ROM Hack Fire Emblem Fates: ROM Hacking General Thread

[DeathChaos]

Yeah, it seems bch models are incompatible, meaning you can't bring them to/from, oh well.

 

[jt_1258]

Interestingly, the pose is different between fates and echoes models in ohana as well.
Here's the Fates Lucina we're familiar with:
View attachment 83340
And here's Echoes:
View attachment 83339
It really is a shame that Echoes turns such a beautiful battle sprite into a ghost and only allows us to use it for such a short time.

so the ghost effect is applyed to the model when in game and they don't come looking like it?

 

[Dylos]

so the ghost effect is applyed to the model when in game and they don't come looking like it?

It would appear so, I suppose I could try replacing Celica's model with Lucina and see what happens, but I likely won't get around to that until much later today.

 

[jt_1258]

It would appear so, I suppose I could try replacing Celica's model with Lucina and see what happens, but I likely won't get around to that until much later today.

it would be kinda cool if we could somehow remove and add the effect at will, seems like it would be pretty cool to play around with especially if/when a randomizer comes out

 

[Dylos]

it would be kinda cool if we could somehow remove and add the effect at will, seems like it would be pretty cool to play around with especially if/when a randomizer comes out

It's likely in their AID, similar to the Valhalla effect in fates. That being said I looked at the asset files and they seem to be very similar to fates, custom dlc versions of the amiibo characters in echos is certainly possible.

 

[DeathChaos]

It's likely in their AID, similar to the Valhalla effect in fates. That being said I looked at the asset files and they seem to be very similar to fates, custom dlc versions of the amiibo characters in echos is certainly possible.

AID blocks are EXACTLY the same structure as Fates, they match 1:1 down to the bitflags.

That said, building a new AID is a hurdle in and on itself.

 

[Dylos]

AID blocks are EXACTLY the same structure as Fates, they match 1:1 down to the bitflags.

That said, building a new AID is a hurdle in and on itself.

It is, and if there are no official DLC characters that does make things more difficult since there wouldn't simply be files that could be modified to make a custom DLC character. I'm not saying it will be easy, just that as someone who has made custom dlc characters from modifying the cipher dlc characters for fates that I believe it will be possible to add additional characters (though not necessarily by launch).

If the AID is as you say identical, then the hurdle I'm seeing is the lack of a unified GameData.bin, I don't personally know where the info that was in fates' GameData.bin is in Echoes (It looks like the Person.bin in the Data folder might be what I'm looking for). The closer Echoes files are to Fates structure, the easier it will be to do fun things like make the amiibo characters available, but I guess we'll have to see how the DLC even works and if DLC characters are actually even possible or if characters can only be added to the ROMFS. There's a lot to explore and learn, but I don't want to risk getting banned from the nintendo online servers again, so I'm not touching the DLC option until the game launches in Japan.

 

[DeathChaos]

It is, and if there are no official DLC characters that does make things more difficult since there wouldn't simply be files that could be modified to make a custom DLC character. I'm not saying it will be easy, just that as someone who has made custom dlc characters from modifying the cipher dlc characters for fates that I believe it will be possible to add additional characters (though not necessarily by launch).

If the AID is as you say identical, then the hurdle I'm seeing is the lack of a unified GameData.bin, I don't personally know where the info that was in fates' GameData.bin is in Echoes (It looks like the Person.bin in the Data folder might be what I'm looking for). The closer Echoes files are to Fates structure, the easier it will be to do fun things like make the amiibo characters available, but I guess we'll have to see how the DLC even works and if DLC characters are actually even possible or if characters can only be added to the ROMFS. There's a lot to explore and learn, but I don't want to risk getting banned from the nintendo online servers again, so I'm not touching the DLC option until the game launches in Japan.

SoV format is actually a bit different, and absolutely every bin file ever uses the 2nd pointer region, even Dispos uses it now, which makes everything more of a pain in the ass to work with then it should be.

We'll need to wait until official Japanese release to make a new thread for SoV discussion, hopefully it'll gain enough attention to figure stuff out more quickly.

 

[thane98]

SoV format is actually a bit different, and absolutely every bin file ever uses the 2nd pointer region, even Dispos uses it now, which makes everything more of a pain in the ass to work with then it should be.

We'll need to wait until official Japanese release to make a new thread for SoV discussion, hopefully it'll gain enough attention to figure stuff out more quickly.

I get the feeling that the hacking scene for Echoes will move very quickly. Even with the pointer 2 changes, hacking shouldn't be too difficult if the formats are the exact same. I could probably have some basic tools ready to go within a week of the game's release.

Frankly, the ROM3 Injector I finished up recently might be capable of adding in new AIDs for Echoes without any sort of modification if the asset files are pretty much identical.

 

[DeathChaos]

I get the feeling that the hacking scene for Echoes will move very quickly. Even with the pointer 2 changes, hacking shouldn't be too difficult if the formats are the exact same. I could probably have some basic tools ready to go within a week of the game's release.

Frankly, the ROM3 Injector I finished up recently might be capable of adding in new AIDs for Echoes without any sort of modification if the asset files are pretty much identical.

Nice!

Also, small protip about Echoes I figured out about a few hours ago.

Every bin file starts with a block, this block starts with a pointer to MOD_(japanesestuffhere).

This block actually has pointers to labels that indicate what data and datatypes the blocks are composed of, in other words, this block completely details the block structure of the file, so if you just follow the labels and translate the labels/look at the data types, you'll have an accurate complete mapping of the blocks for that bin file.

 

[thane98]

I mentioned it a little bit previously, but I'll go ahead and make an announcement while Fates is still relevant.

I've almost finished up work on a general purpose editor for most of the prominent files in Fire Emblem Fates. Right now the editor has tools for anything ranging from adding new characters/chapters to GameData to building custom AIDs. I've also included new renditions of past tools I've made such as a new support editor and an updated version of FEFNightmare. To top it all off, I've included some quality of life changes like automatic decompression/recompression of files so that you don't have to run things through FEAT constantly.

My hope is that this tool can make Fates hacking a bit more accessible for newcomers. At the least, it should eliminate the need to do any sort of heavy-duty hex editing for building custom chapters. It should be ready for release within the next week - all I really need to do at this point is add some polish to a couple of the tools and finish writing a tutorial series on using the various tools.

If you're interested in seeing what will be available in the editor at release, I put together a preview of the individual tools here.

 

[Dylos]

-snip

Please tell me the method of adding new parts to any file doesn't use python, I cannot for the life of me get many of the python scripts to work.

 

[thane98]

Please tell me the method of adding new parts to any file doesn't use python, I cannot for the life of me get many of the python scripts to work.

Nope, I built my own rendition of the python scripts on Java specifically because of the issues people were having. Adding in new characters/chapters should be pretty straightforward now.

 

[Dylos]

Nope, I built my own rendition of the python scripts on Java specifically because of the issues people were having. Adding in new characters/chapters should be pretty straightforward now.

I look forward to redoing my dlc characters into the game files then and possibly adding Eliwood as Roy's father so that he's a powerful child unit. (Plus with heroes there is just so much art I can use I might as well try to add a bunch of characters.)

 

[DeathChaos]

-snip-

Oh damn, this looks pretty amazing, not gunna lie.

The only files that I see missing that people might be interested are aset.bin (since this file handles animation libraries, so for example, even if you wanted to reuse lance animations, Sky Knights with swords aren't possible because an entry for flying sword animations don't exist), and the bin files that handle the actual 3D map data (field/XXXX.bin), although those are rather complicated.

 

[thane98]

Oh damn, this looks pretty amazing, not gunna lie.

The only files that I see missing that people might be interested are aset.bin (since this file handles animation libraries, so for example, even if you wanted to reuse lance animations, Sky Knights with swords aren't possible because an entry for flying sword animations don't exist), and the bin files that handle the actual 3D map data (field/XXXX.bin), although those are rather complicated.

I still have a couple different editors that I'd like to take care of at some point (FaceData, Live2D, IndirectSound, etc). But I'd like to release with what I have right now to avoid trying to do too much at once.

I'd really like to set something up for editing field files as I have an idea that would require making some modifications to field files, but I don't even know where to start with building a tool for those files.

 

[Raji]

I mentioned it a little bit previously, but I'll go ahead and make an announcement while Fates is still relevant.

I've almost finished up work on a general purpose editor for most of the prominent files in Fire Emblem Fates. Right now the editor has tools for anything ranging from adding new characters/chapters to GameData to building custom AIDs. I've also included new renditions of past tools I've made such as a new support editor and an updated version of FEFNightmare. To top it all off, I've included some quality of life changes like automatic decompression/recompression of files so that you don't have to run things through FEAT constantly.

My hope is that this tool can make Fates hacking a bit more accessible for newcomers. At the least, it should eliminate the need to do any sort of heavy-duty hex editing for building custom chapters. It should be ready for release within the next week - all I really need to do at this point is add some polish to a couple of the tools and finish writing a tutorial series on using the various tools.

If you're interested in seeing what will be available in the editor at release, I put together a preview of the individual tools here.

This looks incredible! I'm really hoping it will shave a lot of the time off of the various little tweaks and hacks I've been piecing together. Really looking forward to this!

 

[Omegablu]

I mentioned it a little bit previously, but I'll go ahead and make an announcement while Fates is still relevant.

I've almost finished up work on a general purpose editor for most of the prominent files in Fire Emblem Fates. Right now the editor has tools for anything ranging from adding new characters/chapters to GameData to building custom AIDs. I've also included new renditions of past tools I've made such as a new support editor and an updated version of FEFNightmare. To top it all off, I've included some quality of life changes like automatic decompression/recompression of files so that you don't have to run things through FEAT constantly.

My hope is that this tool can make Fates hacking a bit more accessible for newcomers. At the least, it should eliminate the need to do any sort of heavy-duty hex editing for building custom chapters. It should be ready for release within the next week - all I really need to do at this point is add some polish to a couple of the tools and finish writing a tutorial series on using the various tools.

If you're interested in seeing what will be available in the editor at release, I put together a preview of the individual tools here.

You are a god. Your tools will be a MASSIVE help with finishing up some more custom dlc projects I'm working on. Any chance that the AID maker could have the functionality to modify AID files not in ROM3?

 

[Grima]

Or could the AID maker add the ability to create new class AIDs

 

[Dylos]

I'm going to echo what I believe Omegablu is saying, it would be nice if these programs could alter DLC files in addition to the base game files. Currently Nightmare does not allow the editing of any DLC files, and while editing the base game files may be easier editing DLC files is better for compatibility. And by compatibility I mean compatibility between multiple projects. There are several custom DLC character projects and if each one of those instead modified base game files they would not be compatible without some heavy user work.