Is it worth updating my Final Fantasy VI GBA sound restoration ?

[Chronosplit]

I'm working on version 2.1 (or maybe 2.01), which should be the exact same, but faster. The problem is that I run into new synchronization issues for the intro and the ending, and I have to speed up the music ridiculously fast - because when programming the GBA they did werid stuff I don't really understand myself - probably they programmed it so that it lags, and then decreased the # of frames to wait, so that when I fix the lag, the games ends up doing things too fast.

It sounds like they programmed it to time with the slowdown on purpose as a "fix."  This isn't the first time they did that out of laziness; a reverse thing was done with Final Fantasy Tactics on mobile where they sped up the animations of certain effects as a "fix" for slowdown.

[Bregalad]

Yeah, I see what you mean, it's hard to describe in english but we're talking about the same thing

What horribly lazy sloppy programming. So because of this "fix", my patch ends up being faster than the SNES version in some cases.

So yeah, now version 2.01 is in the review queue. Hopefully I didn't introduce any bugs with the extra framerate fixes. Normally everything should be fine, but yeah.... maybe keep a backup of version 2.0 around, just to be sure.

[LeathSeraph]

Hi, I saw you have listed making the patch compatible with U.S. and Japan versions as things to possibly do in the future.

Wanted to ask how much work this might actually be.  I have a Japan cart, but have only found Japanese rom hacks that create hard type versions, adding in new monsters, etc. rather than polishing up the graphics/music.  I became really interested in this patch after seeing videos on YouTube showing comparisons.  Was the process of getting the FFV sound restoration really involved or is that not a comparable example and FFVI would be even more work?

Any advice/info to help point the way I wouldn't mind seeing if there's a way to poke around and getting the patch compatible with the Japan version.

[Bregalad]

I guess I'll have to investigate this. For FFV advance it was a really simple change, so this is why I released it compatible. With FFVI the major problem is the opera which takes a lot of space - space which was left unused in the (E) version which is 16 MB. However the (U) and (J) versions are only 8 MB, so I guess I'll have to convert the SNES opera songs 1:1 if I want to support those versions, there's no way arround it really. Or expand them to 16 MB, but that misses the point.

[LeathSeraph]

Setting aside any hesitation of requiring the rom size to be expanded to accommodate the patch, would that be the simplest solution to allow for the patch to be maintained as is (i.e. not requiring the opera song to be switched out)?  Don't have an EU cart to check, but does the patch end up taking just the blank space at the end of the EU rom or did your modifications clear out a lot of space throughout the rom?

Not sure if you have compared the different versions yet, but aside from additional languages, did Square/Tose leave things mostly in the same spots or did things get shuffled around between US/EU/JP?

[Bregalad]

Don't worry I'll look into it, normally almost nothing changes between versions exept text.

I'm already working on a version 2.1 that will fix a few bugs.

[LeathSeraph]

Thanks for the feedback.  Looking forward to seeing what you find out!

[Bregalad]

So, it's up there almost working. The (J) version definitely works fine. The (U) version however, has a little problem, very likely a RAM clash somewhere, that makes the game freeze at some places. I tried to locate the RAM clash, but couldn't find it. I'll have to look harder. Also, the opera is back to the SNES version but with a surprise, and the ROMs are not extended. I'll also make a (E) version with the same opera, so in the end it'll be exactly like FF5 Advance with two patches for (E) version, and one for (U) and (J) versions.

[LeathSeraph]

Good to hear there weren't any show stopping issues and things mostly went smoothly.  Looking forward to the next update!

[Bregalad]

**The 2.1 version has now been submitted in the update queue**

All 3 regions of the games are supported, but bugs have also been fixed and the speed slightly improved, so even if you're playing the regular european verison, it's worth updating.

[John Enigma]

**The 2.1 version has now been submitted in the update queue**

All 3 regions of the games are supported, but bugs have also been fixed and the speed slightly improved, so even if you're playing the regular european verison, it's worth updating.

Whoa! That was...




...unexpected. Congratulations man!

[Kallisto]

EDIT:
Oh I see there is different versions for different regions based on the amount of RAM.

This is actually a good thing the E version has a lot of space considering the fact there is other RHs like color/font etc that could fit in there too (least I hope).

[LeathSeraph]

Looking forward to the update!

[Special]

Is there maybe a youtube video or something similar that shows the difference between the orchestra and non-orchestra versions of these patches? I'm suffering from choice paralysis here :/

[Bregalad]

The only difference is the opera, the rest is identical. If you want to hear real orchestra in opera, even if the music changed a little bit (in harmonization) (something that some people see as a crime (a point of view I perfectly understand) ), then use the orchestral version. If you want something like SNES, use the non orchestral version (the voices are still improved from the SNES version - but the music harmonization hasn't changed).

[ShadowOne333]

The only difference is the opera, the rest is identical. If you want to hear real orchestra in opera, even if the music changed a little bit (in harmonization) (something that some people see as a crime (a point of view I perfectly understand) ), then use the orchestral version. If you want something like SNES, use the non orchestral version (the voices are still improved from the SNES version - but the music harmonization hasn't changed).

So basically:

Sanza orchestra = SNES version?

[Spooniest]

Sanza means "without," unless I'm mistaken.

[Special]

The only difference is the opera, the rest is identical. If you want to hear real orchestra in opera, even if the music changed a little bit (in harmonization) (something that some people see as a crime (a point of view I perfectly understand) ), then use the orchestral version. If you want something like SNES, use the non orchestral version (the voices are still improved from the SNES version - but the music harmonization hasn't changed).

Thanks, I think I would prefer the original SNES version more, but a side by side would still be cool if anyone happens to have that part recorded, and willing to share.

[Spooniest]

I say just install the orchestral version; after all, you do know what the snes music sounds like already.

[John Enigma]

^Agreed 100%.

If you make it for all regions, better.