ROM Hacks: What Lies Within?

[RHDNBot]

Update By: chillyfeez

40 years after the events of Final Fantasy IV, The Blue Planet is in a time of international peace.

The power of the crystals has faded since the departure of the second moon, and mankind is learning to establish a society based on its own skill an ingenuity.
Without the Water Crystal and its connection to the moon, the world's black mages experienced a surprising loss of power, until a renowned sorcerer discovered discovered the means to draw power from the True Moon.
Without the Air Crystal, and since the passing of Cid Pollendina, airship travel has become untenable, yet a young engineer toils late at night by candlelight in pursuit of new solutions.
With the loss of the Fire Crystal, the hovercraft has become nonfunctional, thus stifling international relations between Damcyan and the surrounding nations. Still, the desert kingdom has become a notable tourist destination, having cultivated appreciation of the arts, and having developed a new drink that is gaining international popularity.
As the Earth Crystal's power faded, so did the world's chocobo sanctuaries. Frightened and threatened, the chocobos now run wild with monsters... except those found and rescued by an emerging group of caring rangers.

In spite of how difficult travel has become the world has turned to ocean travel, and seaports have emerged to connect the nations. By sea travel, mankind has managed to continue international communication and cooperation. At the heart of all this is the kingdom of Eblan. King Edge, the visionary maverick, has repurposed his country's proclivity in ninjutsu in order to help keep peace between nations - and earn plenty of money for Eblan - with the Royal Eblana Mercenary Army (REMA). Quick, powerful and discrete, these highly trained warriors travel the world to provide defense and aid to those in need - for a price, of course.
In this pursuit, a young ninja named Furio has come of age and is completing his training. He shows great promise, as well he should - he is the son of none other than Edge himself! Along with his notable skill, however, Furio has inherited his father's attitude, and is still learning to control his impulses.

Our story opens on Furio as he completes his training and receives his first official mission: to quell a monster uprising in the nearby village of Agart. But could this seemingly routine assignment carry implications of a darker, more sinister force at play?


Final Fantasy II: A Threat from Within is an all-new chapter in the world of Final Fantasy IV (FFIIUS) - and a project many years in the making. Using the engine of FFIIUS as a base, an entirely new game has been created, starring a cast of characters ranging from familiar to brand new, and spanning locations as yet unexplored in addition to those that will feel like a return home.
For those who have played Final Fantasy IV, the gameplay will feel like a familiar experience, but many new elements have been introduced, including:
- All new story
- All new characters with new battle abilities
- Enhancements to existing abilities, including weapons that cast spells with the Fight command, ninja scrolls available with the Throw command, unique rare item steals from boss monsters, upgrades to the White magic spell set - white mages aren't just for curing anymore, an improved selection of Twincast spells available to a certain duo of wizards, and a vastly improved Salve for bards, repositioning them as extremely valuable allies in combat
- notable improvements to equipment selection, and a weapon/armor information screen to help the player understand them
- Hirable mercenary characters, offering a notable variety of gameplay experience
- "Epic Choices," decisions the player can make during the course of the game to affect how events progress
- A "Cache" system of item storage, which mitigates the limitations of FFIV's inventory management
- Chocobo hunting on the field, allowing the player to ride a chocobo when one is successfully caught
- Chocobo time trials, a minigame with progressive rewards
- A fully functional ATB meter, which can be toggled from the menu or during battle
- Limit skills, which offer each character an extra ability that can be the difference maker in tough situations
- And much, much more!


This is Part 1 of (probably) 4. A full playthrough will take anywhere from 4 to 10 hours, depending on the player's tendency to tackle sidequests and enjoy the scenery.

Give it a try! If you are a fan of SNES-era Final Fantasy, you will not be disappointed.
Discussion topics are available on the RHDN forum as well as on discord (see RHDN discussion for the link).

RHDN Project Page

Relevant Link

[StratosVX]

I haven't had much time to play this yet, but what I have played has been pretty good (I've only completed the first quest of the game). I'm hoping it keeps the same pace as what I've played so far. Thank you!

[chillyfeez]

Hey, thanks, StratosVX! Glad you're enjoying it so far!

[davidvinc]

This looks very nice, but I couldn't get it to work. I tried 2 different FF4 roms that I have sitting around and both Bsnes and Zsnes - all I got was a black screen every time.

[telmo]

This is awesome!

By the way, you wrote "discovered" twice.

[chillyfeez]

This looks very nice, but I couldn't get it to work. I tried 2 different FF4 roms that I have sitting around and both Bsnes and Zsnes - all I got was a black screen every time.

Black screen after the title screen? The new game intro starts with just a gong sound over 10-15 seconds of a black screen. On purpose.

[StratosVX]

Have you started the other parts or are they just tentatively planned right now?

[BurningTyger]

Obviously this will clash with TAY.

[davidvinc]

No, just a black screen. No title screen whatsoever.

[chillyfeez]

No, just a black screen. No title screen whatsoever.

Ah - then it is, like you said, probably not the right version. First thing I'd check is header/no header. The included patch is for a ROM with no header. Windows (assuming you're a windows user) will say that the ROM is 1024 KB (it will say 1025 for a ROM with a header).
If you search for the utility "TUSH" on RHDN, that program will identify if the ROM has a header and will facilitate removing it if it does.
Using version 1.0 instead of 1.1 will probably also be a problem, though you'd likely be able to still see the title screening that case.
Beyond that, it gets more complicated. There are lots of edited versions of FFIV out there. I think there are utilities that exists to check the various identifiers provided in the "ROM information" section of the project page, but I'm afraid I haven't really used them.
November 03, 2020, 12:52:48 PM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)

Have you started the other parts or are they just tentatively planned right now?

Mostly the latter. Part 2 should get started soon-ish. My life is a little crazy right now, though, so I don't know how long soon-ish is.
November 03, 2020, 12:55:10 PM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)

Obviously this will clash with TAY.

Clash in what way? I am taking its existence into account as I develop the story. There are characters in TfW who were originally introduced in TAY. That being said, I am proudly "Rian Johnsoning" the FFIV universe. You'll know what I mean to some extent when you play part 1, but it gets so much better later.

[davidvinc]

I downloaded a third rom and patched it, yet again and I finally got the title screen up. Then I got a black screen again. I let the game sit there for over 5 minutes and nothing happened. I was going to make a video about your patch, similar to some other videos that I've made highlighting some cool hacks, but I'm officially done trying to make it work now.

[akualung]

I downloaded a third rom and patched it, yet again and I finally got the title screen up. Then I got a black screen again. I let the game sit there for over 5 minutes and nothing happened. I was going to make a video about your patch, similar to some other videos that I've made highlighting some cool hacks, but I'm officially done trying to make it work now.

might be the emulator you're using? or the patching program?  I've downloaded a rom with "rev 1" on the title and, on windows 7 snes9x it has worked first try. i've patched it with lunarIps. If you want, I can send you my patched rom via mail and you try it. that way we can test it with a rom that works for sure and rule out a patching error etc

[SunGodPortal]

This looks very nice, but I couldn't get it to work. I tried 2 different FF4 roms that I have sitting around and both Bsnes and Zsnes - all I got was a black screen every time.

I downloaded a third rom and patched it, yet again and I finally got the title screen up. Then I got a black screen again. I let the game sit there for over 5 minutes and nothing happened. I was going to make a video about your patch, similar to some other videos that I've made highlighting some cool hacks, but I'm officially done trying to make it work now.

Well, the ROM info says to use a Final Fantasy II ROM (Final Fantasy II (USA) (Rev 1) - CRC32: 23084FCD), not a Final Fantasy IV ROM. Work smarter, not harder.

...

On another note, nice to see you finished this, Chilly. I know you've been working on it for a long time. I'll have to check it out next time I'm playing some SNES.

[chillyfeez]

On another note, nice to see you finished this, Chilly. I know you've been working on it for a long time. I'll have to check it out next time I'm playing some SNES.

Hey thanks, SunGodPortal. Nice to hear from you, too. Of course I'd be interested to hear your thoughts if and when you get the chance to play.

[Jalen Washington]

So I beat the game, but I'm afraid I'm a bit confused about certain plot details. One of the pieces of lore is that after the departure of the True Moon from TAY, mages lost their connection to magic because they had always gotten their magic from Earth's second moon (the Red Moon in Final Fantasy IV, the True Moon in TAY). However, at the end of Final Fantasy IV, the Red Moon leaves Earth after the Lunarians went off in search of other planets to go, yet people could still use magic just fine in the intervening years (and we know this because the characters could still use magic in The Interlude from the Complete Collection, and every character uses magic just fine before the True Moon arrives in TAY proper, and no one comments about the magic being tied to the moons prior). I can sort of see why this got added to tie into one of the game's themes of the world getting broken down after decades of strife and gradually rebuilding from scratch, it's just that it doesn't make sense when compared to any of the prior games' story.

Another issue I have is that

Spoiler

people are way too eager to assume that the Eidolons are sound of mind. Sure, they may not be mindless husks like when the Maenads controlled them in TAY, but just because they're perfectly capable of carrying out a conversation doesn't mean they're doing all this out of their free will. I get that the game's trying to stress that something else is going on, it'd just be better if this idea was presented in a more organic way, like people being unsure if that's really the case until Rydia can confirm for herself they're not being brainwashed.

[close]

Other than that, I think the game's okay. I would prefer if the LV of the Mercenary was spread among every mercenary (It'd be weird to be LV 35, but have to lug around a Lv 15 Dwarf or something in the future), and the difficulty curve is questionable, but I still got through it okay. I have no idea what to think of the twist at the end, since the game isn't completed yet, but I'm sure the conclusion of that thread's been planned out already. Oh yeah, and I know who the Boss is, but I'm not gonna spoil it.