Removing status glowiness?

Hi again.

I was just curious if it's possible at all to remove the glowing outlines that characters obtain from statuses like Shell, Regen, Haste, etc., and if it is, how to do so. It sometimes tends to ruin custom sprites that don't have perfectly black outlines (like the Terra Redux sprite, for example).

Thanks in advance!

Sounds like Hex editing, to go through the dis-assembly banks and remove the code that assigns colors to status effects.

Sounds reasonable, but where can I find the information I need?

You would need the disassembly of the banks - specifically bank C1 (took me a bit o find where were the palettes for the status effects)..

Http://www.slickproductions.org has the disassembly banks under documents, I believe.

Search around this forum for threads on guides for hex editing. You'll also need Windhex, which, edits hex addresses, and can be found under the tools section.

Okay. So, starting with offset C1/2EC3 and ending at C1/2F0C (according to the C1 disassembly bank, all of these addresses are responsible for changing the outline color for statuses), I just need to "remove the code", as you put it:



Now, when you say "remove", does that just mean replace every byte in this range with 00, or am I supposed to do something else to remove them?

Nice Job finding the address! :p

Well, not "remove the code", but rather tell the game to "do nothing" at certain addresses. The byte to use is EA, and FD for events.

You don't want to erase so many bytes at once, the game crashes very easily just by removing or replacing a wrong byte. If I were you, I'd start removing one or two and see what happens.

Code:

C1/2E75:    EA EA        NOP
C1/2E77:    EA EA        NOP     (Originally some code for safe spell)

Try with those and see what happens. Also there's some other code that does something to the colors:

Code:

Change flesh color for statuses
C1/2F0D:    0A          ASL A            (from C1/2E4C, C1/2E59, C1/2E66)
C1/2F0E:    0A          ASL A
C1/2F0F:    AA          TAX
C1/2F10:    C220        REP #$20      (16 bit accum./memory)
C1/2F12:    BFAEE3C2    LDA $C2E3AE,X
C1/2F16:    998C7F      STA $7F8C,Y
C1/2F19:    BFB0E3C2    LDA $C2E3B0,X
C1/2F1D:    998E7F      STA $7F8E,Y
C1/2F20:    7B          TDC
C1/2F21:    E220        SEP #$20      (8 bit accum./memory)
C1/2F23:    60          RTS

Going through byte by byte I guess would be the painstaking way of doing it, but it may be a good learning experience - learning exactly which offsets correspond to whichever status.

The only time I tend to use any buffs at all is when I use Marvel Shoes, and so I could probably just get away with removing the outline for just Safe, since it seems to take display precedence over all of the others that Marvel Shoes endows you with.

I'm not so much worried about the edits for skin color, they aren't really problematic so much as the outlines are. However, these two addresses that you gave me:

C1/2E75
C1/2E77

These two addresses don't fit in the range of values given by the disassembly bank for changing the outline colors, so I'm a little bit confused by your mentioning them. At the same time, too, I don't really understand what this stuff means and I'm not sure if it's helpful to me in any way:



Just as an aside (I know this belongs in the spriters' section, but it was the alternative I tried first, instead of removing status outlines), I tried to just change the Terra Redux sprite's outline so that status effects wouldn't look so silly on it, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong when I loaded it up:

Not sure why FF3usME responds this way to the sprite now

All I did was replace the darkest green of the hair with the black outline used in the rest of the sprite. I uploaded the sprite here and maybe someone knows why I'm getting such a wacky response from FF3usME when I import it.

I am as confused as you regarding that chunk of code you posted...I can only understand specific commands used by the game (jump, load, .....).
Whatever experience -if any- that I've gained has been by trial and error.

I mentioned the two lines because the code seems to make a jump to another certain piece of code to assign colors, I think.

And no, I've no idea about sprites, ask Nattak, Poco or FEOK.

When trying, make sure you keep backup copies of your rom/hack.

I am as confused as you regarding that chunk of code you posted...I can only understand specific commands used by the game (jump, load, .....).
Whatever experience -if any- that I've gained has been by trial and error.

I mentioned the two lines because the code seems to make a jump to another certain piece of code to assign colors, I think.

And no, I've no idea about sprites, ask Nattak, Poco or FEOK.

When trying, make sure you keep backup copies of your rom/hack.

Or it might even help to ask the other sprite based administrator; sutebenukun but he rarely ever seems like an option; even if it does involve a sprite he made. -_-; (but seriously, come on people, I have like four tutorials up and am on equal spriting level when it comes to spriting and rules as Poco (except when it comes to the extra palette)

wuttbagon, if you will; pm me the exact method you used to export and import (especially if you used another program than FF3usME) and I will assist you the best I can.

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I feel like ranting now...
*goes off to rant again*

I can only understand specific commands used by the game (jump, load, .....).
Whatever experience -if any- that I've gained has been by trial and error.

I mentioned the two lines because the code seems to make a jump to another certain piece of code to assign colors, I think.

When trying, make sure you keep backup copies of your rom/hack.

So are you saying that those addresses are just pointers to other addresses that are supposed to load the status effect outlines? Because if that were the case, disabling the pointers would probably make it completely unnecessary to remove any other code for status effects, since the pointers would just point to nothing. I did replace those bytes as you advised, but nothing changed at all when I loaded up my ROM again.

I wonder if it's possible that it's a lot like the overworld palettes problem I had previously. I'll try starting a new game after replacing those bytes to see if it fixes the problem.

Edit: nope! Same problem. It looks goofy. Maybe my best course of action is to just avoid status effects altogether, but I really don't want to give up on it.

wuttbagon, if you will; pm me the exact method you used to export and import (especially if you used another program than FF3usME) and I will assist you the best I can.

Thanks a lot! PM sent.