Custom Battle Frames

[Jubby]

Hello there, to everyone making hacks.... I notice a lot of hacks use the original battle frame from FE7, so I've decided to offer this service. If you have a hack with some legitimate progress and a battle frame but don't feel like inserting it, this is the place for you. I have inserted several into my hack (I always insert it and then I'm unsatisfied with it later) and am getting quite good and quick at it.

In return, I'm currently looking for these for my hack:

Weapon icons, basically just new sprites for the generic weapons, (hopefully a few since this takes around an hour+?)

Any custom battle animation is always welcome, if well done (If you just happen to have one floating around)

A new statsheet made in the FE7 style (with a background behind it, not one that takes up the whole page like FE8)

And a custom battle frame if you happen to have any extras lying around, or know someone who's good at spriting who'd wanna do it.

So if you'd like me to insert one for you, send me your battle frame, and I'll send it back to you so all you have to do is insert the stuff into your hack! (And then you can hooooopefully send me one of the above things? ^_^)

Edit: I use shadowofchaos's method, in case that's relevant.

[Crimson Red]

Wait, you're actually able to use Shadowofchaos's method to insert battle templates? Or am I misunderstanding here?

If so and you can actually do it I would gladly hire you, I lost most of my battle animations but I still have some and I have been spriting and animating battle animations for like 5 years now. I also have some experience in hacking so I could possibly help you with that. But one thing I DON'T have any interest in doing is inserting a custom battle template, despite the fact that I need one for Tactics Universe pretty badly...

[Jubby]

Like, this one?:

http://www.bwdyeti.c....php?topic=21.0

Yeah, I'm actually getting quite quick at it, only takes me a couple hours or so.

Here's my most recent one:

(Don't mind Eliwood's name)

I've also done this one for an older version of my hack:

but I can't find a screen shot cause it's pretty old, and I started over :$

But sure, I'll do it! :D

Wanna PM me your stuff, and I can probably have it ready for you by either tomorrow night or Tuesday? :)

AHHHH I've edited like 400 times, but by your stuff I mean your frame, not the, uh, "payment," I won't want that till after I do it :P

Actually I'm gonna hafta think about what that might be, cause I could use some hacking help too :$

[shadowofchaos]

Glad to see someone got use out of that tutorial. That thing took me three hours at least to make IIRC. XD

"If even one person got something out of it, I don't feel like that tutorial was a waste of time at all," was what I said to someone who said that thing was a waste of time on AIM or Skype or something. XD

[CT075]

brb, writing a java tool to make this entire thing useless

[Aleph]

You're writing a coffee utensil?

Dude.

[CT075]

Yep. It takes fucking skill.

[Jubby]

Ahhhh dammit Kam, how am I supposed to get stuff for my hack now? And yeah, SoC, I've used the method probably 4 or 5 times, and it helped me understand GBA graphics and TSA and stuff, so thanks for all your hard work xD I owe ya one...

Also, Blazer, I PMed you too, but do you still want me to do it or would you rather wait for Kam's thing?

[CT075]

If this affects your decision at all, I am a programmer by hobby alone, so if you're waiting on me chances are you're gonna be waiting a long time.

[zahlman]

brb, writing a java tool to make this entire thing useless

brb, dreaming of how awesome I will look when I rewrite the whole thing in like 1/10 as much python

[CT075]

if you were to actually do it, I'm sure many people would thank you

[Ryrumeli]

Nice, lovely to see the technique I came up with being used effectively. Makes all the roms I had to delete due to fatal graphical glitches worthy the effort. :) This method would actually rock if it was turned into a 1-click app, had I the necessary coding skillz I would have done that myself in the past.

Also, smart way to get stuff for your hack, although I wonder if it will be even needed, since if you're that willing to do something complex like this system to exchange for resources, then believe me you would be able to get them in any other way. :) Still, interesting initiative, makes me glad this technique is getting more popular with time. :3

[Crimson Red]

Only slightly more popular, lol.

I could do it myself but why do it when someone else is offering how to do it, knows how to do it, and is good and quick at it? I hate learning new things anyhow at this late in my hacking career, I've learned enough about hacking IMO, not bragging just saying its a drag though I suppose that's a hypocritical statement given all my FE12 hacking... >_>

[Jubby]

I figured since I'm good at this and it takes a while, I can ask for bigger stuff

But lawl yes, I also don't mind doing it because I enjoy playing hacks with lots of new graphics, it gives a fresh feel and maybe now people will sprite the frames slightly more regularly and I'll be able to get ahold of a decent one for my own hack XD

Out of interest, I wouldn't mind doing this for other things too, such as statsheets, so I figured I'd ask you super awesome hardcore hackers, is there a way to locate TSA? I can find palettes pretty consistently, but I did a statsheet once and hoooly SHIT it took forever. (And it looked, well, not amazing due to my fail spriting.) TSA might speed it up a bit a lot The statsheet is WEIRD, the palettes are used in a really awkward way :/

I'm not only doing this out of self interest, I swear

[Ryrumeli]

There is a whole tutorial on how to locate data based on where it is placed in the memory, hackers have been doing it for ages to find stuff they need. It is also the most basic tutorial with hints of ASM around. It is shown in the tutorial how to locate graphics, but truth be told anything can be located that way, given some restrictions.

Here is the link:

http://shrineofseals.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=102

This is how I find all I need when I need. :)

[Jubby]

So would I put the breakpoint for when the graphics load, and then it'll list the TSA somewhere there?

[shadowofchaos]

Breakpoints are a lot like problem solving. You have to think about what things are doing what and try to figure out how the game is processing to display what you want to find in the ROM.

Somethings are easy as that tutorial.

Some... are not. Sometimes the first breakpoint has the hint in ASM on what ELSE to breakpoint to be able to find what you want to get.

[Jubby]

Well, I'll give it a try anyway, and see if I can learn a little ASM (I'm gonna hafta learn slowly cause it seems like it'll probably make events look like Nightmare editing)

[CT075]

are you kidding me custom events are easier than nightmare editing

[Jubby]

They are now, but it takes a while to learn :P

[Crimson Red]

Custom events and nightmare editing can't even be properly compared IMO, though you can compare them anyway

Also TSA generally has patterns to it. Tips on how to find TSA without ASM (which is the best/most efficient way) include:

- looking for a typical TSA pattern... often like "01 00 02 00 03 00" etc., increasing in number. Sometimes they'll be decreasing in number or be like "7F 01 7D 01 7C 01" etc... and you have to watch out for compression since that will change how the data appears...

- look next to the palette/graphics data. Often times related data are beside each other in the ROM. e.g. right after the graphics are the TSA and then the palette, for example. actually for GBA games there's a common order of graphics, TSA, and palette, but I can't remember it

- look for the pointer to data and then look beside the pointers for other pointers that might point to TSA data. e.g. pointer tables/arrays often times include pointers for graphics, palette, and TSA of an image all right next to each other (e.g. the CG table or Battle BG table). If you look at each offset it should quickly become obvious which is which.

These are just rough/basic ways that use common hex editing knowledge to find them, they're not the best ways and only lazy people like me use them because debugging is a pain in the ass and anyone who says otherwise is either bullshitting themselves, trying to be funny, loves work, or is a genius (or at LEAST moderately smart/inclined to do such things). Like Ryru, he's a genius, the shit comes naturally to him, with a little hard work Ryru can do anything XD

[Ryrumeli]

are you kidding me custom events are easier than nightmare editing

And ASM is easier than custom events. SRS.

And I do believe I had a small guide in SOS or FEU which explained how to manually make a TSA, like, years ago; That could be useful for someone willing to find one, to understand the structure is power, things like flipping of a tile or TSAs with multiple palettes. Then again, the basics are exactly like Blazer put it.

Also, it is a hot tip, like blazer said even if the data for all 3 isn't close to eachother, the pointers usually are. Even in ASM, the pointers tend to be close to eachother, like in the same range of 20-30 bytes, even if not one next to each other. But usually they are, thanks to how you handle pointers in Assembly. I did this check back when I couldn't debug like I can now, and it worked relatively well.

Also, dump a TSA from the VBA memory if you want to find it. Just look for it in a hex editor. If you don't find it by that simple look, then either it was A) Compressed in LZ77 or B) Created in a Dynamic way with Assembly. For the earlier, you could try using Nintenlord's app to compress and try to look for it again. And for one which is changed in a dynamic way with ASM, or even created from scratch with ASM, well... Things are a bit tougher then. >_> *Has nightmares with the changing of all menus in his hack back when he knew nothing of ASM* For example, the TSA for mugshots in stat sheets is done in a dynamic way, with a specific routine. Many things which appear in the Stat sheet are as well, even stuff that are always the same in looks like class cards. And some are discompressed, refactored(Like, changing in mass in every single tile to match a new palette. Stuff like that happens all the time, there are a few routines in-game which do that, which make the Ram version substantially different from the Rom one.), and then moved to the memory.

There are many possibilities of happenings, as you go deeper and deeper into hacking you start to find some weird stuff. But with some practice the method I could suggest which ignores most of those variables and works on almost every situation is the one in that guide. Even then, hacking is about finding the tools and methods which work best for you, so I bid you good luck in finding your method of choice. ^_^

And lol, if only I were a genius, then life would be a lot easier. XD The amount of silly mistakes I do in coding in a daily basis isn't stuff of a genius to say the least. :3 I am just a very stubborn guy, the kind that always believes there is a better way to do something. :)

[Jubby]

Also, dump a TSA from the VBA memory if you want to find it. Just look for it in a hex editor.

How would I do that? Is afraid to ask potentially noobish question Dx

[Ryrumeli]

Nope, no way a question involving the GBA's memory could be considered noobish. :) And the worst that could happen even with a noobish question would be if I answered with a link instead of a post. XD Still it would serve it's reason, which is getting an answer. So questions have to be asked.

And instead of answering your question now, let me write a small guide for you later, ok? :) *In a rush*

[Jubby]

Nope, no way a question involving the GBA's memory could be considered noobish. :) And the worst that could happen even with a noobish question would be if I answered with a link instead of a post. XD Still it would serve it's reason, which is getting an answer. So questions have to be asked.

And instead of answering your question now, let me write a small guide for you later, ok? :) *In a rush*

True that :P

And sounds awesome, can't wait to read it :D