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Topics - Mauron

Pages: [1] 2 3
1
Chrono Trigger Modification / How many active hackers do we have here?
« on: December 18, 2019, 02:24:24 am »
I had an idea that I stole from a Mario RPG hacking community that is completely original and new.

In a small timeframe, each hacker submits a hack on a theme, for example, Chrono Christmas. Minimum hack length is a single frame (screenshot length), with no maximum.

The idea would be to get more people aware of what can be done with hacking, and hopefully get a few people to try out hacking that hadn't before.

2
Chrono Trigger Modification / Mode 7 research
« on: November 25, 2019, 05:17:01 pm »
Current Notes

So far I've determined 0-1F are unique scenes, and 80 and 20 are options flags. 40 is likely an option as well, but I haven't seen it used so far.

A packet at C31313 is decompressed into RAM at 7E3000, which contains most of the mode 7 code and game credits.

4
Chrono Trigger Modification / Menu research.
« on: April 29, 2019, 11:46:21 pm »
I've added my current notes to the Encyclopedia.

I'm looking into the feasibility of a menu editing plugin for Temporal Flux, but this may be too complex to handle.

5
A fitting award

(08 January 1989 - 30 April 2019)



It will also be receiving an Original Soundtrack Revival Disk July 10th!

6
Link

Can't argue with that.

7
Chrono Trigger Modification / Character Graphics Swap hack.
« on: August 21, 2018, 08:16:06 pm »

Crono Swapped in the Tech Menu.


Exchange menu


Full Exchange menu


Battle is still glitchy.

I haven't touched portraits yet.

The purpose of this hack is to allow a hack to give any character two forms. The obvious use would be to allow a hack with human Glenn, if you don't mind him having a giant tongue still.

8
I had tried to get into ROM hacking a few times before Chrono Trigger, but it never really stuck. The standard method of start a tutorial for a game the author liked and learn from there didn't hook me as much as changing a game I was actually interested in.

It started back in 2008 when I heard of a little hack called Prophet's Guile, made on a site called Chrono Compendium (anyone here ever heard of that?).  I found the Kajar Laboratories board, and started peeking around the CT hacking topics.

My first contribution was to the 6 letter names project. I found some small information on how the menu worked, and things progressed a little.

My next contribution was to the 8th character project. At the time it had discontinued due to an update to Geiger's offsets guide that corrected “incomplete character data” to “tech to learn next” and “techs learned.” I found a way to move character data to free space and stick in an extra data set while preserving that tech data. It wasn't a super huge discovery, but all of us working on the project were still new at hacking, so it was a stumbling block at the time.

I was slowly learning a lot more about hacking with the community was forced to move underground after the Crimson Echoes incident. Unfortunately we lost a great hacker in that.

Since the original tech editor for Chrono Trigger could no longer be continued, I started my own. At first it was a standalone program, but after two versions it became a Temporal Flux plugin, allowing it to expand techs beyond their original size limitations.

I slowly expanded my list of Temporal Flux plugins, allowing most known data to be edited from within Temporal Flux.

My understanding of Chrono Trigger's internals has gone from “That's a pointer” to having a fairly decent documentation of battle code slowly developing, and a working understanding of 65816 Assembly.

I've discovered a couple bugs here and there, but most don't come up unless you've hacked the game. The biggest one is that HP to 1 attacks disable Barrier and Shield status for the rest of the battle, not just for the attack (otherwise they wouldn't always be HP to 1).

When the Architect of Kajar status was first given out to hackers, I was quite proud, especially since I never thought I'd do anything worth getting Guru status. I was way off on that one.

In the end, my goal, or my Dream of Zeal, is to completely document Chrono Trigger, and make as much of the game as possible easily editable with readily available tools.

My tech editor is almost complete, and should be done except for updating unknowns in the next month or two. The largest delay on that is updating Super Command descriptions to remove the unknowns and incorrect descriptions, such as all the “freezes game” ones.

The 8th character patch remains close to being done, mostly working out a few bugs and getting both a fresh ROM and existing hack version completed.

After that I plan to make an AI editor, and will look into Sound and Music hacking, and an expandable sprite assembly editor.

Maybe in another 10 years I'll have to look for a new game to hack.

9
Chrono Trigger Modification / Temporal Flux Plugins
« on: August 05, 2018, 04:29:04 am »
New topic because I didn't have enough attachment room in the first two posts.

The following are plugins for Temporal Flux, available at Gieger's Crypt or in the encyclopedia.

Attractive Battler: An attract battle mode (intro demo fights) editor.

Fiendcrafter: An enemy stat and appearance editor.

Inventory Manager: A shop editor.

Itemizer: Item and equipment editor.

10
Chrono Trigger Modification / Weird sprite glitch.
« on: July 25, 2018, 11:30:35 pm »


Has anyone seen something like this before, and is there a fix?

11
Chrono Trigger Modification / AI patch beta test.
« on: July 19, 2018, 01:25:23 am »
The attached patches change Chrono Trigger's AI to allow expansion through an editor. The only potentially noticeable difference is enemies using HP to 1 attacks may do less damage, because this patch fixes a bug where Barrier and Shield were ignored after an HP to 1 attack was used, for the remainder of the battle.

This should work smoothly over a clean ROM or any existing hacks, even if AI has been modified.

Let me know if you see any unintended or different behavior with these. Use "us ai patch.ips" on a US ROM, and "jp ai patch.ips" on a Japanese final ROM. There isn't a patch for the prerelease ROM.

12
Attractive Battler is an editor for the Attract Battle Mode scenes in Chrono Trigger, or those little auto fights in the intro.

It is designed as a Temporal Flux plugin. I've attached it below.

Originally these scenes could only make 1 attack, but Attractive Battler allows up to 3.

I've created a YouTube video showing the modified intro. The Flea battle starts at about 1:00 in.

How it relates to the theme: The dreamers of Enhasa saw a time where Chrono Trigger could be completely modified, and sought the help of the Architects of Kajar, and the Guru of Reason to make this dream a reality.

13
  • Finish the 8th character. Help is needed with fixing events and graphical errors.
  • Identify the tech sprite packets. (see below)
  • Identify enemy-specific sprite data unknowns. (see below)
  • Confirm if item data unknowns are used, and to what purpose. (see below)
  • Identify character stat related unknowns. (see below)

Identify the tech sprite packets.
There are up to two sprite packets attached to each tech or attack. The packet numbers used are visible in Hi-Tech, but not currently labeled. A complete list is needed.

Identify enemy-specific sprite data unknowns.
Enemies, when in battle, have extra sprite data. This data can be edited in Fiendcrafter, but its purpose is not fully known.

Confirm if item data unknowns are used, and to what purpose.
Item data has a few unknowns in weapons, accessories, consumables, and secondary stats. Most of these are likely unused, but confirmation is necessary. This data is editable in Itemizer.

Identify character stat related unknowns.
There are a few remaining character stat unknowns. This data is editable in Warrior Workshop.

More to come.

14
General Discussion / Babylon 5 Roleplaying Discussion.
« on: April 16, 2018, 05:42:10 am »
I just finished the second session of the campaign, following the Fiery Trial module.

The Drazi Agent (this setting's rogue)/Trader and the Human Soldier (this setting's fighter)/Telepath left Babylon 5 to investigate a research facility operated by the employers of the guy who hired the party. Everyone involved is secretive about who exactly they are, but they're part of Interplanetary Expeditions, the same group that led the mission to Za'Ha'Dum, along with others, some less legal than others.

The group had to briefly exit Hyperspace in one sector (Why? I understand the benefit in the module, but having to exit Hyperspace here makes no sense) near a Drazi outpost, where their ship was searched and then had to wait for a Drazi warship to jump to Hyperspace (Which they'll encounter later).

After arriving on the planet, they scouted the expedition's campsite. The whole place is looted and trashed. They find some notes by the team leader, indicating a new discovery in the ruins. After entering the main dome, they decided to send two people back to the ship (one player and one NPC) to power the dome. We stopped there for the night because people were getting tired, and if the party splits up, the Llort that attacked this place will try to ambush the people that are separated.

I'll have some more comments tomorrow.

15
Chrono Trigger Modification / Layer 3 Packet investigation.
« on: April 14, 2018, 11:11:00 pm »
Layer 3 packets can contain both graphics and sound. Here's a list of the packets in the base game.

Quote
00 - Screen flashes blue and red from middle vertically, waves and large explosions (Antipode 3)
01 - Screen flashes blue, green lines extend from center, green orb forms and disappears (*Luminaire)
02 - Spinning yellow triangles with lightning effects (*Lightning 2)
03 - Rainbow circle extends outward, party temporarily glows rainbow (Aura Whirl)
04 - Bubble triangles form into star (Hexagon Mist - Zeal)
05 - Dark blue circle appears (Blue Mist attack?)
06 - Tornado effect (Tail Spin)
07 - Circle of alternating green waves (Hypno Wave)
08 - Light circle expands, followed by dark circle, collapses (*Black Hole)
09 - Blue beams appear, rotate (Laser Spin)
0A - Red circle appears (Fire Whirl - Crono and Lucca)
0B - Triangle of light opens from top of screen (unused)
0C - Casters sparkle and screen flickers black (unused)
0D - Multiple red ovals appear on center of screen (*Flare)
0E - Tail appears from top of screen (Dino Tail)
0F - Ice block appears with explosions (Antipode)
10 - Yellow Circle expands outward (Energy Release / Yes Indeed! - Masa & Mune)
11 - Delta Attack (Guardian + Bits)???
12 - Blue Square extends from below target (unused)
13 - Red and green flashing, rotating triangles (Poyozo Dance)
14 - Yellow, blue, and purple lines shoot to upper right from target (unused)
15 - Three red circles expand outward (Fire Zone)
16 - Wide circle expands outward (Rocket Roll)
17 - Spinning blue pillar (Water Rise - Giga Gaia - Right Arm)
18 - Red triangular pillar (Delta Force)
19 - Small red circle (Doom, doom, doom, doom.... - Zombor)
1A - Large blue circle, party sparkles (Cure Touch)
1B - Rotating triangles form pyramid, circle expands (Dreamless - Lavos Core - Center Bit)
1C - Thin red circle expands, explosions (*Fire 2)
1D - Orange spotlight appears on target (*Life)
1E - White rotating triangle inside dark rotating triangle (Dark Matter)
1F - Yellow circle extends, yellow cylindar rises (MP Buster - Sentry)
20 - Red half circle forms and grows (Mega Bomb)
21 - Black half circle forms and grows (*Dark Bomb)
22 - 3D pyramid outline with electricity (Shock)
23 - Blue tinted screen with black circle (Chaotic Zone - Tera Mutant - Top)
24 - Blue circle extends and clears outward (Blue Circle Attack?)
25 - Multiple blue ovals (Blue Circle Attack? - Retinite - Top)
26 - Falling frog with red ovals (Frog Flare)
27 - Blue circle with black waves appears below target (unused)
28 - Blue tinted screen, blue shimmer on party (Double Cure)
29 - Wave lighting effect (Steal Steam / HP Down - Giga Mutant - Bottom)
2A - Triangle of blue light opens from top of screen (unused)
2B - Dark clouds appear on screen (Burp - Dalton)
2C - Circular lightning with screen flash (Electric attack?)
2D - Rotating blue shaded circle (Water Cyclone - Heckran)
2E - Black wavy orb expands and contracts (Lock All - Boss Orb)
2F - Dark wave moves from bottom of screen to top (Dark Mist)
30 - Double Bomb
31 - Sword Stream
32 - *Water 2
33 - White circle on ground (unused)
34 - Antipode 2
35 - *Life 2
36 - Fire Whirl (Ayla and Lucca)
37 - instant death attack? (Alien)
38 - Flash target and screen (unused)
39 - Lifeline
3A - Poison Beam (Flea)
3B - "1"s in boxes fill screen (unused)
3C - Twister
3D - Lighting Release (Golem)
3E - Triangle of lightning (unused)
3F - Laser Beams / Doors of Doom Open (Lavos - Right Arm)
40 - Fades background, doesn't return (unused)
41 - Frog Squash
42 - FireSword 2
43 - Fire Tackle
44 - *Ice
45 - *Lightning
46 - X Strike
47 - Delta Storm
48 - Super Volt
49 - *Napalm
4A - Fire Punch
4B - Explosion (Ozzie)
4C - Shining Bit (Giga Mutant - Top)
4D - Ice Toss
4E - Blue dome (unused)
4F - Quick red circle (unused)
50 - Area Bomb
51 - Red circle (unused)
52 - Quick blue circle (unused)
53 - blue circle (unused)
54 - large blue circle (unused)
55 - Explosion? (Giga Mutant - Top)
56 - *Haste
57 - *Ice 2
58 - *Heal
59 - Heal Beam
5A - Cure Beam
5B - Lavos's singing attack
5C - Ice Tackle
5D - Point Flare (M. Machine)
5E - Dark cicle (doesn't fade?) (unused)
5F - Multiple Lighting bolts strike (Spire)
60 - Cube Toss
61 - GaiaMagnade (Giga Gaia - Right Arm)
62 - Pair Blaster (Giga Gaia - Right Arm)
63 - 3D Attack
64 - Dark Gear (Zeal)
65 - Shadow Doom Blaze (Lavos - Second Form)
66 - Explosion (Lavos - Second Form)
67 - Invading Light (Lavos Core - Left Bit)
68 - Teleports a Rock (Azala)
69 - Ice Sword 2
6A - Slurp Kiss
6B - Ice Water
6C - GatlingKick
6D - Triple Raid
6E - Telepathy (Azala)
6F - Mutant Gas (Giga Mutant - Top)
70 - Mutant Gas (Giga Mutant - Bottom)
71 - Fire/lighting/ice triple tech effect? (unused)
72 - Dark Plasma (Giga Gaia)
73 - Multiple lightning bolts merge into one large one (Crying Heavens - Lavos Core - Center Bit)
74 - Falcon Hit
75 - Evil Star (Lavos Core - Center Bit)
76 - Arc Impulse
77 - Destruction Rains from the Heavens (Lavos)
78 - Grand Stone (Lavos Core - Center Bit)
79 - Delta Force (Scouter / Red Scout / Blue Scout)
7A - Boogie
7B - Time Warp (Prehistoric)
7C - Time Warp (Leene Square)
7D - Time Warp (Lab 16?)
7E - Time Warp (Magus's Castle)
7F - Time Warp (M. Machine)
80 - Sand Cylcone (Mohavor)
82 - Black/Blue/Red floating triangles on star background (unused)
81 - Omega Flare
82 - Dark Eternal
83 - Spin Strike
84 - Nothing? (unused)
85 - Time Warp (???) (Lavos - Second Form)
86 - Background blurs and fades into nothing, reappears without target (unused)
87 - Background fades to white, doesn't return (unused)
88 - Lavos Core Revives Bits
89 - Layer 2 disappears, reappears (unused)
8A - Layer 2 disappears, reappears (unused)
FF - No Layer 3 Graphics

Each packet contains 2 graphics options and 2 palettes.

Code: [Select]
Layer 3 Header 00 FF 1 Graphics and Sound 1 2018.04.14
Layer 3 Header 01 FF 1 Graphics and Sound 2 2018.04.14
Layer 3 Header 02 FF 1 Palette 1 2018.04.14
Layer 3 Header 03 FF 1 Palette 2 2018.04.14

This is the currently known data for Layer 3 Packets:

Code: [Select]
116002 - Layer 3 palettes, 8 bytes each, 2 wasted bytes.
116240 - Layer 3 header, 4 bytes each.
11646C - Local pointers to layer 3 graphics and sound.

Limited information on the Layer 3 animation commands.

Code: [Select]
00-7E - Value * 0x200 + 0xD000 = Source Address for DMA transfer from bank $7E
7F - Special Command
80 - 2 bytes - Jump to subroutine (29 total)
81 - 2 bytes
82 - 2 bytes - 1F - value - E0 subroutine.
83 - 2 bytes
84 - 2 bytes
85 - 2 bytes
86 - ? bytes - Alters value of current data pointer.
87 - 2 bytes
88 - 2 bytes
89 - 4 bytes
8A - 4 bytes
8B - 2 bytes?
8C - 2 bytes - Jump to subroutine (4 total)
8D - 2 bytes - Jump to subroutine (4 total) (opposite of 8C)
8E - 8 bytes
8F - 4 bytes
90 - 2 bytes
91 - 2 bytes
92 - 2 bytes
93 - 4 bytes
94 - 2 bytes
95 - 2 bytes
96 - 2 bytes
97 - 4 bytes
98 - 2 bytes
99 - 2 bytes
9A - 2 bytes
9B - 2 bytes
9C - 3 bytes
9D - 2 bytes
9E - 3 bytes
9F - 2 bytes
A0 - 2 bytes
A1 - 2 bytes - Prepare $2180 register.
A2 - 5 bytes
A3 - 8 bytes
A4 - 8 bytes
A5 - 2 bytes
A6 - 2 bytes - related to A5
A7 - 5 bytes
A8 - 10 bytes
A9 - 3 bytes - might move position backwards.
AA - 2 bytes
AB - 2 bytes
AC - 3 bytes
AD - 2 bytes?
AE - 2 bytes - related to A1
AF - 2 bytes
B0 - 2 bytes
B1 - 3 bytes
B2 - 2 bytes
B3 - 2 bytes
B4 - 2 bytes
B5 - 2 bytes
B6 - 2 bytes (same as B5)
B7 - 2 bytes
B8 - 2 bytes
B9 - 2 bytes - palette related
BA - 2 bytes - runs AE after processing.
BB - 2 bytes - partial overlap with BA, runs AE.
BC - 6 bytes
BD - 2 bytes
BE - 2 bytes - partial overlap with BA, runs AE.
BF - 2 bytes
C0 - 9 bytes
C1 - 2 bytes - wait for vertical scanline XX while in h-blank
C2 - 6 bytes
C3 - 1 byte  - Increment $5D8F.
C4 - 2 bytes - Valid values for byte 2 0-1
C5 - 2 bytes - Partial overlap with C4, runs AA. Valid values for byte 2 0-1
C6 - 8 bytes
C7 - 2 bytes
C8 - 2 bytes - Partial overlap with 82 subroutine 7/E0
C9 - 1 byte
CA - 3 bytes - Set address of next command.
CB - 2/3 bytes? - Skip a byte if $7E:99D2 is 1?
CC - 2 bytes
CD - 2 bytes - 0xFFFF / value is stored in some places, 0xFFFF in others.
CE - 2 bytes - byte 2 unused
CF - 2 bytes
D0 - 2 bytes - Modifies current read address.
D1 - 2 bytes - Modifies current read address. Partial overlap with D0.
D2 - 2 bytes - palette related - Partial overlap with B9
D3 - 2 bytes
D4 - 2 bytes
D5 - 3 bytes - Might modify current read address.
D6 - 3 bytes - Might modify current read address. Partial overlap with D6.
D7 - 2 bytes - Might call an 82 subroutine
D8 - 3 bytes
D9 - 3 bytes - Partial overlap with AC.
DA - 3 bytes
DB - 2 bytes - byte 2 unused.
DC - 2 bytes
DD - 2 bytes
DE - 2 bytes
DF - 4 bytes - random values are used.
E0 - 2 bytes
E1 - 2 bytes - byte 2 unused
E2 - 2 bytes
E3 - 2 bytes
E4 - 2 bytes
E5 - 2 bytes
E6 - 2 bytes
E7 - 2 bytes
E8 - 2 bytes
E9 - 2 bytes
EA - 3 bytes - bytes 2 and 3 are one 16-bit value
EB - 2 bytes
EC - 2 bytes - byte 2 unused
ED - 2 bytes
EE - 2 bytes
EF - 1 byte
F0 - 2 bytes
F1 - 2 bytes - subtract byte 2 from current position.
F2 - 2 bytes
F3 - 2 bytes - partial overlap with EB.
F4 - 2 bytes
F5 - 2 bytes
F6 - 2 bytes - alters current position.
F7 - 2 bytes
F8 - 3 bytes
F9 - 3 bytes - reads first byte of next command?
FF - Terminator.

Commands FA-FE do not exist.

More to come later.

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