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Author Topic: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4  (Read 273870 times)

Pinkpuff

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1125 on: August 09, 2015, 09:58:46 AM »
That's exactly what I needed! You can now add and delete triggers to the overworld maps as well. Thanks chillyfeez!
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Grimoire LD

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1126 on: August 09, 2015, 11:04:58 AM »
That is terrific news! The last step to the process is Overworld Map Editing and we can truly make FFIV unique in scope from it's original game!
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Bahamut ZERO

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1127 on: August 09, 2015, 11:16:26 AM »
Doenloading imediately!  :cookie:
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Shinryuu

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1128 on: August 11, 2015, 10:17:52 AM »
Hello guys,

I got a question: how exactly do you change spell names or monster names? In both submenus, the editor gives you the option to select "Name" in the upper right corner, but then it seems I just can't simply enter a new name no matter what I do. Sorry if this is a really dumb question.
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Pinkpuff

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1129 on: August 11, 2015, 10:23:21 AM »
That should be all there is to it. You might have to erase the name that's already there first before you type the new one.
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Grimoire LD

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1130 on: August 11, 2015, 11:44:28 AM »
Quote from: Shinryuu on August 11, 2015, 10:17:52 AM
Hello guys,

I got a question: how exactly do you change spell names or monster names? In both submenus, the editor gives you the option to select "Name" in the upper right corner, but then it seems I just can't simply enter a new name no matter what I do. Sorry if this is a really dumb question.

It sounds like you might have your current ROM open in another program and the changes aren't actually being fed to it. This has happened to me on numerous occasions where I forget to close Lunar IPS or some such and wonder why my current ROM isn't saving.
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Shinryuu

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1131 on: August 12, 2015, 03:05:29 AM »
Quote from: Pinkpuff on August 11, 2015, 10:23:21 AM
That should be all there is to it. You might have to erase the name that's already there first before you type the new one.

Oh, thanks, I finally did it! I didn't delete the old name (stupid me, lol). But now I have a question related to that: some names use those double characters, you know where two letters are in one space, how do I use them? Because sometimes space becomes an issue.
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chillyfeez

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1132 on: August 12, 2015, 07:41:48 AM »
I can think of two possibilities of what you might be talking about:

1) DTE - this is the technique by which FFIV (and many other ROMs) use a single byte of data to represent two letters, or a letter and a space. This saves space in the ROM, but still uses the same amount of space on screen. FF4kster (I think) automatically implements the existing DTE table - that is, when you type "th" it automatically knows to use the byte 8C in your ROM - but it does not have a feature to edit the DTE table - for instance, if you wanted 8C to represent "ck" instead of "th" you're on your own there, and I'm not sure FF4kster would know how to adjust to such an edit. You might end up always getting "ck" every time you type "th." Also, there are many places FFIV uses text that do not support DTE: Names, Spell names, Monster names, Item names, Character class names are all among the places you cannot. This is mostly because using DTE would allow for the possibility of making the game try to fit too many letters into a limited screen space.

2) "squishy tiles" - this is a method by which the hacker redraws certain common letter combinations so that they take up less screen space. This is done by using the extra space vacated by the removal of the two Japanese kana alphabets for the new, redrawn letters. An example of this would be using two tiles for "umm" so that the word "Summoner" fits into seven tiles of space instead of eight. Much of the work for this technique (that is, drawing the letters) has to be done by hand using a graphics editing program like Tile Layer or YY-CHR, but once that's done, the config files in FF4kster can be edited to (relatively) easily facilitate implementation of the new letters in ROM.
I should probably mention that I've never actually used squishy tiles myself, so I don't really have any tips on how to do so, but I do know that Rodimus Primal used them pretty extensively for his Namingway Edition hack/localization. He pops up from time to time on this site, but is a much more regular contributor to the boards on RHDN.
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Bahamut ZERO

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1133 on: August 12, 2015, 01:20:20 PM »
If the multi-lettered tiles you're talking about are being used for a spell or item name, it's definitely a squish tile.  I use squish tiles in my project like they're going out of style (but I use a skinnier font so in most cases they fit pefectly without a "Squished" look).


The following places can use Squish Tiles:

Classes
Actor Names
Command Names
Weapons
Armor
Spells
Items
Item descriptions (this can save a good deal of space)
Location Names (ones that pop up  when you first enter a map)
Battle Messages

There's a fairly large chunk of free space where the font is in rom, and 99.9% of the time doesn't effect the DTE table (so far I've only seen one occurance of intterference, and that was making a squish tile at A4). Other then A4 I've had no trouble adding squish tiles and extra icons.

If you're wanting to add some,  I have a graphics thread on here that has a list of (unheadered) offsets, including the font, as well as a zip file containing a palette for the font to help speed others along.  :cycle:  Should be attached to the first post if I remember correctly.


And using them in FF4kster's a breeze to set up - just open up the "font" file in FF4lster's config folder via notepad and add them to the list. Then hit the corresponding key in the editor to use!

If you get to a point where you're running out of keys to set tiles to (as I did) a good tip is to make a folder and have multiple Font config files that you can copy/paste (example - one that's a backup of the normal Font file, then ones for squish tiles and another for Icons)



« Last Edit: August 12, 2015, 01:30:27 PM by Bahamut ZERO »
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Bahamut ZERO

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1134 on: September 22, 2015, 04:20:13 PM »
 Had the editor hang on me when opening my project after I was editing Tempo/Octaves in some music tracks. After doing some work I saved and tested out my fresh changes to realize that the first two NPC Palettes had somehow been changed, resulting in whites being turned light blue. This affected both NPCs with Palette 1, as well as the Finger Cursor (but only outside of battle.


Now, I'm not 100% that it was the editor hanging that caused this, but just to be safe I figured I'd report it and post a quick fix:

1: Go to 682C0 in a headered ROM.

2:Replace the first two lines with the following:


Code: [Select]
00 00 00 00 FF 7F 39 67 F7 5E 8C 31 10 42 4A 29
00 00 00 00 7F 32 FB 09 FF 7F FF 1B 1F 21 15 00

And voila! Things are back to normal.  :) Thank god Chillyfeez had a thread asking about NPC Palette data, otherwise I wouldn't have known where to go so I could compare my current project with a recent backup!
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GrayWolf67

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1135 on: October 28, 2015, 05:17:16 PM »
I've encountered a problem: Whenever I go to the Edit Commands menu and try to view the entry for Gird (I think; it's the Dummy just below Kick) the editor crashes, every time.  It happens on both clean and edited ROMs.  I can view and edit every other command on the list, it's just that one that causes a crash.  My ROM is confirmed to be an unheadered FF2US v1.1.

I've been following the development of this editor for years, and I can't remember for sure if this has always been an issue, but I think I remember using a version a long time ago where it didn't happen.
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Pinkpuff

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1136 on: October 29, 2015, 04:08:22 AM »
I cannot duplicate this behaviour; anyone else?

However, this is a known issue with 1.0 roms. What means did you use to verify your rom version? What byte is at 1E697 (you can check this with a hex editor)?
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chillyfeez

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1137 on: October 29, 2015, 07:22:06 AM »
Pinkpuff, have you ever considered maybe putting in a "wrong version" warning in the load screen?
JCE3000GT once noted that the ROM's official byte to identify Country Code is at $7FD9 (01 for US), and version # is at $7FDB (where XX indicates version 1.XX).
So each of these bytes should read 01.
If the editor reads a different value at one of these bytes, you could have it say something like "wrong version [or country]. Proceed anyway? (Y/N)"

 :edit: I'm also unable to reproduce the crash, but I get the exact behavior as described using version 1.0
« Last Edit: October 29, 2015, 08:59:32 AM by chillyfeez »
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Bahamut ZERO

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1138 on: October 29, 2015, 01:12:48 PM »
Just turned Guard into an all-allies Vitalize command for fun to see if it would crash, and it's working fine.


EDIT: I do however notice a cosmetic glitch in the editor when setting a stance from Special 2 to Special 1. I only seem to see it when editing Guard.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2015, 01:19:53 PM by Bahamut ZERO »
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Pinkpuff

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Re: Developing FF4kster: a comprehensive editor for FF4
« Reply #1139 on: October 29, 2015, 05:33:32 PM »
Quote from: chillyfeez on October 29, 2015, 07:22:06 AM
Pinkpuff, have you ever considered maybe putting in a "wrong version" warning in the load screen?
JCE3000GT once noted that the ROM's official byte to identify Country Code is at $7FD9 (01 for US), and version # is at $7FDB (where XX indicates version 1.XX).
So each of these bytes should read 01.
If the editor reads a different value at one of these bytes, you could have it say something like "wrong version [or country]. Proceed anyway? (Y/N)"

 :edit: I'm also unable to reproduce the crash, but I get the exact behavior as described using version 1.0

Oh wow, had I realized it was that easy to detect the version I would have done that ages ago! Thanks, chillyfeez!
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