FFVI: Veteran Edition

FFVI: Veteran Edition is just a temporary name. There's probably already a patch out there with this name. Anywho...

The goal of this hack, besides making the game ALOT harder, is to give the characters a little "personality" by making some equipment more character specific, changing character stats to better reflect their implied class, and of course limiting the use of magic to only a few characters. This is my first hack so I'm not trying to do anything too daunting, and of course I'm mostly using FF3usME for everything, because I'm still a novice and such.

Anyway, I don't want to give away too much, but I had a few questions that I'm sure someone here can answer. First off I was wondering if it's possible to edit the Blizzard Orb and Rage Ring so that they don't give Umaro those 2 abilities, and instead add both those abilities to the Bone Club so he can use other relics, and still have those 2 abilities (I've always thought he was a little underpowered, and this seems like the best solution to make him a little better).

Secondly, I want to edit the power of the Shock ability because its too powerful for this hack, as things have been rebalanced a bit. Any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.

First off I was wondering if it's possible to edit the Blizzard Orb and Rage Ring so that they don't give Umaro those 2 abilities, and instead add both those abilities to the Bone Club so he can use other relics, and still have those 2 abilities (I've always thought he was a little underpowered, and this seems like the best solution to make him a little better).

I'm by no means a pro when it comes to ff6 hacking and use ff3usme myself when I do dabble. From what I've been able to find, with ffusme6.7 the blizzard orb's (item number 197) and rage ring's (IN 198) properties are similar to that of a piece of armor. So you could put both of those abilities on a piece of armor for umaro, unfortunately the bone club is a weapon and in what I can see with ff3usme6.7 there aren't options for weapons to absorb elements, only damage with them. And the rage ring and blizzard orb would be absorbing elements. So you could make a piece of armor umaro specific with the same stats and abilities.

Also, did you know that you can alter Umaro's stats and skills in the actor editor and make him controllable?

Hope this or at least some of this is helpful. I have no idea about hex editing, what you are wanting, may be entirely possible there, but again, I've no experience there.

I don't know if this can be done using FF6usME, but I'll explain some ideas on how to do this based on hex editing.

The game checks for relics in slot 1 and 2 for Umaro, and depending on which relics he has equipped, his other special attacks will be used (storm and/or throw).

The easiest way is to "erase" the code in the game that checks for both relics, so the attacks are available at all times, regarless of which weapon or relics he has equipped. This can be done with the "EA" byte, which means "tell the game to skip some specific code".

And the more complicated way to do this is: have the game check for Umaro's right hand weapon slot (The bone club's always going to be there), or in a more advanced case, check for both the right hand and left hand weapon slots (in case you use a patch to make umaro equippable or something) instead of checking the relic slots.

The code where the game checks for the relics and decided which attack will umaro use is below (even hackers with no experience on hex editing can follow the comments for the code :p)

Code:

Determine which type of attack Umaro uses

C2/163B: 64 FE        STZ $FE     (start off allowing neither Storm nor Throw attack)
C2/163D: A9 C6        LDA #$C6
C2/163F: D9 D0 3C     CMP $3CD0,Y
C2/1642: F0 05        BEQ $1649   (Branch if Rage Ring equipped in relic slot 1)
C2/1644: D9 D1 3C     CMP $3CD1,Y (Check Slot 2)
C2/1647: D0 0D        BNE $1656   (Branch if Rage Ring not equipped)
C2/1649: 7B           TDC
C2/164A: B9 18 30     LDA $3018,Y
C2/164D: 4D 74 3A     EOR $3A74
C2/1650: F0 04        BEQ $1656   (Branch if Umaro is the only character alive)
C2/1652: A9 04        LDA #$04
C2/1654: 04 FE        TSB $FE     (allow for Throw character attack)
C2/1656: A9 C5        LDA #$C5
C2/1658: D9 D0 3C     CMP $3CD0,Y
C2/165B: F0 05        BEQ $1662   (Branch if Blizzard Orb equipped in relic slot 1)
C2/165D: D9 D1 3C     CMP $3CD1,Y (Check Slot 2)
C2/1660: D0 04        BNE $1666   (Branch if Blizzard Orb not equipped)
C2/1662: A9 08        LDA #$08
C2/1664: 04 FE        TSB $FE     (allow for Storm attack)
C2/1666: A5 FE        LDA $FE
C2/1668: AA           TAX         (form a pointer based on availability of storm and/or Throw. it will pick 1 of Umaro's 4 probability sets, each of which holds the chances for his 4 attacks)
C2/1669: 09 30        ORA #$30    (always allow Normal attack and Charge)
C2/166B: 0A           ASL
C2/166C: 0A           ASL
C2/166D: 20 47 52     JSR $5247   (Pick attack type to use.  Will return 0  for Throw character, 1 for Storm, 2 for Charge,3 for Normal attack)
C2/1670: 8A           TXA
C2/1671: 0A           ASL
C2/1672: AA           TAX
C2/1673: 7C 76 16     JMP ($1676,X)

Code pointers

C2/1676: 92 16     (Throw character)
C2/1678: 0D 17     (Storm)
C2/167A: 7E 16     (Charge)
C2/167C: 1B 16     (Normal attack)

So... where would I put the EA byte exactly? I'm guessing I'd just change the bytes of the code I wanted to be ignored to EA? I'm currently reading through the Event Editing tutorial (can't remember who on here made it), so maybe I need to get a better understanding of all this. I can count in hex, and binary, but thats about it.

If I can have a save state from the world of ruin with Umaro on the party I can quickly test it for you.

For now, I would say to replace the following bytes:

Code:

C2/163B: 64 FE        STZ $FE     (start off allowing neither Storm nor Throw attack)
by:
C2/163B: EA EA        NOP

This should allow all of Umaro's attacks regardless of weapon or relic equipped.

xJCSx and Gi Nattak are some of the best at event hacking around here.

xJCSx's video tutorials for hex editing and event hacking are in the thread below:
https://www.ff6hacking.com/forums/showth...hlight=JCS

The more advanced videos on event hacking are on his youtube page
http://www.youtube.com/user/xJCSx1

Gi Nattak has a thread on event hacking for beginners (I think)
https://www.ff6hacking.com/forums/showth...hlight=JCS

Let us know if you run into trouble or if you need help.

Thanks man, I appreciate the help. I'll watch these videos and learn a bit about event editing. I actually opened the ROM in Windhex, and I honestly don't understand how to find the offset C2/163B. What is the "/" for? Looking at windhex I see the offsets looking like 0004C6E0. Lol sorry im such a noob. I figured that once I set the hexeditor to HiROM I would understand the "/" but I don't. It's ok though, I'm sure once I read through that event editing document, and watch those videos I'll get it.

Its probably going to be a few weeks before I'm able to get back to you with a save state, because I have alot going on right now, and I'll be in a place where I don't have regular access to the internet. But in the meantime I'll be studying that document and these videos, so I should have a better grasp of all this when I return.

EDIT: Well, after reading a bit of that document, I think I understand the way you're writing offsets now. so "C2/163B = 2163B"
Am I understanding this right? The first character is not needed if the editor is displaying the offsets in HiROM?

Thanks man, I appreciate the help. I'll watch these videos and learn a bit about event editing. I actually opened the ROM in Windhex, and I honestly don't understand how to find the offset C2/163B. What is the "/" for? Looking at windhex I see the offsets looking like 0004C6E0. Lol sorry im such a noob. I figured that once I set the hexeditor to HiROM I would understand the "/" but I don't. It's ok though, I'm sure once I read through that event editing document, and watch those videos I'll get it.

Its probably going to be a few weeks before I'm able to get back to you with a save state, because I have alot going on right now, and I'll be in a place where I don't have regular access to the internet. But in the meantime I'll be studying that document and these videos, so I should have a better grasp of all this when I return.

EDIT: Well, after reading a bit of that document, I think I understand the way you're writing offsets now. so "C2/163B = 2163B"
Am I understanding this right? The first character is not needed if the editor is displaying the offsets in HiROM?

Ask away all the questions you need, I'll be glad to help.

In HIROM, 2163b will look like C2163B, and the "/" is used to distinguish between the bank you're currently in and the address you're looking for.

C2 means you're at the bank C2, and 163B is an address you are referring to in bank C2.

Yup, you and Angelo are both correct. The '/' character serves no purpose in searching for an offset - it's just there like Angelo said, to make it easier to distinguish what bank you're in.
Here's an example if you want

CC/2341 = C2341 with Hi Rom, which you will ALWAYS want on when event editing, as far I believe.

Once you feel comfortable with things like changing what maps load and changing songs, definitely don't feel bad to ask anything - mistakes WILL happen with event editing. Event editing can make you want to jump off NINE cliffs (which you might be dead after the first one) but never feel constrained staying 100% in the boundaries that the original coding FF6 had laid out for you if you want to spice and add more to your game.
If I'm not here to help, there's Angelo and Gi Nattak who I'm sure would be glad to. Part 2 of my tutorial is being uploaded too after the deletion of the file. Definitely check it out - it deals with action queues, the building blocks for any event editor IMO.

Alright, I think I understand perfectly how to read the offsets now. I read a document about pointers and it explained banks pretty well. I then read a guide to event editing, and it really answered alot of my questions, and questions I didn't even know I had. Like, action queues and a little bit about how they work, ex: 00 07 xx xx xx xx FF = Terra, 7 bytes long, do something, do something, do something, do something, End queue. Its all starting to make sense. I'm trying to learn quickly because I want to get this hack finished sometime this year.

Alot of the stuff I have left to do can be done with ff3usME, but there are a few things that can only be done with a hex editor. I'm really glad Lenophis made a patch that makes everyone able to use espers, but I'd like to make it so Umaro can't because as his readme says, giving Umaro an esper can cause problems. But I was looking at the event dump that came with the patch, and it looks like the game only checks to see if the character ID is higher than gogo (since he's the last playable character) when deciding who can use espers, rather than checking each character individually. The only reason I wanted everyone to have access to espers is for stat growth. Ideally, people who can't use magic wouldn't gain any magic points so it wouldn't say they learned a spell. Those characters only need espers for stat growth, but I don't know if this is possible. But if there is a way, I'm sure I'll find it once I get good at event editing. I'm going to try fixing umaro tonight, but one question: Can I test it with a save state, or would I have to make a new game and get all the way to where you get Umaro? Or maybe I could just make the game start you with Umaro instead of vicks or wedge just to test him. hmmm...

The game only checks to see if the character ID is higher than gogo (since he's the last playable character) when deciding who can use espers, rather than checking each character individually.

The game checks for all characters up to gogo to see if they can be equipped with espers. If you want umaro to have an esper equipped, simply find the address and change the character ID from gogo to umaro. I would have posted the exact code you need to change, but the slickproductions website seems to be down for some reason.

Be careful if you want to equip temporary characters -like banon, biggs, wedge, the ghosts or leo- with espers. If you equip them with an esper, and they leave the party forever, you can kiss that esper goodbye for the rest of the game.

IF you want to give temporary characters espers, you would need to edit events in order to have the game unequip the espers before the characters leave your party for good.

But if there is a way, I'm sure I'll find it once I get good at event editing.

What you want to do is straightforward, you'll do some hex editing and there's no need to edit events.

Can I test it with a save state, or would I have to make a new game and get all the way to where you get Umaro? Or maybe I could just make the game start you with Umaro instead of vicks or wedge just to test him. hmmm...

You can test your changes with a save state, since these are simple ones. Or with a game save it should work. The only time you must restart a game to see specific changes is when using FF6usME and giving a character some new commands. For example, if you give Leo the magic command, you need to start a new game for the changes to take place.