Aslickproductions.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=5f0fck550j2m4m2fpbtkj2vkm1&topic=1748.0e:/My Web Sites/Slick Productions - FFIV Message Board/slickproductions.org/forum/indexb1fe.htmlslickproductions.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=5f0fck550j2m4m2fpbtkj2vkm1&board=8.200e:/My Web Sites/Slick Productions - FFIV Message Board/slickproductions.org/forum/indexb1fe.html.zxw&h^ЋOKtext/htmlISO-8859-1gzip0|Wed, 11 Mar 2020 00:01:20 GMT0 0Pw&h^B FF3 Data Structure?

« previous next »
Pages: 1

Author Topic: FF3 Data Structure?  (Read 2520 times)

lilfut

  • Ymir
  • *
  • Posts: 12
    • View Profile
FF3 Data Structure?
« on: August 28, 2012, 05:37:35 PM »
Hey, I've turned the Final Fantasy 3 page over on TCRF into a pet project of sorts, and one thing I'm finding frustrating is finding data on the unused enemies. FFWiki has basic stuff like HP and EXP values (except when it doesn't), but I don't know how to get into the nitty-gritty. Does anyone know where the bytes for that sort of thing are located? If not, how do I go about figuring it out for myself?
Logged

Dragonsbrethren

  • Forum Overlord
  • *
  • Posts: 1,820
    • View Profile
    • Dragonsbrethren Industries
Re: FF3 Data Structure?
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2012, 09:32:04 PM »
I don't think anyone here has actually looked into FF3 (which is a bit strange, because it's easily the best of the three on the NES). I'd probably try to find a known monster stat (like HP) in memory, set a breakpoint on its address, and see if I could find where it was being loaded from the ROM in the next battle. Doing this for a monster you know all of the stats of would be best, because you'll be able to tell if you've got the right data or not.

Back in the day we would've just gone nuts corrupting random bits of "suspicious" data in the ROM until we found something interesting. I think that's how most of the FF1 and FF2 stuff was found. :tongue:
Logged

lilfut

  • Ymir
  • *
  • Posts: 12
    • View Profile
Re: FF3 Data Structure?
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2012, 07:08:39 AM »
Quote from: Dragonsbrethren on August 28, 2012, 09:32:04 PM
I don't think anyone here has actually looked into FF3 (which is a bit strange, because it's easily the best of the three on the NES). I'd probably try to find a known monster stat (like HP) in memory, set a breakpoint on its address, and see if I could find where it was being loaded from the ROM in the next battle. Doing this for a monster you know all of the stats of would be best, because you'll be able to tell if you've got the right data or not.

Back in the day we would've just gone nuts corrupting random bits of "suspicious" data in the ROM until we found something interesting. I think that's how most of the FF1 and FF2 stuff was found. :tongue:

Okay, this is literally the first time I've done anything like this. How do I go about setting a breakpoint, exactly?

If you'd PM me a guide to this stuff, it would be appreciated. :tongue:
Logged

lilfut

  • Ymir
  • *
  • Posts: 12
    • View Profile
Re: FF3 Data Structure?
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2012, 07:28:54 PM »
All the save state hacking guides use NESticle's state format, so...
Logged

Dragonsbrethren

  • Forum Overlord
  • *
  • Posts: 1,820
    • View Profile
    • Dragonsbrethren Industries
Re: FF3 Data Structure?
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2012, 09:26:53 PM »
Grab FCEUXD (or whatever the latest and greatest version is). I don't have the emulator in front of me at the moment, but what you want to do is either search for a monster with known stats' HP value in memory (remember, convert to hex, flip the bytes) or do it like a cheat search, where you start a search, do a bit of damage to the monster, search for a value < previous, and repeat until you find the address. Once you find it, check out nearby bytes in memory and see if those correspond to the other stats. If they do, that's great. Search that same info in the ROM and you'll probably find it that way. You probably won't even need to worry about breakpoints or anything if that's the case.
Logged

Dragonsbrethren

  • Forum Overlord
  • *
  • Posts: 1,820
    • View Profile
    • Dragonsbrethren Industries
Re: FF3 Data Structure?
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2012, 12:30:49 PM »
Uh, also this might help.

http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/243/

I completely forgot that existed. :blush:
Logged

Lenophis

  • Forum Overlord
  • *
  • Posts: 1,688
  • Gender: Male
  • I sad
    • View Profile
    • Slick Productions
Re: FF3 Data Structure?
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2012, 02:00:23 PM »
I didn't even know RHDN had it, so I was waiting for Gavin to appear so I could ask to link it. :blush:
Logged

119 bugs fixed and counting.
Pages: 1
« previous next »