Configurable files for start/end/width of data would be awesome, and obviously very prone to crashing due to the whims of code changes. That could be somewhat overcome by making the code do indirect loads for all the affected data, and the editor could write to the indirect location. The ability to add in your own definitions for the AI scripts would be really awesome, although beyond what I'd consider as a pure application for an editor.
As for pure editor application, there's not a lot left to do. We do know where the animation strings are located (and the pointers can be edited, though not the scripts themselves). I'd really like to see that added.
I think the dance-learned-by-background info hasn't been included yet, which would be a simple one to add. The other battle text could be an easy edit. Decoding unknown bits is always important.
An expansion that moves the dialogue (allowing events to take 4 full banks) would be useful.
Some single-byte code hacks, for instance "What level Terra Starts On" or "Which Character Index to Use for Learning Blitzes" would find a lot of fans, although I'm not a fan of hardcoding, which that would only aggravate.
I also suspect that expanding monsters to 512 would be as simple as adding 128 new entries to each relevant table (Monster Data, AI scripts, monster graphics, steal/drop table, names, special attack names). I have no idea how hard it would be to detect that such a thing had been done and to let monster formations deal with it, but that would be cool nonetheless.
(01-30-2017, 01:23 AM)Imzogelmo Wrote: [ -> ]I also suspect that expanding monsters to 512 would be as simple as adding 128 new entries to each relevant table (Monster Data, AI scripts, monster graphics, steal/drop table, names, special attack names). I have no idea how hard it would be to detect that such a thing had been done and to let monster formations deal with it, but that would be cool nonetheless.
There is a check for null monster to change in bank $C2. Also, there are a bunch of Esper ID to change in upper $C2 (well "monsters" 0x180 to 0x19F). You need to shift those hardcoded "monster IDs" of 0x80 so they range from $200 to $21F. I documented all the ASM
here (except the mentioned C2 check for null monster). I did a test battle with monster 385. Everything went well. From what I remember, formation data use either 2 bytes per monster or at least 9 bits, which gives you room up to ID 511.
Since I'm currently working on FF6AE and the editor will manage everything regarding monsters for FF6A, I was thinking including SNES support for Monster Expansions (GFX and data) and formations in the editor. It would be the all versions monster editor. I offered Lord J to take care of this aspect but if he wants to do it, I'm fine with that too. The thing to consider is with 128 new monsters, more GFX room would be welcome.
Yeah, Brave New World had to axe a few sprites just to make room for Kaiser, so more space in that bank would really be nice.
(01-31-2017, 02:50 AM)BTB Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah, Brave New World had to axe a few sprites just to make room for Kaiser, so more space in that bank would really be nice.
I hacked FF3SE with a hex editor to allow GFX Expansion (see
here). However it's not the ideal solution if you have data / code in upper $F1 bank or from bank $F2 to $F5. Also, this break monster display in FF3usME so it's harder to edit formations and packs but it doesn't break functionality.
(01-29-2017, 12:42 AM)BTB Wrote: [ -> ]I have absolutely no sodding clue what the "special event" flag on enemies does. Independent review of it by DN and/or Seibaby (I forget which) concluded that it actually does nothing.
If they looked up the code and this bit is never used, it could be a flag the devs removed from code but did not bother changing in the monster data. I'm trying to find what in common have the monsters that have it set but I'm clueless. I think the monster data editor part of FF3usME is from 2001 so I have no idea who came up with the labeling..
Of course, I remember one of the most important things now after the latest version has been released...
All of the interior (non-overworld) zones desperately need to be labeled. As of now, the only way to figure any of it out is through a lot of cross-referencing with a map editor.
Apparently user definable data structures is in the works. I'd imagine that'd include description strings.
Well, interior zones have no descriptions. In fact, they're labelled as if they're outdoor terrain, so it's very un-intuitive to figure out how they work in the first place.
Got ahead of myself a bit there. Of course support for showing such strings would have to be coded in, yes. Seconding that request.
Has anyone mentioned full 6MB expansion? since usME handles some expanded banks dynamically and applies patches, it would be nice to have ExHiROM support.
Couple ideas for future feature requests:
- A music player to play the songs (that reads from the actual song pointers, so it could read new and relocated song data besides the original 55 songs) would be great, for the audio section of the utility. And of course the ability to edit songs with a built in sequencer would be even better!
- A spell/weapon graphic viewer and editor. Though, I doubt the weapon graphics could be edited like the spell graphics since they are scattered and shared.