PSX Final Fantasy Tactics Dissidia 013 (Tredecim)

[djroomba 10]

PSX Final Fantasy Tactics Dissidia 013 (Tredecim)
Version 1.0
Download Patch
This FF Tactics PSX hack was my first undertaking where I wanted to add in as much new stuff as I could manage which turned into adding characters from different
Final Fantasies. The characters included were based on what sprites were available so I really had to look hard into what characters could be added easily
and which could not. Adding characters from other FF's and their unique skills was something I really enjoyed and this became Dissidia 013. 

I wanted to make a really cool character based hack that utilized as many of their skills from their own games as possible. As such, this hack is not overly
difficult and may be even easier with some of the character's new abilities. However, I worked really hard to balance the characters to make them all unique
and provide a fun alternative to the main gameplay of FF Tactics. Each character has a new job that reflects their play style in their own individual game, and
I was surprised to see how easily most of the characters fit with the tactics play style. Squall for instance goes form a Cadet, to a SeeD, to a Griever. Lightning,
meanwhile is a Sanctum Knight as her guest, and a Knight of Etro when you gain her in your party.

In addition to the new skills and abilities, new weapons have been added as well. Squall and Lightning have their specific Gunblades, that now replace Knight Swords.
Wakka and Tidus can equip Blitzballs, that attack in a circular pattern. Even Firion has skills that are determined by what weapon he has equipped. There are also
Rapiers and Whips as well, with their own unique traits.

This was my first Hack of FF Tactics and I went really deep into what could be done. I never intended to share it but I decided why not, so let me know what you think. This is for the PSX patch and can be applied with
PPF-Omatic

________________________CHARACTERS_____________________________

The main character is now Squall, since his character seemed to fit with Ramza the best. He can only equip Gunblades but he receives several throughout the game.
Squall has a unique ability to disrupt charging enemies with the Trigger skill. Alicia and Radd have been replaced by Celes and Locke respectively. I wanted to 
replace Lavian with another character as well but the game does not seem to handle changing all three of the generic sprites. Similar to Squall, most of the main 
guest allies you receive are replaced with others from across the Final Fantasy pantheon.

---Ramza > Squall
Squall replaces Ramza as the main character here since I wanted a relatively young character to take Ramza's place. This relates to the replacement
of Gafgarion with Seifer to complete the pairing of FF8 rival characters. Squall can equip Knight Swords which have been changed to Gunblades that
add +1 to attack range plus may Rend a piece of Equipment. 

Squall's main ability with the Gunblade are his Trigger attack that allows him to disrupt a Charging enemy and cancel their attack. His Skill set is
Renzokuken that will expand as the story grows, with Lionheart being his final ability that can be learned, taking the place of Ultima. Squall's three 
jobs are now Cadet, SeeD, and Griever. Each allows for a new tier of Renzokuken abilities in addition to his Trigger Ability. In addition to this,
he now has the inherent special ability JP Boost.

-Renzokuken (Complete)
Trigger
Rough Divide
Fated Circle
Blasting Zone
Lionheart

Skills - Trigger cancels Charging and Defending for 5MP. Rough Divide has 3Range and 2 CT for 3MP and causes Darkness. Fated Circle is a 3Range area effect around
Squall with 2CT for 8MP. Blasting Zone is a 5Range linear attack with 3CT for 15MP. Lionheart has a 3Range, 1Area for 3CT for 20MP that causes Silence.

---Gafgarion-Seifer
Seifer replaces Gafgarion as the Fell Knight job class. Seifer equips Gunblades but his starting weapon is the Hyperion Gunblade which can be stolen to be
used by Squall. The Fell Knight job utilizes Fire Cross that has skills related to fire and give slight variation to Gafgarions initially sparse moveset.

-Fire Cross
No Mercy
Fire
Fira

Skills - 

---Agrias > Lightning
Lightning now replaces Agrias as the main magical swordsman. Her first Job is the Sanctum Knight and the second is the Etro Knight for the second half
of the story. She also is able to equip Gunblades, with her standard Gunblade being the Blazefire Saber and her upgraded weapon being the Blazefire Saber 2.0.

Her Job allows for her to inherently Absorb MP and makes her immune to Lightning attacks as well. Her skillset is called Paradigm Shift and allows for
Thunder abilities and a summon, as well as her special ability Army of One.

-Paradigm Shift
Thunder
Thundara Strike
Protect
Ruin
Arsenal of One
Army of One
Odin

---Orran > Wakka
Wakka replaces Orran and is one of the starting units along with Lulu. He can equip Blitzballs only which take the place of Bags. The Blitzballs attack
in the same way as Instruments though. Wakka's initial ball is the Official Ball.

Wakka's Job is Team Captain that has an inerent HP Boost. His Skillset is called Slots that deal various forms of Status effects and delays to the entire
field minus your own units.

-Slots
Silence Buster
Dark Buster
Delay Buster
Magic Reels
Attack Reels
Status Reels

---Mustadio > Tidus
Tidus is very similar to Wakka in that he can use Blitzballs as his main weapon but he but he can also equip regular swords similar to his character in FFX.
Overdrive emphasizes speed and support with Haste and Cheer. Quick Hit and Jecht Shot are used to affect the CT of other units. Tidus also absorbs Water as
the Striker Job Class.

-Overdrive
Haste
Cheer
Quick Hit
Jecht Shot
Spiral Cut
Energy Rain
Blitz Ace

---Beowulf > Auron
Guardian

-Bushido
Threaten
Sentinel
Armor Break
Power Break
Shooting Star
Dragon Fang
Banishing Blade

Valmafra > Lulu
Black Witch

-Witch Magicks
Fira
Thundara
Blizzara
Toad
Meltdown
Tornado
Quake

---Orlandeau > Hero of Light
Hero of Light

-Master Blade
Ascension
Speed Break
Mental Break
Magic Break
Aura of Light
Shield of Light
Day Flash

---Reis > Cecil
Cecil replaces Reis as the Dark Knight initially, which replaces the Holy Dragon unit. Getting Cecil to complete the Reis sidequest changes Cecil into the Paladin,
which replaces the Dragonkin unit. As the Dark Knight Class, Cecil uses his Darkside techniques that are similar to the generic Dark Knight attacks only boosted.
After Cecil becomes a Paladin, the Darkside skill changes to Chivalry that are used to buff and heal allies.

Paladin
-Chivalry
Regen
Reraise
Recover Ally
Augment Ally
Encourage Ally
Sacred Cross
Holy

Dark Knight
-Darkside
Soul Eater
Dark Cannon
Abyssal Blade

--Alicia > Celes
Rune Knight
-Runic
Blizzard
Blizzard Blade
Regen
Confustrike
Drain
Spinning Edge
Phoenix

--Radd > Locke
Adventurer
-Thief Skills
Boost
Charm
Hastega
Blindstrike
Trickery
Mirage Dive
Pilfer

---Rapha > Terra
Terra replaces Rapha as the Esperkin, which is a versatile magic based unit, with both Non-Charge and Arcane Strength inherent. Like Celes, her main weapon is the
Rapier, which has replaced the Flail. She can also equip the Rod as well. Her Trance Skills Mimic, Celes's as well, with Fire and Fira Edge being her elemental attacks.
Silenstrike and Riot Blade are her high tier attacks and her summon is Maduin which replaces Cyclops.

Esperkin/High Summoner
-Trance
Fire
Fira Edge
Shell
Silenstrike
Syphon
Riot Blade
Maduin

---Marach > Zidane
Zidane replaces Marach and is one of the faster characters. He has inherent Dual Wield for his Knife equips. Zidane is also immune to Disable.
The Tantalus Thief utilizes his Dyne Skills in a similar way to Marach's original Nether attacks. However, most of them offer an enhancement
or elemental affinity. 

Tantalus Thief
-Dyne
Free Energy
Tidal Flame
Scoop Art
Shift Break
Meo Twister
Grand Lethal

---Meliadoul > Firion
Firion in the most versatile character that replaces Meliadoul. He can equip most of the main weapons except for the Rod, Staff, Pole. Firion is
also unique in that his skills as the Rebel Martyr are dependant on which weapon is equipped. Rope Knife is only usable with a Knife equipped, as well as the
Axe, Lance and Arrow skills. The Wild Rose skillset also has the summon Silf and his ulitimate move the Lord of Arms. 

Firion is also immune to Charm, Sleep and Darkness.

Rebel Martyr
-Wild Rose
Wind Thrust
Reflect
Rope Knife
Reel Axe
Lance Rush
Straight Arrow
Lord of Arms
Silf

________________________JOBS_____________________________
The Job system has been completely revamped, with almost every job getting some kind of change unique to Dissidia 013.

Job Requirements have been changed to distinguish physical or magical jobs even more than the Vanilla. Base Jobs are the
Fighter, Chemist and Adventurer. Fighter classes follow a physcial job path, while the Chemist follows the magical. Adventurer
is similar to the Thief job and is necessary to get up to the Fusilier and Ninja classes. 

Primary Physical jobs will require a Primary Magic job to gain access to the Hybrid Jobs. An Example of this is that the Knight will require
the Black Mage job at LVl 2 to become the Mystic Knight. Similarly, the Primary Job combinations will yield Elementalist
and Samurai Jobs. 

The Dragoon and Blue Mage classes will be unlocked by getting to level two with all of either the
Physical Primary Jobs or the Magical Primary Jobs. These are considered the Secondary Jobs. TO get to the Elite Magical
jobs, one needs to get to Lvl 2 with all Primary Magic classes and also level 3 with a specific mage class. For example
Lvl 3 Black Mage will acquire the Summoner class, Lvl 3 Red Mage will acquire the Oracle Class and Lvl 3 Green Mage will
yield the Sorceress class. 

Base Jobs
-Fighter - Unlocks> Knight, Hunter and Monk at Lvl 2.
-Chemist - Unlocks> Red, Black and Green Mage at Lvl 2.
-Adventurer 

Primary Jobs (Physical)
-Knight
-Hunter
-Monk

Secondary Jobs (Physical)
Dragoon = Knight Lvl 2, Hunter Lvl 2, Monk Lvl 2
Fusilier = Knight Lvl 2 + Hunter Lvl 2 + Monk Lvl 2 + Adventurer Lvl 3

Elite Jobs (Hybrid)
Mystic Knight = Knight Lvl 2 + Black Mage Lvl 2
Elementalist = Monk Lvl 2 + Green Mage Lvl 2
Samurai = Hunter Lvl 2 + Red Mage Lvl 2

Primary Jobs (Magical)
-Red Mage
-Black Mage
-Green Mage

Secondary Jobs (Magical)
Blue Mage = Red Mage Lvl 2 + Black Mage Lvl 2 + Green Mage at Lvl 2.
Ninja = Red Mage Lvl 2 + Black Mage Lvl 2 + Green Mage Lvl 2 + Adventurer Lvl 3

Elite Jobs (Magical)
Summoner = Red Mage Lvl 2, Black Mage Lvl 3, Green Mage Lvl 2
Oracle = Red Mage Lvl 3, Black Mage Lvl 2, Green Mage Lvl 2
Sorceress = Red Mage Lvl 2, Black Mage Lvl 2, Green Mage Lvl 3

__________________________JOB SKILLS______________________________

--Fighter
The Squire has been reworked to have more worthwhiles skills that can carry over to upgraded jobs. The Fighter gets the Rend skills that can break
equipment as well as skills that boost damage and speed.

-Combat Techs
Focus
Tailwind
Steel
Rend Helm
Rend Armor
Rend Shield
Rend Weapon

--Chemist
-Items
(Unchanged)

--Knight
The Knight skills have been divided with the Fighter class and now include the Break Weapon skills that can damage enemies. The Knight, however,
specializes in reducing enemy power by whittling away Magic and Attack.

-Sword Skills
Rend MP
Rend Speed
Rend Power
Rend Magick
Armor Break
Crush Weapon
Crush Accessory

--Hunter
-Hunt
Charge +2 through 20

--Monk
-Martial Arts
Cyclone
Aurablast
Shockwave
Doom Fist
Purification
Chakra
Revive

--Red Mage
Red Mage replaces White Mage though offers very similar skills initially. The main difference is that the Red Mage can be used offensively by equipping them with
the new Rapier weapon that emphasizes speed. Red Mages are proficient with mainly curative magic so in that respect they are different from the traditional Red
Mage in other FFs. However, their skills also include a Drain abiility and focuses on raising Bravery and Faith. Red Mages are also weak to Ice Magic.
-Red Magicks
Cure
Cura
Curaga
Raise
Arise
Regen
Protect
Shell
Esuna
Life Drain
Ascension
Belief

--Black Mage
Black Mage is pretty close to how they are in the Vanilla game but they no longer get the -ja tier of elemental magic, which is reserved for other units.
Black Mages still equip Staffs but they can also now equip Books as well. In addition to this, the Black Mage also has skills that include a Syphon abiility 
and specializes in lowering Bravery and Faith. Black Mages are also now weak to Fire Magic.

-Black Magicks
Fire
Fira
Firaga
Thunder
Thundara
Thundaga
Blizzard
Blizzara
Blizzaga
Spell Absorb
Cowardice
Disbelief

--Green Mage
The Green Mage essentially combines the Mystic and Time Mages to focus on Buffs and Debuffs. Battlecry is a skill that takes the place of battle song but is not
permanent and does not affect the whole field, only a range around the caster.

-Green Magicks
Blind
Silence
Sleep
Confuse
Disable
Immobilize
Haste
Slow
Dispel
Reflect
Battlecry
Second Wind

--Summoner
-Eidolons
Moogle
Shiva
Ramuh
Ifrit
Titan
Leviathan
Carbunkle
Bahamut

--Adventurer
-Thievery
Steal Gil
Steal Heart
Steal Helmet
Steal Armor
Steal Shield
Steal Weapon
Steal Accessory
Steal EXP

--Fusilier
The Fusilier takes the place of the Orator and places more emphasis on ranged attacking with guns. This new unit takes cues from Mustadio and expanding on
them, with some from Tactics Advance. The Fusilier also has the Trigger Skill similar to Squall's gunblades.

-Trick Shot
Leg Shot
Arm Shot
Seal Evil
Dark Shot
Silenshot
Stopshot
Trigger

--Mystic Knight
The Mystic Knight is a hybrid physical/magical class that emphasizes elemental sword skills. It is similar to the Samurai class in that respect, though the 
Mystic Knight also specializes in Draining HP/MP as well. The Sword Skills cost MP unlike Samurai.

-Mystic Blade
Frost Blade
Flame Sword
Thunder Slash
Water Blade
Earth Slash
Syphon
Drain

--Elementalist
-Elements
(Unchanged)

--Dragoon
-Jump
Horizontal Jump 2, 4, 5, 8
Vertical Jump 3, 6, 8

--Samurai
The Samurai class has been altered slightly to no longer break the weapon when using skills. To offset this change, most of the skills require a slight
charge time now.

-Katana Techs
Asura
Kotetsu
Osafune
Murasame
Ama-no-Murakumo
Kiyomuri
Muramasa
Kiku-ichimonji
Masamune
Chirijiraden

--Ninja
-Throw
(Unchanged)

--Blue Mage
Blue Mage functions similar to previous FF's in that being hit by any of the corresponding spells will add them to the skillset. Unfortunately this is solely
related to attack magics as I do not know how to get curative or support magic to be added if the enemy will not use them on the Blue Mage.
-Blue Magicks
Choco Meteor
Flame Attack
Spark
Mind Blast
Earthsplitter
Breathe Fire
Bad Breath
Twister
Giga Flare
Tri-Breath
Nanoflare
Unholy Darkness
Ultima

--Oracle
-Farsight
Refresh
Blindja
Silencja
Snakecharm
Poisonous Frog
Midgardsormr
Meteor
Doom
Zodiark

--Sorceress
-ManaStrike
ManaStrike
Firaja
Thundaja
Blizzaja
Ruinga
Stoneja
Flare
Deathstrike
Lich

Download Patch

Download Log File

 

Edited August 19, 2019 by djroomba

[Hart-Hunt 81]

Nice.

Question, what have you done with the ENTD? Are battles changed in any way? Any rebalances in other regards than adding FF characters?

[djroomba 10]

So the only ENTD changes I made were in regards to allowing characters to join. The first was changing the opening battle after the monastery to include Wakka and Lulu in your starting team. They are Orran and Valmafra so that had to be changed in the ENTD to make it work. 

Battles were not significantly changed in terms of units or layouts if that is what you meant. Gameplay wise I guess rebalancing mostly comes down to job abilities. Arithmetician is now Blue Mage  so Oracle and Sorceress can be utilized for spells that affect the field. Wakka has some of these abilities as well. 

Otherwise this plays pretty much like the main game, only Seifer is Gaffgarion and you get to play with new characters and abilities. Anything else I am open to suggestions.

[Sardek 0]

One of the main weaknesses (or so I think) of vanilla FFT is that enemy formations get almost no JP from which to select their abilities, which leads to enemy units having one or two abilities at most, which makes them kinda weak and repetitive compared to your squad.  From what I understand, the way an enemy unit decides what skills it has access to is by taking its JP allocation and spending it among the different classes it has access to.  The vanilla game gave very low JP totals, leading to the aforementioned problem.  Playing FFT1.3 in the past, the game's AI engine takes to increased options surprisingly well and makes the game significantly more interesting.  A pass through the ENTD is probably a pretty high ROI with respect to how much better the game feels to play and might be something you want to look into for future versions if you wanna expand on what you've already made.

 

Either way, pretty excited to play with what's already done here.  Always looking for another good FFT experience.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Sardek

[djroomba 10]

Interesting. I am finishing up the change log for another hack called Final Fantasy Tactics - The Zodiac Age for the WOTL. It is similar to this one but the unique characters are all from FF12 and the jobs are different and named after the zodiac. I can review the ENTD for that one and change it before I upload it. It would be a good start for changes I can make to this one. Thanks for the ideas.

[paladin697 0]

This looks cool so I tried to play it but patching a clean fft iso doesn't change the sprites and has some weird effects on the text...not sure if I did something wrong. I used PPF O'matic to patch as it says in the post. 

[djroomba 10]

I apologize, the original upload was saved as a disc image file and not a ppf file. The link for the download has been updated. This should work, I just retested now.

https://joedramportfolio.squarespace.com/s/FFTactics_Dissidia013-PATCH.zip

Edited August 20, 2019 by djroomba

[Sardek 0]

I'm not sure how retroarch decides what the name of a game is, but it's showing up in my catalog as "Final Fantasy Tactics" instead of Dissidia013, which sucks since I have basic FFT in the same catalog.  Dunno if that's an easy fix or not (how does the CD know the name of the game on it?).  Regardless, gonna dive in now.

 

EDIT:  I appear to be having sprite issues.  I thought it was just related to the intro battle (where I had Ramza, 2 gafgarion sprites for some odd reason, plus the usual agrias and apparently a malak), but going into the first battle I'm still not getting edited sprites at all.  I have Wakka, Lulu, and Squall by name with the appropriate abilities and the game hasn't crashed, so it seems to have patched.  The sprites it's using are Ramza's, Olan's, and ...I don't remember.  She has a ponytail and a cape.  The patch I used was the one in the previous post, not the one in the initial post.

Edited August 21, 2019 by Sardek

[djroomba 10]

This is frustrating, because I really want you guys to try it out and enjoy it but it seems that no one has been able to. I literally just downloaded the  patch with the above link and patched the game with PPF o Matic a few minutes ago and started it up. The screenshots below are from the exact patched game. I used ePSXe on my phone and it worked pretty well. It isn't looking like this for you guys?

I am going to see if anyone has any ideas on FFHacktics on why it wouldn't work. Maybe the Rom that you guys are using? Mine is a Disc Image File for the PSX. Is that what you guys are using? I don't see why it wouldn't work but I definitely will try to get it working for you. I will try to download a new ISO and see what happens. 

[djroomba 10]

Ok. Whew. I figured it out. It was just me being an idiot. My "CleanISO" folder actually was my ISO with the sprites already added with Shishi. So I created a new patch and used an untouched ISO as well as one download from a site I will not mention. Both loaded up swimmingly and work fine. 

https://joedramportfolio.squarespace.com/s/FFTactics_Dissidia013-PATCH.zip

I uploaded the new patch to the same link below. It should now be about 4796 KB, the old one was about 2791KB. If you got the time, try it again. I have never uploaded a patch on here before and I really appreciate the interest so far. Hopefully my next patch which I will upload tomorrow will go a bit smoother. The next one is called the Zodiac Age and is for WOTL.

 

[Sardek 0]

From what I can see, communities tend to form around patches round here (join the Discord if you haven't already), so if you're looking to go deep on a mod, this is a great place to get feedback, support, and testing.  My first glance at this is that it's a "let's do the cool thing" mod at it's heart (to be clear, not a complaint).  I don't know how much attention was put into balancing everything yet as I'm not deep enough, but I'm also not certain if that's a goal of the mod or not or how deep you want to go with it (if any deeper than this so far).  I do know that some of the people here (Hart from above and Ludovician immediately spring to mind) know about the game balance and design to an absurd amount of depth if you want to take a deeper dive on this. 

 

I guess what I'm asking is, what's your ultimate goal with modding, and this mod in particular?

 

EDIT:  Fresh patch is giving me "Bad sector? - 1093" when I pass the opening FMV.  The previous patch worked cleanly without the spritework.  Using RetroArch with Mednafen's core.

Edited August 21, 2019 by Sardek

[djroomba 10]

My ultimate goal was mainly for myself. I made this with the intention of getting a new experience out of a game that I have already played and possibly change certain things that I have had gripes with.

A hack I made of FF9, for example, gives Zidane access to Trance as an ability, which is a gripe I always had with FF9, (Zidane would usually just be attacking if not stealing.) I made a number of pretty extensive changes but I was not sure they would warrant making a patch and sharing it. I have done something similar to FF7 as well as most of the Pokemon games. 

Similar with this one, I found the tools and simply wanted to change up the gameplay to make it more varied and fun. I did the same thing with my FF8 hack that I posted here. Only with that one there were so many changes that it seemed to have a pretty significant effect on gameplay so I decided to share it. What it comes down to is that I made these hacks for myself with no intention of posting them, but after I finished them , i figured why not. I did the same thing with a Pokemon Fire Red hack where I added Alolan Pokemon to it, and uploaded it onto Pokecommunity. 

In terms of depth I didn't change much in terms of enemy units or battles beyond jobs if that is what you mean. But I did get the Blitzball and Whips to work as a gameplay element which required going pretty in depth with spriting and the UWEntries files. I thought it was pretty novel since I didnt see anything really like that in FFHacktics. 

During my own play tests I never really had too many issues which is why it is a bit frustrating that I am coming into new challenges after I share them but hey, I guess that is to be expected with this sort of things. Getting them to work is have the battle. I will see about how to fix your error. I didnt get the Bad sector error on ePSXe but I will see what can be done. 

Edited August 21, 2019 by djroomba

[Nowea 103]

You mention ePSXe a lot with your testing. Last I knew ePSXe wasn't the most accurate of emulators. For mod making it's 'usually' best practice to use the most accurate testing method you can, be it somehow getting it onto hardware or checking it on an emulator with a focus on accuracy. From a quick search Mednafen appears to be the go-to option for accurate emulation. Would you be able to see if your iso, that works on ePSXe on your phone, also works on Mednafen?

It's possible that your spritework ended up being something the PSX can't 'actually' support and that it only works on ePSXe due to inaccuracies.

[djroomba 10]

Yea I was going to research Retroarch and see what that does. I had never heard of it before now so I assume it works like an app? Thanks for the heads up. I will test it on Mednafen if I can. Is that a free emulator?

[Sardek 0]

Yeah, Mednafen is free.  RetroArch is a container that can run the core to emulate pretty much anything.  RetroArch's PSX emulation is built on Mednafen's core, and is what I'm using. 

 

Mednafen is very stripped down.  It doesn't even have a GUI, you either run it from the console or drag an iso/cue file onto the exe.  The minimalism of it is why I went with RetroArch, due to wanting to have more customizability.

[djroomba 10]

Ok...so I downloaded Mednafen and clicked on the application. Running it says, "No command-line arguments specified." I looked this up and it says to just drag and drop the ISO into the application. So I did that with my patched FF Tactics disc image and it says "Rom image is too large: maximum size allowed...". So I tried an untouched Rom and it says the same thing. I looked this up and other people have similar problems that the Rom will not load. One forum said to then copy the BIOS into the folder, another said copy the Cue sheet? I don't have either or even know what that means. So I gave up on Mednafen.

I downloaded Retroarch. It loaded up and the interface looks like the Playstation interface, so I navigated to my hacking folder with by clicking load content. Only folders show up and the ISO's are not visible. I tried going to file Load Content, same thing. Does not seem to recognize any of the ISO's. Someone above mentioned using Retroarch with the Mednafen core. Alright so I went to file Load Core and navigated to the Mednafen folder. It doesn't show the application only all of the dll's? I don't know which one to click on. I am at a loss...

Anyone know of what I can do to get either of these working? I simply am trying to test them with the patched ISO to see what problems everyone is encountering. If I can't then I don't know, I am considering deleting this thread since my patch does not seem to work for anyone here. Oh well. It works for me so I guess that is all I can hope for. Not sure what to do yet.

Edited August 22, 2019 by djroomba

[djroomba 10]

Well, I think it is official. I think sharing this patch is dead in the water. I apologize if anyone tried it and cannot get it to work but it really does work on ePSXe if nothing else. After some research in Hacktics, it seems that it could even be the ISO that I used is not exactly what most people find on the internet. It is a disc image file and the new one I found is a .BIN. I am not even sure where I got it from since it was so long ago. The file I originally used was titled FF Tactics and the new one I found was named Final Fantasy Tactics.bin.

I was going to attempt to reinsert the sprites into the new .bin and it came up that it needed restructuring. This did not come up before so I figured that could be relevant to the issue. After looking on Hacktics it just seemed like way to much to redo since it now said that I have to first restructure, then hex edit the ISO to increase the byte size, then compare the two ISO's with  PPF Studio and it just all seemed like too much, on top of me reinserting the unit.bin and faces.bin sprites as well.

I don't have the time to completely remake the hack so this was the best I could do. Again, sorry about the issues, I did not realize it would be so difficult to actually get the patch going for other people. If I need to delete this thread let me know. Thanks to everyone on here for the help and the interest. I hope to try this again another time. 

Edited August 22, 2019 by djroomba

[Sardek 0]

Well, thanks for trying either way.  Don't worry about it too much.  If I had to guess, there's 2 versions of FFT out there, like a 1.0 and a 1.1 or there's a difference between PAL and US versions and we just have different ones.  I was using a bin/cue whereas you were using an iso, and it appears there is a difference there in some way.  It is still puzzling to me that your first patch worked cleanly without the sprite changes but after that it all went wrong.  Oh well, it was an adventure either way.  Don't let this stop you from sharing other stuff in the future!

[djroomba 10]

Thanks man. I'm not too bummed about it, because I had fun making it and people seemed to show some interest. I just wish there weren't so many different versions of these games out there. Lol. Maybe I will remake it one day on the .bin if I learn how. 

Edited August 22, 2019 by djroomba

[Kaffe Myers 81]

The tip for any future attempt, for the OP or anyone else reading, is to not ever use ePSXe for any bug testing and go with pure mednafen (just fyi, there are add-on guis for mednafen out there, like mednaffe to name one).

Choice of format is not an issue, bin/cue vs iso makes no difference. However, know what version you are modding. I can't remember which version that is most common, but I'm guessing ntsc-u release.

[djroomba 10]

Any tips on how to get Mednafen to work? From my post earlier: 

 Running  Mednafen says, "No command-line arguments specified." I looked this up and it says to just drag and drop the ISO into the application. So I did that with my patched FF Tactics disc image and it says "Rom image is too large: maximum size allowed...". So I tried an untouched Rom and it says the same thing. I looked this up and other people have similar problems that the Rom will not load. One forum said to then copy the BIOS into the folder, another said copy the Cue sheet? I don't have either or even know what that means.

Thoughts on what to do?

[Nowea 103]

You need to make a .cue file and launch that in Mednafen. To do this you'll simply open notepad and put the following text in. Replace the name in the quotes to match the exact name of the iso file you have.
FILE "gamename.iso" BINARY
  TRACK 01 MODE2/2352
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

You'll then save it with the same name as the iso but with .cue on the end (don't save it as a text file, windows should see it as a CUE file when you're done). Personally when I use Mednafen I use Mednaffe for it, provides a GUI which I find easier to work with. That being said, whichever you're using you'll need to use cue files.

You should end up with a bios folder in your Mednafen folder. For that you'll want to find SCPH5500.BIN, SCPH5501.BIN, and SCPH5502.BIN and put them in that folder.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Nowea
BIOS info