Unique Overworld Boss (a la DoomGaze)/Creating New Area Question

(I just realized that I'd posted this originally in a TUTORIAL section. Yikes. The original I just deleted, and I'm now posting it here, where it is appropriate.)

Okay, I'm just starting to get into hex editing, ASM programming, and event editing, so I'm well aware that any answers I receive re: this question may be above my level of skill/knowledge. But I'm curious anyway, and it's better to ask now than to forget later.

As everybody knows, DoomGaze is a unique boss fought on the overworld map in the World of Ruin, and it runs (maintaining its damaged HP) if you don't kill it fast enough.

What I'm looking to do is to create a random boss event (using a completely scripted CzarDragon as the boss) that will be fought in ONE location (I'm currently thinking of using the WOR "Dragon Forest" (wherein are fought the Tyranosaurs and the Brachosaurs).

Quite frankly, I have no idea of how to go about this. I want the boss to be EXTREMELY rare (say, a 1/256 chance of encountering), to maintain an encounter zone within the boundaries of the aforementioned forest, and to maintain its HP a la DoomGaze should the party run, clasping their scorched behinds as they flee in terror (I plan on making the boss flee-able, of course, to facilitate this). How should I go about accomplishing this? I'm not asking for a step-by-step list to follow (though it would be nice, admittedly), but information that can get me looking in the right area and thinking in the right frame of mind.

On a side note, I'm also looking to create a new area on the Overworld of the WOR (where I plan on expanding those two single islands North of Thamasa) into a new area, wherein I plan to have a new dungeon. However, the editors that I have that ought to allow me to do this encounter problems: FF6LE will not allow any editing to the WOR world map for some strange reason, and the Final Fantasy 3 Map Editor 1.00 gives me the "Layer 1 is X bytes larger than the original map. Saving this map to the oringal[sic] memory location will undoubtably[sic] mess something up. Continue?" error.

Suffice to say, I DO NOT WANT to 'mess something up'. Is there any known way (preferably a patch of some variety)that will function with the FF3usME patches (and preferably LIKE said patches, ie, 'moving' data around while still retaining full functionality...and maybe expanding the rom to 48Mbits while we're at it) and NOT completely bugger it up?

This is related to my first question in that I primarily want to create my own version of FF6A's "Dragon's Den" for the SNES FFVI. I've already done things like patching the evade bug, restoring original graphics, and I'm practicing for the creation of my own translation, but I would like a hint or twelve on the creation of a unique area.

Thanks for all your help in advance.

What I'm looking to do is to create a random boss event (using a completely scripted CzarDragon as the boss) that will be fought in ONE location (I'm currently thinking of using the WOR "Dragon Forest" (wherein are fought the Tyranosaurs and the Brachosaurs).

Quite frankly, I have no idea of how to go about this. I want the boss to be EXTREMELY rare (say, a 1/256 chance of encountering), to maintain an encounter zone within the boundaries of the aforementioned forest, and to maintain its HP a la DoomGaze should the party run, clasping their scorched behinds as they flee in terror (I plan on making the boss flee-able, of course, to facilitate this). How should I go about accomplishing this? I'm not asking for a step-by-step list to follow (though it would be nice, admittedly), but information that can get me looking in the right area and thinking in the right frame of mind.

I have seen that in usME you can browse the monster's pack index, and even see the probability of appearance depending on the pack. The lowest probability of an enemy appearing is 1/16, and you can change which monsters will appear in a specific pack. This will ensure that your boss appears with a probability of 1/16 in the desired area.

Also, you can go into the monster script in usME and look for the byte that allows the monster to retain it's HP (there is a specific byte that allows this, I cannot recall which now). I would suggest to open a clean rom, and look for Doom Gaze's script to get an idea of how is it that his HP is not restored after fleeing.

With regards to the custom event, frankly I have no idea yet on how to create an event in the world map; however, if you want to hide your monster in a town/dungeon/cave/tower or any other place, the best document to check is the event dump provided by imzogelmo. If you decide that you wish to hide your monster anywhere besides the world map, xJCSx and I can help a little bit with custom events.

This is related to my first question in that I primarily want to create my own version of FF6A's "Dragon's Den" for the SNES FFVI. I've already done things like patching the evade bug, restoring original graphics, and I'm practicing for the creation of my own translation, but I would like a hint or twelve on the creation of a unique area.

Thanks for all your help in advance.

On youtube, LordEnvoy has created monster scripts for the dragons from FF6 advance dragon's den, if you wish to check him out. I believe some of his patches are readily available in the IPS patches section as well.

If you're having trouble with FF6LE, it's best to ask Nattak.

Hope that helps :p

something to note about the doomgaze itself is that the data of it's encounter was for some reason put into the airship's routine so to give something that particular effect of a random enemy that runs away and is re-encountered is something not even the big guys in Pandora's Box know how to go about doing (not script-wise I mean, airship encounter wise)

That SORT of helps, but FF3usME is absolutely puzzling to me. It doesn't help, I suppose, that English is not my primary language, nor that FF3usME has no help documentation. I have no idea how to 'apply' a pack to a Zoning Index - I have a Brach/Czar Pack index (#410) set up with Brach being Monster Index #322 and Czar being #561, but when I go to the Zoning Index, I select where I want it to be (Zoning Index #77), and yet in the "Forest possibilities" section, I cannot understand how to input it into that section.

Please, include as much detail as possible, or, if I'm being stupid and/or ignorant of some of FF3usME's functions, kindly feel free to point it out.

Unfortunately, there is a horrible issue with USME conflicting with the Level Editor, that causes the Overworld maps to become uneditable. I forget if it's due to the expanding the ROM process or what, but it really sucks.

As for the other map editor, that is also the same thing going on. It's a result of one program messing up the ROM for another program. If you had a 100% clean ROM the LE would have no problem editing both overworld maps to your hearts content.

My ROM has the same problem. Hopefully it will be remedied sometime in the future, but I doubt it. The ideal method to go about making overworld changes, if you are making a hack, or plan on using USME and expanding your ROM, or anything that will "dirty up" your ROM, before ever using USME at all, you would do all your LE overworld changes first - on a clean 1.0 ROM - then once your positive everything is done, go ahead and use all of USME's features. If your current ROM cannot edit the overworld maps, it's too late.

There is nothing in Doom Gazes battle script that keeps track of his HP, so don't bother looking there. I have no real idea how to go about using that code for another boss. All I know is it is going to be incredibly challenging.

As for applying a pack to a zone index, that is really easy. First of all you should edit an unused (or used if you must) monster pack you wish to use. Go to the Formations and then Packs. Now I suggest using an unused formation like 228. All those packs of Lobos are unused formations. So go ahead and use those.



So change the Lobo's to the Bracheosaur, and Czar. Now simply go to Zoning and click on World of Ruin tab. Now click the little dino forest, and u'll see the normal Brach Tyrano formation, (forest possibilities 54) Now just change that to the monster pack you set up to 228. So change 54 to 228, and you will see your desired monster pack.

Danke vielmals! This is extremely helpful, especially for a baby (idiot) hacker like me! The only downsides are that attacks w/Czar occur far too often for my liking, and once killed, you can still fight him again. I was hoping for a one-time thing, very similar to Ramuh from Final Fantasy V (you fight him in a forest, and when he's dead, he's gone for good).

Oh, well. I have a sneaking suspicion that what I want to accomplish has a very simple answer, and if not, that it will be discovered someday. Here's hoping!

EDIT: On a related note (tangentally), is it possible to increase the allotted space available for the FF6LE map editor? I've discovered how to successfully expand the base ROM to 32Mb without glitching in FF6LE(using the aforementioned Final Fantasy 3 Map Editor 1.00), but while there is ample space available, there doesn't seem to be any way for FF6LE to recognize how to make use of it. I realize that, like the above, I'm probably being an idiot and missing something painfully obvious, but a touch of guidance would be very much appreciated.

Hmm. Somebody should write a comprehensive FF3usME primer.

EDIT II: Re: DoomGaze's HP, it strikes me that a simple counter variable should contain his HP. It is known that DoomGaze's location changes to a random location upon entering and exiting an interior location, but as the information relating to his maintained HP is not within the battle script itself, obviously it must have something to do with a switch triggered upon operating the AirShip within the WOR. I should think that using the newest version of snes9xw or bsnes's ability to view coding changes as they occur (and more importantly, snes9xw's ability to search for specific changes in game data) would cause DoomGaze's problematic issue to become resolved very quickly.

But then, I am inexperienced, and may therefore be talking out of my hat. A neat trick, considering that I am no ventriloquist.

Schon gut, gern geschehen. And yes, I'm afraid that overworld events, and especially battle events, are handled much differently than normal events, and thus are rarely edited. What you are attempting to do is, well...es ist zu schwierig! XD

English is not my primary language

Your English looks perfect to me :p

No battle in the world of balance (that is controlled by an event like FF4's ramuh) comes to mind right now. There IS the imperial camp, though - an area accessible only for a short while, and erased after the event is done -, which is a similar idea that you can do.

On a related note (tangentally), is it possible to increase the allotted space available for the FF6LE map editor? I've discovered how to successfully expand the base ROM to 32Mb without glitching in FF6LE(using the aforementioned Final Fantasy 3 Map Editor 1.00), but while there is ample space available, there doesn't seem to be any way for FF6LE to recognize how to make use of it. I realize that, like the above, I'm probably being an idiot and missing something painfully obvious, but a touch of guidance would be very much appreciated.

The only answer I can give you here is that deleting unused tiles from certain maps, would free up more space for other tiles, but only for that map. In other words, deleating a bunch of useless tiles form map A, will not free up more space for map B. But first of all, I wouldn't recommend doing this (unless you need to edit a map of course) because the level editor is very sketchy about tiles and memory/space when it comes to some maps & tiles, and it is very easy to get an error message, or even corrupt your ROM. You must understand, the LE is actually pretty buggy in a lot of areas and is still an unfinished program, and will most likely always be.

As for another way to increase the allotted space for say, more maps, no there is not. Not without drastically redesigning the structure of the ROM anyways, and even then I'm not sure.
One little secret I will share with you, (and everyone else) and I'm sure it will make you happy, is that there are actually some free (unused) maps that you can do whatever you want with!
They are maps: 0C7, 0DE, 0DF, 0E0, 0E3, 0E4, 0E5, 0E6.

These are the only 100% unused maps, and can be turned into any size map. There are other ones that are dummied or might look blank, but trust me, do not use them. Only use the ones I listed. Actually, there ARE more unused maps after map 100, but due to one of the nasty bugs I was talking about, you cannot make an entrance or exit to any map past map 100.. So just forget about those ones.

Now, I am not going to go into a LE tutorial here, but just know you can get any tile set in the game you want to use for one of these blank unused maps by going into the "Maps" and "Layers" and transfering the Graphics sets, and Tile sets, to make a custom map of your choosing (or one that is already created.) Just know that if you do create a map using the same properties of another map, any edit you do to one, will in turn effect the other.

And another thing..even though a tile on a map LOOKS like it is just taking up space, or looks like it has no purpose and can be erased for room, sometimes it does! So you got to be extremely careful when you start erasing tiles. Make sure you ALWAYS backup your ROM when messing around with the LE.

EDIT II: Re: DoomGaze's HP, it strikes me that a simple counter variable should contain his HP. It is known that DoomGaze's location changes to a random location upon entering and exiting an interior location, but as the information relating to his maintained HP is not within the battle script itself, obviously it must have something to do with a switch triggered upon operating the AirShip within the WOR. I should think that using the newest version of snes9xw or bsnes's ability to view coding changes as they occur (and more importantly, snes9xw's ability to search for specific changes in game data) would cause DoomGaze's problematic issue to become resolved very quickly.

Well, in more detail about this, what you would have to do to achieve the kind of battle you want is create not only an overworld battle event for it somewhere in the ROM where there's enough free space, but event bits also. You see, as listed in novaliaspirit's event bit list, Doomgaze is using event bits (as well as checks and flags elsewhere I bet) to not only control his current HP after battle, but make it so once he has been defeated, he will no longer "spawn." His location thing is another issue all together, and is handled in bank EE.

Doom Gaze event bits:
1DD2:0 Defeated Doom Gaze
1DD3-4 Doom Gaze's HP

English is not my primary language

Your English looks perfect to me :p

No battle in the world of balance (that is controlled by an event like FF4's ramuh) comes to mind right now. There IS the imperial camp, though - an area accessible only for a short while, and erased after the event is done -, which is a similar idea that you can do.

I am German Swiss by birth, living and studying in America, but thank you for the compliment. My written English is much more impressive than my spoken English...

The tremendous amount of information I have at my disposal is both heartening and frightening. I will have to consider some things.

@ Nattak: FF3usME 'patches' things like dialogue and enemy data to free up available space. I realize that it is patently unfair and unrealistic to assume that it would be a simple thing to apply to mapping and collision data, but could there be some slight correlation between the two concepts re: available map space? Don't the aforementioned patches simply alter the pointers related to the calling of the particular functions involved to free up space?

Again, I am rather inexperienced, and probably spewing so much gibberish. Still, monkeys and typewriters...