ROM Hack [WIP] Paragon (Fire Emblem Fates)

[Dylos]

The human form for the manakete model is one of the models I'm having problems with, unfortunately. I haven't tried the dragon model yet, so that one might work.

The dragon model will likely be even harder to implement without it replacing Corrin's dragon model unless someone knows how to build a transformation AID.

 

[king_frost93]

As I said, try opening up a command window inside the same directory as the python script and running it using something like "python --item 400 ABC" to test (back up your GameData.bin beforehand to avoid adding any junk entries to the table). If there's no issues with the script, it should simply run and give you a message saying that the item was added successfully. Otherwise it will print out an error to the console.

Right, I did what you said and I indeed managed to get it to work properly that way. However, I noticed something odd.

I was adding a class onto a GameData.bin file I was working on earlier. The big change is that Candace, Nichol, and a few repurposed bond units got actual support lists and most of the cast got expanded support lists too. All the new and edited lists were added to the end of the file beforehand. The issue I ran into is that when I added the new class, these new tables were deleted but the pointers for the unit support tables weren't readjusted. I had a backup of the GameData file ready, but I'm wondering if that's a bug or something. I looked at the readme file and it didn't warn any potential errors when editing an edited GameData file.

 

[cercity]

I'm going to spend some time investigating my issue. When I added a new element to my GameData, three files were modified: the GameData, and the complied python files bin and gamedata. Is this the same for everyone else?

 

[king_frost93]

@thane98 So I've been looking through the code for the gamedata_module.py and gamedata.pyc files. It seems like it's possible to slightly expand the gamedata_module program to allow for the addition of new army and skill data by adding them to the group of parsable arguments. I'm wondering if I should bother though because I figured if you didn't include that support in the original release, then it might be because you attempted it before and encountered problems with it. I don't know, your thoughts would be greatly appreciated

 

[thane98]

@thane98 So I've been looking through the code for the gamedata_module.py and gamedata.pyc files. It seems like it's possible to slightly expand the gamedata_module program to allow for the addition of new army and skill data by adding them to the group of parsable arguments. I'm wondering if I should bother though because I figured if you didn't include that support in the original release, then it might be because you attempted it before and encountered problems with it. I don't know, your thoughts would be greatly appreciated

It's definitely possible. I don't see anything wrong with doing it as long as you know your python. I built a couple smaller things using RainThunder's scripts, but nothing that I thought was worth releasing.

 

[Kobazco]

Uhh anyway you can make it possible for me to use this program on a 4k monitor? Its kinda hard to use this when this is what it looks like:

Spoiler

 

[thane98]

Uhh anyway you can make it possible for me to use this program on a 4k monitor? Its kinda hard to use this when this is what it looks like:

Spoiler

Well, that's not supposed to happen.

I'll work on a fix for it when I get the chance.

 

[thane98]

Updated the main post with a new tool, Fates Person Editor. As the name suggests, you can use this tool to edit the person files used in maps to create temporary characters. The tool is pretty barebones - all you can really use it for is adding new blocks to a file and generating Nightmare modules to edit it. However, that should take care of most of your needs with regards to person files.

The tool generates the Nightmare modules from the "template" folder that comes with the program. I've included the necessary files from RainThunder's modules so that you don't have to find them yourself. In the event that RainThunder updates his modules in the future, you can update the template by copying the contents of the "Character" folder of his tools into the "template" folder.

 

[DeathChaos]

Updated the main post with a new tool, Fates Person Editor. As the name suggests, you can use this tool to edit the person files used in maps to create temporary characters. The tool is pretty barebones - all you can really use it for is adding new blocks to a file and generating Nightmare modules to edit it. However, that should take care of most of your needs with regards to person files.

The tool generates the Nightmare modules from the "template" folder that comes with the program. I've included the necessary files from RainThunder's modules so that you don't have to find them yourself. In the event that RainThunder updates his modules in the future, you can update the template by copying the contents of the "Character" folder of his tools into the "template" folder.

> Person block creator
NICE

Also, I've had the entire character block mapped out but haven't really shared the notes to update the modules, so uh, whoops?

The module has almost everything, but it's missing stuff like scaling level, Normal Mode stat penalties, and Lunatic mode Bonuses.

I haven't looked at the tool yet but here are my notes on the Character block:
http://pastebin.com/PtRd7eyC

 

[thane98]

> Person block creator
NICE

Also, I've had the entire character block mapped out but haven't really shared the notes to update the modules, so uh, whoops?

The module has almost everything, but it's missing stuff like scaling level, Normal Mode stat penalties, and Lunatic mode Bonuses.

I haven't looked at the tool yet but here are my notes on the Character block:
http://pastebin.com/PtRd7eyC

I could go ahead and edit the template distributed with the tool to generate updated modules according to that map. Though it might be best to get it added to RainThunder's toolset as well.

 

[Light_Strategist]

Resources

Spoiler: Awakening Model Ports

Resource Name: Awakening Model Ports
Download: link
Description:
A collection of various models from Fire Emblem Awakening ported over to .bch format so that they can be used in Fates. I've also gone ahead and included a modified ROM3 file with a custom AID. You can modify the AID to create a character using the custom models or add them to your hack through other means.

This resource only includes 9 character models right now. In the future I'd like to expand the pack to include items, animations, and maps as well as additional character models, but there are issues to work through first.

I left a comment on your Custom Paralogues thread regarding this but it's probably better off if it's voiced here.

Regarding the extraction and porting of Awakening assets like character models and classes I'd assume that certain maps could be ported as well. In that regard, for the sake of new and interesting Paralogues or even just regular stages, could you port stages like Arena Ferox or Fort Steiger for new locations to recruit units that could be ported from Awakening?

I daresay that you're still tweaking the randomizer and working on other things so I don't expect this to be a priority, unfortunately I wouldn't be able to do any of this personally because of a multitude of reasons. One of which is inexperience...

 

[thane98]

I left a comment on your Custom Paralogues thread regarding this but it's probably better off if it's voiced here.

Regarding the extraction and porting of Awakening assets like character models and classes I'd assume that certain maps could be ported as well. In that regard, for the sake of new and interesting Paralogues or even just regular stages, could you port stages like Arena Ferox or Fort Steiger for new locations to recruit units that could be ported from Awakening?

I daresay that you're still tweaking the randomizer and working on other things so I don't expect this to be a priority, unfortunately I wouldn't be able to do any of this personally because of a multitude of reasons. One of which is inexperience...

Porting map models over is possible - TildeHat managed to port one of the DLC maps over to Awakening a little while back. I have no idea how many maps this could be done for though. With character models, a lot of them were impossible to port over without losing animations altogether. If the same holds true for maps, there's probably only a handful of maps that we can port over.

 

[Light_Strategist]

Porting map models over is possible - TildeHat managed to port one of the DLC maps over to Awakening a little while back. I have no idea how many maps this could be done for though. With character models, a lot of them were impossible to port over without losing animations altogether. If the same holds true for maps, there's probably only a handful of maps that we can port over.

I suppose it's really a question of patience and fortitude in the long term. Was there any luck with porting the Manaketes, Taguel, Female Tactician classes and certain unique character textures like Cordelia's and Sumia's Pegasus Knight models? I've seen someone improvise a Thief by removing the hood from a generic Outlaw and give it the Master Ninja's sword animations. The idea was to make Gaius (and by extension for other classes, Cordelia and Tharja) and overall, it wasn't too bad, but that's been made as DLC, much like DeathChaos25's Chrom, Frederick, Lissa etc.

For some of the characters/classes, I assume it'd be appropriate to fill in missing animations with stock animations from Fates. If the Assassin and Trickster you've pulled come with their animation sets (which I assume they do) Gaius could be among the easiest of characters to port.

I'm sure it's probably more difficult than I'm wording it but it'd certainly be interesting to see how far it can go, right?

 

[thane98]

I suppose it's really a question of patience and fortitude in the long term. Was there any luck with porting the Manaketes, Taguel, Female Tactician classes and certain unique character textures like Cordelia's and Sumia's Pegasus Knight models? I've seen someone improvise a Thief by removing the hood from a generic Outlaw and give it the Master Ninja's sword animations. The idea was to make Gaius (and by extension for other classes, Cordelia and Tharja) and overall, it wasn't too bad, but that's been made as DLC, much like DeathChaos25's Chrom, Frederick, Lissa etc.

For some of the characters/classes, I assume it'd be appropriate to fill in missing animations with stock animations from Fates. If the Assassin and Trickster you've pulled come with their animation sets (which I assume they do) Gaius could be among the easiest of characters to port.

I'm sure it's probably more difficult than I'm wording it but it'd certainly be interesting to see how far it can go, right?

I actually haven't tried anything with porting over animations yet, though I should probably try that at some point. I haven't made any additional attempts at porting over models since I released the original resource pack, so I haven't made any progress with any of the models that failed to port originally. I'll probably get back to resource porting once I get done with my existing projects. However, if Ohana's export feature hasn't been modified since my original attempts at porting those models, there's a good chance that I still won't be able to do anything with them.

If the models have already been ported, then porting character textures should be easy. I can definitely add those to the resource pack in the future.

 

[DeathChaos]

Btw, the Person Editor adds the filename with extension to the Person files, so the game will end up looking for, say, A005.bin.bin.lz

It's not hard to hex edit the .bin from the filename label (just change a 2E to 00 which gets rid of the dot making bin a separate label), but I though I'd mention it since no one seems to have done so.

 

[thane98]

Btw, the Person Editor adds the filename with extension to the Person files, so the game will end up looking for, say, A005.bin.bin.lz

It's not hard to hex edit the .bin from the filename label (just change a 2E to 00 which gets rid of the dot making bin a separate label), but I though I'd mention it since no one seems to have done so.

That's a mistake on my part. I'll upload a fix when I get the chance.

 

[Light_Strategist]

I actually haven't tried anything with porting over animations yet, though I should probably try that at some point. I haven't made any additional attempts at porting over models since I released the original resource pack, so I haven't made any progress with any of the models that failed to port originally. I'll probably get back to resource porting once I get done with my existing projects. However, if Ohana's export feature hasn't been modified since my original attempts at porting those models, there's a good chance that I still won't be able to do anything with them.

If the models have already been ported, then porting character textures should be easy. I can definitely add those to the resource pack in the future.

That sounds glorious. Even if only a tiny chance. Best extra part for needing to wait means more time for any potential updates to Ohana that you might need, in addition to everyone that wants to fiddle around with the things you've provided being very happy with everything you've done or provided. I won't complain but I will likely just gush over all of the possibilities that lay out there for when you're all set.

Small thought occurred to me though and I assume it's possible with relative ease but I don't think anyone's considered asking it. Possibility of including skills that were in Awakening but not Fates, into Fates? I know there's a select few but with class porting it'd be logical to include more skills to balance it a little, would it not? Maybe get some people to design new skill icons and personal skills for the Awakening characters, or use the thread from Serenes that discussed it a while back. It'd be cool to have a skill icon that looks like the Ylissean and Vallite flags.

I could see Frederick and Cordelia getting personal skills that piggyback off of Chrom's battlefield presence in some way...

I feel like I'm becoming a bother with all these ideas and thoughts now...

At any rate, I better leave it here before my battery dies.

 

[thane98]

Alright, I've uploaded a fix for the file name issue with the person editor.

That sounds glorious. Even if only a tiny chance. Best extra part for needing to wait means more time for any potential updates to Ohana that you might need, in addition to everyone that wants to fiddle around with the things you've provided being very happy with everything you've done or provided. I won't complain but I will likely just gush over all of the possibilities that lay out there for when you're all set.

Small thought occurred to me though and I assume it's possible with relative ease but I don't think anyone's considered asking it. Possibility of including skills that were in Awakening but not Fates, into Fates? I know there's a select few but with class porting it'd be logical to include more skills to balance it a little, would it not? Maybe get some people to design new skill icons and personal skills for the Awakening characters, or use the thread from Serenes that discussed it a while back. It'd be cool to have a skill icon that looks like the Ylissean and Vallite flags.

I could see Frederick and Cordelia getting personal skills that piggyback off of Chrom's battlefield presence in some way...

I feel like I'm becoming a bother with all these ideas and thoughts now...

At any rate, I better leave it here before my battery dies.

I'm interested in trying to add in new skills at some point, but I'm afraid that something like that would require code modification to do anything besides modify existing effects. I know very little about how skills are handled in the ROM at the moment, so I can't say for sure.

 

[DeathChaos]

Alright, I've uploaded a fix for the file name issue with the person editor.


I'm interested in trying to add in new skills at some point, but I'm afraid that something like that would require code modification to do anything besides modify existing effects. I know very little about how skills are handled in the ROM at the moment, so I can't say for sure.

Well, unless you have knowledge of ARM assembly code, new skills is not going to happen, hell, just modifying skill effects in itself requires you to know what you're doing.

The ROM only stores skill proc rate, skill ID and skill icons.

Everything else is done via code.bin, so for example, if you wanted to modify Astra damage, you'd need to dig into code.bin

 

[Light_Strategist]

Well, unless you have knowledge of ARM assembly code, new skills is not going to happen, hell, just modifying skill effects in itself requires you to know what you're doing.

The ROM only stores skill proc rate, skill ID and skill icons.

Everything else is done via code.bin, so for example, if you wanted to modify Astra damage, you'd need to dig into code.bin

Judging from the video itself you have a little experience in at least the damage modification. Though I suppose your remark itself should've really given it away...

On the other hand, this is very interesting and helpful in giving me an idea of things that can and cannot be done right now.

The cool thing about seeing you guys put in all the effort you do for this is definitely how happily I've seen some people reacting to what you post, large or small. I'm glad I get the opportunity to experience the fruits of your hard work. Sooner or I later, I anticipate you both starting a full on 3DS FE hack that changes almost everything. I'd definitely play it... though I doubt much would be touched on around the launch of FE Switch...

I'll dream in the corner quietly now...