Replacing Gogo with Daryl

I'm preparing to start my first real hack, and just want to make sure I'm going about things the right way. If I wanted to replace Gogo with Daryl (as in: change sprite entirely, add small dialogue beforehand, and make her special ability JUMP), what steps would I take?

As I understand it, I'd need to:
   replace Gogo with Daryl in a Sprite Editor,
   rewrite the dialogue with Gogo into a longer script,
   and make Jump a permanent skill rather than a replacement for attack.

If possible, I'd love to make Jump her only way to attack as well as giving her a secondary skill, but that seems like extra complication for something while I'm already on shaky ground.

Pretty simple really, just change Gogo's sprite to Daryl's, there should be a Daryl sprite somewhere. Then you change the dialogue in FF3USME and then give her the ability Jump instead of Mimic. That is pretty much it.

Yeah, you can use FF3USME to change action commands, and you can actually give them any four you like. Gogo is the safest to play with this, because the magic menu is explicitly set not to allow the equipping of an Esper. Without hex edits, giving Blitz, Swordtech, Lore, or Dance won't alter who is required to learn those abilities.

Neither Gogo nor Umaro have their own magic list (unless you're using the MMMMMagic patch). Thus, if either of them is allowed to learn any percentage of a spell, it will dangerously overwrite other data in the RAM. Gogo is the easier of the two to prevent this, as the game is already set up to prevent the equipping of an Esper.

There are a few other things you'll need to do, though. You'll have to prevent the selection of commands from Gogo's status menu, or limit the number of commands available to choose (which can be done by checking off the "Can be used by Gogo" box on various commands in FF3USME's battle editor. Note blocking too many commands will cause graphical ick in the status menu).

I personally turned off all of Gogo's special menu calls with this Hex change.

Code:

C3/225E:    C90C    ====>    C9EA       CMP #$0C    ====>    CMP #$EA       (Gogo changed to actor 234, who is hopefully never called)

But I can't speak to what other effects that might have had, as I gave Gogo's special magic properties to Umaro through other hex edits.

One other thing to keep in mind... if you don't do any event edits, your Daryl will only have two lines, which will be the same regardless of who speaks with her: one upon recruitment and one on the Falcon. EDIT: Oh, and unless you do some creative repointing and hex edits, the ending will still say "Gogo". There's a tutorial on the wiki to change ending names, but it doesn't go into extending short names, so Gogo only has four letters to work with.

Pretty simple really, just change Gogo's sprite to Daryl's, there should be a Daryl sprite somewhere. Then you change the dialogue in FF3USME and then give her the ability Jump instead of Mimic. That is pretty much it.

I've just imported a sprite to do that, but the palette is different and makes Strago and Relm look way off colored. How is that worked around?

Palettes are shared between characters (0-7) so you will need to recolor them unfortunately, one of the many limitations!

Palettes are shared between characters (0-7) so you will need to recolor them unfortunately, one of the many limitations!

Are all 0-7 palettes used for more than one character each? I'm just trying to think of how best I can implement her.

Are all 0-7 palettes used for more than one character each? I'm just trying to think of how best I can implement her.

Yes, you have the palette assignations here: https://www.ff6hacking.com/wiki/doku.php...g_palettes

Are all 0-7 palettes used for more than one character each? I'm just trying to think of how best I can implement her.

Yes, you have the palette assignations here: https://www.ff6hacking.com/wiki/doku.php...g_palettes

Thanks for that, it adds to my understanding a little bit. Is there no way to replace the sprite then? I could edit Daryl into Gogo's colors if all else fails?

Okay, first you'll want to make sure your spritesheet for Daryl has a properly sorted palette.  There are programs explicitly designed for handling paletted graphics like this... I can't help you there.  The program I use is 22 years old, so palettes are part of its core function (something more modern graphics programs phased out).
The file you import is actually instructions on what pixel to set to which color index.  The game then sets it to the palette in question.

Next, you'll want to change Gogo's battle palette to 02.  This is the one Terra and Daryl use in-game, along with some generic non-playable characters.  If you import a Daryl sheet and change to this palette, she should look fine (without importing the palette itself).

Now's the tricky part... you can change the battle palette in FF3USME, but changing map palettes is a different story.  The Gogo NPC in the X-Zone has its palette set by an event... this was documented by somebody called RuneLancer.

Code:

Gogo
CB:81E0 0x0C    <Sprite>
....
CB:81E3 0x03    <Palette> <You'll want to change this to 02>

However...  there's another event call for Gogo's palette, in the Kefka battle room.  RuneLancer did not document this palette's location in the Hex, and I'm not sure where it is.  It only seems to come up if Gogo is recruited but not in your teams during the final fight; the two characters who run in from the Airship as you flee seem to use the default palette.

It'd certainly be easier to stick with Gogo's palette, though.
Attached to this post is Pocoloco's Daryl spritesheet, in the Gogo palette (I got it from the 2017 sprite collection, sorted the palette for import, and then exported the result).  She looks pretty good in Gogo's palette, actually.
   

Know that the game sprites are much more finicky than the portraits.  When you get around to a portrait, you can just grab it and the palette in FF3SE (the portrait and monster gfx editor) and it'll work fine.

I've just about got everything sprite wise, but I'm failing to make it load the palette in the right order. I'm using FF3usME, if you could guide me in the proper direction.