Banon's Donkey Farm => Game Modification Station => Topic started by: darkmage on July 17, 2009, 12:34:53 AM
Title: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 17, 2009, 12:34:53 AM
FF6 Improvement is a project to clean up FF3/6 and make it more like how I think S-E intended the game to be, both in gameplay and in story and dialogue. This project has two phases.
Phase 1 of FF6 Improvement incorporates most of the known bugfixes that have been made, as well as some gameplay tweaks that make aspects of the game more fun, or make more sense based on later ports of FF6, or later games in the FF series. This is a baseline patch which has two versions planned: 1 standalone patch for playing the game with all changes included, and 1 incomplete patch meant for those who want to make hacks which go beyond the changes made in this project.
Phase 2 is a dialogue change which borrows heavily from the FF6 Advance script, as well as the Lina Darkstar translation of the original Japanese script. This translation is 99% complete - the only part that has not been changed are the Opera singing sequences, due to the timing changes needed.
New features that have been implemented include: B-button dash, color coding for MP healing and damage, a change to the SwordTech gauge to allow choosing the technique and having it charge after chosen, a new font and more!
FF6 Improvement is based on the FF3us 1.0 ROM, and will only work on that version.
Below is a list of the over 100 fixes, their versions and authors. Note that patch versions are 1.0 unless specified below.
GAME EVENT FIXES Airship/Game Over Exploit fix (Novalia Spirit) Border Crossing fix (Imzogelmo, Lenophis) Can't Lose for Winning Colosseum fix 1.0b (Lenophis) Chocobo Stable Money Deduction fix (Novalia Spirit) The Cowardly Dog fix (Novalia Spirit) Cure-Castin' Kid events fix 0.91 [MP CAN +/-] (Imzogelmo) Flight of StormDrgn fix (Novalia Spirit) Ghostly Banquet Guards fix (mblock129) Gold Wrexsoul fix (mblock129) Grand Stairway item/inventory event fixes (Imzogelmo) Grass Tile Encounter Property fix (Novalia Spirit) Ignore Kamog fix(Drakkhen) Magitek in Cyan's Soul fix (Imzogelmo) Mine Cart Encounter fix (Imzogelmo) Missing Dialogue fix (Novalia Spirit) Missing Light Object fix (Novalia Spirit) Naming Shadow fix 1.1 (Novalia Spirit) Peninsula of Death fix (Novalia Spirit) Pink Gogo fix (Imzogelmo) Shadow/Chupon Colosseum fix (Novalia Spirit) South Figaro Secret Entrance fix (Novalia Spirit) Tunnel to Lete River Sound Volume fix (Novalia Spirit) Vanishing Magicite Object fix 1.1 (Novalia Spirit)
MISCELLANEOUS FIXES Amnesic Cursor fix (Novalia Spirit) Broken Gate tile fix (Novalia Spirit) Elemental Display 1.1 (Lenophis) - I consider this a fix more than a tweak, personally FF6j Title Screen (Yazoo) Frozen Mosaic fix [unrestricted] (Novalia Spirit) Genji Glove Damage Reduction fix 1.01 (assassin) GenjiOff! magic version 0.2a (Lenophis) Gogo Can't Uncurse the Cursed Shield 0.9 (imzogelmo) - still not working (Throw Down) the Gauntlet [complex] 0.20 (assassin) Magic Sorting fix (Novalia Spirit) Misplaced Cursor fix (Novalia Spirit) Narshe's Secret Entrance tile fix (Novalia Spirit) Regulation Dice sprite fix (mblock129) Shop Menu fix 1.1 (Novalia Spirit) That Damn Yellow Streak fix 0.25 (assassin) Transportation Device tile fix (Novalia Spirit) Uncensored Graphics (Terii Senshi) Zoneseek? No Thanks/Free Space for Events (mblock129)
TWEAKS Adding Missing Rages patch (Terii Senshi) - includes Zed's Allo Ver fix? Alphabetical Rage patch 0.45 (assassin) - holy CRAP this makes Gau so much easier to use! Battle Speed Mod & Speed Overflow Fix - faster v2 (Leviathan Mist) Color-Coded MP Digits (Imzogelmo) Dash Button hack [DashA] (MasterZED) Economizer & Gold Hairpin patch 1.0b (Lenophis) Fanatacism (Ronnen) Ignore Defense No Longer Ignoring Safe or Shell 1.D (Lenophis) Name Lowercasing patch (Imzogelmo) Offering patch 1.1 (Lenophis) Slot Derigging patch (MasterZED) SwdTech Speed Up! patch (ArmorVil) - makes Cyan's tech a lot better To Joker Doom or Not to Joker Doom (Lenophis) Unhardcoded Tintinabar [party] (Lenophis)
These are patches which were meant to be included in all versions of the patch but are left out of the base version for hackers, as FF3usME v6.7 overwrites the locations where these patches reside. Apply them after all your changes have been made:
Quote
Duncan Stays Put (mblock129) Edgar Revealed (mblock129) Shadow is NOT a Girl! fix (mblock129) Shadow Leaves One-man Party fix 0.40 (Imzogelmo) King of Vanity (mblock129) They Only Jump Left in Zozo! (mblock129)
Here are some additional tweaks I've added on my own and with thanks to the minds behind the ideas:
Quote
Changed fixed and variable-width fonts to resemble GBA-style FF fonts (thanks, Pandora's Box team!)
Massive changes to item names and descriptions
Massive changes to spell and Esper names and descriptions
Removed elemental bias - Fire, Ice and Bolt spells and effects now have the same power and MP cost if applicable (thanks, Tzepish!)
Changed "Gp" in menu to "GP"
Changed "Dirk" weapon type to "Dagger"
Changed "Knife" weapon type to "Katana"
Renamed the "Fight" command to "Attack"
Renamed the "Capture" skill to "Mug"
Renamed the "SwdTech" skill to "Bushido"
Renamed the "Slot" skill to "Slots", and the "GP Rain" upgrade to "GP Toss"
Swapped the Doom Darts and Trump (now Trump Cards) listings - so the name goes with the weapon sprite now
Fixed Setzer's starting gear so that he's not wearing something (Bandana?) he can't equip
Changed Sprint Shoes to Prism Cape, which lowers basic elemental damage (Fire, Ice, Thunder, Wind, Water and Earth)by 50%, and changed the game shops accordingly (thanks, Tzepish!)
Removed the 2-Hand and Runic properties from Daggers and Runic from non-sword weapons (thanks, Tzepish!)
Changed Ramuh's learning curves as follows: Bolt x10, Bolt 2 x5 and Poison x3 (thanks, Tzepish!)
Changed Ifrit's learning curve for Drain to x3
Added Meteo x2 to Raiden's learning curve, changed level bonus to Speed +2 and lowered summon cost to 70 MP - no more losing by upgrading Odin! (thanks, Tzepish and vivify93!)
Added the "HP x2" level bonus to Alexandr since no one else was using it anyway
Changed WoR music so that "Dark World" continues to play on the ground after you get the Falcon (thanks, Poco Loco!)
Repaired the Star Wars wingmen reference - Biggs and Wedge, not Vicks and Wedge!
Manually fixed the Celes Rushing It bug (thanks, Djibriel/ZED/etc!)
Changes to enemy names where appropriate (thanks, assassin!)
Changed the names for Umaro's enemy listings to "Yeti" - we don't know his name at the start of the battle (thanks, Tzepish!)
Changed mentions of "sasquatch" to "yeti" in the dialogue (thanks, Tzepish!)
Manually fixed the 2 single-enemy formations which can pincer attack (thanks, assassin and Novalia Spirit!)
Changed Vargas's Mortal Attack from "Blizzard Fist" to "Typhoon Fist" - they get blown away, not frozen!
Clarified the Ziegfried/Siegfried enemy listings and dialogue
Fixed the dialogue where items are explicitly stated to reflect new item names
Changed the Cafe signs back to Pub, and updated all relevant dialogue
Changed key item Cider to Rum and updated all relevant dialogue
Fixed a map glitch in Returners' Hideout which kept you from opening the hidden White Cape chest from the south (thanks, Tzepish!)
Fixed several invisible chests on the Phantom Train in Sabin's scenario (thanks, Tzepish and Lenophis!)
Made reachable a previously unreachable treasure at the beginning of the game in Narshe (thanks, Dragonsbrethren!)
Conflicts between patches that have been found:
Novalia Spirit's Naming Shadow fix breaks the camera starting in the tunnel to the Lete River raft scene and persisting after that. FIXED IN PATCH VERSION 1.1
Novalia Spirit's Vanishing Magicite Object patch breaks the game right after the end of Terra's flashback. The magicite stays where Locke was standing, and the game just freezes with the music still playing before Setzer can pimp his airship. FIXED IN PATCH VERSION 1.1
Lenophis' Economizer and Gold Hairpin tweak v0.1 conflicts with the ordered list data in assassin's Alphabetical Rage patch v0.45, causing duplicate Rage entries to occur in both the Rage Skill and battle menus. It gets progressively worse as you obtain Rages...by the time I stopped, I had 20 Rages with some occupying 2 and 3 spaces. FIXED IN PATCH VERSION 1.0
Lenophis' Ignore Defense Ignoring Safe and Shell fix conflicting with everything under the sun. FIXED IN PATCH VERSION 1.E
Lenophis' Esper Battle Menu fix 1.0 patch causes the Row battle menu window to stay drawn after being selected when using the Short (configurable) window option. FIX FOUND BY TheNattak
Novalia Spirit's Shadow/Chupon Colosseum fix will only work so long as Chupon's name remains shorter than Shadow's name. If you change either so that Chupon's name is longer than Shadow's, however much longer Chupon's name is will appear at the end of Shadow's name.
Novalia Spirit's The Sealed Door Fix 1.0 patch breaks the interior maps of WoB Jidoor.
MasterZED's FC05 patch will not allow the Blitz tutorial code to activate during the Vargas battle. FIX FOUND BY C.V. Reynolds
Imzogelmo's Gogo Can't Uncurse the Cursed Shield fix v0.9 causes Paladin Shields to be inserted randomly into character inventories.
MasterZED's Controllable Umaro patch does not work, but the hack was not finished and has instructions to follow after the patch is applied, so this is not completely confirmed. (NOT INCLUDED IN THIS MOD)
Imzogelmo's Not Scary Enough...NEXT! patch causes FF6 Improvement to reset when a flawless victory is achieved. (NOT INCLUDED IN THIS MOD)
Lenophis' Summon This! patch does not work with this mod - no details provided as to what happens. (NOT INCLUDED IN THIS MOD)
The latest version of the patch is 1.07, and can be found here (https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement).
Here are some screenshots of the new changes:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 17, 2009, 01:06:50 AM
Once again, I must point out to not use the Ignore Defense patch until I can figure out where there's room in C2. It's conflicted with another patch with every modification. :isuck:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 17, 2009, 08:23:44 AM
Bah, I knew something didn't look right on that list. Thanks, Leno. Is this something you've done on your own, or did you use one of Drakkhen's IID patches as a baseline? I only ask to see if there's any leeway in the C2 bank by modifying one of them if it's feasible. I hate to see such a good idea lose out due to ROM limitations.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 17, 2009, 02:59:21 PM
Nah, that was of my own doing. The patch itself is very simple, actually. I just need to find 38 (0x26) consecutive bytes of free space, or else copy a few routines to bank C0 (not looking forward to do that).
That, or else try to find a way to optimize the space used.
:edit:
By the way, those two patches have been updated (http://novaliaspirit.99k.org/ff6/patches.html).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on July 17, 2009, 11:31:04 PM
A ridiculously long time ago, before all these awesome bugfix patches came out, I made an FF6Tweak patch that made improvements to the game, and basically had the exact same goals you describe here (make the game more fun and less annoying - I also have earthbound and fftactics hacks on my website that do the same thing). You are free to pilfer any of my changes, with or without attribution, if you wish.
Here's the changelist I made to the rom:
Quote
*Battle music removed from certain areas. Basically, wherever it ruined the atmosphere, such as the Phantom forest, floating continent, etc. *Cyan can now equip many basic swords, such as the Mithril Sword. *Daggers can't be used two-handed with the Gauntlet relic, nor can Celes use them with her Runic ability (except the Gladius). It just didn't make much sense that they could be used in such ways. *Elemental bias removed. Ice spells are no longer stronger than Fire spells, etc. *Gau and Locke can no longer equip heavy armor items, like Iron Armor. *Esper spells have been changed a bit. Basically, espers have had weaker spells added to their lists (Golem now teaches Cure and Cure 2 instead of just Cure 2, etc.). *Ifrit now teaches Drain x2 instead of Drain x1. Drain shouldn't be the hardest spell in the game to learn. *Item/equipment names fixed/changed. Some items were renamed because of space limitations, or because more accurate names for their effects existed. *Leo can now use sword techniques. It seemed to make sense. *Odin's (Raiden's) level up bonus is now Speed+1, and he now offers Meteo x2 in additon to Double x1. He only costs 70 MP to summon now. Upgrading Odin to Raiden no longer results in a loss. His name has been changed back to Odin, too (he *is* still Odin). *Original "Final Fantasy 6" title screen restored. *Original monster and esper graphics restored. *Ramuh's spells have changed from Bolt 2 x2, Poison x5 to Bolt 2 x5, Poison x2. I don't know why you could learn Bolt 2 faster from Maduin than from Ramuh... *Rename Cards can now be purchased, just for the hell of it. All Rename Card interactions in the Dragon's Neck Colosseum have been "skipped over" to preserve game balance (I don't want you buying Rename Cards and getting Growth Eggs out of them in the Colosseum). *Setzer's weapons were always same damage from the backrow items - now they display as such. In fact, many items had properties that weren't being displayed, so I rewrote all the item descriptions. *Shadow can now equip Cyan's Katanas. This made sense, and didn't skew the balance much, since Shadow is a somewhat weak character. *Sprint Shoes no longer exist; characters move at double speed by default. *Sprint Shoes replaced with an "Element Ward" that lowers elemental damage by 50%.
There were probably other changes too, but I haven't touched or looked at this thing in a thousand years.
Here's the download link: http://devilsjockstrap.wikidot.com/local--files/other/ff6tweak.ips
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on July 18, 2009, 07:05:19 AM
this guy has already made an FF6 MegaPatch:
http://www.richmcgrew.com/downloads.html
i first came across it when narcissistically googling myself in late 2006. and his website is very barebones, so you know he means business.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: I.S.T. on July 18, 2009, 10:17:20 AM
Shadow? Weak?
You must not be a fan of the Throw command.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on July 18, 2009, 10:45:24 AM
^ Shadow fits in with a certain subset of RPG characters that are too good / broken. When you don't use the brokenness (in this case, Throw), then they are underpowered. Powering him up by allowing him to use katanas only helps his underpowered-ness, and doesn't affect his overpowered-ness (Throw is still equally awesome as it was before). If that makes sense.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 21, 2009, 12:45:01 AM
A ridiculously long time ago, before all these awesome bugfix patches came out, I made an FF6Tweak patch that made improvements to the game, and basically had the exact same goals you describe here (make the game more fun and less annoying - I also have earthbound and fftactics hacks on my website that do the same thing). You are free to pilfer any of my changes, with or without attribution, if you wish.
That is an awesome list of fixes, Tzepish! I might take you up on your offer; of course you'll get credit.
i first came across it when narcissistically googling myself in late 2006. and his website is very barebones, so you know he means business.
I'm taking a look at that now to see how similar our lists of patches are.
As for my walkthrough, the world has been destroyed, but Cid lives! I'm just leaving Albrook; now I guess we'll start seeing the situations the majority of these patches were made to fix...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on July 21, 2009, 02:48:57 AM
Let me know how the Brushless Gogo patch works out for ya. :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 22, 2009, 11:12:37 PM
i first came across it when narcissistically googling myself in late 2006. and his website is very barebones, so you know he means business.
Yeah, he's pretty much got the same patches as I do, minus the Lenophis and Dragonsbrethren patches and the font change. I'm thinking seriously about adding some of the changes Tzepish made to differentiate my patch from this one, as well as the change Poco Loco is talking about in his new thread, but if I do that means I start all over on my playthrough. Oh darn. ;)
And actually, that'll give me a chance to try NS's new versions of his patches. I might actually do that, but it'll take me a while to incorporate some of these changes.
Tzepish, which ROM version did you use for your changes, and did you do it on a fresh copy or a patched one?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 23, 2009, 08:44:10 PM
OK, I've added some personal touches to the project and updated the OP.
Right now I'm re-adding the patches and starting over the playthrough to see if anything's broken by the new additions.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 23, 2009, 09:35:04 PM
nice man
I was also working on a bunch of other things as well
my over-all hack is changing around A LOT of shyt
for instance, all my mugshots are changed, I touched up the way most of the characters look, not only that, I'm also making the game over-all much more difficult, I mean sure there are gonna be HUGE altercations to how everyone is, for instance there will only be 4 chars that can use magic (Terra, Celes, Strago, and Relm) but to balance it out, all the espers teach more spells and chars learn the spells MUCH faster, I'm also changing around a lot of lores making custom new spells, getting rid of some old ones, adding new equipment while taking certain things out (like brushes ewww lol) and yeah I also wanna change the music as well and even add new songs to the game
I also wanna follow in Pandora's Box's footsteps and add more letters to the menu and whatnot
but yea THAT is a lot of work lol
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 23, 2009, 09:36:24 PM
oh I 4got 2 mention I'm also gonna be putting in A LOT of these patches for bug-fixes and everything
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 25, 2009, 08:27:38 AM
I was also working on a bunch of other things as well
my over-all hack is changing around A LOT of shyt
for instance, all my mugshots are changed, I touched up the way most of the characters look, not only that, I'm also making the game over-all much more difficult, I mean sure there are gonna be HUGE altercations to how everyone is, for instance there will only be 4 chars that can use magic (Terra, Celes, Strago, and Relm) but to balance it out, all the espers teach more spells and chars learn the spells MUCH faster, I'm also changing around a lot of lores making custom new spells, getting rid of some old ones, adding new equipment while taking certain things out (like brushes ewww lol) and yeah I also wanna change the music as well and even add new songs to the game
I also wanna follow in Pandora's Box's footsteps and add more letters to the menu and whatnot
but yea THAT is a lot of work lol
That's cool, Poco! I like the game and the story *almost* the way it is...and after changing the worst bits, there's not much I can think of to improve on it.
That being said, I picked up the "fixed" version of FF3ed, and I noticed while looking around for it that people are cautioning that it can corrupt your ROM. I'm working with a copy of my hack, but I wanted to know what I should worry about. The only things I'm really doing are changing some battle event text and cleaning up dialog text where it's really rough.
Are there things I should avoid doing, or be careful of?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 25, 2009, 10:14:39 AM
well what I have experienced with FF3ED is not TOO major but regardless it kinda fucks with the game
when you fix up the font or dialog up, the bottom half of the WOB map is all glitchy and retarded looking
the other glitch is that the very 1st block of most character sprites have a weird looking block in their upper left forehead (that can be fixed using FF3 sprite editor)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on July 25, 2009, 10:59:33 AM
Tzepish, which ROM version did you use for your changes, and did you do it on a fresh copy or a patched one?
I haven't read the whole thread yet, but I felt you deserved a reply (haven't checked the board in awhile).
That patch was made on the 1.0 US FF3 rom, but it is definitely not compatible with all these bug fixes. Basically, either just apply the changes that I mention manually (in a "thanks for the idea!" sort of way), or apply them to a new rom and take a peek at the data and copy them over. :-)
Other things I think would be neat for a general "FF6 Improvement" would be to import the FF6 Advance dialog and monster/item/magic/esper names, and to expand the names for these things to allow for more letters. Note, though, that some of the monster name changes may result in the alphabetical rage patch to list them in the wrong order (no longer alphabetical), but I believe that patch puts all monster IDs in a table that can be modified to change the order.
EDIT: It turns out I should have read the whole thread, as I have more to say!
The biggest bug I've encountered with ff3ed is this: In the dialog editor, if I add too much dialog, the rom becomes corrupted such that the overworld will not load. And, if you wait too long for it to load, your save files are deleted. Nasty.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 25, 2009, 01:55:24 PM
Tzepish, which ROM version did you use for your changes, and did you do it on a fresh copy or a patched one?
The biggest bug I've encountered with ff3ed is this: In the dialog editor, if I add too much dialog, the rom becomes corrupted such that the overworld will not load. And, if you wait too long for it to load, your save files are deleted. Nasty.
ooooo I DID NOT know that part =/
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 25, 2009, 03:25:32 PM
The secret to using FF3Ed is to not use it on your good ROM. Make your dialogue changes in a separate ROM, then copy the new pointers and dialogue over using a hex editor (binary dump, not by hand).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 25, 2009, 03:50:31 PM
I got u bro, when u told me b4 that the editor was shit u weren't playing lmao
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 26, 2009, 12:10:52 PM
Quote
The biggest bug I've encountered with ff3ed is this: In the dialog editor, if I add too much dialog, the rom becomes corrupted such that the overworld will not load. And, if you wait too long for it to load, your save files are deleted. Nasty.
Holy cow! :eek:
I'm glad I wasn't planning on doing much dialogue editing yet, then. Hopefully the two (or three) things I was going to change won't corrupt the ROM so much.
Quote
The secret to using FF3Ed is to not use it on your good ROM. Make your dialogue changes in a separate ROM, then copy the new pointers and dialogue over using a hex editor (binary dump, not by hand).
I was looking over the options in Windhex, but I'm not quite sure how I could do a binary dump of any changes, especially if there WAS a significant change to the script. (Which I was actually thinking about doing after playing with FF3Ed...)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 26, 2009, 01:39:51 PM
Edit -> Dump Binary Data. Then just enter a filename, starting offset, and ending offset.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on July 26, 2009, 05:37:53 PM
Would it be possible to write a batch file that could do this for you? Since you'll be using the same offsets every time, basically. You can just run the file after every hacking session in ff3ed.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on July 26, 2009, 05:50:44 PM
John Fine's excellent PartCopy can copy partial files, and it's callable from a batch file:
http://assassin17.home.comcast.net/pcopy02.zip
NOTE: this program can also write to raw sectors on the drive and such, so using the wrong parameters could be lethal! (under DOS anyway, Windows NT+ will probably prevent the raw writes.)
(the brackets indicate "dest_offset" is optional; it'll default to 0.)
it's an old DOS program from 1997, so it'll expect you to use the 8+3 filenames; it won't recognize long ones.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 30, 2009, 02:30:39 PM
OK, I've added some changes and updated what is known to work on the master list in the OP.
But now I've run into a couple of item name-related problems. I've edited two consumable items (Fenix Down and Soft), but now they're not appearing in the Inventory. Also, I have found that I'm not using the proper offset for spaces in names for the fixed width, as they're showing up strangely in the variable width messages (Heal 2 shows up as "Healil2", for example. I was using the "empty" space just after the "*" character as a space.) I'm pretty sure these problems are related, so I guess I have two questions:
1) Which 8x8 character should I use in front of consumable items to make sure they show up as items?
2) Which 8x8 character should I use as a space to make sure the VWF sees it correctly?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 30, 2009, 03:03:31 PM
1) Which 8x8 character should I use in front of consumable items to make sure they show up as items?
0xFE
$FF, actually. $FE is needed for spaces inside of the item name, but the game checks icon $FF when sorting.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 30, 2009, 06:35:13 PM
Oh man, talk about misreading. :isuck:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 30, 2009, 08:31:42 PM
I hate to seem dense, but I'm not sure what that address refers to...
I'm looking at it with TileMolester, and if I'm reading this right, the fixed width icons start at $489C0 with the capital "A". Looking at it from this way, I see two "blank" spots at $48EC0 and $48ED0. Then there are some more after the magic icons between $49070 and $490B0. Then some more between $491070 and $490Bo. After that is the VWF.
I've also looked at it through FF3usME, and there's the same general fixed width icons in the Rename menu. I'm assuming the two you're referring to lie within this range, but I've tried a couple of things and so far no luck...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 30, 2009, 09:07:46 PM
(http://slickproductions.org/img/junk/icons.png)
The box you see would be letter $FE.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 30, 2009, 09:20:56 PM
...And yet another tool I should be using. Thanks so much, guys, I know it must be annoying to hear the same kinds of questions over and over. :omghax:
EDIT: I just wanted to give a big thanks to the crew here at Slick Productions for all their help and effort on some of the tweaks I've been doing. You guys ROCK.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 02, 2009, 12:54:09 PM
Whew, finally back online! New computer is up and running, and I'm ready to get back to work on this thing. :yabin:
Which leads me to a question. I've been toying with the idea of renaming Cyan's "SwdTech" skill to "Bushido" like FF6A, and I think I found the right place in the hiROM:
C3/5C59:8D7A92B09D939E9CA100 (position of and word "SwdTech") C3/5CB8:B78192B09D939E9CA100 (position of and word "SwdTech") My question is, might there be other places I'll have to change this if I can make it work?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 02, 2009, 01:03:10 PM
There should only be those two SwdTech strings; one for the menu, and one for the battle command list.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 02, 2009, 02:05:54 PM
Awesome. :laugh:
I already see the one in the Skills list, and since I hadn't really started properly on my second playthrough, I'll be able to see it once I hit Sabin's scenario.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on September 02, 2009, 04:05:11 PM
The strings for the battle skills are at D8/CEA0. 7 letters each, no pointers.
I guess that'll teach me to be more perceptive...I didn't even go into the D8 bank. :omg:
Don't feel too bad, I didn't know either. All I did was open up a hex editor and searched for the "SwdTech" string until it wouldn't find anymore. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 02, 2009, 04:48:47 PM
Since we're talking about editing the hex directly...the battle dialogue that starts at D0/D200 has caught my attention. The spread of FFs at the end indicate free space that can be used to expand that dialogue, correct?
Also, I've already edited Vargas's Blizzard Fist to read Typhoon Fist, since that makes a lot more sense given the characters are blown away. Is there an application that can make changes to this dialogue, or will I have to edit the hex by hand? And if by hand is the only way to go, is there anywhere I can find a reference of the special characters that aren't being shown by the ff3battl table? I've already figured that the regular characters have a string that denotes who is talking after the ":" for some of the dialogue.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on September 02, 2009, 05:35:36 PM
You'll have to do it by hand. This is a good spot for a script inserter, btw. The only things not in the table (it would be a good idea to add them, too) are these control codes:
; $00 is the null terminator ; $01 is a new line ; $05 is pause for a small time ; $07 is wait for input There's probably more, but those are the important ones.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 02, 2009, 05:39:23 PM
I'll have to look seriously at it. I've edited Z/Si/egfried to where Siegfried is the badass swordsman, and Ziegfried is the copycat. I'm really wanting to edit the dialogue for all that, but as FF3ed is so buggy, I'm really afraid to touch it at this point...so that's another place where a script inserter would work.
I saw you are promoting Atlas for that kind of work, so I'll have to check it out.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 02, 2009, 05:55:33 PM
I never got around to making the insertion package, but it's not too hard to set up an Atlas header. I wouldn't bother using this for editing any of the fixed length text though; that's easy enough to do in a hex editor, easier than keeping track of spaces.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on September 02, 2009, 07:41:13 PM
Hey Darkmage, are you considering making this improvement available for hackers to base their hacks off of once it's released? That is, are you giving blanket permission to incorporate this hack's changes into other hacks (like I have done with my Earthbound Tweak - http://devilsjockstrap.wikidot.com/ebtweak (http://devilsjockstrap.wikidot.com/ebtweak) - and War of the Lions Tweak - http://devilsjockstrap.wikidot.com/wotltweak (http://devilsjockstrap.wikidot.com/wotltweak) - patches)? I ask because I have an FF6 project going on that remixes where you get the characters and items and stuff, but I'm considering starting over if I can start from this improvement hack.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 03, 2009, 01:06:04 AM
Hey Darkmage, are you considering making this improvement available for hackers to base their hacks off of once it's released? That is, are you giving blanket permission to incorporate this hack's changes into other hacks? I ask because I have an FF6 project going on that remixes where you get the characters and items and stuff, but I'm considering starting over if I can start from this improvement hack.
Absolutely. Considering over 75% of the changes in this mod are made by other people, I'd be an ass if I didn't make this one available! I'll have to send you the IPS, though...the zip is too big to add to the post.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 03, 2009, 09:40:15 PM
I never got around to making the insertion package, but it's not too hard to set up an Atlas header. I wouldn't bother using this for editing any of the fixed length text though; that's easy enough to do in a hex editor, easier than keeping track of spaces.
Regarding this: I dumped the text from my mod, and looking through it I'm wondering about the actor names. In ff3ed, the character names are represented by strings, but the text dump doesn't seem to have any strings for the actor names. Is that something I'll have to do manually, and if so, do I use the string in the battle tbl like so: <0200> for Terra? Or is it even necessary?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on September 04, 2009, 12:00:28 AM
If you're just doing it for readability of your text dumps then go for it... but if you are reinserting text from those dumps, I'd advise against it. It's too risky that the inserter will simply insert "TERRA" instead of the code for TERRA - you're better off keeping the control codes in the text dumps and just keeping notes and/or a table of control codes open whil you work (that's assuming your text inserter can handle those control codes).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 04, 2009, 10:19:28 AM
Atlas is smart enough to insert TERRA as the control code (but not Terra, terra, or any other variation). I often find myself typing the name instead of the control code, so I set it up that the name would be dumped and inserted normally.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 10, 2009, 03:14:00 AM
I wouldn't bother using this for editing any of the fixed length text though; that's easy enough to do in a hex editor, easier than keeping track of spaces.
I'm curious about this: Keeping track of spaces is important for these, since the pointers for this dialogue are looking at specific addresses. But if you wanted to expand the text, I'm sure you could, and use the bank of FFs at the end of the battle dialogue for extra spaces. (Kinda like what you can do for item and spell descriptions?) What I'm curious about is, where would I look for the pointers to this dialogue in order to change the starting byte for each line of dialogue?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 10, 2009, 11:22:09 AM
You mean the fixed width text? There aren't any pointers, not in the traditional sense. In order to expand this, you need to change the number of characters loaded and printed. Here's what prints the item names in the Item menu:
C3/80B9:A28B9E LDX #$9E8B (position onscreen, though a couple of people have mentioned this may be where in VRAM it is stored) C3/80BC:8E8121 STX $2181 C3/80BF:AD1242 LDA $4212 C3/80C2:2940 AND #$40 C3/80C4:F0F9 BEQ $80BF C3/80C6:7B TDC C3/80C7:B96918 LDA $1869,Y (Load inventory item Y) C3/80CA:C9FF CMP #$FF(Is it the "empty" item?) C3/80CC:F028 BEQ $80F6(If so, skip to the next part) C3/80CE:8D1B21 STA $211B(Write the index out to be multiplied) C3/80D1:9C1B21 STZ $211B(It always does this...) C3/80D4:A90D LDA #$0D(Load 13) C3/80D6:8D1C21 STA $211C(Write it out to be multiplied) C3/80D9:8D1C21 STA $211C(Write it out again, as required) C3/80DC:AE3421 LDX $2134(Load X with the result of index * 13) C3/80DF:A00D00 LDY #$000D(Start the count of letters at 13) C3/80E2:BF00B3D2LDA $D2B300,X(Load letter X of item name) C3/80E6:8D8021 STA $2180 C3/80E9:E8 INX C3/80EA:88 DEY C3/80EB:D0F5 BNE $80E2 C3/80ED:A9C1 LDA #$C1 (colon in the font) C3/80EF:8D8021 STA $2180 C3/80F2:9C8021 STZ $2180 C3/80F5:60 RTS All you need to do is change the value at C3/80D5 and C3/80E0 to the number of characters you want to load instead. I believe all of the fixed width text is loaded in the same manner. All you need to do is have the starting offset of the text you want (SNES HiROM format, no header), then search the disassemblies for something loading it.
Keep in mind that expanding this even one character will completely throw off the existing names, and you'll need to be sure each one is now the new length. There are some fixed width dumping/insertion programs over at RHDN that might make this easier, but I've never used them. Alternatively, you could change these to load from a pointer table instead, which usually saves a ton of space. Maybe someone is feeling more ambitious and will teach you how to do that.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on September 10, 2009, 01:33:33 PM
The above only applies to inventory items/equipment, right? Are there similar blocks of code for spells, espers, and/or character names? I think I'll try this tonight or tomorrow.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 10, 2009, 01:39:55 PM
There should be, yes. It's been so long since we expanded this stuff, I don't remember where they all are anymore. (Expanding is the easy part, making room (on the screen, not in the ROM) for that expanded text is a lot more difficult in most cases. Leno did a lot of that, so he'd be the person to ask about specifics.)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on September 10, 2009, 03:48:48 PM
Esper name displaying in most menus (this is not used to generate the esper list!) C3/34E6:201935 JSR $3519 C3/34E9:B91E00 LDA $001E,Y C3/34EC:C9FF CMP #$FF C3/34EE:F018 BEQ $3508 (branch if no esper equipped) C3/34F0:0A ASL A C3/34F1:0A ASL A C3/34F2:0A ASL A C3/34F3:AA TAX C3/34F4:A00800 LDY #$0008 (esper name length) C3/34F7:BFE1F6E6LDA $E6F6E1,X (Load Esper name) C3/34FB:8D8021 STA $2180 C3/34FE:E8 INX C3/34FF:88 DEY C3/3500:D0F5 BNE $34F7 C3/3502:9C8021 STZ $2180 C3/3505:4CD97F JMP $7FD9
Draw name of character onscreen at 16-bit Y C3/34CF:201935 JSR $3519 C3/34D2:A20600 LDX #$0006 (length of character name) C3/34D5:B90200 LDA $0002,Y C3/34D8:8D8021 STA $2180 (write a letter) C3/34DB:C8 INY C3/34DC:CA DEX C3/34DD:D0F6 BNE $34D5 C3/34DF:9C8021 STZ $2180 (termination) C3/34E2:4CD97F JMP $7FD9 (finish the drawing process) There is a little bit more, but this is the gist of it. And yes, as you can see it's all commented. The disassemblies are there for a reason, you know. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on September 10, 2009, 09:58:26 PM
Beautiful! Time for some experiments, thanks!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 13, 2009, 03:14:48 AM
Wow, that is an absolute crapton of good information, thanks!
I was actually talking about the length of each battle dialogue sequence, and I was aware that I would have to repoint all the pointers if I were to expand the length of the text. That actually doesn't look like it would be that much work, since there don't appear to be that many battle dialogue sequences. I just wanted to make sure that the FFs at the end of the battle dialogue are the extra space allocated for the battle dialogue, and that I wouldn't be overwriting anything important if I did need to expand any of the text.
:edit: I just re-read your answer, DB, and I see what you mean about how any expansion of that would take some work to re-word. I'll try to keep what I have in mind within what's there, but if I can't, then we'll see how that will work.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 13, 2009, 03:23:10 AM
And for an update on this project: my job has moved me to an overnight shift, so I've actually got some free time to re-write the script. I didn't think to mention this, but it's why I've been so interested in script-related questions lately. So this may be a more extensive mod than I had originally planned on... :omg:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on September 13, 2009, 10:34:55 PM
I am extremely interested in this.
May I ask something? Would it be possible to provide a small over-patch to change the HP restoring spells back to "Cure", and to change the poison removing spell to "Purify"?
Another thing. I see you imported Tzepish's esper improvements. I was wondering if it would be possible to also give Raiden the Speed + 2 level up bonus as well.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 15, 2009, 04:59:48 PM
Would it be possible to provide a small over-patch to change the HP restoring spells back to "Cure", and to change the poison removing spell to "Purify"? Another thing. I see you imported Tzepish's esper improvements. I was wondering if it would be possible to also give Raiden the Speed + 2 level up bonus as well.
Those kinds of changes are fairly easy with FF3usME. That's how I did it...
Now...after doing some more with this battle dialogue, I don't think I'm explaining what I'd like to do. The battle dialogue I'm talking about is like this:
WEDGE:<$01> Hey! What's the matter?<$07><$01> Do you know something we don't……?<$07><$00>
-- $10D44D
WEDGE:<$01> Where's that light coming from?!<Input> Uwaaaaaaa!!!!<$07><$00>
--
That's from a file I'm putting together documenting the battle dialogue. I'd like to do something similar to what Pandora's Box has in the demo you put out some time ago, where this text is changed and even expanded in some cases (the Rock, Paper, Scissors scene when Edgar and Locke find out about Terra's magic).
What I'm asking is, can I change this without having to worry about where the game tries to find each string, or will I have to change pointers somewhere else in the ROM so the game will load the proper battle dialogue string?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 15, 2009, 05:09:43 PM
You'll need to change pointers.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on September 15, 2009, 05:32:48 PM
Those kinds of changes are fairly easy with FF3usME. That's how I did it...
No, no, no. I know it's possible to do. I meant, would it be possible for you to provide an over-patch for those to be done? Rather, not "would it be possible for you to provide", but "would you please kindly provide it"?
Not to mention that unless FFIIIusME started offering a dialogue editor, there are three references to the spell "Cure" in the dialogue--once in Vector (The Cure Castin' Kid) and twice with the woman and her child in Thamasa.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on September 17, 2009, 12:40:18 PM
2 things
feel free 2 ignore this cuz I probably missed it
did u put the MP color switch? (u probably did and if so ignore this)
do u think u can provide a patch with all these changes soon?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 20, 2009, 07:05:18 AM
Not to mention that unless FFIIIusME started offering a dialogue editor, there are three references to the spell "Cure" in the dialogue--once in Vector (The Cure Castin' Kid) and twice with the woman and her child in Thamasa.
Yeah, that particular part is a work-in-progress until I can figure out Atlas enough to change those particular dialogue strings. I found the one for the Vector Kid, but I haven't come across the Thamasa one yet. I'm going through line-by-line and editing since work is sometimes SLOOOOOOW at night.
did u put the MP color switch? (u probably did and if so ignore this)
I did put that one in. :happy:
Quote
do u think u can provide a patch with all these changes soon?
Quote
"would you please kindly provide it"?
I have a patch ready to go with the changes I've made so far...although I need to make a couple of new ones to reflect the +2 Speed for Raiden (great idea btw, Vivify!). It's also becoming obvious that I need to set up a website so I can host this mod and provide a link for RHDN. In the meantime, PM me your email address if you want the patch, and I'll send it to you.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on September 20, 2009, 12:57:46 PM
cool man I'll do that :)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on September 20, 2009, 02:25:17 PM
...I'm not asking for the main FFVI Improvement hack... Let me try to explain once more.
I wish for you to provide an over patch for the main patch. Everyone knows what an over patch is by now, but I'll type it in for completion's sake. An over patch is a patch provided by the author to be placed over another patch. For example, you apply a hack for Metroid darkens the palettes. However, the author has supplied an over patch to revert Samus' outfits to a normal, brighter color. You apply this over patch to the game afterword, and Samus has her original colors; this makes her stand out from the background.
Now, the over patch I'm requesting would be very, very simple. It would contain these changes: all instances of what is now called the spell "Cure" changed to "Purify", and all instances of what is now called the spell "Heal" changed back to "Cure".
Does this make any sense at all? I'm not saying I want the entire patch right this instant. I'm asking, will you please provide an over patch changing "Cure" to "Purify" and "Heal" back to "Cure"?
Or, going by original terminology, keep the HP-healing spell "Cure" as it is, and rename the poison-removing spell "Antdot" to "Purify".
:edit: Also, thank you for the compliment on the Odin to Raiden conversion. I came up with the idea myself when I attempted such a project long, long ago.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on September 20, 2009, 04:12:10 PM
What I'm asking is, can I change this without having to worry about where the game tries to find each string, or will I have to change pointers somewhere else in the ROM so the game will load the proper battle dialogue string?
For some reason, I think I answered this already. You're making it sound more complicated than it is. There is only one set of pointers for this, that is all you have to change. If you move this dialouge, you need to tweak the pointer routine so it looks at the new bank (assuming you move it out of the bank). That's all there is to it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on September 20, 2009, 05:52:40 PM
Quote from: Lenophis
I'm curious to why you think you need this.
Because I'm lazy, a purity whore, and an asshole, apparently.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on September 20, 2009, 06:00:13 PM
lmao @ vivify
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 21, 2009, 03:07:14 AM
For some reason, I think I answered this already. You're making it sound more complicated than it is. There is only one set of pointers for this, that is all you have to change. If you move this dialouge, you need to tweak the pointer routine so it looks at the new bank (assuming you move it out of the bank). That's all there is to it.
If it is that simple, then that's great! I was worried that since the battle dialogue and battle messages are hard-coded instead of compressed, that the game was looking for strings of specific lengths, and that changing the length of one string would affect all subsequent strings and cause the game not to find them. But if all it does is scan through the number of null characters ($00), then that means I can change the length as needed. Awesome!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 21, 2009, 03:13:57 AM
The over patch I'm requesting would be very, very simple. It would contain these changes: all instances of what is now called the spell "Cure" changed to "Purify", and all instances of what is now called the spell "Heal" changed back to "Cure".
I see what you're saying. I should be able to do something like that...but since I'm planning on changing the Cure-related dialogue, I can just change "Antdot" to "Purify" if you want. Although, using Purify would mean I could go back to Cure, since that's constant through the FF series. Hmm...I'll have to think about that.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on September 21, 2009, 10:37:49 PM
"Purify" and "Cure" is what I went with with my old ff6tweak patch. I tried not to make any controversial changes because I wanted it to be a baseline FF6 "replacement" for people, and I didn't want to cram my opinion down their throats... there were some changes I personally wanted, but I left them out of the hack for that reason (same with my earthbound and fftactics hacks).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 23, 2009, 06:56:21 AM
"Purify" and "Cure" is what I went with with my old ff6tweak patch. I tried not to make any controversial changes because I wanted it to be a baseline FF6 "replacement" for people, and I didn't want to cram my opinion down their throats... there were some changes I personally wanted, but I left them out of the hack for that reason (same with my earthbound and fftactics hacks).
Good call. I'll go with that then, since it serves a double purpose of going with the Squeenix canon usage...and making less work for me! :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 28, 2009, 09:22:54 PM
So now I've reached the point where the only major things left to do involve changing the dialogue. I've been looking at the Atlas readme and how-to, but I'm not quite sure I've got the syntax down yet. I'm going to play with it more tonight, but if anyone has any tips on how to use Atlas, I would be grateful.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on September 28, 2009, 11:27:58 PM
yea I can imagine thats gonna be the big pain in the ass man
I wanted 2 ask if the magitek armor fix (the one where all chars have the 8 moves), the summon fix, the offering tweak and the economizer tweak were in here, I also didnt see the MP color switch in the description so I wanted 2 make sure that was in it as well
another thing I wanted 2 know was with all these fixes and whatnot does it still work with FF3USME? I didn't get 2 patch a rom yet
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 29, 2009, 03:01:23 AM
I wanted 2 ask if the magitek armor fix (the one where all chars have the 8 moves), the summon fix, the offering tweak and the economizer tweak were in here, I also didnt see the MP color switch in the description so I wanted 2 make sure that was in it as well
Good catch, Poco! Yes, the MP color-coded digits is in this mod and works. I decided against the Magitek Armor Enhancement, since Terra was supposed to have the bitchin' talent with the Armor. The Offering and Economizer tweaks, though...I hadn't fully read up on those, but after doing so, they might be nice to have in here. I'll look at it.
Quote
another thing I wanted 2 know was with all these fixes and whatnot does it still work with FF3USME? I didn't get 2 patch a rom yet
Oh yeah. And the new font looks nice in FF3usME! :omghax:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on September 29, 2009, 03:49:30 AM
nice bro glad 2 hear that :)
what about the summon fix?
and if I add the magitek patch will it effect anything?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 29, 2009, 04:38:10 AM
and if I add the magitek patch will it effect anything?
I didn't add the Summon patch for the same reason: it's not within the scope of the original game. But I don't see how adding either one of those will affect anything badly. From what I can tell, neither one of those patches conflicts with the ones I have in the mod.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 29, 2009, 04:52:44 AM
So, reading back through all the bugfixes on the various sites pays off: I noticed a patch by Djibriel for fixing the fact that Celes doesn't learn one of her spells naturally if she gets level-averaged, and noticed further that the fix was actually pretty easy to do. So that's taken care of.
So now Celes learns Haste and Muddle at level 32, the way she was meant to. Hooray! :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on September 29, 2009, 05:05:33 AM
Could you capitalize the "p" in "GP" if you haven't already?
:edit: In the menu, I mean.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 29, 2009, 06:11:36 AM
Already done. I hated that, too.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 29, 2009, 06:19:56 AM
I actually kind of liked it. If we were still using the term GP in Pandora's Box, I would've suggested switching every instance to that style.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 29, 2009, 06:22:01 AM
...And two more patches are discovered that I had not known about, both from mblock129. These patches were not on his old site, but are on the new one. Go figure.
I'm updating the list in the OP, and I'll have to start my playthrough over (again...) in order to make sure there are no discrepencies.
At this point, I'm going to suspend starting that over until I've had the chance to update the dialogue that needs to be changed. Once that's done, barring any unexpected bugfixes, the playthrough will be all that's left.
:edit: Bugfixes=changes
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 29, 2009, 06:25:05 AM
I actually kind of liked it. If we were still using the term GP in Pandora's Box, I would've suggested switching every instance to that style.
I can see why you might, and it actually looks cool with the original font -- but it doesn't fit with the other abbreviations: HP, MP, Gp?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on September 29, 2009, 01:14:16 PM
nice man glad 2 know that
I'll put them in for my version ;)
the reason is I am also gonna do an over-all hack in my game with a new story & everything ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 30, 2009, 07:03:55 PM
OK, I have to admit I'm a little daunted by the way Atlas works.
DB, your script extractor worked great, and I think I can see where it left everything set up to re-insert. The question I have is, for my script file - the extractor pulled out a commands file with this type of thing in it:
#BLOCK NAME:Map Event dialogue (bank $CD) #TYPE:NORMAL #METHOD:POINTER_RELATIVE #POINTER ENDIAN:LITTLE #POINTER TABLE START:$CE800 #POINTER TABLE STOP:$CF44E #POINTER SIZE:$02 #POINTER SPACE:$00 #ATLAS PTRS:Yes #BASE POINTER:$D0200 #TABLE:ff6_snes_map.tbl #COMMENTS:No #END BLOCK I tried to pass that with Autowrite, but it failed on bad syntax. I'm trying to see how I would set the script up for Atlas, and this is what I have so far:
#VAR(Table, TABLE) #ADDTBL("ff6_snes_map.tbl", Table) #ACTIVETBL(Table) #HDR($200) #SMA("LOROM") #VAR(MyPtr, CUSTOMPOINTER) #VAR(PtrTable, POINTERTABLE) #CREATEPTR(MyPtr, "LOROM", 16) #PTRTBL(PtrTable, $CE800, 2, MyPtr) #AUTOWRITE(MyPtr, "<End>") Is there anything I need to add to that, or anything I should change?
:edit: OK, Atlas didn't like the #CREATEPTR and the #AUTOWRITE lines. I changed #CREATEPTR like so:
#CREATEPTR(MyPtr, "LOROM", $00, 16) That seemed to work, but I'm not sure if I'm passing Autowrite correctly. I'm going to try something, and if it works I'll post here.
:edit: 2
Well, THAT failed spectacularly...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on October 01, 2009, 05:21:04 AM
SMA should be HIROM for FF6. You should be able to use the standard 16-bit pointer for this game, instead of creating a custom one (the pointer writes are already in the script, so there's no need to automate that). Everything else looks fine, you didn't show your #JMP instruction but I'm guessing you're jumping to the right place, since you had some success in changing it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 01, 2009, 10:58:56 AM
SMA should be HIROM for FF6. You should be able to use the standard 16-bit pointer for this game, instead of creating a custom one (the pointer writes are already in the script, so there's no need to automate that). Everything else looks fine, you didn't show your #JMP instruction but I'm guessing you're jumping to the right place, since you had some success in changing it.
Man, I need to get better at reading memory addresses. That looked like LoROM to me...
From what I could tell in the Atlas how-to, JMP doesn't need to be set if it's reading from the activated table. But I'll try that just in case.
:edit: SUCCESS! Oh, the script-writing begins in earnest now... :omghax:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 02, 2009, 12:39:12 PM
So! Now that the bulk script changing has been taken care of (though this is not in the scope of my baseline mod), I'm curious. This is what I have so far as far as changing the script from one pointer to the next:
#W16($CE800) A mysterious young woman, controlled by the Empire, and born with the gift of magic…<End>
//POINTER #1 @ $CE802 - STRING #1 @ $D0200
#W16($CE802) Biggs<Break> There's the town…<Wait for key 360 frames><Wait 1 frame><Page> Wedge<Break> Hard to believe they found an intact Esper there, 1000 years after the War of the Magi ended.<Wait for key 360 frames><Wait 1 frame><End>
//POINTER #2 @ $CE804 - STRING #2 @ $D0200
#W16($CE804) Biggs<Break> There's the town…<Wait for key 360 frames><Wait 1 frame><Page> Wedge<Break> Hard to believe they found an intact Esper there, 1000 years after the War of the Magi ended.<Wait for key 360 frames><Wait 1 frame><End>
etc. Can this script be used to just paste the script strings I need changed instead of needing to go to subsequent strings, or do I need to write individual JMP and WRITE commands for each string I want changed...?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on October 02, 2009, 12:57:07 PM
No, you only need to JMP at the start of the script. Now, if you used one text file to insert other strings (say item descriptions), you would need another JMP before you started writing those (and change the active table to the one for menus).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 08, 2009, 07:39:01 PM
OK, vetting the script took a little longer than expected, but the changes I wanted to make are in. Starting the playthrough over, and it may just be my imagination, but it seems there's a bit of delay in the battle script execution now. Not sure why that is...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 08, 2009, 07:53:00 PM
Not to open a can of worms, but you might consider looking over Lina Darkstar's mini-translation of the game if you haven't already. She highlighted a bunch of nuances lost in Ted Woolsey's work in that playthrough.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 09, 2009, 10:49:52 AM
Those weren't the kinds of changes I was making for this mod. I was mainly cleaning up some of the more annoying mistakes and spelling errors, like changing Vicks back to Biggs to restore the Star Wars reference, changing Impresario to Conductor for the Phantom Train, and cleaning up that godawful Sig/Zig/Zieg/Siegfried mess.
But I was planning on making an over-patch with a script overhaul, so I'll take a look at Lina's work to see what I may need to add or what I changed that went off from the spirit of the original.
:edit: Now this is funny. Reading Lina's commentary, I'm amazed at how much of this I pulled from what I felt was wrong with the original English script without having read any of the other "official" translations or playing the RPGOne retrans beyond the prologue. There were a few things I didn't get, like how many exclamation points there really are or how often Edgar really is focused on "teh womenz", but that just makes it better.
:edit: 2 Wow...I really like the way the original meeting with Gau was worded. I'll have to see if I can fit all that in the hard-coded battle dialogue...
:edit: 3 Holy crap, it seems like all the battle dialogue sequences were slopped together! So far I'm seeing all sorts of vital details that were left out. I'll see what I can do to fix that.
:edit: 4 Dammit! Now I want to rename Cyan to "Kaien"!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on October 09, 2009, 03:05:20 PM
BTW, in my old FF6Tweak, I changed all instances of GP to Gil... and it was easy, because I simply created an "il" letter tile, so I didn't have to expand any instances of GP beyond two bytes. My "il" tile looked exactly the same as the letters i and l in the variable-width font, but it looked smushed in the menu fonts, but still looked fine.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 09, 2009, 03:13:28 PM
BTW, in my old FF6Tweak, I changed all instances of GP to Gil... and it was easy, because I simply created an "il" letter tile, so I didn't have to expand any instances of GP beyond two bytes. My "il" tile looked exactly the same as the letters i and l in the variable-width font, but it looked smushed in the menu fonts, but still looked fine.
I thought briefly about doing that, but honestly I like the gold piece idea better. It doesn't hurt that it was easier to do. :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 09, 2009, 06:37:48 PM
Shit, if you're gonna use part of Lina Darkstar's translation, then you can do whatever you want with the rest of the game. :happy:
...Also, if you take her advice in the first place of looking for otanoshimini to find updates, don't. She left a good chunk of updates without that word. I'm sure you know this already, though.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 09, 2009, 08:32:27 PM
Yep. Spent all day reading that thread and revising the dialogue where it fit the most, too. :omg:
So far I'm at the escape from the Magitek Facility. It's amazing how closely my edits and the Japanese meaning are fitting together. It's kinda creepy, actually. But there are some really good changes I didn't catch, and those are definitely going in. I don't want to waste my time writing a half-ass retranslation.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 09, 2009, 08:52:21 PM
Ted Woolsey's translation is very good; everyone here can agree on that. And readding nuances via Lina Darkstar's mini-translation makes it even better. :wink:
...Also, I hate to be an asshole, but I'm releasing a new version of "The Sketching Mime", formerly "Gogo/Brush" or "Brushless Gogo?". All I did was use the newest version of FFIIIusME. I highly doubt that there's any change between the versions, readme and name aside. Unless someone begs to differ; in which case, please elaborate.
tl;dr, you might wanna change the name of "Brushless Gogo?" in the topic's first post to "The Sketching Mime".
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 11, 2009, 03:28:26 AM
Done.
And yes, for the time that Ted had to translate this game (1 month, bleah), he did a remarkable job. I like how much cooler Locke and Sabin are in the original Japanese, and how much colder Celes is in the beginning. It's a shame some of that didn't come out in the English translation, and I'm doing my best to show it in the version I'm working on. In fact, I'm trying to remove exclamation points where I can.
Someone in that thread made the point that it's not so much "That wasn't how it went!" as "Wow, that makes so much more SENSE!" And I agree completely.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 11, 2009, 10:26:01 AM
you work pretty fast man :)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 12, 2009, 07:46:41 PM
One of the benefits I've forced out of the graveyard shift I've been on -> :bored:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 12, 2009, 10:30:37 PM
lol yeah I know how graveyard shifts can be lol
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 14, 2009, 03:36:58 PM
OK, final changes (I think) to the mod, not including any misspellings or such in the dialogue I changed:
*Changed the "Capture" command to "Mug" (I thought briefly about changing it to "Plunder" to remove any possible confusion between Mug and Mog, but meh) *Changed some spell and Esper names:
Spells: W Wind > Trnado (wish I could've fit the whole thing in there)
And with that, I have a question: Should I change the Pearl spell to Holy, like it is in the Japanese? I kinda like the name Pearl, but I'm on the fence about keeping it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 14, 2009, 04:20:43 PM
Regarding W Wind: "Gale" is what I've always called it when I attempted an FFVI hack. Never got released though.
Regarding Palidor: "Quetzali" would definitely fit. The "l" is supposed to be doubled, but hey.
Regarding Pearl: What I would do is change references to "Pearl-elemental" stuff to "Light-elemental" stuff, and keep it Pearl--that is, if you really like the spell called "Pearl" as opposed to "Holy". So it would be called "Pearl", but the description would be "Light-elemental attack". The same would go for other item descriptions that say they're "Pearl"-elemental or "Pearl"-related; rather, they'd say "Light". But the spell would still be called "Pearl".
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 14, 2009, 06:55:41 PM
I would switch it to Holy if I were you but thats just me
I mean I grew up with Pearl but Holy just makes more sense
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 14, 2009, 11:21:35 PM
A few suggestions.
W Wind > Gale Merton > Melton (or Melt) Safe > Shield Bersk > Enrage Rflect > Wall
Fight > Attack Morph > Trance
Another change would be to make a consistent truncation of the word "level". It seems to me that the original developers were aiming for "LV", but it's also spelled "L." and "L", as in "L80 Magic" or "L.5 Doom".
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on October 15, 2009, 06:22:45 AM
I definitely prefer Holy over Pearl. There isn't a possibility for increasing the spell name length?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 15, 2009, 06:46:39 AM
Quote
W Wind > Gale Merton > Melton (or Melt) Safe > Shield Bersk > Enrage Rflect > Wall
Gale doesn't have the same impact as Tornado...and a similar monster spell was named Tornado in FF4, I believe. Merton sounds pretty cool. I didn't realize it was an L/R swap for the Japanese spell. Shield I might do. I would prefer Protect, but the only way I can think to shorten that is Protct or Prtect and neither one works for me.
As far as the spells go, I'm trying to keep them within the Final Fantasy naming structure where I can. That's not always going to work, but...
Quote
Fight > Attack Morph > Trance
I like Attack! I'll probably do that. Trance, though...I like the way Morph matches what Terra actually does better than Trance.
Quote
Another change would be to make a consistent truncation of the word "level". It seems to me that the original developers were aiming for "LV", but it's also spelled "L." and "L", as in "L80 Magic" or "L.5 Doom".
I agree completely, and I forgot about the monster names when I did that. So now it's the "L5Doom" spell and the "L80 Magic" monster.
And as far as the Pearl/Holy thing goes, vivify had a really good idea with the "Light-elemental" descriptions. But that works better with Holy than with Pearl, so I'm probably going that way.
Thanks everyone for your input!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 15, 2009, 02:32:26 PM
I dunno, personally I'd prefer that you try to use spell names that fit, rather than truncations, hence the suggestions.
Note that here I'm not considering something like "CaitSith" a truncation, 'cause aside from the missing space, it's not really a truncation...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 15, 2009, 11:25:24 PM
I think wall in place of rfect is good
personally I think Lost would be a good replacement for Lore, that's just me
I mean sure he is using special lost magic after all, Lore just kinda sounds like an ancient kind relic or something that's just me lol
or you can just put Red for Red Magic, the reason why I am not suggesting Blue Magic or Blue is because that would be a good replacement for Rage
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 16, 2009, 01:50:22 AM
Rage's original name was a Japanese verb meaning "to go into a fury". It had nothing to do with Blue Magic at all.
Strago's special skill was called "memorized technique", essentially. It has nothing to do with lost spells or the Red Mage. "Lore" is probably short for "Lore Skills", as in "a skill passed down since antiquity". Doesn't have the same connotations as "memorized technique" or even "blue magic", but it's a lot less clunky compared to other options.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 16, 2009, 01:54:22 PM
Rage's original name was a Japanese verb meaning "to go into a fury". It had nothing to do with Blue Magic at all.
Strago's special skill was called "memorized technique", essentially. It has nothing to do with lost spells or the Red Mage. "Lore" is probably short for "Lore Skills", as in "a skill passed down since antiquity". Doesn't have the same connotations as "memorized technique" or even "blue magic", but it's a lot less clunky compared to other options.
Agreed. Given space constraints and what his skill actually does, Lore is probably the best fit. After all, he's studying the monster's techniques to find something he can use, and that's similar to the reason someone would study historical/ancient/etc lore.
I dunno, personally I'd prefer that you try to use spell names that fit, rather than truncations, hence the suggestions.
Note that here I'm not considering something like "CaitSith" a truncation, 'cause aside from the missing space, it's not really a truncation...
Ehh...yeah, I agree with you normally, and it chafes me to have to truncate words. But I'm also looking for a term that best fits what the spell/skill/technique does, and sometimes I'll have to make a choice I don't fully agree with based on the above-mentioned space constraints.
That being said, I've got a question: Is there any place where the "X Fight" command is listed in the hex? I've been looking for it and I see "X Magic", so I'm wondering if this command is handled differently than the rest...?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 16, 2009, 03:47:28 PM
EDIT: I get the feeling I'm missing a point. Never mind.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on October 17, 2009, 07:29:39 AM
That being said, I've got a question: Is there any place where the "X Fight" command is listed in the hex? I've been looking for it and I see "X Magic", so I'm wondering if this command is handled differently than the rest...?
There's no such thing as "X-Fight." The name is used in the Offering's description, but the command name never actually changes.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 21, 2009, 07:59:21 PM
OK, a list of things I've done since the last update, most of which involves putting things back to the original Japanese:
Changed the Esper summon technique names where possible (i.e., Maduin's "Chaos Wing" to "Chaos Wave")
Changed the command "Fight" to "Attack"
Changed the command "Slot" to "Slots" and "GP Rain" to "GP Toss" - also updated the Coin Toss accessory description
Changed "Rflect" to "Wall" and updated relevant descriptions and dialogue
Changed "Safe" to "Shield" and updated relevant descriptions and dialogue
Changed "Scan" to "Libra"
Changed "Vanish" to "Fade"
Changed "Demi" to "Grav"
Changed "Quartr" to "Grav 2" and updated Gravity Rod description
Changed "W Wind" to "Cyclon" - best I could do, and it kinda fits with Merton, which I kept
Changed Magitek ability "X-Fer" to "Banish"
Changed the Cafe signs back to Pub, and updated all relevant dialogue
Changed key item Cider to Sake and updated all relevant dialogue
Yeah, I thought I was done until I started seeing the actual differences between the Japanese FF6 and the English. Oh well...hopefully when I'm done, this'll be something people find much better than the original English release...which is the whole point.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 21, 2009, 09:50:43 PM
Scan to Libra? Vanish to Fade? W Wind to Cyclon? Sure, why not. I can always change those if I don't like them. I've accepted that.
Cider to sake? That's crossing the line. I really wish I were Ryusui right now. He could explain this better. But sake is a catch-all for any type of liquor in Japan, apparently. Come up with a type of liquor for the old boozehound to drink; don't just cheap out by using the original term.
Rum, vodka, gin, moonshine, wine, some other type of booze I don't know because lol16, or just leave it to our imaginations like the Japanese version did and call it "liquor".
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 22, 2009, 02:30:39 AM
I agree with vivify on the whole liquor thing
but honestly I luv the changes u made there :)
here is a suggestion if u want
change item to use
just throwing 1 out there :p
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 22, 2009, 04:17:19 AM
I like the changes generally as well. I apologize for only outlining what I belive to be the negative, but I feel that it's a little more constructive as compared to going "GOOD LUCK! I LOVE YOU ALL!".
As for the "Item" to "Use" thing, that might've made more sense if he were hacking FFI, where the "Item" command is actually the "Use Equipment's Innate Skill" command, but here it's just the "Use Items" command. When restricted, it makes a little more sense to tell the player the "Items" part of that than the "Use" part of that, doesn't it?
:edit: New suggestion for the "Bersk" spell.
"Bersrk".
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 22, 2009, 04:56:13 AM
Cider to sake? That's crossing the line. I really wish I were Ryusui right now. He could explain this better. But sake is a catch-all for any type of liquor in Japan, apparently. Come up with a type of liquor for the old boozehound to drink; don't just cheap out by using the original term.
Rum, vodka, gin, moonshine, wine, some other type of booze I don't know because lol16, or just leave it to our imaginations like the Japanese version did and call it "liquor".
LOL! This from the guy who got me making all these extra changes by pointing out the Lina Darkstar translation! :happy:
Seriously, though, this is the kind of thing I like to hear about. The last thing I want to do is make a patch no one but me will play. I can definitely change that...in fact, my first draft of the script overhaul had him going on and on about drinking without specifying any kind of alcohol at all.
But let me ask: you seem to have an issue with the changes I'm making with regard to the spells and such, but short of expanding the spell name lengths (which I haven't quite dared to take on), I'm doing what I can. My rationale is to make the names legible and consistent with either 1) the FF3us naming or 2) the overall FF naming conventions, whichever looks the best or makes the most sense. I'd like to know your thoughts on naming spells and items.
For example, my current working name for "Bserk" is "Brserk". I'm not quite happy with it, so I'm open to more suggestions.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 22, 2009, 07:59:17 AM
Sure thing.
Alrighty, first of all is the 2/3 conventions. No, no, this isn't going to be an argument for "ra/ga", this is an argument of consistency. The Life spells, the Cure spells, the Slow spells, and the elemental spells all use the convention of "<Spell> 2". However, that causes a discrepancy with the two Haste spells. Since we're only alotted six letters, and "Haste" is five, we get "Haste2". What I would recommend is squishing the number to each spell, so we get a nice, consistent "<Spell>2" (i.e. Cure2, Fire3, Life3, etc.)
Nextly is the spell Merton. ...That's fine as-is, but this is just a reminder that Emperor Gestahl casts "Melton" on the Floating Continent, which is obviously a discrepancy.
Then we have the spell "Remedy". FFII for the FamiCom's translation called it "Heal", as did FFIII. FFIV called it "Esuna" I believe. FFV called it "Esna", "Heal", then "Esuna". Since the item is called "Remedy", I recommend calling it something else.
"Doom" and "Pearl" should become "Death" and "Holy", as their current names are for censorship reasons.
"Demi" and "Quartr" are fine as "Grav", but I'd call the second spell "Grav2", personally.
W Wind was called "WWind" on FFIII's fan translation, "Tornado" in other iterations, and "Weak" in FFII SNES. I suggested "Gale". "Storm" works as well, though that's already an attack name... Nothing else really works...
But, for your saying "Gale" doesn't sound strong... "1. a very strong wind. 2. Meteorology. a wind of 32–63 mph (14–28 m/sec). 3. a noisy outburst: 'a gale of laughter filled the room.' 4. ARCHAIC. a gentle breeze."
And I doubt anyone is going to use the archaic definition.
A spell similar to "Rasp" was called "Anti", "Faze", and "Sap" in various translations of FFII, for your reference.
As for "Berserk", while I initially suggested "Enrage", I actually recommend "Fury", now. Unless you don't like that that's the name for a status ailment in FFVII.
I recommend leaving the spell "Scan"; that's what it was called in the 90's.
"Vanish" is a blue magic spell, which essentially has the same effect, for Quina in FFIX. That's why I'd leave it.
"Warp" is actually more similar to "Exit" in FFI-V. Not recommending that change, just throwin' it out there.
And while we're on the subject, "Pearl Wind" should be "White Wind".
:edit: Ah, you mentioned items too. Well, the only thing I suggest is to spell out "Shield" and "Brush" where you can, use "Mythril" instead of "Mithril", and try to space out names were possible.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 22, 2009, 10:06:16 AM
Quote
first of all is the 2/3 conventions. No, no, this isn't going to be an argument for "ra/ga", this is an argument of consistency. The Life spells, the Cure spells, the Slow spells, and the elemental spells all use the convention of "<Spell> 2". However, that causes a discrepancy with the two Haste spells. Since we're only alotted six letters, and "Haste" is five, we get "Haste2". What I would recommend is squishing the number to each spell, so we get a nice, consistent "<Spell>2" (i.e. Cure2, Fire3, Life3, etc.)
OK, that's reasonable. I was looking at that yesterday, trying to see what I could do about that. I thought about changing "Haste" to "Fast", but I don't want to go all the way back to FF1 to justify that. So that's doable.
Quote
Nextly is the spell Merton. ...That's fine as-is, but this is just a reminder that Emperor Gestahl casts "Melton" on the Floating Continent, which is obviously a discrepancy.
Actually, according to the English, he does cast Merton in the scene with the Statues. No discrepency there.
Quote
Then we have the spell "Remedy". FFII for the FamiCom's translation called it "Heal", as did FFIII. FFIV called it "Esuna" I believe. FFV called it "Esna", "Heal", then "Esuna". Since the item is called "Remedy", I recommend calling it something else.
Already changed to Esuna. I could change the item to Panacea like the Japanese, but I'm OK with the name as is.
Quote
"Doom" and "Pearl" should become "Death" and "Holy", as their current names are for censorship reasons.
Pearl is Holy already, per everyone's suggestion. Doom...I actually kinda like the way it sounds...more poetic, if you can get behind that.
Quote
W Wind was called "WWind" on FFIII's fan translation, "Tornado" in other iterations, and "Weak" in FFII SNES. I suggested "Gale". "Storm" works as well, though that's already an attack name... Nothing else really works...
The reason I couldn't leave it as "W Wind" is because the Lore "Pearl Wind" was changed to"White Wind", same as FFV. I actually had changed it to "Storm" before I found the enemy attack (dammit!) "Cyclon" seemed reasonable, given that it's one of the most powerful spells, and that I was leaving Merton as is. "Gale" fits technically, but Cyclon or Tornado would be more appropriate, since the spell animation is similar (if not the same) for the Cyclonic enemy attack.
:edit: Fixed. Changed the enemy attack to Gale, and the spell to Storm. :omghax:
Quote
A spell similar to "Rasp" was called "Anti", "Faze", and "Sap" in various translations of FFII, for your reference.
I'm actually more concerned with "Osmose" than "Rasp". The Japanese show these two spells as Raspil and Aspil, but that sounds dumb. I'll have to look at both of those.
:edit: Currently going with FFIVus and the "Psych" spell, until I hear something better. I suppose "Osmose" can stay for now. I looked up and down the magic lists for the various FF games, and what came closest to the Rasp concept is the blue magic "Magic Hammer", which hurts my head trying to fit that in 6 letters or less...
Quote
As for "Berserk", while I initially suggested "Enrage", I actually recommend "Fury", now. Unless you don't like that that's the name for a status ailment in FFVII.
"Fury" could work. I also thought of "Zerk", like the Telstar attack "Megazerk", but that's more funny than something I'd actually use.
:edit: Bah. "Madden" would be perfect if it wasn't for the football guy John...
Quote
I recommend leaving the spell "Scan"; that's what it was called in the 90's.
I'm not attached to Libra as the spell name, and since I'm not going strictly by the Japanese anyway...done.
Quote
"Vanish" is a blue magic spell, which essentially has the same effect, for Quina in FFIX. That's why I'd leave it.
That was actually me trying to find a better name for the "X-Zone" spell. The one that immediately came to mind was Banish, and I didn't want to have two different spells sounding almost exactly alike. But I ended up using Banish in place of Terra's Magitek "X-Fer" skill, so I can probably change that back. I kinda like Fade, but again, not attached to it.
:edit: Fixed. Fade back to Vanish, and X-Zone changed to FFVII's Remove. Subtle, but accurate.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 22, 2009, 02:46:41 PM
I like these man :)
I was thinking, just a small tweak its up 2 u all
x-zone can be changed to void
but hey its just a suggestion :p
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 22, 2009, 02:56:09 PM
Actually, W Wind was short for "Whirlwind", not "White Wind".
:edit: Also, I agree on all spell changes up till now, and thank you greatly for listening to my opinion.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 22, 2009, 03:33:01 PM
Actually, W Wind was short for "Whirlwind", not "White Wind".
True. But in case it didn't come through, I'm trying to avoid similar-sounding names, and W Wind/White Wind are too close together. I get the idea some would look at that and go "Man, this guy was lazy!" :wink:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 22, 2009, 05:54:35 PM
yeah I really am looking into the effort u are putting into this
great work bro :)
I also wanted to throw out there that when your over-all patch is done I'll beta test adding some of the other patches I suggested b4 to see if it works (u know like the 2 summon patches, the magitek improvement patch, and the offering and economizer fixes into the mix)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 23, 2009, 03:18:43 AM
Poco, I really like the idea of X-Zone becoming Void. I think they should've done that in FFV and FFVI! :happy:
But, uh, I think he already has the Offering and Economizer/Gold Hairpin fixes in this. They should be on the first page.
:edit: yeah, here.
Quote
Tweaks: Slot Derigging patch (MasterZED) SwdTech Speed Up! patch (ArmorVil) Holy Randomness Batman! RNG patch 1.6 (Lenophis) Economizer & Gold Hairpin patch 0.1 (Lenophis) Offering patch 1.1 (Lenophis) Adding Missing Rages patch (Terii Senshi) - includes Zed's Allo Ver fix? Dash Button hack [DashA] (MasterZED) Color-Coded MP Digits (Imzogelmo) Alphabetical Rage patch 0.45 (assassin) - holy CRAP this is the most useful tweak I've found so far! Name Lowercasing patch (Imzogelmo) - this was annoying to me as well
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 24, 2009, 10:50:15 PM
Poco, I really like the idea of X-Zone becoming Void. I think they should've done that in FFV and FFVI! :happy:
But, uh, I think he already has the Offering and Economizer/Gold Hairpin fixes in this. They should be on the first page.
Yeah, I keep that list up-to-date. Though I haven't added the latest changes up to now...but "X-Zone" is now named "Void". Great call on that, Poco!
I think that's it on the changes. Now to get through the playthrough and make sure nothing's conflicting or acting weird, and I think I'll call this mod good. :omg:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 24, 2009, 11:54:09 PM
ah I didnt notice that u added those tweaks in
and I'm glad I could help u out again :)
but thnx a lot 2 both u Vivify93 & DarkMage
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 25, 2009, 05:43:58 AM
Quote from: Poco Loco
u know like the 2 summon patches
Just noticed this, but apparently Lenophis' "Summon This!" patch has Terii Senshi's in it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 25, 2009, 07:43:04 PM
That'll definitely be interesting if someone wants to make a summoning character. I guess I didn't read that in his patch notes.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 25, 2009, 08:10:30 PM
oh wow I didnt know Leno's patch had both
kick ass :p
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 29, 2009, 05:55:13 PM
So in my latest playthrough, I've renamed Cyan to "Kaien", from the first part of Lina Darkstar's retranslation. I got tired of seeing Cyan (name of a color, pronounced SY-en), when his name is pronounced "KY-en" according to the Japanese. So I'm thinking seriously about changing his default name in the mod. What I'd like to know is, what would people like to see replace it? I'm seeing three options:
Cayenne, the official Japanese spelling (is also a pepper with a different pronunciation: KY-anne)
Kyan
Kaien
Which do you like the best...or do you have another idea? Let me know!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on October 29, 2009, 06:21:32 PM
Leave it as it is. If people want Cyan renamed, they'll rename him manually themselves. It's not like they'll see "Cyan" anywhere else other than the ending credits if they rename him.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 29, 2009, 08:41:47 PM
yeah thats true
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Killa B on October 31, 2009, 08:48:43 AM
Personally I think the names "Kyan" and "Kaien" are dumb as shit, so I'd say go with Cayenne.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on October 31, 2009, 09:13:21 AM
Leave it as it is. If people want Cyan renamed, they'll rename him manually themselves. It's not like they'll see "Cyan" anywhere else other than the ending credits if they rename him.
On the other hand, they can always rename him back to Cyan. I like having an option new name I wouldn't have thought of myself.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 31, 2009, 11:12:41 PM
Hmm. I think I'll just leave it as is and rename him to my own satisfaction. Good call there.
On another note, I was looking at the maps for the Phantom Train to see how easy it might be to put those missing treasure chests back in. It's bothersome, missing those 3 items and it not being possible to get 1 at all. ..but I think I'll pass on that. I'm not sure how far I want to go into the assembly of this game to get that fixed. Especially when the map editor from RHDN tells me it'll put the map 2 bytes over and mess things up.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 01, 2009, 12:28:18 PM
actually a friend of mine is getting really good at tile editing and changing a few things around
maybe I can ask him to help u out ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 02, 2009, 03:53:40 PM
I won't say no to that!
There are three places where you can get an item if you're facing upward and press A. One is in the very back of the train (the caboose?), in the upper left-hand corner of the room where the conductor is. The other two are in one of the small rooms past Ziegfried, and one of them is blocked by the table in the center. If your friend is using a map editor, he should be able to see where the chests are supposed to be.
Can anyone comment on the difficulties in changing map data? I just want to know if making these kinds of changes will affect any of the patches I'm using so far.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 03, 2009, 03:49:01 PM
no doubt bro I can ask him and he'll test it to see if they have anything
and if not he can fix it up and add something in it
I'll let him know when I get the chance
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 04, 2009, 03:04:32 AM
Awesome!
So barring maybe adding the missing chests back into the Phantom Train, I'm pretty much done with the changes I planned on making. I'm playtesting through to fix anything I may have missed, which hopefully won't take too long.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 04, 2009, 12:17:05 PM
I got u bro
as I told u before when all the changes are done I am going 2 add the summon and magitek patches to see if they work and dont change anything for u ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 05, 2009, 06:57:04 AM
... :shadow:
So, something I did broke Gau. I'm on the Veldt and the first battle after getting Gau produces nothing but garbage graphic-wise. At least now I know all the changes I want to make, but now I have to go back through all the changes and patches to see what happened.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 05, 2009, 11:15:25 AM
wait what?
how the hell did u break him?
and what kind of graphic changes?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 05, 2009, 05:07:29 PM
I wasn't planning on making any graphics changes, but something that I've done recently has broken battles with Gau in them. I went through the cutscene to get him, but the first battle after him, the screen broke down into garbled snow. So I've got to trace back and find out what I did to break it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 05, 2009, 07:00:55 PM
oh shit
I hope that gets fixed soon
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on November 06, 2009, 03:20:01 AM
I wasn't planning on making any graphics changes, but something that I've done recently has broken battles with Gau in them. I went through the cutscene to get him, but the first battle after him, the screen broke down into garbled snow. So I've got to trace back and find out what I did to break it.
Bleh, yeah, this kind of stuff is usually a nightmare to track down.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 06, 2009, 07:00:15 PM
Okay, I've narrowed down to something conflicting with the Alphabetical Rages patch. I've gone through all the graphic/palette and tweak patches, including the Extra Rages patch, so it must be something in the battle engine that's not sitting right. I'll post it here when I've got it.
:edit: Nothing wrong this time. It must have been the order I was putting the patches on. I'll make a note of that in the future.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 06, 2009, 08:29:35 PM
so everything is good now?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on November 07, 2009, 01:07:59 AM
I've had patches mess up things so randomly. One, the MagiTek part of Cyan's dream had a small graphical error. Another time it erased ALL the game text and I couldn't edit any of it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 09, 2009, 04:07:20 PM
hey Darkmage
are things progressing ok now?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on November 11, 2009, 07:24:43 AM
A patch idea; It's probably possible but could the 'limit break' attack while wounded (1/32 odds?) changed to ANY attack? Maybe just as a solo patch. It's something I'd want but to compensate for the overpoweredness I would nerf them.
Since the game has so many non-fight free-to-use options and the rarely weak-but-not-dead, it might be more fun to have them more often.
What I would like to try also is change it so Esper summons don't show the sprites so I can include them in the limit breaks instead. (Is this a bad thread to request this?)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 11, 2009, 03:53:11 PM
I think that would belong in another thread lol :p
but its probably possible as Leno said nearly anything is possible depending on how far u are willing 2 go
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on November 12, 2009, 03:34:56 AM
I think that would belong in another thread lol :p
but its probably possible as Leno said nearly anything is possible depending on how far u are willing 2 go
I don't know how but I'm guessing it's easy if you know what your doing. One of those 'change 1 hex' deals, I'd hope. Finding the code... hmm.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 13, 2009, 04:59:59 AM
Making the desperation attacks the same as critical hits? That might be pretty simple; you'd want to definitely go through the bank disassemblies to see if it's been documented.
Things have not really been progressing, as my current playthrough is showing an inconsistency with the alphabetical Rage list for Gau. So far that's the only issue I'm seeing, but I haven't had much opportunity to start my playthrough over. Hopefully here in the next week I can give it some attention and make sure that my save game was the problem.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 14, 2009, 03:04:11 AM
Bah. Windows7 has some nice features, but Atlas refuses to run and my save game was not updated with my latest save. So, back to XP for me. Thankfully I was trying it on a separate hard drive.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on November 14, 2009, 05:00:50 AM
Atlas has no problem running on Windows 7.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 14, 2009, 07:32:50 PM
Really? It was giving me errors about the msvcp70.dll, msvcr70.dll and a couple of other files.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on November 15, 2009, 03:23:33 AM
Download those files, then. Vista/7 don't come with the 7.0 files out of the box, but if you drop them in the program's directory (or C:\Windows\System32) you'll find a lot of "compatibility" issues magically go away.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 17, 2009, 04:32:12 AM
Better...I just pulled them out of my WinXP install. Also, for some strange reason my project folder was marked read-only. But you're right, it works very nicely now.
This playthrough is going a bit more slowly. I think I figured out what caused the conflict: I was trying to change a couple of enemy names (not completely, since I was using the ABC Rage patch), but I guess my changes were enough to throw off the routine assassin wrote.
So I backed them out (the source of the recent screen garbage) and I'll make sure the rages show up properly. Then it's going through the rest of the game and the mod should be ready for release. I'll look up some webhosting options and get a page up, and I'll throw the link in here once everything's ready.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on November 18, 2009, 01:37:13 AM
Quote
This playthrough is going a bit more slowly. I think I figured out what caused the conflict: I was trying to change a couple of enemy names (not completely, since I was using the ABC Rage patch), but I guess my changes were enough to throw off the routine assassin wrote.
it is true that my patch assumes the original enemy names and does its alphabetizing from a fixed 255-byte array added to ROM. so it won't be able to preserve proper order with renamed enemies. however, if you provide a ROM/patch of your new enemy names, and the enemy name list is still at the same address, i have a sorting program that'll spit out a new alphabetized array, which you can then apply over my initial patch.
Quote
So I backed them out (the source of the recent screen garbage) and I'll make sure the rages show up properly. Then it's going through the rest of the game and the mod should be ready for release. I'll look up some webhosting options and get a page up, and I'll throw the link in here once everything's ready.
!? it shouldn't be causing any screen garbage. were the empty spaces in your new enemy names the same hex character as the spaces in existing enemy names? that's my best guess as to the problem..
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 18, 2009, 04:57:21 AM
it is true that my patch assumes the original enemy names and does its alphabetizing from a fixed 255-byte array added to ROM. so it won't be able to preserve proper order with renamed enemies. however, if you provide a ROM/patch of your new enemy names, and the enemy name list is still at the same address, i have a sorting program that'll spit out a new alphabetized array, which you can then apply over my initial patch.
Oh, that's AWESOME! I can definitely do that if you're cool with it, Assassin! Thanks!
Quote
!? it shouldn't be causing any screen garbage. were the empty spaces in your new enemy names the same hex character as the spaces in existing enemy names? that's my best guess as to the problem..
I thought that was where the problem lay at first, but that problem actually happened when I was applying the patches to a clean, unmodified ROM. It just happened to be the order I was applying the patches somehow...when I changed the order, the problem didn't reoccur.
But just to be sure: that space should be FE, or the next-to-last character in the table for FF3usME, correct? I would hope that that is the character being used when you're typing the replacement into the field...
:edit: Let me know where to send the patch. It's 16k, so attachment size shouldn't be a problem. It's off of a FF3 1.0 ROM.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 18, 2009, 08:00:01 PM
glad to see you found the problem and a solution there :)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on November 21, 2009, 02:02:03 AM
Quote from: darkmage
Quote from: me
!? it shouldn't be causing any screen garbage. were the empty spaces in your new enemy names the same hex character as the spaces in existing enemy names? that's my best guess as to the problem..
I thought that was where the problem lay at first, but that problem actually happened when I was applying the patches to a clean, unmodified ROM. It just happened to be the order I was applying the patches somehow...when I changed the order, the problem didn't reoccur.
But just to be sure: that space should be FE, or the next-to-last character in the table for FF3usME, correct? I would hope that that is the character being used when you're typing the replacement into the field...
yes, FEh for the spaces between the words, but FFh for the spaces padding the end of enemy names.
Quote
:edit: Let me know where to send the patch. It's 16k, so attachment size shouldn't be a problem. It's off of a FF3 1.0 ROM.
check your email.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 23, 2009, 04:42:01 PM
Well, thanks to Assassin's help, I've been able to make some changes to the enemy names and the Rage list will still be alphabetical! Thanks, Assassin!
I had run into a snag with his fix, but it was the same snag as when I recently had to repatch my test ROM: patching order. Once I shifted that, it's working nicely. As soon as I have more Rages in the list, I'll post a pic of some of the changes I've made.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 23, 2009, 08:31:54 PM
nice man I hope this play through is 100% successful :)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 29, 2009, 03:24:37 PM
Well, getting the Alphabetical Rages to work turned out to be a bit of a mixed blessing. The new enemy names were showing up, but duplicate entries began showing up in both the Skills Rage list and the battle Rage list. This was the original reason I did the re-patching that showed a garbled/artifacted screen when battles began.
Thanks to Assassin's help, we were able to figure out the problem: The Gold Hairpin/Economizer tweak was conflicting with the ordered list data in the Alphabetical Rages patch. And since I see the Alphabetical Rages as much more useful, it stays.
Sorry, Poco...the Offering patch is still in, but Gold Hairpin/Economizer is out. I'm bummed, too.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 29, 2009, 07:02:02 PM
well its a small price to pay but I am looking @ the bigger picture, if anything after the patch is done we can probably go into the rom and fix it ourselves ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on December 02, 2009, 07:07:58 PM
So...after around 7 or 8 playthroughs up to Gau and the Veldt, I'm FINALLY able to move past that and get moving toward the apocalypse and beyond so I can test the majority of these changes. I'll start posting status again on where I am and what I'm seeing.
I hope to have this wrapped up by the end of December so I can focus on getting the over-patch for dialogue finished up and get the patch out on a website for people to try.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on December 02, 2009, 07:33:23 PM
good shyt bro
but by the time u r done the editor with the dialog editor should be finished
Lord J told me its coming along really well ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on December 05, 2009, 03:43:02 PM
hey DarkMage, I have a suggestion, I mean sure it might be a bit late
but why not add the ability to use the Lore command in the fanatics tower
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on December 07, 2009, 07:51:30 PM
Hit another snag...
This is in Zozo; the actor freezes when trying to make the second jump series between buildings. Can't move, can't access the menu, but game music and rain animation are still playing and I can see the thief continue to jump around. This is just after the guy to the left who says "The seconds? They're divisible by 20!"
I'll look into it to see what's causing this.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on December 08, 2009, 02:40:28 AM
mblock129's "Miraculous, Death-Defying Always-Left-Facing Jumps in Zozo" fix comes to mind, though i won't jump to conclusions.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on December 08, 2009, 07:02:43 PM
This is in Zozo; the actor freezes when trying to make the second jump series between buildings. Can't move, can't access the menu, but game music and rain animation are still playing and I can see the thief continue to jump around. This is just after the guy to the left who says "The seconds? They're divisible by 20!"
I'll look into it to see what's causing this.
Switch who's in front?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on December 08, 2009, 07:42:37 PM
I've got it narrowed down to either "Only Left Jumping in Zozo" or NS's Vanishing Magicite Object patch. I'll let you know in a few minutes.
:edit: Actually, assassin is half-right. The problem was one of mblock129's patches, but the one I didn't apply that I did last time was the "Zoneseek+Free Space" patch. When I left that off but applied the Vanishing Magicite Object and "Only Jump Left" patch, it worked. Go figure.
Also, NS's "Magic Menu Sorting" patch is pretty useful, as it cleans up the Magic battle menu. I'll be adding that to the OP here in a bit.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: mblock129 on December 11, 2009, 10:39:46 PM
mblock129's "Miraculous, Death-Defying Always-Left-Facing Jumps in Zozo" fix comes to mind, though i won't jump to conclusions.
Ha ha. Pun intended of course. :)
Aaaaaaaaaaaanyway, I guess I'll look into the conflict. Was this in the WoB or WoR?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on December 11, 2009, 11:59:02 PM
WoB. It's the first time you go into Zozo. The first jump (which is to the left) went fine; it was the second jump where it just froze.
TBH, I'm not sure it's the "Only Jump Left" patch, since when I took out the ZoneSeek + Free Space patch the problem went away.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on December 13, 2009, 06:59:06 AM
ah so it looks like things are going decent then :)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: mblock129 on December 13, 2009, 07:44:26 PM
Well, when I first read about this, I thought it sounded impossible. Then when I tried to recreate the problem the game never froze on me. I think there is another patch taking up the same free space as the Zozo jumping one. Can you tell me what the contents of your ROM are from $D0125 to $D0145?
31 8E 49 E0 01 16 E0 01 49 E0 04 C7 C3 C8 02 FF FE 31 8C 17 C2 E0 04 4A DC 80 C8 00 49 C6 FF 3A FE
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on December 13, 2009, 08:24:49 PM
That is exactly what is in my ROM between $D0125 and $D0145.
I have to admit, I have not parsed the latest ROM Patch Allocations list yet. C V Reynolds put it all in decimal, and I'm not up on my conversions. assassin helped me sort that out on the last conflict.
But it doesn't appear to be the Zozo jumping patch, as when I did my last patching I included it and left out the ZoneSeek+FreeSpace patch. The time before, I had both in, as well as everything on the list I have in the OP, and that was when I saw the freeze.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on January 06, 2010, 10:24:04 PM
Hey darkmage, it's been awhile, have you made any progress on this Zozo jumping issue? What does the Zoneseek patch do? Do you know what addresses it modifies? Have you taken a look at the event data for the Zozo jumping event to make sure it looks kosher / broken?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on January 07, 2010, 11:10:21 AM
I've been taking a break from working on this. For some reason, I'm having to find and fix random stops. The current one is on the airship before going to Vector for the first time, before the coin toss. It's been a bit frustrating, since the previous playthrough didn't have nearly these kinds of problems. I'll have to go back and think about how to order these patches to keep this kind of thing from happening.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on January 17, 2010, 10:45:47 PM
hey Darkmage, if u want I can beta test it for u if u r busy
I'll start from the very beginning and I'll let u know whats what ;)
just msg me n I'll give u my email ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on January 20, 2010, 09:11:50 PM
This uber-patch is gonna be awesome... and we can edit it too, right? To make our hacked games that work?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on January 20, 2010, 10:26:41 PM
yea I am going to beta test it after I add a few patches
and now that Leno fixed up the economizer tweak things r gonna be official ;)
but as 4 me Odbarc I am going to add the summon patch as well as the magitek improvement patch (I might add the mace windu atma weapon patch but idk yet)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on January 22, 2010, 08:56:24 PM
I just read page 1 by accident and there was that link to the 47 patches, patch. How many patches do your megapatch have?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on January 26, 2010, 04:25:27 PM
Sorry for the silence...I've been messing with a new computer and trying to get into shape on the *gasp* Wii Fit.
I just read page 1 by accident and there was that link to the 47 patches, patch. How many patches do your megapatch have?
I stopped counting after 60. :laugh:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on January 26, 2010, 10:00:19 PM
hey Dark Mage r u gonna add the new economizer patch?
I'll be more then happy 2 beta test it 4 u
also msg me and I'll send u the new FF3USME if u need it ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 01, 2010, 02:58:17 PM
I started over on a new copy of the ROM, rebuilding the changes into the ROM. I like the new FF3usME; it lets me edit a lot of the battle text I was doing by hand in a hex editor. I still need to edit the commands, rare items and a couple of the battle commands since they reference actor names in hex.
After I finish that I'll re-patch everything (including all the new versions of patches provided by Lenophis! :omg:), and see if that takes care of the random stops I was getting. If so, I'll get this out and have some people beta test and see if there's anything I missed. I'll keep everyone updated!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 01, 2010, 04:27:43 PM
nice nice
b4 that though I have a couple of rare patches, like particularly 1 that fixes the chainsaw, seeing as how 1 function is 2 instantly kill enemies (which all bosses n a lot of enemies are immune to) there is a fix that if it does not instantly kill an enemy it does heavy damage
let me know if u want it ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on February 01, 2010, 04:46:43 PM
I'd be careful about using Geiger's patches. The "select any command" patch is known to have issues, and I'm not entirely sure that his chainsaw patch doesn't have any. Use at your own risk. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 01, 2010, 05:20:52 PM
Hadn't heard of either of those, but I'll heed Leno's command. I'd like to release this patch sometime this year! :laugh:
Also, I plan on adding that border crossing patch, Leno...that looks interesting, but I wonder if that's the same type of patch as Novalia Spirit's grass patch?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 01, 2010, 05:42:53 PM
yea I remember he told me the use every command patch and the other 1 had an issue, he never said anything about the chainsaw 1 tho =/
but I suppose I can look into it and tell u if I find anything out
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on February 01, 2010, 06:18:05 PM
Also, I plan on adding that border crossing patch, Leno...that looks interesting, but I wonder if that's the same type of patch as Novalia Spirit's grass patch?
Novalia's patch increments the battle counter on the corner grass tiles. My patch fixes a boundary error that makes Leafers show up on the tile next to Kefka's Tower (ok, not directly that, but it fixes that type of encounter error from appearing). Both are very safe to use at the same time. :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 01, 2010, 07:45:45 PM
yea I remember he told me the use every command patch and the other 1 had an issue, he never said anything about the chainsaw 1 tho =/
but I suppose I can look into it and tell u if I find anything out
I dunno, I always looked at it as the "Drill vs Chainsaw" debate. Phenomenal Cosmic Power--! Uh, maybe that was the wrong quote. :wink:
lol well regardless I'll see whts up with that :p
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 02, 2010, 09:58:03 PM
OK, added all the patches back in. Unfortunately I won't be able to do any playtesting for a while, but for anyone who wants to beta-test, PM me with an email address. I really hope this revision works well!
Oh, almost forgot: this has to be patched onto a FF3 us 1.0 ROM, if I've sent it to you.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 02, 2010, 11:34:37 PM
I'll do it :D
lol not 2 be retarded by saying so on here I'm just in the mood 2 be a pain in the ass LMFAO
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 04, 2010, 01:12:24 AM
hey DarkMage
I hit the same snag u did @ zozo
when it came to the 2nd building to jump towards the left the game froze on me =/
I think Leno said there was a patch to fix that idk tho
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 04, 2010, 01:29:06 AM
I found another snag
I added the magitek enhancement patch on a seperate rom n that works fine, I also added the not scary enough patch as well (idk why u didnt add it DarkMage I think its a cool tweak) and that is fine 2
but the summon this patch freezes the game when I get into a battle (so goes the painful chainsaw one but that I can live with out), the minute I get in a battle either when I select a command it freezes and resets the game or just freezes and glitches up completely
Leno do u think there might be an issue when it comes to the fix the contradicts any of the other patches?
I tried it with the header and no header versions just so you know
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on February 04, 2010, 01:42:40 AM
I'm pretty sure it doesn't conflict with anything. But if it does, it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 04, 2010, 02:22:42 AM
hmm well I was looking into the changes you put in but I don't see how its relevant to the other patches (then again I didn't look into every single asm info for the patches :isuck:)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 04, 2010, 12:37:08 PM
I added the magitek enhancement patch on a seperate rom n that works fine, I also added the not scary enough patch as well (idk why u didnt add it DarkMage I think its a cool tweak) and that is fine 2
For the ROM, I used a 1.0 ROM with a header, so for future reference.
I'm looking at making an enhancement of the original game, not a separate hack. So any tweaks that enhance the game (like fixing Economizer or adding separate colors for MP damage and healing) or fixes (like the majority of the patches out there :happy:) was what I was looking at. The "Flawless Victory" patch is very cool, and I liked it in the PB demo, but none of the other FF games up to VIII have that kind of thing in it.
Quote
but the summon this patch freezes the game when I get into a battle (so goes the painful chainsaw one but that I can live with out), the minute I get in a battle either when I select a command it freezes and resets the game or just freezes and glitches up completely
Ouch. The only patch I can think of that affects summoning that I included is the patch that adds MP cost to the Esper summon through the Magic menu.
Quote
I hit the same snag u did @ zozo
when it came to the 2nd building to jump towards the left the game froze on me =/
I think Leno said there was a patch to fix that idk tho
Crap. I may have to look at removing that patch then. I'll do some tests without it and see if it still happens.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 04, 2010, 03:13:37 PM
I see
so which one do you think messes up zozo?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 08, 2010, 09:53:36 PM
ok so the Zozo problem was fixed, however there is another snag =/
right after the opera when you get on the airship, right when you talk to Setzer (before the coin flip) they exchange a bit of dialog and then the game freezes with Locke turning around and freezing the game
anyone have an idea what might cause this?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 09, 2010, 02:05:01 AM
That's where I threw my hands up and took 2 months off from working on this project. I didn't really think it was the "Only Jump Left in Zozo" patch causing this, either.
I have my suspicions, but basically what I'm going to have to do is go through and work each of the event patches in until I find the one that's causing these random stops. And I'm not looking forward to doing that. :sad:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 18, 2010, 09:38:17 PM
Well, my suspicion as to what's causing the freeze on the airship was wrong...
So I'm going back through and checking all the patches. SOMETHING has to be causing this freeze.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 18, 2010, 11:15:33 PM
ugh geez
I hope this gets resolved soon =/
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 21, 2010, 01:58:07 PM
So I've gone back through the changes that I've made, and as far as I can tell my changes aren't causing any inconsistencies. They're all done using FF3usME except where I have to directly manipulate hex (attack names, rare items), and unless I counted wrong, all the fields that are being changed are within space requirements (enemies, item names and descriptions, spells, etc).
I'm going to put together a test build using only battle fixes and the ABC Rage mods and see if the freeze continues to happen. It really, really shouldn't, as this appears to be event-related. Once I get home from work I'll try this out and see how it goes.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 22, 2010, 12:23:32 AM
hopefully that would fix things
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on February 22, 2010, 12:29:02 AM
So I've gone back through the changes that I've made, and as far as I can tell my changes aren't causing any inconsistencies. They're all done using FF3usME except where I have to directly manipulate hex (attack names, rare items), and unless I counted wrong, all the fields that are being changed are within space requirements (enemies, item names and descriptions, spells, etc).
Anything that is fixed-width (monster names, spells, item names) won't break no matter what you do to them. Each item name could 56 letters in length and the game won't care. It'll just grab 10, 7, or 13 letters (respectively) based on the math the game does.
If you keep backups, it would be a good idea to check those to see when it started freezing up on you.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 22, 2010, 04:56:33 PM
Does that mean that the descriptions for items or spells could possibly be causing issues, then? I wouldn't have thought they would, since I was under the assumption the free space for each block (spell, item, weapon, etc) was calculated correctly.
I should know better about assuming in any case, though. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on February 22, 2010, 09:03:41 PM
Does that mean that the descriptions for items or spells could possibly be causing issues, then? I wouldn't have thought they would, since I was under the assumption the free space for each block (spell, item, weapon, etc) was calculated correctly.
I should know better about assuming in any case, though. :tongue:
Wait, if that's the cause then a lot of peoples hacks could get messed up by changing names. I hope that isn't the case! I don't want to do calculations and name-cuts/abridging just because it doesn't like mixing it up a bit.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on February 22, 2010, 09:08:17 PM
If the pointers were wrongly calculated, a lot can happen, including crashes.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 24, 2010, 08:32:09 AM
I'm still going under the supposition that one of the event patches I'm using is causing the glitchy behavior and hangs. It doesn't totally freeze, because any on-screen animations and music continue to work.
Right now I'm play-testing using all my changes, all the battle patches and the tweak patches that aren't event-related to see if I'm on the right track. But since the first hang happens in Zozo and I just got everything patched up, it'll be a little bit before I see any definitive proof.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on April 04, 2010, 02:08:30 PM
so any news on the progress bro?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on June 08, 2010, 08:07:37 AM
Two months, no new news. Is this still in testing? I'm curious to acquire the uber-patch.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 08, 2010, 02:39:03 PM
that actually reminds me
I spoke with Dark Mage last month and I offered to test out a rom with all the patches (no event or hex changes) to see if one of the patches is causing the problems, if not he might have accidentally changed a wrong byte with the hex editing and that might cause the freezes
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 11, 2010, 02:57:24 AM
Sorry to all for not being very communicative...between studying for a CCNA cert for work and being REALLY irritated at the random stops I've been seeing, I haven't worked on this in the last little while.
I'm going to take a fresh look at finding the source of the problem by using ONLY the hex and data changes with no patches to see if anything I've done there is causing the issue. I'm sending Poco a copy of what I'm using to test, and once we're satisfied no stops are happening I'll add the patches back in and open testing to anyone who wants to help. I'd really like to get this patch out there for everyone to use.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 11, 2010, 01:05:10 PM
u still got my email right?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 26, 2010, 02:41:34 AM
Yeah, I thought I responded to it. Damn Yahoo...
So I've been putting in all the changes I made to the Item/Battle/Spell data with the new ME, and I'm starting to think that maybe some of the item and spell descriptions were overflowing lines inadvertently. This may have been causing the random crap I've been seeing (not daring to hope yet).
I'll still send you all the files you'll need, Poco, but I'm gonna put in all the changes and patches after I'm done and test it again. If that's what's causing these damnable stops, then maybe this project will finally see the light of day soon!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 26, 2010, 12:35:23 PM
lets hope so man
other then that Lord J is making the editor more compatible in the sense of data changes and shuffles
so regardless there should be no issues in that sense ;)
I even deciphered all of the ? data 4 him in the animations 1 and animations 2 areas
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 27, 2010, 02:47:51 AM
OK, I've put in all the patches and I'm starting the playthrough. *crosses fingers*
Poco, let me know if you run into any snags.
:edit: Err...the Magitek battle menu editor appears to be glitchy; instead of empty spaces they're filled with ?'s...
:edit: 2 Also, the Rare Items editor isn't saving the description pointers correctly. If you close ME and reopen it, the descriptions are jumbled.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 27, 2010, 12:16:05 PM
yea J mentioned that in the read me I think (srry I 4got 2 give that 2 u) he is gonna fix those in the next Beta, other then that there is a handful of people helping J out with a lot of the bits and pieces so it should be ok ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 27, 2010, 02:01:45 PM
OK then. Until those get fixed, I'm going to modify that stuff by hand. Still, it's a great step in the right direction! :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 27, 2010, 05:03:36 PM
I hit the same snag unfortunately
the one in the airship when u meet Setzer, its exactly the same spot as before, the only difference here is that Locke does not turn around
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 27, 2010, 07:13:50 PM
And this was before adding any patches? Not good...that means it is something I'm changing. And since item names and spell names are fixed, it must be one of the descriptions.
I thought I made sure all the item and spell descriptions were 31 or less characters to a line. Guess I have to go back through and double-check every description: Rare Items, Items, Spells, Esper Bonuses, Bushido, Blitz - the whole shebang.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 27, 2010, 08:33:57 PM
I'll check on the descriptions too
if anything I'll let you know if I find anything
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 27, 2010, 10:29:45 PM
ok I checked them
there are a handful of items which description exceeds 31 (made a list and emailed it to you)
there was also HUGE mistakes with nearly all (if not all) of the rare items
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 28, 2010, 01:56:41 AM
That would be the issue I reported. :wink:
I went through the list I made as well and I found a couple that I didn't measure correctly. I'm going through again and making all the necessary changes.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on June 28, 2010, 09:18:25 AM
Glad to see this project's still alive! Good luck, guys.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on June 28, 2010, 10:41:15 AM
Actually, it's a good thing that this issue was found before adding any patches - it helped to isolate where the problem may be.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 28, 2010, 01:20:48 PM
great news guys
the snag has been resolved ;)
I continued a bit after the snag but I need to start again from scratch to make sure the game is ok ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 28, 2010, 05:39:10 PM
SWEET! :childish:
This is why attention to detail works. I know Leno had mentioned an issue with the descriptions some time ago, too. :sad:
Well, then. Time to add in the patches and see how this thing runs!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 28, 2010, 07:23:19 PM
yea
I kept a separate savestate just in case ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 30, 2010, 03:19:21 PM
So far I'm in Sabin's scenario on the Phantom Train and everything's playing together nicely. I found a spot where I hadn't changed dialogue to match a change I made, so that was fixed. Off to work now, but we'll keep going once I'm off!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 30, 2010, 04:00:00 PM
so far things are going smoothly on my end, I just got out of the magitek factory and got Mog, I am currently just hooking people up with magic (killing the intangir kix so much ass lolz)
but other then that things are going by smoothly
hopefully I'll hit the WOR soon
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on June 30, 2010, 09:21:02 PM
What if bugs exist in such a way that weird circumstances affect obscurely? Such as when you get Mog. What if you wait until the WoR before you get him (and avoid the Gold Hairpin)? Or events like returning Sabin to Duncan's wife? How extensively do you test? Or do you only test things that are sure to be effected?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 01, 2010, 11:44:33 AM
well I am testing a couple of scenarios regardless
I will double check a few things, like Sabin and Duncan's wife, I completely 4got about that
thnx
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 01, 2010, 02:20:11 PM
I'm following Djibriel's walkthrough, so things like taking Sabin back to South Figaro are covered. There's not too much that would be affected by doing something like that, since the writers anticipated that particular scenario.
I'm not really looking into the sequence-breaking type of stuff that CAN be done, but there are some patches I put in place to prevent the more likely ones, like Shadow Leaving a One-Man Party, or the Airship Game Over exploit. So far I have not seen a patch that corrects the tile in South Figaro that can lead to the break where Celes can be replaced by Kutan the moogle, but I would do that one as well.
Most of my personal changes have been in the menu side of things, like changing names and descriptions of spells, items, enemies and the like. We've already seen what was happening there when I wasn't vetting my changes properly.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 01, 2010, 03:13:52 PM
well things are going smoothly on my end too
I need to get Strago and Relm and take care of all of that, then comes the WOR, after that I need to do the task of getting everyone and kill the dragons and all that shyt :p
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 02, 2010, 03:27:50 PM
Heh. I see that more patches are up on the Slick main site now that I don't have applied.
The three that I'm thinking of adding are the "There can be only one!" Runic fix, the Joker Doom tweak and the "Free C2!" tweak . I saw the Tintinabar and stat growth ones, but I have questions about those:
Does the Tintinabar's walking healing ability heal the party by default? The answer determines which version of the patch I would use, as I'd mainly be putting it in for anyone wanting to take this mod further for a hack.
Would the "Free C2" patch cause any conflicts, or does it just create free space? I read that it moves any JSL calls to the routine in C0, but I wouldn't know if any patches produce calls to the C2 routine.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 02, 2010, 03:51:51 PM
Does the Tintinabar's walking healing ability heal the party by default?
No, the data suggests that it does, but it was hardcoded to heal only the person wearing it. That's why I made the two patches, because I wasn't sure if I should limit it to the wearer or go with what the data suggests and heal the whole party. It's still pretty useless, but at least any item can use the effect now. :happy:
Quote
Would the "Free C2" patch cause any conflicts, or does it just create free space? I read that it moves any JSL calls to the routine in C0, but I wouldn't know if any patches produce calls to the C2 routine.
It's there just to free space in C2 for patch authors to snatch it up for more bug fixes (or other code). The patch repoints some JSLs to look at the C0 decompression routine instead, because the two are the exact same, but C0's lacks 2 instructions which I added. It should not cause any conflicts, because I'm not touching any existing free space. It will depend on if any patches move or alter any of those JSLs, and I believe none do.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 02, 2010, 05:35:00 PM
No, the data suggests that it does, but it was hardcoded to heal only the person wearing it. That's why I made the two patches, because I wasn't sure if I should limit it to the wearer or go with what the data suggests and heal the whole party. It's still pretty useless, but at least any item can use the effect now. :happy:
I agree. The reason I was asking was because I never use the thing anyway! :happy:
This would help any potential hackers looking to use this mod as a baseline (once it's finished), but I think that I'm gonna lump this with the Summon Aiming patch and say it's out of scope of what this project does. :yabin:
Quote
It's there just to free space in C2 for patch authors to snatch it up for more bug fixes (or other code). The patch repoints some JSLs to look at the C0 decompression routine instead, because the two are the exact same, but C0's lacks 2 instructions which I added. It should not cause any conflicts, because I'm not touching any existing free space. It will depend on if any patches move or alter any of those JSLs, and I believe none do.
Then this will also help any potential hackers using this project as a base for their hacks. Although I think I will use this one because of the optimization fringe benefit.
Also - does this mean we might see a usable version of the "Ignore Defense" patch soon? :wink:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 02, 2010, 05:55:40 PM
Ignore defense no longer ignoring safe and shell? It was updated 3 times last year to remove the conflicts, last in August. Unless I broke something, it is the definitively final version of that patch.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 02, 2010, 06:02:16 PM
Cool! So the patch is usable once the routine is removed with this C2 patch? I guess that seals the deal for both of those being included! :childish:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 02, 2010, 06:05:07 PM
Free C2 and Ignore defense are independent of each other. None of my patches requires any other (so far), but one or two do have additional patches for patches already applied (For what ails ya comes to mind).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 02, 2010, 06:29:29 PM
I went back and re-read the notes for that patch and saw that - as of August. Guess I should check the patch section more often...I might have seen that some time ago. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 02, 2010, 09:47:57 PM
nice so this patch is becoming all the better ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 02, 2010, 10:58:41 PM
A question for the dialogue over-patch I'm planning:
I'm going through all the battle messages (the ones that appear in the box at the top - "Mortal Attack! Blizzard Fist!!") and I'm seeing a lot for the 8 dragons summoning another of the dragons into the battle. Does that actually happen, or are these dummied out? There's a lot of them, and I could use the space for other messages if that's the case.
And I guess that leads to another question: is there a resource, like the disassemblies, where these messages have been marked as used or dummied out?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 02, 2010, 11:05:46 PM
All of those dragon messages are dummies, and can be removed. I don't recall a definitive list stating which are and aren't dummies, but I believe there's about 15 messages or so that aren't used.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on July 02, 2010, 11:09:59 PM
I don't know what you're asking exactly, darkmage, but Djibriel's "The Loser Club" page (http://tenchinohoukai.cavesofnarshe.com/loserclub.html) has a lot of dummied stuff there. But everyone knows about Djibriel's Web site, so I guess this is sort of redundant.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 03, 2010, 12:06:26 AM
Actually, I had gone through the enemies and spells part of the Losers Club, but not the rest. It looks like there are some things he's dummied that were actually in the game, though, so I'll take this list with a grain of salt.
:edit:
Gh! And now I have an insane urge to change Sketch options for monsters! Must...control...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 03, 2010, 03:16:19 PM
Wooo! One of those new patches horked up the ROM! On loading it up it went "ssht" and artifacted!
I added the Ignore Defense patch, the Free C2! patch, the There Can Be Only One! patch and the Joker Doom patch.
I'll see what's going on tonight when I get off from work.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 03, 2010, 03:45:29 PM
The Joker Doom patch is probably the one, since it's the last patch I have to do to make sure it's compatible with other patches. I know I used some of the space ZED did for his cancel dash patch, so I wouldn't be at all surprised that's what is going on here.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 03, 2010, 04:21:44 PM
I'll defer to your wisdom. It was pretty blood-red artifacting, though.
:edit: Hmm. It's not Joker Doom...just repatched without it and I'm getting the same artifacting. I'll let you know when I find it.
:edit: 2 Looks as though it's the Free C2 patch. Not sure what it's conflicting with, but let me make sure my patch list is up to date.
:edit: 3 Actually, it's causing the same artifacting on a clean copy of 1.0 with this being the only patch applied. :hmm:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 05, 2010, 02:53:13 PM
Now begins bug testing. What are you seeing and when are you seeing it?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 06, 2010, 02:33:13 PM
Now begins bug testing. What are you seeing and when are you seeing it?
I took a clean copy of 1.0 and patched in Free C2. When I loaded the ROM in bsnes, right when the opening scene should start, there's a "sht" sound made by the sound engine and then nothing but red blocks and artifacts flickering on screen. It's like it tries to read the opening sequence and breaks right then.
I tried loading it in ZSNES and it just doesn't load. No artifacting, no nothing. I don't have Snes9x, so I'm not sure what it does.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 06, 2010, 02:44:56 PM
Snes9x is going to do what bsnes did. I know I tested this patch to make sure the title screen loaded, so I'm not sure what to tell you. I'll test it again and get back to you.
:edit:
Well, I found a problem. I missed a JSL $C2FF6D call, so I'll have to go through the code again to make sure I didn't miss any others.
:edit:
There were 2 missing calls, and the patch (http://slickproductions.org/ff6patch.php?id=Tweak%20-%20Free%20C2) has been subsequently updated. Make sure you read the readme with this update. :wink:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 09, 2010, 09:11:44 PM
I see what you mean. I guess I won't be including that patch right away, then...I don't have the know-how to rework Yazoo's patch.
The only know-how you'd need is "can I use xkas?" and your ability to edit a text file. I included offsets and the code necessary to make it compatible with Yazoo's patch.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 09, 2010, 09:41:50 PM
I'm always up for trying something new. :childish:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on July 11, 2010, 08:29:34 AM
So far I have not seen a patch that corrects the tile in South Figaro that can lead to the break where Celes can be replaced by Kutan the moogle, but I would do that one as well.
Couldn't this one be fixed by changing the behavior of that guard so that he stands still prior to the end of the path out?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on July 11, 2010, 02:33:29 PM
Yes, that's one way to fix it. Fixing the NPC passability bug is something that has to be done at some point, but it still needs to be figured out.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: G-Flex on July 26, 2010, 10:13:42 PM
Any updates, or a working version of this project patch available?
I tried doing it myself, applying the FF6 Megapatch, Tzepish's tweak patch, and a couple others mentioned in the first post here, but it... didn't exactly work (is it just me or does the tweak patch overwrite most of the ROM?). After some point while applying patches, battle just gave up the ghost.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on July 27, 2010, 12:20:46 AM
Don't apply my patch - it's for sure incompatible with a bunch of the bugfixes. I only posted it here for darkmage to pilfer my ideas - he'd still have to manually reapply any changes I made.
The tweak patch probably does affect a lot of the ROM because it was an attempt at what darkmage is doing now - a general FF6 Improvement. I gave up on it years ago, and I intend to make it vanish silently into the night once ff6 improvement is done :-)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: G-Flex on July 27, 2010, 01:25:45 AM
Yeah, I managed to apply, at the very least, the "megapatch" along with a handful of other fixes and such, then I tried to manually get some of your stuff in there... but couldn't, because FF3usME can't handle whatever offset changes (or whatever) are introduced by the megapatch. Anything dialogue/message-related, items, monsters, spells, actors, it's all hosed.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on August 26, 2010, 03:21:47 PM
Any updates, or a working version of this project patch available?
I've got a working beta of the patch so far, and I have not come across any stops, hangs or freezes so far in the playthrough. I haven't been doing much playtesting as my current schedule has me at a lack of sleep and playing games has me nodding off right now. Needless to say, I don't like this schedule much. :banonsmash:
I'll submit what I have to Leno and see if he can post it for people to use/abuse/test.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on August 26, 2010, 10:59:50 PM
niceness man
I didnt have any snags on my end either
now its time 4 the real test
I will test a version adding the summon, magitek, and not scary enough patches to see how it goes :p
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on August 29, 2010, 06:37:15 PM
OK, I've posted a link to the Google site I created, and I made a link in the Submissions section. But just in case, here it is again:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on August 30, 2010, 11:21:52 PM
I intend to play through this for testing also. Thanks for posting it!
BTW, it'd be awesome to have a one paragraph or one sentence description for each of the bugs fixed in this compilation, maybe copy/pasted from the bugfix authors? (EDIT: I mean in the readme for this hack)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on August 31, 2010, 11:43:23 PM
oh just so u know I implemented the not scary enough, and magitek patches and they work well with the patch
unfortunately Leno's Summon This either freezes or resets the game when I get into a battle
I retried again with the other summon patch as well as always an esper in order to try to see if it works and it does (it has to be implemented as summon and then always an esper as the last 2 patches put in), and other then there always being the summon command available it works great so far, I didn't get 2 far in the game yet but if there is a problem or an issue I'll let u know
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on September 03, 2010, 02:26:41 AM
ok so there is a problem
unfortunately it has to do with the not scary enough patch
it contradicts the mega patch unfortunately
when I get a flawless victory the game resets ugh =/
well idk what area that patch changes but I suppose it has 2 be take out (quite a shame really since I love that patch)
but if its not too much trouble can u guys show me the offset so I can change it from scratch?
maybe that will help
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 03, 2010, 07:01:06 AM
I intend to play through this for testing also. Thanks for posting it!
BTW, it'd be awesome to have a one paragraph or one sentence description for each of the bugs fixed in this compilation, maybe copy/pasted from the bugfix authors? (EDIT: I mean in the readme for this hack)
That's not a bad idea; in fact I was originally going to do that. I was trying to keep the file size down, before I realized the hack itself was just too big for direct submission. Let me get on that and I'll update the submission post.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on September 07, 2010, 03:29:12 PM
Well I encountered a game-breaking bug on the main path. Attempting to jump from a particular window in Zozo (one you have to jump from to proceed) causes the screen to go all weird and the camera to endlessly scroll down-left. The game stops accepting controller input and the user cannot continue.
EDIT: Attaching a screenshot of the window that breaks the game. It's the second set of building jumps.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on September 07, 2010, 04:40:42 PM
Well crap. I thought maybe this would be an easy event change, but it doesn't look like that's the case. The event called at this tile is the same in a clean ROM as it is in FF6 Improvement:
CA/9607: C0 If ($1E80($1B1) [$1EB6, bit 1] is set), branch to $CA5EB3 CA/960D: B2 Jump to subroutine $CCFF25 CA/9611: 31 Begin action queue for character $31 (Party Character 0), 4 bytes long (Wait until complete) CA/9613: 4F Character Graphical Action $0F, flipped horizontally CA/9614: DC Make character jump (low) CA/9615: A6 Move character right/down 2x1 tiles CA/9616: FF End queue CA/9617: B2 Jump to subroutine $CCFF36 CA/961B: FE Return I changed the event pointer to a different jump (one that also jumps to the right) and I got the same broken behavior. I changed it to an event that jumps left and the character successfully jumped left. I wonder if the "Zozo dude jumps the wrong way" patch was implemented differently than just an event hack that turned the sprite around, and it ended up screwing the pooch on this?
EDIT: Oh snap! I compared FF6I to the wrong ROM - in a clean ROM, event instruction CA/960D is different - it jumps to subroutine $CA961C instead of $CCFF25! CA/9617 is also different - the base ROM goes to $CA962D and FF6I goes to $CCFF36. The left jumps in FF6I use the original subroutines, which is why they aren't broken. I'm guessing $CCFF25 and $CCFF36 are special subroutines that were written by the Zozo jumper patch, and overwritten by a different patch, hence the screwy behavior. These new subroutines were probably copies of the old ones, but with the sprites flipped around.
This should be enough info to fix this bug, darkmage, but if you prefer, I can fix it for you (either by reverting to $CA961C and thus, the normal behavior, or by moving whatever was supposed to be in $CCFF25 to some other location, although I can't guarantee future patch compatibility in that case)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on September 07, 2010, 05:59:20 PM
I've attached a ZSNES save state you can use to test the Zozo windows (EDIT: you may have to enter and exit a building to refresh the map after loading from my save state). I attempted to attach an IPS that fixes the windows, but it's too large for the max filesize for this forum, so I sent it to you in email (let me know if your email has changed or you didn't get it). I don't mind if you take this patch and continue working from here, I'm already credited in your readme file :-)
Now that I'm unblocked in Zozo, I'll continue to play and look for/fix issues. I'm also compiling a list of suggested tweaks / changes, some of which I made in my old FF6Tweak hack.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 07, 2010, 08:50:35 PM
Woot! Thanks for that, Tzepish! It didn't happen to me, so I'm not quite sure how that got through. But I had been stopped by that before... :edit: annnnd just noticed you're using ZSNES. Didn't test on that, I was using bsnes.
At any rate, putting back the original behavior is probably the best bet for now. I'd need to get in touch with mblock129, as that's his patch. He said he was going to look at the routine, but I'm not sure if he did.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on September 07, 2010, 09:05:07 PM
Yeah, ideally he'd relocate his new subroutine to some event space that's unused in FF6I in particular (after all other patches are in).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 07, 2010, 09:09:49 PM
unfortunately it has to do with the not scary enough patch
it contradicts the mega patch unfortunately
when I get a flawless victory the game resets ugh =/
well idk what area that patch changes but I suppose it has 2 be take out (quite a shame really since I love that patch)
but if its not too much trouble can u guys show me the offset so I can change it from scratch?
maybe that will help
I looked through Imzo's patch allocation sheet and saw a couple of patches (that I didn't include) are conflicting with Not Scary Enough. But the sheet doesn't include patches that change and stay within a block of existing code, so I'm not sure.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on September 07, 2010, 10:24:35 PM
ah I see I see
hmmm well this sucks
maybe there can be a way around it (but if its too much work 4get it)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 06, 2010, 03:30:16 AM
Now that I'm unblocked in Zozo, I'll continue to play and look for/fix issues. I'm also compiling a list of suggested tweaks / changes, some of which I made in my old FF6Tweak hack.
I'm curious to see what recommendations you have so far, Tzepish.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on October 09, 2010, 03:00:53 PM
Here's the list so far. Some of these are very easy, and some are actually incredibly ambitious (and understandably passed on), but they were what came to mind for a general "FF6 Improvement" and are on the list just for completeness. Feel free to disagree with some / none / all of these :-)
* De-capitalize all NPC names. The player character names are de-capitalized, but not the other NPCs, so you get dialogue that looks like this: Terra: Blah blah blah. ARVIS: I concur Terra: Indeed
It looks unpolished.
* Change GP to Gil for consistency with newer final fantasy games (and all the remakes)
* Where possible, change item / spell / character / etc names to their FF6 Advance equivalents (in keeping with modernization. Also, I trust that translation more than the SNES one. Speaking of which...)
* Replace the dialogue with the FF6 Advance dialogue. Note: I understand this is a mammoth task and actually recommend AGAINST doing it, it's just on this list for completion's sake.
* Rename the monster Umaro to something generic, like "Yeti", so that the game doesn't show his name to you before you get the chance to name him. Speaking of "Yeti" - the game tends to call him a "Sasquatch" all over the place, but "Yeti" is more accurate.
* Restore the control config screen. I don't know how this would be done, but some other hacks have done it. The functionality is still in the game, it's just the menu selection that's been removed.
* Reverse the B-Button sprint implementation (would be better as Sprint by default, hold B to walk).
* Expand character names to 8 letters. Very ambitious, but only because the relevant menus would have to be altered so that the character names don't spill into the borders. Outside of that, expanding to 8 letters isn't that tough.
* Revise the locations where the Prism Cape is sold. It makes sense for the Sprint Shoes to be in a bunch of unrelated shops in the beginning of the game (like the Returner item shop), but not the Prism Cape (which shouldn't be treated any differently from other relics and should only appear in relic shops).
* The Prism Cape is potentially too inexpensive for its effect. Should probably be 2000+ in price.
* Several daggers are still valid for Runic and 2-hand (mythril knife is one of them).
* Make it so the Chainsaw won't attempt the insta-kill attack if the enemy is immune to Death (I think there's a patch out there for this already...?)
* Consider making the Thief Glove change *Attack* into Mug instead of changing Steal into Mug. This would be neat and more useful, although there are probably downsides (the offering and thief glove might not work together, for example).
* Make it so Shadow always survives the floating continent, even if the player doesn't wait for 3 seconds left on the timer.
* Stub in some commonly requested features for hackers so that making hacks based on your patch is easier (I did this in my Earthbound Tweak and War of the Lions Tweak). For example, implement natural magic for Strago, but keep his natural magic table blank for people developing hacks to fill it in. Or increased HP room for monsters (for more than 65000), but don't raise any monster HPs. I guess expanding names fits in this theme too.
* There are other misc bugs that are still in the rom that wouldn't be difficult to fix. For example, if you leave a rat alive in the attic of the opera house, then come back and battle that rat way later in the game, the game gets all kinds of screwed up. It'd be easy to insert an event that removes the rats at a certain point to fix this bug (I could do this for you). It might be worth puring over Zed's buglist to find other bugs (not already addressed in FF6I) that could be fixed relatively easy in data.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 09, 2010, 04:20:00 PM
* Restore the control config screen. I don't know how this would be done, but some other hacks have done it. The functionality is still in the game, it's just the menu selection that's been removed.
Nothing of that screen is still in the game. The only thing left is the ram the controllers use which allow custom controller setups.
Quote
* Reverse the B-Button sprint implementation (would be better as Sprint by default, hold B to walk).
That would be a nice menu addition, actually. :childish:
Quote
* Consider making the Thief Glove change *Attack* into Mug instead of changing Steal into Mug. This would be neat and more useful, although there are probably downsides (the offering and thief glove might not work together, for example).
The Offering just allows 4 attacks, it doesn't actually change anything in that respect.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 09, 2010, 07:32:02 PM
* Expand character names to 8 letters. Very ambitious, but only because the relevant menus would have to be altered so that the character names don't spill into the borders. Outside of that, expanding to 8 letters isn't that tough.
I think it can be expanded to 9 without the menu spill :p
* Make it so the Chainsaw won't attempt the insta-kill attack if the enemy is immune to Death (I think there's a patch out there for this already...?)
yea there is a patch that tweaks the chainsaw but unfortunately its imperfect and messes up the rom when combined with several other patches
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on October 09, 2010, 08:36:04 PM
Expanding the character names to 9 is probably more complicated than 8, right? Wouldn't you need to find more space in the SRAM to save the character names?
As for the control configs, I figured it was still in the game because you can load your save in a japanese rom, change your config, then load it in the U.S. rom and your new config is still honored. But maybe that's the only part that still exists - reading your config from the save data and honoring it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 13, 2010, 06:28:28 AM
Quote
* De-capitalize all NPC names. The player character names are de-capitalized, but not the other NPCs...
Quote
* Where possible, change item / spell / character / etc names to their FF6 Advance equivalents (in keeping with modernization. Also, I trust that translation more than the SNES one.
Quote
* Replace the dialogue with the FF6 Advance dialogue. Note: I understand this is a mammoth task and actually recommend AGAINST doing it, it's just on this list for completion's sake.
Quote
* Expand character names to 8 letters. Very ambitious, but only because the relevant menus would have to be altered so that the character names don't spill into the borders. Outside of that, expanding to 8 letters isn't that tough.
You've hit upon the other half of this project: an over-patch to redo the dialogue for FF6. I have a 90% complete re-translation that fixes the funky grammar and formatting of the dialogue, and is based partly on the Lina Darkstar translation of the original Japanese. I already made some changes to the Espers and spells based on the Japanese names, which I included in the first part of the patch, and was waiting on confirmation that the baseline patch works before implementing the script.
I've never played FF6a (mainly because it plays like poop), but what little I've seen of the dialogue looks good, and somewhat similar to what I have, at least in the beginning. I would really like to implement the changes they made to the engine, mainly the expanded nameslots for characters, spells, Espers and items. That could be a good starting point to v2 of the baseline mod.
Quote
* Change GP to Gil for consistency with newer final fantasy games (and all the remakes)
I thought about doing this, but I happen to like GP over Gil. But I did make this mod to be a jumping off point for further hacks.... :wink:
Quote
* Rename the monster Umaro to something generic, like "Yeti", so that the game doesn't show his name to you before you get the chance to name him. Speaking of "Yeti" - the game tends to call him a "Sasquatch" all over the place, but "Yeti" is more accurate.
That's not a bad idea, and it's something I had overlooked in planning for the script over-patch. I'll get that done.
Quote
* Revise the locations where the Prism Cape is sold. It makes sense for the Sprint Shoes to be in a bunch of unrelated shops in the beginning of the game (like the Returner item shop), but not the Prism Cape (which shouldn't be treated any differently from other relics and should only appear in relic shops).
Quote
* The Prism Cape is potentially too inexpensive for its effect. Should probably be 2000+ in price.
Quote
* Several daggers are still valid for Runic and 2-hand (mythril knife is one of them).
Must have missed these in one of the times I went over the patch trying to fix the major breaks. I'll get on that.
Quote
* Consider making the Thief Glove change *Attack* into Mug instead of changing Steal into Mug. This would be neat and more useful, although there are probably downsides (the offering and thief glove might not work together, for example).
I like having the two commands separate, especially since some enterprising souls will probably figure out how to have counter-attacks for Steal attempts...if they haven't already?
Quote
* Make it so the Chainsaw won't attempt the insta-kill attack if the enemy is immune to Death (I think there's a patch out there for this already...?)
I really wanted to be able to include this patch, since it makes me just use Drill all the time and not touch this tool. But manually changing this is beyond my skills. Which leads to...
Quote
* Restore the control config screen. I don't know how this would be done, but some other hacks have done it. The functionality is still in the game, it's just the menu selection that's been removed.
Quote
* Reverse the B-Button sprint implementation (would be better as Sprint by default, hold B to walk).
Quote
* Stub in some commonly requested features for hackers so that making hacks based on your patch is easier (I did this in my Earthbound Tweak and War of the Lions Tweak). For example, implement natural magic for Strago, but keep his natural magic table blank for people developing hacks to fill it in. Or increased HP room for monsters (for more than 65000), but don't raise any monster HPs. I guess expanding names fits in this theme too.
These are really good ideas, but unfortunately I'm not as intimately familiar with the inner workings of the game engine as is the Pandora's Box team. I really like Leno's idea to make the B-button implementation a menu option, and giving Strago a natural magic table is a fantastic idea. Most of my changes to date have been done in implementing bugfix and tweak patches, and working within the FF3usME editor, along with some help in getting the Alphabetical Rage table tweaked for monster renames. But...
Quote
* There are other misc bugs that are still in the rom that wouldn't be difficult to fix. For example, if you leave a rat alive in the attic of the opera house, then come back and battle that rat way later in the game, the game gets all kinds of screwed up. It'd be easy to insert an event that removes the rats at a certain point to fix this bug (I could do this for you). It might be worth puring over Zed's buglist to find other bugs (not already addressed in FF6I) that could be fixed relatively easy in data.
If you're willing to help, I'm more than willing to do the heavy lifting in finding and nailing some of the bugs that are still there. That's really generous of you! :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 14, 2010, 08:53:25 PM
I guess one (supposedly) simple bug that's annoying to me would be a start to go after:
In Locke's Scenario, when he's in the green trooper uniform, the victory dance doesn't happen when he wins a battle. The sprite is there for it, it just doesn't get used and it looks like he's standing there. I checked the formation for the Officer battle and the "No winning stand" bit isn't set, so it must be in the code somewhere.
I'll look through the disassemblies and see where that might happen.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on October 14, 2010, 10:40:04 PM
Hi there. I've been using this patch as a base for the latest version of my hack, and while looking past the freezing issue in Zozo, by quick use of the zozojump patch, I was rather upset to find it freezing for good, right after the opera scene, aboard the airship. Right @
CB/205A: 21 Do vehicle/entity graphical action $21 CB/205B: E0 Pause for 4 * 2 (8) frames CB/205D: CC Turn vehicle/entity up CB/205E: FF End queue
Freezing right after the hex offset: B225E
This is right after Setzer says, "the Empire ...evil?" and then Celes nods her head. Right before she says: CB/205F: 4B Display dialogue message $0507, wait for button press CELES: We all hate the Empire for the same reasons. That's why? SETZER: You know?you're even more stunning than Maria.
I'm not sure if I got/used an older version of this patch, and this has since been resolved, or if not why this patch would be released like such. My buddy PocoLoco, and I, were testing out why this could be happening, and he mentioned that it could have something to do with the item descriptions line length's being over 31 characters, which there are quite a few of. And while that does lead to pricing corruption, whatever the hell that is, it did not freeze when tested on another ROM with no patches. So I can only assume it's a bad or conflicting patch, in this megapatch, as I remember I used a patch once that conflicted and caused that same freezing at the exact same spot.
If anyone happens to know how I can either fix the problem, or make it go to the next event, via hex editing or whatever, PLEASE let me know how I can do it. Or... if my ROM is now destroyed beyond any hope =( I tried re-writing a bunch of hex, to make it "jump" to the flying to Vector part, but to no avail. I would rather try and fix this ROM than transfer my whole project that I've been pouring countless hours on, to another ROM, double banonsmash! :banonsmash: :banonsmash:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 14, 2010, 11:23:50 PM
I'm gonna guess that MBlock's "King of Vanity" patch broke, but because of something you guys did. His patch overwrites the last few dialogue pointers, and if the dialogue editors are worth a damn, chances are that fix was overwritten when the dialogue was saved. This is similar to Disch's water flowing thing with FF1, you'll have to re-apply the patch every time you update the dialogue.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on October 15, 2010, 02:09:16 AM
I'm gonna guess that MBlock's "King of Vanity" patch broke, but because of something you guys did. His patch overwrites the last few dialogue pointers, and if the dialogue editors are worth a damn, chances are that fix was overwritten when the dialogue was saved. This is similar to Disch's water flowing thing with FF1, you'll have to re-apply the patch every time you update the dialogue.
This, is why I love you Lenophis... Seriously. Re-patching the King of Vanity patch worked like a charm, and so did the anti-patch. You don't know how happy I am now, my friend. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 15, 2010, 03:25:51 AM
Now THAT is damn good to know, Leno, thanks for sharing that! I'll remember to re-apply that patch if I make any more dialogue changes. I'm updating the readme as we speak, so I'll include that when I get to that patch's description.
The item/weapon/relic/spell descriptions have all been fixed, as each line in each description is 31 characters or less. The descriptions themselves don't have to be 31 characters total, from what I've seen. I can go over it again, but from what I'm seeing there are no conflicts.
TheNattak: were you seeing the jump freeze issue BEFORE you used the Zozo Jump patch? And am I reading this right, that you resolved the issue by applying the patch?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 15, 2010, 04:18:28 AM
The descriptions themselves don't have to be 31 characters total, from what I've seen. I can go over it again, but from what I'm seeing there are no conflicts.
When descriptions are 31 letters or longer, the prices are divisible by 256, greatly breaking the cost.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 15, 2010, 05:01:06 AM
When descriptions are 31 letters or longer, the prices are divisible by 256, greatly breaking the cost.
That doesn't make much sense, though - some of the original descriptions were longer than 31 characters, notably the rods and Ogre Nix, as Poco Loco pointed out some time ago.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on October 15, 2010, 05:30:23 AM
wait, "Is a metallic turd" doesn't fit in 31 characters?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 15, 2010, 08:57:17 AM
I'm glad we got some of these issues out of the way so now we can hopefully focus on completing this patch
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on October 15, 2010, 11:23:39 AM
BTW TheNattak, even if you do get stuck, you should be able to load your save into a regular FF6 ROM (by renaming the SRAM) get past that point, then switch back... so you should never end up getting hosed for good :-)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 15, 2010, 12:51:14 PM
TheNattak: were you seeing the jump freeze issue BEFORE you used the Zozo Jump patch? And am I reading this right, that you resolved the issue by applying the patch?
Yes, that is correct. Without applying the Zozo Jump leaft patch, it does in fact freeze for sure, at that notorious spot. The patch fixed that right up. For some reason though once I applied it, I couldn't use FF3usME's Dialog editor anymore, and it gives me this error "Dialog routine pointers were hand hex. edited. FF3usMe cannot work with the reformated data" The same error you get if you used FF3Edit! So I don't know if it's just me, or what, but keep that in mind before or if you plan on editing the text with usME. ;) So be sure and test that out really good, because I'm sure people wouldn't want to have no text editing option if they use the patch. By the way, I am loving the patch as a whole, and keep up the good work etc. etc.
Yes, that is correct. Without applying the Zozo Jump leaft patch, it does in fact freeze for sure, at that notorious spot. The patch fixed that right up. For some reason though once I applied it, I couldn't use FF3usME's Dialog editor anymore, and it gives me this error "Dialog routine pointers were hand hex. edited. FF3usMe cannot work with the reformated data" The same error you get if you used FF3Edit! So I don't know if it's just me, or what, but keep that in mind before or if you plan on editing the text with usME. ;) So be sure and test that out really good, because I'm sure people wouldn't want to have no text editing option if they use the patch. By the way, I am loving the patch as a whole, and keep up the good work etc. etc.
It appears that at least some of mblock129's fixes involve jinking with the dialogue pointers in some way. I think I'll take a shot at fixing the freeze manually by using information Tzepish posted previously and ignore the Jump Left patch entirely. That way the dialogue may still be available to edit (in editors, anyway :omghax:).
:edit: Hmm, I see what you're saying in the 6.7 version of FF3usME, but I'm not getting that in the 6.6 version, which is what I'm using. Maybe that's why I didn't know about that to begin with.
I'm going to reapply the patches (minus Jump Left) to a clean ROM and get there again. I want to know why that's happening when Jump Left should be the only patch touching that section of code. :isuck:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 15, 2010, 10:39:35 PM
Version 0.91 is out, with the following changes:
Removed They Only Jump Left in Zozo! (mblock129) - this fix will be made manually
Changed the 2 single-enemy formations which can mistakenly cause a Pincer attack
Changed the Umaro enemy listings names to "Yeti", as he could be named something else
Updated the direct changes list to reflect that the Celes Rushing It bug was fixed manually
Fixed Dagger items that still had 2-Hand and Runic properties (NOTE: The Gladius has 2-hand as a gladius is a short sword)
Changed the Prism Cape price to 3000 GP, and removed the listing in the Returners' Hideout item shop
Updated the readme with descriptions of what each patch does
The link to the patch can be found in the Submissions thread.
The first post of this thread has been updated with the new changes and any patches that are known/reported to conflict with this patch.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 15, 2010, 11:09:10 PM
nice man
what about the item descriptions did u fix those?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 15, 2010, 11:31:32 PM
They don't need to be fixed. I just went over each one, spells included, and each line in all descriptions has 31 characters or less.
The reason you're seeing them on the same line in FF3usME is due to how the descriptions are handled. Those " ' " symbols in the middle of some of the descriptions are actually Line Breaks, which starts the rest of the description on a new line in the game.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 15, 2010, 11:37:08 PM
ah ok great I just wanted 2 make sure of that man thank u
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 17, 2010, 01:25:10 AM
I don't remember when I got it, but I came across a zip file on my thumbdrive with the battle dialogue and battle message text from both FF3us and FF6A! I've spent most of the day moving over the (better) battle messages to FF6I and accounting for space constraints where necessary.
So now the Ultros, Ziegfried and Siegfried fights will make more sense (and hopefully be more amusing), and overall the battle messages will be more coherent and better-paced. The battle dialogue I'm saving until the baseline patch is complete and I can make the dialogue over-patch.
:omg:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 17, 2010, 08:37:21 AM
nice man, so are u making 2 separate patches then?
I mean because some might not want to change it or go about it their own way while keeping the rest of the improvement going on
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 17, 2010, 04:43:45 PM
Yeah, this is going into the script/dialogue side of the project for now. I didn't want to make any changes to the game's story in this patch for precisely that reason.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 17, 2010, 04:48:22 PM
ah nice nice
another thing I wanted to suggest, since I spoke with Lord J about making his editor compatible with dialog that has been edited thru hex he said that might take a while, could u tweak it so that the fixed dialog was edited thru the editor (I know it may be a shit load of a task to re implement the hex data on a fresh rom but he said it would take a good while n in the meantime dialog cannot be edited)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 17, 2010, 10:56:29 PM
One thing you and TheNattak could do is something Dragonsbrethren turned me onto before Lord J updated his editor: Use Cartographer to dump the script, make your changes, and then use atlas to insert it back into the ROM. It's a few more steps, but once you get the hang of it it's not bad.
Look back in this thread, like the 2nd or 3rd page, and you'll see where we were talking about it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 17, 2010, 11:09:43 PM
ok man I'll check that out
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on October 18, 2010, 01:36:14 AM
I just found another spot that if you edit the text, the game screws up. After beating the tentacles in the Figaro engine room, and not only does Edgar not say his line,
"Edgar: What're ya waiting for, Celes? Give me a hand!!
But after the battle, one tentacle NPC is still hanging around, and worst of all the screen goes into permanent screen shaking L1 tile earthquake mode for the rest of the game. Every single map, except the overworld. The solution? Re-patching mblock128's Edgar Reveal patch. This one was easy to figure out since it screws up right where that patch does it's "magic" =p Just like his other one. So after re-patching, everything is good again.
Watch the bug in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHNuI9hnzrU However for some reason Youtube makes it look normal most of the time, but you can still see it happening.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 18, 2010, 05:07:35 AM
I suppose I'll have to think seriously about implementing the Free C2 patch just so I can move those fixes from the dialogue pointer region. I wonder why mblock129 would have chosen to put them there...?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 18, 2010, 09:58:49 AM
hmmm, not sure, but I suppose he did it more for the sake of adding those bytes, its still a huge win, the dialog thing I suppose is a thorn on the side u know
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 18, 2010, 03:53:19 PM
True - no one else made those fixes. :happy:
So begins my journey into the deeper, darker world of event editing and hex editing. :scared: I've just dumped the event scripts for the clean ROM and FF6I, and when I figure out xkas' syntax, I'll be implementing the Free C2 patch to see if I can move some of those fixes into the newly-created free space.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 19, 2010, 05:33:06 AM
I've got a question that I'm gonna throw out:
For event scripts, is there anywhere acceptable to put them that won't conflict with any other information? I was thinking C2, but if that's a battle-related bank it may not work. I'm pretty sure CF is out as well, since we're seeing some issues with dialogue pointers and fixes put into that bank.
Any ideas?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 19, 2010, 02:54:19 PM
You have one more problem than that, the events are relative to bank CA. That means if you want events to go before that, you need to calculate the address of a jump (B2 command, for example) so the program bank wraps. The problem with that is, I don't even know if the hardware will deal with that the way you would want to. I also don't know if that's correct behavior or not.
There's a bunch of free space in bank EE, starting at EE/AF01. You'll still have the same problem of calculating the address, but it'll be much easier in this case. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 20, 2010, 05:32:11 PM
Easier meaning less potential problems, in this case. I see what you mean. :hmm:
I'm wondering if it could really be as easy as putting in the new bank address? From what I'm seeing, the jump events already have B2s to the subroutines they call...
Do you know if this has been done before, and how much lag such a big jump might add to the script?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 20, 2010, 07:33:40 PM
looking into some of the data changed within this patch and the not scary enough patch,my friend Angelo26 managed to find the bytes that were changed by the NSE patch
some of the patches in here rearranged a handful of data so when trying to look into it, it kid of points towards the floating continent event, so yeah, kinda stuck here =/
just throwing it out there hopefully there might be a way to fix the issue :p
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 20, 2010, 09:23:09 PM
It won't add any lag. The CPU can compute 1+1 just as easily as 1+10. Just remember that you have to start from CA.
Well, the original call still happens in CA even with the patch. I'll give it a shot.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 22, 2010, 09:14:10 PM
So I fixed one map glitch on the Phantom Train, in the caboose (last car to the right). There was supposed to be a chest in the top right corner of the floor, but it was invisible. I fixed that, and I also changed around the one room after the diner car that has two invisible chests, so you can at least get both items now.
However, I can't seem to figure out why the chests are invisible in the room. They show up in FF6LE as chests and are solid, but do not show up in the game and the tiles are walkable. The only thing I can think of is that the room is used twice on the Phantom Train and something about the second call corrupts the layout of the room. And all the rooms have a chest, so I'm pretty sure if I change the door to call a different room, it'll mess up the chest in whichever room I change it to.
But at least both items are attainable, right? :lame:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on October 22, 2010, 09:17:52 PM
well man its one step @ a time, I'm sure there is a way around this
(if anything ask The Nattack, he is really good @ map editing)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 22, 2010, 09:34:24 PM
CB/A5BC: C0 If ($1E80($0A4) [$1E94, bit 4] is set), branch to $CB6A55 CB/A5C2: 73 Replace current map's Layer 1 at (20, 6) with the following (2 x 2) chunk, refresh immediately CB/A5C7: $71, $72 CB/A5C9: $18, $19 CB/A5CB: B2 Call subroutine $CBA5D6 CB/A5CF: C0 If ($1E80($0A4) [$1E94, bit 4] is set), branch to $CB6A4C CB/A5D5: FE ReturnThe map is being overwritten because you aren't in the WoR. In other words, these treasures are supposed to be attained only in the World of Ruin. The only time you ever get access to the train in the WoR is during Cyan's dream, which is a great indicator that the dream was supposed to have more during the train sequence.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 22, 2010, 09:49:31 PM
The map is being overwritten because you aren't in the WoR. In other words, these treasures are supposed to be attained only in the World of Ruin. The only time you ever get access to the train in the WoR is during Cyan's dream, which is a great indicator that the dream was supposed to have more during the train sequence.
OK, I'll buy that. But the items seem to have more use at the first Phantom Train part of the game than by the time you get to Cyan's dream, so it became a coding error in terms of the game.
The "73" at CB/A5C2 is what I'd want to change, then, to keep the map from overwriting L1, but I'm not sure what it should be changed to. Either that or set Bit 4 to clear, but somehow I don't think that would do very good things.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 22, 2010, 10:00:16 PM
OK, I'll buy that. But the items seem to have more use at the first Phantom Train part of the game than by the time you get to Cyan's dream, so it became a coding error in terms of the game.
Also true. In which case the C0 check should've just jumped over a B2 call, which would've prevented the yellow tint just as easily. Ahh well.
Quote
The "73" at CB/A5C2 is what I'd want to change, then, to keep the map from overwriting L1, but I'm not sure what it should be changed to. Either that or set Bit 4 to clear, but somehow I don't think that would do very good things.
Well, if you wanted to remove the map writes, you can either NOP out the map instruction, or move up the B2 call and C0 check.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 22, 2010, 10:14:55 PM
CB/A5BC: C0 If ($1E80($0A4) [$1E94, bit 4] is set), branch to $CB6A55 CB/A5C1: B2 Call subroutine $CBA5D6 CB/A5C5: C0 If ($1E80($0A4) [$1E94, bit 4] is set), branch to $CB6A4C CB/A5CB: 73 Replace current map's Layer 1 at (20, 6) with the following (2 x 2) chunk, refresh immediately CB/A5D1: $71, $72 CB/A5D3: $18, $19 CB/A5D5: FE Return
I'm not familiar with the hex for the NOP instruction, so I thought I'd give choice 2 a try. :childish:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 22, 2010, 10:17:54 PM
You're still overwriting the map, but just changing the order in which it's done. After moving up B2 and C0, move up FE. That way, the map change never happens, and the chests are always there.
My apologies, I should've been clear about that originally.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 22, 2010, 10:19:43 PM
No worries, I'm not very familiar with programming logic anyway. But that should do it. I'll implement that and give it a try.
:edit: SWEET! You are awesome, Leno, thanks for your help getting this stuff situated!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 22, 2010, 10:56:51 PM
Now that those map issues which were bugging me are out of the way, I'll work on fixing the Jump Left, King of Vanity and Edgar Revealed issues. I *should* be able to do those with not much problem. In the meantime, I'm adding the latest version of the patch with the map fixes to the Submissions thread.
Keep in mind that the same issues experienced with the above-mentioned patches still apply with this release. Getting those fixed will be my next priority, and I won't focus on further changes until they're done.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on October 22, 2010, 11:13:59 PM
The patch size went up by 180 kb. What did you change? :whoa:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 22, 2010, 11:22:45 PM
I noticed that too... :eek:
The only thing I did besides make the hex modification was to use FF6LE.
:edit: I'm not sure why the patch size jumped the way it did...both the clean rom and my mod rom are reporting similar sizes, and I used the same app (Lunar IPS) to make the patch.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 25, 2010, 04:40:25 AM
OK, I think I've got all the changes in hex to fix the hang-spots and issues with dialogue mapped out. I am looking at the Phoenix treasure chest code now to see if I can fix the bug where it shuts once you leave with Locke. If I figure that out, I'll make that change and then start reapplying all the changes made to the game so far from the ground up. I want to see if I get the same jump in patch size that I did with v0.92.
So before I go through all this, I wanted to ask: does anyone know of any other map glitches involving improper tiles or such that I can look at? I've taken care of the White Cape chest in the Returner hideout and the invisible chests on the Phantom Train (with help, of course!).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on October 28, 2010, 12:40:32 AM
Just a heads-up. Mblock129's "Duncan Stays Put" patch has the same problem as all his other ones. After learning Bum-Rush, trying to go into Duncan's house will result in the game freezing forever. I'm not sure if it's dialog editing related, or if it's conflicting elsewhere.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 28, 2010, 09:54:43 PM
Just a heads-up. Mblock129's "Duncan Stays Put" patch has the same problem as all his other ones. After learning Bum-Rush, trying to go into Duncan's house will result in the game freezing forever. I'm not sure if it's dialog editing related, or if it's conflicting elsewhere.
I checked all of his patches to see if he had put them in that particular range, and the Duncan patch was one of them. I've made the changes, but haven't implemented them into the mod yet. I've also contacted him to let him know about this, and I'll let him know how it turns out.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: mblock129 on November 15, 2010, 10:43:17 PM
I just whipped up a quick and dirty program that looks through a set of patches and finds any conflicts. If anyone has a zip file of all the individual patches that make up the Megapatch, I could run them all through and find every single conflict.
My email is cape_zephyr@yahoo.com
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on November 15, 2010, 10:48:40 PM
nice, I wanna know which patch would conflict with the not scary enough patch and the summon patch
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 17, 2010, 08:56:47 PM
I just whipped up a quick and dirty program that looks through a set of patches and finds any conflicts. If anyone has a zip file of all the individual patches that make up the Megapatch, I could run them all through and find every single conflict.
My email is cape_zephyr@yahoo.com
Sweet!
I'm on my work computer right now, but as soon as I get home I'll zip 'em all up and send them over to you!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: mblock129 on November 23, 2010, 08:13:37 PM
Thanks for sending me the patches darkmage. I ran the test and the output was a bit anticlimactic:
I manually verified that in each of these cases the conflicting patches are each writing a different value to the same address. (It wouldn't really be a conflict if they were writing the same value to the same address.) Whether or not these are actual bugs I don't know.
I was expecting to see more of my patches on that list. Is it possible that there are some changes made to the ROM that aren't on this list of patches? Here is the list:
ff6_all_AdditionalRages.ips ff6_all_BanquetGuards.IPS ff6_all_ColorCodedMPDigits.ips ff6_all_Control_MenuUpdate.IPS ff6_all_Control_MPCost.IPS ff6_all_CureCastinKid_CanPlusMinus.ips ff6_all_DuncanStaysPut.ips ff6_all_DuplicateEnemyNames_func2C30.ips ff6_all_EdgarRevealed.ips ff6_all_Evade.IPS ff6_all_GenjiGlove.ips ff6_all_GoldWrexsoul.IPS ff6_all_GrandStairwayFixes.ips ff6_all_InvertDmgIfUndead.ips ff6_all_KingOfVanity.ips ff6_all_MagRoaderScriptFix.IPS ff6_all_MuteStealsRageStatus.IPS ff6_all_NameLowercased.ips ff6_all_NoStatusTimerReset.IPS ff6_all_PinkGogo.ips ff6_all_PsychoCyan.ips ff6_all_Rippler.ips ff6_all_ShadowIsNotAGirl.IPS ff6_all_ShadowLeavesOneManParty.ips ff6_all_SrBehemothFix_header.ips ff6_all_ThatDamnYellowStreak.IPS ff6_all_TheyOnlyJumpLeftInZozo.ips ff6_all_UncensoredGfx.IPS ff6_all_Vanish-Doom.IPS ff6_all_ZoneSeek&FreeSpace.ips ff6_snes10_AirAnchor.ips ff6_snes10_BorderCrossing_header.ips ff6_snes10_CantLoseForWinning_header.ips ff6_snes10_Crusader&Reflect_header.ips ff6_snes10_EconomizerTweak.ips ff6_snes10_ElementalDisplay_header.ips ff6_snes10_EsperMPCost_header.ips ff6_snes10_ForWhatAilsYa_multi-steal_header.ips ff6_snes10_ICondemnTheeToHell!_header.ips ff6_snes10_Jump_Megafix-A.IPS ff6_snes10_MultiSteal_header.ips ff6_snes10_OfferingCanMiss.ips ff6_snes10_Sketch.IPS ff6_snes10_SlotDerigging.IPS ff6_snes10_SwdTechSpeedup.ips ff6_snes10_ThereCanBeOnlyOne!_multi-target2_header.ips ff6_snes10_ToJokerDoomOrNot.ips ff6_snes_1WayImmunity.IPS ff6_snes_AirshipGameOver.ips ff6_snes_AlphabeticalRages.IPS ff6_snes_AutoSwordlessRunic.IPS ff6_snes_BrushlessSketch.IPS ff6_snes_CaptureWpns.ips ff6_snes_CarveStone.ips ff6_snes_ChocoboStable.ips ff6_snes_CowardlyDog.ips ff6_snes_Dash-A.ips ff6_snes_DeceptiveTapir.IPS ff6_snes_device.ips ff6_snes_DisrespectulZombie.IPS ff6_snes_EnemyFC05.IPS ff6_snes_FF6Intro.ips ff6_snes_FlightOfStormDrgn.ips ff6_snes_Gogo&CursedShield.ips ff6_snes_GrassEncounter.ips ff6_snes_IgDefIfSafeOrShell_header.ips ff6_snes_Jump_Launcher-SBall.IPS ff6_snes_LeteRiverTunnelVolume.ips ff6_snes_MagicMenuSorting.ips ff6_snes_MgDmgOverflow.IPS ff6_snes_MissingDialogue.ips ff6_snes_MTekInCyansSoul.ips ff6_snes_MuddledMantra.IPS ff6_snes_MuddledPalidor.IPS ff6_snes_NamingShadow.ips ff6_snes_Pincer&Row.IPS ff6_snes_RegulationDice.ips ff6_snes_SFigaroShortcut.ips ff6_snes_ShadowChupon.ips ff6_snes_SketchingMime.ips ff6_snes_StackableImmunity.IPS ff6_snes_StepMineDigit.IPS ff6_snes_Tile_NarsheGate.ips ff6_snes_Tile_NarsheSecretEntrance.ips ff6_snes_VanishingLightObject.ips ff6_snes_VanishingMagicite.ips I also have an output that lists every address that is written to by any patch. It weighs in at 34K but I can provide it if requested.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on November 23, 2010, 10:53:18 PM
Quote from: mblock129
I manually verified that in each of these cases the conflicting patches are each writing a different value to the same address. (It wouldn't really be a conflict if they were writing the same value to the same address.) Whether or not these are actual bugs I don't know.
i can state that in the case of Auto Swordless Runic and Brushless Sketch, the latter patch has the former as a requirement, and this overwriting is intentional. the Runic patch expands the list of commands that have special checks when a character is acting automatically (e.g. Berserked or Muddled). it adds one new entry to two tables for Runic, and three new null entries to them for future use by hackers (the first such use being the Brushless Sketch patch i knew was coming :P).
EDIT: fixed typo
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 24, 2010, 01:48:45 PM
I'm not entirely sure what is going on with the patches you've made, mblock. I don't think any of them are conflicting with any other patches; it seems more probable that the range in which you place them has something to do with dialogue and/or events. It appears that the problems I've seen, and the problems TheNattak has reported, occur after the patches are applied and then any changes to dialogue are made.
I don't recall which block you placed most of your changes in, but when I get home I can post it. Then we can ask if anyone knows if there's any compressed information in that range, or something of that nature.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on November 24, 2010, 03:21:15 PM
There are other ways to conflict besides writing to the same space - one patch may depend on data/code that another patch overwrites or relocates.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on December 18, 2010, 08:42:55 PM
ok, Homesick Gau has finally been uploaded to my website! see the Hosted Patches / Usurped Patches page. sorry for the long delay.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on December 19, 2010, 02:21:59 PM
Is the patch done?!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on December 19, 2010, 06:43:56 PM
Not yet, unfortunately, and I never expected this to take so long to get done. My apologies to all. :isuck:
As time permits, I'm working on the patch and trying to make it good, but I'm starting to wonder if it can realistically be used as a jumping-off point for other people's projects. I didn't have any problems the last time I played it through, but as TheNattak has pointed out, further changes to dialogue after applying this patch presents problems.
I'll keep hacking away at it (pun intended) and see if everything can coexist peacefully.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on December 23, 2010, 07:43:32 PM
Take as long as it needs. If it wasn't worth doing, you'd have all given up by now.
An Uber-patch is the best idea I've seen next to the combined collection of hacks available to allow anyone make their own hacks.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on December 29, 2010, 09:59:22 AM
in case fistukman of GameFAQs is reading this page of the topic:
MBlock129's patches can be found here:
http://zephyr129.brinkster.net/
(background: this morning, fistukman posted on GameFAQs about seeing this thread, and wanting to download mblock's patches separately. i replied with the URL, but the topic was modded within a few hours, so i dunno whether he saw the answer. no, i am not crazy, nor do i plan to turn this thread into a random personal correspondences bulletin board, though Burt should know i have no further use for the dog leash, as i'm fully housebroken.)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on December 29, 2010, 10:58:19 AM
Why is GameFAQs so inconsistent with modding anything involving patches? :zemogus:
It makes me want to :banonsmash:
Or more accurately, who are the trolls that want to cling to that board with a deathgrip?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on January 31, 2011, 08:33:33 AM
So it figures as soon as I complete my ultimate bugfix/patching project of this game, I find this thread. What a waste. XD
Ah well, I might as well share some info: Here are the patches I used in my game which you don't have listed.
Quote
*Ignore Charm patch (Drakkhen) (This patch allows enemies that block muddle to also block Charm.)
*Ignore Kamog patch (Drakkhen) (This patch prevents the game from removing Kamog's equipment at the end of the WoB and placing it into your inventory.)
*South Figaro's Secret Shortcut Fix (Novalia Spirit) (In South Figaro, it is possible to cross the river via a secret passage behind the cafe and thereby go through Locke's scenario without stealing clothes, which produces a few oddities. The existence of the shortcut is a direct result of having a black, passable tile on the first background layer at the specified location.)
*Shop Menu Fix (Novalia Spirit) (This patch fixes the bug that causes the shop menu to display improperly when the player closes the buy menu on the first possible frame; under certain circumstances, reentering the buy menu would freeze the game.)
*Misplaced Cursor Fix (Novalia Spirit) (Returning from a subscreen in the Espers menu causes the scrolling cursor to be shifted upward by eight pixels from its intended position; the patch corrects this minor defect.)
*Frozen Mosaic Fix (Novalia Spirit) (This bug requires the activation of the mosaic effect from a subscreen in which you can switch between characters. For instance, try to access SwdTech from Terra's skills menu, then quickly press L or R. After the screen fades back in, the mosaic pattern will remain, and will only dissolve once the main menu is closed, or if the mosaic effect is triggered again. The SNES versions correct this behavior to a degree, as the requirements are more restrictive, thereby requiring more precise timing.)
*Homesick Gau fix (Djibriel) (Gau, when returning from a Leap, needs a monster slot to occupy. This slot is always designed as the sixth slot (i.e. the last one). Obviously, monster formations of six monsters will not allow Gau to return. However, there is also a great amount of monster formations which have plenty room for Gau, yet have a monster in the sixth slot anyway, preventing Gau from returning while he normally could. This patch optimizes the monster formations which appear on the Veldt, and Gau can now return from any monster formations, passing the usual criteria, as long as it isn't a team of six.)
I'm not sure how many of these you have fixed yourself without documenting, or whether you knew about them but chose not to use them. This is what I got though - I used all the patches you listed as well in mine. Yours has better graphics though. ( :isuck: at graphics editing)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 08, 2011, 10:09:12 AM
Quote
*Ignore Charm patch (Drakkhen) (This patch allows enemies that block muddle to also block Charm.)
*Ignore Kamog patch (Drakkhen) (This patch prevents the game from removing Kamog's equipment at the end of the WoB and placing it into your inventory.)
Hmm. I hadn't really looked at all of Drakkhen's patches, and it looks as though I should have. Thanks!
Quote
*South Figaro's Secret Shortcut Fix (Novalia Spirit) (In South Figaro, it is possible to cross the river via a secret passage behind the cafe and thereby go through Locke's scenario without stealing clothes, which produces a few oddities. The existence of the shortcut is a direct result of having a black, passable tile on the first background layer at the specified location.)
*Shop Menu Fix (Novalia Spirit) (This patch fixes the bug that causes the shop menu to display improperly when the player closes the buy menu on the first possible frame; under certain circumstances, reentering the buy menu would freeze the game.)
*Misplaced Cursor Fix (Novalia Spirit) (Returning from a subscreen in the Espers menu causes the scrolling cursor to be shifted upward by eight pixels from its intended position; the patch corrects this minor defect.)
*Frozen Mosaic Fix (Novalia Spirit) (This bug requires the activation of the mosaic effect from a subscreen in which you can switch between characters. For instance, try to access SwdTech from Terra's skills menu, then quickly press L or R. After the screen fades back in, the mosaic pattern will remain, and will only dissolve once the main menu is closed, or if the mosaic effect is triggered again. The SNES versions correct this behavior to a degree, as the requirements are more restrictive, thereby requiring more precise timing.)
Odd. Most of these I thought I had included; I'll have to check and see if I had added those to the first post.
Quote
*Homesick Gau fix (Djibriel) (Gau, when returning from a Leap, needs a monster slot to occupy. This slot is always designed as the sixth slot (i.e. the last one). Obviously, monster formations of six monsters will not allow Gau to return. However, there is also a great amount of monster formations which have plenty room for Gau, yet have a monster in the sixth slot anyway, preventing Gau from returning while he normally could. This patch optimizes the monster formations which appear on the Veldt, and Gau can now return from any monster formations, passing the usual criteria, as long as it isn't a team of six.)
assassin had sent me notice that he had updated Homesick Gau, and I downloaded it but haven't put it in the patch yet. With that said, thanks for letting me know, assassin! :isuck:
I admit I haven't put much effort into FF6 Improvement lately; this roadblock frustrated me that much. I've tried several different ways to try to correct the issues being seen, with no success. Moving the new code those patches create didn't work. At this point, I'm inclined to call the game improvement portion of this project done and add a caveat to the first post stating that these patches were meant to be included but introduce conflicts when editing dialogue or events after they're applied. They don't seem to introduce any issues if they're applied after any changes are made, though, so I'll keep them in a separate list on the first post.
I'll update the list and the readme tonight and build the patch, and release it to the world.
I'm still working on the translation portion of this project and it's almost polished and ready for release.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 08, 2011, 10:30:03 PM
Here's another one (http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=1540.0) for you to take a look at. Whether it's a fix or a mod is up for debate, but I thought I'd toss it into the pile just in case.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 08, 2011, 11:26:32 PM
I saw that you had submitted that, and it looks really intriguing. Let me make sure I understand what it does:
It changes enemy and PC speed to match the Battle Speed setting in the menu, I saw that much. But the patches suggested by Odbarc - they would keep the speed values equal to Battle Speed 1 but change the pace of battle to 1, 3 or 6 depending on choice?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 09, 2011, 12:30:41 AM
I saw that you had submitted that, and it looks really intriguing. Let me make sure I understand what it does:
It changes enemy and PC speed to match the Battle Speed setting in the menu, I saw that much. But the patches suggested by Odbarc - they would keep the speed values equal to Battle Speed 1 but change the pace of battle to 1, 3 or 6 depending on choice?
I'll explain this mathematically, since that's the only way I really can. In the original game, the formula for a player character goes like this:
A = (Speed + 20) * C Where Speed = character's speed value, and C is the constant derived from taking the ATB multiplier (32 if slowed, 64 normally, 84 if hasted) and multiplying that by 1.5 (now 48 slowed, 96 normally, 126 hasted). I took out the 1.5 multiplier in the patch and just set the multipliers directly to 48, 96, and 126 - this saved 2 bytes.
If it's a player character, the result of that formula is the final speed value. However, if it's an enemy, this formula is used:
The above formula is very long and complicated, so I'll simplify:
With a battle speed 1 setting, an enemy's final speed value is: (((Speed + 20) * 255)/256) *C With a battle speed 3 setting, an enemy's final speed value is: (((Speed + 20) * 207)/256) *C With a battle speed 6 setting, an enemy's final speed value is: (((Speed + 20) * 135)/256) *C
To simplify it further, let's use an example. Say you have Character A with 35 speed and Enemy B with 35 speed. We'll ignore the * C at the end as it's irrelevant.
With a battle speed 1 setting, A has a final speed value of 55, and B has a final speed value of 54. With a battle speed 3 setting, A has a final speed value of 55, and B has a final speed value of 44. With a battle speed 6 setting, A has a final speed value of 55, and B has a final speed value of 29.
In a normal game, you can see how this makes the game easier with a higher battle setting. You might be wondering why the enemy has 54 speed while the character has 55 in option 1 - well, even with option 1, the game still multiplies an enemy's speed by (255/256) and then rounds the remainder down, so the enemy always loses at least 1 speed. Now I will outline what it looks like with the "Battle Speed Mod" patch in effect. Character A still has 35 speed and Enemy B still has 35 speed.
With a battle speed 1 setting, A has a final speed value of 54, and B has a final speed value of 54. With a battle speed 3 setting, A has a final speed value of 44, and B has a final speed value of 44. With a battle speed 6 setting, A has a final speed value of 29, and B has a final speed value of 29.
As you can see, the enemy speed is the same, but now the character speed goes down with the enemy speed when you change the "Battle Speed" option in the config menu. This means there will always be a 1:1 speed ratio, which is just like keeping the "Battle Speed" setting on Option 1 all the time in the normal game, but the pace of the battle changes based on what number you set Battle Speed to in the config menu.
Now we finally get to what the enemy speed modifiers do. For some people, having a 1:1 speed ratio makes the game too difficult. Let's say they want the ratio to be similar to that of having a 3 setting in the normal game. So, they apply the enemy speed modifier 3 patch, and now, Character A still has 35 speed, but Enemy B now has 24 speed. Take a look below to see how this changes things when you alter the "Battle Speed" option in the config menu:
With a battle speed 1 setting, A has a final speed value of 54, and B has a final speed value of 43. With a battle speed 3 setting, A has a final speed value of 44, and B has a final speed value of 35. With a battle speed 6 setting, A has a final speed value of 29, and B has a final speed value of 23.
As you can see, the 5:4 ratio is present no matter which Battle Speed setting you have. Let's go back to the unmodified game to see which setting has the 5:4 ratio originally:
With a battle speed 3 setting, A has a final speed value of 55, and B has a final speed value of 44.
So, applying the "enemy speed modifier 3" patch will change enemy speeds so that enemies are as fast as they were in the original game with that setting in the original game, but will still allow you to change the pace of the battle. Let's take one last look at how the "enemy speed modifier 6" patch changes the game's difficulty. With this patch, the enemy that originally had 35 speed now has 9. So we have Character A with 35 speed, and Enemy B with 9 speed.
With a battle speed 1 setting, A has a final speed value of 54, and B has a final speed value of 28. With a battle speed 3 setting, A has a final speed value of 44, and B has a final speed value of 23. With a battle speed 6 setting, A has a final speed value of 29, and B has a final speed value of 15.
This speed ratio is almost 2:1, and consistent no matter which number you have Battle Speed set at in the config menu.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 09, 2011, 12:41:51 AM
Wow, that sounds awesome! I appreciate the clarification; I've seen similar math from people calculating stats for WoW, so I was able to follow most of it, but the more clarity, the better.
I've already uploaded the latest version of the patch, but I'll be to include this patch on the next release. :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 09, 2011, 12:42:41 AM
OK, new version time!
v1.0
Added "Ignore Charm" and "Ignore Kamog" patches by Drakkhen
Added "South Figaro's Secret Shortcut", "Frozen Mosaic", "Shop Menu" and "Misplaced Cursor" patches by Novalia Spirit
Added "Homesick Gau 1.1" patch by Djibriel/assassin
Removed "Gogo Can't Uncurse the Cursed Shield" since I realized I was using 0.85 and a bug report was submitted for this patch :sad:
Branched the project into "Base" and "Complete", for hackers and players respectively (details are covered in the readme)
The patch can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 09, 2011, 01:07:33 AM
I look forward to using this as a base for my hack. Also, might I suggest a text suggestion? Most NPC's names are in all caps, but the game now defaults player names to be in lowercase. These inconsistencies are an eyesore, I mean, when you see something like the following:
BANON: Blah blah blah Terra: I like to burn things. BANON: Blah blah blah Locke: I'm a thief. ULTROS: I have tentacles!
...doesn't it make you just want to break something?
Removed "Gogo Can't Uncurse the Cursed Shield" since I realized I was using 0.85 and a bug report was submitted for this patch :sad:
Hmm...the readme still says you're using version 0.60.
Quote
Gogo Can't Uncurse the Cursed Shield fix 0.60 (Imzogelmo)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 09, 2011, 08:01:10 AM
Doh! One of a few things I had forgotten to fix. Don't worry about that one. Try v1.01 instead, and I'll be updating the first post to reflect the new changes.
Also, might I suggest a text suggestion? Most NPC's names are in all caps, but the game now defaults player names to be in lowercase. These inconsistencies are an eyesore, I mean, when you see something like the following:
BANON: Blah blah blah Terra: I like to burn things. BANON: Blah blah blah Locke: I'm a thief. ULTROS: I have tentacles!
...doesn't it make you just want to break something?
It does indeed, and I'll look at changing those when I go to include your battle speed mod. I was going to leave it, but since a) you're the second person to bring that up, and b) this version is all some people are going to play, then it needs to be done. And so it shall!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 09, 2011, 04:30:19 PM
So I went through the script for the baseline patch and cleaned it up a bit. This will be included in the next release, so expect the following:
No more capitalized actor names. WHOOO!
Cleaned up bit actor references, so now it's a bit clearer who's referring to what. Narshe Guards/Bodyguards, Imperial Troopers/other Soldiers are examples.
Added quotation marks for lines spoken by a member of the group who wasn't specified. This has been in the patch for a while, but I'm mentioning it now.
Fixed errors that I missed on my first read-through of the script.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 09, 2011, 05:02:19 PM
Excellent! I'm currently working on redrawing the game's portraits using your hack as a base. Here's a sneak preview. (http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4840/ff6a.png)
Constructive criticism is welcome :D
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 09, 2011, 08:30:49 PM
They're looking good so far. As much as I like Amano's work, his portraits don't match the character sprites, which bugs me.
I assume this is a semi/quasi anime style? Some more detail and those will be excellent.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 09, 2011, 09:36:16 PM
They're looking good so far. As much as I like Amano's work, his portraits don't match the character sprites, which bugs me.
I assume this is a semi/quasi anime style? Some more detail and those will be excellent.
Indeed. I'm still doing touch-ups on Locke's portrait... I also did slight modifications on Terra's eyes. I didn't actually draw these from scratch - I'm not THAT talented. I used actual pictures as a template, and had to shrink them to 40x40 (which presents some limitations) and then save them as 16-color bitmap (which gets rid of almost all their original colors, so I have to recolor them all from scratch.) Then, I make the necessary modifications to make them look like the character...like the bandana on Locke, I had to draw that myself, and I'm still trying to fix it up to make it look better.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on February 10, 2011, 01:20:24 AM
its good to see that this is still in the works :)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on February 10, 2011, 02:41:56 AM
That speed mod sounds awesome - I never realized the original setting was broken. I always set it to the fastest setting without thinking about it.
BTW, the game is pretty easy in general, so I'd recommend the hardest version of that speed patch (since it seems that all are equally correct anyhow).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 10, 2011, 06:21:43 PM
So I'm at work editing the translation, and I'm at the part where Sabin and Cyan are on the Phantom Train. And it's always bugged me that it has a different name in the script than it does in battle. With that said:
Is it wrong that I was seriously thinking of renaming the Phantom Train to the Soul Train? :laugh:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 10, 2011, 07:17:22 PM
So I'm at work editing the translation, and I'm at the part where Sabin and Cyan are on the Phantom Train. And it's always bugged me that it has a different name in the script than it does in battle. With that said:
Is it wrong that I was seriously thinking of renaming the Phantom Train to the Soul Train? :laugh:
Personally, I like "Phantom Train" better, but that's just me. One thing I would suggest though, make Phantom Train no longer undead - I always found it cheap that you could kill him with a Phoenix Down.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 10, 2011, 07:26:21 PM
Personally, I like "Phantom Train" better, but that's just me. One thing I would suggest though, make Phantom Train no longer undead - I always found it cheap that you could kill him with a Phoenix Down.
That's true, and since I've already removed the Vanish/Doom exploit...might as well do that too.
:edit: I see that Hidon and Didalos are also bosses with the Undead trait. Anyone know if they can be one-shot with a Phoenix Down?
As much as being as being undead makes sense from a logical standpoint, that's pretty much cheese to be able to one-shot a boss. Unless someone can make a convincing argument why any boss should have that weakness, I think I'll be removing it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on February 10, 2011, 11:19:48 PM
Does the "immune to death" flag prevent them from being killed by phoenix down? If not, I think it's still worth keeping them undead - it'd be weird if you used some undead-affecting thing, such as Cure as an attack, on the *Phantom* Train without it hurting him.
Also, as for the name, you can use whatever later games used (does FF6 Advance call him "Ghost Train" or something?)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 11, 2011, 12:56:10 AM
Even if you did set the "immune to death" flag, using something like an x-potion or elixir would deal maximum damage to them. I think it'd be best to just not give undead status to bosses.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 11, 2011, 01:52:40 PM
Even if you did set the "immune to death" flag, using something like an x-potion or elixir would deal maximum damage to them. I think it'd be best to just not give undead status to bosses.
That's a good point. Even if Phoenix Down couldn't do instant death, the party does have access to some elixirs by the time you get to the Phantom Train, and that's just like a one-shot due to its low HP. Just because I wouldn't use an elixir that way doesn't mean no one else would.
Also, as for the name, you can use whatever later games used (does FF6 Advance call him "Ghost Train" or something?)
FF6 Advance calls it Phantom Train as well, but I believe it's used in both the script and the battle enemy name. The Japanese name is Demon Train and that just doesn't fit.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on February 11, 2011, 04:46:24 PM
So I'm at work editing the translation, and I'm at the part where Sabin and Cyan are on the Phantom Train. And it's always bugged me that it has a different name in the script than it does in battle. With that said:
Is it wrong that I was seriously thinking of renaming the Phantom Train to the Soul Train? :laugh:
Try and add Disco lights, please. Soul Train; ALL ABOARD!! Cyan's family all going on... Cyan: "What? No! Disco sucks!"
(Disco / Soul the same thing or am I hitting on two different bases here?)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 11, 2011, 07:58:25 PM
I'm glad someone got that. :childish:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 17, 2011, 09:47:36 PM
I'm still working on the translation part of the project, and I've just finished proofing up to the cataclysm. World of Ruin, here I come! :happy:
I saw that Imzogelmo released a new version of the Gogo/Cursed Shield patch, so I think I'll apply that and Leviathan Mist's Battle Speed patch and push out a new version soon. I'm really itching to play completely through this game as soon as everything's done...but in the meantime, I'd like to hear some feedback on what you think so far if you've played it.
As for TheNattak and other people basing their hacks off of this project, have you seen any more issues since I put the more hack-friendly method in place?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on February 18, 2011, 02:30:09 PM
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "more hack-friendly method" ? I still have the revised original improvement patch applied. I have been applying patches as they come out. But yeah, no more bugs or game breaking issues, or conflicting patches. ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on February 18, 2011, 08:50:17 PM
Hey! I'm glad to see this is progressing smoothly. I played through the first bit of the initial release with a friend's little brother--I liked the fixes, and he just fell in love with VI. :happy:
As for the Phantom Train's name in battle, I believe "Phantom T." would fit. If you'd like, you could go for the FFVIII route and call it Doomtrain. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 19, 2011, 11:23:54 AM
Hey! I'm glad to see this is progressing smoothly. I played through the first bit of the initial release with a friend's little brother--I liked the fixes, and he just fell in love with VI. :happy:
That's awesome! Passing the joys to the next generation. :cycle:
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "more hack-friendly method" ? I still have the revised original improvement patch applied. I have been applying patches as they come out. But yeah, no more bugs or game breaking issues, or conflicting patches. ;)
That's good to hear. I guess what I did then is to add the "complete" patch for people who just want to play and not have to apply more patches to make it work as intended.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on February 19, 2011, 12:07:30 PM
Question: Does this perfect all-patch go 1.0, 1.1, un/headered?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 19, 2011, 12:09:16 PM
Question: Does this perfect all-patch go 1.0, 1.1, un/headered?
1.0, headered. If you have an unheadered ROM, all you really have to do is go into a hex editor and add 512 bytes to the beginning of the ROM, and voila, you now have a headered ROM
EDIT: I said to add 200 bytes - that's the hex value...man, I need to stop thinking in hex all the time
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on February 19, 2011, 12:43:09 PM
I've never been able to figure out hex editors. The one I had (the simple one?) got me confused enough. I need a baby-steps youtube video or something VERY specific.
What's the point of Header exactly? Why have one at all? What's the benefit of or of not having this on roms?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 19, 2011, 01:09:57 PM
Unless you're coding an emulator or using an IPS patch, it doesn't really make a difference whether or not your ROM has a header. The only reason it matters with IPS patches is because the data gets shifted depending on which ROM was used. Most people just happen to use a headered ROM for FF3us when making IPS patches.
From what I understand, headers are, or were, necessary for dumping ROMs directly from the cartridges, but emulators don't need them to run the game.
One other thing to note is that ROMs labeled with [!] typically do not have a header, while those without the ! typically do.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on February 19, 2011, 01:22:43 PM
A helpful thing that darkmage can do is add info to the readme that explains to the user how to tell which type of rom he has (right click on the file, view number of bytes)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on February 19, 2011, 01:27:15 PM
What's the point of Header exactly? Why have one at all? What's the benefit of or of not having this on roms?
There never was any point. They mostly belong to copiers, and most programs from the previous 15 years were built to need the headers because nobody really knew/cared. They only matter today if you have such a program that still needs a header.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: angelo26 on February 21, 2011, 08:20:54 PM
TheNattak and I were messing around with the improvement patch v0.92, and we found this bug in battle. In the options menu, if you change the style of the commands from window to short, and you access the "row" command in battle, this happens:
To us it seems like a problem in the code that erases the windows. The same problem happens with the "defense" command.
If someone knows how to fix it and/or reveal the address at where the code is not functioning will be greatly appreciated. The code to expand windows in battle may be close..so any help will be greatly appreciated.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 22, 2011, 09:55:03 AM
A helpful thing that darkmage can do is add info to the readme that explains to the user how to tell which type of rom he has (right click on the file, view number of bytes)
That's a good suggestion. I personally don't care for the headers being there, as they're created by the cartridge copiers, but I never bothered to remove the header on the rom I'm using as a project base. There are a couple of ways to add them in, but I haven't messed with that at all.
TheNattak and I were messing around with the improvement patch v0.92, and we found this bug in battle. In the options menu, if you change the style of the commands from window to short, and you access the "row" command in battle, this happens:
To us it seems like a problem in the code that erases the windows. The same problem happens with the "defense" command.
If someone knows how to fix it and/or reveal the address at where the code is not functioning will be greatly appreciated. The code to expand windows in battle may be close..so any help will be greatly appreciated.
Dammit, I suck at testing... :shadow:
I don't play that way because I don't like the window format...but I didn't do anything except change the frame graphics. Does this happen in the original game as well?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: angelo26 on February 23, 2011, 09:09:53 AM
no, this problem isn't present in the original game.
I applied the v0.92 of the improvement patch to a clean FF6 rom and that happened. Some bytes are shifted around the C1 bank from one of the patches included, so that's probably the problem here...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 23, 2011, 12:59:36 PM
I'll take a look at the documentation throughout the patches and try to find which one might be causing the issue.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on February 23, 2011, 03:19:36 PM
i don't necessarily suspect any of mine, but here are ones that write to battle menus:
- Alphabetical Rage patch - Step Mine's missing digit fix (only changes one byte, specific to MP cost display, so hard to imagine it'd have side effects.) - Brushless Sketch patch - Control menu responds poorly to MP change fix
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: angelo26 on February 24, 2011, 12:02:15 AM
I remember lenophis mentioning something about the Brushless Sketch fix conflicting with another patch, I don't remember which exact thread he said that...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on February 24, 2011, 01:02:52 AM
it was Summon This!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on February 24, 2011, 06:55:01 AM
It was this (http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=1516.0) thread. And no, I still haven't updated that patch yet. I'm in the middle of getting another patch ready for release. A big patch. :omg:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 24, 2011, 11:26:41 AM
I still haven't updated that patch yet. I'm in the middle of getting another patch ready for release. A big patch. :omg:
If it's what I think it is, then :omghax:
Also, I didn't use the Summon This! patch, as angelo26 knows. :wink:
I haven't had a chance to dig since work's been busy this week, but out of the patches I've seen named, I don't believe any of those would cause it. Since I haven't looked, I can't be sure, so I'll confirm that before I say any more.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 27, 2011, 03:33:46 PM
So I found the culprit causing the Row window issue, and it wasn't the patch I expected...the Esper Battle Menu fix is causing this issue on a clean FF3us 1.0 headered ROM.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on March 07, 2011, 09:34:48 PM
Ahaha, lots of bugs seem to be popping up lately. Here's to hoping you're not entirely discouraged, darkmage! :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Submariner Son on March 09, 2011, 01:27:19 PM
Hello everyone.
Couldn't find contact info for Dark Mage/DarkMagus, so decided to post here.
Found a slight visual bug in item menu, when Locke has left the team during the raft sequence. Thought I'd mention it, in case it passed under the radar.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 14, 2011, 04:58:03 PM
Thanks for reporting, Submariner Son.
So what exactly is being done when you see the text overlap?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on March 15, 2011, 10:34:06 PM
So I found the culprit causing the Row window issue, and it wasn't the patch I expected...the Esper Battle Menu fix is causing this issue on a clean FF3us 1.0 headered ROM.
If this is the case, I wonder why the anti-patch is not fixing the issue??
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on March 15, 2011, 11:27:55 PM
So I found the culprit causing the Row window issue, and it wasn't the patch I expected...the Esper Battle Menu fix is causing this issue on a clean FF3us 1.0 headered ROM.
If this is the case, I wonder why the anti-patch is not fixing the issue??
It could be that the patch itself has the error while the anti-patch is designed not to recognize there's an error.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Submariner Son on March 17, 2011, 10:32:05 PM
So what exactly is being done when you see the text overlap?
Just regular cursor scrolling through the item list.
I must unfortunately report some additional visual corruption in the description field of relic items, in the item list. The "Sniper Sight" relic sometimes overwrites the description text twice, and the first letter of certain relic descriptions is sometimes overwritten by another unrelated letter. Nothing game-breaking, but reporting these is the least I can do to support this wonderful project.
Edit: Tintinabell is originally introduced as "Cat's Bell" when first obtained from the wounded soldier, after sending his letters to his lovely Lola.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 18, 2011, 01:07:28 PM
Just regular cursor scrolling through the item list.
I must unfortunately report some additional visual corruption in the description field of relic items, in the item list. The "Sniper Sight" relic sometimes overwrites the description text twice, and the first letter of certain relic descriptions is sometimes overwritten by another unrelated letter. Nothing game-breaking, but reporting these is the least I can do to support this wonderful project.
Edit: Tintinabell is originally introduced as "Cat's Bell" when first obtained from the wounded soldier, after sending his letters to his lovely Lola.
Yes, I found that a few weeks ago. I was on the verge of releasing a patch which corrects item names in the dialogue script when these bugs were reported. I'm trying to duplicate the item descriptions issue but I'm not seeing any problems. Which emulator are you using, Submariner Son?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Submariner Son on March 18, 2011, 08:17:46 PM
BSNES Performance version, Mac OS X port by Bannister.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Submariner Son on March 18, 2011, 08:44:54 PM
Uh-oh... This might be a sign of corrupted data. Game went nuts when I was about to go for my second leap across buildings in Zozo. The whole set of building tiles suddenly and wildly scrolled diagonally across the screen while the Zozo music kept on playing. It's dead Jim.
I'm not discarding the possibility that my own ROM could be flawed, but I tried my best to find a true headless file.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on March 18, 2011, 09:20:56 PM
Uh-oh... This might be a sign of corrupted data. Game went nuts when I was about to go for my second leap across buildings in Zozo. The whole set of building tiles suddenly and wildly scrolled diagonally across the screen while the Zozo music kept on playing. It's dead Jim.
I'm not discarding the possibility that my own ROM could be flawed, but I tried my best to find a true headless file.
Try using Mblock129's "Miraculous, Death-Defying Always-Left-Facing Jumps in Zozo" patch.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Submariner Son on March 18, 2011, 09:44:14 PM
Thanks TheNattak, I'll make sure to try it soon. I'm glad to know there's a fix out there for it. :edit: Doh! I've just realized you're supposed to post-apply a few patches after the big one. I know it's written in the first post, but perhaps it would help others to emphasize this important step more clearly, especially on the FF6 Improvement website.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on March 19, 2011, 04:55:16 AM
That Zozo bug is the one I found and fixed a few pages back in this thread. I assume it's fixed in darkmage's latest version?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Submariner Son on March 19, 2011, 12:10:04 PM
The "They Only Jump Left in Zozo!" patch by mblock129 did the trick. I can jump right in Zozo without the game experiencing a mid-life crisis.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 24, 2011, 12:12:22 PM
Uh-oh... This might be a sign of corrupted data. Game went nuts when I was about to go for my second leap across buildings in Zozo. The whole set of building tiles suddenly and wildly scrolled diagonally across the screen while the Zozo music kept on playing. It's dead Jim.
I'm not discarding the possibility that my own ROM could be flawed, but I tried my best to find a true headless file.
It's possible that this could be due to a corrupted ROM, but I doubt it. Several of us have seen this problem before. Try the latest version and see if that isn't fixed - I reimplemented my changes on a clean ROM for 1.00, so 1.01 should be better (I hope). Ah, didn't see the new page! Good to know that took care of it. Also:
Quote
Doh! I've just realized you're supposed to post-apply a few patches after the big one. I know it's written in the first post, but perhaps it would help others to emphasize this important step more clearly, especially on the FF6 Improvement website.
I'll add a caveat to make sure to read the readme file for important instructions on applying the patch. :wink:
In the meantime, I'm still trying to figure out the corrupted item descriptions. Once I've got that tackled, I'll release a new version.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on March 25, 2011, 06:42:45 PM
Ahaha, lots of bugs seem to be popping up lately. Here's to hoping you're not entirely discouraged, darkmage! :happy:
I suppose it's better than there being bugs that AREN'T discovered. Hasn't this been a long process either way? If it was an easy or quick process, someone would have done this already. Keep up the excellent work. Everyone will appreciate the hard work and playing a fully unbugged game.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Submariner Son on March 28, 2011, 02:19:23 PM
I suppose it's better than there being bugs that AREN'T discovered. Hasn't this been a long process either way? If it was an easy or quick process, someone would have done this already. Keep up the excellent work. Everyone will appreciate the hard work and playing a fully unbugged game.
Hear, hear.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 30, 2011, 04:48:11 PM
I suppose it's better than there being bugs that AREN'T discovered. Hasn't this been a long process either way? If it was an easy or quick process, someone would have done this already.
Well, I must say that I didn't expect it to take anywhere NEAR this long! :whoa:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on April 04, 2011, 05:08:23 AM
Quick question, darkmage--are you including the battle speed mod in this? It seems like the behavior of this was unintended, given the way FFIV through FFV's re-releases' ATBs work.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on April 04, 2011, 12:48:11 PM
like the patch author said, it's hard to believe it *wasn't* intentional, given they have a test to see whether the entity's a monster before proceeding. missing code is one thing, as is mislocated code, but fabricated for no reason code is less likely. now, i'm not saying the vanilla game is logical, and the terse "Battle Speed" would make me think it affects the speed of the battle -- i.e., all its participants. fwiw, the instruction booklet says, "The Battle Speed determines how quickly battles will be played out." that obviously favors the changed behavior. but the instruction manual is wrong on other things, and hardly binding.. so this could be a documentation issue rather than a design/coding issue.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on April 07, 2011, 01:56:03 PM
Well the unused code may be present simply because the feature was cut or changed late in development. Late in projects it's usually safer to simply unhook things and leave them there than it is to remove them outright when making changes or cuts.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on April 07, 2011, 06:17:23 PM
Yes, I am adding this patch to FF6 Improvement.
I'll defer to assassin and Leviathan Mist on the details of how the ATB works in the various games; unfortunately I'm still not up on general coding, although it's making more sense than it did when I started this project. But it does seem like the way ATB works in VI isn't consistent with IV and V as I remember them, since the player gauge fill times do seem to change with the speed setting. Knowing that the code was set to affect enemies only is a definite change from that behavior, and makes VI an anomaly in the IV-VII range of games.
So that, and the fact that I've already added patches that add features from later games (different color for HP/MP, etc), convinced me that this is a valid addition and is in line with the spirit of the improvement.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: kefkaroth on April 10, 2011, 08:47:13 PM
i know this isnt where to post this. but im very interested in this 24bit patch and was wondering if i could get a copy of it. would be very greatly appreciated :)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on May 08, 2011, 08:36:00 PM
i know this isnt where to post this. but im very interested in this 24bit patch and was wondering if i could get a copy of it. would be very greatly appreciated :)
CKlein made one, but his site no longer exists. I'm sure it would be relatively easy to make a 24-bit HP patch for someone who knows assembly though, they'd just need motivation for it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on June 05, 2011, 04:12:50 PM
*sigh* I'm having a rather large bug with the WoR Auction House, where the only two things that ever show up are the 1/1200 Airship, and the Imp Robot. Nothing else at all ever. It's very strange because the Imp-Robot is WoB only..
I'm starting to think it was one mblock129's Auction House patches because I know I have used them in the past, and had to resort to using the anti-patch for the Auction House Express one, because it was making only the Cure Ring show up forever after the 2 Espers >_< But this bug is still present after using the anti's, so I'm not too sure now.
Can anyone confirm or deny that this is a bug with the megapatch or not? And also, can someone please point me to any Auction House code that is non-event related, so I can compare data and see just what the heck is going on here? I'd really appreciate it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on June 05, 2011, 06:49:17 PM
And also, can someone please point me to any Auction House code that is non-event related, so I can compare data and see just what the heck is going on here?
Doesn't exist. The Auction House is entirely event driven.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: mblock129 on June 09, 2011, 11:25:08 PM
Auction House Express was never meant to be compatible with normal gameplay. It is a cheat. It was made for the player who gets the 2 espers ASAP (in the WoB) and never sets foot in the Auction House again. I never tested it in the WoR because I didn't think that was relevant.
Zoneseek? No Thanks / Free Space for Events is a bugfix and should be compatible with normal gameplay as far as I know. It has no effect on what is for sale, only what happens after you buy something.
I had assumed that Auction House Express wasn't included in the Megapatch. It shouldn't be.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on June 10, 2011, 03:08:21 PM
You are correct, I'm not sure why I thought this patch was included in with the megapatch, which is of course why I posted this bug I'm having in THIS topic. :isuck: But since I have changed the whole Auctions House event back to normal, by transferring all the bytes for the Auction event (I think) back from a clean ROM, shouldn't that be enough to fix the said issue? If not, then I guess it might be something else that is causing the two things that ever show up to be the 1/1200 Airship, and the Imp Robot in the WoR. I wish I knew for certain. Just to clarify and make sure I copied the right bytes, they are:
CB/4E47: C0 - CB/5EEB: FE
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on June 11, 2011, 05:18:08 PM
Taking a glance through the auction house event data just now, it looks like it's highly dependent on the settings of some flags as well as the outcome of some mathematical operations... if other patches affected these things, then they could have inadvertently screwed up the auction house, even without editing the auction house data.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on June 12, 2011, 01:27:57 AM
if other patches affected these things, then they could have inadvertently screwed up the auction house, even without editing the auction house data.
If any patch touched event command BD, you would be seeing the changes of it almost immediately, because it's used everywhere. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on June 12, 2011, 02:49:20 AM
Sorry, I meant the actual events in which the flags were set/cleared.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: ValiantKnife on June 12, 2011, 10:49:44 PM
Hello everyone,
I read on the project's download page that no major script revisions are being done for this project at the moment. A few years ago I was working on a synthesis retranslation - using the work of many authors (SkyRender, Lina Darkstar, KWHazit, etc.) and the original JFFVI scripts. I recently graduated from university and was considering starting the project back up. If you'd be interested in using the material, I'd be willing to make a regular commitment to this project. Let me know.
Thanks, VK
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 13, 2011, 02:51:38 PM
I read on the project's download page that no major script revisions are being done for this project at the moment. A few years ago I was working on a synthesis retranslation - using the work of many authors (SkyRender, Lina Darkstar, KWHazit, etc.) and the original JFFVI scripts. I recently graduated from university and was considering starting the project back up. If you'd be interested in using the material, I'd be willing to make a regular commitment to this project. Let me know.
I appreciate the offer, VK, but that sentence in the description is a bit misleading.
There are two parts to the patch once it's done and everything is working ( :sad: ): the game improvement patch and the script improvement patch. The script improvement part is actually done (aside from fixing any typos or issues), and is a synthesis of the Lina Darkstar, KWHazit and FF6 Advance scripts. The problem is that this is completely dependent on the game improvement patch, which is stalled at the moment. I took a break due to the fact that whenever I would start the game up to do a comprehensive playthrough and make sure everything is working, I would pull a narco and nod off. The sleep situation has improved a bit, and I'm ready to get in here and polish this thing up.
tl;dr - I've already got one.
I'll change the description on my webpage though, and I'm sorry for any confusion.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 13, 2011, 04:08:58 PM
*sigh* I'm having a rather large bug with the WoR Auction House, where the only two things that ever show up are the 1/1200 Airship, and the Imp Robot. Nothing else at all ever. It's very strange because the Imp-Robot is WoB only..
I'm starting to think it was one mblock129's Auction House patches because I know I have used them in the past, and had to resort to using the anti-patch for the Auction House Express one, because it was making only the Cure Ring show up forever after the 2 Espers >_< But this bug is still present after using the anti's, so I'm not too sure now.
Can anyone confirm or deny that this is a bug with the megapatch or not? And also, can someone please point me to any Auction House code that is non-event related, so I can compare data and see just what the heck is going on here? I'd really appreciate it.
mblock is correct - the only AH-related patch I included is the Zoneseek/Free Space patch. But I have not been able to do a complete playthrough to test WoR features (see post above). I should be able to start on that this evening; in the meantime, I'll go over the patch diff list to see if anything is being changed in that area.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on June 13, 2011, 04:16:27 PM
Thank you very much, darkmage, that would be greatly appreciated.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on June 13, 2011, 05:10:36 PM
If you want me to do a complete playthrough of your current patch, I'd be happy to.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 13, 2011, 05:28:09 PM
If you wouldn't mind, that would be awesome! I'll still be doing a playthrough, but my time during the week to play is limited.
There are a few things I had in mind to try:
Test some of the game-breaking fixes. Most of those have to do with Shadow in Sabin's scenario, but there's the hidden path in Locke's scenario and the Kutan-as-Celes glitch, as well as the airship Game Over exploit. The last one is a little extreme to try, but as long as you don't save normally, you could use save states to break that up. You should not be able to do any of these, so let me know if you can get them to work.
Test the (few) events that can be done in either the WoB or the WoR, such as buying the Magicite at the Auction House, or from the guy in Tzen. I want to see if the problem TheNattak is having is isolated, or if there is something that was changed.
Try to get as many items as possible, and make sure the item descriptions display properly. It was such a PITA to get those pointers done right, but still there were issues. Also, check spell descriptions and Esper bonuses to make sure they show up properly as well.
I'll be doing what I can as well, so if I get to any of these and test them I'll be sure to update the thread.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on June 13, 2011, 11:29:52 PM
If you wouldn't mind, that would be awesome! I'll still be doing a playthrough, but my time during the week to play is limited.
There are a few things I had in mind to try:
Test some of the game-breaking fixes. Most of those have to do with Shadow in Sabin's scenario, but there's the hidden path in Locke's scenario and the Kamog-as-Celes glitch, as well as the airship Game Over exploit. The last one is a little extreme to try, but as long as you don't save normally, you could use save states to break that up. You should not be able to do any of these, so let me know if you can get them to work.
Test the (few) events that can be done in either the WoB or the WoR, such as buying the Magicite at the Auction House, or from the guy in Tzen. I want to see if the problem TheNattak is having is isolated, or if there is something that was changed.
Try to get as many items as possible, and make sure the item descriptions display properly. It was such a PITA to get those pointers done right, but still there were issues. Also, check spell descriptions and Esper bonuses to make sure they show up properly as well.
I'll be doing what I can as well, so if I get to any of these and test them I'll be sure to update the thread.
I don't know all of the "game-breaking" bugs you mentioned, so if you could compile a list of them and a brief description on how to activate them, that would help. Only the ones you want tested. Also, do you have the current version of the patch available anywhere?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 14, 2011, 05:38:44 PM
Here are descriptions of the game-breakers/sequence-breakers from the patches that fix them.
Shadow leaves a one-man party
Quote
This one fixes a bug in which Shadow can leave a party consisting of just Shadow, thereby freezing the game. To experience this (not that you'd want to!), here's what you do. After the Narshe battle (where Kefka raids Narshe and you have to fight them on the snowfield), make a party of just Gau, then go to hire Shadow's help at Kohlingen and trek back to the Veldt and ditch Gau (have him leap but then don't let him come back). Then, if you take Shadow past the gate of Narshe (or try to enter the secret passage), he will leave (as he would if you had other party members). This patch corrects that behavior by blocking Shadow's entry as usual, but you still retain control of him.
Airship/Game Over exploit
Quote
When you go aboard the airship while it is in flight, the game sets a flag that will put you in control of the airship the next time the overworld map is accessed. This flag, however, is not cleared when the game-over screen appears. As a result, it is possible to take control of the airship at any point in the game, depending on where the game is saved, and provided that the game is not interrupted once the flag is set, as it is not stored in SRAM.
There are two ways to trigger this bug. The first method involves the Floating Continent and imposes certain requirements, which are summarized as follows:
Go aboard the airship from the overworld map, not the Floating Continent (may not be required). Go to the Floating Continent without going through the IAF sequence. Get annihilated on the Floating Continent.
These are the only two I can think of. And since I know the invisible tile fix in South Figaro works, there's no need to test the Kutan-as-Celes glitch...it isn't fixed.
I'll try to get to these tonight, and I'll PM you if I prove any of these before I hear from you. Thanks again for the assist! :childish:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 14, 2011, 05:44:54 PM
On a somewhat-related topic, is there a generally recommended tool to use in making .ips patches? I've been using Lunar Magic, but the last few versions of my patch have jumped in size and I'm not sure why. I'd like to compare the results, but I don't know what's good or accepted.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on June 14, 2011, 05:49:45 PM
On a somewhat-related topic, is there a generally recommended tool to use in making .ips patches? I've been using Lunar Magic, but the last few versions of my patch have jumped in size and I'm not sure why. I'd like to compare the results, but I don't know what's good or accepted.
A patch can be rather large if there's a lot of shifted data there. If you moved stuff around in the ROM, that could be an explanation. It can also jump in size due to bytes being deleted. If the patch is almost as big as the ROM then that could be a possibility and you might wanna look into that. I use Lunar Magic, myself.
Do you have the most recent copy of the patch available for download? I need it if I wanna test it, I just recently got a new PC and none of my stuff is on here.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 14, 2011, 06:01:51 PM
Hmm. I'm not sure what would have changed so drastically between versions of my patch...I don't think I added a major change/fix patch that would account for 200k...
Do you have the most recent copy of the patch available for download? I need it if I wanna test it, I just recently got a new PC and none of my stuff is on here.
Sure, it's on my website (http://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement). I haven't added your speed improvement patch yet, and there were a few things I had cleaned up (and want to clean up, like the garbled item descriptions) before I put a new version out.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on June 14, 2011, 11:01:27 PM
On a somewhat-related topic, is there a generally recommended tool to use in making .ips patches? I've been using Lunar Magic, but the last few versions of my patch have jumped in size and I'm not sure why. I'd like to compare the results, but I don't know what's good or accepted.
If it was a spike of 2+ megabytes, you made a patch based on a headerless rom to a headered rom (source had no header, patched rom did). All of those changes will carry over, and that's bad.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on June 15, 2011, 01:10:12 AM
I have tested the Shadow leaves a one-man party and Airship/Game Over exploit using your complete patch, and both bugs appear to be fixed. I also looked at the descriptions for all 255 items, every magic spell, esper, lore, etc. and didn't see any bugs. I did see a bit of weirdness when talking to someone in Narshe though. There's a guy who has a word censored with symbols in the normal game, but those symbols are replaced with the wrong letters in the hack. Two screenshots are attached, one showing what it looks like in the hack, and the other showing what it looks like in the unhacked game. It looks like the @ and the % were replaced by the letters i and l respectively.
EDIT: I found another minor visual error in the Bushido list. Some of the Bushido names seem to be not aligned properly. The third screenie shows what I mean.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 16, 2011, 01:11:41 AM
On a somewhat-related topic, is there a generally recommended tool to use in making .ips patches? I've been using Lunar Magic, but the last few versions of my patch have jumped in size and I'm not sure why. I'd like to compare the results, but I don't know what's good or accepted.
If it was a spike of 2+ megabytes, you made a patch based on a headerless rom to a headered rom (source had no header, patched rom did). All of those changes will carry over, and that's bad.
Hmm. It wasn't that much - the 200k you had noticed a while ago. While I'm not seeing that big a jump, this does make me think of something to look at. My test ROM is headered, and though I believe I was careful enough to use headered versions of any patch that gave the option, I can't be 100% positive about it. That may also be the source of some of these weird glitches.
:edit: Here is an example - the Phantom Train patch I created - on a clean ROM - changed maybe 1k worth of data total: I rearranged 1 treasure event, 2 map tiles and freed up 9 bytes in the compartment event to allow the chests to appear, yet the .ips file size using Lunar is 194k.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 16, 2011, 01:15:29 AM
I have tested the Shadow leaves a one-man party and Airship/Game Over exploit using your complete patch, and both bugs appear to be fixed. I also looked at the descriptions for all 255 items, every magic spell, esper, lore, etc. and didn't see any bugs. I did see a bit of weirdness when talking to someone in Narshe though. There's a guy who has a word censored with symbols in the normal game, but those symbols are replaced with the wrong letters in the hack. Two screenshots are attached, one showing what it looks like in the hack, and the other showing what it looks like in the unhacked game. It looks like the @ and the % were replaced by the letters i and l respectively.
EDIT: I found another minor visual error in the Bushido list. Some of the Bushido names seem to be not aligned properly. The third screenie shows what I mean.
Good to know about the game and sequence breaker bugs. As far as the censored text, that might be due to the new VWF having different symbols in place for the opcode calling it. For example, "il" is actually one character. I'll have a look at that really quick. :edit: That was it. The opcode for "@" is calling "il" instead. I changed it to "/", and that will be fixed in the next release.
As far as the Bushido names on the menu, I know what caused that. I'll fix it in the next release as well.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 21, 2011, 01:01:59 PM
its good to know this is coming along so well
on an unrelated note (just in case you didnt know), the brush-less sketch patch is what interferes with the summon this patch, and (I'm not 100% sure about this) I think the sketch-less mime patch messes with the not scary enough patch, I will un-patch these to and test them out, I'll let u know
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: vivify93 on June 21, 2011, 03:53:28 PM
It would really suck if The Sketching Mime interfered with Not Scary Enough. Especially since I have no idea how to fix the conflicts or what caused it. All I did was use FF3usME.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 22, 2011, 01:16:52 PM
I hope I'm wrong about it as well, if anything I'll test it ASAP n let u all know
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on June 28, 2011, 02:21:14 PM
Where can i download the latest version of this? I didn't see a link in the original Post.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 28, 2011, 06:08:34 PM
Where can i download the latest version of this? I didn't see a link in the original Post.
Yeah, cos that would make too much sense, wouldn't it...? :isuck:
Original post updated, and you can find it here (https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement) as well.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on June 28, 2011, 08:52:15 PM
Awesome! I'll be following this one!
I like how you mention in the README that this would be a great baseline version of the game to modify from.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 30, 2011, 09:37:39 AM
Drumroll...
Version 1.02 has been released!
Changes: -Added Leviathan Mist's "Battle Speed Mod & Speed Overflow Fix - Faster v2" patch -Added Ronnen's "Fanatacism - Limited" patch -Made a previously unreachable treasure in Narshe at the beginning of the game obtainable, thanks to Dragonsbrethren for pointing it out! -Corrected item references in the dialogue to use the proper item names
As always, test it out and let me know what you think! You can find it here (https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Ronnen on June 30, 2011, 10:00:21 AM
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on June 30, 2011, 11:43:47 AM
Yes, that was an awesome idea and I greatly appreciate you making the patch! I wish I were better at coding than I am currently, then I could contribute as well.
And your comment about "standing on the shoulders of giants" - yeah, they are the ones who made this project possible. Without the great people who care enough about this game to make it better, this would just be a dream.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on June 30, 2011, 11:55:47 AM
Going to throw this on my psp and give it a whirl!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on June 30, 2011, 05:46:18 PM
Hmm...that's not good. I tried the complete patch, and my game froze at the first battle scene.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 01, 2011, 01:12:06 AM
Doh! I thought I had forgotten something. I didn't see it since I already had a savestate I was using that was past that point. I'll take a look and see what's up.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on July 01, 2011, 08:18:22 AM
well darn, good thing i havent got to it yet
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 01, 2011, 09:40:36 AM
Did it to me as well. The battle speed mod doesn't do this, so it looks like another patch is conflicting with Ronnen's patch. I'd really like to use that patch, since other forms of magic should be available in the Tower of Fanatics.
I tested it against the other Magitek-affecting patch I use (MTek in Cyan's Soul), but the battle started. I'll have to wait until after work to find the conflict.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Ronnen on July 01, 2011, 12:22:54 PM
Did it to me as well. The battle speed mod doesn't do this, so it looks like another patch is conflicting with Ronnen's patch. I'd really like to use that patch, since other forms of magic should be available in the Tower of Fanatics.
I tested it against the other Magitek-affecting patch I use (MTek in Cyan's Soul), but the battle started. I'll have to wait until after work to find the conflict.
Buuuu... let me know if you find what the conflict is (even if its just which patch is conflicting) and I'll try and fix it on my end if possible.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 01, 2011, 12:31:52 PM
so the fanatics tower patch messes with the improvement patch?
damn
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on July 01, 2011, 01:45:32 PM
it conflicts with my Brushless Sketch patch, which optimizes C2/532C so i can limit the free space used by my extra code.
iirc, the _meaning_ of C2/532C wasn't changed, since the focus of the patch was really C2/527D and its helper functions. that's the one bright spot, as making these two coexist would still involve writing an alternate version of the Fanaticism patch that boots some of my functions (or some of its own code) into additional free space areas.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Ronnen on July 01, 2011, 05:45:38 PM
it conflicts with my Brushless Sketch patch, which optimizes C2/532C so i can limit the free space used by my extra code.
iirc, the _meaning_ of C2/532C wasn't changed, since the focus of the patch was really C2/527D and its helper functions. that's the one bright spot, as making these two coexist would still involve writing an alternate version of the Fanaticism patch that boots some of my functions (or some of its own code) into additional free space areas.
hmm I'll take a stab at it this weekend then and post it up for your approval then assassin
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 01, 2011, 06:42:47 PM
Thanks for checking that out, assassin! And Ronnen, I appreciate the willingness to work on this - it's a really cool idea, and I'd love to keep it in the project. You guys are awesome!
In the meantime, that means that 1.02 is not recommended for use. I'll put out a new version with the other changes this evening.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Ronnen on July 01, 2011, 08:42:04 PM
Hmm yeah any one know any reason I shouldn't use up the space starting at C2/FC10 to do some helper logic for a patch that dark can use?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 02, 2011, 01:32:26 AM
well thats good news for me personally (since I wont use the brush-less sketch patch, I'm taking brushes out) :p
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 02, 2011, 02:09:29 AM
New version 1.03 is out. Get it here (https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement).
-Removed Ronnen's Fanaticism patch (for now) -Changed VWF character "il" to "@" -Fixed Bushido technique names so that they appear correctly in the menu
Plus the 1.02 changes, in case they were missed: -Added Leviathan Mist's "Battle Speed Mod & Speed Overflow Fix - Faster v2" patch -Made a previously unreachable treasure in Narshe at the beginning of the game obtainable, thanks to Dragonsbrethren for pointing it out! -Corrected item references in the dialogue to use the proper item names
:cycle:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on July 02, 2011, 04:33:21 AM
EDIT: also see this post for a full idea: http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=1330.msg15524#msg15524
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on July 07, 2011, 08:01:40 AM
Been having fun with your base patch.
Basically patched over it with the Eviltype patch found on romhacking.net with some interesting results.
My goal was to have all the bugfixes found in your patch combined with eviltype's difficulty and item/equipment adjustments. Surprisingly enough everything appears to work great!
A few weird things that did happen with this is that some of the items reverted back to their original names (dagger is back to dirk) and there is a very strange bug that is changing random equipment and relic slots to a paladin shield after battle. Except it doesnt happen everytime and its completely random.
I'm not asking you to fix this i just thought you would find it interesting. I'm starting to wonder how i can combine multiple patches individually to create the ultimate FF6 experience.
Just for clarity I am just an idiot who loves FF6 and have no coding background whatsoever lol. I've just been using Lunar IPS and experimenting LOL.
Your base patch seems pretty stable and versatile from what i can tell.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on July 07, 2011, 01:52:24 PM
I would suggest (although it will be a pain in the ass) manually implementing the evil type changes yourself after applying the base patch to give you perfect results
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 07, 2011, 06:50:59 PM
I would suggest (although it will be a pain in the ass) manually implementing the evil type changes yourself after applying the base patch to give you perfect results
Agreed.
As far as the paladin shield issue...are the items actually turning into Paladin Shields, or are you getting the battle message saying the curse was lifted? I got the battle message during the Moogle group fight on my playtest of the new version (no eviltype or anything), but when I looked at the equipped items it was still a Mythril Shield on Mog.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on July 07, 2011, 08:50:19 PM
i'm on the case, yo!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on July 07, 2011, 08:54:17 PM
I would suggest (although it will be a pain in the ass) manually implementing the evil type changes yourself after applying the base patch to give you perfect results
Agreed.
As far as the paladin shield issue...are the items actually turning into Paladin Shields, or are you getting the battle message saying the curse was lifted? I got the battle message during the Moogle group fight on my playtest of the new version (no eviltype or anything), but when I looked at the equipped items it was still a Mythril Shield on Mog.
I get the same message. Once you get it you have to look at all equipment and relic slots for each character to find where the paladin shield placed itself. Its really weird!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 08, 2011, 04:32:24 PM
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on July 13, 2011, 09:50:52 AM
So wait, is the paladin shield a known issue exclusive to the original patch? I havent tested the improvement patch itself to see if the bug is present.
Ill test the base patch on its own when i can.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 26, 2011, 04:12:32 PM
Wow, RL sucks. It took a while for me to get back to this, sorry all. :sad:
No, it wasn't an issue originally, and in fact this version of the patch includes the latest version of Imzogelmo's Gogo Can't Uncurse the Cursed Shield fix. I didn't put that in the notes, but I just recalled doing that, and it could be what's causing the issue. I'll pull that patch out and see if the behavior changes.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on July 28, 2011, 07:44:55 AM
that is the issue. i should've said so earlier, sorry.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on July 28, 2011, 09:05:25 AM
That is fantastic news! I can't wait to get back into playing this again XD.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on August 08, 2011, 12:11:55 AM
Any news on this patch? I'd like to try it out soon. :P
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on August 09, 2011, 11:32:46 AM
Any news on this patch? I'd like to try it out soon. :P
Me too!
The FF6 hacking community just kind of comes and goes on a whim with updates. Just the way it is. Hopefully enthusiasm for rebuilding FF6 comes back around soon!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DMNight on August 10, 2011, 12:44:09 PM
I've been playing version 1.03 for the last week or so with one change: I removed Imzogelmo's "Gogo and the Cursed Shield Fix." This has worked flawless for me so far. Prior to making that change I was having the same issue everyone else was having with it. I had obtained 6 Paladin Shields on various characters, in various equipment and relic slots in less than 2 hours worth of play. If anyone would like me to post a modified IPS patch that makes this one change, I'd be happy to do so.
The only things I've noticed so far are super minor, but maybe will be fixed before this patch is finalized. In fact, these are just the fact that during some cut-scenes some of the names of characters go back to being all uppercase, rather than mixed-case like has been done for most of the game. Perhaps this is due to the nature of cut-scenes in the game? Bannon at the Returner's Hideout and Kefka during the Domo military camp area were the places I noticed this so far.
Before finding this patch I was trying to apply all of the individual fixes myself. This project is a great way to pool all of the knowledge and resources into making this the best game it can be! Thanks for the project, and perhaps I can find ways to contribute to it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on August 10, 2011, 01:04:18 PM
I've been playing version 1.03 for the last week or so with one change: I removed Imzogelmo's "Gogo and the Cursed Shield Fix." This has worked flawless for me so far. Prior to making that change I was having the same issue everyone else was having with it. I had obtained 6 Paladin Shields on various characters, in various equipment and relic slots in less than 2 hours worth of play. If anyone would like me to post a modified IPS patch that makes this one change, I'd be happy to do so.
The only things I've noticed so far are super minor, but maybe will be fixed before this patch is finalized. In fact, these are just the fact that during some cut-scenes some of the names of characters go back to being all uppercase, rather than mixed-case like has been done for most of the game. Perhaps this is due to the nature of cut-scenes in the game? Bannon at the Returner's Hideout and Kefka during the Domo military camp area were the places I noticed this so far.
Before finding this patch I was trying to apply all of the individual fixes myself. This project is a great way to pool all of the knowledge and resources into making this the best game it can be! Thanks for the project, and perhaps I can find ways to contribute to it.
I would Love to have a copy of the IPS if you don't mind. Looks like they were right about that one little patch messing things ups.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DMNight on August 10, 2011, 01:40:53 PM
Here you go. This is simply an IPS patch that reverses the "Gogo and the Cursed Shield Fix" patch. Remember to make sure your ROM has a header (It should already). Let me know if you have any issues with it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on August 10, 2011, 01:44:39 PM
This is great. Ill be testing it later tonight! Thanks!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on August 10, 2011, 11:36:08 PM
Quote
Enemy Command FC05 fix (MasterZED)
fistukman recently discovered that this prevents the Pummel tutorial in the Vargas battle from happening.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DMNight on August 11, 2011, 09:58:35 AM
Quote
Quote
Enemy Command FC05 fix (MasterZED)
fistukman recently discovered that this prevents the Pummel tutorial in the Vargas battle from happening.
That's a good point. I felt like something was missing during that battle, but it had been some time since I had played FFVI and didn't catch that. I have played the game enough (more than once? :p) that I naturally just input pummel right away.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on September 08, 2011, 07:27:10 AM
*looks at the credits section of the readme and sadfaces* :lame:
Anyway, I'm gonna be using this patch, while making some minor difficulty-related tweaks to the game, and then doing a run-through of it :P
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on September 08, 2011, 10:03:28 AM
Im going to be playing through this in its entirety very soon.
Ill be sure to update this thread with any bugs/glitches i find in my playthrough.
The removal of the Gogo patch corrected the paladin shield glitch from what i can tell btw.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on September 09, 2011, 08:44:45 PM
So, I'm trying to get Master ZED's New Game + patch to work with this, and it wasn't working. So I went to check the space that the NG+ patch uses in the patched Improvement Project ROM, and I found this: (http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/2706/aaajb.png)
I don't know exactly what this is, but it looks like it has something to do with the new text/windows. Is there anything I can do to free up this space for the NG+ patch, or otherwise move the data from the NG+ patch elsewhere?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on September 10, 2011, 11:40:50 AM
Trust me when I say this, don't put anything there. There's plenty of free space all around the rom, and more places that are ideal and won't cause problems.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 18, 2011, 01:07:03 AM
fistukman recently discovered that this prevents the Pummel tutorial in the Vargas battle from happening.
I was wondering what was causing that - I killed myself waiting for that tutorial to show itself during one of my playthroughs. Besides, I think enough time has gone by that :blits: won't come up as often.
Sorry it's been so long since I came in here - between a bunch of preparation for a RL project that happens next weekend and studying for more certs for work, there hasn't been time to spare a thought for FF6 Improvement. :isuck:
DMNight, thanks for posting that for everyone wanting to play 1.03 without having to worry about shield messages that mean nothing to the moogle in question. You rock!
If that's the only issue that's been found, then it might be time to look at making the dialogue part of the project available. I'll have free time after this weekend - look for an update soon after that!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on September 25, 2011, 12:48:06 PM
Hey darkmage!
I recently shared your project page with some friends of mine! A lot of people are really excited to play through FF6 again and your patch seems to combine almost every great community patch available.
I had a lot of people ask me what each individual patch does..... so i scoured the internet and copy/pasted all the descriptions for each patch in one place in a word file.
I thought you would like to have it in case you come across the same issue in the future. I attached it to this post.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 26, 2011, 07:18:41 PM
Thanks, DrROB! I had tried this earlier, but my tendency to change things ruffled some feathers.
I have basic descriptions in the readme files for almost all the patches, so I'll just c/p them in and include this in the next release!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Brutz on September 27, 2011, 09:48:56 AM
I'm using a 1.0 US ff3 rom with a header with the latest patch and the game looks ok until I enter a battle. The battle menu is all black, there is garbage in some places on the screen and the character sprites flash in many colors. This goes on for about 5 seconds, then the game automatically resets. If it makes a difference, I'm using ZSNES 1.51 and applied the patch using ipswin. Should I try a different emulator or look for a different base rom?
Once I get the game working, is there any way I can help this project by reporting issues or trying other hacks on top of this patch? The plan was just to do a basic low level playthrough.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on September 27, 2011, 11:12:54 AM
The rom you have doesn't appear to be the correct one.
I had that same issue when trying to patch the wrong rom.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on September 29, 2011, 04:02:19 AM
post the CRC32 of the unpatched ROM.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Brutz on September 30, 2011, 11:23:27 AM
I found one that works, thanks. I'm at number 128 now. Already had to use the zozo jumps patch and the vanity king patch.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on September 30, 2011, 11:58:13 AM
I found one that works, thanks. I'm at number 128 now. Already had to use the zozo jumps patch and the vanity king patch.
Are those necessary patches that weren't in this hack?
Do you have links to them?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Brutz on September 30, 2011, 12:41:30 PM
I got the "Miraculous, Death-Defying Always-Left-Facing Jumps" and "King of Vanity" here: http://zephyr129.brinkster.net/
The readme for ff6i (I got the latest version from the link in the OP) said these 6 weren't in the base patch (the one open for more hacking) and need to be applied manually after you apply any other hacks you're thinking of using: Duncan Stays Put (mblock129) Edgar Revealed (mblock129) Ghostly Banquet Guards (mblock129) Shadow is NOT a Girl! fix (mblock129) King of Vanity (mblock129) They Only Jump Left in Zozo! (mblock129)
I'm not sure why I needed them. I must've accidentally applied the "base" patch instead of the "complete" one. Could have sworn I used "complete" though. I have saves just before Zozo so I'll try to jump with each patch to check. I need to afk for a few hours first though.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on September 30, 2011, 01:49:53 PM
Ok cool
Thanks for looking into this for me
I want to have the most complete version of this patch possible so i can be comfortable sharing it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 30, 2011, 04:49:40 PM
Cross-posted from board.byuu.org, as it is highly relevant:
Quote from: C V Reynolds
Be aware that the current 6.7.0 version of FF3usME currently has a bug where it erases some of your applied patches when you click on "Save" regardless of whether you made changes using the program. It will erase the following, per my experience:
I didn't know about the first patch (which I believe is Imzogelmo's "Shadow Leaves One-Man Party fix"), but the others are the ones identified by various posters on this thread about hacking after applying FF6 Improvement. So now we know! :omghax:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: C. V. Reynolds on October 06, 2011, 05:46:18 AM
Yep, that's me. I sent Lord J a message about it on the Mnrogar forum (over private because none of my messages are ever approved on the forum, for some reason) back in mid-September when I discovered the problem.
I just reapply the patches after I edit with FF3usME and I recommend you all do the same, but I do hope Lord J corrects the problem soon (FF3usME is, of course, a great and indispensable program regardless).
Anyway, I was in a hurry when writing that quoted post (I'm in a hurry now too, so apologies for any mistakes). The proper names for the patches are as follows:
Shadow Leaves One-Man Party (by Imzogelmo) Edgar Revealed (by mblock129) King of Vanity (by mblock129) Miraculous, Death-Defying Always-Left-Facing Jumps in Zozo (by mblock129) Duncan Stays Put (by mblock129) Shadow is Not a Girl (by mblock129)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: General Public on October 19, 2011, 10:27:00 PM
Hello I am Rich McGrew, someone who earlier combined together 47 Final Fantasy VI patches (mostly bugfixes, hardly any that change things not considered bugs) into a mega-patch, available at my website (the server is sometimes down though): http://www.richmcgrew.com/downloads.html
If you have trouble accessing my website it is because I use a free web-hosting service, and there are some problems with server downtime and also I have been unable to change the contents of my website for a few months, but I haven't updated my Final Fantasy VI mega-patch since November 2007 anyway.
Early on you looked at the list of patches I had used in my patch, and it seems you are using many of the same ones (and many more).
Anyway, I want to congratulate you on the good work you are doing, and clearly you have progressed further than me.
I have been playing the game again recently using the version with my own patch and would like to warn you of a few bugs that may occur, which do not occur in the original game... these are bugs I did not know about when I last updated my patch and the website, but are obviously introduced by some of the patches I used, so since you use mostly the same patches, you might also have them:
1) In my mega-patch version, the ThiefKnife does not steal, it just does damage like a regular weapon. I know for sure that this doesn't occur in the original game.
2) There seems to be some problem with certain characters not being able to learn the Ultima spell from the Paladin Shield (it may also occur with learning other spells from other shields but I have not tested that yet). I encountered this problem when using the Paladin Shield on Relm, Gau, and Setzer, and there might also be other characters it can't teach Ultima to besides those 3 (I was teaching Ultima to half my characters with the Ragnarok Esper and the other half with the Paladin Shield at the same time, so I didn't manage to test it on all of them, although I did confirm that the characters who can't learn it from the Paladin Shield can learn it from the Ragnarok Esper), or it might be different characters in each game, who knows. I'm pretty sure the Paladin Shield didn't have this problem in the original game.
3) There seems to be some graphical glitch at the beginning of a battle if Gogo is in my party, where Gogo flashes between looking normal and being black all over. I am not sure if this was in the original game or not.
These seem to be the only 3 bugs I have noticed so far, and some of the patches I put into my mega-patch have newer versions now (for instance the Gogo and the Cursed Shield Fix has a newer version from earlier this year of 2011... my patch used version 0.6 but now the version for that is 0.9), since I made the mega-patch back in November 2007.
Anyway, these bugs MIGHT also occur in YOUR project, but they DEFINITELY occur in mine, and if I ever manage to put out another version of my mega-patch I will try and track down the cause of these bugs to get them fixed. Meanwhile I suggest that anyone playing the game with your patch check for these bugs... it won't be until the World of Ruin that you can get Gogo or the Paladin Shield, although the ThiefKnife does occur fairly early in the game, so that one should be easy to check. I haven't looked into your project in as much detail as I want to, but clearly you are combining all sorts of bugfix patches from all over the place so that's cool.
Also, there are more bugfix patches available from different people now than before (for instance, Novalia Spirit's and Mblock129's patches were not in my mega-patch because they apparently hadn't been made yet), and I am not sure if you know about all of these bugfix patches (and some that are not bugfixes but more mods), so I will post a bunch of links here (you probably already know about all of these, but just in case you don't know 1 or 2 of these, take a look): Assassin17's own patches (http://www14.brinkster.com/assassin17/patches.htm) Assassin17's hosted patches (http://www14.brinkster.com/assassin17/hosted_patches.htm) Drakkhen's patches (http://www.angelfire.com/un/drakkhen/index.html) Imzogelmo's patches (http://www.angelfire.com/al2/imzogelmo/patches.html#patches) Lord J's patches (http://www.angelfire.com/pq/jumparound/index.html) ManuLöwe's patch (http://www.manuloewe.de/kayeneng.htm#ff3fix) Master ZED's patches (http://masterzed.cavesofnarshe.com/ff3.html) Mblock129's patches (http://zephyr129.brinkster.net/) Novalia Spirit's patches (http://novaliaspirit.99k.org/ff6/patches.html) Phantasian Productions' patches (http://www.tales-cless.org/?page=romhack) Romhacking.net's patches (http://www.romhacking.net/?genre=&platform=&game=302&category=&perpage=50&page=hacks&hacksearch=Go&title=&author=) RPGOne's retranslation patch (http://www.romhacking.net/translations/697/) Slick Productions' patches (http://slickproductions.org/ff6patches.php) Terii Senshi's patches (http://www.rpglegion.com/ff6/hack/patches.htm) Zophar.net's patches (http://www.zophar.net/hacks/snes/final-fantasy-3.html)
Anyway, I am very glad to see someone else doing something along the lines of what I was doing, namely combining together all the bugfix patches in order to have one patch to fix ALL of them. When I put out my mega-patch, the only person who had done anything similar that I knew about was ManuLöwe. My mega-patch is rather out of date and I have found 3 bugs in it that I listed earlier, and I just listed them in order to warn you that you might also suffer some form of those bugs too, maybe. However, if you are going to be making changes to the game that are not bug fixes, like renaming monsters, renaming items, renaming commands, etc., maybe you could have 2 versions of your patch, one that just has the bugfixes but doesn't change things that aren't broken, and another that includes all the changes that you wish to do to mod the game. The goal of my mega-patch was to mostly only include bugfixes and things that would make the English game more like the original, but without renaming any monsters, items, commands, or anything, and I wanted to maintain the Psycho Cyan glitch and the Vanish-Doom Bug so that players could still count on those if they wanted to take advantage of them. I did include a few things that could be considered new features or improvements, such as the alphabetized rage list, the Slot command being unrigged so you can get any outcome with enough skill, the color coded MP digits, etc. And while I did consider changing the fonts as I had done with my patch for Final Fantasy IV (editing them pixel by pixel for that game to get it just right, as a nice, large serif font), I decided I really liked the Final Fantasy VI fonts just the way they were (FF6 fonts are based off the Chicago font from Mac OS) and didn't modify them. While I am not against editing fonts, and actually enjoy it, I do find FF6's default font on the SNES to be the best looking font for that particular game, although for FF4, I designed my own font, which you'll get if you apply my FF4 mega-patch available at my website (when my website's server isn't down, that is)!
So sorry for rambling, I really like what you've done here, and while I haven't play-tested your patch yet, from what I've read so far I'm pretty sure it's way better than mine, although it goes further than I would go in changing the game, because the 1 thing I won't do is rename stuff like items, characters, monsters, commands, etc., as that will make things confusing for people who use walkthroughs or other guides, and I just like things being a straightforward IMPROVEMENT that mostly just fixes bugs and where the names of everything are the same so nothing will confuse the reader of a walkthrough. And I wanted to warn you about the 3 bugs I know about SO FAR from my mega-patch, just in case you have them in YOUR patch too, or in case anyone is thinking of playing with my mega-patch, so you know to expect those bugs. And of course I wanted to list all the other sites that have patches just to make sure that you didn't miss any, since you have taken up the mantle of fixing this game after people like me who didn't go as far.
One last thing, you are now linked to from the Final Fantasy wiki thanks to my edits (along with all the makers of other patches): http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Bugs_and_Glitches#Final_Fantasy_VI
I didn't include my own mega-patch on the links in that wiki because, honestly, I think the quality of my FF6 mega-patch is not good enough, given that I alone have found 3 bugs in it and others can probably find more, and I have not updated it in a few years (I last updated it in early November 2007, which was when I publicly posted it on my website after playing through the patched game on my own, and I can't remember if I noticed any bugs in it back then or not... I noticed the 3 bugs I told you about in the last month or two).
Anyway, good job!
- Rich McGrew (a.k.a. General Public and various other names on different websites)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on October 26, 2011, 07:08:08 AM
greetings! good work with your mega-patch. i mentioned it way back in this thread in like July 2009, so we are aware.
Quote from: General Public
1) In my mega-patch version, the ThiefKnife does not steal, it just does damage like a regular weapon. I know for sure that this doesn't occur in the original game.
weird. sounds like it might be related to my "Recapture the Glory" patch. of my other patches, the only one i could imagine conflicting with this is the Jump Megafix. a check of the Readme header and the disassemblies indicate they'll coexist, but i tried testing Version A of the Jump Megafix along with the Capture fix anyway.. they work fine. i still need to test Version B.
Quote
2) There seems to be some problem with certain characters not being able to learn the Ultima spell from the Paladin Shield (it may also occur with learning other spells from other shields but I have not tested that yet). I encountered this problem when using the Paladin Shield on Relm, Gau, and Setzer, and there might also be other characters it can't teach Ultima to besides those 3 (I was teaching Ultima to half my characters with the Ragnarok Esper and the other half with the Paladin Shield at the same time, so I didn't manage to test it on all of them, although I did confirm that the characters who can't learn it from the Paladin Shield can learn it from the Ragnarok Esper), or it might be different characters in each game, who knows. I'm pretty sure the Paladin Shield didn't have this problem in the original game.
the "Gogo and the Cursed Shield Fix" is easily the bane of Imzogelmo's existence. it's been updated multiple times since your mega-patch release, and the current version still has a bug with it. there's a New Year's resolution somewhere in here... but it might be easier for him to just take up smoking and quit. ;P
Quote
3) There seems to be some graphical glitch at the beginning of a battle if Gogo is in my party, where Gogo flashes between looking normal and being black all over. I am not sure if this was in the original game or not.
Gogo does do some flickering in the original game (or at least a vanilla ROM on the emulator i use; i don't touch the cart much). going all black doesn't seem right, though. which emulator and version are you using?
Quote from: mega-patch Readme
1) Final Fantasy III (SNES) -- Final Fantasy VI title screen mod ff6 intro.ips
i'll have to look into what free space areas, if any, this patch uses in Bank C2.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: CurlyLover on October 29, 2011, 05:18:19 AM
Hi, I got a problem with patching my ROM.
I patched the 1.03 complete patch over with Lunar IPS some headerless ROMs (3 145 728 bytes) whose CRC32 are C4C2D400, F03640FB and A27F1C7A. I also tried to just put them with the same name as the patch in the same folder so that ZSNES 1.51 can auto-patch. Each time, the game froze right at the start with green horizontal lines at the top (everything else is black).
What did I do wrong? Thank you in advance.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on October 29, 2011, 11:19:18 AM
straight from the patch Readme:
"FF6 Improvement is based on a FF3us 1.0 ROM with header, and will only work on that version."
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on October 31, 2011, 06:19:05 AM
1) In my mega-patch version, the ThiefKnife does not steal, it just does damage like a regular weapon. I know for sure that this doesn't occur in the original game.
weird. sounds like it might be related to my "Recapture the Glory" patch. of my other patches, the only one i could imagine conflicting with this is the Jump Megafix. a check of the Readme header and the disassemblies indicate they'll coexist, but i tried testing Version A of the Jump Megafix along with the Capture fix anyway.. they work fine. i still need to test Version B.
ok, it's fine with Version B too.
Quote from: me
Quote from: mega-patch Readme
1) Final Fantasy III (SNES) -- Final Fantasy VI title screen mod ff6 intro.ips
i'll have to look into what free space areas, if any, this patch uses in Bank C2.
ok, it changes C2 data/code a little after the Jump Megafix, and well before Recapture the Glory, so it shouldn't interfere with either, particularly not the latter.
are you sure that ThiefKnife never steals? how many times did you test it? you might just be having a string of bad luck. what enemy(ies) did you test it against?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on November 02, 2011, 09:12:49 PM
Thanks for your very kind words, Rich! A lot of your suggestions are things that I've already done or intend on doing, such as the baseline and complete hack. When it's finally said and done, there will be 3 patches in the collection - a baseline patch for hackers to base further works on; a complete "vanilla storyline" patch, and a complete translation patch, based on the Lina Darkstar translation and the FF6A script.
So far I have had no issues with the ThiefKnife in my test playthroughs, and haven't heard of any. I am not currently using the Gogo/Paladin Shield patch, as it not completely optimized yet. I have not come across any graphical glitches, and so far I have not seen any issues beyond the one where the current version of FF3usME overwrites certain parts of code changed by patches, and a workaround is currently in place.
As far as an update is concerned: I have not yet finished integrating the translation into the Improvement patch, as there is one thing not yet complete - the Opera. The timing for getting the text to print with the singing is a little tricky, and I'm not yet satisfied with it. But I want to put this out soon, as over the next year I will have little time to work on any personal projects. Stay tuned!
Title: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: CurlyLover on November 15, 2011, 12:57:46 PM
I'm sure this is a known issue, but I don't know where to look for these, but with the 1.03 complete patch, all my right-hand, armor and relic 2 slots are being filled with Paladin Shld at random, even if I don't have anything in them... The "Dispelled curse" message appears in combat as well each time that happens.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on November 17, 2011, 11:35:23 AM
Here you go. This is simply an IPS patch that reverses the "Gogo and the Cursed Shield Fix" patch. Remember to make sure your ROM has a header (It should already). Let me know if you have any issues with it.
You need this patch to fix that issue for now
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on November 22, 2011, 02:13:55 AM
I just noticed today that blank spell slots cost 1 MP, as opposed to the normal 0 MP... I'm fairly confident that this hasn't been brought to anyone's attention yet...? I really can't believe I just noticed it myself, as I've been rollin' with this patch now going on a year - one of the earlier builds, mind you. But I did test to see that it's indeed still present in the newer build.
v1.0b - April 25, 2010. Fixed problem with null entries in the menu. Every null entry would have a 1 MP cost. To do this, the code determining the MP cost and the following code for availability had to be optimized.
So yeah, update your patch.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on November 22, 2011, 12:16:37 PM
That's strange, I tested it out on what I presume to be the latest one - FF6i_v1.03.7z - on Jul 1, 2011 and the 1 MP issue is there. So the earlier version 1. 0b from 2010 has it fixed, eh? Heh, so it was fixed, but now it's back I suppose, unless I am still somehow brutally mistaking, but I can't see how. I'm testing the latest version of the patch on a clean 1.0 ROM, and sure enough it's there. So I guess I'll try and locate that earlier one then, thanks. I just need to compare the code and fix the issue manually, not re-patch the latest patch and write over all my changes.
update: Sorry to bother, but where exactly did you find that version Lenophis? I don't see it here or even on Dark Mage's site. I swear, things are always so hard and just never seem to work out right for me most of the time. :yabin:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on November 22, 2011, 06:07:36 PM
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on November 22, 2011, 06:48:31 PM
Thank you! And yes, I feel like an idiot >_< Aah well.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on November 22, 2011, 07:19:18 PM
you're welcome.
so darkmage needs to update his giant patch.
and frankly, the Slick website not telling you the version # or date of a patch unless you download the patch is a bad idea. :/ who the hell downloads patches over and over to see whether they've been updated?
take a page from Imzogelmo's and my books and put some data on the webpages!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on November 22, 2011, 11:36:40 PM
I should start putting the version numbers in with the filenames. Unfortunately, the way the page system was designed, it won't be easy short of renaming everything to suit this new method. It should start clearing some stuff up, though. :isuck:
and frankly, the Slick website not telling you the version # or date of a patch unless you download the patch is a bad idea. :/
Voila! (http://slickproductions.org/ff6patches.php) Took some doing, but I finally got it to work far too long after the fact. FF1, FF2, and FF5 will come soon, now that I got it working period. :tongue:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on December 30, 2011, 09:33:40 PM
Hey, Leno. Is that Lofty Experience patch you made compatible with this one?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on December 30, 2011, 09:45:43 PM
I had a hard time finding free space, until I saw that giant blob after Imzog's Seperation of Powers and Not Scary enough, so unless you guys put something there, yeah it'll work.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on January 02, 2012, 03:36:22 PM
Cool beans. That'll make things easier for me as a player cause I don't have the time to grind everyone separately.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on January 19, 2012, 11:11:50 AM
I just noticed today that blank spell slots cost 1 MP, as opposed to the normal 0 MP... I'm fairly confident that this hasn't been brought to anyone's attention yet...? I really can't believe I just noticed it myself, as I've been rollin' with this patch now going on a year - one of the earlier builds, mind you. But I did test to see that it's indeed still present in the newer build.
Darkmage does link to his personal site in the original post which hosts each version of his patches including the latest.
Well, I do apologize for the confusion and annoyance - that bug was not something I noticed after I included the 1.0a Economizer patch, and it's good there's a fix! This is the exact reason why I've been careful to include the versions of the patches I use for FF6 Improvement. Unfortunately, I have not had any time to devote to this project lately; before, I was checking fairly regularly to see if any patches had been updated, but that hasn't been happening due to me having to study for a certification test coming up. So that's on me. :blush:
It's looking like I won't be done with the translation for a while, but there are some issues with the current version of the patch that need to be addressed - the Gogo/Cursed Shield patch removed and now the Economizer patch updated - so once the test is done I'll clean it up and release a new version. I'll also look for any other patches that have been updated and include those as well.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Wheelbarrow on April 09, 2012, 06:59:00 PM
Any news for Spring 2012? I've been following this amazing project as well as PB. I plan on playing FF6 with this mod first to get the original experience, and then playing with PB for all the fun new stuff. I hope the January test went well!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on April 10, 2012, 09:57:22 AM
Scene has been mostly dead for the most part.
Been hoping for an update but when it comes to fan-made patches, mods, remakes this is just part of it.
Its a lot of work taken on by very few. I pretty much consider it lucky that we got what we have now.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on April 26, 2012, 07:05:04 PM
So I'm curious if there have been any other issues found with v1.03 besides these two, which have fixes: * Paladin shields magically appear equipped on characters (fixed by DMNight) * Blank magic spell slots show an MP cost of 1 instead of 0 (fixed by Lenophis)
Because if not, perhaps we can consider this puppy done, even if darkmage isn't around for it?
Also, re: the economizer patch update that fixes the null MP cost issue - can the newest patch be applied on top of FF6 Improvement and function properly, or does FF6 Improvement have to be rebuilt with all patches again?
EDIT: Actually, I'm still seeing this issue, too, which was supposed to be fixed in 1.02: * Bushido technique names appear incorrectly indented in the menu
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 07, 2012, 10:52:44 PM
So I'm curious if there have been any other issues found with v1.03 besides these two, which have fixes: * Paladin shields magically appear equipped on characters (fixed by DMNight) * Blank magic spell slots show an MP cost of 1 instead of 0 (fixed by Lenophis)
Because if not, perhaps we can consider this puppy done, even if darkmage isn't around for it?
Also, re: the economizer patch update that fixes the null MP cost issue - can the newest patch be applied on top of FF6 Improvement and function properly, or does FF6 Improvement have to be rebuilt with all patches again?
EDIT: Actually, I'm still seeing this issue, too, which was supposed to be fixed in 1.02: * Bushido technique names appear incorrectly indented in the menu
NECRO'd!!!1!
I'm still here, and things have been quiet on the work front lately, so I've dusted off FF6 Improvement. A new version will be appearing on my website shortly, which takes care of the issues in this post and will add the current version of the translation patch for people who want to check it out! The Opera still isn't done, but I'm hoping I can fix that before too long.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on May 09, 2012, 08:59:19 AM
ooooh Cool man
looking forward to it
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 09, 2012, 12:10:26 PM
FF6 Improvement v1.04 is now available! Get it here (https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement).
-Removed Imzogelmo's Gogo and the Cursed Shield 0.9 patch, to resolve the random battle messages and insertion of Paladin Shields into inventory -Changed the inclusion of Lenophis' Economizer tweak from 1.0a to 1.0b, which should resolve the null spell slots showing 1 MP cost -Changed the inclusion of assassin's Control Menu Responds Poorly to MP Change fix from 0.10 to 0.13 -Added Ronnen's Fanatacism patch modified to co-exist with Assassin's Brushless Sketch patch -Added Novalia Spirit's Amnesic Cursor fix -Added Lenophis' GenjiOffering! [magic] fix 0.2a -Added assassin's (Throw Down) the Gauntlet fix 0.20 -Modified several battle messages and dialogue to fix blatant goofs in the original translation
The translation is taking longer to implement than I had assumed it would, since using atlas to insert the new script breaks the dialogue functionality in FF3usME. I will include a beta patch with this version, so take any dialogue issues with a grain of salt in this version.
The base version still needs the patches that FF3usME messes with applied after your hacking is done. The complete patch is the original dialogue, while the translation patch is the complete version with new dialogue. Only 1 patch needs to be applied.
As of this version, there are over 100 patches used in the improvement! The fact that new patches are being released shows the dedication of the community to making this game as near to bug-free as it can be! You guys all deserve a medal!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 10, 2012, 10:58:49 AM
No more releases without at least a playtest.
From the quick playtest I did this morning, the translation looks fine, but I had forgotten that FF3usME 6.7 final(!) is just not polished. The Magitek menu for everyone but Terra has ????????? for unusable options instead of being blank, and the Rare Item descriptions are all borked. It's a shame too, cos I really like the new description and dialogue editing tools, but I'll stick with FF3usME 6.6 for editing.
This is what happens when Real Life® takes you away from a project for a long period of time...you forget the little quirks of the project environment. As soon as I clean this up, I'll have a new release out which removes these annoyances.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Wheelbarrow on May 13, 2012, 08:38:21 PM
Awesome! It's been a while since I fired up FF6. Thanks for the patch darkmage.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 15, 2012, 09:12:40 PM
Awesome! It's been a while since I fired up FF6. Thanks for the patch darkmage.
That's not the patch I want you to grab - there are some reversions that I didn't catch before I released it. But thanks for reminding me to pull it down.
I'll have 1.05 up as soon as I go through the script. I (only recently) discovered that you can directly import and export it from FF3usME, so I'm doing that now since it's faster.
:isuck:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on May 16, 2012, 08:27:19 AM
Really Looking Forward to it!
This will likely be the definitive version of the original FF6
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 18, 2012, 01:01:10 AM
OK, main script for the base & complete versions has been vetted. I took out the odd line breaks and added names where it seemed important to know who is talking, and fixed obvious spelling/grammar/comprehension errors. I was sorely tempted to fix some of the story and/or perspective changes, but that's what the retranslation is for!
Once I vet the battle status messages and battle dialogue, 1.05 should be ready to go. Stay tuned!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 20, 2012, 11:06:27 AM
OK, let's try this again...
Version 1.05 is out! Get it here (https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement).
All the changes to 1.04 apply, and all reversions are (hopefully) fixed.
Quote
-Removed Imzogelmo's Gogo and the Cursed Shield 0.9 patch, to resolve the random battle messages and insertion of Paladin Shields into inventory -Changed the inclusion of Lenophis' Economizer tweak from 1.0a to 1.0b, which should resolve the null spell slots showing 1 MP cost -Changed the inclusion of assassin's Control Menu Responds Poorly to MP Change fix from 0.10 to 0.13 -Added Ronnen's Fanatacism patch modified to co-exist with Assassin's Brushless Sketch patch -Added Novalia Spirit's Amnesic Cursor fix -Added Lenophis' GenjiOffering! [magic] fix 0.2a -Added assassin's (Throw Down) the Gauntlet fix 0.20 -Modified several battle messages and dialogue to fix blatant goofs in the original translation
In addition, I discovered one of the Dance names is misspelled in the original, and that it had gone unfixed until now. So...
-Changed "Dusk Requium" to "Dusk Requiem"
The translation version did not change because the status of the actual script did not change. However, I noticed that the script did not import properly into the game in 1.04, resulting in whacked dialogue around the Sealed Cave point. This looks like it's been fixed. It's still beta, and I still intend to do the Opera. Once the Opera is done to my satisfaction, I'll do the first official release of the translation.
As always, report any issues - glitches, typos or otherwise!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on May 20, 2012, 06:46:34 PM
How 'fixed' is this playing/feeling like?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 22, 2012, 08:10:09 PM
This version is no good either - something is causing the game to crash just after the Heart Burn enemy attack animation plays, right before the damage calculation. None of the enemy/magic/item changes I made are causing this (I checked), so it's either the order I used to apply the fix and tweak patches, or one of the new patches I included. Time for troubleshooting...
:edit: It appears that the Genji/Offering 0.2a patch (Genjioffmagic - header.ips) is causing this issue. I'm not sure which patch it's conflicting with, since the issue appears to be in the hardcoded monster attack data, not the attack scripts. I'll apply the anti-fix and release a new version shortly.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on May 22, 2012, 11:15:24 PM
Yeah, there were some issues with that patch that I didn't catch right away. Recommend not using it for the time being.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 23, 2012, 12:16:25 AM
Third time's the charm! Version 1.06 is out, get it here (https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement).
-Removed the Genji/Offering patch as discussed above.
I did a playtest back to South Figaro after the Vargas battle to make sure some of the dialogue changed in the translation was working properly, and didn't run across any issues. But reports of any issues seen past that point are welcome.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on May 23, 2012, 07:04:10 AM
So once this "Definitive Version" is complete
Do you plan on doing anything beyond the original Experience?
Remix? Difficulty patch? Remake?
Either way I'm glad you went through the trouble of putting all these patches in one place! Its a great way from me to share a more cohesive version of FF6 with my friends and those who might not have played it.
I'm not sure i ever played the new "translation" could you share more details on that?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 23, 2012, 02:02:45 PM
The translation patch is a re-translation of the original Japanese, based largely on the Lina Darkstar notes and also on the FF6 Advance translation. There were nuances of story and character development that were lost due to the original translation being given roughly a month deadline for completion so the game could be released in the US, and the translation patch aims to restore and/or polish these nuances.
As for any further FF6 hacking - this has been a lot more involved than I expected getting this much done! My goal was to improve the original game by fixing bugs, names, descriptions and text, and to make something that others could use as a jumping point for their own projects. When all is said and done, hopefully (soon) I will have succeeded.
With that said, there are a couple of other things I've worked on in my spare time (back when I had any!) - redoing the text in the SNES Mega Man X games (MMX2 reads like SHIT), a hack for Super Metroid to merge Springball into the Hi-Jump Boots and have the Springball remove the energy drain while speed boosting - things like that. I was also looking at maybe a script edit for Chrono Trigger, since the retranslation patch follows the Japanese a little too closely, and the conversations don't flow as nicely as they could.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on May 23, 2012, 08:36:20 PM
Awesome! I can't wait to try this out! Once I'm not so busy, anyway. :P
A side note: I found something you might wanna use here... but it would likely conflict with some of your translations, so it might take some effort to integrate. Anyway, it's a name expansion patch (http://www.ff6hacking.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1127) by Angelo26.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on May 25, 2012, 02:45:46 PM
Awesome! I can't wait to try this out! Once I'm not so busy, anyway. :P
A side note: I found something you might wanna use here... but it would likely conflict with some of your translations, so it might take some effort to integrate. Anyway, it's a name expansion patch (http://www.ff6hacking.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1127) by Angelo26.
It wouldn't conflict with as much as you would think - mainly Esper, spell and enemy names, and those don't show up often in the script. Using it would render FF3usME unusable with my hack, though, according to that thread, but I've reached out to Angelo to see what can be arranged.
In any event, I'm doing an active playthrough of the translation version, and I've already found a couple of script issues that will be fixed in the next release.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: angelo26 on June 09, 2012, 01:25:58 PM
Hey Darkmage, do you have a skype account? I'd like to talk to you a little bit about making the names patch compatible with your project.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on June 14, 2012, 01:34:48 PM
Hey Dark Mage, has the short command window bug issue been remedied yet in these latest versions of your patch?
Also, the latest 1.06 version of your patch that you linked seems to be broken when I try to unzip the ips's. Anyone else?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Zeldaman on June 19, 2012, 07:29:52 PM
Hey Dark Mage, has the short command window bug issue been remedied yet in these latest versions of your patch?
Also, the latest 1.06 version of your patch that you linked seems to be broken when I try to unzip the ips's. Anyone else?
Yes, I had a problem unzipping the program with Winrar which I normally use to unzip .7z's (an error would occur with the readme and everything would end up as 0 bytes) so I tried using 7Zip and it worked correctly.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: C. V. Reynolds on July 16, 2012, 05:48:22 AM
I apologize if this has already been answered. I ask this question because I notice the patch is still included in the FF6 Improvement Project hack.
Has anyone found a solution/workaround to the bug in Master ZED's FC05 counter patch (the one that prevents the Blitz tutorial from showing in the Vargas fight)? If a solution or workaround has not been found, then I ask: Is one even possible? I maintain my own hack of this game, although not anywhere near as extensive as the one this topic belongs to, and I would prefer to keep from introducing new bugs if possible.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on July 16, 2012, 01:14:43 PM
i get into what a proper fix would look like. maybe i'll make a patch eventually.
btw, can you re-upload your patch allocation documents? those were thorough.
Thank you. I'm going to tinker with the info from your post.
And yes, I could re-upload the patch allocation documents, but I must warn: Because they were my personal files for a while and I used them to tell me whether patches overlapped (before mblock129's excellent program that checks that for you), I have edited the files to remove some entries over time. However, because I no longer need them for my own assistance, I had been considering changing the files to be all-inclusive. Knowing that the documents are actually wanted certainly makes me more eager to do that.
Until I do, here's the last versions, only edited in recent times to update info on things like the "Control menu responds poorly" patch.
No, I never released the puny and simple patches I made.
EDIT: Haha. The stuff in the post ultimately went over my head. :blits: I'm only used to the language in FF3usME. So, because I suck: Which line should I (and everyone else attempting) move in Vargas's script and to where, etc, in FF3usME?
EDIT 2: Calling mblock129 by the wrong name? I could afford to pay more attention. Sorry about it.
EDIT 3: Patch allocation files last updated September 27 of 2012.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on July 18, 2012, 10:54:35 AM
no, what i was talking about would be an assembly patch. i can't think of a way to remedy things by rearranging the script.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: C. V. Reynolds on July 18, 2012, 12:05:24 PM
Okay, fiddling around with the Vargas script... I fixed it! (I think) Have a look.
FC 14 00 00 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit set: 0 FC 15 00 04 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit cleared: 4 FC 09 05 08 ; If target Sabin (all allies if N/A) is not affected by status Condemned EF ; Special F3 12 00 ; Text: " I tire of this!<D> " F9 01 00 04 ; VAR000 set bit: 4 FE ; End If and reset targeting FC 14 00 04 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit set: 4 FC 15 00 02 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit cleared: 2 FC 08 05 08 ; If target Sabin (all allies if N/A) is affected by status Condemned F9 01 00 02 ; VAR000 set bit: 2 F3 43 00 ; Text: " There's no going back!<D> " FE ; End If and reset targeting FC 0B 32 00 ; If timer has reached/passed 50 (locks timer) FB 00 00 ; has battle timer set to 0 F3 0A 00 ; Text: " Come on.<D> What's the matter?<D>" EE ; Battle EE ; Battle FE ; End If and reset targeting EE ; Battle FD ; Wait until the attack sequence is called upon again, then continue (reset targeting) F0 E6 E6 E6 ; Rand. spell: Gale Cut or Gale Cut or Gale Cut FD ; Wait until the attack sequence is called upon again, then continue (reset targeting) EE ; Battle FF ; End first wave of attack FC 12 00 00 ; If following monster is/are dead: F5 0C 01 FF ; Monsters #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 are killed, dies like a boss FE ; End If and reset targeting FC 02 5D 5D ; If monster has been attacked by spell: Pummel or Pummel, will target attacker F7 09 ; Trigger event: conclusion of Sabin & Vargas F5 0B 01 FF ; Monsters #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 are killed, diagonal FE ; End If and reset targeting FC 15 00 00 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit cleared: 0 FC 05 00 00 ; If monster has been attacked FC 06 36 55 ; If target self has less or equal than 10880 HP F9 01 00 00 ; VAR000 set bit: 0 F3 42 00 ; Text: " Off with ya now!<D> " F7 07 ; Trigger event: Sabin intro defy Vargas FE ; End If and reset targeting FC 14 00 00 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit set: 0 FC 05 00 00 ; If monster has been attacked FC 15 00 01 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit cleared: 1 FC 06 36 51 ; If target self has less or equal than 10368 HP F7 08 ; Trigger event: Sabin must use blitz (instructions follows) F9 01 00 01 ; VAR000 set bit: 1 FE ; End If and reset targeting FF ; End
Amazing! May be bugs involved. Have to continue to investigate.
EDIT: I bolded the relevant bits for you all. I tested a few times and I have not found any bugs in this code yet.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on July 19, 2012, 02:03:33 AM
ah, sharp. i haven't tested it, but that should work.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on August 18, 2012, 03:15:46 AM
Hey darkmage, now that I have free time again, I'm interested in the progress of this hack. Is there anything you need beta testing on, or are we just waiting on some updates for the next release?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on August 31, 2012, 09:56:41 AM
going to test out the latest version of this soon and attempt to combine the base patch with other challenge patches (IT Works with some!)
Should be able to recommend some good definitive FF6 experiences along with something challenging for verteran players.
Your latest patch combines nicely with both Eviltype 1.07 (1.1 Freezes the Game at the Whelk Fight)
and FF6 Is the best game ever.
For those of you that want it all plus something different.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on September 10, 2012, 04:00:13 PM
I am still alive, but in the middle of a studying frenzy to get certs for work, so I haven't made any progress on the complete patch. The only thing really that's left to do is change the opera to the better wording and change the timing codes appropriately. It's tedious, but it has to be done if this is to be a definitive improvement. This is only for the complete patch w/ translation; the base patch (for hacking/non-translation-wanting purposes) should be considered complete, barring any problems found or bugfix updates.
FC 14 00 00 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit set: 0 FC 15 00 04 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit cleared: 4 FC 09 05 08 ; If target Sabin (all allies if N/A) is not affected by status Condemned EF ; Special F3 12 00 ; Text: " I tire of this!<D> " F9 01 00 04 ; VAR000 set bit: 4 FE ; End If and reset targeting FC 14 00 04 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit set: 4 FC 15 00 02 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit cleared: 2 FC 08 05 08 ; If target Sabin (all allies if N/A) is affected by status Condemned F9 01 00 02 ; VAR000 set bit: 2 F3 43 00 ; Text: " There's no going back!<D> " FE ; End If and reset targeting FC 0B 32 00 ; If timer has reached/passed 50 (locks timer) FB 00 00 ; has battle timer set to 0 F3 0A 00 ; Text: " Come on.<D> What's the matter?<D>" EE ; Battle EE ; Battle FE ; End If and reset targeting EE ; Battle FD ; Wait until the attack sequence is called upon again, then continue (reset targeting) F0 E6 E6 E6 ; Rand. spell: Gale Cut or Gale Cut or Gale Cut FD ; Wait until the attack sequence is called upon again, then continue (reset targeting) EE ; Battle FF ; End first wave of attack FC 12 00 00 ; If following monster is/are dead: F5 0C 01 FF ; Monsters #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 are killed, dies like a boss FE ; End If and reset targeting FC 02 5D 5D ; If monster has been attacked by spell: Pummel or Pummel, will target attacker F7 09 ; Trigger event: conclusion of Sabin & Vargas F5 0B 01 FF ; Monsters #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 are killed, diagonal FE ; End If and reset targeting [b]FC 15 00 00 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit cleared: 0 FC 05 00 00 ; If monster has been attacked FC 06 36 55 ; If target self has less or equal than 10880 HP[/b] F9 01 00 00 ; VAR000 set bit: 0 F3 42 00 ; Text: " Off with ya now!<D> " F7 07 ; Trigger event: Sabin intro defy Vargas FE ; End If and reset targeting [b]FC 14 00 00 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit set: 0 FC 05 00 00 ; If monster has been attacked FC 15 00 01 ; If VAR000 has all the following bit cleared: 1 FC 06 36 51 ; If target self has less or equal than 10368 HP[/b] F7 08 ; Trigger event: Sabin must use blitz (instructions follows) F9 01 00 01 ; VAR000 set bit: 1 FE ; End If and reset targeting FF ; End Amazing! May be bugs involved. Have to continue to investigate.
EDIT: I bolded the relevant bits for you all. I tested a few times and I have not found any bugs in this code yet.
That is awesome, C.V.! You did all this in the FF3usME battle script editor??
Hey darkmage, now that I have free time again, I'm interested in the progress of this hack. Is there anything you need beta testing on, or are we just waiting on some updates for the next release?
Just waiting on updates at the moment, which is going to be a while; I haven't had a chance to get a savestate up to the opera yet, since I've been cramming for these cert tests. If you could play through and make sure there aren't any issues in the World of Ruin, that would be excellent. That way when I finally get some time to devote, I can look into those issues before tackling the opera.
going to test out the latest version of this soon and attempt to combine the base patch with other challenge patches (IT Works with some!)
Should be able to recommend some good definitive FF6 experiences along with something challenging for verteran players.
Your latest patch combines nicely with both Eviltype 1.07 (1.1 Freezes the Game at the Whelk Fight)
and FF6 Is the best game ever.
For those of you that want it all plus something different.
Glad to hear that the improvement is compatible with some existing work!
:edit: Just to be clear, this is to be used on v1.0 FF3us ROMs only - if you have something that was made on a v1.1 ROM, it probably won't work nicely.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: C. V. Reynolds on September 18, 2012, 10:03:50 PM
That is awesome, C.V.! You did all this in the FF3usME battle script editor??
A little late, as I've been a bit busy, but... yes. Thank you for the praise. I LOVE praise. This is the first (and perhaps it'll be the last) bug I've fixed that didn't have an obvious solution to it, and I never even gave a story on the process.
It was actually my second idea that worked. You see, if you can believe it, I didn't go in blindly messing with things. I actually had two theories I wanted to try. The first one was to reverse the order in which the two counters appeared in the script. It didn't work and produced an odd result. From there, I enacted my second theory, which is the one that actually worked. Thus, it didn't take much time to fix it once I had a good look at the script and was able to craft some theories. Not a terribly exciting story, but I was excited at least, because it only took me two tries to get it right despite never having fixed a bug before.
I'll stop my posturing now, but give me a break; not too often I get to do it. :tongue:
Well... Do any other scripts have known bugs in them? I'll take a look at those, too.
EDIT: Oh, Lenophis, how is the fixing of the Genjioff patch going? I'm looking forward to re-adding that one to my hack. :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on September 19, 2012, 10:26:02 AM
going to test out the latest version of this soon and attempt to combine the base patch with other challenge patches (IT Works with some!)
Should be able to recommend some good definitive FF6 experiences along with something challenging for verteran players.
Your latest patch combines nicely with both Eviltype 1.07 (1.1 Freezes the Game at the Whelk Fight)
and FF6 Is the best game ever.
For those of you that want it all plus something different.
Just a quick update on testing
Looks Like eviltype 1.07 combined with Darkmage's Patch crashes at the Sr Behemoth fight.....
Not sure if you guys would know offhand what the solution might be... I realize that i shouldn't just be combining patches willy nilly but it did work fine for most of the game lol.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on September 27, 2012, 10:17:48 PM
Found this on the Final Fantasy Wiki:
Quote
It is also possible to ignore Shadow until the mission to Thamasa, yet he always acts as if he's already made the player's acquaintance. Dialogue for "never-before-met" Shadow on the boat to Thamasa exists in the game data, but apparently the developers forgot to include it.
If there's a fix for this, I propose adding it to the project.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on October 14, 2012, 04:54:03 PM
Sounds like a simple event hack that can be applied ontop of ff6 improvement. If I had time, I'd look into it :-)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on November 14, 2012, 02:56:03 AM
So I found the culprit causing the Row window issue, and it wasn't the patch I expected...the Esper Battle Menu fix is causing this issue on a clean FF3us 1.0 headered ROM.
It's these 3 bytes here that is causing it. C2/DE93: 02 04 COP $04 C2/DE95: 00
They are changed to: 8C 03 8F with the patch, for whatever the reason may be. (Leno?) Changing them back seems to keep the Esper Battle Menu fix intact, and fixes the window, so that's good.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on November 14, 2012, 11:23:06 AM
I tested the header and non-header patches extensively (ie, made sure they worked). I shouldn't have to remind people about applying patches with headers anymore.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on November 14, 2012, 12:12:39 PM
Huh.. Well, upon some further testing here, I see that patching the MP - headered patch on a headered ROM definitively causes the issue of the stuck window, so that's what's happened here for this 'improvement project'.
HOWEVER, the no header version of the patch on a non-headered ROM works fine. So, something must have gotten mixed up there Leno, is all I can figure.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on November 14, 2012, 02:21:29 PM
*checks again*
:isuck:
Expect an update tonight.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on November 28, 2012, 08:04:46 PM
Has anyone else experienced a horrible in-battle bug that seems totally random at times, where if you select to use an item with a character, it instead does an attack??? It will stick to that one character only for the rest of the battle, or until that character dies (I think) while the other characters are normal.
I'm fairly sure it's in this improvement patch, as I didn't do anything to change any battle-related functions or code that I can remember, and it's been around for me as long as I can remember using this as a base. I've had no luck with the debugger yet, trying to solve it. Worst random bug ever! =( God I hope someone can shed some light on this one, it's the last of the nasty bugs I have to deal with, and possibly others as well that just don't know it yet heh heh.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on November 29, 2012, 08:17:38 AM
Quote from: For What Ail's Ya Readme
1.1 - October 24, 2010 Fixed an incredibly rare bug in which item users would attack rather than perform the item usage, while still having the item deducted from inventory.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on November 29, 2012, 01:42:07 PM
Some of the recently released patches are pretty awesome
- Runic Forever - Swdtech Ready Stance
Any plans to implement these?
Also.. Is that guy new to the romhack scene?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on November 29, 2012, 05:11:01 PM
1.1 - October 24, 2010 Fixed an incredibly rare bug in which item users would attack rather than perform the item usage, while still having the item deducted from inventory.
Thank you very very very very much! Woo-hoo!!! *plays Chrono Trigger Lucca Fanfare*
Some of the recently released patches are pretty awesome
- Runic Forever - Swdtech Ready Stance
Any plans to implement these?
Also.. Is that guy new to the romhack scene?
Runic one: "As a side effect, like Runic, the Retort flag will not be reset every turn. The Retort SwordTech will be activated by a physical hit or a second Retort command."
Sword Tech one: "Because of the lack of free space the Retort code was deleted. The Retort SwordTech will activate immediately and doesn’t need a physical hit to be triggered."
While these two patches are neat, I'm not sure how I feel about the side effects, seems pretty imbalanced.
The 'Guest Adder' patch he did is super awesome, I'm definitely gonna play around with that one. ;)
I've never seen the fellow before, my guess is he's a Japanese ROM hacker.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on November 30, 2012, 01:39:00 AM
While these two patches are neat, I'm not sure how I feel about the side effects, seems pretty imbalanced.
The 'Guest Adder' patch he did is super awesome, I'm definitely gonna play around with that one. ;)
I've never seen the fellow before, my guess is he's a Japanese ROM hacker.
yeah, he's living in a bit of a vacuum if he's unaware of free space in Bank C2 to allow for the original Retort code and his additions. (if this were dealt with, and one didn't want to wait the full Retort time for each the "charge" and the actual counter, then one solution is to give Retort a "Time to Wait" half of what the hack currently does.)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on November 30, 2012, 06:09:06 AM
I clearly misunderstood the Sword Tech one
I thought it was like the Runic patch where once the retort effect was activated it stayed with you until you were hit instead of resetting when Cyans turn came back around
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on December 01, 2012, 01:40:06 AM
1.1 - October 24, 2010 Fixed an incredibly rare bug in which item users would attack rather than perform the item usage, while still having the item deducted from inventory.
Yo Leno, I applied the updated patch, and for some reason now characters are not able to cast magic in battle, all the spells look as though there is not enough MP to cast them, all blued out. =( I narrowed it down to this part here that's causing it for me:
Changing it back to the old code there of FF FF FF 20 63 57 clears up the issue, but I'm afraid that's where the 'use item attack instead' bug-fix happens probably..? I'm sure I patched everything right, on a headered ROM. I have Imzog's Multi-Steal patch applied, so I used the correct patch here for What Ails Ya - multi steal - header, so I'm not sure what's going wrong here. Sorry to bother you about this, I just want everything to work out here. I've been having a lot of bad luck lately and my lack of asm knowledge leaves me in the dark about what to do about this.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on December 01, 2012, 03:29:33 AM
i'm trying to guess what the hell would put a "JSR $5763" at C2/6510 to begin with. my "Control menu responds poorly to MP change fix" uses that instruction, but it's at C2/6555.
put all the patches you're using in a single directory, and run mblock129's Patch Conflict Finder to figure out what's using that area: http://zephyr129.brinkster.net/patchconflict.html
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on December 02, 2012, 01:14:28 PM
Ah yeah, I'm sorry it was indeed a case of patch confliction. I'm also curious as to what it might be, I'll report back if I find out using the patch conflict program. I decided to just move that small bit of code there to some free space I have, but I didn't see the correct JSR there leading to C2/650D in the What Ails Ya code document. :wtf:
This was on a clean ROM, is this a mistake or what?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on December 03, 2012, 05:19:20 AM
they probably just forgot to update part of the "C2 - new.txt" file when updating the patch. ails_ya.asm is what the patch is actually made from, so that's the more relevant one. "C2 - new.txt" exists just for documentation, to show what the altered code looks like in a format matching that of the original disassembly.
----------
i'm trying to figure out what called that C2/6510 code.. what values do C2/086C thru C2/086E hold?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on December 04, 2012, 02:33:05 AM
I'm sure I patched everything right, on a headered ROM. I have Imzog's Multi-Steal patch applied, so I used the correct patch here for What Ails Ya - multi steal - header, so I'm not sure what's going wrong here.
The only difference between the Multi-stealing and non-Multi-stealing patches are the location to one of the JSRs because of Imzog shifting code.
Also, I don't think I ever accounted for any other patch tweaking C2/4DAF, because I didn't any other faulty code was there. :hmm:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on December 28, 2012, 07:33:26 PM
Hey Darkmage!
When you coming back?
I just want to pop in and say how much I LOVE the re-translation patch EXCEPT that it breaks most of my custom builds!
DO you happen to know any reason why it's such a fickle patch?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on December 28, 2012, 08:49:43 PM
It's probably because this mega-patch uses so many different patches from people, that uses up the free space and/or other addresses in the ROM that some other things that you or others have done for your build(s) is using, and they clash? For instance, the Flawless Victory patch. It sounds like you may have to check out some addresses and relocate some data around if you want to add on stuff to this. ;)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on January 02, 2013, 01:07:33 PM
This Hatzen08 guy is pretty active
First of all I love the Runic Forever and Lucky Slot patches. They make for awesome updates to otherwise gimped characters in some of the difficulty builds that I have been making
Just saw that he did a Evasion Bugfix patch
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1097/
I was curious of whether you guys could shed some light on the differences between this patch and the one that has been around forever.
I mean i could just test it myself but I'm not sure i would know the difference between this and the existing one.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on January 02, 2013, 06:07:09 PM
compare the authors' descriptions:
http://www.rpglegion.com/ff6/hack/evade.htm
Terii's is a bugfix. it makes Evade work, and it activates all the code that was skipped as a result of the Evade Bug (e.g. Beads reducing hit rate).
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1097/
HatZen08's fixes that bug, and also has a bit of a re-envisioning. it apparently gives Reflect status priority over Clear. also, it majorly changes L.X spells. they'll end up with 255/Level_multiple as a hit rate. however, because he never clears the top half of A before this division, the results might be gibberish. also, with general attacks, he seems to use target Evade or MBlock as the hit rate, ignoring the attack's hit rate entirely. that really makes no sense, so maybe i'm misunderstanding something.
bottom line is, the older one just addresses a bug, and has 11+ years of user testing.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on January 03, 2013, 08:48:20 AM
Awesome
Thanks for the quick response!
While this particular patch doesn't seem overly appealing its nice to see some activity for FF6 hacks.
Been a little on the quiet side over the past year.
There is another cool and active FF6 hack being developed over at InsaneDifficulty.com if anyone wants something new to play around with.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on January 04, 2013, 01:13:43 PM
Thought I should mention this patch:
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1099/
Same dude from above. This one removes the auto-command selection from the Colosseum allowing the player to battle as in normal battles. I can imagine this would make the Colosseum a lot more fun and remove the frustration of watching the AI make really stupid decisions.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on January 04, 2013, 01:41:43 PM
Wow
I feel like this could open up a new way for someone to set up the colliseum. Add some really tough One on One challenge battles.
I should really learn how to use all these tools..... But i have no coding experience whatsoever....
This guy is making some cool stuff
Why is the community sleeping?
Lets fire it back up
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on January 04, 2013, 01:45:03 PM
Same dude from above. This one removes the auto-command selection from the Colosseum allowing the player to battle as in normal battles. I can imagine this would make the Colosseum a lot more fun and remove the frustration of watching the AI make really stupid decisions.
Personally I'd rather see better AI. Just removing that mechanic alone seems like the easy way out.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on January 04, 2013, 01:52:14 PM
Don't most challenge hacks already address this issue?
You could put this on top of most existing ones (though i haven't tested this) and could turn out to be lots of fun
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on January 05, 2013, 10:11:58 AM
Same dude from above. This one removes the auto-command selection from the Colosseum allowing the player to battle as in normal battles. I can imagine this would make the Colosseum a lot more fun and remove the frustration of watching the AI make really stupid decisions.
Personally I'd rather see better AI. Just removing that mechanic alone seems like the easy way out.
Nothing wrong with easy. I personally never enjoy watching a game play itself. Plus I agree this could be an opportunity to make some very interesting one on one challenges.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on January 21, 2013, 07:58:24 PM
Anyone been in touch with Darkmage?
Has he stopped working on this?
He literally has the best translation patch I have yet seen and I would love to have a way to apply it to other patches without it destroying everything LMAO
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 13, 2013, 07:24:42 AM
He literally has the best translation patch I have yet seen and I would love to have a way to apply it to other patches without it destroying everything LMAO
Thanks for the kind words on the translation! It's not all my work - I just pulled stuff from the Lina Darkstar walkthrough and the FF6Advance dialogue, and made them sound as natural as I know how. It's not like I went and translated the Japanese myself! :omghax:
As to just releasing the translation, that's something I hadn't thought of...I'd assumed people would want to either play FF6 with all the bugs fixed (including in the dialogue!), or use this as a base to make their own projects without having to apply all the separate fixes themselves. Also, a couple of lines depend on patches that I've used - they wouldn't be used if you put this on a clean ROM. That was why I released two versions of the patch - one to use right away, and one to work off of.
Is that something people are wanting - just the translation by itself?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 13, 2013, 07:48:02 AM
So I found the culprit causing the Row window issue, and it wasn't the patch I expected...the Esper Battle Menu fix is causing this issue on a clean FF3us 1.0 headered ROM.
It's these 3 bytes here that is causing it. C2/DE93: 02 04 COP $04 C2/DE95: 00
They are changed to: 8C 03 8F with the patch, for whatever the reason may be. (Leno?) Changing them back seems to keep the Esper Battle Menu fix intact, and fixes the window, so that's good.
So changing these bytes back fixes the window issue and leaves the battle menu fix intact? That's great news! I can do that and put out a new version, so people who like using the custom window aren't left out in the cold. Thanks for sharing, TheNattak!
Regarding the item/attack bug mentioned - I tried to be as explicit as possible in what version of whichever patch I used in the improvement. I thought at one point that I may need to rebuild the improvement ROM and do a diff as I add each patch, to see what is changed, as most of the older patches don't include the changes that were made. It appears I may indeed have to do that, if for no other reason that to allow people to review the changes.
If that can be useful, I can get started on that and publish the results, per patch.
Some of the recently released patches are pretty awesome
- Runic Forever - Swdtech Ready Stance
Any plans to implement these?
Also.. Is that guy new to the romhack scene?
I took a look through his patches, and some of them do sound awesome. The Guest Adder patch, if it's usable with the improvement, would be an awesome addition to a project!
If the Runic Forever patch works the way it's intended, then I think it's really cool, since if I was building the Runic ability from scratch, I would design it to stay active until triggered. But I don't like how it changes Retort.
The SwdTech Ready Stance one is intriguing - choose your technique and then it will charge. I think that is more elegant than the gauge speed-up...but again, I don't like what it does to Retort.
I agree with koala_knight on the True Duel patch - I don't like seeing games play themselves either, which is why I don't like the PS2 FF games. Actually, I'm on the fence with this one - it obviously breaks the original intent, but it would be a test to see if you could kill a tough beastie with one character. I could see this adding to replay value - take a "gimp" character in, and the challenge is to see if you can win anyway.
Now Lucky Slots - I'll have to take a close look at what he's done there, because if he did a good job I could possibly use that over the Slots Derigged fix. It sounds like it could be overpowered, though, so no guarantees on that.
Yeah, he has some good ideas - it's always good to encourage newcomers!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on February 13, 2013, 12:27:57 PM
Welcome back!
Thanks for the updates and impressions!
I also want to say that your current Complete patch with Translation is a hit with the people I have shared it with.
Pretty much the best way to enjoy the original game in a cleaned up form.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 15, 2013, 06:48:41 PM
*drumroll*
Version 1.07 is out! Get it here (https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement).
EDIT: Looking back through the last few pages of this thread, I realized that I also added the fix C.V. Reynolds had come up with for the Sabin/Vargas scene! So here's a proper changelog:
- Applied the fix for Esper Battle Menu to fix the short window persisting after a command is chosen (thanks, TheNattak!) - Applied the fix that restores the Blitz tutorial during the Sabin/Vargas battle (thanks, C.V. Reynolds!)
The translation is still at an almost complete status - if I can ever get up to the opera with a savestate so that I can start messing with the timing codes, that's the only thing that still needs to be done.
As always, the base patch is missing the 6 patches that get corrupted by FF3usME 6.7 so that hackers gonna hack can (the readme has the patches); the complete patch has all the patches applied, and the translation patch is complete + translation. Also, basic script fixes are in the base and complete patches.
Also ALSO as always, please report any issues, glitches or crashes that you find.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 17, 2013, 06:09:24 AM
Version 1.07 is out! Get it here (https://sites.google.com/site/shadedmagus/home/projects/ff6-improvement).
EDIT: Looking back through the last few pages of this thread, I realized that I also added the fix C.V. Reynolds had come up with for the Sabin/Vargas scene! So here's a proper changelog:
- Applied the fix for Esper Battle Menu to fix the short window persisting after a command is chosen (thanks, TheNattak!) - Applied the fix that restores the Blitz tutorial during the Sabin/Vargas battle (thanks, C.V. Reynolds!)
The translation is still at an almost complete status - if I can ever get up to the opera with a savestate so that I can start messing with the timing codes, that's the only thing that still needs to be done.
As always, the base patch is missing the 6 patches that get corrupted by FF3usME 6.7 so that hackers gonna hack can (the readme has the patches); the complete patch has all the patches applied, and the translation patch is complete + translation. Also, basic script fixes are in the base and complete patches.
Also ALSO as always, please report any issues, glitches or crashes that you find.
I recently downloaded a save file (http://fantasyanime.com/finalfantasy/ff6/saves/ff6save10Perfect_OperaHouse.zip) at the opera to use for my girlfriend's valentines day hack. You can use it too!
Also, I've been playing this patch and broadcasting my gameplay on my twitch channel :P
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 17, 2013, 11:58:55 PM
I got a 403 when I tried that link, LM. It's OK though, I found that I had played up to Kohlingen not too long ago, and moved it along. Also, I wasn't able to find anything on Twitch, but it'd be really cool to see!
So I'm finally, finally getting around to tweaking the Opera scene, and it's as delicate as I was fearing it would be. I have the first scene with Draco (O Maria...) timed out nicely, but the text won't disappear without manually closing the text box with the A button, which I don't remember having to do before. I compared it to a clean ROM, and the opcode placement looks right, so I'm not sure what the problem is there. Otherwise, it's just a tedious process of making a change, loading the game, opening the state, watching, repeat ad nauseum.
I'll keep everyone posted on progress - it'll be good to get this out there the way it ought to be!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on February 18, 2013, 12:38:10 AM
go via here: http://fantasyanime.com/finalfantasy/ff6/ff6saves.htm
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 19, 2013, 11:20:04 AM
Well, now I'm kicking myself for not just buckling down and getting the Opera scene taken care of - I've spent about 18 hours on it, and it's almost done. The timing codes are pretty straightforward, once you get used to how they're tweaked. I've got all 3 of the major scenes mostly done, and all that's left is to polish the timing in the few places where it's still a bit off.
Also, since this work is going more smoothly than I'd anticipated, I'll see about fixing the timing for the Opera scene in the base and complete patches, since there are a couple of parts where it's GAH-awful.
Once I have the Opera scene working to my satisfaction, barring any reports of glitches or crashes, I think this project will be mostly done! I will do another scan to see if any fixes have updates, and there are a couple of patches I'd like to try and add, like Lenophis' Fancy Walking patch...but other than that my goal for making the original FF6 as stable and bug-free as possible, as well as making the story read more smoothly, will be met!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on February 19, 2013, 01:38:52 PM
Incredible work man!
I can't wait to play around with this more when I get a chance.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 20, 2013, 10:03:19 AM
I did a scan for any updates to the patches I use for the improvement, and I ended up finding new fix patches from assassin and Novalia Spirit - one of which I was really glad to find.
After getting the Opera timing pretty much to my satisfaction on my translation test ROM, I played ahead and noticed that the game hung right after the scene that's supposed to be fixed with the King of Vanity patch (regressions, grr!) I had previously applied the patches that FF3usME 6.7 breaks, since I had a similar problem in Zozo when it came time for the Always Jump Left in Zozo patch and re-applying fixed it. But for some reason, the King of Vanity patch still wasn't working right.
Thankfully, Novalia Spirit has released a patch called Blush Disease to address the same issue. I removed the King of Vanity patch and applied this one, and it worked, apparently with no issues - Edgar and Celes were in the party, but only Celes blushed.
At any rate, I'll be doing an evaluation of the new fix patches and will add them in if the playtesting works out.
Something I'm on the fence about - there are two patches by HatZen08 that I would like to consider adding to the improvement (as tweaks instead of fixes, obviously), but I'm uncertain as whether it would be in the spirit of keeping as close to the original intent Square had for this game. In particular:
The Runic Forever patch causes Runic (and as a side effect, Cyan's Retort technique) to stay in effect until it is triggered, while allowing the characters to make command decisions in the meantime. While I personally like this change, and may include it in my personal copy of the improvement, my problem with officially putting this in the project is that I believe this was not the original intent for either action, so changing them will potentially make both techniques overpowered. I'll be testing this patch regardless, but I would like opinions on whether this takes the technique behavior too far away from the original behavior.
The SwordTech Ready Stance patch changes SwdTech/Bushido so that you choose the technique you want up front, and the technique will charge in the background during battle. This patch, in its current state, also changes Retort to an immediate strike once chosen. I really, REALLY like the main intent of this patch, as to me it is a much more elegant solution than the SwordTech gauge - even with the Speed-Up tweak patch I currently have in place - as it (allegedly) preserves the original charge time of each technique without breaking battle flow. The secondary effect of the patch, though, is unacceptable for the improvement as Retort was most definitely designed to counter a physical attack.
I've messaged HatZen08 to see if he would be amenable to modifying the patch. If he is, then I'm inclined to include it (barring any conflicts) because it would improve battle flow with Cyan in the party without (IMO) taking him too far away from his original design. But again, I would like opinions on that.
Please let me know what you think!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on February 21, 2013, 04:18:59 PM
If they could be adjusted so that Retort is preserved as it was intended I would include them, but I would make them optional.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: binarynova on February 21, 2013, 10:18:33 PM
Long time lurker here! As someone who's never posted here before I'm not sure how much my opinion means, but here it is. :)
This one I don't feel one way or another towards. I never use Celes, though that may be because I've never been able to get Runic to actually do anything. I've always kind of wanted a patch that just replaced Runic with Summon or something. ;)
This one however, sounds amazing (though I agree Retort should remain a counter). I use Cyan a lot and I'm really looking forward to seeing how this feels in combat!
Anyway, I'm excited about this patch getting finished. Can't wait to play through my favorite FF again!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on February 22, 2013, 10:28:50 PM
Also, I wasn't able to find anything on Twitch, but it'd be really cool to see!
Whoops, forgot to link it. (http://www.twitch.tv/gamingwithmist/videos)
That's a cool idea, and the comments are very helpful! For instance, on part 2 with the lady in Vector who tests your loyalty - I agree that the attack if you say no should be a pincer attack. I could probably create an enemy formation that has two guards that can pincer, but there are two things about that:
1) I'm not sure which (supposedly) empty formations are safe to use - this isn't too big a hurdle, but 2) I'm not at all familiar with event editing, and I don't have the slightest idea how to find that event, much less make it call the enemy formation I could set up.
I wouldn't mind getting into event editing; there are a few event bugs that still need to be fixed, such as -
* White Drgn misplaces the room camera * Phoenix chest in the Phoenix Cave closes again after you leave, even though it stays empty * Music volume when you first enter the Opera House is louder than it should be
I'll take a look around and see if there's any information on how event editing works - but I admit I wouldn't be put out if someone were to point to a resource as well!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 23, 2013, 12:44:02 PM
Hatzen just added about 3-4 more patches since then
I know, and most of them are really interesting!
Have Mog choose a dance, he does one attack from the dance routine and then goes back to being controllable? Make Umaro so you can equip anything on him and still have him be able to perform all his random attacks? Reset Terra's Morph gauge to full at the end of every battle? Double magic damage done to her as an attempt to balance it out?
All of those are AWESOME ideas! But on the flipside, they're treading that line where I feel the original intent would not be preserved, and that's one of the key principles I'm trying to stick to with this mod. The SwordTech Ready stance I'm willing to use, though, since he preserves the charge time for each attack and just allows you to choose the technique when you choose the command. Doing it this way lets you work with other characters while Cyan builds up to his technique. This makes Cyan a more desirable choice, and is a change in design I'm willing to put up with. I think it's obvious I feel SwdTech is lacking, since I put in the speed-up tweak to begin with.
Speaking of the SwordTech Ready patch, HatZen sent me an alternative version where he uses some of that big area of free space in the C2 bank instead of blanking out the Retort code! There's good and bad news with this. The bad news is that, using mblock's Patch Conflict Finder, I saw that he put the majority of his 27 bytes of new code right in the same spot as Imzo's Color Coded MP patch.
The good news is that he sent his hex changes along with the patch, and using those I was able to move it to a different spot in the same area of free space that isn't being used by any of the 109 other patches I'm using. I've asked him to vet my changes, but I'm pretty sure it will work as is. So I'll be testing that soon!
That does bring up a question though: Which patch would people like to see more: the speed-up patch, or the Ready Stance patch? I'm curious as to which patch people think improves SwordTech more appropriately, or conveniently.
One tiny update: so far it looks like the extra bugfixes by assassin, Lenophis and Novalia Spirit are co-existing nicely with everything else on my test ROM, so I may be putting out another version soon!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on February 23, 2013, 01:46:34 PM
I think, for these patches that would be awesome but otherwise change the intent of the game, the best of both worlds would be to do the work to make sure that they are compatible, but then distribute them in an "optional" folder contained within the same archive as the patch itself (of course, get the author's permission to do this). The readme file could contain notes on what the patch does, why it's cool, and why it's not included in the base patch. Personally, I'd totally use the Cyan ready stance (without breaking Retort), the forever runic, equipable umaro, and controllable coliseum, but I can see how others might disagree.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on February 23, 2013, 02:25:09 PM
2) I'm not at all familiar with event editing, and I don't have the slightest idea how to find that event, much less make it call the enemy formation I could set up.
CC/9371: C0 If ($1E80($136) [$1EA6, bit 6] is set), branch to $CC93C0 CC/9377: 4B Display dialogue message $0532, wait for button press Pledge your allegiance to the Empire? ^ Yes ^ No CC/937A: B6 Indexed branch based on prior dialogue selection [$CC93BC, $CC9382] CC/9381: FE Return
CC/9382: 4B Display dialogue message $0533, wait for button press What!! CC/9385: 3D Create object $11 CC/9387: 3D Create object $12 CC/9389: 41 Show object $11 CC/938B: 41 Show object $12 CC/938D: 45 Refresh objects CC/938E: 31 Begin action queue for character $31 (Party Character 0), 2 bytes long CC/9390: 1F Do vehicle/entity graphical action $1F CC/9391: FF End queue CC/9392: 11 Begin action queue for character $11 (NPC $11), 2 bytes long CC/9394: 81 Move vehicle/entity right 1 tile CC/9395: FF End queue CC/9396: 12 Begin action queue for character $12 (NPC $12), 2 bytes long (Wait until complete) CC/9398: 83 Move vehicle/entity left 1 tile CC/9399: FF End queue CC/939A: 93 Pause for 45 units CC/939B: 4D Invoke battle, enemy set $01, background $3F (Default for this area), (mosaic effect enabled), (swoosh sound enabled) CC/939E: B2 Call subroutine $CA5EA9 CC/93A2: 42 Hide object $11 CC/93A4: 42 Hide object $12 CC/93A6: 45 Refresh objects CC/93A7: 31 Begin action queue for character $31 (Party Character 0), 2 bytes long (Wait until complete) CC/93A9: CE Turn vehicle/entity down CC/93AA: FF End queue CC/93AB: 96 Restore screen from fade CC/93AC: 5C Pause execution until fade in or fade out is complete CC/93AD: 92 Pause for 30 units CC/93AE: 31 Begin action queue for character $31 (Party Character 0), 5 bytes long (Wait until complete) CC/93B0: CD Turn vehicle/entity right CC/93B1: E0 Pause for 4 * 1 (4) frames CC/93B3: CC Turn vehicle/entity up CC/93B4: FF End queue CC/93B5: 92 Pause for 30 units CC/93B6: 4B Display dialogue message $0553, wait for button press Right… I'm sure you can do it! CC/93B9: D2 Set event bit $1E80($136) [$1EA6, bit 6] CC/93BB: FE ReturnThe line you want is CC/939B. 4D 01 3F should be 4D xx 3F (xx is your new 2-pack formation).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on February 23, 2013, 05:33:44 PM
I totally support the Ready Stance patch over the speed tweak. And I agree with Tzepish's suggestion of an optional patches folder.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 23, 2013, 08:41:02 PM
Hmm...the folder of optional but awesome patches is a good idea. There are a couple of other patches I could think of that I would like to endorse as a quality addition to the improvement mod. I'll get the list together and ask the authors for permission, and as long as they're OK with it I'll pack them together in the archive.
Thanks for pointing that event out, Leno! Is there a "basics" thread or other doc for event editing? I'm more than willing to do the research, but I'm not sure where to start looking where the events are concerned.
I'll get the SwordTech Ready Stance patch included in place of the speed-up tweak and start testing it right away.
Thanks for all the feedback and advice!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on February 24, 2013, 08:11:55 AM
Is there a "basics" thread or other doc for event editing? I'm more than willing to do the research, but I'm not sure where to start looking where the events are concerned.
You can pretty much find all of them in the Event dump at Imzog's site (http://www.angelfire.com/al2/imzogelmo/patches.html). The best way to find an event is to find something unique to it, dialogue works best. The rest should fall into place.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on February 25, 2013, 02:51:17 PM
I have found that your base patch can combine nicely with quite a few of the difficulty patches out there. Mainly SageAcrins Eviltype (for the most part)
Ill have to test again with all the recent changes but it should be lots of fun to make a sort of super patch that has enough changes to keep things fresh while still maintaining the original spirit of the game
Hatzens patches seem almost tailored to be combined with difficulty patches in order to make the players options and strategies more compelling.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on February 27, 2013, 11:31:18 AM
From playtesting, what I can see is that the Ready Stance patch is not fundamentally different from the Speed-Up patch - the gauge fills faster than before in both patches. What is different is that as you choose higher number techniques, the wait time between choice and execution is longer. So there won't be as noticeable difference to players as I was expecting.
Also, the translation appears to have some rough edges I hadn't caught since my last revision - I'm fixing those as I find them.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Drakkhen on February 27, 2013, 04:11:15 PM
In the readme, where you list my website, you list my old angelfire page, which hasn't been updated in 7 years. It would be much better to give my current address: http://drakkhen.jalchavware.com
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Spooniest on March 02, 2013, 03:44:11 AM
In the readme, where you list my website, you list my old angelfire page, which hasn't been updated in 7 years. It would be much better to give my current address: http://drakkhen.jalchavware.com
I will do that, Drakkhen. Thanks for the clarification - I had been to your newer site, but hadn't noticed the different URL. The next version will have the proper address.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 04, 2013, 12:11:10 PM
Also, the translation appears to have some rough edges I hadn't caught since my last revision - I'm fixing those as I find them.
I hate finding text bugs. Usually right after I've submitted a new version, too. I guess it's just Murphy's Law...
It has to be. There were a couple of blatant misspellings, and some text that ran on into a new page that hadn't looked like it would. That's the kind of thing I tend to catch right away, so I'm not sure what happened there.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 06, 2013, 01:26:09 PM
More evidence that playtesting is always worthwhile.
Novalia Spirit's "The Sealed Door Fix v1.0" for a door in Jidoor is instead breaking the interior maps of Jidoor in a spectacular way. I noticed that his Fridgia Nova site is offline atm, so hopefully he can fix both the site and this issue. Never mind, it's loading now.
I'm making a note of this on the first page.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on March 06, 2013, 06:34:29 PM
So is 1.07 safe to use currently or should I hold out for your next release?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on March 06, 2013, 09:34:57 PM
weird. often, map edits will result in larger patches than what he has (like thousands of bytes), because the maps use compression, and changing one tile (at least in a map editor) can wind up changing a whole string of ROM values once the new sequence of tiles is recompressed. the fact that his patches are so small makes me think that Novalia Spirit manually edited the data, so it's possible that he misread some of the compression info. or typoed. :P
if he had used a map editor, the chances would increase that a patch editing one area of Jidoor's interior map would conflict with a patch that edits another area of it. however, i can't think of any other patches that alter this map.
it's worth double-checking "The Magic Bridge Fix" and South Figaro, though it's unlikely there's a problem, with that having been out 4.5 years.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on March 08, 2013, 06:35:18 AM
ok, Novalia's added to the patch documentation to address this. the patch itself is unchanged, indicating he's confident it works.
i can't think of any other patches in the Improvement Project that edit Maranda's interior map (nor Jidoor's, as previously stated). if one interprets the Readme warning verbatim, simply modifying the ROM with a map editor is enough to possibly cause clashes, even if it's a different map you're editing.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 08, 2013, 08:06:31 PM
ok, Novalia's added to the patch documentation to address this. the patch itself is unchanged, indicating he's confident it works.
i can't think of any other patches in the Improvement Project that edit Maranda's interior map (nor Jidoor's, as previously stated). if one interprets the Readme warning verbatim, simply modifying the ROM with a map editor is enough to possibly cause clashes, even if it's a different map you're editing.
Hmm. That's good to know, and your previous post indicating changes made by map editors adding kilobytes to a patch size would explain why my patch size was way bigger than it should have been several versions ago. I did make a couple of map changes using FF6LE (not in Jidoor or Maranda, but it sounds like that doesn't matter), so if that's what is causing the conflict, then I owe Novalia Spirit an apology. And I won't be able to use that patch, because I want to keep the changes I've made. Although it might be worthwhile to look into getting those changes made manually, though, if the map editors are that destructive.
So is 1.07 safe to use currently or should I hold out for your next release?
1.07 is fine; I was playtesting to evaluate the extra patches that have been put out since the last time I checked, for the next version.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on March 09, 2013, 12:36:10 PM
Have you tried re-importing the map in LE? If that doesn't fix it, sounds like you'll have to reinsert the map(s) data and pointers via hex editor from a clean ROM or previously working version of the hack. As to what caused it to happen, I have not a clue!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on March 09, 2013, 09:37:09 PM
or you could duplicate The Sealed Door Fix's change using a map editor. shouldn't take long, though it won't do anything to address gobs of bytes being altered.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on March 29, 2013, 01:04:12 PM
out of curiosity do you think the menu blitz patch will conflict with this? I heard there was a problem with it, I'll test it out and give some feedback
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on April 03, 2013, 07:16:26 AM
I really love the Menu Blitz patch (especially when playing on a phone) but no it fudges up every Battle event (along with other side effects)
I am not sure there will ever be a way to make this a stable setup without some crazy amount of work
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on April 03, 2013, 12:19:44 PM
worst case scenario me and a few other people can check the actual offsets of that patch n maybe figure out what the issue is, it would be a lot easier if I could get a hold of the creator
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on May 23, 2013, 07:40:42 PM
Another fix to consider: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1298/
Changing the threshold for "near-death" status from 1/8 current HP to something higher, so that it's more useful. I agree with this hack's author that it's currently set so low that you usually die before you see it (although, I think 1/2 is a bit too high - maybe 1/4 or 1/3 is better).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on May 24, 2013, 12:26:03 AM
Another fix to consider: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1298/
Changing the threshold for "near-death" status from 1/8 current HP to something higher, so that it's more useful. I agree with this hack's author that it's currently set so low that you usually die before you see it (although, I think 1/2 is a bit too high - maybe 1/4 or 1/3 is better).
While this is a nice alternative to say, enabling DAs to happen anytime, I don't like how it puts you in the near fatal pose with just 1/2 of your HP gone. I only want to see my character like that if they are poisoned or near death. That's just me though. =)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on May 24, 2013, 03:17:38 PM
While this is a nice alternative to say, enabling DAs to happen anytime, I don't like how it puts you in the near fatal pose with just 1/2 of your HP gone. I only want to see my character like that if they are poisoned or near death. That's just me though. =)
Hence my comment that 1/2 is too high and 1/3 or 1/4 would be better :-).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: General Public on May 29, 2013, 05:20:01 AM
Bug report from playtesting the patch version 1.07 (complete + translation):
In Zozo, when you are jumping between buildings, after you jump left across several buildings the first time, you get stuck in that building and if you ever try jumping from that building your character sprite gets stuck in place and you can't move (but the music keeps playing and other sprites on the screen of Zozo people continue moving around normally). This happens the first time you go thru Zozo on the way to find Terra. So it seems version 1.07 cannot be played all the way thru because it crashes in Zozo. Anyway I have attached an .srm file of the SRAM of my game right outside Zozo right before this bug happens. Yes my characters are level 99 with great stats and have much better equipment than they should at this point in the game, but that does not matter, since I have tested this .srm file, which was played entirely in your complete version 1.07 with the translation, with the original version of the game, and with the original game, this bug of getting stuck in Zozo does not occur and Zozo is playable, using this same .srm file. Obviously attaching a save-state would be pointless since those are emulator-specific and change with different versions of emulators, but this .srm file should work in any emulator and allow you to easily reproduce the Zozo jumping bug. I packaged it in a 7z archive to minimize the file size. Good luck figuring out what's causing this bug, I have no clue.
Anyway, please try loading this SRM with your patched version as well as the original unpatched ROM, and see whether or not you get stuck after the first time you jump across buildings in Zozo, the next time you try jumping across buildings. This seems like it might be a serious bug in your patch. If anyone here can try out this .srm file and find out what the problem is with jumping in Zozo with the latest 1.07 patch that would be great, anyway excellent job on the patch, I enjoy it very much, hope you can fix this bug. And yes, yes, I did use an .srm file editor, FF3h version 5, by Lord J, to achieve having the characters level 99 with great stats and having awesome equipment, but as far as I know, that editor does not have any bugs, and anyway, this bug does not occur with the original unpatched ROM if I use this same exact .srm file, so I can logically deduce that the problem was NOT caused by using the .srm file editor or by which emulator I am using but rather was caused by your patch, since whether or not I am using your patch is the factor that seems to determine whether or not this bug occurs.
Or if you would like to independently verify this problem without using my .srm file, just play the game through until the part where Terra is in Zozo and see if this same bug with jumping between buildings happens. I am not sure what would happen if you did that, this error might only occur with some games or it might occur in all games at that point in the story, who knows?
But anyway, yeah, thank you, please try out jumping between buildings in Zozo using this .srm file, with the complete+translation version of your patch 1.07, and then see if you can come up with a solution. Thanks.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on May 29, 2013, 10:35:38 AM
Sounds like an attempt to fix the "always facing left" bug was in place, and it did the same thing PB did initially. :lame:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on May 30, 2013, 12:46:10 PM
this issue was stated in the readme if I'm not mistaken as well
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: General Public on June 02, 2013, 01:03:33 AM
2 more events that are bugged in the same version of the game (Complete + Translation version 1.07):
After Celes does the opera thing and everyone is onboard the Blackbird to talk to Setzer, there's a scene where you are talking to Setzer and the game freezes. (The opera itself is a bit bugged in this version but you can get through it by choosing the right options, no game freezes.) This seems to be related to mblock129's "King of Vanity" (http://zephyr129.brinkster.net/) patch, one of 6 patches that are in the complete but not the base version of FF6 Improvement Project.
In the World of Ruin, after Celes and Sabin follow Gerad and the Crimson Robbers to the basement of Figaro Castle, right after Gerad sends the rest of the Crimson Robbers to get the treasure and let him fight the obligatory Japanese Tentacle Monster that's gumming up the works in the engine room... just like in the Zozo jumping and in the talking to Setzer on the Blackbird after the opera, once again, the game freezes... right before you were about to fight the Tentacle Monster in the engine room. This seems to be related to mblock129's "Edgar Revealed" (http://zephyr129.brinkster.net/) patch, one of 6 patches that are in the complete but not the base version of FF6 Improvement Project.
Also, a suggestion for a patch to add to this: Holy Randomness Batman! v1.6a by Lenophis (link here (http://slickproductions.org/ff6patch.php?id=Tweak%20-%20Holy%20Randomness%20Batman) or here (http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/255/)). The Random Number Generator (RNG) in Final Fantasy 6 is not even remotely random. Very often things that SHOULD be possible, you can't get to happen no matter how many times you try (such as certain enemy formations appearing, or getting rare drops or steals), and there are also exploits of the original Random Number Generator that some players use to achieve desired outcomes such as using an Echo Screen to get Joker Doom with the Slot command. That particular exploit isn't possible under the FF6 Improvement Project because of the Slot Derigging Patch by Master ZED that you already have included in the project, but there are other Random Number Generator exploits too (for instance, related to the Mag Roader fights when you are leaving the Magitek Research Facility). Anyway, this patch ought to improve the Random Number Generator a bit.
Sounds like an attempt to fix the "always facing left" bug was in place, and it did the same thing PB did initially.
Heh, at first I didn't even know what you meant by PB, but then I found the thread about the Pandora's Box project and read about it, and looked at your videos on YouTube about it. Very interesting. Too bad I can't download it. It does have an impressive number of bugs squashed, just like this project.
this issue was stated in the readme if I'm not mistaken as well
Yes, it appears all 3 of these bugs I have encountered while playtesting the "complete+translation" version 1.07 of FF6 Improvement Project are related to patches by mblock129 that are listed in the readme as being incompatible with the editor FF3usMe v6.7. I would guess that the Zozo jumping bug is related to the "Miraculous, Death-Defying Always-Left-Facing Jumps in Zozo" (http://zephyr129.brinkster.net/) patch by mblock129.
Anyway, it seems that at least 3 out of the 6 patches listed as incompatible with FF3usMe v6.7 are completely broken in the "complete+translation" version 1.07 of FF6 Improvement Project. I wouldn't be surprised if the other 3 are also broken, too, and if I just haven't run into those bugs yet in my current playthrough. To quote the readme:
Quote
These are patches which were meant to be included in all versions of the patch but are left out of the base version for hackers, as FF3usME v6.7 overwrites the locations where these patches reside. Apply them after all your changes have been made:
Duncan Stays Put (mblock129) Edgar Revealed (mblock129) Shadow Leaves One-man Party (Imzogelmo) Shadow is NOT a Girl! fix (mblock129) King of Vanity (mblock129) They Only Jump Left in Zozo! (mblock129)
Since those all seem to not work, it seems the "base" version of the patch is probably the safest one to play if you want to avoid errors. Definitely the "complete+translation" version has bugs with at least 3 out of those 6. As for the "complete" version without the translation, I have not tested it yet, so it might work perfectly fine, or it might be just as broken as the version with the translation. All 6 of those patches in question are event-related and only occur at certain points in the game.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on June 02, 2013, 02:39:26 PM
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on June 02, 2013, 10:39:41 PM
Actually, I would recommend you stay away from Holy Randomness Batman, since extensive testing has revealed that it's not nearly as random as I had hoped. PB has a much better RNG in it than this patch, and I've been thinking about releasing it, but there's a LOT of work I would have to do since I need free space in a bunch of places.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: General Public on June 03, 2013, 07:30:23 AM
True. I have continued my playthrough of FF6 Improvement Project version 1.07 (now testing ALL THREE versions of the patch) and found 2 more bugs:
Going inside Duncan's house north of Narshe in the World of Ruin crashes the game. This is related to mblock129's patch "Duncan Stays Put". This bug appears to be present in the complete+translation patch and the complete patch but NOT the base patch or the original game.
Rescuing Shadow inside the Cave in the Veldt in the World of Ruin crashes the game right after you beat the SrBehemoth. This is related to mblock129's patch "Shadow is NOT a Girl! fix". This bug appears to be present in all 3 versions of the patch (even the base patch!!) but NOT the original game.
So I have confirmed that 5 out of the 6 patches in question listed in the readme as incompatible with FF3usME v6.7 have led to bugs in the complete+translation version of FF6 Improvement project v1.07, and the 2 most recent ones I tested, I tested on all 3 versions of the FF6 Improvement project. It appears that all 3 versions of the FF6 Improvement Project are at least somewhat affected. The only of the 6 that I haven't tested at all yet is "Shadow Leaves One-man Party" by Imzogemlo, which is also one of the 6. In order to test that one, you need to be in the World of Balance and have completed the 3 scenarios and successfully defended Narshe from Kefka, and witnessed Terra turn into an esper and fly away. At that point in the game, you can form a party with JUST Gau in it (nobody else), then take Figaro Castle to Kohlingen, recruit Shadow to join you, make sure to save often so that Shadow doesn't leave you, then take Figaro Castle back to the Figaro/Narshe region, go through the Figaro Cave to be in the South Figaro/Sabin's House region, go through Mt. Kolts and then the next valley to get to the Returner Hideout, jump into the Lete River and take it to Gau's father's house, go south all the way into the Phantom Forest, go through the forest all the way and out onto the world map again and then into the cave to jump off the waterfalls, then jump off the waterfalls onto the Veldt, then have Gau jump onto a pack of monsters in the Veldt so that your party is JUST Shadow by himself, then have Shadow go to the Cave in the Veldt and take the Serpent Trench to Nikeah, then take the ferry to South Figaro, then go back through Figaro Cave towards Narshe, then enter Narshe... and then the game will probably crash. I have not tested this, but, most likely, this bug is also present too in the FF6 Improvement Project 1.07 complete and complete+translation versions (and possibly also the base version), the S.L.O.M.P. bug (Shadow Leaves One Man Party bug). All 5 of the other 6 patches listed there cause the complete+translation game to crash at those story events, so I'd be very surprised if this one was any exception.
So now I shall test what happens if I re-apply those 6 patches AFTER the complete patch or the complete+translation patch and see if re-applying all 6 of them afterwards fixes it, and as for the base patch, I'll see if applying ANTI-patches for all 6 of those gets it working. If I manage to fix all 6 of those bugs, I'll create new, fixed versions of all 3 patches and add them as an attachment here so they can be downloaded and tested by others as well. Anyway, it looks like all 3 versions of the FF6 Improvement Project are at least somewhat affected by the compatibility problems with the 6 patches in question, even the base patch, which I didn't expect, since I didn't think the base patch had any of those 6 in it.
Actually, I would recommend you stay away from Holy Randomness Batman, since extensive testing has revealed that it's not nearly as random as I had hoped. PB has a much better RNG in it than this patch, and I've been thinking about releasing it, but there's a LOT of work I would have to do since I need free space in a bunch of places.
I have found that Holy Randomness Batman DOES make things more random in Colosseum fights, at the very least, for what that's worth. It used to be that if you saved a state when you were on the list of items to wager at the Colosseum, then any fight outcome would be predetermined based on what item you pick and which of the characters in your party you pick, and the fight would go exactly the same every time. But with Holy Randomness Batman, the fight outcomes at the Colosseum no longer appear to be predetermined when you are at the item screen, and the fights actually go differently each time you reload from that save state and try again with the same item choice and character choice (as long as your timing in when you select an item is different). So that is one positive outcome I have found based on the Holy Randomness Batman patch. So, at the very least, it IS more random that Final Fantasy 6's original Random Number Generator and it's an improvement on that. But you are right that it isn't as random as it could be. I have found that under Holy Randomness Batman, "random" enemy encounters still occur in a predetermined pattern like in the original game. So it would not help in situations like the Floating Continent where some enemy formations have only a 1/64 chance of appearing and you might be locked into a sequence where certain enemy formations never occur no matter HOW many fights you fight in a row, since it would just repeat the same sequence of 256 fights over and over again forever if you kept fighting over and over longer than 256 fights. At least I THINK that's how it works... I read about it in the GameFAQs document by Master ZED about Setzer's Slot command (http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/554041-final-fantasy-iii/faqs/43660), which has lots of useful information about how the Random Number Generator works. So yes, Holy Randomness Batman does have room for improvement (e.g. "random" enemy encounters), but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's STILL at least a moderate improvement over the original Random Number Generator (e.g. what happens in Colosseum fights). It certainly doesn't make things any worse than the original game. But it is very encouraging to hear that you have developed an even better Random Number Generator and are working on it. It would be quite impressive if you not only got "random" enemy encounters in most places to actually be random instead of following a predetermined order, but if you also got the "random" enemy encounters on the Veldt to be randomly chosen as well, instead of following the same order every time (an order described in great detail in Djibriel's rage guide on GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/554041-final-fantasy-iii/faqs/35118)). If each Veldt fight were totally random and you couldn't predict it based on the previous Veldt fight, that would be awesome. The most obvious part of the Veldt pattern is when it goes: Commando either x1 or x4, random fight out of 8 possibilities, SrBehemoth, White Drgn. Needs to be randomized.
Title: Unofficial Test Version
Post by: General Public on June 03, 2013, 12:55:23 PM
I have produced a new unofficial test version based on FF6 Improvement Project v1.07, which I am calling FF6 Improvement Project FIX v1.07a.
Basically, I combined the 6 patches that were having compatibility problems into a single patch and also made an anti-patch for it.
Then I applied the combined anti-patch for those 6 patches to the Base edition of FF6 Improvement, and applied the combined patch for those 6 patches to the Complete and Translation editions of FF6 Improvement.
Based on preliminary testing, it appears that the bugs I found have now been fixed in both the Base and Complete editions. The Translation edition is so-so; some of the bugs have been fixed, some still don't work.
Anyway, this requires people to test it to see if those 6 bugs related to those 6 patches still occur.
Please download and test it to see if it works. This testing will probably help DarkMage in developing his next official version, hopefully.
Also please consult the updated README.TXT file if you have any questions.
Again, this is an unofficial test version to see if I can fix the 6 bugs I found in FF6 Improvement Project v1.07, it is not official, it may crash, it does not come with any warranties or guarantees, it is for testing purposes only, and has not been endorsed by DarkMage, me, or anyone else.
If and when DarkMage releases a future version of FF6 Improvement Project with a version number higher than 1.07, this unofficial test version will be considered obsolete and anyone using it will be strongly urged to upgrade to the latest official version by DarkMage.
Not intended for use by people who don't understand how to switch .SRM files between patched and unpatched versions of the same game's ROM when they encounter bugs that crash the game.
Enjoy! But also... beware! Now download it and try it out... see if it works! Have fun! And you want to play the game all the way through without it crashing and without having to switch back and forth with the original unpatched ROM, don't play the Translation patch, I already know it still has bugs, instead use the Base or Complete patch, they work better!
Here is a download link (it's too big for me to put here as an attachment): http://www.sendspace.com/file/trxm7v (http://www.sendspace.com/file/trxm7v)
If that download link doesn't work I can upload it to another site.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on June 04, 2013, 01:30:38 PM
these patches if put last shouldn't cause any freezes or bugs
but testing it wouldn't hurt at all
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: General Public on June 07, 2013, 06:29:25 PM
these patches if put last shouldn't cause any freezes or bugs
but testing it wouldn't hurt at all
Yes it seems to work. At least, the Base and Complete versions. But not the Translation version. It is known to crash when you find Shadow in the Cave in the Veldt in the World of Ruin. This is probably because one of the 6 patches in question is an event fix for that event, which involves dialogue, and the Translation version updates all the dialogue in the game. This probably also means that other event fixes out of those 6 that involve dialogue won't work in the translation version. But ones that don't involve any dialogue, such as the Duncan jumping around in his house one, work perfectly fine in the Translation version. Haven't run into any problems at all in the Base or Complete versions with my testing so far. And all I did was re-apply the 6 patches in question to the Complete and Translation versions, and un-apply them to the Base version, because those patches are supposed to be present in the Complete and Translation versions but not in the Base version, and they are also supposed to be the patches applied last of all. So, it should work fine in theory, except of course the Translation version, because it changed the text in the game, including the text that was ALSO changed by some of these 6 patches. So that makes the Translation version conflict with some of the 6 patches, unfortunately, because both of them patch dialogue in the same parts of the game, but don't patch it in identical ways, thus leading to a conflict, it seems. I don't know how to fix the Translation version to work with the 6 patches and not crash in those places but I am sure DarkMage can fix it when he reads this thread and gets around to it. I've done as much as I'm able to do, getting the Base and Complete versions to both work fine.
Then again, I don't think DarkMage is going to release another version until the timing thing in the opera is done, if what I've read earlier in this thread is correct, since that seems to be his focus now. I wonder if I should PM him. I think it would be unnecessary to PM him, I am sure DarkMage reads this thread whenever he works on this project. So he'll figure out what to do regarding the 6 bugs related to those 6 patches the next time he reads this thread, and fix everything in the next version, I'm sure of it. Once he fixes it, the Translation version won't crash either. That will be great, I am looking forward to it. Until he comes out with a new version, I'll just use my unofficial fix for his patch whenever I play this game, the one I have called FF6 Improvement Project FIX v1.07a.
Anyway I'm glad to hear you think the way I did things will probably work and stop these bugs from happening, that seems to be what the preliminary testing all shows. But I've only tested my version on the Duncan jumping around his house event and the finding Shadow in the Cave in the Veldt event. The other 4 events happen earlier in the game and I haven't tested them yet. I'd have to start the game over to test all 6 of them, and that would be rather time-consuming for me to go through all of that again. Half the reason I made the unofficial patch was so I could play it myself... the other half, of course, was to try and fix these bugs for other people too, and see if these fixes could be tested to make sure it works.
And here are my predictions for which bugs still occur in the Translation version and which don't, based on whether they involve conversations/dialogue: 1) Shadow Leaves One-Man Party - probably still occurs (involves dialogue) 2) They Only Jump Left in Zozo! - probably doesn't occur (doesn't involve any dialogue) 3) King of Vanity - I'm not sure, 50/50 chance (doesn't involve text but does modify scripted events, the blushing of certain sprites by altering palettes, during a conversation) 4) Edgar Revealed - probably still occurs (involves dialogue) 5) Duncan stays put - definitely doesn't occur (tested it and it works) 6) Shadow is NOT a Girl! - definitely does occur (tested it and it's broken)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on July 30, 2013, 11:39:14 PM
Figures that something I did would cause issues.
I'm practically done with the Opera, and it's awesome - but then I hit the scene that King of Vanity is supposed to fix, and it hangs. Nothing I've done to try and fix it has worked; at this point, I'll probably have to start off of a clean ROM and port all my changes over. Not something I'm looking forward to doing.
GP, thanks for putting something out that fixes part of the problem. Once I've got a handle on this, I'll release a new version with the new Opera timing, and we'll see how it works!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Tzepish on August 05, 2013, 03:50:26 PM
King of Vanity is probably another event hack that, like the Zozo jumping bug, could be fixed in a slightly different way to avoid conflicts. If I magically find I have spare time in the near future, I'll take a look.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkanx on August 21, 2013, 08:35:56 PM
The translation version is great, and I look forward to having a bug free version of it soon, I hope! I highly recommend "lucky slot" added for the next update. http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1033/ (http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1033/) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/45967552/Hacking/luck_slot_20%20ffi%20fix.zip (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/45967552/Hacking/luck_slot_20%20ffi%20fix.zip) for a version I fixed to work with FFi. "Step Dance" and "Rage and Sketch Expansion" would also make fantastic additions. Anyway, I hope you keep at it!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Charriu on September 05, 2013, 03:49:25 PM
I don't know if this is a bug or my mistake.
As soon as the very first battle of the game starts, the screen is all messed up and after a short moment the game just restarts.
As I said I'm not sure if it's not my mistake. It was rather hard to find the right rom, but I think I got the right one, because the game starts. I'm playing on Linux Ubuntu 12 and with ZSnes And/or Snes9x
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on September 05, 2013, 06:09:22 PM
Read the webpage and the Readme before applying the patch.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Charriu on September 06, 2013, 04:55:03 AM
Thanks, for the fast reply. I read both - webpage and readme. I find it very hard to find the exact right Rom File (FF3us version 1.0 ROM). So far I am sure that I have a headed Version, because of the file size and the txt file with infos about the last rom, which is created by Zsnes. I'm also sure that it's the US Version because in the base Rom the title is Final Fantasy 3 and not 6. What I'm not sure about is the right version number. I've just tested the ips with a 1.1 version and it didn't run at all. Because that I think I have the right version.
Or is there anything else I could have done wrong. I've also used LunarIPS to patch the rom.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Charriu on September 06, 2013, 05:12:59 AM
Ok, got it. I finally found a version which explicitly says it's version 1.0 and added a header. Can't wait to start playing that patch. So far a big thank you to the creator and the community.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: LightPhoenix on September 07, 2013, 03:33:11 PM
For other people that may have this problem here or with other ROMs/patches, download NSRT and you can check your ROM information. I believe the version of FF6 that is needed for this patch has an MD5 of E986575B98300F721CE27C180264D890.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on September 07, 2013, 09:53:44 PM
yep, NSRT is good. also, datacrystal.romhacking.net has the CRC32s (which is what most emulators will show) and SHA-1s.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrMeat64 on September 19, 2013, 05:43:07 PM
Hi Darkmage. I have to say, I am really enjoying your improvement patch. A friend and I are particularly looking forward to the completion of the Opera scene.
I do have a question about one change that was made, though. The Warring Triad/Statues/Warring Gods/etc has been changed to Magi. In the lore of FF6, the Warring Triad and Magi are not the same thing, so Magi is now Mage Warrior. This causes references to the War of the Magi to be pretty misleading, because now it sounds like the War of the Magi is the name of the conflict that the Warring Triad had between themselves, when actually the War of the Magi is the war between espers and mage warriors which occurred an undetermined amount of time after the Warring Triad sealed themselves away. Why the change? Also I don't mean this to come off as unwarranted criticism or anything, I'm just curious.
Besides this little bit of confusion, like I said, I am super enjoying it. Lots and lots of little fixes and the better translation make this pretty much the best version of FF6 in my opinion. Really looking forward to the completed opera scene!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: messiahgov on September 28, 2013, 11:58:51 PM
Certain events (e.g. the Opera House) use a frame-based timer that counts down to impose a deadline on the party. It's converted into minutes and seconds for display on the main menu, on the map, and in battle. While the underlying count of frames remaining in the event is correct, the battle display conversion routine is called every 61 frames, as opposed to every 60 like it should be. This tinily slower display update isn't humanly noticeable. A more observable consequence is that after 61 real seconds in a battle (sometimes sooner), the timer display will decrement by 2 seconds on one of its ticks.
This patch fixes the in-battle timer display to update every 60 frames.
http://www14.brinkster.com/assassin17/patches.htm
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Leviathan Mist on October 02, 2013, 06:41:22 PM
I don't know if you've been keeping an eye out here, but there's a simple patch (http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=1831.0) that you might be interested in which raises the maximum hours on the timer from 99 to 255.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 04, 2013, 02:13:27 PM
Thank you all for continuing to support this project by making sure fix updates are taken into account, and for making fixes for current issues in my absence.
It looks like I have no choice but to remove the Celes Blushing fix from the improvement - nothing I have done in the attempt to keep it in place has allowed the game to progress past the scene the fix attempts to address. I'm currently moving all my changes to a fresh ROM, and hope to have the new version out by the end of the weekend, which will include the new opera changes in the translation. This version will have the translation fixed - most likely, I made a change after I added the troublesome fixes back in, which of course broke the game at those points.
I will keep everyone posted.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 04, 2013, 06:12:04 PM
Hi Darkmage. I have to say, I am really enjoying your improvement patch. A friend and I are particularly looking forward to the completion of the Opera scene.
I do have a question about one change that was made, though. The Warring Triad/Statues/Warring Gods/etc has been changed to Magi. In the lore of FF6, the Warring Triad and Magi are not the same thing, so Magi is now Mage Warrior. This causes references to the War of the Magi to be pretty misleading, because now it sounds like the War of the Magi is the name of the conflict that the Warring Triad had between themselves, when actually the War of the Magi is the war between espers and mage warriors which occurred an undetermined amount of time after the Warring Triad sealed themselves away. Why the change? Also I don't mean this to come off as unwarranted criticism or anything, I'm just curious.
Besides this little bit of confusion, like I said, I am super enjoying it. Lots and lots of little fixes and the better translation make this pretty much the best version of FF6 in my opinion. Really looking forward to the completed opera scene!
Thanks for the kind words!
You bring up an interesting point, and one I hadn't really considered. I actually thought that the War of the Magi was fought by humans-turned-espers and the Mage Warriors on behalf of the gods, and that the destruction caused by the war was what caused the gods to seal themselves away. Since there were three gods, I thought it would be expedient to call them the Magi, and eliminate some possible confusion on what the gods actually were.
I was just going off of the Japanese and FF6 Advance scripts, but it looks like the Final Fantasy Wiki (http://http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VI) says the same thing:
Quote
A thousand years ago, three gods known as the Warring Triad descended to the world, and eventually began war for dominance that became known as the War of the Magi. To fight for them, the gods transformed humans and animals into creatures called espers, giving them immense magical power. After a long war, the gods realized their war was destroying the world and turned themselves to stone, their final wish being that the espers prevent their power from being abused. The espers took the gods' petrified remains and fashioned a new dimension in which they could live peacefully, away from humans, and to hide the gods from the latter.
If anyone has any source that says differently, please let me know.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on October 04, 2013, 08:09:03 PM
I was just going off of the Japanese and FF6 Advance scripts, but it looks like the Final Fantasy Wiki (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VI) says the same thing:
that page links to a "War of the Magi" article, which defines "magi".
i'm inclined to agree with DrMeat64.
from what i can tell, there were two wars: 1) between the quarrelling gods/goddesses after being banished to this world. they created Espers (from humans, and from animals according to one source) to serve as soldiers. after growing ashamed of their actions, they gave the Espers back their free will, and sealed themselves in stone. 2) some time later, humans who extracted magic power from Espers -- and would come to be known as "Magi" -- fought the Espers. that's the "War of the Magi" that happened 1000 years before present day. the gods/goddesses were non-participants in this, still being statues.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrMeat64 on October 07, 2013, 05:39:07 PM
I was just going off of the Japanese and FF6 Advance scripts, but it looks like the Final Fantasy Wiki (http://http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VI) says the same thing:
The wiki kind of seems at odds with itself in that regard. Here's the description of it in the "War of the Magi" article:
Quote
After the Warring Triad sealed themselves in stone, Espers and humans lived in peace for a time, until war broke out when humans attempted to seize Esper power for themselves. Espers and humans fought among themselves, and humans infused with Esper magic came into existence, called "magi".
The main FF6 article seems to define it pretty broadly in comparison to the actual War of the Magi article, which is more specific.
from what i can tell, there were two wars: 1) between the quarrelling gods/goddesses after being banished to this world. they created Espers (from humans, and from animals according to one source) to serve as soldiers. after growing ashamed of their actions, they gave the Espers back their free will, and sealed themselves in stone. 2) some time later, humans who extracted magic power from Espers -- and would come to be known as "Magi" -- fought the Espers. that's the "War of the Magi" that happened 1000 years before present day. the gods/goddesses were non-participants in this, still being statues.
This is definitely how I understand it to be.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on October 08, 2013, 05:40:32 PM
that page links to a "War of the Magi" article, which defines "magi".
i'm inclined to agree with DrMeat64.
from what i can tell, there were two wars: 1) between the quarrelling gods/goddesses after being banished to this world. they created Espers (from humans, and from animals according to one source) to serve as soldiers. after growing ashamed of their actions, they gave the Espers back their free will, and sealed themselves in stone. 2) some time later, humans who extracted magic power from Espers -- and would come to be known as "Magi" -- fought the Espers. that's the "War of the Magi" that happened 1000 years before present day. the gods/goddesses were non-participants in this, still being statues.
Interesting. And from the same webpage I referenced. :isuck:
Looks like I'll have to make some changes to the translation based on this new information. I haven't completed the new version yet, so I'll hold off while I do the rewrites.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: skyepie on October 27, 2013, 08:29:37 AM
Hi!
I've just been trying this mod out on ZNES and it's pretty good so far except some of the dialogue seems a bit stilted to me (subjective, probably just too used to Woolsey >_>), occasional grammatical errors and some glitch/typo deals.
The first one seems to be a repeat offender, I didn't get a screenshot of it the first time it happened, but here's a screenshot of it happening at a later point. It seems like if a sentence starts with the word 'If', it gets changed to 'An', if that makes sense to you. >_>
(http://i.imgur.com/ORgl2z7.png)
Garbled Kefka:
(http://i.imgur.com/4UOVtzB.png)
I think it may be more a glitch than a typo because you have to press A a couple of times before the entire dialogue appears.
Cyan turns into a robot:
(http://i.imgur.com/wGZ4s1Y.png)
He repeatedly protests with the same line until the party climbs on board the train.
Another bit of overlapping/garbled dialogue. First sentence is Sabin's, the next should be Cyan's:
(http://i.imgur.com/7jsOcHc.png)
Cyan's actual line appears without error after that dialogue box.
I'll take screenshots of the very tiny grammar/typo errors as I go along but I won't upload/list unless I got a bunch of them together.
PS: I was also kinda sad you decided to swap out Kefka's "Welcome to my Barbecue!" line for the one about watching Figaro burn. :( He sounds a lot crazier in the first one.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: skyepie on October 30, 2013, 11:33:11 AM
Well, crap um... okay separate issue now.
The game kept freezing at the airship scene where you try to recruit Setzer. I thought it was due to the King of Vanity patch not being applied. So I applied it and it seemed to work fine except that Celes remained a peculiar pink throughout the scene. So I applied the accompanying 'Antipatch' thinking that'd work but now Celes is stuck with Terra's colours >_>. How do I fix this?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on November 05, 2013, 07:03:54 AM
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1628/
Really really interesting Patch
I feel like I should completely rebuild the game with all of his ideas.
There are so many compelling ways to freshen this game up.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Grimoire LD on November 05, 2013, 07:32:51 AM
That is incredibly cool! It's very much in the vein of the original .hack// series where your available spells and skill were completely based on your equipment, I might have to fool around with that down the line.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on November 12, 2013, 06:47:35 AM
That is incredibly cool! It's very much in the vein of the original .hack// series where your available spells and skill were completely based on your equipment, I might have to fool around with that down the line.
Yeah would love to see a hack built around this. Unfortunately very few equipment pieces in the game teach magic.
Still could be useful with espers alone for a challenge.
Hey Dark Mage! Any news on progress!
Does 1.07 have any crazy bugs right now? Really want to use the base patch as a springboard for a hack
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Grimoire LD on November 13, 2013, 12:29:02 PM
Well as the hack itself mentions its meant to be used as a base, an FFVI editor can easily add magic to learn to equipment (as far as memory serves) and since there are six equipment slots in all (and Espers) you can have one spell for each type of equipment and several Esper spells. That would likely be the ideal way to handle it for FFVI.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: asdf7890 on December 13, 2013, 06:51:49 PM
You can get around the stuck parts by switching a save state from ZSNES between a patched and non-patched rom. I have no clue what casues these crashes, it'd be nice if someone can fix it though.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: General Public on December 30, 2013, 04:24:33 PM
The game kept freezing at the airship scene where you try to recruit Setzer. I thought it was due to the King of Vanity patch not being applied. So I applied it and it seemed to work fine except that Celes remained a peculiar pink throughout the scene. So I applied the accompanying 'Antipatch' thinking that'd work but now Celes is stuck with Terra's colours >_>. How do I fix this?
You can get around the stuck parts by switching a save state from ZSNES between a patched and non-patched rom. I have no clue what casues these crashes, it'd be nice if someone can fix it though.
I know exactly what causes those crashes, and I already did fix them, it was discussed on page 42 of this thread. The official 1.07 patch is buggy and I fixed it. Here is a patch that doesn't have those problems, which I posted back on page 42 in a post, and am posting again here, it is something I call FF6 Improvement Project FIX v1.07a: http://www.sendspace.com/file/trxm7v (http://www.sendspace.com/file/trxm7v) Just use that patch until version 1.08 comes out. Oh, and that link is only going to work for 30 days, which is annoying. So it will stop working 30 days from now, on January 29, 2014. Download it before then! And umm, find some better place to upload it. I can't upload it as an attachment here, the file size is too big. And use the Base or Complete patch, not the Translation patch (it comes in all 3 editions). The Translation patch is known to crash in various parts of the game, which doesn't happen in the Base or Complete patch. The Base patch is what to use if you will apply other patches afterwards. The Complete patch is what to use if you aren't going to apply any other crashes and just want to play the game as bug-free and improved as possible. This is basically the same as FF6 Improvement Project v1.07 except with 6 bugs fixed. If someone knows of a place to upload files where they stay longer than 30 days please upload it there and post a link in this thread. Thanks.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on January 16, 2014, 08:31:41 AM
A MEGA account would work
Just make a free dummy account
Is Darkmage still working on this?
With the Android/IOS release coming out I have a feeling people are going to want to play an actual quality edition of the game again...
Man SE really stopped making an effort in the mobile arena...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on January 17, 2014, 09:28:40 PM
Were they ever really making any effort? honestly most of what they're released are either garbage social games or remakes/ports. I was much happier with their releases on the portable platforms.
Anyway, last Darkmage said he was wrasslin' with the opera scene timing.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on February 03, 2014, 06:13:03 PM
The game kept freezing at the airship scene where you try to recruit Setzer. I thought it was due to the King of Vanity patch not being applied. So I applied it and it seemed to work fine except that Celes remained a peculiar pink throughout the scene. So I applied the accompanying 'Antipatch' thinking that'd work but now Celes is stuck with Terra's colours >_>. How do I fix this?
You can get around the stuck parts by switching a save state from ZSNES between a patched and non-patched rom. I have no clue what casues these crashes, it'd be nice if someone can fix it though.
I know exactly what causes those crashes, and I already did fix them, it was discussed on page 42 of this thread. The official 1.07 patch is buggy and I fixed it. Here is a patch that doesn't have those problems, which I posted back on page 42 in a post, and am posting again here, it is something I call FF6 Improvement Project FIX v1.07a: http://www.sendspace.com/file/trxm7v (http://www.sendspace.com/file/trxm7v) Just use that patch until version 1.08 comes out. Oh, and that link is only going to work for 30 days, which is annoying. So it will stop working 30 days from now, on January 29, 2014. Download it before then! And umm, find some better place to upload it. I can't upload it as an attachment here, the file size is too big. And use the Base or Complete patch, not the Translation patch (it comes in all 3 editions). The Translation patch is known to crash in various parts of the game, which doesn't happen in the Base or Complete patch. The Base patch is what to use if you will apply other patches afterwards. The Complete patch is what to use if you aren't going to apply any other crashes and just want to play the game as bug-free and improved as possible. This is basically the same as FF6 Improvement Project v1.07 except with 6 bugs fixed. If someone knows of a place to upload files where they stay longer than 30 days please upload it there and post a link in this thread. Thanks.
Wanted to extend a hearty thank you for the Fixed files!
With the release of the Android version I have had a lot of friends looking into playing the original but with all the important fixes to the gameplay!
So far none have had any issues!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 05, 2014, 07:04:27 PM
Apologies all, for the long silence. Work sucks, and all that.
First of all, good news: for the translation, the timing for the Opera has been completed, and it looks a LOT better. I'm vetting all the issues in the translation. Cyan's dialogue in particular was based on an older version of the translation that I put together, and thus what's in the 1.07 patch is a regression and will be fixed in the new version. If I can put out a new version.
That's the bad news. GP's patch does fix the issues in the base and complete versions (which was a mistake on my part), but not the issues in the translation version, and I think I've figured out why. I had to expand the ROM using FF3usME and move the dialogue to the newly provided space to fit the expanded dialogue, and this has apparently broken any patch that references a dialogue pointer. So the Shadow on the Veldt patch had to be removed and the dialogue for finding Shadow had been revised to a gender-neutral statement. Unfortunately, I have never researched pointers for FF6, and I have not had a chance to study them and build a reference table to change all the rest of the changed pointers to the new dialogue locations. This is why the King of Vanity scene hangs, right when it's about to start a new line of dialogue.
In the interests of getting this 99% done to 100% and out and released (barring dialogue issues), I'm asking for help. If anyone can get this figured out, we can get the Improvement project finished and done, and many new projects can use it as a jumping-off point for their own stories.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on March 07, 2014, 09:22:44 AM
Having had to deal with dialogue issues, I took a rather drastic approach and converted the dialogue to 24-bit pointers for Pandora's Box. That had the very unfortunate side-effect of breaking FF3usME. We had to put a lot of work in so we could use Atlas. Was well worth it, since it gave us unlimited space and dialogue entries to use.
Unfortunately, I have never researched pointers for FF6, and I have not had a chance to study them and build a reference table to change all the rest of the changed pointers to the new dialogue locations. This is why the King of Vanity scene hangs, right when it's about to start a new line of dialogue.
I don't recall the workings of this patch, does it add a new line of dialogue?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: yeoldeusrename on March 07, 2014, 11:20:57 AM
That's the bad news. GP's patch does fix the issues in the base and complete versions (which was a mistake on my part), but not the issues in the translation version, and I think I've figured out why. I had to expand the ROM using FF3usME and move the dialogue to the newly provided space to fit the expanded dialogue, and this has apparently broken any patch that references a dialogue pointer. So the Shadow on the Veldt patch had to be removed and the dialogue for finding Shadow had been revised to a gender-neutral statement. Unfortunately, I have never researched pointers for FF6, and I have not had a chance to study them and build a reference table to change all the rest of the changed pointers to the new dialogue locations. This is why the King of Vanity scene hangs, right when it's about to start a new line of dialogue.
In the interests of getting this 99% done to 100% and out and released (barring dialogue issues), I'm asking for help. If anyone can get this figured out, we can get the Improvement project finished and done, and many new projects can use it as a jumping-off point for their own stories.
This probably is too obvious to work, but if the "base" and "complete" versions work fine (perhaps because they are not expanded?), then maybe you just need to rebase from one of those, make the new mods, and then (via FF3usME) expand and import the translation script (instead of just adding the new patches to the translation patch).
I wouldn't expect IPS mods affecting the script to work properly after the script has been modified by FF3usME, because the bytes will have moved around. An IPS patch must maintain the number of bytes it affects, so as long as two IPS patches don't change the same section of script, they should be compatible from that regard. However, FF3usME script importing doesn't have this restriction. You can change the number of characters in a particular caption, which will throw off the bytes for all the rest of the script data (not to mention the bytes allocated for the script expansion). Your translation patch surely replaces pretty much all the bytes in the script data region, so it would not be compatible with script changes from other IPS patches.
Of course, importing your translation script after applying other IPS patches would nullify any script changes by those patches, so you'd have to manually incorporate them (if desired) into your script before importing via FF3usME.
Maybe you can include the translation script in your zip file so that others can apply extra IPS patches after applying the base IPS (and manually make corresponding script changes), then expand the ROM and import the script via FF3usME. Or maybe you change the translation patch to only affect the bytes containing the script data. Then people can apply the base patch, then other patches, then the translation patch.
Just thinking out loud, could applying the translation patch to an unexpanded ROM cause errors?
I'm probably missing the point since you probably know all this, but hopefully it doesn't hurt to throw out the idea.
Anyway, thanks for your efforts! It's great to see people still developing for FFVI in the year 2014!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on March 07, 2014, 05:02:59 PM
That's the bad news. GP's patch does fix the issues in the base and complete versions (which was a mistake on my part), but not the issues in the translation version, and I think I've figured out why. I had to expand the ROM using FF3usME and move the dialogue to the newly provided space to fit the expanded dialogue, and this has apparently broken any patch that references a dialogue pointer. So the Shadow on the Veldt patch had to be removed and the dialogue for finding Shadow had been revised to a gender-neutral statement. Unfortunately, I have never researched pointers for FF6, and I have not had a chance to study them and build a reference table to change all the rest of the changed pointers to the new dialogue locations. This is why the King of Vanity scene hangs, right when it's about to start a new line of dialogue.
In the interests of getting this 99% done to 100% and out and released (barring dialogue issues), I'm asking for help. If anyone can get this figured out, we can get the Improvement project finished and done, and many new projects can use it as a jumping-off point for their own stories.
This probably is too obvious to work, but if the "base" and "complete" versions work fine (perhaps because they are not expanded?), then maybe you just need to rebase from one of those, make the new mods, and then (via FF3usME) expand and import the translation script (instead of just adding the new patches to the translation patch).
I wouldn't expect IPS mods affecting the script to work properly after the script has been modified by FF3usME, because the bytes will have moved around. An IPS patch must maintain the number of bytes it affects, so as long as two IPS patches don't change the same section of script, they should be compatible from that regard. However, FF3usME script importing doesn't have this restriction. You can change the number of characters in a particular caption, which will throw off the bytes for all the rest of the script data (not to mention the bytes allocated for the script expansion). Your translation patch surely replaces pretty much all the bytes in the script data region, so it would not be compatible with script changes from other IPS patches.
Of course, importing your translation script after applying other IPS patches would nullify any script changes by those patches, so you'd have to manually incorporate them (if desired) into your script before importing via FF3usME.
Maybe you can include the translation script in your zip file so that others can apply extra IPS patches after applying the base IPS (and manually make corresponding script changes), then expand the ROM and import the script via FF3usME. Or maybe you change the translation patch to only affect the bytes containing the script data. Then people can apply the base patch, then other patches, then the translation patch.
Just thinking out loud, could applying the translation patch to an unexpanded ROM cause errors?
I'm probably missing the point since you probably know all this, but hopefully it doesn't hurt to throw out the idea.
Anyway, thanks for your efforts! It's great to see people still developing for FFVI in the year 2014!
I was honestly thinking the exact same thing it would save an overall headache in the end so I say why not lol
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 13, 2014, 09:29:49 AM
Having had to deal with dialogue issues, I took a rather drastic approach and converted the dialogue to 24-bit pointers for Pandora's Box. That had the very unfortunate side-effect of breaking FF3usME. We had to put a lot of work in so we could use Atlas. Was well worth it, since it gave us unlimited space and dialogue entries to use.
Unfortunately, I have never researched pointers for FF6, and I have not had a chance to study them and build a reference table to change all the rest of the changed pointers to the new dialogue locations. This is why the King of Vanity scene hangs, right when it's about to start a new line of dialogue.
I don't recall the workings of this patch, does it add a new line of dialogue?
No - it's been a while since I looked at the source, but if I remember correctly it jumps the code that causes Celes and Sabin to blush at the same time and includes a direct line to a dialogue pointer address.
To answer the question by yeoldeusername, patching to the base and complete versions and then expanding the ROM to accommodate the translation - that's what I've been doing. I cannot fit the translated script in the original space provided, and FF3usME points the original dialogue pointers to the new space, but any patches that include direct links to dialogue pointers break as a result. The King of Vanity patch is the earliest point in the game where this occurs - I can go through the source code provided with patches to see if there are any others (the Shadow in the Veldt patch comes to mind), but some of the patches don't have source code provided in the readme or documentation with the patch.
The hex editor I use, Windhex, can do a diff between a clean ROM and an edited one (I think, anyway), so if it's possible I can do a diff for all the patches that might affect dialogue and see what's happening - but without new memory addresses to point to, I'm not sure how I could fix this.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: yeoldeusrename on March 19, 2014, 03:52:48 PM
To answer the question by yeoldeusername, patching to the base and complete versions and then expanding the ROM to accommodate the translation - that's what I've been doing. I cannot fit the translated script in the original space provided, and FF3usME points the original dialogue pointers to the new space, but any patches that include direct links to dialogue pointers break as a result. The King of Vanity patch is the earliest point in the game where this occurs - I can go through the source code provided with patches to see if there are any others (the Shadow in the Veldt patch comes to mind), but some of the patches don't have source code provided in the readme or documentation with the patch.
The hex editor I use, Windhex, can do a diff between a clean ROM and an edited one (I think, anyway), so if it's possible I can do a diff for all the patches that might affect dialogue and see what's happening - but without new memory addresses to point to, I'm not sure how I could fix this.
That makes sense. I've been using FF3usME for a while without understanding the inside workings or even anything about assembly or SNES ROM data structure. So it's nice to be able to find a live thread and learn something. :happy:
Anyway, I did a little looking and found this: http://www.rpglegion.com/ff6/hack/ff3info.txt (http://www.rpglegion.com/ff6/hack/ff3info.txt) 0CE800-0CE801 (CCE600-CCE601) DATA Index of the pointer in which the bank byte needs to be incremented 0CE802-0D01FF (CCE602-CCFFFF) PTR Pointers to Dialogue (+0D0200/+CD0000) 0D0200-0EF2FF (CD0000-CEF0FF) TXT1 Dialogue (3326 items, variable length)
So what I understand is that FF3usME moves the TXT1 (CD0000-CEF0FF) to new space added at the end of the ROM (or at least extends it at the end of the ROM). And adjusts PTR (CCE602-CCFFFF) accordingly? But PTR does not move, so I would think a hack referencing the PTR would not be affected. Am I right so far?
The King of Vanity changes are pretty well documented, and it looks to me like mblock129 essentially references PTR, not TXT1 directly. I.e. he calls 4B 07 05, 4B being the dialog command and 07 05 being #0507, which is caption 1287 - 1 = 1286. Same for 4B 08 05. That's the same way the original code initiated the dialog.
This is why the King of Vanity scene hangs, right when it's about to start a new line of dialogue.
Do you know this from debugging or just from observation of the gameplay? Do you know the exact line where it fails?
Is it possible that the conflict has nothing to do with the dialog but instead has to do with the free space mblock129 uses for his extra code? Maybe it conflicts with a different patch? He uses CC/FED0 through CC/FF24 (D00D0-D0124). Or maybe it's a bug in his code that manifests itself after a different mod tinkers with palettes or what have you.
With respect to Shadow on the Veldt / Shadow is not a Girl, mblock129 changes a (normally) unused pointer in PTR to point to some random free space where he stores the raw text data for the male version of the caption (at EF1E6 raw location). My guess is that FF3usME overwrites the whole PTR section (CCE602-CCFFFF), presumably overwriting unused pointers with #FFFF or #0000. If that's the case, it might work to apply the patch after the FF3usME town dialog expansion. (Assuming there are no conflicts with the free space mblock129 uses...)
Or even easier, just rewrite caption 2578 to be gender neutral (just throwing that idea out there...). Besides does your translation patch have the same wording as the original for this caption? If not, then mblock129's Shadow version won't have parallel wording to your translated Relm version caption.
Or, you could change mblock129's patch to reference an existing PTR for an unused caption somewhere within the existing town dialog bounds. Then you can edit the text of that caption and remove the part of the Shadow patch that copies the text data to a random unused location. You would have to use the same caption in the standard and translated scripts, but hopefully it would be a one time change that would stick and work.
So to answer your original question (hopefully), here's how you change a reference to a town dialog pointer:
Find the location of the reference (in these cases, mblock129 gives us the locations).
The byte with value 4B indicates the command to go look up a caption via a pointer.
The two bytes after 4B indicate the pointer / caption number, kind of.
For example, 4B 07 05 indicates caption #0507. And yes the 07 05 is backwards from #0507, because Assembly.
Convert #0507 to dec and subtract 1 to match FF3usME numbering (the first dialog pointer is #0001 whereas first FF3usME dialog caption is 0). So that would be 1286 in this case.
To change 07 05 to something else, select the FF3usME script caption you want to reference and then backwards calculate the two bytes that you need to put after the 4B command.
When FF3usME imports the script, it will calculate the caption locations and update the pointers accordingly, so you don't need to know exactly where your caption will end up, just the corresponding pointer number.
Keep in mind I've never gotten to this level before, so I could be missing something here...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on March 27, 2014, 01:56:48 PM
Actually, I would recommend you stay away from Holy Randomness Batman, since extensive testing has revealed that it's not nearly as random as I had hoped. PB has a much better RNG in it than this patch, and I've been thinking about releasing it, but there's a LOT of work I would have to do since I need free space in a bunch of places.
Hey Leno I just happened to see this post, I've been using Holy Randomness Batman lol. Is it at least as random as the original RNG? Seems random enough to me so far - what's the deal with it?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on March 27, 2014, 04:25:16 PM
I'm not sure how to rate it compared to the original RNG. I guess I should just update the damn thing. :blush:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Royaken on April 15, 2014, 10:12:05 AM
Hey I'm not sure if this is a bug no one noticed or if it's something I caused. I am using this patch along with a few things I have always done with any of my hacks in the past and never had issues. I will list them bellow and everything I did in order.
-Applied "Base" patch from here -Applied "Translation" patch from here -Imported My enemy sprite changes and character sprite changes (free space added do to less space used on mosnters) -Changed some moulds to make sure the enemies displayed properly -Moved Ai Scripts to bank FF -Changed "Mug" command to use attack animation and not display "could not steal" -Locke can use other characters skills instead of Gogo -Changed 2 item fuctions. Coin toss into Lion armlet (changes "runic" into "shock") and Theif Glove into Kai armlet (ultimate acc for Locke and I moved it to Locked Narshe weapon shop) -Added Music Hacks (I made these and know their space so they're fine)
And the above is roughly it. I applied no other patches and editted nothing else. Now here's what happens
At the start of the game, when in the narshe mines before fighting Whelk, the guard comes out to say something and doesn't. Everything is still animated (fire on the walls) but I can't do anything. Over the course of 20minutes, the dialogue box slowly pulls up, fills in with "e...e...e...e...e...e...e" and then after it does I click A and it opens a new dialogue box with nothing and never goes away.
Then I decided to see if my svaes were having issues. Opening any un-opened chests with my other saves causes the game to freeze and no item to display.
Did I do this? If so what could it have been, and what order should I do things? Thanx ahead of time for your help!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Lenophis on April 15, 2014, 10:59:15 AM
This sounds like a header issue. How often were you checking your hack to make sure it was still working as you were moving stuff around? Also, if you used a patch that tweaks dialogue and you made dialogue changes first, you can expect things to explode. Aside from that little to go off of, I have no idea why it's doing that.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Royaken on April 15, 2014, 11:37:24 AM
You think it's caused by it having a header? I did not check to see if it works after each thing I do. I can do that for trial and error, thank you. I'll try that when I get home. I only used the translation patch to tweak dialogue and changed 2 item descriptions. Does that count as a tweak to dialogue?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Madsiur on April 15, 2014, 12:09:11 PM
Well, if you're using patches that need a header, and you don't have one, that's a problem. If you're using patches that require no header, but you do have one, it's also a problem.
Quote
I only used the translation patch to tweak dialogue and changed 2 item descriptions. Does that count as a tweak to dialogue?
For the patch, yes. If all you did use was the patch, then you should be fine. When using patches, it's important to make sure editors will still work with the hack. Pandora's Box is notoriously broken in almost every version of FF3usME, as well as the map editors, as one example. In this case, the only way to be sure is to make a backup of the hack, open it and save it with an editor, and then see if it still works.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on September 18, 2014, 05:01:34 AM
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1080/
They just posted an interesting tool at ROMhacking.net that could be quite useful to this project. Not to mention to lots of others.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on September 18, 2014, 12:00:29 PM
eh, i liked it better in 2010 without the GUI: http://zephyr129.brinkster.net
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DByD on September 24, 2014, 12:40:45 AM
Is this under development still? :hmm:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on January 09, 2015, 01:46:53 PM
Time to get this thing back to LIFE
Where ya at Dark Mage? I have a lot of people rediscovering FF6 lately and this is one of the few patches that maintains Vanilla setups
Oh And I have a copy of "General Publics" unofficial update from page 40. I am wondering if I should reupload since its the only version that allows a completeably game if I remember right
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: SedrynTyros on February 20, 2015, 02:59:50 PM
This is the best FF6 project I've ever seen! Has DarkMage abandoned it completely at this point? :hmm:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on February 24, 2015, 02:53:59 PM
Well it's not like it was never released or anything, there is still more than enough to enjoy with it. Seems the final last 1-2% of stuff he had planned is dialog based, the Opera singing I think? And possibly other semi-superficial things. The latest 1.07 seems to have a slew of bugs that need sorting out, so you should use the 1.06 for playing I'd imagine.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: SedrynTyros on February 25, 2015, 06:24:23 PM
Well it's not like it was never released or anything, there is still more than enough to enjoy with it. Seems the final last 1-2% of stuff he had planned is dialog based, the Opera singing I think? And possibly other semi-superficial things. The latest 1.07 seems to have a slew of bugs that need sorting out, so you should use the 1.06 for playing I'd imagine.
Actually, it looks like General Public's 1.07a patch works okay for Base or Complete just not for Translation.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 05, 2015, 01:53:25 PM
Where ya at Dark Mage? I have a lot of people rediscovering FF6 lately and this is one of the few patches that maintains Vanilla setups
Oh And I have a copy of "General Publics" unofficial update from page 40. I am wondering if I should reupload since its the only version that allows a completeably game if I remember right
Here I am!
I'm so sorry for leaving this undone for all this time. Being unable to include several patches for the definitive version of the translation that I feel are necessary had frustrated me so much that I just stopped thinking about this project and tried to find other things that I could be more productive on - with varying degrees of success. I have learned quite a bit about reading hex, so hopefully it will help in figuring out what is going on.
I want this finished and out there for everyone to enjoy, so I'm back on the case and looking at everything with a fresh eye. First thing on the agenda is to get a fixed version of 1.07 uploaded to my site. Rob, if you could post a link to it I will get it bundled up all proper-like.
Hang on, everyone - we're not done yet!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Poco Loco on March 08, 2015, 10:55:07 PM
oh wow I just happened along here and I saw your pose good to see you DarkMage
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 09, 2015, 12:20:22 PM
It's good to be back. Trust me, this is doubly frustrating to me because I want to be able to play through the translated version myself!
I've gone through the translation script since it's been a while, and made sure it's how I want it to be. For the people who mentioned Cyan's odd way of talking, I've taken words and sentence structure from older forms of English, so if you're not familiar with it some words will seem odd or not words at all. The "an" that someone brought up a while back - an is Shakespeare for if. The fan-translations I've read all point to Cyan having an old and ultra-formal style of speech associated with the samurai, and this is the only way I could think to somewhat represent that - having him be a knight from the Middle Ages, and talking as such.
The opera scene is done, all battle dialogue and status messages are done, so the only thing left is fixing the patches that point to the original dialogue pointer addresses, and it should be good.
I'm going through all the patches and identifying the ones that reference dialogue now, and for the ones that don't come with the actual hex changes (thanks all modders who have included that in the zips!), I'm doing diffs, or side-by-side compares, to figure out what the patches are doing.
I'm removing the Shadow on the Veldt patch from the list, since I fixed that with a line change that will work regardless of whether Relm or Shadow are found in the cave. This will be the case for all versions of the patch.
Once I've got a good idea of the patches that are causing problems, I'll hopefully also have a good idea of how to fix them.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 11, 2015, 06:33:17 PM
Well, this isn't good.
To try and simplify the process of applying the patches, I had unzipped the .ips files and put them in a subfolder of the Improvement project. But...for reasons I don't remember at all, I didn't keep the zip files the patches came in... :isuck:
Which is bad, because both Novalia Spirit's and mblock's pages are down, so I don't have access to any changes they documented. Does anyone have the most recent patches they had on their sites?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on March 11, 2015, 07:51:18 PM
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 12, 2015, 11:23:38 AM
I had checked the Wayback Machine for Fridgia Nova, but not all of the files were in the archives so I thought the same might be true of mblock's page as well. Guess I should have checked. Thanks, assassin!
EDIT: Also, someone on RHDN put some of Novalia Spirit's patches on Dropbox, so I was able to pull some of the ones I needed.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 12, 2015, 05:59:41 PM
Starting from scratch. :omg:
I had been so stuck on getting those bothersome patches to work properly, that I never went through and properly validated all the other patches that need validatin'. So now that I'm back on this, I'm gonna do it right.
I've taken one of my backup ROM copies and applied all of the patches I want in the improvement, except for the ones that seem to be causing the majority of the problems:
Quote
Duncan Stays Put Edgar Revealed King of Vanity / Blush Disease Fix They Only Jump Left in Zozo! Zoneseek? No Thanks/Free Space for Events
On top of this, I took vivify93's advice from waaaay back and just rewrote the line that necessitates a fix if you find Shadow on the Veldt. So the "Shadow is NOT a Girl!" patch is no longer necessary.
I also saw that a few patches had been released and/or updated - plus I hadn't mentioned the patches I was planning on adding since v1.07 - so I'm also trying the following:
Quote
Agoraphobic Leader 1.0 (Novalia Spirit; site is down, Wayback shows 1.01 was released...?) Anchors Aweigh! 1.2 (Lenophis) Border Crossing 1.0a (Lenophis) Bottomless HP and MP Well fix 0.22 (assassin) Equip Wrong Item to Slot via Event fix 0.20 (assassin) Fanaticism 1.1 [unlimited; modified to work with Brushless Sketch] (Ronnen) Fancy Walking 1.0 (Lenophis) Flaky True Knight Protection fix 0.20 (assassin) Ignore Defense No Longer Ignoring Safe or Shell 1.E (assassin) Miscolored Command Names fix [white text] 0.20 (assassin) Premature Continuation fix 0.20 (assassin) Randomosity Monster Encounter fix 0.20 (assassin) Reflect Barrier Shown on Bodyguards fix 0.20 (assassin) Remote Control fix 1.0 (Novalia Spirit) Running Popsicle/Lead-Footed Esper fix 0.30 (assassin) Sleazy Lender fix 1.0 (Novalia Spirit) Slightly Lagged Battle Event Timer Display fix 0.25 (assassin) Some MP Changes Don't Update Menus fix 0.20 (assassin)a SwdTech Ready Stance 1.1 [alternate; preserves Retort behavior] (HatZen08) The Persistent Whistle fix 1.0 (Novalia Spirit) The Phantom Diary fix 1.0 (Novalia Spirit) Unaffected Rows fix 0.20 (assassin) Unhardcoded Tintinabar [party] 1.0a (Lenophis)
With the inclusion of HatZen's patch, I have removed ArmorVil's SwdTech Speed-Up patch, since if it works out the Ready Stance patch will improve Cyan's usability quite a bit.
Finally, the following changes were manually implemented:
Quote
Changed actor names from all-caps (this one is old, but Imzogelmo's "Name Lowercasing" patch is still in the OP list so I'm adding it here)
Changed the enemy formation index for "The Peninsula of Death" (thanks, Novalia Spirit!)
Removed the Reflectable flag for the Magitek Fire Beam, Ice Beam and Bolt Beam (thanks, assassin!)
Corrected the attack script for Vargas after the FC05 enemy command fix is applied, so the Blitz tutorial works (thanks, CV Reynolds!)
I'm going to expand the ROM without the troublesome patches, so I can confirm that the translation works all the way through. Once that is done, I'm going to take a look at what each of those five patches does code-wise, one at a time, then try to implement the fixes from them in such a way that they won't cause issues in either version. If I can do this, then there won't be a need for the "complete" patch - since FF3usME 6.7 doesn't mess up unmodded ROMs by writing to their space, the "base" patch should be safe to use afterward!
Wish me luck!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on March 17, 2015, 04:29:34 PM
Started this back in 2009. Luck luck luck wish wish. I kinda want this patch to use as a base for my own rom hack. I feel like I'll never get it started while I wait. :(
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 18, 2015, 11:22:49 AM
Yeah, I'm not too happy that this is not done six years later. :isuck: But I'm determined to get it done so that people can get going on their own projects. And it isn't something I had thought of, but the translation patch expanding the ROM means that people can do more detailed storylines in their own projects, which is an awesome thought!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on March 18, 2015, 02:48:11 PM
Well if it makes you feel any better Darkmage I used the patch as a base for my hack like 3 or 4 years ago, whatever version it was back then, and it's been great! Seemed done to me enough anyways to use.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: koala_knight on March 18, 2015, 04:41:52 PM
I wish you all the luck in the world and more. I want to see this project complete probably almost as much as you, darkmage.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on March 18, 2015, 08:16:16 PM
Yeah! Do you have a 'good enough, nothing's broken beyond the original game' version of the patch? Number wise, how many individual patches are being used?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 19, 2015, 07:37:49 PM
Not counting the changes made manually (or the bothersome patches), there are currently 103 patches included in the test ROMs. Once I figure out where I can manually put the fixes for these other five, there will be 108. If I counted the patches that fix issues I've already taken care of manually, there would be ~115 patches in total.
Because I'm still testing the rest of the patches to make sure they're not causing any issues, there isn't currently a version that I'm happy to let out into the wild. Believe me, once that changes you will probably be able to hear the "FINALLY!" from wherever you are! :happy:
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 19, 2015, 08:16:29 PM
Well if it makes you feel any better Darkmage I used the patch as a base for my hack like 3 or 4 years ago, whatever version it was back then, and it's been great! Seemed done to me enough anyways to use.
I'm glad you were able to use it, man...that makes it worthwhile right there.
One of the last things I really wanted to do was get the Opera timing fixed, and that is done for the translation - but I still want to fix it for the original, because it really is poor opcoding. Once I get that taken care of, and these last patches in place, my hope is that people will consider it to be the version that we should have gotten straight from S-E from the beginning.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 19, 2015, 10:11:47 PM
Hmm...
EDIT: At first I thought there was an issue with assassin's "Some MP changes don't update menus fix" version 0.20 patch, since randomly I'm seeing a "Need MP" message when I try to cast a spell. I applied the anti-patch and for a while in my subsequent playthrough I didn't see an issue, so I figured that was the problem.
But now I'm seeing an issue in the Locke scenario where I hit the spring in the cave to fill up Celes's MP, cast a MT Ice spell (5 MP cost), and her MP drops from 116 to 11. If I cast Imp (10 MP), it drops from 116 to 14. But it only seems to happen after I use the spring...if I sleep in Sabin's cabin, I still occasionally get the "Need MP" message, but the MP total doesn't go crazy when a spell is cast.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on March 20, 2015, 06:27:07 AM
does she have Rune Edge on? did you use Elixir in the screwy battles?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on March 21, 2015, 12:44:57 PM
No to both. I've taken off all the new patches I put on, and am applying them one at a time to see which one is the problem.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on May 02, 2015, 05:31:19 AM
Multi-Steal fix 1.01 (Imzogelmo) -- I noticed today this patch breaks the Steal for monsters function. The monster, when stealing from a character will always receive the "Couldn't steal" message no matter what. It will never successfully steal GP from the characters/party. Posting this here since it's included in this patch. Tested on a clean ROM as well to make sure. Looking at the code, there may be some branches that are off.
As far as I can tell, C2/39B2 should be F0 50 BEQ $3A03 C2/39C1 should be 90 41 BCC $3A03 C2/39D6 should be B0 2C BCS $3A03 C2/39E7 should be F0 1B BEQ $3A03
I think those branches might be off by 3 bytes each. Seems to have fixed it up anyways...
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on May 03, 2015, 01:31:44 AM
^ those edits seem to involve the character steal function, not monster steal.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on May 03, 2015, 01:40:37 PM
Yeah true, but it seems to solve the issue with the monster not being able to steal lol. Maybe it branches to that code in there? Or uses some of the function, I'm not sure.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on May 13, 2015, 07:11:23 PM
Sorry, I was wrong about those branch edits I listed, the only branch that is incorrect I'm pretty sure now is this one (from the patch documentation): C2/39A8: B0 62 BCS $3A0F (Branch if monster)
In the actual code however, it is set to 5A, and that would branch to the' if no items to steal' instead of 'steal for monsters'. So that may be a mistake.
But 62 is wrong also, that would make it freeze. 65 has it branch to the steal for monsters, fixing up the monster GP steal issue.
So B0 65 at C2/39A8
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: 13375K31C43R on May 26, 2015, 01:24:13 AM
I've discovered that one of these patches - I'm not yet sure which one it is at this point - disables the "Sabin remembers how to Blitz" event when fighting Vargas. It's not a problem with Vargas's battle script - just, for some reason, the event never gets triggered. Sabin is supposed to remember how to Blitz when Vargas's HP is 10,368 or less, but...it never happens.
So far, I've found this problem isn't caused by Manuloewe's bugfix patch or Assassin's "Control attacks ignore MP cost fix" patch, and I'm pretty confident it's not caused by any of the patches I've made. I'll keep trying patches to find the problem, but if anyone else knows anything about this, let me know.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: assassin on May 26, 2015, 01:47:58 AM
iirc, it's Master ZED's FC 05 fix, and Hollywood Narrator aka C.V. Reynolds came up with a script remedy for it.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: 13375K31C43R on July 18, 2015, 02:05:53 PM
So I found the culprit causing the Row window issue, and it wasn't the patch I expected...the Esper Battle Menu fix is causing this issue on a clean FF3us 1.0 headered ROM.
It's these 3 bytes here that is causing it. C2/DE93: 02 04 COP $04 C2/DE95: 00
They are changed to: 8C 03 8F with the patch, for whatever the reason may be. (Leno?) Changing them back seems to keep the Esper Battle Menu fix intact, and fixes the window, so that's good.
I found the reason. It only applies to the headered version of the patch because it fails to make the adjustment for the header, meaning either patch works correctly on a non-headered ROM (although the reverse patches don't have this problem). The non-headered patch changes 2E093-2E095 (C2/E093-C2/E095), and the headered patch is supposed to change 2E293-2E295 (C2/E093-C2/E095) accordingly, but instead it changes 2E093-2E095 (C2/DE93-C2/DE95).
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on October 31, 2015, 08:57:53 AM
Soooooo
Where are we at on this
I still get lots of requests for a definitive version of the original FF6 on SNES
we still have yet to have something like that (even among rereleases from SE themselves)
This project came the closest. Anyone have a working build?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on January 29, 2016, 10:08:35 AM
I still get lots of requests for a definitive version of the original FF6 on SNES
we still have yet to have something like that (even among rereleases from SE themselves)
This project came the closest. Anyone have a working build?
Not yet. I got so frustrated looking into the new bugs introduced by patches that I pushed this project away. Now I want to get this done and out there for you guys to play with. The new Opera scene runs so smoothly, with or without the translation, that it's a crime not to have people seeing it.
But I'm going to need help sorting out where the issues are, still. And it looks like we may have new challengers in the arena!
So I found the culprit causing the Row window issue, and it wasn't the patch I expected...the Esper Battle Menu fix is causing this issue on a clean FF3us 1.0 headered ROM.
It's these 3 bytes here that is causing it. C2/DE93: 02 04 COP $04 C2/DE95: 00
They are changed to: 8C 03 8F with the patch, for whatever the reason may be. (Leno?) Changing them back seems to keep the Esper Battle Menu fix intact, and fixes the window, so that's good.
Awesome work, Leet Sketcher! (Hope you don't mind if I don't recreate the 1337 version :) )
I visited your page, and you've made more work for me now - so I hope I can call on you for help.
I know a bit of assembly, but I don't have a "proper" hacking pedigree. The most I've done on my own is graphics and text hacking - I haven't delved into palettes or routines, or come up with engine changes completely on my own. So while I have enough expertise to bring different mod patches together and (mostly) make them work, I couldn't do what Lenophis and Co have done to make Pandora's Box.
In my first post, I have a list of the changes I have made, as well as the list of patches I'm trying to implement. Some of the patches are causing issues that wouldn't happen on their own - but I'm putting so many together, and some are either using the same space as other patches, or are trying to modify routines that have already been modified. I'm not as familiar with the routines as some - so I'm not sure exactly where the conflicts I'm running into are occurring, or why.
To make matters more complicated, my translation takes so much more space than the original script that I have to expand the ROM using FF3usME, which is almost certainly breaking some dialogue-related patches since all the pointers change.
I plan to make a diff list based on the current one floating out there that will also have the exact changes being made by each patch. That way there's a clearer view of what's being done, where. Once I have that done, I would need someone to vet the changes and see what should be happening as opposed to what is happening. If I can get that, and make the appropriate changes to resolve conflicts, then I can release this project and hopefully it will be stable enough for people to use as a base for their projects.
tl;dr - It isn't dead, but it's been on life support. Hopefully with some professional help, we can get it back on its feet!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Charriu on April 29, 2016, 03:17:11 PM
Really appreciate the time and work you put into this.
Unfortunatly I have to ask what the status of this project is.? Also were would I get the current version? So far I've found 1.07.
Really would love to see this opera.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Piotyr on May 09, 2016, 02:10:53 AM
This seems like such a great project! I've been researching 2 days straight about what the best final fantasy 6 translation is and this seems great! I want you to know you have another guy watching this and hoping :). I would love to talk to you about your work on the translation side sometime!
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on May 24, 2016, 01:23:54 PM
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: 13375K31C43R on June 08, 2016, 01:01:26 AM
I've been doing some playtesting and I happened to notice that, for some reason, Jump ALWAYS misses. I'm sure it's being caused by some patch, but I'm not sure which. The other thing I notice is that no weapons are ever shown in the landing animation.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on June 09, 2016, 07:52:58 AM
Which patch combination are you using
Even with the fan edited one I posted its clear that this project is still far from completely bug free unfortunately
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: 13375K31C43R on June 10, 2016, 02:45:16 PM
OK, I think I know why Jump is always missing: it's because it's being given a hit rate of 0.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: 13375K31C43R on June 18, 2016, 01:33:48 AM
And here's ANOTHER thing I've noticed: even when Jump hits, which it might automatically if (for example) the target is asleep, no damage is dealt OR displayed.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on November 21, 2016, 09:01:17 AM
Ok guys
I feel like interest keeps hitting in waves but FF fever is happening again
and once again people are looking at FF6 and saying.... what the deal! I want to try it. Whats the best way to experience it!
We STILL dont have a go-to flagship Vanilla release in the community. Just a huge wave of various patches and several Mega Patch projects with some serious compatibility issues and missing features
What is our best current vanilla mega patch? I actually wouldnt mind a mechanically improved Vanilla to shore up some of the originals shortcomings without drastically changing the base game
Thats what this project originally set out to do. Where are we at in 2016?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on December 06, 2016, 06:48:41 PM
I think the biggest mistake of my life is waiting for this mega patch to edit off my rom hack that contains massive bug fixes plus my own wonky changes.
2009 was when this thread started and it's almost 2017. Two more years?
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: TheNattak on December 07, 2016, 03:33:06 PM
This one is probably the best to go with for now: http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=2230.0
It has all the bug fixes and more than this Improvement Project, and none of the 'extras'. Unless it's those extras that you are interested in.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Odbarc on December 08, 2016, 10:50:08 PM
Ideally I'd edit in my own extras.
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: DrROBschiz on December 14, 2016, 09:38:45 AM
I just wish I could get the mega fix WITH the translation patch from this release
But the translation added in this patch is SO incompatible with everything
Shame I remember it being one of the best (i think its a combo of GBA and Lina Darkstar translations)
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: Imzogelmo on December 16, 2016, 05:48:20 PM
I really wish we had a third page of config screen sometimes....
Title: Re: FF6 Improvement Project
Post by: darkmage on January 13, 2017, 12:37:13 PM
This one is probably the best to go with for now: http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=2230.0
It has all the bug fixes and more than this Improvement Project, and none of the 'extras'. Unless it's those extras that you are interested in.
I'll agree with Nattak. CV was apparently able to go where I could not; DO, what I could not. I suggest you go with his patch, as I'm pretty much done with this one. I was frustrated by my lack of ability needed to get this done right. I'm just glad someone was able to make a mega-fix and get it to work!
I've attached an archive with my script translation to a post in his thread - it includes the Opera timing fixes I was working on. Hopefully they'll be useful to him.
If there are any extras in my patch that you wanted to use in yours, let me know and I'll make a patch with the changes I made. Most of my changes can be done in FF6usME, and it sounds like he was able to optimize my Phantom Train fix, but still. I'll help how I can.
EDIT: What the hey. I'll put the archive here, too. I had to expand the ROM in FF6usME to get it to fit, so if there's a better way to insert it that doesn't break everything, knock yourself out.