 09:42:20 PM
That looks smooth! Looking forward to hearing some more progress on this front!
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on October 02, 2014, 07:09:18 PM
I grew a little bored of enemy stuff and decided to try upgrading the backgrounds a bit, porting over a custom version of the WSC beach background (the water is from the actual WSC background, the sand is from the scene when Cecil is washed ashore near Mysidia). It replaces the field background for now, since that is the only one that can be rewritten top to bottom freely... for now!
A question: Has anyone documented the weapon/spell/enemy flashing palettes? What I mean is, which is which and what starts when and where. I need to do some work on the enemy flashing palettes since they are not prepared for 16 colors. I thought I'd ask before I start researching them more deeply - don't want to do it unnecessarily! :wink:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Grimoire LD on October 04, 2014, 09:54:41 AM
Hmm, as I recall there is a sort of "fast and loose" order to the entire thing. Magic Palettes and Weapon Palettes anyhow both use the same bytes. I know that Chillyfeez would have a better idea on this regard because he had a lot of experimentation in getting palettes to look right for Summons when he wanted to make them into battle enemies.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on October 11, 2014, 01:45:52 PM
Hey all, sorry, I went on a caribbean cruise on 10/4 and just got back to the US.
Anyway, I never got to the point of finding the flashing palettes, but I did find and document the subroutine within the summon animation routine that makes the summoned monster flash, so it shouldn't be hard to find from there. I won't be back home for another couple of days. Let me know if you still want me to research the flash palette and I will when I'm home.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on October 12, 2014, 05:54:09 AM
Sounds nice, hope you had a good time!
I did a little bit of documenting myself concerning those palettes:
The palettes themselves are not THAT important. Weapons look pretty much the same in all versions. The slash animations and some spells are slightly touched up and that is something I'd like to address in the future.
The enemy flashing routine is definitely something I'd like to fix. The ninth color isn't moving at all and the rest doesn't look completely right either. I just now realized that there has to be a working 16-color rotation routine already - the one that's used for the party members! That one should be fit to replace the enemy one.
Not familiar with FF4, but is it possible the palette color at that position is being overwritten in the code?
I haven't really looked at the actual code myself. What I can say is that the color in question would be the transparent color of a potential second 8-color palette in that line. The game does tend to load 8-color palettes twice (see the lowest two). It's kind of strange that they made the second part move anyway, since it doesn't have any effect in the original game... :hmm:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on October 19, 2014, 01:02:43 PM
Hey, Gedankenschild. Unfortunately, I don't have much good to report on this front. I can tell you this: When a non-animated monster is summoned (Imp, Cocktric, Mage, Bomb, Mist?), the subroutine that makes the summoned monster flash before attacking (Flash black, like enemy monsters do when attacking) is buried somewhere in the routine at 01/E009 (LoROM). But unfortunately, there's a whole lot of other stuff buried in that routine, and I just don't think I know/understand enough about interpreting SNES graphical code to figure out much more that that... :isuck: Sorry. Hope you weren't counting on me to come up with some huge revelation...
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on October 22, 2014, 01:49:52 PM
That's OK, chillyfeez. Thanks for taking a look nonetheless! I will take a look myself at some point. Even if I were unable to fix it, it wouldn't be a complete disaster. It's not even that noticable if you arrange the palette the right way - we'll see...
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on March 16, 2015, 11:50:18 AM
Time to report some more progress! I spent a bit of time staring at those DMA routines the game uses to load overworld/location protagonist and location graphics and finally understood how they work (at least enough for my needs). Some simplifications will be necessary - at least with some locations. I need to look at the way the game decides which tileset to load. If it's possible to have more than one town tileset and make different towns load different sets that would be pretty neat! On the other hand it sounds like quite a drag, rewriting the properties and palette associations to this point took a bit of time! I need a break... :sleep:
P.S. And of course the game has to use different routines for all sprites - world map protagonists, location protagonists, protagonists splitting up for a cutscene (no kidding), townspeople, vehicles... :bah:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Grimoire LD on March 16, 2015, 02:46:43 PM
Time to report some more progress! I spent a bit of time staring at those DMA routines the game uses to load overworld/location protagonist and location graphics and finally understood how they work (at least enough for my needs). Some simplifications will be necessary - at least with some locations. I need to look at the way the game decides which tileset to load. If it's possible to have more than one town tileset and make different towns load different sets that would be pretty neat! On the other hand it sounds like quite a drag, rewriting the properties and palette associations to this point took a bit of time! I need a break... :sleep:
P.S. And of course the game has to use different routines for all sprites - world map protagonists, location protagonists, protagonists splitting up for a cutscene (no kidding), townspeople, vehicles... :bah:
Other than the inky water and the green squares around the bushes, this looks pretty grand Gedankenschild!
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on March 16, 2015, 05:00:12 PM
Other than the inky water and the green squares around the bushes, this looks pretty grand Gedankenschild!
And I worked so hard on that water! :happy: Yes, the moving parts have their own loading code - I haven't looked at that, yet. The remake does indeed only have those kinds of bushes. They solved this by having these "edge of the road" tiles that take up A LOT of tiles. I do want to introduce them, though. It really does smooth things out.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Grimoire LD on March 16, 2015, 05:41:51 PM
Now That looks much better! Good work so far!
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on March 16, 2015, 06:08:18 PM
That last one was from the Wonderswan version... :happy: But thanks anyway, I'm working on it! :cycle:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: JCE3000GT on March 17, 2015, 12:14:23 AM
Jesus that looks incredible! I love the fact that Final Fantasy 4 is getting the love and attention now. Pretty soon you'll be able to do a completely new game with its engine. :D
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on March 17, 2015, 09:08:38 AM
Pretty soon you'll be able to do a completely new game with its engine. :D
Working on it... Slowly but surely ;)
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on August 13, 2015, 03:03:41 PM
I just realized it's been about a year since I first introduced my project here. And I'm starting to feel like a miser looking at all of you sharing at least alpha versions of your stuff... :blush: So it's time to throw something out there and show I wasn't posting mock-ups here all along!
Below is a link to a beta patch that replaces all the 8-color enemies and summons with their 16-color Wonderswan counterparts. It should be applied to a headerless ROM of the 1.1 US version (1.0 might work - never checked).
I tested it with some of your patches and it seems to work up to the point where changes to graphics and palettes and the corresponding tables were made. These will obviously be overwritten by THIS patch...
Feel free to post feedback, bug reports and the like. If you'd like to incorporate this into a hack of your own and have questions feel free to ask.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Grimoire LD on August 13, 2015, 03:37:10 PM
Oh man! That is some terrific work! I'm also kind of surprised that you ran into the rare spawn Green Dragon of all things while testing out Combat Boost, haha! This will likely become a standard upgrade to all patches in time, I'd imagine.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on August 13, 2015, 04:18:25 PM
That was a total coincidence. I thought "Let's take a screenshot with Grimoire's patch.", loaded the game, ran into the first dungeon, and there it was! :happy:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Bahamut ZERO on August 13, 2015, 05:17:56 PM
This is some amazing work man! Seems to work with my project quite well. Definitely cool to see enemies on the level as character battle sprites BPP-Wise!
I'd love to incorporate this into my project when it hits it's final stages (which admittedly won't be for a long time). But until that point I'll defintely use it while I test it out (yay, backups!).
One question (for the time being anyway): Are the Weapon graphics still in 3BPP?
EDIT: Nope, still 3BPP. :)
Hmm, that's odd... my edits to weapons graphic aren't working properly (example: instead of seeing my edits, I'm still seeing the vanilla weapon graphics).
Other than that I'm seeing no problems or conflicts, which is very awesome!
EDIT 2: *facepalm* nevermind, just found a 4BPP version of the weapon graphics haha. Works like charm. :)
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Kea on August 13, 2015, 06:55:52 PM
This is very impressive! Especially since graphics code totally stumps me. :eek:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on August 13, 2015, 07:39:08 PM
Holymoly, this works with my project?! That might be the best news ever!
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on August 14, 2015, 04:30:26 AM
One question (for the time being anyway): Are the Weapon graphics still in 3BPP?
Seems you figured it out already. ;) The game uses the same graphics loader for summons and weapons, so I had to set up a 4bpp version of the weapons graphics at the end. As long as you copy your changes over to that one everything should work.
My reasoning: 1. It's actually easier to just rewrite the subroutine that shovels graphics into VRAM than to try and work in a jump to brand new one. That always got me into trouble somehow. 2. My goal is to in the end have everything in 16-color mode, so doing it this way means taking care of stuff that would have to be done anyway.
Monster Graphics 1, 2, 3 used to fill an entire bank. As a result not all graphics fit in them anymore. The Leftovers now have their own new bank at the end:
[128000] Monster Graphics Leftovers
Enemy Palette Data is at 11E000. It also follows the original formula: 1. is the Imp. 2. is the Basilisk, etc. (It's really the original routine with an ASL A to jump 16 colors from palette to palette instead of 8...)
The point being: If you've already familiarized yourself with how and where the game loads stuff it shouldn't be hard to just adapt your changes. Things still work the same way, basically everything has simply been transplanted elsewhere.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on August 14, 2015, 07:39:19 AM
My biggest concern was all of the extra graphics data interfering with the extra assembly I've added. I imagine the monster graphics oddities you noticed are simply due to the graphics data being moved/altered, and finding and inserting the right pointers should fix those issues. Assuming I can get the kinks worked out, do I have your permission to make this an actual part of my project? Of course you'd get due credit when it's released.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on August 14, 2015, 08:04:04 AM
My biggest concern was all of the extra graphics data interfering with the extra assembly I've added. I imagine the monster graphics oddities you noticed are simply due to the graphics data being moved/altered, and finding and inserting the right pointers should fix those issues. Assuming I can get the kinks worked out, do I have your permission to make this an actual part of my project? Of course you'd get due credit when it's released.
Absolutely, use it! My hope was always to ensure compatibility with other hacks as far as possible. That's one of the reasons I stay away from the bits of free space in the ROM and limit myself to the new, expanded area. Your contributions here (special sizes in particular) are part of what even made this possible. So if there are any questions I'd be glad to help. :wink:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on December 13, 2015, 09:02:58 PM
4 months since I updated this? Time flows like a river...
Is it just me or is there no spot on either Mt. Hobs or Mt. Ordeals where you ever get to see the rivers on the background map? Removing those would free up quite a bit of space and make an almost perfect port possible.
As a result there are now three "unused" palettes. In other words: If one were to upgrade the backdrop, they would have 60 colors at their disposal! :whoa: There's a lot of room for improvement there, don't you think? :wink:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on December 13, 2015, 09:37:34 PM
I feel like I've seen the river before, but I might be thinking about the watery pass background. Also, I'm sure I wouldn't miss it. Mt Hobbs and Mt Ordeals don't even have rivers anywhere near them, after all.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on December 13, 2015, 10:30:28 PM
You probably remember the river from the GBA version. You can see it there (the one on the right). They must have moved things around for that version. My idea is that you simply never get close enough to the edge of the screen in the original, because the backdrop moves at half the speed of the foreground.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on December 13, 2015, 11:08:54 PM
Well, I've never played the GBA version, so that's not it, but I'm sorta notorious for my brain occasionally fabricating little details that have no basis in reality. I think I actually got into an argument once on this forum in which I insisted that Asura's life spell doesn't work on KO'ed characters, when in fact it does.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on December 14, 2015, 08:32:21 AM
You never played the GBA version?! I was far too mesmerized by the graphics update to not play it. I didn't play anything past it, though (including TAY)... :laugh:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on December 14, 2015, 09:44:37 AM
Well, I never had a GBA. I have a DS, but by the time I got it, they had released the DS version, so I skipped right to that.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Bahamut ZERO on December 31, 2015, 01:21:44 PM
Those mountains.... holy shit do they look good! :D
I especially like the fact the wall and floor tiles aren't the same color like the old SNES ones are. Really brings out the details!
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on January 06, 2016, 04:32:14 AM
Glad you like it! :happy:
Currently I'm working on the town set, specifically the walls.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on January 06, 2016, 11:00:57 AM
Every time I see progress on this hack, I just am amazed that it's the same game for the same system.
Obviously your town walls use more varied tiles than vanilla. Were there actually enough free tiles, or did something else have to get the axe?
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on January 06, 2016, 08:53:09 PM
So far everything was done without having to sacrifice in other areas. There were three tiles that became unused (outlined in pink) that I turned into darker variations of others. Then I realized that one of the three stairs tiles is never used in the game and also doesn't show up in the remake. So I turned that one into the final, lowest part. (https://dl.dropbox.com/s/lycs5tx921jrj06/town2.PNG?dl=0)
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Bahamut ZERO on January 08, 2016, 12:15:32 PM
That is some incredble progress on the town tileset! The amount of depth the buildings have and the amount of detail on the walls is staggering. I especially like the scooped wall top and the bottom border.
I think the one stair tile you used was the one used for the beginnig of the wall shadowing, but it's new (actual) use is much better. Fuhk that staircase!
And thanks for the info on the unused tiles! I've been wracking my brain for what feels like ages on how to go about some ideas I have for the town tileset, and knowing of 3 more tiles that won't be missed helps immensely. :D
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Grimoire LD on January 10, 2016, 04:49:41 PM
Hah, never noticed that second shaded stairwell was unused. Good eye there Gedankenschild. This project looks to be moving along again and I think it will look well with any future FFIV hack!
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on January 11, 2016, 04:20:08 AM
It's always nice to hear from you two.
@Bahamut ZERO:
Keep in mind that these 3 tiles are only redundant in the remake. If you are looking for ways to make the original tileset more efficient you might also focus on the trees. The original uses 4 lower tree tiles (left, middle, right & standing alone). The remake cuts that down to a single one.
It would be nice if the finished hack were supported by editors like FF4kster. If there's ever any interest in making that happen I could of course provide all the changes and addresses, so it shouldn't be that hard to implement...
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Bahamut ZERO on January 13, 2016, 05:29:55 PM
Keep in mind that these 3 tiles are only redundant in the remake. If you are looking for ways to make the original tileset more efficient you might also focus on the trees. The original uses 4 lower tree tiles (left, middle, right & standing alone). The remake cuts that down to a single one.
You know, that's a damn good idea! With those 3 along with a few of the 3 you mentioned earlier, I might just have enough space for a roofing changeup I want to do with the town tileset. Thanks for the suggestion! Now I have something to do with my free time tomorrow. :banonsmash:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Kea on January 13, 2016, 05:53:06 PM
I'm just going to repeat the others and say that your graphics updates are incredible. It reminds me of the difference between SMB1 and SMB3 on the NES.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on January 15, 2016, 12:35:29 PM
No problem, BZ!
And thanks Kea. I've been reading my way through your own project thread as well. I think I'll take a look at your notes, since I'm working with the GBA location tilesets...
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Kea on January 16, 2016, 01:57:39 PM
I'm afraid I haven't done much with tilesets beyond finding a few ROM offsets; most of my graphics work has been focused on weapon sprites and monster GFX, but there should be a few tidbits in there that will help you. I've belatedly updated my notes download to correspond with the current state of my doc, so what you'll download will be just about everything I know about FFIV thus far.
Going through my notes again makes me want to get back into my project...got to hash out monsters and encounters in the Tower of Zot, then think up AI scripts for Barbariccia and Golbez.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on January 21, 2016, 01:07:39 PM
Look, it's a PSP version portrait... (https://dl.dropbox.com/s/g2osycvm9cpcsen/portraits.png?dl=0)
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Grimoire LD on January 21, 2016, 05:57:42 PM
Oh my goodness...! I was not expecting that to transfer so well, incredible!
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Bahamut ZERO on January 24, 2016, 07:42:22 PM
Look, it's a PSP version portrait... (https://dl.dropbox.com/s/g2osycvm9cpcsen/portraits.png?dl=0)
Holy shit! That is a mindblowing update to the character portraits. :cookie:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on February 21, 2016, 10:58:54 AM
Almost forgot to put this here, too! (Copy/paste incoming!) :blush:
A question for you guys. You know there are hidden treasures in the bushes of Baron Town. If I keep these exactly where they are I will have to create two additional bush border trigger map tiles (what a word salad!). That's how the game works.
If I however move them one down and to the right, respectively, I can use the standard one and use the two map tiles for something else to get the map closer to the remake. So what's more important - the graphics being as close as possible or maintaining exact positions of these treasures?
P.S. I'm starting to like the PSP portraits as well, I would actually like them to be a bit more colorful tbh... (by that I mean brighter - I'll try combining them with the GBA palettes maybe, see how it looks)
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Bahamut ZERO on February 21, 2016, 12:38:34 PM
As someone who didn't know those treasures (or the path that leads to them) even existed before messing around on the game with FF4kster, I certainly wouldn't shun the idea of moving some hidden treasures over a little to make room for more of those sexy graphics. :wink:
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: chillyfeez on February 21, 2016, 01:11:16 PM
Ditto on not knowing those treasures were there for a very long time. I don't think I learned from FF4kster, but I definitely learned it after becoming a participant in this forum.
Title: Re: 4bpp Graphics Backport
Post by: Gedankenschild on February 21, 2016, 04:04:26 PM
That seems to be quite common, actually. I work with maps created from the WSC version: http://fantasyanime.com/finalfantasy/ff4/ff4maps.htm The person who did them clearly didn't know either, as you can see looking at the Baron map.
What surprised me was the hidden chest at Kokkol, the Smith's:
I didn't know about that one until I redid this map weeks ago! And guess what: It doesn't even exist in the Wonderswan version, so they didn't as well!