Help with Nightmare and making new modules for Saga Frontier

[Zanerus]

Hello, RHDN directed me to this board to enlist in assistance for my Saga Frontier project. 

 

So far every thing ive done with Nightmare has led to an error or a crash. Are there any resources explaining what the error messages nightmare gives are?

 

Also does Nightmare support any file type or only .BIN Saga Frontier uses custom file types and I'm wondering if that's why its messing up. 

 

I'll be updating this thread today with my current progress and my current error as I'm at work at the moment.

[Von Ithipathachai]

I ...don't really hack (I'm an SRPG Studio user) and I don't know a whole lot about Nightmare, but have you tried using FEBuilder?  I just know that's what people like to use nowadays instead of Nightmare.

[Darrman]

 

4 hours ago, Zanerus said:

Hello, RHDN directed me to this board to enlist in assistance for my Saga Frontier project. 

This is specifically a Fire Emblem forum. We probably can't help you, I'm afraid.

 

4 hours ago, Zanerus said:

So far every thing ive done with Nightmare has led to an error or a crash. Are there any resources explaining what the error messages nightmare gives are?

And we definitely can't help you if you don't post what the specific error is.

 

4 hours ago, Zanerus said:

Also does Nightmare support any file type or only .BIN Saga Frontier uses custom file types and I'm wondering if that's why its messing up. 

The program doesn't care about file types. It's basically a hex editor with labels.

 

3 hours ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

...have you tried using FEBuilder?

If you're not hacking a GBA Fire Emblem game, FEBuilder cannot do anything.

[Zanerus]

I apologize as i am away from my pc for another few hours. I was hoping there was documentation somewhere of all the possible error codes Nightmare gives. And to go from there. 

[Von Ithipathachai]

2 hours ago, Darrman said:

If you're not hacking a GBA Fire Emblem game, FEBuilder cannot do anything.

Sorry about that, I assumed he was trying to make a GBA Fire Emblem hack with some odd file types.

I'm not familiar with the SaGa series at all.  Now I feel stupid.

[Zanerus]

My original goal was to get information on the error messages themselves.

Regardless I'll post in more detail my intent.

 

Saga frontier Item entry starts at 0x9EE0, each entry is 0x00-0x1B in length with 0x00-0x0F are one byte in size with 0x10-0x1B are two byte in length. My goal here is to learn how to program tables for nightmare to allow me to use it as a general editor for all future hacking projects.

 

Items are broken down into the following categories

 

Item ID

Item Weight

Stat Boost 1(Amount+race)

Stat Boost 1(Stats boosted)

Stat Boost 2(Amount+race)

Stat Boost 2(Stats boosted)

Base item Stat

Ammunition Modifier

Accuracy Modifier

Special Attributes

Status Immunity 1

Status Immunity 2

Elemental Defense amount 1

Elemental Defense types 1

Elemental Defense amount 2

Elemental Defense types 2

Item Skill 1

Item Skill 2

Item Skill 3

Trigger Skill 1

Trigger Skill 2

Trigger Skill 3

 

Here's my current code, so far every attempt to even open the code have either crashed the editor, or given me the error message "Nightmare does not feel like contompleteling a table with entires of zero length

1
Item Editor by DeltaInferno Zanerus
0x9EE0
256
2
ItemList.txt

Item Type
1
1
NDHU
ItemID.txt

there are 15 entries of the Item ID which looks like this

15
0x00 = Swords
0x10 = Firearms
0x20 = Shields
0x30 = Disposable in-battle items
0x40 = Backpack
0x50 = Exotic mechanical weapons and mech parts
0x60 = Katanas
0x80 = Key items
0x80 = Torso Armor
0x90 = Full Body Armor
0xA0 = Clothes
0xB0 = Helmets, Hats
0xC0 = Gloves
0xD0 = Shoes, Boots
0xE0 = Accessories

 

My goal as stated is to learn how to make modules for Nightmare to create at least three tables for saga frontier. any help would be very useful.

[Darrman]

18 hours ago, Zanerus said:

1 - always a 1.
Item Editor by DeltaInferno Zanerus - name, it can be whatever
0x9EE0 - pointer for where your thing is
256 - number of entries. In this case, you've 256 items...
2 - with only two bytes in each entry.
ItemList.txt - This names the module entries.

Item Type - field name.
1 - Distance from the start of the entry. The first one should be a zero, not a one. The first entry should be right where your pointer is.
1 - How many bytes long this field is.
NDHU - These determine how the field looks. Nightmare's documentation should explain all these.
ItemID.txt - List of names inside the box.

Here's a quick explanation from someone who's a bit rusty on the ins and outs of Nightmare. By the way, there's no need for equal signs in any files, and weird things happen when you duplicate things, and you have 0x80 twice.