FFVI: Divergent Paths

Hi PowerPanda!

I know you already technically ended the beta testing, but finally I had time to play FFVI again.

This post is to thank you and to appreciate the amazing work you did.

It's been Years the last time I played FFVI and for a replay of the game I wanted to play Divergent Paths as a base and change somethings to make the game a little harder. At first I used FF3USME to revamp monster status, but after some days having fun with FF3usME I changed a lot of things.

Only FYI about some changes I did for myself in this new playthrough:

*Changed characters sprites (Blonde Dissidia Terra, T-Edition Locke, T-Edition Strago, T-Edition Relm, T-Edition Mog, Supah Sayian Rick's Tactics Chocobo, Shiva with Ponytail)
*Esper Sprites (I edited Shiva graphics to have a long ponytail, like FFVII and FFIX. Now Shiva is gorgeous).
*Edited all the Script, to remove all caps names, all caps location names and etc.
*Gave some NPCs names (Narshe's Elder to Eric, Duncan's Wife to Ann). Thanks to your Piette I noticed FFVI can have more life with NPC having names. Unfortunately there's no bytes left to name more NPCs.
*Edited all Scripts to split character name to the rest of the conversation. E.g:

Terra: Let's go!

to

Terra:
Let's go!

*Updated spells to recent FF names (still have character limitation. E. G: "Blizrd")
*Changed Item names to correct translation/recent names
*Changed enemies (half exp, 2x HP and Attack, only humanoids/humans/bosses drop gil)
*Changed all enemies names to GBA/Steam recent names (abbreviated long names)
*items and equipments cost a lot more (Locke steal is really important now!!!)
*Changed Espers names (to recent translations), abilities to learn don't repeat (Espers are more unique now), AP rate to learn on minimal (x1)
*Reading the Script I wanted to ship TerraxSabin and did some changes to the dialogues (I know... I'm crazy)
*more things I probably forgot.

Leo being playable and the changes I did are like a dream becoming true, I had a lot of fun in the last days changing all that.

I know I didn't changed the code or not did any coding to change the game. But for now I reached in Phantom Train and didn't experienced any bug (even the infamous abomination Mog, he didn't turned in an abomination in the times he appeared in the screen by now. Snes9x emulator btw).

You achieved something incredible with Divergent Paths, and the current state is a really polished mod.

Thank you very much for your dedication and commitment. FF6 Hack Community always impress me with this kind of dedication.

Power Panda you're a Hero!!!!!

P. S. : You found were I can change the B button/Dash Behavior? (LOL) thank you~

P.S. 2: All changes above are for personal use, only for fun.

Had trouble with the last release, but this final build I was able to patch easily using romhacking’s web based patching program.  Then, with a little effort, got it running flawlessly on my SNES Classic using retroarch and the 9x2005 Plus core. Looks great! Can’t wait to dive in!

The auto-run with holding B to walk was my 2nd hex change, back before I learned to keep good documentation. I have attached a removal patch which I think will work, but I haven't tested it. So make a backup of your rom, apply this, and see if it works.

Also, all that work that I did to create romantic tension between Leo and Terra without ever actually outright stating it, and you ship TERRA AND SABIN?! You're a monster.

Hi Power Panda,

Thank you very much, I'll try the patch later. I been playing JRPGs for a long time. My joystick control pad is kind of bad, and I keep bumping in the walls sometimes because of the speed. I forget to hold B button all the time to walk. It's been years pressing/holding a button to run. Muscle memory can be bad at times. I thinking maybe trying the cellphone or psp/ps vita (love their control pad)

About Terra and Leo, yeah I noticed something in the air when I was editing the script (LOL).
Was really subtle and open for interpretation (IMO). At first I was thinking if was only my impression, but somehow I was feeling between romantic tension and somehow a male/father figure, the ambivalence in my opinion is really good. Good to know I'm not crazy.

I really liked the personality you gave to Leo blends really well with other character.

About my OTP, in the my script is strong hinted Sabin and Terra like each other. Technically, she can choose LOL.

Yeah, a lot of thought went into both Leo's overall character and his relationship with Terra. When I was a teen, I hated the end of Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" because Pheobus gets the girl, and Quasimodo... gets a hug from a random little girl on the street. As an adult though, I love that ending. Quasi didn't need love; he needed to know that he wasn't a monster, and that people could accept him. I wanted to bring shades of that into Terra's character. Ultimately, Terra is not looking for romantic love. The culmination of her arc was not found in romance, but in the orphans of Mobliz. That's why I ended the Ancient Castle scene on that note, instead of moving towards romance. It wouldn't be unthinkable for there to be a relationship between Terra and Leo, but that's not the story that needed to be told.

Yeah, the choices you made plot wise make complete sense. In my script build I’ve only taken a few liberties with the original dialog. The meta of the plot is rather grand in its scope and extremely mature in its intent. Unfortunately Papa Nintendo got its hands on it and forced the script to be written for preteens and younger children. The writing itself is UBER busted. The lack of space shouldn’t be a problem after I expand the rom, correct? I only ask, because I’ve injected a Snow White & 7 Dwarves motif in the South Figaro arch. And, it works brilliantly. It plays right into Celes’ introduction in a manner that’s both effortless and creative. It all started by simply naming the two guards who’re torturing her: Bashful and Sleepy. Everything else took on a life of its own after that. If you remember, Celes’ training hides a woman with a spirit pure as snow... I’ve even deepened the Star Wars motif that her and Locke exchange when they first meet - it’s been fun. I’m rather close to completing the first draft...maybe another week or two? I won’t race the project, but I’d rather not have it be closeted either. We’ll get ya that fan-script treatment, Panda, just you wait.

The lack of space shouldn’t be a problem after I expand the rom, correct?

Expanding the ROM will give you more dialogue space, but I don't know if it gives you any more dialogue pointers.  Since you're working strictly with editors and not changing events in hex (as you explained in an earlier post), that shouldn't be a problem, though.

Be warned, there are some strings that get used in multiple spots in the game; adding character attribution to these strings will make it show up in incorrect and innocuous places.  For instance, "GRANDPA!" gets used by Relm offscreen before she's named, and again when you meet Gungho.  Were you to try to attribute the earlier line to "Sketcher" or "Painter", that attribution would show up again in the World of Ruin.  I think the line "HALT" has a similar problem.

@PowerPanda
With regards to your question about garbled Mog, I read in one of the RHDN reviews that someone had encountered that problem.  Although... it looks like it might be SarahGa's review, so perhaps it was lingering damage on the save from an earlier version.

This hack is what I always wanted to do during the game, have General Leo become a member of the party and not die. This is really a dream come true for me. I like it all.

Yep, I’m on it.  Thanks, C-dude.  Most times I use the triple question-mark handle if something is said offscreen or if the person’s name hasn’t been introduced yet.  If a line of text is intended to be used by any member of the current party then I surround it with quotation-marks. Although, there are even moments in the game when neither would be appropriate. As in, your first encounter with Shadow at South Figaro.  Using your example, of sketcher/painter, might pan out.  I can always erase that line of dialog, because he doesn’t actually SAY anything: “... ... ...”.  Sometimes I even drop handles all together: old man/young man. Setting agism aside, you can see how old the person is. You don’t need to be told that.

I’m also familiar with the “HALT” situation and tend to stay away from editing those lines...I do have a work around for it, though. The placement of in town NPC dialog is so random! I’ve been rearranging it to suit the environment. So I’ve definitely encountered the “HALT” problem.

Well, there have unfortunately been 2 rather large bugs reported, and that is going to necessitate a version 1.1. I sat down to work on it today, and my mind went totally blank. That usually means that I am on the verge of burnout, and I can't afford to get there right now. Someone on RHDN said, "It's okay, go take a break. We'll enjoy the game as-is and just avoid the bugs for the time being." I'm taking that advice to heart, and I'm going to take a break for a few weeks. For now, here are the known issues and how to avoid them.

1. The Letter in Owzer's house re-spawns and causes a softlock. (Fixed in the master copy) For now, just ignore the letter upon subsequent visits. Do NOT try to avoid the lock by approaching it with Locke and Celes in your party, as that will reset some parts of the Opera House.
2. Strange behavior with Tools. This was reported by Leqesai, and then Gi Nattak figured out a way to reproduce it. There is some sort of memory leak when using breakable tools that comes to a head between 13-16 uses. It will add glitched items to the inventory, and cause your next tool to break without displaying a message (even unbreakable Tools!). This needs a thorough investigation. For now, just limit your breakable tools to 12 times or less per battle. I know that's not ideal, but it's how to avoid the issue until this is fixed.

If anyone wants to take a stab at the Tools issue, I here is my modified ASM code. It's the same as Subtraction's original, with the addition of a check for the battle event flag that prevents tools from breaking. The only other changes are NOPing out the shop code that limits you to 1 tool, and adding the "breakable" flag to each tool.

Code:

hirom
header

org $C14B8C  ;  freespace (you'll need to relocate this on a vanilla rom)
check_command:
CMP #$09
BEQ check_command_end
CMP #$01
BEQ check_command_end
CMP #$08
check_command_end:
RTS

org $C1710F
JSL check_command
NOP
NOP
NOP

org $C21887
JSR check_break
NOP

org $C24DA7
JSR check_command_c2
NOP
NOP
NOP

org $C26490  ;  freespace
check_command_c2:
CMP #$09
BEQ check_command_c2_end
CMP #$01
BEQ check_command_c2_end
CMP #$08
check_command_c2_end:
RTS

check_break:
PHA
PHP
JSR $2B63      ;  Multiply A by 30, size of item data block
REP #$10       ;  Set 16-bit X and Y
TAX
LDA $D85012,X  ;  equipment spell byte.  Bit 7: 1 = remove from inventory upon usage, 0 = nope
BPL no_break   ;  if the flag is not set, this tool never breaks
JSR $4B5A
AND #$2A       ;  1/42 chance of breaking
BNE no_break
LDA #$08      
BIT $3EBB      ;  Check bit 4 of $3EBB (loaded from 1DD0 at the beginning of battle).
BNE no_break   ;  If set, tools can't be broken (set via event with B8 3B. Clear with B9 3B)
LDA #$44       ;  "Orge Nix broke!" dialog. Works for most tools but gets clobbered by the Air Anchor "Move and you're dust!"
STA $3401      
SEP #$10       ;  Set 8-bit X and Y
TYX
LDA #$FF
STA $32F4,X    ;  null item index to add to inventory. This means the item will stay deducted from your inventory.
LDA $3018,X
BRA check_break_end

no_break:
LDA #$10
TSB $B1        ;  set flag to re-add item to inventory at the end of the character's turn
check_break_end:
TSB $3A8C      ;  flag character to have any applicable item in $32F4,X added back to inventory when turn is over.
PLP
PLA
SBC #$A2       ;  carry was clear, so subtract 163
STA $B6        ;  save unique Tool index.  0 = NoiseBlaster, 1 = Bio Blaster, etc.
RTS

If I had to start anywhere, I'd look at the line "SBC #$A2". NoiseBlaster is actually item A3, so it might not be subtracting enough.