Fire Emblem: The Sacred Tears

[Sire]

Notice: Hack has been scrapped in favor of doing a hack on Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword, due to lack of tutorials on FE 8.

This project is being done by a first time hacker. It has been moved public to gain more input on said project.

Other Links:

[Question Thread] First Timer + Inexperience = Ask Questions!

[Lore Thread] Where lore and stuff can be found about the hack.

Status:

Slow

Patches:

Scrapped Demo: Link [Filled with bugs, basically a failure.]

1st Release: Link [up to Chapter 4]

True Progress:

Key

# "Completely" Finished (Lacks material for true final version, but otherwise fine.)

(#) Implemented, but needs tweaking

Chapter Progress:-------------4 /9 [start] == 0/7 [Lily's Route] == 0/7 [Roland's Route] == 0/8 [L's Endgame] == 0/8 [R's Endgame]

Balancing:--------------------4/9 [start] == 0/7 [Lily's Route] == 0/7 [Roland's Route] == 0/8 [L's Endgame] == 0/8 [R's Endgame]

Portraits:--------------------None whatsoever. I am no artist. [Current build uses GBA FE Placeholders]

Palettes:---------------------None whatsoever. I know little of this field. [Current build uses default "Blue Player" palettes]

Custom Classes:---------------None whatsoever. I am no artist. [Current build uses normal classes.]

Why Play This Hack? (Points of Interest):

-To benefit the Noob Hackers Foundation, motivating new hackers to accomplish more and later become experts.

-To experience a more story-driven game with Warlords Battlecry I slightly intertwined.

-A hack with off-game lore. (Check the Lore Thread.)

-Custom Support Conversations are planned in-game. (Haven't even touched that yet however, unsure about execution...) [Note: May end up using the Support Conversations for extra text instead, Supports will still be listed in the Lore Thread.)

-Way down the road, there will be a "completely new" endgame boss and two more recruit-able characters. (Planned, but unsure about execution...)

Changes from the Sacred Stones:

-Most maps have been edited, but unit placement remains the same. (Hopefully event editing can be learned to allow more customized maps.)

-Trainees will be removed.

-Monk will be replaced by Light Mage [F]

-Gorgons, Gorgon Eggs, and the two creature Horsemen may be removed / replaced.

-The original Demon King is planned to be changed into a normal mob.

Sacred Tears Log:

DEMO Progress:

(9-21-2010) Prologue and Chapter One are more or less complete.

(9-25-2010) Chapters Two and Three more or less complete. Also started on balancing.

(9-26-2010) Demo has been scrapped. Attempting to gain skills to pay the bills.

(10-20-2010) Scrapped Demo made public. Link [Note: Filled with bugs and basically a failure.]

Public Release Progress:

(10-22-2010) Decided to give the entire project a spin again. Changed the map for the Prologue, other minor changes to come.

(10-23-2010) Working Edited Maps inserted for Prologue and Chapter 1. Trying to fix text bugs up to chapter 4. Also planning for next update to have screenies. In addition, I may end up just inserting the maps and having a "public test" to find errors / balance issues.

(10-24-2010) More progress on fixing / adding chapter text. All maps up to 4 have been inserted. Prologue and Chapter 1 are more or less done as far as my current abilities go.

(10-31-2010) First public release besides the Demo. Patch

Screenshots:

[spoiler=Prologue / Chapter 1 (9-21-10)]Note: The current build has placeholders for some portraits. I may have used your favorite character as a placeholder. Please do not yell or flame if I abuse said character, it is only a placeholder. Thank you.

Note 2: There aren't any character information screenies yet. I'll address this next time around when I get around to balancing.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem in any way, shape, or form. Fire Emblem was created by Intelligent Systems.

[spoiler=P-Ch 4 Maps]Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem in any way, shape, or form. Fire Emblem was created by Intelligent Systems.

[spoiler=Sire's List]Just a personal list I threw here for my own reference.

And yes, if you haven't noticed, I use Spoiler Tags. A lot.

Tutorial Databases [Fire Emblem Universe]

Learn Dissembling Events / Adding More Units. [Tutorial 1 , Tutorial 2]

Map Stuff [Mappy Converter , Mar Inserter]

Patching [Tutorial 1]

Edited February 24, 2011 by Sire

[AstraLunaSol]

One thing that I can say is, you might want to make the sprites palettes consistent, since the change between FE6/7/8 sprites......just looks a bit messy.

Pretty nice so far. Hope you can make this hack into what you envisioned.

[FragMaster]

this is nice!

[CT075]

Looks pretty good.

The only complaint I have besides ALS's, is that you may want to make your own custom sprites (AKA recolor or splice) for this, so you don't have to use mugs from other games.

[Nanami Touko]

Man, only thing worse than recolors is using a sprite with no changes, and changing the name >__<;

Yeah, what Camcam said. At least recolor them. All you need for this is FEditor and paint. FEditor to take the sheet out, and paint to recolor it.

And, try splicing. It's not that hard to do.

[CT075]

And, try splicing. It's not that hard to do.

Difficulty is subjective

Give him a break, it's his first time. At least it's not some stupid Nightmare-only reskin.

[Nanami Touko]

Difficulty is subjective

Touché

Give him a break, it's his first time. At least it's not some stupid Nightmare-only reskin.

Nobody gave me a break when I made recolors .__. I was shot down for it. So I tried splicing, and found it wasn't that difficult. Practice makes more practice.

[CT075]

Nobody gave me a break when I made recolors .__. I was shot down for it. So I tried splicing, and found it wasn't that difficult. Practice makes more practice.

You were? Geez.

I went straight from "not trying" to "splicing", so I wouldn't know.

[Nanami Touko]

You were? Geez.

Markyjoe1990, Cam. Markyjoe. He's a nice guy, but he can be really critical sometimes. He's gotten better with his critiques, though.

[CT075]

Ah, it was Mark. Okay.

BACK ON TOPIC: Sire, have you managed to import any music yet? I saw (and answered) your questions about that and now I'm curious about what you want to insert.

[Sire]

Well, to answer the few questions about my little project. (In no particular order)

General Answer:

1: And as said before, this is my first time doing this. I have little next to nothing experience in this task I am undertaking.

(I was expecting to be gunned down a bit more or ignored, but people around here tend to actually comment. In addition, this is why I'm doing things step by step here. The Demo is more or less trying stuff out and learning, while the real version tries to be a bit more advanced [if I can ever reach that point]. If I was an expert, each chapter may have already been polished and finished, then work on the next one.)

Portrait Answers:

1: Did any of you read the word "Placeholder"? I plan to change the portraits and sprites with edited versions at a later date. (Hopefully custom versions will be included in the demo.)

2: I have never tried splicing, recoloring, or custom stuff (I am no artist). However, I've been looking at said competitions / threads and is already seeing similarities on how it is done.

3: I originally planned on requesting said sprites, but apparently the trust still needs to be gained. Looks like I'm mostly on my own here...

Music Answer:

1: I did not have the chance to implement music just yet. I'm busy trying to get the text working right first. However, I do already have songs that are ready to replaced, they just need to go through conversion / insertion. (Most of them come from preexisting video games, part of me wonders how mixing them all together will work out, even though I personally think it all fits.)

* * *

Current Progress:

-Prologue -> Chapter 3 storyline more or less done. Polishing is still required.

-Started work on balancing player characters.

If you guys want, I can try to work on getting custom mugs in before the next set of screenshots... (Back to question thread...)

[Sire]

News: (9-26-2010)

-Demo is scrapped in favor of starting all over and trying to do everything right the second time around. The stuff that was in the demo may be released as a patch when I get around to balancing. (Balancing from final can just be moved over to the demo.)

-Expect a Creative thread coming from me sometime this week. Going to attempt splicing, recoloring, map-making, and other stuff...

-Customized music may be scrapped or done by another. My own initial attempt failed at this.

Note to self: Stop spamming this thread with useless information. Next news may actually contain something useful and become more sparse.

[CT075]

Um, I can insert music for you. Although, it needs to be either in a .bin file or a MIDI. Also, if it's a MIDI that you want inserted, get it inserted as soon as possible. Because you need a MIDI instrument patch for such tunes and inserting one later into the project can lead to failure or worse.

As I learned when I tried to insert MIDIs for myself.

[Sire]

Inserting the music isn't the problem. I haven't even got to that point yet. I'm trying to convert files into Midis first without losing much quality and somehow hoping it'll work in Fire Emblem GBA. Alas, what I'm aiming for may be too complex for the GBA to handle. (It's sad, I had a good theme for one of the main characters too.)

The thing that puzzled me though is that the file sizes for both the original and the replacement is roughly the same.

Current roadblock on music:

Converting them to Midis from MP3 while maintaining a decent quality.

Probably I just need to tinker with it more...

[CT075]

Couldn't you just google whatever it is you want to MIDI-fy? I'm sure there's a good one somewhere.

[Sire]

Not much in terms of news.

Currently trying to learn Event Editing and overcoming my laziness. (This is harder for FE 8, since most tutorials are FE 7 oriented)

I am still uncertain about customized music, although I did find two Midi sources.

Also slowly making progress on character background and "base conversations" off site. Base conversations will not actually exist, but act as a distraction of a thread that relates story to this hack.

However, I did get one map done, so... (May head back and revise the dirt stuff near the bottom mid, turning it into lighter grass instead or simply making it smaller.)

Stuff:

-Expanded version of the original Prologue.

-Woods is the starting point, you must "seize" (escape) via that small dirt tile in the upper left.

-O'Neill returns with his two followers, but are unbeatable. You should avoid them at all costs. (O'Neill remains where he is at, but his two original "Fighters" head out after some time.)

-Southern part of map tells the story a bit more than just a simple escape. (NPC vs Enemy)

-Getting to the village in time should net some bonus for experienced players.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Sire

[Lord Glenn]

However, I did get one map done, so... (May head back and revise the dirt stuff near the bottom mid, turning it into lighter grass instead or simply making it smaller.)

Stuff:

-Expanded version of the original Prologue.

-Woods is the starting point, you must "seize" (escape) via that small dirt tile in the upper left.

-O'Neill returns with his two followers, but are unbeatable. You should avoid them at all costs. (O'Neill remains where he is at, but his two original "Fighters" head out after some time.)

-Southern part of map tells the story a bit more than just a simple escape. (NPC vs Enemy)

-Getting to the village in time should net some bonus for experienced players.

Your mountains are cut off on the left hand side. I'd use the bottoms of the right-hand mountain set (i.e. the ones at the top-center) to help build the bottoms on the right. Other than that, I'd suggest making some of your areas seems a bit more... random. Instead of a straight line of dirt, make it vary off to the sides in places, etc.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Lord Glenn

[Sire]

Currently my stubbornness keeps clashing with Reality. Needless to say, Reality wins.

Basically, I will be putting Fire Emblem: The Sacred Tears on "Indefinitely Postponed" status. I will be shifting to Fire Emblem 7 to hack instead because no one ever writes tutorials for Fire Emblem 8 in an attempt to learn more from that realm of hacking, as it is more refined in terms of knowledge and tutorials. (Not to mention I'm really going overboard on what I want to do compared to the ability I currently have.)

This puts a big dent in terms of my plans, but alas it can be fixed. Perhaps I can make a prequel of sorts to the Sacred Tears while learning. One shall not know unless one tries.

For those who are remotely interested in the progress I have made, I have attempted to make a patch for the scrapped demo. See below.

Scrapped Demo Notes: Link

-Goes up to about chapter 3-4.

-New unit classes and placeholder portraits are included.

-In-game text has mostly changed (Supports / Conversations remain the same however.)

-THE GAME IS IMBALANCED. The player units may be over / under powered as I have not reached the stage of balancing.

-Lily's "Rapier" replacement does not work.

-Taylor does not have the correct weapon level for the Killing Edge.

-Other things may be broken because I do not remember everything.

As of now, this project will fade away into the clutter until I gain the experience required to do what I must do. Or, I may just have to convert the entire project into FE 7 somehow (losing quite a bit of stuff in the process...)

Progress on the new hack may be revealed sometime before the end of November...

[Sire]

Edit: A man has doubled posted. He has committed treason! Seize him!

Part of me considered to post the new maps in some nonexistent Creative thread, but since the maps need criticism for the hack, it may be better off placed here.

Two new maps have been created for FE: The Sacred Tears. I have scrapped the idea of expanding the original maps and having custom placed units at the current point due to inexperience in said field (although this may be possible following a different tutorial using Nightmare, but it may be better to place them properly via events / hex than manipulating the Nightmare tool.) . Instead, I will be using the original map sizes and unit placements instead. Due to units having to reach Point A to Point B, in addition to being located on certain tiles, these crossed tiles must remain open.

This is the new Prologue map (overriding the larger one I have posted before). The overall layout and battleground is essentially the same as the original, but the mountains has been replaced by a forest and a village. The village itself currently serves no purpose save for off-game lore, although it may become accessible should I learn the more advanced parts of Event / Hex Editing.

Extremely familiar map, as this is the replacement for Chapter One. Once again, I had to input a village for storyline reasons, but am currently unable to carry out my original plans due to inexperience in event editing (there existed plans for Mulan to be overrun before Lily left, so that she would witness the mercilessness of Grado's soldiers). Also, the random lone cliff above the left house may need to be tweaked. (I considered adding another cliff on the SW tile of that one, making a 90 degree turn. However, this makes the map even more littered with narrow passages.)

* * *

In other news...

-Needless to say, no longer under Indefinite postponement.

-First post updated.

-Attempting to fix Text bugs up to chapter 4.

-Attempting to implement maps up to chapter 4.

-Attempting to get more Creative Thread material done so I can finally post said topic.

-May release more screenshots for the next update.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Sire

[Sire]

Triple Post! Wait! I got the documents here!

*Shows proof of ownership*

Anyway...

* * *

I actually got a playable patch completed (besides the failure worth of the Demo.)

You can find the patch here.

Patch Notes:

General:

-Up to Chapter 4 is playable.

-Placeholder portraits and palettes are still in effect.

-New balancing formulas should be implemented. Please leave feedback on balancing.

Known Bugs:

-Inferno critical does not have the shiny magical things. However, it still works. (I may not fix it, I tend to like it without the magic energy. Also note that the class itself should get a unique sprite down the road.)

-Robert's Scout Bow may not work correctly when attacking on the map.

-In Chapter 3, if you look hard enough you can find that some of the "Walls" are "Fence", but they look identical.

-In Chapter 4, a Shaman pulls off a Light Spell.

-Luke still uses Moulder's portrait.

Other Plans:

-Actually get Olaf to open the door in Chapter 3 so he does something.

Maps Screenshot:

Any feedback and/or suggestions are appreciated.

"If you stop staring at the pictures for a minute and actually read the text, you may get something out of it." -Lily

"It helps trying to ignore the music too occasionally." -Nickolas

"...Don't forget gameplay." -Nicole

[Chaotic_Soma]

Hmm it seems really Odd that no one has replied to this, Don't worry Sire your patch isn't going Unnoticed!

I shall download and test this and tell you what I think!

*downloads*

[HongLei]

Hey I'll try this out when I have some free time between work and school

[Chaotic_Soma]

Well I just finished playing the patch and it wasn't that bad, Some part were actually quite good!

I'll edit this post later and fill you in on all the little things that I have found!

[Sire]

Project is going to go slow due to school, WoW, and creating graphics for the hack.

Once again, any feedback is appreciated.