Resolved - [FE IF]Editing Revelations Chapters

[CFWMagic]

Greetings.

So, I'm taking my chances with porting all of my personal mods from FE Fates (NA) into FE IF (JP). I've ran into one very particular problem: Dumping RomFS through citra doesn't dump Revelations in the JP version. Visual examples:

- Dumping FE Fates (NA) properly dumps GameData/Person/C properly:



 

- Dumping FE IF (JP) skips GameData/Person/C:

 

- As a result, trying to edit Revelations Chapters in FE Fates (NA) works properly:




- Whereas attempting to do the same with FE IF (JP) results in a dummies out chapter:

 

- According to the Paragon command prompt, it is because the multi files are missing:




That's as far as I managed to track the problem. I have no idea what's causing this, or how to fix this. I've attempted contacting Thane98 to be directed towards 3DSFE hacking discord, but in the mean time, I'm left sitting on my hands so I figured I might as well ask here while I wait:

- How to get citra to dump Revelations properly on the JP version?
- What is causing the issue in the first place?

Additional info:

- The goal of this particular edit is to double the amount of deployment slots in every Revelations chapter.
- Aside from this edit, I also plan on porting many other NA/EU mods into the JP version (won't release anything that I didn't create myself, obviously).
- Both FE Fates (NA) and FE IF (JP) are the Special Edition ones.
- FE IF was patched with TeamIf's patch 4.3: https://github.com/TeamIf/FireEmblemIf-FanTranslation/releases

Attempted Troubleshooting steps:

- Attempted dumping without the Team IF patch. Same results.
- Checked DLC .app files for the Revelations specific multi-files. Extracting 0000001a.app gives me the necessary files for Revelations. It seems that, indeed, Revelations is still counted as DLC in FE If Special Edition, thus Citra's refusal to dump it.

Current hypothesis:

- It seems that for some inane reason, Revelations is locked into DLC for If (JP), but not for Fates (NA)? If so, then how am I to go about editing those Chapters? (Verified, 0000001a.app contains Revelations multi files)
- Extracting 0000001a.app and then dropping it into the Paragon RomFS working folder makes the Chapters display properly:



- Next task I'm going to experiment with is check whether or not modified Revelations chapters can simply be placed into Citra's mod folder, or need to be baked back into 0000001a.app to be registered properly. As of right now I will not even attempt to make this work with Luma and/or actual 3DS hardware because my brain is already boiling as is. (In progress)



UPDATE:

Well, it seems that the Japanese version is simply built different. Reveletaions is loaded as a DLC, which means I have to edit it's .app file. While I have an idea how to do so and began the work process, it also means I will either need to write a patcher or distribute a modified .app file. The first is beyond my skill at the moment, while the second would probably be considered illegal.

For purely academical purposes, if anyone else runs into this issue, you can modify your own .app file in the same way you would do with a DLC: extract .app with ctrtool, modify, repack into .app. Unfortunately that means each mod touching JP Revelations will have to be a personal one, as I suspect distributing .app files would bring the wrath of Nintendo in many more ways than one.

This thread should remain here as documentation if someone else is going to be modifying JP Rev.

Edited October 9, 2023 by CFWMagic
Adding extra research/troubleshooting data, adding updates on progress