Topic: What information is known about the overworld?

[Dragonsbrethren]

Great work Vehek! That all looks like very malleable parts. It is interesting to see that there are two tops to the Tower of Bab-il which means two of those spaces should be unused.

All four tiles are used. The ones with grass behind them are for the tallest tower, the black ones are for the two towers that end "in" the ravine. (The underworld duplicates likely have different blocking properties for the airship, so you can't fly up the tower graphics)

Also, the Enterprise works fine in the underworld.

[chillyfeez]

Hah - I've been calling it the Highwind this whole time 
Once the Agart crater is opened with the drill, you are free to travel underground with the ... er ... yellow airship.
If memory serves, you can even take the hovercraft down there with the crane (but it doesn't do you any good).

Tile 68 in the Overworld tileset is (i'm pretty sure) the only one that is unused.

[Vehek]

Do you know of a program that is capable of editing world map tiles? Tile Layer doesn't seem to be able to view them properly.

I haven't checked Tile Layer yet, but are you using the correct tile encoding, since it's not in 4BPP SNES? The tile format is called 4BPP GBA in YY-CHR.
Or if you meant the assembled tiles, I don't have a good method for viewing them. The tileset images were made by having a program use the tile assembly data to write out the tile graphics to a file, which I then viewed in a tile viewer.

Obviously there are quite a few unused tiles in the Underworld and Moon tilesets (and one in the Overworld). It would be great to be able to change the graphics of these tiles and actually put them to use.

I wouldn't say there are really that many available. Keep in mind that each 16x16 tile is made up of 4 8x8 tiles. There are very few unused 8x8 tiles, if any. Except for the moon, which doesn't have a full set of 256 8x8 tiles. While it's possible to turn those unused 16x16 tiles into new combinations of the 8x8 tiles, there probably aren't enough unused 8x8 tiles to insert many new graphics into.

Let's see...

• There are no spare 8x8 tiles in the overworld
• There are maybe 4 spare blank 8x8 tiles in the underworld.

Haven't yet accounted for some of the used blank 8x8 tiles maybe being leftover and not really needing to be used instead of other blank tiles.

[chillyfeez]

I wouldn't say there are really that many available. Keep in mind that each 16x16 tile is made up of 4 8x8 tiles. There are very few unused 8x8 tiles, if any. Except for the moon, which doesn't have a full set of 256 8x8 tiles. While it's possible to turn those unused 16x16 tiles into new combinations of the 8x8 tiles, there probably aren't enough unused 8x8 tiles to insert many new graphics into.

I was afraid you'd say that 

[chillyfeez]

Here are my world map tileset... um, maps.
They're arranged in a style that mimic's Phoenix's FF4Tools map editor. So, tile 34 would be the fifth tile in the fourth row (not vice versa). Also, red dots indicate tiles that (by default) are trigger tiles, so as to give visual distinction between, say, regular forest and chocobo forest entrances.
Each map has a reference to the location of its corresponding tile properties for easy reference. Remember that each tile has two bytes of properties, so to edit the properties of tile 34, you would edit the ninth and tenth bytes of the seventh row of the appropriate range.
Overworld


Underworld


Moon Surface

[Pinkpuff]

Ok so the 00, 10, 20, and 30 tiles on the upper world are each 4 graphical tiles wide?

[chillyfeez]

Yeah. I think I mentioned that earlier in the thread. Makes sense, sorta. they're all used exclusively as parts of the snow-capped mountains, so they were able to save on the number of tiles by doing that.

[Grimoire LD]

With Chillyfeez's directions I've recorded down all of the World Map Triggers, maybe this will help get it into the editor sooner? A little difficult to say...

Location             X, Y,     Map,            New X, New Y, OVERWORLD Baron Castle(NW)     65,9C Baron Castle(24)       10,1E Baron Castle(NE)     66,9C Baron Castle(24)       10,1E Baron Castle(SW)     65,9D Baron Castle(24)       10,1E Baron Castle(SE)     66,9D Baron Castle(24)       10,1E Baron Town(NW)       64,9D Baron Town(00)         10,1E Baron Town(SW)       64,9E Baron Town(00)         10,1E Baron Town(NE)       67,9D Baron Town(00)         10,1E Baron Town(SE)       67,9E Baron Town(00)         10,1E Mist Cave(S)         4C,84 Mist Cave(6C)          02,1C Mist Cave(N)         54,77 Mist Cave(6C)          9B,03 Mist Village(W)      60,77 Mist Village(01)       43,10 Mist Village(E)      61,77 Mist Village(01)       DC,10  Kaipo                7D,68 Kaipo(02)              0F,1E Watery Pass(S)       8A,53 Watery Pass-South(6F)  1A,1D Watery Pass(N)       8A,4D Watery Pass-North(73)  98,09 Waterfalls(N)        86,48 Waterfalls(74)         90,09 Waterfalls(S)        7D,42 Waterfall 2F(76)       90,0B Damcyan Trigger      77,3E Event Call 10(FF)       N/A Damcyan Castle(NW)   76,3A Damcyan Castle(25)     10,1E Damcyan Castle(NE)   77,3A Damcyan Castle(25)     10,1E Damcyan Castle(SW)   76,39 Damcyan Castle(25)     10,1E Damcyan Castle(SE)   77,39 Damcyan Castle(25)     10,1E Antlion Cave         88,38 Antlion Cave 1F(77)    8F,04         Mt. Hobs(W)          98,31 Mt. Hobs-West(7E)      0F,1C Mt. Hobs(E)          A0,31 Mt. Hobs-East(80)      15,1E Fabul Castle(NW)     D6,3A Fabul Castle(26)       0F,1D Fabul Castle(NE)     D7,3A Fabul Castle(26)       0F,1D Fabul Castle(SW)     D6,39 Fabul Castle(26)       0F,1D Fabul Castle(SE)     D7,39 Fabul Castle(26)       0F,1D Fabul Docks          DD,38 Event Call 2B(FF)       N/A Mysidia(W)           9A,C7 Mysidia(03)            10,1F Mysidia(E)           9B,C7 Mysidia(03)            10,1F Mt. Ordeals          DA,C7 Mt. Ordeals 1F(84)     14,1F Troia Castle(NW)     22,52 Troia Castle (27)      10,1D Troia Castle(NE)     23,52 Troia Castle (27)      10,1D Troia Castle(SW)     22,51 Troia Castle (27)      10,1D Troia Castle(SE)     23,51 Troia Castle (27)      10,1D Troia Town(W)        23,53 Troia Town(05)         10,1C Troia Town(E)        23,54 Troia Town(05)         10,1C Troia Town(SE)       24,54 Troia Town(05)         10,1C Cave Magnes          4A,35 Cave Magnes 1F(8C)     85,07 Eblan Castle (NW)    2D,EB Eblan Castle(28)       10,1F Eblan Castle (NE)    2E,EB Eblan Castle(28)       10,1F Eblan Castle (SW)    2D,EC Eblan Castle(28)       10,1F Eblan Castle (SE)    2E,EC Eblan Castle(28)       10,1F Cave Eblan           18,E7 Eblan Cave(C7)         8A,04 Agart(NW)            68,D7 Agart(06)              10,1F Agart(SE)            69,D8 Agart(06)              10,1F Silvera              D2,82 Silver(04)             11,1E Adamant Grotto       DB,88 Adamant Grotto(A0)     07,14 Giant of Babil      21,DB Giant of Babil Mouth(B5)0C,05 ?Airship?         22,DB Airships with Soldiers(C0)8C,11 Fabul Chocobo Forest E4,2F Chocobo Forest(CF)     08,0B Mt. Ordeals Cho. Frst. D5,D1 Cho. Frst(D1)        08,0B Baron Chocobo Forest 59,A3 Chocobo Forest(D2)     08,0B Troia Chocobo Forest 22,65 Chocobo Forest(D3)     08,0B Island chocobo Forest 56,4F Chocobo Forest(D4)    08,0B Large Troia Forest   29,35 Chocobo Forest(21)     08,1E UNDERWORLD Dwarf Castle(NW)    63,52 Dwarf Castle(07)        0F,1E Dwarf Castle(SW)    63,52 Dwarf Castle(07)        0F,1E Dwarf Castle(NE)    63,51 Dwarf Castle(07)        0F,1E Dwarf Castle(SE)    64,51 Dwarf Castle(07)        0F,1E Dwarf Base          5B,53 Dwarf Base(0F)          03,0E Dwarf Tank Trigger1 30,0F Event Call 58(FF)        N/A Dwarf Tank Trigger2 31,0F Event Call 58(FF)        N/A Smithy's House      68,7B Smithy's House(00)      06,0B Tomra(W)            3E,79 Tomra(01)               11,1B Tomra(E)            3F,79 Tomra(01)               11,1B Tomra(SE)           3F,7A Tomra(01)               11,1B Sylvan Cave         0D,0E Sylvan Cave 1F(45)      90,02 Sealed Cave         2E,6D Sealed Cave(44)         04,0A Land of Monsters    1B,56 Land of Monsters(36)    91,0A Babil Trigger1      37,14 Event Call 36(FF)        N/A Babil Trigger2      36,11 Event Call 36(FF)        N/A Babil Trigger3      33,10 Event Call 36(FF)        N/A ----------------------------------------------------------- MOON Bahamut's Cave      3D,17 Bahamut's Cave 1F(5A)   88,07 Lunar Palace        1C,19 Lunar Palace Lobby(60)  10,1C First Lunar Path(N) 12,14 Lunar Path(63)          0C,1E First Lunar Path(S) 12,0E Lunar Path(63)          93,05 2nd Lunar Path(S)   29,18 Lunar Path(64)          95,06 2nd Lunar Path(N)   28,1C Lunar Path(64)          09,19 Hummingways         21,27 Hummingways(65)         0A,10

[chillyfeez]

Are those listed in the order they appear in ROM?

[JCE3000GT]

Don't know if this will help and I feel bad for not publicly releasing those offsets yet but starting at offset (no header) 74300 is the overworld encounter rate (goes left to right in 32 tile blocks), 74340 is the underworld encounter rate (one byte for entire map), and 74341 is the moon map also one byte for the whole map.  After that is each map encounter rate (74342-744C2). 

[Grimoire LD]

Yep, that's the exact order they appear in ROM.

Ah? That is rather nice to have JCE! Thanks for that bit of information.

[Gedankenschild]

I have a question about the way the final map tilesets chillyfeez posted are constructed. Let's say I wanted to sacrifice parts of the tower to gain four 8x8 tiles, in order to reproduce the grass tiles from the remake. (OK, I'm gonna make a screenshot to clear that up...)
The answer would probably lie in the Overworld tile assembly data at 0A0000 that Vehek posted here. I just don't know how to interpret the hex data there. Has this been described before here? I used the search function but couldn't find the answer... 

[chillyfeez]

So your question, if I'm interpreting this right (and - caveat - I'm definitely not the one on this forum with the most knowledge in this area), is how you would take those four tiles and make the game arrange them into a proper 16x16 map tile?

[Gedankenschild]

Yes, in this example I would like the game to construct the lowest part of the tower (the two 16x16 tiles) from the upper four 8x8 tiles it uses now and then the pitch black tile from the top left corner times four. That would then free up the lowest four tower tiles (8x8). These could then be used to have the grass parts of the map consist of four 8x8 tiles instead of two.

[Gedankenschild]

Silly me, I think I'm starting to figure it out. It helps to be able to count properly and not be too lazy to do some experimenting...