Help with FFTA pleez?

[HatterMadigan]

I am asking in the only way i know of, so any impoliteness is most probably :) accidental.

I am an FFTA nut. But more importantly, a viera nut! They're so cool! Anyway, i always wanted, ever since i first got this game, to make my own story line and sprites with viera having a major role. I was, I'll admit, a little envious of Ritz when I battled her all viera clan, so when I lost my SP, I dwnloded an emulator(VisualBoyAdvance) and got a ROM. Now I'm really interested in making my viera dreams come to life! I ask for hlp from people who are much smarter than me.

What I ask for is pretty much anything you can offer.

But a list of what I want usually helps in forums, i find, so here it is:

Tutorials, Editors(hex, text, wutever is good), helpful hints, and if you hve it, codes (codebreaker and gameshark), because I know there's a way to change sprites on there.

I know the codes are a little off, but they are for when I want to play the original in my own way (Ritz all the way!) teehee

Pretty much anything you have or any links you have would be great on the subject of hacking Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

Much appreciated ttyl!

Luv ya!

[Rattlehead]

I am asking in the only way i know of, so any impoliteness is most probably :) accidental.

I am an FFTA nut. But more importantly, a viera nut! They're so cool! Anyway, i always wanted, ever since i first got this game, to make my own story line and sprites with viera having a major role. I was, I'll admit, a little envious of Ritz when I battled her all viera clan, so when I lost my SP, I dwnloded an emulator(VisualBoyAdvance) and got a ROM. Now I'm really interested in making my viera dreams come to life! I ask for hlp from people who are much smarter than me.

What I ask for is pretty much anything you can offer.

But a list of what I want usually helps in forums, i find, so here it is:

Tutorials, Editors(hex, text, wutever is good), helpful hints, and if you hve it, codes (codebreaker and gameshark), because I know there's a way to change sprites on there.

I know the codes are a little off, but they are for when I want to play the original in my own way (Ritz all the way!) teehee

Pretty much anything you have or any links you have would be great on the subject of hacking Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

Much appreciated ttyl!

Luv ya!

That's, umm...that's just...wow. Umm...wow.

What "changes" do you plan to make to the sprites, eh? )=o

[Maximum Potion]

Well if you want to change the story, you could use a hex editor to change the text and a tile editor to change what the characters look like, but things like changing the main character into a viera (like chat classes in this case she can become) can become complicated. It probably won't be possible to change the cinematics without being some sort of mage.
You could probably work aroun the limitations though, like just take what's happening and make it fit to your story...

Hex editors go windhex, tile editor go tile layer pro. Get them here or at romhacking.net.
I assume you don't know how to use a hex editor to edit the text?
It's pretty simple just relative search words and if you're lucky there will be no compression. In that case all you have to do is make a table file and do whatever you want.

[HatterMadigan]

I really want to make the main character a girl with a viera jobset, because we're the best(girls i mean)! jk. What I have... on specifics? I don't really have a detailed plan, just whatever floats my boat at the time, I guess. What would realy be cool is to create a new platform game into this plat... like A2 on VBA! :0 drool. I want a seeq so bad. They remind me of bulldogs for some reason... cute! But I think lengthening the job wheel might be possible, and that would be pretty cool... I know it's not yet possible for the orig FFT...

So, specifics? None, really. If I make something specific with you guys' help, then I will DEF post it on here!

Kissies! Mwa mwa

Thank you maxP! Love you! I actually have windhex yay! its because I had it for hacking FFT, but I never thought of hacking FFTA with it. im dumb. And I will definitely get the tile layer pro. :) I'll just mess around with it some to get used to it with FFTA, because the FFT thing was a little difficult for me... i used sentinalblade's tutorial video! TY SentB!

[InVerse]

If I remember correctly, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance uses standard ASCII text encoding, which means you won't even have to build a table file or search for the text, just open the ROM in any hex editor and scroll down until you find the text.

Data Crystal (http://www.datacrystal.org/) has some information on the FFTA (http://www.datacrystal.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Tactics_Advance) page, so you may find something of use there.

Glancing at RHDN (http://www.romhacking.net/) suggests that there are no programs specifically for FFTA (no tutorials, either) but that there is a text editor for FFTA2. I haven't played the sequel, but if what you're wanting to do could be done with the second one, you might consider hacking it, instead, since you'd have a pre-made text editor ready to go.

Also, I would recommend Tile Molester over Tile Layer Pro, as TM lets you adjust the block size, thus arranging the graphics how they appear in the game, rather than having to manually arrange them on the clipboard, but to an extent that's just a matter of opinion.

[Reaper man]

I really want to make the main character a girl with a viera jobset, because we're the best(girls i mean)! jk.

Saaay, are you as cute as the avatar you're sportin'? ;p

[HatterMadigan]

Aww, aren't you sweet. And to answer your question, a lot of people say that I look like her, and also that is part of the reason my boyfriend asked me out. (But don't ask how I know that, I have my ways ;) ). And also why I posted this pic on here. A pic of me would be a little wierd for me... Too personal on a forum full of smarties :)

BTW she's VS's Adriana Lima.

SHE would be an awesome viera! OMG 'my' idea! *I claimed it*

Edit: I downloaded both Tile Molester and Tile Layer Pro to try them both out, but neither are working! I dwnloaded both TM files and only 1 of the TLPro files. Do I need both? Do I extract them with WinRar? Please help.

[Reaper man]

Aww, aren't you sweet. And to answer your question, a lot of people say that I look like her, and also that is part of the reason my boyfriend asked me out. (But don't ask how I know that, I have my ways ;) ). And also why I posted this pic on here. A pic of me would be a little wierd for me... Too personal on a forum full of smarties :)

oh wow, your boyfriend is a very lucky man. ;p

[Maximum Potion]

Edit: I downloaded both Tile Molester and Tile Layer Pro to try them both out, but neither are working! I dwnloaded both TM files and only 1 of the TLPro files. Do I need both? Do I extract them with WinRar? Please help.

I'm pretty sure all you have to do is extract the files into any directory and then run the .exe file.

[HatterMadigan]

Ok, um... this may be a little off hacking, but I'm having trouble with my Codebreaker. The thing is, I thought It would be cool to have my main be Ritz, so I did all that with the CB code: 82000084 1F04
82000086 1F04
(1F - Fencer) (First 04- Ritz) (Second 04- Viera)


But that only gets me Ritz as a fencer. I thought that putting in all the possibilities would make that so, but I am wrong. It only records the last one. And 0004 doesn't work either, because that makes it so Ritz is jobless. :( Any suggestions? Or does anyone have an answer for me? I'm gonna work out some more of this, and if I find anything good, I'll post.

[ffta707]

hey InVerse, or mega potion. when i use windhex. i load the rom ont it, but it comes up with unlegible words and symbols. the only two phrases are final fantasy tactics advanced on the top and bottem. is my rom different, or possebly a knock off. if so could i have a link. please help.

[Maximum Potion]

That's because the the phrase ''Final Fantasy Tactics Advance'' is stored in ASCII (the default table on your editor), and the text in the game are stored differently.

To find it, you're going to want to click search, and choose relative search from the drop down list. Search for a word that appears in the game, such as law, paladin, bangaa, etc.

What it does is it searches for a combination of hex values that COULD be the searched word.

If you double click on any of the search results, you can save the table file, and apply it to the rom in the editor. Try them until you can see more words, and you've got it.

But!! Be careful, there will be what appears to be random characters in between words.
These are punctuation, spaces, and commands that tells the text to jump a line or to wait for the player to press A.

You could either work around these, or learn what each one does.
Just remember to NEVER write anything past where the dialoue is supposed to end (there's sometimes a hex value to indicate that too).

If you want less text, you can just fill the last couple of words with spaces.

[The 9th Sage]

You could either work around these, or learn what each one does.

This is very much the best thing to do assuming you've got the patience to experiment.

[ffta707]

thanx ill try it. also when i do TLP, do i need to like take a picure on my emulator, cause when i do anything the picture comes up in eds blues greens and tons of other colers that look nothing like the picture i took. could you mabe teach me how to use TLP.

and also do you think you could give me some words to search. cause i did law and it came up wit 99 searches, but i tried one and it had no text strings

[Maximum Potion]

The way a tile editor works is that it opens the rom and displays the raw data in a way so that you can see and edit the graphics.

The graphics and their colours (known as palettes) are stored seperately, so the colours should be all messed up.

All you really have to do is open the rom and edit the graphics.



As for the words, the point is that you relative search words that you know are in the game, and build your table file off of that.

[ffta707]

ya but the graphics dont come up. do i have to load patteletes cus i load the rom and the colors are green and black and all messed up. and i type words in hex reletive search but it never finds them, the search always fails. the only two words that work are snow and law. but on the graphics editor do i neeed to edit every single frame of marche if i edit him.

[Maximum Potion]

You have to look for the graphics. They're all over the place. All cut up too. Use the tile arranger and edit them. Ignore the colours, it'll all work out.

I'll take a look at the text thing, i'm pretty sure it's all there...

BRB

[ffta707]

on the graphics though, does it accually show everything cause i want to make marche have red and black armor, if i do it for just one image, how would the sprite work for other things like attacking. i mean like waht graphics am i editing wen i load the rom. is it everything , it doesn;t really make sense what graphic s i am editing. it only loads the graphics on a short littlr page. if i wanted marches appearence wouldn;t i need to edit it in different ways like him attacking>? thanx for doing this by the way.

[Maximum Potion]

When you say ''on a short little page'', do you mean to say that you're not scrolling down?

K well obviously, I just opened the rom and obviosly you had to in order to see marche.

[ffta707]

wait did you find him?

how do you tell wich colors to change if they are multi color. cause it's not the real colors in the game.

mabe my rom isn't good, were did you get yours?

[Maximum Potion]

No, but I found the black mage, and if there's character, the rest should be there.
Just scroll down a little less than half way and all the characters should be there.
They're all chopped up in 8x8 pieces, and they're hard to see because of the colours.

[ffta707]

ok i think we should hack this together. um, if i edit just one picture on this tlp wich is what comes up, will it show the edits even when marche is moving? on different maps and in water to.

[Maximum Potion]

Your rom's fine.

Like I said before, the graphics are stored seperately from the colours.

The GBA can display 256 different colours.

If every sprite has the same palette, they would take up way more space.

For example, 64x64 pixels x 256 colours = 1 048 576

So instead, each sprite has only 16 colours.

64 x 64 x 16 = 65 536

So, if you open your rom in VBA, click tools, palette viewer, you can see all the palettes that the game is using at any given moment. Using the red blue and green faders in TLP, you can set them to marche's palette, and find him more easily.

[ffta707]

okay i get what your seeing i think i see the black mage, but is there an easier way to do this do you think. how do we know waht coler we are making them. this is so hard. is there a way to rip them on to paint then rip them back into the game (wich i dont know how to do!)

[Maximum Potion]

If it were that simple, every one would do it.

Unless someone has made a game specific sprite editor, this is what you're going to have to do.

[ffta707]

also, did you find anything on the hex editor, or any strings?

think i found marche, onece i edit how do i get it back onto my rom?

whty are people always asking for a good source of ffta sprites.

[ffta707]

you know what reaper woman, fuck you! i have never posted in my life. wy do you caer litel ggirl wooops i forget to spel kheck

hey potion, is there any way I can use the hex editor to make marches primary job a knight, or replace it with soldier, but still have other people be soldiers, with no capabilities of being a knight. Could i make only marche able to be a knight. And could i edit the abilities, and what equiptment he can equipt?

[Maximum Potion]

You mean fighter, right?

Basically, anything's possible, you just have to figure out how it works.

For this... I don't know, I mean if we were talking save states it would be no problem, you could compare them and well, who knows maybe come up with something from the hex values you find there and apply trial and error for what would probably be a whole bunch of results in the rom changing them one by one...

I guess, in the end, it all depends on if Marche's jobs are the same as any other Human's jobs... Because then changing one would change both. If they're stored seperately, it can probably be done.

[ffta707]

Well i accually meant, hacking sodier, and making up a job called a Knight or holy knight...just hacking the name, and ability set. And mabe what abilities are in the set.

[Reaper man]

you know what reaper woman, fuck you! i have never posted in my life. wy do you caer litel ggirl wooops i forget to spel kheck

You do realize who you are speaking with, right? I have my finger on the ban button, and it's got an itch. Behave, or that finger is coming down.

[ffta707]

well you cussed at me. dont ban me...lets just get along and be friends. How do you get to be an administrator?

[Reaper man]

well you cussed at me. dont ban me...lets just get along and be friends. How do you get to be an administrator?

Face it kid, you going to get cussed at a lot online. Just learn to deal with it. Also, by double and triple posting, you're making more work for me, which makes me annoyed, and more prone to make my language a bit more colorful than what it normally is. OK so you're new to posting in forums. Here's a tip. If you need to add something after you've posted, the "edit" button is your friend. Also, good grammar and spelling goes a long way in forums. Posting poorly like you did earlier makes you look like someone retarded that didn't get through elementary school and people will be less inclined to help you.

As for how I got to be an admin, I started off as a moderator. After realizing that we needed an admin to take care of things that the mods couldn't do, I made the suggestion to the site owner(who is rarely around himself). A day later he appointed 2 site admins, me and 9th sage. No, you can't be an admin if that's the reason why you asked.

[ffta707]

i wasn't mad about you cussing.

[The 9th Sage]

At any rate, yes, let's try to get along here everyone. >_<

[Reaper man]

At any rate, yes, let's try to get along here everyone. >_<

Aww, but what's the fun in that? ;p

[ffta707]

Hey Maximum, could you take a look at the txt editor and try to find marches default job?

[Jeffrey]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/560436-final-fantasy-tactics-advance/faqs/26118 (http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/560436-final-fantasy-advance/faqs/26118)

[Jeffrey]

http://http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/560436-final-fantasy-tactics-advance/faqs/26118

[Reaper man]

ffs, this thread is 2 bloody years old.

*shakes head*