About Character Images (キャラクター画像について)


Last Updated: 2017/03/06
Version: 2.5.0
EX: 1.3.0

 
1. Introduction
 The battle sprites for Final Fantasy 6 can have various different editing changes based on exactly what you want to do. "I want to change Terra's chanting magic pose", "I want to create a new Shadow sprite from an existing one", "I want to add in my own original sprite", etc.

 There's a specific program available to create or edit sprites. I'll explain below how to create them with this program. (7. Changing Menu Screen Portraits) Please use this link to review the process.


 
2. Changing the Default Sprites
 If you wish to edit the original sprites in FF6, the program YY-CHR may be a good choice.

 Firstly, open the ROM in YY-CHR and display the address for the image you wish to edit. Character sprites can be seperated into Field and Battle. In the original game, there was only one set of sprites used, however, in FF6 T-Edition, there are 2 sets I have to mess with. For more details, please check (6. FF6 Specifications) for more information.

 In both the original game and FF6 T-Edition, character images are located at address 150000〜. However, since the address of FF6 T-Edition is different depending on the character, please use the BNE 2 settings file attached with the files downloaded here, and open the sprite tab on BNE 2.

 Character sprites are displayed, however, the colors are messed up and it's extremely annoying. The files FF6 T-Edition キャラパレット.pal and オリジナルFF6 キャラパレット.pal are included in the attached "For Producers" folder, so please use them by opening the Palette>RGB Palette (*.pal) in the upper menu. Please use the one necessary for whatever you're doing.

 In the lower right part of the palette, select what color fits that specific character that you'd like. Doing this will make it appear in the same color as in the game, so it'll be easier to edit.


 For detailed use in using YY-CHR, please refer to the attached "Readme" file.


 
3. Making New Sprites From Existing Ones
 It's strongly recommended you use FF3usME rather than YY-CHR if you wish to change all of the character's sprite instead of just part of it, such as making Terra into Aerith.

 This program is used for the english version of FF6, however, it can still be used with the japanese version as well. Like FF6 T-Edition, it can't be used with other expanded ROMs of FF6, due to each sprite address has been changed, so be careful. If you want to overwrite images in the expanded ROM, you can create an image using the original FF6 ones, then copy/paste it over using YY-CHR.

 Although it's an english program, I believe you can still understand and use it with ease. Click on the Gfx icon with the picture of Relm, then begin editing the sprite.

 This tool is very easy to use, however, some people may feel like editing is a pain until they get use to it. Also, sometimes freezing happens and that causes problems. FF3usME can input and output images, so go ahead and export an image (via the Export button), then edit it with a pixel-editing program like EDGE, then go ahead and input it back in (via the Import button).

 However, please note that there are some places where the output images are shared, mirroring the left/right of a sprite, so take care when editing.



 
4. Changing Colors
 When you wish to change the color of FF6's sprites, it's a lot of work and may become difficult. A detailed explanation can be found in this section (6. FF6 Specifications), so please refer to it for more information.

 There's 8 different kinds of color palettes, seperated into field, battle, and portrait sprites. The palettes for field images is 268000, the original FF6's are 2D6300, and FF6 T-Edition is 3EF000.

 When changing the colors of the original palette, it's important to check and see which characters share the same one. For example, if you change Celes' hair to blue, it will also make Edgar, Sabin, and Leo's hair blue as well.



 If you decide to change the palette instead of the colors (for example, swap Terra from Palette 02 to Palette 00), you have to check and edit events.

 In the case of playable characters, the palette is basically specified at the time they first appear, and for NPCs, it's based on each map. In Terra's case, her palette is set during the opening event.

 The event command that specifies the palette of the character is [43], the XX is the character ID and YY is the palette [43 XX YY = XX] Since Terra is 00, and her palette is 02, it becomes 43 00 02, but if you change her palette to 43 00 00, she becomes blonde haired Terra instead of green.

 In a binary editor such as the program Stirling, to find out what character and palette is specified at which part in the game, you need to research for yourself. I highly advise against changing the playable character's palettes, as this can crash the game if you're not careful and know what you're doing.



 
5. Replacing Images
 When you replace the created images with the above #1-4, etc, if it was edited in FF3usME, in the case of the original FF6, it will only change if you save. When you're editing the image output by FF3usME, enter it back in via Import and save.

 FF3usME can't be used if the ROM has been expanded for FF6, due to the image addresses being changed; this is the case for FF6 T-Edition. In this case, I recommend you copy/paste the replaced image from the original FF6 into the expanded ROM, using the program YY-CHR, after you've edited it in FF3usME.


 
6. FF6 Specifications
 1. Character images can be set seperately for either field or battle.
 In the original FF6, field and battle use the same sets of images, however, they can still be set seperately. For example, you could make Celes appear in the field, but in battle, Leo will take her place.

 2. The character ID that is used for battle is 55 (=85).
 In the case of FF6 T-Edition's "Dressing Room", when you change the character's sprite by changing the character ID, if it's changed to ID 56 or above, it won't work properly.

 3. Addressing images used during Chocobo riding.
 In the original FF6, if you ever tried riding a Chocobo with Banon, the sprite wouldn't be displayed properly (this was fixed in later versions after SNES). This is due to the graphics for Chocobo riding being programmed with 150180 16A0 byte incriments.

 The 150180 number is what represents the graphic used for Terra. The number of bytes next leading to Locke's graphic is 16A0, followed with Cyan, Shadow, etc. However, in the case of Leo, Banon, and Kefka, they don't have as many sprites, so it's less than 16A0 bytes. Due to this, Banon's Chocobo riding sprites are not displayed properly.

 4. There's 8 different types of palettes to use for characters.
 For PC and NPCs the method of specifying the field sprites is to check the event command for each NPC's data, however, there's 8 different palettes that can be used.

 In the original FF6 game, the below image shows a breakdown of the palette:


 Among these, there are 6 you can use (0-5) for PCs. The reason for you being unable to use 6 and 7 is due to those palettes not being able compatible with save/store/character selection screens.

 5. About color changes for battle.
 One thing you must keep in mind and be made aware of is battle sprites have color changes during battle. To be more specific, the outer line of characters glows from effects such as Haste, Protect, etc, and their skin tone changes due to Poison, Zombie, etc.

 These change the colors of the specified number on the palette:


 #1 is what's used for the outline of magical effects around the character, and #2 and #3 are what's used for skin color changes like Poison, Zombie, etc.

 Please note if you use the skin color for clothing or draw black outlines around your eyes, this will make them change color with the above. Personally, I don't think it's super noticible, so please don't worry too much.

 6. There's 12 total colors available for battle sprites.
 The total number of colors usable for battle sprites isn't 16 actually, but 12. Out of the 16 colors, 4 are masked via the system colors used (finger cursor, damage font color, etc).

 In FF6 T-Edition, I've added 4 colors by adding different images with different color arrangements for battle. This doesn't mean you can use all 16 colors, just that you can choose 12 from the 16 at your leisure and preference.

 7. A special NPC has a palette specified via an event command.
 Some NPCs use colors beyond the 8 different palette choices mentioned above. For example, Dadaluma uses #13 and Odin uses #15.

For this method, palettes besides the 8 from 0-7 are specified by the event command. How this works is a trigger is used by the event command that allocates the 7th palette (that's not technically used) to a XX number.

 For maps that use two different exception palettes on the same map, palettes #6 and 7 are allocated (example: the Magitek Research Facility where the Crane uses palette 12 and Guardian uses palette 10).

 8. The 4 other colors of palettes 4 and 5 are not displayed correctly on the save menu, etc.
 Just like you may do with FF6 T-Edition, if you make a battle sprite with a different color set up, you can use the last 4 characters even with the default. However, the characters of palettes 4 and 5 (Cyan, Shadow, Setzer, Mog, and Umaro) will not properly use colors correctly on the save/store/character select screens using these 4 colors. This is due to the last 4 colors of palette 4 being temporarily overwritten by the color of the status ailment on the menu screen and the last 4 colors of palette 5 being used for the color of the cursor.


 
7. Changing Menu Screen Portraits
 If you want to change the portraits on the menu screen, you can easily do this with the programs FF3se and YY-CHR.

 However, FF3se can only be used for certain headers, due to being an english program. To use the original japanese FF6 without headers, you must first fill the first 200 bytes with 00.

 The portrait specifications are 40×40, and the number of colors are 16. One palette can be set per image.


 When opening the ROM, the image displayed on the right side may appear black, however, if you specify the palette, it'll appear as normal.

 You can edit the images with FF3se as is, as well as import and export the images after editing with image editing software and the like.

 If you're editing sprites from the original FF6 game, then your work is done. However, in the examples of expanded ROMs or FF6 T-Edition, once you edit the sprites you can use the program YY-CHR to change them, as well as you'll need a binary editor to swap/move the palettes.

 
8. Tools
 The following are useful programs for editing character images.

YY-CHR
 This is a program that can browse and edit images used in NES and SNES.
 This can also be used not only for character images, but also magic effects and monster images.

わいわいの巣(http://www.geocities.jp/yy_6502/

Stirling
An easy-to-use binary editor.
 It's excellent to use when referring to event contents, and other things, even with graphics.


BNE2
 A program used to display fixed-length data in a table.
 You can browse various data using the attached FF6 T-Edition and original FF6 settings files in the FF binary shared folder.

永久UnderConstruction(http://www.geocities.jp/to_546/

EDGE2
 A very high-quality pixel editor.

TAKABOSOFT - EDGE2(http://takabosoft.com/edge2

FF3usME
 This is a multi-function program used for the english version of FF6.
 You can easily edit various parts of the data, such as monster, magic, and character data, monster formations, etc.
 Although it's made for the english version of FF6, the japanese version also works with it. However, please note that it can't be used with expanded ROM files of FF6.

FF3se
 This is a graphic editor for the english version of FF6.
 You can edit monster, Espers, menu, and character sprites.
 Since it's made for the english FF6, to use the japanese version, fill 200 bytes from the start with 00 (requires a header).








Final Fantasy VI T-Edition. Mod Creator: Tsushiy◆KEHt9L6ti47L