[RHDNBot]

Update By: Gi Nattak

One full year after its initial release, Return of the Dark Sorcerer has evolved to version 1.4! This latest update brings MANY changes (and fixes) for the better to the table - the songs will work on all emulators, for one - while the original release can indeed be considered a success, it was plagued by emulator audio issues that turned some players away, and rightfully so. As well as other criticisms such as various sprites not being up to par, dialog, balance... this latest installment promises to touch up on pretty much everything in a MAJOR way. Once again a ton of work as been put into this and it's a huge step in the right direction, so please give this latest definitive version a try if you enjoyed playing in the past, or one of those brutally honest folks who was turned off by the emulator specific nature of the hack, and if you are a fan of FFVI hacks you won't be disappointed.

RHDN Project Page

Relevant Link

[Lunaria]

Nice, I always like it when developers take criticism to heart and improves their product! :3

[obscurumlux01]

This looks amazing!  Another reason to give FF6 another spin ^_^

[Bahamut ZERO]

Hell yeah! I was thinking of starting a new playthrough of this last night when I realized I had an older version (1.2). Glad I waited on that - now I'll have the chance to possibility of hearing some crazy musics I might have missed out on hearing. 


To everyone reading this: Play RotDS! Doo eet! DOO EET NAO!

[ulieq]

Are there new quest/quest lines?

edit: could not get patch to run zsnes

[Gi Nattak]

There are a bunch of new events, and a side quest or two. It does follow the same path as the original, but many many differences.

[pmac135]

I've been waiting for this, gonna stream it on my twitch channel tonight!

[Gi Nattak]

edit: could not get patch to run zsnes

Did you try the other included patch? Sounds like the wrong patch was applied to your ROM, it works fine on ZSNES. If you still have no luck getting it to work, please send me a PM.

EDIT:
There have been some reports of buggyness that has so far turned out to be incorrect patching or the ROM used to patch to.
If anyone is having any issues at all with their patched game, for instance battle freezes or menu glitches, please contact me.

EDIT 2:
Well, I'm very sorry to report that there is a horrible glitch/freeze that happens when certain characters are supposed to learn a new skill by leveling up. I'll get this fixed up ASAP and re-upload.

EDIT 3:
Figured out the culprit and fixed it up.

ALSO, it's been brought to my attention that the actual splash screen has the word Sorcerer spelled wrong  Yeah... I don't even wanna talk about it, but I'm going to take care of that as well here, then re-upload the hack like nothing ever happened >_>
Very sorry for this trouble, but glad it's an easy fix.

FINAL EDIT:
These issues as well as a couple others have been fixed and the hack re-uploaded. It is currently in the Submission Queue, so please be sure and re-download/re-patch once it's up. Sorry to all for any inconvenience this may have caused, releases are always a bit problematic for me so thanks for baring with. Because I won't be changing the version, to avoid possible confusion over patches the latest one should have a date modified time of 11/2/2015 5:32 PM.

[obscurumlux01]

Are there new quest/quest lines?
edit: could not get patch to run zsnes

I suggest you use SNES9X instead of ZSNES because ZSNES is far behind in features, accuracy, and compatability with actual SNES hardware.  SNES9X isn't perfect but it is still significantly better and continuously developed via GitHub.  ZSNES hasn't had an official update in years.
If you really want extremely high accuracy and have a beastly gaming PC then you can try Higan if you want.

[Special]

Because I won't be changing the version, to avoid possible confusion over patches the latest one should have a date modified time of 11/2/2015 5:32 PM.

To you and all others authors here that do this, sneaking in changes without updating the version number, why? This just causes confusion as you said when a simple v1.4a or v1.4.1 would suffice. This is really just a pet peeve of mine on this site, and it happens way to much.

[Gi Nattak]

To you and all others authors here that do this, sneaking in changes without updating the version number, why? This just causes confusion as you said when a simple v1.4a or v1.4.1 would suffice. This is really just a pet peeve of mine on this site, and it happens way to much.

I hear you and understand. I'm not speaking for anyone else, but I suppose in this case if it wasn't just 2 days after the release I would have done that, and perhaps I still should have. I felt since it was more of a blunder on my part (and an epic one at that!) than an authentic bug fix or upgrade of any kind to what I just released, I figured just re-upload the same (now fixed) version how it was intended to be and leave a note. A "do over" of sorts, like in Wallball lol. Any real further updates of any kind after this I will of course change the official version #, as I have been.

Again though, I understand where you're coming from and agree to a certain extent. Like I've said before I am not that good when it come to the actual release time, and in a frantic haste to get these issues resolved I chose the path of just re-uploading it lickety-split and leaving a note in the thread hoping people will see, that and answering pms to those that did not check back to this thread to see if the said issues were brought up and/or fixed once they were encountered...maybe if I DID change the version again, that would have helped with that. But anyways, I'm rambling. Point taken!

EDIT:
Well, another freezing issue was found in a certain house, so I'm going to go ahead and 'update' the version now to 1.4.1 to help avoid confusion and do it right as was suggested. So 1.4.1 is going into the queue now. Again, very sorry for the troubles and thanks for baring with me.

[obscurumlux01]

*snip*

I had a very minor error on my Thornwood Terrors rom hack.  It actually was a beneficial 'error' that made the game significantly easier than intended.
I still updated the version to v1.01 to signify that it is a MINOR bugfix-only update but that it was an update nonetheless.  I even updated the ReadMe to account for this and WHY I updated it.

You cannot reasonably expect people to check the forums for hack-specific updates.  That is a terrible way of doing things.
It is your responsibility as a rom hacker to inform your audience of changes between versions and to update versions even if you change one MINOR thing (or a few minor things) or do some bugfixes or whatever.  Just DO IT without excuses.
All the people who downloaded your rom hack prior to the update are those who may or may not immediately check back for updates.
At least if they do check for updates they will know that an update has been done.  If the version isn't changed then they have no way of knowing outside of reading the forums.

There's a guide here which also links to public versioning standards done by the likes of IBM, Apple, and other companies.

The basic outline is thus: Major.Minor.Revision.Build
Major releases for what you release publically
Minor releases for additional non-bugfix functionality and features in between Major releases
Revision is incremented whenever you fix bugs
Build is generally used internally or ignored for our purposes in romhacking

So if you have v1.4 and then you do some bugfixes then you really should do either v1.4.1 or v1.4.2 or whatever you feel best represents your numbering method.  Pick something and stick with it.

For my next major release of Thornwood Terrors I might bump up the version to v2.0 just because of all the significant changes and updates to just about everything.  What I use as a rule is that if I have more than 10 'minor' changes to the patch then I just bump up the 'major' version number instead.  If I have less than 10 then I just increment the 'minor' number.

[Recca]

This looks like a very well made hack, congratulations on the newest release! I'm definitely looking forward to trying this out soon. There's one thing that I'm curious about though. Is this supposed to be a remake of the original FFVI or an entirely different fan game (story wise) like Fire Emblem - The Last Promise? I'm asking because I haven't tried it yet, but I've seen a gameplay video on youtube that appeared to be FFVI with new characters and scenes, but the same overall plot. I'm not saying that's bad or anything, I'm just curious.

As for the youtube video that I mentioned, it was this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTjPyWrS378

Fire Emblem - The Last Promise (in case anyone is interested in what that is):
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/962/

[Gi Nattak]

Why thank you! It's definitely not a remake of the original FFVI, while it does keep a lot in-tact from the original, it is purely a fan game and that will become painfully obvious the moment you start to play it lol. But yeah, there are a bunch of new scenes (events) and pretty much everything was changed in some way or another, including the characters yes.

[break]

Whew, just checked out this 1.4.1 update and I really enjoyed it extended intro  ^_^" 

But I must say the Cloud and Moogle cave battle was very brutal !! 

Having a boss that can heal 3 times, call for 3 more back-up enemies, and counter every hit...I died about 11 times before resorting to save states to get past that mess. 

But yeah, the difficulty has really been ramped up and I am currently learning how "Limit" works in this game.

[gafugarion]

The funny thing is this version of the hack is actually a lot more balanced and honestly better paced compared to the previous versions.  I had nightmares getting through Ronan's path in previous patches, but this one was a lot more forgiving.  My favorite character Oboro is so much better in this version as well thanks to the Thief Glove working as an on/off switch for Magic/Steal.  Really nice work on that one, makes me pleased.

[Gi Nattak]

Right on! Glad to hear about the balance and pace being better.

So a version 1.4.2 is going to be uploaded today which fixes up what should be the last of the critical issues, as well as some more changes for the better, which I will go ahead and list here in the meantime:

1.4.2

- fixes a possible freeze in the WoR Auction House.
- fixed Aurora, Tifa, & Eiko's natural magic learning via level-up back to working.
- fixes an issue with the Metal Gear enemy in Glow City. (couldn't run away)
- fixed up many formation moulds that looked glitchy on accurate emulators - I had to remove the bat monster from the Guard Leader battle, and a couple other monsters here and there in order to not cause a glitchy mould.
- black Orchid Corporation is now just Black Orchid Empire, no more 'Corporation'.
- brought back 2 pieces of equipment that were unintentionally removed.
- touched up Piranha Plant Lullaby song. (Arc's Theme, some notes were too short)
- touched up Airships song and WoB overworld song bassline. (thanks be to Jackimus!)
- changed up a few Colosseum bets/prizes.
- switched up a few more monsters sprites.
- Ultros's HP does not refresh anymore for the Opera House battle.
- Ultros no longer has soma drops to steal from the Opera House battle.
- put back random encounters (with unique monster) in WoR Figaro Castle Engine Room.
- fixed a spelling issue with the monster spell: Animate Dead.
- fixed up an inconsistency with the sleeping soldier when rescuing Tifa.
- swapped out the Float status Relic Reaper comes with so his class name will show.
- renamed the Reflect??? Lore to Anti-Reflect.
- made easier a bit the monsters in the Odin flashback event.
- Golbez can no longer leave with an esper at the end of the Floating Continent.

1.4.2 will be going into the queue here today, so please be on the lookout and update when possible!  Thanks for playing, and reviews are most welcomed.

[break]

Awesome, I am looking forward to starting over  ^_^" 

It appears I missed some key hidden items at the start of the game. 

Also, I hope the Moogle battle has been balanced a bit more...to me, the level of difficulty in that battle is a bit much for a early boss battle.

* EDIT * 

Really enjoying the rebalancing of the start of the game enemies and bosses. 

Though I am now stuck on the Cloud-Tiffa route...there is a random enemy group pincer attack. 

two crabs and a spider that is halting my progress. 

the crabs, first turn, use a physical attack that does 100% stop on that character...while the spider keeps using a physical attack that does 100% poison on that character. 

since you only have 2 characters in the party...both party members have STOP...so they can not attack/heal/run...the enemies keep attacking until you get a game over screen. 

[Tsal]

God, do I feel stupid. It wasn't a glitch I'd run into at all. Apparently, the Sakura weapon has a hidden effect of replacing the Magic command with the Steal command. My apologies for any confusion I may have caused.

[Gi Nattak]

God, do I feel stupid. It wasn't a glitch I'd run into at all. Apparently, the Sakura weapon has a hidden effect of replacing the Magic command with the Steal command. My apologies for any confusion I may have caused.

Oh no don't feel stupid! This is a mistake actually, the only item that should change Magic to Steal is the Thief Glove. So thanks for bringing this to my attention! I just released v1.4.3, right before I read this >_<
So I may slide this fix-it in and just re-upload, or wait and see if anything else comes up from this version as to release a 1.4.4...although I'd hate to do that for such a small fix, if that's the only issue.

Any event, Merry Christmas! (it's Christmas)

To anyone that might stumble upon this article, version 1.4.5 is the latest. Be sure and update if you haven't, thanks.