Thanks!
I spent the better part of yesterday just preparing a ROM to reinvestigate the add character/remove character/re-add character routines, which was an unflinching reminder of what a massive undertaking this project is going to be. With a lot of hard work, I'm still probably a month away from a final product. But at least it has a visible end. You know, unlike TfW which will probably be a WIP until just before I die =p
I've got a routine worked out that will add the equipment of a removed character into the player's inventory, or bring up the "choose what to keep" screen if the player's inventory is full. I'm pretty sure it will work, but I'm nowhere near the point where I can actually write it into ROM and run it, so there's not really anything to show ATM.
The other thing I did is create a ROM with FF4kster that gives me easy access to all of the different party-change situations. Essentially, I turned the town of Baron into a sort-of debug room. The four buildings across the front of the town are now Rydia House, Kain House, Tellah House and Edward House.
In Rydia House, there are two Kid Rydias and Two Adult Rydias, which will add and remove the respective character when spoken to.
In Kain House, there are three Kain's - one which adds Kain from ROM, one which adds Kain from RAM, and one which removes either Kain from the party.
In Tellah House, there are four Tellahs. One adds Tellah (from ROM), one removes Tellah, one "transforms" Tellah into his ultimate version (like what happens on Ordeals) and one removes ultimate a version Tellah.
Edward House just has two Edwards - one to add Edward and one to remove him.
If I'm not mistaken, this should be an example of every kind of party change dynamic in the game, which will allow me to breakpoint the add character and remove character functions in order to see all of their routines in action.
All of that was just prepwork to begin investigating what normally happens so I can formulate a plan for how I'm going to hack it.
Good times...
