Guest Adder Patch and Events

The famous and wonderful - Guest Adder Patch.

Now the questions, how does it actually work? Not the gritty details,moreso how does it work during an event? If the linked item is in the inventory, does the character that is setup to be added actually directly take the place of character slot 14/15? Or does it just add the character to the selection screen in place of that slot?

The other question: Does the exp and level of this added character save if the item is removed from the inventory for a period of time or is the character created and level balanced every time the linked item is put in the inventory?

The reason for the question? I need to know just how much I can abuse this patch during a event. If I do an event queue for character 0E will it access the added guest or the original character slot 14?

So far as I can tell, and as I expected, it reloads their stats every time you select them, as there flat out isn't enough space in SRAM for one, much less two more characters. Obviously magic is also impossible. This also means it re-averages their level every time they're added to an active party.

Hrm, the shared magic list patch might still work in that case but I never tried it with the guest adder. As for stats, disappointing but better than nothing.


I would assume equipment would be treated the same as stats if changed? Reset to default every time added?


And does anyone know if this added character would be treated as character 14/15 during an event?

I believe they are characters 14 and 15 yes. The Guest Adder patch is intended for the WoR due to Banon and Leo etc., but I'd like to think there could be some workaround to use it for the WoB if wanted. Some events will need to be updated if they are in the party yes. Sometimes the event will play out okay because it calls them as party character (31 32 33 34) instead of by specific id, but then others like the ending events before and after Kefka is beaten, and after the phoenix cave when it loads Kohlingen event code needed to be updated to take account for them or they would still remain stuck on the screen and not hidden or deleted, among other things like subroutines that kick all people from the party do not normally go past character 0D.

The reason I'm asking about them being treated as character 14/15 in events is, I need to add Banon to the normal party select roster for the three party battlefield. The events for removing characters during that time, no problem they are all getting rewrote anyway. Just need to know if I add the item, then refer to character 0E will it effect Banon (the one I added with the guest adder) or the regular Banon. As far as the rest of the WoB events, that item will be removed afterwards so shouldn't cause any issues for the future events.

There is another way to do it, I think, just this one seems like more fun.

General view

The Guest Adder patch uses the data of the guests characters. For its last version, It is executed only in the party selection screen and it won't be executed in other events.

The algorithm is straightforward. When the party selection screen is initialized, the algorithm checks the existence of the items associated with the new guests. If the item doesn't exists, nothing happens and everything is executed normally.

If the referenced item exists, the algorithm checks the actual data of the guests. Specifically, it checks for the character ID in the guests data. The guests added by the Guest adder patch use specific characters ID which aren't used by the original game. The character ID has no relationship with its actual sprite ID.

If the character ID in the guest data isn't one of the character ID used by the Guest Adder patch, the guest data is recalculated and rewritten. Otherwise, the data isn't changed. In summary, the character ID of the guest determinates if the guest data will be recalculated or not.

The initial data of the guests in the World Of Ruin is Kefka and Leo. They are the leftover guests of the Thamasha event. They were created for cinematic purposes. Kefka uses a special move to transform a esper in magicite and Leo fights against Kefka and dies. Both of them are guest characters.

As example, if you have the item associated with the guests, when the party screen select is executed in the first time after you get the items, it will check that the guests aren't guests added by the Guest Adder patch. In this example, they are Kefka and Leo. Because of it, their data will be recalculated and replaced with the new guests characters. In the successive calls of the party selection screen, it won't reset or rewrite the guests data as long as the guests are the guests added by the Guest Adder patch. Otherwise, they always will be recalculated and rewritten.

how does it work during an event?

For its last version, it only works in the initialization of the party selection screen. It won't change the guests data in another event. However, if you add/edit a guest character by another event, the guest will be recalculated and rewritten in the next party selection screen, if the correspondent item is in the inventory.

If the linked item is in the inventory, does the character that is setup to be added actually directly take the place of character slot 14/15? Or does it just add the character to the selection screen in place of that slot?

The characters slots 14 and 15 are replaced with the new guests. All their data are redone. The old guests are destroyed.

Does the exp and level of this added character save if the item is removed from the inventory for a period of time or is the character created and level balanced every time the linked item is put in the inventory?

If the item is removed from inventory the guest isn't available in the roster selection. You can't select him and he won't receive exp because it can't join the party. If the guest data isn't rewritten by an event, his data should have been preserved and he should be usable when the item is put back in the inventory. All his data should have been preserved, and it includes his exp.

I would assume equipment would be treated the same as stats if changed? Reset to default every time added?

Guests can't change their equipment. In normal conditions, they always will have the same equipment, independently of the number of times they were recreated.

World of Balance/Ruin issues

The issue is always that only two character slots are available for guests characters and they are used in the World Of Balance. The game always rewrites them based on the plot history. You will never have more than two guest characters at any point in the game. The Guest Adder patch already uses the two guests slots. It will be necessary to expand the number of total available characters slots by two to accommodate the guests of the Guest Adder patch (two slots) and the traditional slots used by the normal guest events in the game (more two, total of four guests). In my opinion, I don't consider it implementable.

For now, for the World of Balance, the only way is to edit all events related with guests and never use guests events for the entire game, except for the Guest Adder patch. Personally, I don't believe it pays off in the end because of the required effort. It surely involves an absurd amount of work...

In the World of Ruin, fortunately the original programmers don't use guests characters and the two guests slots can be used by the Guest Adder patch. Unfortunately, the original programmers never expected that guests characters should be available and it generates small bugs with specific event codes. They blindly don't consider the possibility of the presence of guests.

The most noticeable bugs with guests in the World of Ruin is the Colosseum and the Fanatic's Tower. Fortunately, the Guest Adder patch added a check in the Colosseum to avoid guests to participate and another hack indirectly fixes the issue with guests in the Fanatic's Tower.

Thank you for that wonderful answer. Based on that information, I should be able to do some playing in C3 with the code that checks if the character can be equipped, add an extra check to see if the character in question is one added by the Guest Adder, and allow them to be equipped. As long as an event does not overwrite that guest, they'll keep the equipment. (I did check this by changing the value at C3/2084 from C9 0E to C9 FF, equiping a guest in the WoR, removing the item, dropping the guest, regain the item, put the guest in the party and they still had the relics I put on them.) So in that quick test, yes the equipment was saved since the patch had no reason to overwrite the data in that guest slot.

That change has the side effect of allowing EVERYONE to equip relics though, so as I said, I'll have to add another check after the original to check for the special guest.

The current task I'm looking at should be do-able as well. If I add the above checks, replace the normal Banon with one from the Guest Adder patch, via an event. He will be a full party member (minus magic) during the Lete River. If I add the linked Guest Adder item when I reach the Narsh Battlefield, it should leave whatever that Banon had since nothing changed as far as that guest slot (meaning he'd still have his exp from the River, and whatever equipment added) and he'd be in the roster for the Battlefield.

Hrm, unless the Ghost from the Phantom Train overwrite the "guest" slots... that could be an issue but I thought they overwrote character slots that were not recruited yet?

Anyway, if all that works out, at the end of the Battlefield, I remove all equipment from the new Banon, and remove the linked item from the inventory and he's gone for the rest of the WoB. The Kefka or Leo that are created as guest during the Thamasa event shouldn't be disturbed as long as they are created during the Thamasa event. Allowing me to have a Temporary, fully functional (again not counting magic) Banon for the Narsh Battlefield. Then a possible recruiting in the WoR by adding the linked item again.

I'm not sure if I explained that all clearly, but it sure made since when I thought it. Regardless, it should work!

Thanks again!

The initial data of the guests in the World Of Ruin is Kefka and Leo. They are the leftover guests of the Thamasha event. They were created for cinematic purposes. Kefka uses a special move to transform a esper in magicite and Leo fights against Kefka and dies. Both of them are guest characters.

Wait: the last 2 guests should be Kefka and Gestahl(even if he's a partial sprite), in the battle in float island! ;[

I never understood that to be honest.

Wait: the last 2 guests should be Kefka and Gestahl(even if he's a partial sprite), in the battle in float island!

The Kefka vs Gesthal scene apparently is a special case. The battle is actually composed by the enemy ID 379. It doesn't have a sprite and its code calls many cinematic scenes based on the enemy formation. In this case, Kefka vs Gesthal cinematic. It does nothing more than call its designed cinematic scenes. Immediately after it, the battle ends or the monster kills itself.

In the past, in the Guest Adder prototype, I forced all characters to be available in the roster without altering the guests data. Kefka and Leo were available as guests in the World of Ruin. I believe the Kefka vs Gesthal cinematic is a special case and Gesthal was never used as a guest character.