Hacking question

[ribbits]

Here's a random question, that I am assuming is quite a hardcore process if even possible. Is possible, via hex editing, to have the game start in the world of ruin and play through those events, and then upon beating kefka have it load up and go to the world of balance? Then playing through the the world of balance, ending on the floating continent?

Hopefully this makes sense and is clear. Thanks in advance.

[Angelo26]

Is possible, via hex editing, to have the game start in the world of ruin and play through those events, and then upon beating kefka have it load up and go to the world of balance? Then playing through the the world of balance, ending on the floating continent?

Yes, though it will take an insane amount of time to do so. You need to become an expert at handling events and getting comfortable at setting/clearing event bits before you even try to perform such a task.

You would also need to rewrite the story, since, in the world or ruin, you start as celes and your purpose is to gather your friends and beat kefka. In your version, you would start with celes, but she doesn't know any other party members, right?

How would you explain that, a decaying world like the WOR becomes a world full of prosperity like the WOB? Play tales of symphonia and you'll get some nice ideas on this one :p

[madsiur]

Here's a random question, that I am assuming is quite a hardcore process if even possible. Is possible, via hex editing, to have the game start in the world of ruin and play through those events, and then upon beating kefka have it load up and go to the world of balance? Then playing through the the world of balance, ending on the floating continent?

I you want to strictly switch the course of events, theoratically, you could probably set all the appropriate event bits that are set in the WOB and when the game start and right after that branch to the first event of the WOR. Then the game should load the WOR map instead and the course of the event should be the same as if you played the WOB.

Then after you beat Kefka, instead of showing the ending and credits, clear all the event bit of the game and load the intro.

Maybe I'm missing something but I think it is strictly a questions of setting/clearing the good event bits and loading the good events.

Maybe you could also have a look at MasterZed's NewGame+ patch (found here) because with this patch you can restart the game from the beginning when you are in the WOR and you keep your stats and inventory. By checking the changes he made it would give you a rough idea how to do something similar or at least a part of the process.

But like Angelo said it doesn't make any sense as you would gather 13 characters the WOR then restart with an amnesic Terra in the WOB....If you want your changes to make sense you would need to rewrite completely the story, events and dialogs and that would takes an insane amount of time. Just getting at ease with creating or modifying an event is already a long process (at least it was in my case).

You can have a look at the event dump and event trigger documents (both can be found at the bottom of this page) to locate the events in the rom.

There is also the event bits document that you would need and it can be found here.

[ribbits]

While I am asking ridiculously complicated hex editing questions, here's another: Is it possible to have say Umaro join the party in the world of balance at any point in which you want him too? Thanks for the answers to the other question. It's appreciated and good to know that the pros at this stuff don't mind taking the time for amateur's questions. Thanks again.

[madsiur]

While I am asking ridiculously complicated hex editing questions, here's another: Is it possible to have say Umaro join the party in the world of balance at any point in which you want him too? Thanks for the answers to the other question. It's appreciated and good to know that the pros at this stuff don't mind taking the time for amateur's questions. Thanks again.

I never tried it but I think it's possible. With a quick ctrl+f I was able to locate the event where Umaro is recruited. It's starting at CC/D793 and finishing at CC/D88D (check the event dump for more detail) and it' where Mog tells Umaro: "I'm your boss" and then you name Umaro an then he says something like: "Me wait in big airship". During that event, the event bit $07E is set and according to the event bit document it is:

07E 8F:6 Recruited Umaro

There's also more Umaro related bits but I haven't checked where they are set and why:

1AD B5:5 Multipurpose, Umaro-related bit ( dunno it's purpose)
27A CF:2 Defeated Umaro (I think this one is important)
2FD DF:5 Umaro is available (important too)

So by recreating an event similar to the one I mentionned in which those or some of those bits would be set you could make Umaro available sooner I think. Maybe not at the beginning because there could be problems if you have more characters in your party than you're suppose to. As an example, Umaro wouldn't ride a chocobo and fight the battle when Figaro castle submerge for the first time (after it is set on fire) unless you change those kind of events too. I don't know what kind of bug could happen if Umaro is recruited too early either. Another thing I just thought of is that you would need to make Umaro unavailable at the end of the WOB like all the other characters (except Celes) and do another event (or use the existing one) where he is recruited again.

[Angelo26]

That you can recruit him you can, however there are some things you've got to take into account.

When you go into the airship, Umaro won't be there even though he JOINED the party. That's where you need to figure what event bits to activate and deactivate, and Madsiur has been more than kind to point some of those to you. When a member joins, some bits are activated in order for them to appear on the airship and stay there. Since umaro wasn't intended to join in the WOB, you would need to create a custom NPC and create custom event code to have him appear in the blackjack after he joins.

Another problem you might run into is if you go to any event and the code is not prepared to handle umaro. Your game will crash in so many unexpected ways you'll go crazy about it.

Hope that helps

[ribbits]

thanks a lot guys, i'm getting the sense that a lot of my grand schemes are possible but highly improbable. Your wisdom is muchly appreciated.

[madsiur]

thanks a lot guys, i'm getting the sense that a lot of my grand schemes are possible but highly improbable. Your wisdom is muchly appreciated.

In fact, almost everything is possible with the documentation available. You just have to know where to look, learn the different commands and learn how the game handle events. Then you just have to practice because sometimes it takes a lot of time to get nice results.