Początkowo opublikowane przez Nyxo:

As a side note, the steam version of FFVI literally has a byte-for-byte copy of the original Japanese GBA rom inside it (except for a single byte that's different) -- I've been doing bits and pieces of research against it, but have been more hopeful for a GBA rom hacker to show up that I can work with instead~

Most GBA data is the copy of the well documented SNES data (excluding graphic, font and music related data but irrevelant here anyway). I can test the known GBA data types and come up with a rom.bin map and data formats document that could be useful for the community. Also it might be interesting to check if the exe use the pointer tables of the ROM and its ARM code.

What is lack of is ARM knowledge. I know the FF6 SNES ASM code well enough but I have no knowledge of the GBA counterpart. So I'd be of little help if it's used by the game.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Nyxo:

I'm already working on that file format (and AKB, and PVR, etc..) so that I can add support for them in FFVI_Explore, however I don't want to discourage you from writing your own tools if you want to! :)

That is great! I'd be more willing to write a map, event and stats editor that would handle the rom.bin data, which I should start in tandem with the document mentionned above.

Edit: Why am I unable to send friend invite to anyone? ("Their list is full" error message...)

Początkowo opublikowane przez Saftle:

The PC game uses an original GBA rom. There have been a lot of GBA rom hacks over the years, and just in case I have created a Help Ad at romhacking.net to help collaberate with an experienced romhacker to create a technical document.

That's really good news! It's very possible that the game read some data from this embed ROM (well it must serve a purpose!), though I'd be surprise it runs the GBA ARM code. I've done a decent amount of work with the GBA US version and there's a partial JAP/US ROM Map[drakkhen.jalchavware.com] that exists. A guy named Drakkhen identified the data in the GBA version while other people such as Novalia Spirit released bugfixes for that version. Some GBA data format and offsets are known since they are the same as the well documented SNES version. So hopefully most data regarding weapons, items, event code, AI scripts, chests, monsters stats, formations data, formation packs, esper data and shops data would already been known. That's a potential huge step forward!

I could help making such a technical document given you don't have help for it or even start coding an editor once we are sure which data is used (I haven't seen your thread on RHDN). I'll begin shortly checking which data in the embed ROM actually has an impact on the game once I find the ROM file in the file structure. Do you have where it is located exactly?

Początkowo opublikowane przez Saftle:

Talking about "improbabilities" from the get-go, is just being pessimistic. Just like any modding project, a bunch of steps are required before it can become a reality.

I probably did not express myself clearly. I was more referring to the improbability of finishing such a project in the same timeframe as a project which would have the scope of having new sprites or replacing music or stating the project before hactually have all the information needed. There are many obstacles to cross but the possibility of the PC version using a GBA ROM as a database is the best news I've heard recently!

Początkowo opublikowane przez DarkPhoenixFF4:

The problem with that idea is that the version of Chicago that the series used in the SNES days was a bitmap font, with shadows and everything built into the font itself. And as far as I've seen, Chicago is one of those fonts that just doesn't seem to work well as TTF (Terminus is like that too, FYI).

FF6A follows a similar approach. The font can be a max of 4 colors. There's actually 2 fonts, each of different max-height but each have variable character width. They can be edited with some utilities but no direct ttf import is possible.

As for pixel fonts, most I've found in the past work well on specific size (example 16 & 32 or 18, 24 & 30) but look like garbage if you set the font size to another value.

There's an alternate Chicago TTF, I've tried it on a website and it's lot less eyes bleeding than pixels font set on wrong sizes, though it's not optimal either IMO: http://www.fontspace.com/casady-and-greene/chicagoflf

Wow, they fit better than I would have expected. Slim borders are better also IMO.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Krisan Thyme:

If you want, send me a friend request sometime, I'll see what I can do to help get you started.

Thanks! I couldn't send you a request since Steam tells me your friend list is full. For now I coluld only follow you. :/

I'm going to sleep a few hours and start looking a the game file system.

Third idea is highly improbable to achieve if not impossible (whether it's BNW or FF6-T) until most data format (AI scripts, dialogues, monster stats, esper stats, character base stats, item properties, shops, event code, menu structures, etc...) have been mostly discovered and utilities made to edit some of them. Game ARM/C/C++ code would also need to be disassembled and in an understanable way. BNW is the result of a few years of work but behind that there is more than 10 years of research on the SNES ROM. As for FF6-T, you'll need to find a japanese translator, which may probably not be a big difficulty.

I can't predict how long it could take to get the PC version moddable to the level of the SNES ROM and since I haven't modded a PC game in many many years I have little idea from how far we are starting off.

Hello,

So I guess this is the main thread? :)

I've been following this since the end of November and I'm quite surprise of the progress made so far, especially with Nyxo's extractor. I'd like to soon jump on the train too but my forces are more data finding and coding. I've been modding FF6 on SNES and GBA since 2011. I have not a complete mod finished but I coded and editor for the GBA version and currently developping (well on and off) a editor for the SNES version that will allow various expansions.

A simple assumption I have is that some data might be in similar format than in the SNES version. As an example, if the HP of a monster is on two bytes in the SNES version, it's probably the same in the PC version monster data. While there is probably similarities for this example, maybe not all the data format is the same (I'm thinking of monsters immune/weakness status that could be stored in another way than on a bit flag). Anyhow, I'll play with the extractor and try to locate data patterns soon and eventually report back here if I find something. I'm aware the PC version vs the SNES/GBA ones are completely two different things so I'm not setting my hopes to the roof yet.

Also if someone has info on the flb format (other than being a 32-bit ARBG format) I'd like to code an flb extractor if FF6 has any graphics (weapons?) stored under that format (already done here[www.vg-resource.com] but link is dead). I have a good background in coding so it's something I'm capable to do.

Graphics mode are cool but I hope we'll be eventually able to go as far with the PC version than the SNES version which is one of the most if not the most documented game (which makes it the most easy one to mod).