Patch: Decoupled Color-Coded MP Digits

Gi Nattak informed me yesterday that v1.1 can cause the game to crash.
And after a brief review, I indeed found a glaring game-crashing error in v1.1's code. If the shoe fits! (Also, my apologies.)

Thanks Gi for testing the fix.

The patch has been updated to v1.2 to address the issue.

Code:

Decoupled v1.1:
C1/AC21: 90 0E        BCC $AC31

Decoupled v1.2:
C1/AC21: 90 07        BCC $AC2A

Oddly enough, this changed my rage list a bit; some were gone & others appeared or changed. For example 3 of the top 4 changed to "Guard." I tried both the upgraded patch on top of the original patch, and the full patch as well. But keep in mind, I'm using a fully expanded rom with tons of patches & hacks, major sprite changes, and massive FF3USME edits of all kinds, so it's no big surprise it didn't work for me, and nothing to concern yourself with I would think. I just posted in case anyone else encounters the rage list quirk down the line. Who knows, it might have something to do with this patch's incompatibility somehow with a patch I use to change the rage list order, or Hatzen's various rage hacks.

if you're talking my Alphabetical Rage patch, then yes, it conflicts with consumed free space for "C2/FAE0 - C2/FB23 (68 bytes)".

my patch has 16 1/3 years seniority, so i ain't budgin'.

...no, seriously; i'm incapacitated due to advanced age, so i cannot budge!  please help!

Guess I'm busted as an Alphabetical Rage non-user, aren't I?
I'd better take it for a spin, finally

Anyway, expect a v1.3 for compatibility sometime in the next few weeks.
We'll see what other classic patch(es) I can accidentally trample over

The patch has been updated to v1.3 to resolve the conflict with Alphabetical Rage.

I have no idea what's up with this. It happened right at the start of battle and no spells had been cast, but here we are. I thought "go to C2/FB0B" and see if you can change the address to point to a different palette, but there's nothing at C2/FB0B for me!  

Hmm.

Earlier versions of this patch wrote to C2/FB0B, but v1.3 moves that to C2/A76B.

This patch shouldn't be the cause of a character gaining MP unexpectedly.
However, if an unexpected MP gain occurs for any reason, especially if the code path is atypical, then this patch will likely not know to load the blue colors into the palette. That's why you would see the numerals taking on the color of the Reflect animation as above.

The question is whether that absorb you observed is standard (if rare) game behavior, or a bug.
If it's standard behavior, then this patch should be revised to handle it.
If it's a bug, then the bug ought to be fixed.

How modified is your ROM?

Very heavily - includes the bugfix compilation, RAN, EIN, and a couple other patches.

As for how it happened, it consistently happens in multiple battles and via Osmose, SwdTech Empowerer, and MP-restoring items.

Okay got it.

This patch is incompatible with Lenophis' Bad Decoration patch, which is in the CV bug-fix compilation.
After applying the bug-fix compilation, apply the anti-patch for Bad Decoration.
This patch also fixes the same bug as Bad Decoration, so you will not be losing out on anything.

Or, if you have to start from your current ROM, you might be able to get away with applying the anti-patch for Bad Decoration and then re-applying this patch.

Yup - applied the BD anti-patch and re-applied the MP patch, all works well Thanks very much!