EZHero Fix for FFvTR

[GogglesPizanno]

Hi all, I signed up for the boards last year, then the boards went down, I got caught up in other stuff and you get the idea.
However after dusting the ol game off and seeing all the amazing new stuff being done, I find myself back here.

Now after installing everything and playing for a while, I wanted to start taking advantage of the library of stuff out there (in this case USAgents hero files), and ran into the old problem of EZHero croaking on files for FFvTR. However after playing around with it for a little while, I think I have figured out what one of the big issues is. If this has been discussed or figured out before, I apologize, I didn't find any mention of it.

The following was figured out using various Hero files and a hex editor (XVI32).

When you use MrBordos tool, when it writes out the new hero file, it saves the path to the mesh as a full path.
i.e. C:\Program Files\<Install DIR>...

Its really not needed and in my mind the wrong way to do this when a relative path is what it should be
i.e. library\characters\...

To test this out I hex edited a hero file that wouldn't open in EZHero to change the path from a full to a relative.
EZHero opened it without problem. I the tried sending it to DAT and it appeared to work ok. It looks like EZHero chokes on the path to the mesh, and by changing it to a relative path starting at "library" seems to work ok.

So then I got really brave and wrote a little batch script for the hex editor that would run through all of USAgent's hero files and truncate the path to the mesh. After letting the machine process away for a good chunk of time, I found that EZHero opens ~95% of those hero files now (the ones it doesn't Im finding are just weird little hiccups due to the brute force method of my batch script which can be fixed manually if you know a couple of hex addresses)

Anyway once they open I have been able to change the mesh, the stats, the attributes etc...
It even appears to be reading the damage types and attributes from the dat file itself (though Im not 100% confident on that one). The only thing it appears to be missing is that It doesn't recognize the Cone attack. The attack type drop down appears to be hard coded with the values from the first game... but MrBordos has that same issue if I remember correctly.

I haven't spent a huge amount of time on this, so there may be some big giant hole or problem that I have yet to experience. Perhaps i was just flushed with my first bout of success. Anyway, hopefully this will be of some use to others who have wanted to use EZHero for their hero files.

And thanks to USAgent for making that huge list of hero files to play with...

The spoiler contains some basic hex info that I figured out

[spoiler]

For those hex minded indiviuals:
The "mesh path" starts at A7C
The Next Value which is "GAME_OBJ_HERO" starts a B7B
I just truncated the path and filled in '00' values until GAME_OBJ_HERO was in its proper location.

A batch script was fairly easy since you are removing the first part of the path to the mesh, which in theory will be exactly the same for all your files, so you basically strip out a string of x characters, and append an equal number of characters of  '00' to the end.

[/spoiler]

[stumpy]

All this to avoid using the in-game editor? Whew!  :P

Just a few things to be on the lookout for as you flesh this out.

• Cones aren't the only likely problem area. There are several new damage types in the new game, like limey lure, speed decrease, and so on that may confuse EZHero.
• Energy point cost levels changed between games.
• The export to DATs is complicated because the format for the data in some of the DAT files (I think the Characters tab) changed between the games.

Anyway, good luck.  :)

[DEATH]

Holy cow! :drool:  Any way we could get a hold of that batch program and some instructions?!

DEATH

[GogglesPizanno]

All this to avoid using the in-game editor? Whew!

Yeah I know. :D
I Actually was just looking for an alternative to MrBordos for changing Mesh locations.
I recently moved my install from my Desktop to my laptop and the install location was different.
Because the hero file had an absolute path, all the files that I had changed previously wouldn't work.
As a result I was looking for a way to make them relative to the game location.

But you are absolutely right, its not some magical character editing fix.
It still has all the issues of using a FF1 editor to tweak a FFvTR file.
It just made sense for what i was looking to do.

Any way we could get a hold of that batch program and some instructions?!

When i get home from work, I'll zip up the files and post em for anyone who wants to play around with it.

[GogglesPizanno]

So here is a zip file with the hex script, the batch file and some instructions for using/modifying it (perhaps a bit longwinded).
Its not the most elegant and maybe someone can figure out a better or easier way.
But for those interested to play around with...

Get the Zip file here

[DEATH]

Goggles,

     Just downloaded it.  Assuming it works, it's pure gold!  Thanks!

DEATH