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Messages - Paladin

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1
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Basic Sprite editing
« on: January 17, 2014, 05:44:40 AM »
Here's some stuff:  :terrydia:

PNG With the 16 Color Default Palettes for Battle Sprites
http://www.finalfantasyiv.net/Emulation/Documents/FFIV-Bat-Sprite-Palettes.png

Excel Spreadsheet with the RGB values for all the default Battle Sprite Palettes
http://www.finalfantasyiv.net/Emulation/Documents/FF4PalettesRGBValues.xls

PNG With the 8 Color Default Palettes for Menu Avatars
http://www.finalfantasyiv.net/Emulation/Documents/Avatar-Palettes.png

And probably more immediately helpful; my actual Tile Layer Pro palette files I use for GFX mods:
http://www.finalfantasyiv.net/Emulation/Documents/Palettes/FF4_TileLayerPro_Palettes.rar

The file names of the palettes in the RAR should be pretty easy to figure out what they're for. "Weapons" are the battle sprite effects for weapons if you want to work with those graphics. "Grayscale Finder" is just a group of palettes that can be useful to view the graphics tiles without knowing or having the correct palette (and you're trying to figure out what you're looking at). It probably has some that make more sense in different bit plane modes (for example if you're looking at fonts in 2bpp, map sprites in 3bpp, or battle sprites at 4bpp).

Hope these help, have fun modding GFX  :clocke:



2
General Discussion & Support / Re: FF4 Custom Map Archive
« on: February 24, 2013, 11:25:07 PM »
I've found that HxD is a good, light-weight freeware HEX editor: http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

You can install it or you can just run it from wherever, for example from thumb drive...should you want to do some edits from a computer that isn't yours or you'd rather not or can't install programs to (a work computer for instance).

...and of course it's free  :cycle:

I've also used "Hex Workshop" as well...but I bought it waaaaaaay back when I was a CS student in college and got a good discount. It's not freeware but it works well too... I don't know what the other guys around here would recommend but you might give HxD a try simply because it's free.


3
General Discussion & Support / Re: FF4 Custom Map Archive
« on: February 24, 2013, 04:27:50 PM »
Well, I can kind of overview it for you...

Effectively Phoenix's tools simply run in any web browser that supports JavaScript. I think I found Chrome or FireFox to be ideal. Once you download the tools you open the HTML page into whatever browser you want to use.

From there when you go to the map editing feature you are presented with your choice of the various different tilesets and the maps for various places are able to be chosen and will load with the default tileset. Each map has a set size limitation based on how many bytes are available for that map in the FF-II ROM. If you go past the expected size in your modification of the map then you will not be able to fit your new map into the space the old one occupied so you have to be aware of that value as you work; IIRC if you exceed the expected limit the value turns red or something. Otherwise you go nuts changing the maps to your liking. IIRC if you access a map that says something like "Load map (0 bytes)" then that map is just an empty map it's probably just a 00FF sequence in the map block...again it's been a while but that's what I remember.

Putting the modded map in your ROM requires a hex editor. The map tool generates a HEX string which is the data for your map that needs to go into the ROM. You have to find the starting and ending offset for the block of data in the ROM that represents your map (IIRC these are listed in the editor for each map, or at least the starting offset is and the size of the data so you can calculate from that). Then you pretty much simply copy and paste the modded map HEX string into the ROM over the top of whatever map you're replacing. I highly recommend backing up your modded ROM master, applying the modded map, test the map to make sure everything works, and then move forward with further modifications so that way you keep everything clean.

Although Phoenix's tools make it very easy to mod the graphical map hex data, there are other things you can do which require pure HEX editing skills. Such as change the tileset the map uses, the background image, if it uses the parallax effect, and the event trigger locations for maps (that is where doors and treasure chests appear, as well as actual event triggers such as when you walk into a room and an event occurs -- for example when you enter the top of the Damcyan castle the event trigger with Anna's death and the Spoony Bard routine happens). However you 'll have to investigate the event data and map data. I believe this is all documented in some of the offset resources elsewhere on the site, I don't remember exactly where all that is at the moment. But if you've downloaded the offset information that many people have generously donated here you should be able to find that pretty easily.

Also one thing I did find when I was modding maps is that the map data uses a fairly simple compression technique to save space when you have a horizontal row of the same tiles. This is why you see in my screen caps above that I've run the wall tiles all the way across the screen even though you'd never see that. Effectively it allows you to save space and have more bytes to play with for what you really want to do. One effective technique then is to overwrite the map with horizontal rows of the same tile and then go in and start making the playable area by overwriting the tiles. You'll be surprised how some very small maps can be expanded within the limited space or have more details added (like bookcases, beds, chairs, wall sconces, etc...) when you do this. It's not quite as aesthetic as having the cleaner outlines of the room but in some cases the richness of the new map outweigh that IMO.

4
General Discussion & Support / Re: FF4 Custom Map Archive
« on: February 24, 2013, 12:30:21 AM »
Quote from: Cecilpaladin101 on February 23, 2013, 06:48:19 PM
@Paladin
Did you use phoenix hack tools for that?

Indeed; Phoenix's tool kit was invaluable for doing all of the map mods in my hack, many props to him for creating it!

You can have a lot of fun with that tool really. I highly recommend it.

5
Gaming Discussion / Re: Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection
« on: November 16, 2012, 07:55:31 PM »
Yeah, the PSP game is virtually the same as the GBA one.

You brought up a good point; I too found the lunar labyrinth dungeon to be a bit of a let down there wasn't much new story exposition. It was just a bunch of mini games really. The strongest "trial" was probably Kain's in terms of anything interesting to add to the story...or maybe Rydia. And then ZeromusEG at the end?...meh...

And...the story overall yeah...I've discussed with a couple of other FF4 fans our conspiracy theory that FF4 was originally a sequel to the original FF2. And there are some idiosyncrasies if you nit-pick through the 設定資教編 (Settei Shiryou Hen) a.k.a "Data Establishment Book" and other Japanese source stuff.  But some of it is somewhat evident in the game itself, right down to the original box art featuring Kain prominently between "Final" and "Fantasy" when the story so closely revolves around Cecil.... Well anyway I could go off the deep end on that topic but long story short the overall game story that was eventually crafted seems hacked together and sloppy in many places whether in Japanese or English.

I think that's why there was a backlash against the DS game which attempted to fill in some blanks. The original hard core fans on both sides of the Pacific had already fan-fictionalized the thing in their minds to fill in the blanks and hackneyed parts. Having official canon override 15+ years of "fill in the blank" led to some sour grapes.  I mean in some respects the PSP game might almost be a concession to the fans that the DS game didn't happen and here's the official return to the original game. Kinda like how Paramount pretty much had to follow up Star Trek V with something, anything better to appease the frustrated Trekkies of the world.

Ultimately for me I'm willing to admit that I think the reality is that because it was my first "big" RPG video game when I was a little kid it holds more a high place for me as nostalgia rather than being the greatest fantasy game story out there.

6
Gaming Discussion / Re: Legends of Localization: Final Fantasy IV
« on: November 16, 2012, 07:15:14 PM »
This is an interesting in-depth research project on this guy's part....I'm enjoying reading it.

However one thing right off the bat is that I don't think he knows anything about what it took to fit the English text into the space formerly occupied by the Japanese text; the file size limitation and the novel DTE compression process.

I think it's not just that the original (FFII) translation is in many places brief, wonky, wrong or ommisive purely on the part of the translator's taste or effort (or even NoA's nanny-style censorship practices), but also in some cases out of necessity. I'd put money on there having been a more thorough script that was pared down when it actually got to the point of being crammed into the game data.

However it's interesting that the PS1 translation is far more liberal in it's approach, which is the biggest complaint about the J2e script rewrite. I remember at the time comparing the two games (J2e and PS1) and rather preferring the J2e script.

7
Gaming Discussion / Re: Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection
« on: November 16, 2012, 06:41:18 PM »
Quote from: Deathlike2 on November 15, 2012, 11:59:57 PM
What would've been nice in this port... a FF6-type multi-party dungeon crawl extra. It would make that Proto-Babil bonus feel reasonable.

Indeed something novel like that would have been nice to change things up a bit more.

I mean thinking back on it I'm leaning toward the assumption that the only real reason they dumped er...ported the GBA game to PSP was simply to release it again on it's 20th anniversary year. And I guess you can say to get TAY out to those who didn't follow it/have access to it on the DoCoMo phone (and/or the Wii thing that downloads and plays games I think TAY was available there?).

Another reason it probably didn't stray to much was because the DS game did and was met with a generally lukewarm if not downright cold response from many fans (the anecdotal reports I heard coming from longtime Japanese FF4 fans were that many of them turned their nose up at what they considered negative revisionisim of the game on the part of one Mr. Tokita).

Anyway I think that the PSP version will probably be the last release for a while...

8
Gaming Discussion / Re: Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection
« on: May 27, 2011, 09:26:53 AM »
Quote from: Dragonsbrethren on May 27, 2011, 02:32:19 AM
Quote from: Leviathan Mist on May 25, 2011, 11:18:33 PM
It's not just the graphics, it's also the way events occur, including sound effects and sound effect volume, and it's apparent where event tiles are placed, and the actions that happen on event tiles can easily be recreated in RPG Maker without even having to create original code for it. A menu script could be made for RPG Maker VX to look 100% identical to that in FF4 PSP. In fact, pretty much anything could be recreated with perfect accuracy in RPG Maker VX, with only limited scripting knowledge. That's what disappoints me about it, really.

Actually, that sounds like an interesting project, I might look into recreating FF4 PSP in RPG Maker VX.

To be fair, the same could be said about everything in the original.

Right, that's what I was thinking too in regard to some of those particular comments. Not that they're not valid subjective criticism, it's just that the game is 20 years old and was really pretty basic in it's original format. I'm sure the RPG Maker software is probably even more advanced in it's capabilities than the Square guys grinding away at this thing in ASM on the original SFC hardware. Since they've chosen to stay so devoted to the original game it's not surprising it seems basic even with all the graphical lipstick. Even when you compare it to the DS game.

However, and I may be taking Leviathan Mist's comments beyond the context intended, but it seems like the point might be why is the 2D game STILL so basic. Besides some lipstick where's the draw? It would have been nice if they had really advanced the thing in some respect. Instead of making the events damn near identical to the original game. They could have embellished them a lot more just to add detail. It's like even though they have all the file space in the world to work with they're still stuck on shortcuts made 20 years ago because of cart size limitations and just plain deadline limitations to get this thing out way back in '91, which are sorely present in the old game and seem stupid to keep replicating here in the PSP version (I even complained about this in the GBA version 6 years ago). Now they did add a few CGI cut scenes this time but they almost seem like an afterthought. I mean they show the Enterprise flying off to the Tower of Zot (very quickly) but still no blasted view of the Tower itself. It's things like that Squeenix, I just don't get it. Why not and some detail to the existing events to spice it up. Oh yeah, that would cost money I guess. But hey they found budget for TAY so I really don't know what the logic is over there. Other than perhaps appeasing fans? But with so many damned versions available any real fan of this game can, as I mentioned earlier, pick their favorite and roll with it.
 :bah: whatever...

And this version is way to easy, stupid easy in fact. If you spend even a little time leveling up the characters they turn into gods. If I could dump this thing and hack on it, the first thing I'd do is rebalance EVERYTHING. Monsters, levels, etc...

9
Gaming Discussion / Re: Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection
« on: May 25, 2011, 12:10:25 PM »
Quote from: I.S.T. on May 25, 2011, 12:04:16 PM
RPGMaker is a series of packages for the PC that let people make their own jRPGs. The SNES, PS1 and PS2 versions are made by the same company. The art style of FF4:TAY and FF4 PSP are very similar to the type of graphics you see in RPGMaker games. Strikingly similar, in fact. If you're not a fan of that, or if you've seen it far too many times, its appearance in FF4:TAY and FF4 PSP can be annoying.

Myself, I do not care.

Ah... Thanks for the explanation.

I suppose that might be an issue to some...but it sounds like it's more a style than an actual copied artwork thing. That was what I was confused on.

However I like you could care less. I think in this context it (FF4) looks good to me. The style apparently works because the game functionally looks not really much different than the original 2D versions besides being in a 16:9 format and having a higher pixel depth for more detail per tile.

10
Gaming Discussion / Re: Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection
« on: May 25, 2011, 11:46:43 AM »
I'd like to see what you all are talking about here with the respect to whatever RPG maker is in reference to FF4.

Is it a game or some kind of software? I recall having an old PlayStation game about 10 years ago called "RPG Maker" but I didn't find it at all interesting and gave it away to my cousin. I guess some successive generation of this thing is around?.

Now to me, looking at the graphics in the PSP game (absent the above bias) they are all very evidently derived from the original SFC and upgraded WSC graphics. And I'm pretty darned familiar with how this game looks across all it's versions as I've generally played it once or twice a year for the last 20 years in various different versions. The first thing I see is that the tiles obviously have a much higher pixel depth than any of the previous 2D versions because of the available hardware. Instead of 8x8 tiles they appear to be 16x16 (or things are made up of 8 tiles rather than four) so the graphic designers have been able to add more detail. Really it appears that someone sat down and took all the old tiles and bumped up the pixel resolution. In fact it appears that a team of graphics artists had to rebuild the entire tile set for the PSP game. Besides this if you play through parts of the DS game and then go back to the GBA or WSC game, it looks like they blended the two. They seem to have added some of the detail from the DS game's location maps to the 2D maps in the PSP game. However they've kept the location maps very faithful to the original SFC game. So honestly, If this RPG maker software you're all talking about has the exact FF4 tile sets in it, or ones so close it's stupid, I'd like to see that.

I also happen to like the new styles on the sprites and the in-battle magic effects. All the character sprites seem to be following the design sensibilities used for the DS game, which have been the most faithful to Amano's original artwork. They all also have a higher pixel depth so they have more detail. Something I think the map sprites in particular sorely needed...those old 4-tile 16x16 pixel sprites in the previous 2D versions were always too basic for my taste. Furthermore the spell animations are pretty spiffy IMO as well. I like the flame effects on the fire spells especially.  Monsters have also all been upgraded in look with either completely new artwork in a few cases or just higher pixel depth detail. It's nice to see something new and different in such an old game.

Besides that in my opinion it just generally looks pretty good, especially compared to the old SFC game and even the GBA game. I guess if this is what stuff looks like in whatever RPG Maker is, so what? If that's not enough to warrant buying it again nobody is advocating that, at least not me. I mean this game has so many damned versions its stupid... It's easy to pick the one you like.

Having said all this I don't think the PSP version of FF4 is the end all beat all. Importantly I think this version is far to easy; the difficulty and balance in the DS version was much better. It's been some time since I did a full playthrough of the GBA version but that also seemed to be a somewhat harder game relative to this PSP version, but not as difficult as the SFC original or the DS game. I also seem to be one of the few people that liked the "flowery" translation used in the DS game. That seemed to disappear. However I know a lot of fans that did not like the DS script at all and are very happy it's now "gone".

What I like best about this PSP version and not any less about the GBA version are that you can party swap at the end of the game. While the bonus dungeons are nifty, really it's mostly that the party swap for me is a huge feature. I like it a lot, and it was one of my favorite features of FF6. Actually I wished there was more of it. In fact I think the original SFC game probably intended to use it but it didn't get done. I missed it in the DS game and I also didn't particularly care for the augment system in that game as a workaround.

A hardware related thing I like about the PSP version is that I can output the audio and, importantly, video to something else, like say my 55" plasma and my home theater surround system. I can also do this with the GBA game using the GBA player on the GameCube. Of course this is also an option for the SFC game, especially if you emulate. However having to only use the damn handheld to play the DS game pisses me off. I even got one of those huge DSi-XL things and, while much better, I still prefer to hang back on the couch with a controller rather than be hunched over a handheld. Why Nintendo can't figure out how to dump the video out of the top screen and allow the controls and bottom screen of the DS to act as a tethered controller for a larger monitor makes no sense. In my opinion Sony got that feature way right on the PSP.

Another hardware positive  is the Audio on the PSP is great; both the original SFC score and the "arranged" score are clean and high quality. The GBA and DS sound output is atrocious and grating. I mean I can barely stand to listen to either, I recall turning both way down to just audible enough to know what was going on.  This is another win for me as I continually went back to the SFC versions (generally via emulation) for play through simply because they sounded better.

Anyway the DS game is a much different version all around than any 2D version of FF4, so the DS game stands alone as a version IMO. I'm comparing this PSP game to the other similar 2D games, which are all more or less the same essential game -- difficulty, graphics, and bonus features notwithstanding.

Like I said earlier there's no reason to really go back to the GBA game from this version, the graphics are improved IMO and the audio is 1000x better sounding. However I can see where you could pass this up if you already have the GBA game and don't care about The After Years, especially if you'd have to drop the cash on the PSP. Furthermore if you really liked the DS game over other previous versions I can see this one as a step back, in which case I wouldn't recommend it at all unless you have a PSP and you do want the After Years stuff.

11
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Basic Sprite editing
« on: May 18, 2011, 03:18:10 PM »
Quote from: Zozma on May 18, 2011, 03:12:17 PM
oh that's right, it could vary depending on the version? i guess

I'm sure they're always in the same relative place in the SFC/SNES versions of the game. The offset may be different between versions (I qualified my previous post).

12
Gaming Discussion / Re: Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection
« on: May 18, 2011, 12:40:26 PM »
* Paladin floats up from the depths of the FF4 development board...

As a huge FF4 fan I couldn't resist this release and have been playing it over the last few days (had to actually buy a PSP...)

First off I honestly didn't mind the random story embellishments of the DS game, but I thought they were rather pointless. I mean there were so many things they could have chosen to add to the game in terms of actual game play and events rather than revealing Golbez's real name or that the King of Baron had a thing for Cecil's mom. I mean that stuff is interesting but whatever. Can we EVER get a decent view of the Tower of Zot? I mean something like the floating fortress in FFV would be great! Anyway, I guess the game play stuff like the augments and whyte and what not were also interesting but honestly I liked the simplicity of having all the main characters playable at the end in FF4-Advance. I felt the augment system defeated the purpose of having set role-class characters and tried to impose a job/materia system on the game I didn't think it needed.

I do know from some FF4 'net friends that have ties to some of the Japanese fanbase that apparently a lot of the story embellishments in the DS game were not well received. Most of that stuff was injected by one of the original game's developers who was key on the DS project, a guy named Tokita (who also developed the AY story). Apparently the changes prompted a bit of negative criticism directed towards S-E and Tokita. Tokita was apparently interviewed on the PSP release and mentioned that there were a number of "concessions" made for the fans in regard to the Final Fantasy IV game proper. This is probably why ~Interlude~ was shortened as well, what I heard was that it was supposed to be a 10-15 hour game and ended up being 3-4 hours.

I think this is also why FF4-Complete is so slavish to the original SFC game. Some of it is ridiculous; I mean to keep the functionality of the fat ass chocobo they set the limit back to 48 items that can be carried. Character names (should you choose to change them) are limited to six letters...seriously? Sure the dungeons/locations look great, it's a nice blend between the GBA 2D look and the unique location designs seen in the DS version; but honestly do the maps need to be exactly the same as the SFC/GBA version? It's like the DS game pushed the pendulum too far to one side and they swung it back all the way to the other side for the new release...

I do think this game is balanced to the easy side in a number of places. I haven't gotten too far with it yet but I think the DS game was generally a harder game especially once you go up to the moon and several boss battles... As I haven't been to the moon in the PSP ver. yet maybe they up the difficulty there?

So far I'm liking the PSP version; I think it is probably the definitive official "classic" 2D version of the game and easily replaces the Advance version. It also gives you a physical copy of the After Years FWIW. I think owning a copy of this and a copy the DS version and you probably have everything you need.

13
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Basic Sprite editing
« on: May 18, 2011, 09:17:18 AM »
It's offset 0x0E01F8 w/Header FWIW.

:edit:

FF-II SNES v1.0

14
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Monster Formations Used In Chests
« on: May 15, 2011, 06:25:45 PM »
Cool...yeah if someone has a copy and can make it available that'd be great!

You are right about it corrupting stuff when it saves. When I used the 1.0 version for my hack I only made changes in a "scratch" ROM and then I manually copied over the hex data I wanted from the scratch to the master. That seemed to work reasonably well for the most part. A couple of things still got janked...but I was able to find them and fix them.

15
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Monster Formations Used In Chests
« on: May 12, 2011, 12:24:06 AM »
I've heard there was a different version of Zythrofar's editor... That looks to be a SS from the version I don't have; is that one available anywhere for download?

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