Final Fantasy VI: Divergent Paths

[PowerPanda]

Yes, thank you to Gi Nattak for finding the bug and finding a fix for it before I even got a chance to look at it! It only happens if you recruit Cyan BEFORE you recruit Leo. The code that skips the line telling you where to find Cyan jumps 1 byte too far, putting you in the middle of a function. I'll work at getting patch 1.31 together over the weekend, but if you have a hex editor, you can fix this right away.

1. Open your Divergent Paths rom in your hex editor.
2. Go to address 0Cx4273 in an unheadered rom, or 0Cx4473 in a headered rom.
3. Change the value from 7B to 7A and save.

[Pyre Of Word Salsa]

EDIT: Nevermind found/solved solved the issue.

1. Open your Divergent Paths rom in your hex editor.
2. Go to address 0Cx4273 in an unheadered rom, or 0Cx4473 in a headered rom.
3. Change the value from 7B to 7A and save.

Looks like it worked. The issue's gone now. Thanks to the both of you!

If you're working on a v1.31, I've also run into a bug where casting Ice 3 (might not be Ice 3, don't really remember) in the Phoenix Caves glitches out all the sprites and softlocks the game. But I couldn't get a save state of this, unfortunately.

I did repatch the hack on my end before posting about the Cyan issue, just in case it was a problem with a bad dump or something. Prior, it was a clean v1.3 patch.

[Gi Nattak]

Which sprites became glitched out, characters or monsters? How did it look?
I noticed from the save you provided that it was set to 'multiplayer' in the settings, were you playing multiplayer when this happened?

So far I've been unable to trigger this bug, I'd imagine if anything it'd be from one of the new/added spells instead of one of the originals like Ice 3, but they all seem okay. I did try testing them in the Phoenix Cave, but this really shouldn't matter.

[Pyre Of Word Salsa]

All of the player sprites glitched out to the point where they looked like Missingno/staticky. Yes, I was playing multiplayer when it happened.

Flood was used at several points in the Phoenix Caves. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if I can reproduce it either.

[PowerPanda]

There have been 2 recent reviews that made mention of the 16th character, Kappa, being a little underwhelming. So I want to clarify a few things about her inclusion.

1. There was never room for another story character. Literally. I used up almost every free byte in this rom. The scene where Kappa is recruited, and the ending given to her, were basically the only event code I could afford to give. That's less space in the rom than even Gogo or Umaro got. Even 1 more event scene that gave character development couldn't fit.

2. The 16th character would not get their own ending. They HAD to share with someone else.

3. Addding another sprite was also completely out. It would have required ROM expansion, which would have sacrificed compatibility with flash carts. That meant that the only options were: Imp, Soldier, Merchant, or Banon.

4. Note: Banon was never a possibility. He plays an important role in the storyline changes to Divergent Paths, and I did not want his role to feel cheapened.

5. Speaking of space, the custom code added for Kappa's ability was trivial. All I did was turn one of the 3 unused monster spells in the game to Morph, and mapped that over the top of Banon's Health command (which, previously, just cast Cure 2). Everything else is pulled straight from the esper Ragnarok. There were 32 bytes to give Kappa natural magic, and another 10 or so to turn her human when Imp is cast on her. Aside from that, her data footprint is almost non-existant.

6. In the original code that I used, the 16th character would not have been able to change equipment. They would have been like Umaro in the original game, only able to change relics. The Imp's Armor seemed like a great way to lean into that limitation, rather than apologize for it. When I figured out how to expand the code to make all 16 character equippable, I made Kappa female to give her access to female-only equipment. That also allowed me to make her introduction more memorable.

7. It was also impossible to do a recruitment dungeon for the character. When I realized that the imp's armor had to be collected from wandering the overworld, which you have no reason to do since you get the Falcon from the outset, it really just seemed to fit.

All of that coming together is to say that Kappa didn't "replace" another option. For a ton of different reasons, she really was THE only option. So you can rest easy knowing that a mascot character with a quirky ability didn't oust a more interesting prospect.

[Oinkaments]

Hi Panda, this is Oinkaments from youtube. As per you asked, we can continue the conversation regarding a few bugs found in divergent paths.

Just as a recap, the bugs i found are the following:

A level 99 char that can deal 9999 in one swing, will only do 600 damage if they equip Gauntlet
A level 99 char that equip Hero Ring or Atlas Armlet, will get his physical damage output reduced instead of increasing it.

I have a feeling that some other relics could be broken at high level, I have not playtested all of them though.

I have tried with a few different chars to make sure it's not glitched to a specific char.

Also, I know this is intended in your version, but Atma Weapon can no longer be used with Bracers (Genji Gloves) and the reason is that you consider it a greatsword. You also said in your previous comments that Ragnarok was a greatsword. I can equip Ragnarok with Bracers and not with Atma so either Ragnarok is not considered as a greatsword, or your forgot to nerf it as well (I'm not asking for a nerf of that weapon btw) I personally prefer that bracers should work with any type of sword, including greatsword and any weapon for that matter (Even spears or Katana's).

If the char can hold a greatsword in 1 hand and a shield in the other, I don't see why they couldn't be able to dual wield when using an item that is designed to dual wield. It kills many agreeable end game combo when you like to max stats in your characters.


Also on different note, there are no esper that give a 50% MP boost since you replaced crusader with 100% which in a way is not a bad idea at all. But when maxing stats using a perfect spreadsheet, the 50% MP boost is lacking and the 100% HP boost is not helping that much and there's a reason

The reason is that on level 69-70 and 71, you get a big HP boost and this is when you should equip bahamut and be insured of having 9999 HP at level 99. Now what happens with Crusader is that you use it for level 69-70 instead and you save 1 level but you are still over 50% that is useless. This is true for any character in the game.

On the other hand that 50% MP is used for rounds 47-48-49-50-51. (It's different from a char to another, Terra only needs 3 of them). But you can see that for a perfect max stats, lacking that 50% MP makes it much less efficient. You could leave that 100% on him but change an esper that gives 30% to give 50% instead for nerds like me.

Overall your work is great, I really enjoyed how you fixed the story and made Leo available. The only issues that are within the game are technical, but very important imho.

[PowerPanda]

Thanks, Oinkaments. A lot of the battle system hacks are implemented from other hackers, so I didn't test them as closely as changes that I had made. I am workign on version 1.4 right now. Here's my checklist.

BUGS
1. Leo's WoB recruitment scene - gets softlocked if you've recruited Cyan first
2. Gauntlet spillover damage
3. Whatever's going on with Atlas Armlet and Hero Ring
4. Figure out what's happening with the MP+50% levelup bonus. My notes file says that 1 esper has this, so I need to see which one it should go to.
5. Look at Atma Weapon/Ragnarok. I feel like I did things the way I did them to bypass another bug, but I'll have to check my notes. One of the two of them is wrong. (EDIT: Atma Weapon is wrong. I was getting this hack mixed up with my Final Fantasy Tactics hack, where the distinction between swords and greatswords is more pronounced.)

IMPROVEMENTS
1. I'm looking into making Sketch/Control use the stats of the caster, rather than the monster.
2. I want to see if I can use one of the Colosseum improvement patches to make it easier to see which item will be won.
3. I'm considering importing the TWUE script, just for dialogue.

[PowerPanda]

I did some work on the bugfixes today. Here's what I found.

1. Leo's WoB recruitment scene
>> Easy fix, already listed above.

2. Gauntlet spillover damage
>> So this is actually a VANILLA bug, not something introduced with Divergent Paths. Assassin specifically called it out in his battle system disassembly. However, at this point, no fix has been made widely available. Thus, it is not part of the CV Reynold's Bugfix Compliation, which Divergent Paths incorporates into the battle system. I will incorporate a fix if someone codes it or points me to it, and contact CV Reynolds to do the same. (EDIT: found one by Drakkhen!)

3. Whatever's going on with Atlas Armlet and Hero Ring.
>>I tested this with my Level 40 in-game characters, and everything is working as it should. I tried with every possible combination of relics (8 possible combinations), and tested Earrings as well. I think that you're actually hitting the same bug as above, with spillover damage. There is no bug specific to Atlas Armlet or Hero Ring.

4. Figure out what's happening with the MP+50% levelup bonus. My notes file says that 1 esper has this, so I need to see which one it should go to.
>> It was supposed to go to Ragnarok, as listed in the manual I included. However, Ragnarok had a duplicate of Odin's "Speed + 2" by accident. I have corrected this, and will release it with the next version. Thanks for pointing it out.

5. Look at Atma Weapon/Ragnarok.
>> I checked my notes, and actually, nothing is incorrect here. Atma Weapon was excluded from Bracers because the game already excludes it from Gauntlet. I assume this is because the Atma Weapon uses a different damage calculation than other weapons. Because the Atma Weapon is excluded from use with the Gauntlet in vanilla, I plan to keep Divergent Paths the same, restricting it from use with dual wielding as well. If anyone would like to change this, open the rom in a hex editor and go to 18x555B. Change this value from 82 to C6. You will now be able to equip Atma with both the Gauntlet and the Bracers. (I reached out to Oinkaments on Discord and sent him a patch for this.)

I will work on improvements sometime soon.

[kaine23]

wow sounds great!

[PowerPanda]

Announcement!! I am releasing 2 more patches for Divergent Paths. The first will come fairly soon, and the second will come sometime in the future.

Version 1.4  - Bugfixes and Attack Animations
* Fixes 2 softlocks: One in Leo's recruitment if you recruited Cyan first, and the other in the Auction House if you bid on Golem without sufficient funds.
* Damage Overflow Fix (affects Gauntlet, Bracers, Earrings, Atlas Armlet, Hero Ring, and Atma Weapon)
* Atma Weapon can be used with both Bracers and Gauntlets.
* Ragnarok's levelup bonus corrected to "MP+50%" (it was "Speed+2")
* Animation changes for Enhancer, Rune Edge, Master Fist (renamed to Pummel Fist), and the "Limit" Desperation Attack. (Thanks, DrakeyC!)

Version 2.0 - Improvements and Community Hooks
--save files will be compatible with any 1.0 version--
--list is tentative, not confirmed--
* Improve Sketch and Control to use the caster's stats
* Improve Colosseum item display
* Improve Desperation Attack calculation to take into account how many characters are standing. IE - all 4 characters standing is a low chance, but only 1 character standing means it's virtually guaranteed.
* Implement the International Signs patch
* Import the dialogue script revisions from Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition
* Add MSU-1 Audio Support
* Launch Retro Achievements

[Rodimus Primal]

Announcement!! I am releasing 2 more patches for Divergent Paths. The first will come fairly soon, and the second will come sometime in the future.

Version 1.4  - Bugfixes and Attack Animations
* Fixes 2 softlocks: One in Leo's recruitment if you recruited Cyan first, and the other in the Auction House if you bid on Golem without sufficient funds.
* Damage Overflow Fix (affects Gauntlet, Bracers, Earrings, Atlas Armlet, Hero Ring, and Atma Weapon)
* Atma Weapon can be used with both Bracers and Gauntlets.
* Ragnarok's levelup bonus corrected to "MP+50%" (it was "Speed+2")
* Animation changes for Enhancer, Rune Edge, Master Fist (renamed to Pummel Fist), and the "Limit" Desperation Attack. (Thanks, DrakeyC!)

Version 2.0 - Improvements and Community Hooks
--save files will be compatible with any 1.0 version--
--list is tentative, not confirmed--
* Improve Sketch and Control to use the caster's stats
* Improve Colosseum item display
* Improve Desperation Attack calculation to take into account how many characters are standing. IE - all 4 characters standing is a low chance, but only 1 character standing means it's virtually guaranteed.
* Implement the International Signs patch
* Import the dialogue script revisions from Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition
* Add MSU-1 Audio Support
* Launch Retro Achievements

Awesome news! Keep up the great work! Let me know if you need any help where I can.

[Nintenja]

ADDING MSU1 AUDIO SUPPORT IS HUGE
 This is one of the best Final Fantasy rom hacking projects out there..glad to see ya'll are still working on this and adding to it.

[PowerPanda]

I have submitted version 1.4 for release. It is just waiting on RHDN staff to approve. In addition to everything listed above, the Discord community convinced me to move 2 gameplay improvements from 2.0 to 1.4. So now:
* Sketch uses the caster's stats, rather than the monster's
* Control, while still using the monster's stats, will give the caster a free turn upon successful control, so you can use the monster's abilities immediately.

EDIT: It is out!
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5997/

[kaine23]

awesome!

[CrocMagnum]

Many thanks for the update, PowerPanda!

I feel FFVI Divergent Paths has grown into an essential hack. A toast to you and contributors.

Edit: I feel the same way for TWUE. The Ted Woolsey Uncensored Edition has a few perks that are too awesome to pass up. Like the improved dialogues or the re-timed Opera Scene .

[Ligeia]

Can you please consider making Edgar's weapons non breakable again on the next patch ? It's the main misstep of the hack, otherwise it's brilliant.

[PowerPanda]

Can you please consider making Edgar's weapons non breakable again on the next patch ? It's the main misstep of the hack, otherwise it's brilliant.

I've thought about it many times. It's the one thing people focus on the most in their reviews, and it tends to overshadow positive things said about the hack. The answer is "no". There were 3 reasons to make Tools breakable:

1. In a lot of playthroughs of vanilla I've seen, people rearrange Edgar's command list so Tools is at the top, because why bother with Fight when you can use a Tool every turn? I wanted people to explore more options with Edgar, as he's got some surprises up his sleeve. For example, he can equip a wide range of weapons that ignore rows, single out flying enemies and do massive damage, etc. He also has a great stat balance, being almost a Red Mage build... good in all situations.

2. Shadow's skeans cost the same as a Noiseblaster in vanilla, and are a 1-time use item. They are similar in strength to Tools, but you get to use one of them once, and the other infinite times. From a design standpoint, that makes Tools ludicrously out of balance with their closest counterpart. Shadow gets additional use out of Throw by being able to chuck old inventory, so rather than making Tools consumable, I gave them a slight chance of breaking. They're still overpowered compared to Shadow's Throw, but they're less overpowered now.

3. There is a really awkward piece of code in vanilla that prevents the player from buying more than 1 of each tool. And yet, Tools are common drops/steals from enemies. Something in that is really off. It makes me think that Tools NOT being consumable was a last-minute addition to the game. Just prior to release, and they threw in a quick line of code to the shops to prevent you from buying more than 1. To me, that explains why there are so many balance issues with Tools.

Taking all of those together, I think that the BEST version of FF6 is one in which Tools break. I knew it might not be a popular choice, but it was the best for the gameplay itself. I offset tools breaking by doing a few things:
1. Halved the cost of all tools. With Edgar in the lead of your party, you can get a Tool for as cheaply as 125 GP. (That's less than half the cost of a Hi-Potion at a normal shop.)
2. Allowed you to stock up on Tools by removing the purchasing restriction.
3. Gave you a free set of your first tools (talk to Mid when you first get to Figaro).
4. Made all Tools unbreakable until after the Doma Imperial Camp.
5. Any time you are away from Figaro for a long time (Ghost Train, Vector, Esper Cave), I increased the number of enemies who have Tools as steals/drops, and in the case of the Ghost Train, added them to shops.
6. Allowed you to recruit Mid to the Falcon for easy re-stocking in WoR.
7. Finally, I made the 2 tools you get from chests (Debilitator and Air Anchor) unbreakable.

If you watch the videos I have on Youtube, or you played version 1.0, I understand feeling like Tools break too often. I had a tough time getting the calculation right. In 1.0, it was still off, and tools were breaking 4x more often than they should have. (I've considered taking down the Youtube videos and starting over for that purpose alone). However, right before writing this comment, I put Edgar and Gogo into a party and TRIED to break a Tool. It took 41 tries.

[PowerPanda]

Here is a video demonstrating some of the improvements from version 1.4, as well as a special trick with Gogo.

[MysticLord]

A simplest way to make tools useful without additional mechanics or asm coding is to make them all elemental, give each enemy an elemental affinity, and ensure elemental affinities of entire groups rarely match and often conflict... which is a huge undertaking and a great example of feature creep.

One could also just make them weaker than Edgars normal attack, improve normal attack options for Edgar, or give them more niche features. That would be less of a slog than an enemy overhaul, but it's still an example of feature creep because then you'd want to rebalance the other characters and we all know where that ends (it doesn't).

If for instance equipping a spear replaced Tools (or Dance for Mog) with Jump, and spears were pretty strong, that would be a decent alternative.

Tools breaking isn't that big of a deal IMO, though I'd rather have each specific tool break for the duration of that battle rather than have permanent item loss, and have it occur more often. Think of it as a catastrophic failure. Maybe add a misfire that does nothing once in a while too, about twice as often as a break. Still lots of asm hacking, but less inventory management than packing a backpack full of crossbows into the woods.

[Vanya]

Or if you were to characterize it as ammo being expended instead of the whole device breaking it might change the way players perceive it. It's not like Final Fantasy is a stranger to buying arrows for your bow.


Here's a fan-fiction-y idea.
How cool would it be if Edgar's tools were powered by rare crystallized magical essences with each tool being specially calibrated to use a specific type? Maybe this energy source could be called materia?