Perpetual Temporal Flux Bug Report / Feature Suggestion Thread

[Zakyrus]

Bugs:
In the event editor:
Command, "Goto" cannot jump from say [9310] to [7326]. There seems to be some kind of bug where the Goto command cannot go up a certain hight.

When editing alot of map files, some of the maps would get overwritten. Also, when editing strings (especially when editing ones where a string index uses multiple locations) and sometimes the strings would get overwritten eleswhere. I know that I am nowhere near using the 2 megs that an expanded ROM has.


Suggestions:
Be able to change the instruments to a particular music track by using events? (I know they are not compressed values)

Operands: Be able to have multiply and divide operands for if statements and mem-val stuff? (this could be an "eventually" feature)

Interface/GUI:
Be able to have any extra tabs that you open automatically be opened for you when you load TF the next time.
Example; You load TF, open up the string editor, do whatever editing you are doing, then save and exit TF. The next time TF is run, it would automatically open the string editor. (this "state restoration" could be easily implemented using some kind of config file, and have some kind of Misc Options control panel that would be able to toggle state restoration on/off.

[Geiger]

In the event editor: Command, "Goto" cannot jump from say [9310] to [7326]. There seems to be some kind of bug where the Goto command cannot go up a certain hight.

This is a game limitation.  Goto uses 8 bit addressing, providing for a maximum range of 0x0100.  There should probably be a write-time warning that tells you this, like with bad labels.

When editing alot of map files, some of the maps would get overwritten. Also, when editing strings (especially when editing ones where a string index uses multiple locations) and sometimes the strings would get overwritten eleswhere. I know that I am nowhere near using the 2 megs that an expanded ROM has.

Examples please.

Be able to change the instruments to a particular music track by using events?

As much as I would like to be able to do this, my current understanding is that this is simply not possible without a significant hack, as all song data is uploaded to the Audio RAM at the same time and there are no event commands that can edit ARAM.

state restoration

This has been on the todo list since before v1.00 came out.  It always gets shifted for more significant features.

---T.Geiger

[Zakyrus]

OK. How about monster stats? Such as HP, attack, EXP and such?

Edit: Never mind. This has been answered.

Oh, as for maps. I edited many map files and then other map files would dissapear or become corrupted. Enhasa is completely gone after spending 2 hours doubling the size of it.




The same goes with strings. I will expand the dialouge by adding alot of strings and strings in other locations will become corrupted.

[Geiger]

Okay, that tells me nothing.  'Something goes wrong sometimes' does not even come close to helping me diagnose the problem.  What are you doing to reach this point?

---T.Geiger

[Zakyrus]

OK. Seeing as I know this is going to happen again. I'll just take notes of everything I modify. Then post here.

Will the ability to dynamically change monster stats ever be considered a feature? And I don't mean have a seperate stat for each individual monster -- no, that would be ludicrous. Instead, just change the stat for the entire monster type, until that memory value is changed to something else. Sort of like a value to mem command.

Also, not be pushy in any way but you have never answered me on the possibility to expand/shrink dialouge boxes. Will this ever be considered?

[Geiger]

Will the ability to dynamically change monster stats ever be considered a feature? And I don't mean have a seperate stat for each individual monster -- no, that would be ludicrous. Instead, just change the stat for the entire monster type, until that memory value is changed to something else.

If you mean just change the monster number, you can already do that with self-modifying code.  Its a bit tricky to maintain, but you just need to point a memory command into the event space.  You should be warned though that the game typically freezes around the eighth sprite load or so after it runs off the edge of VRAM.

expand/shrink dialouge boxes. Will this ever be considered?

Unlikely.

---T.Geiger

[Zakyrus]

So you're saying that with events I could say for examle, have Sir Krawlie's HP changed to some other value and this would change every Sir Krawlie monster's HP to that value?

Would this work for all of their stats including the item they drop/have charmed? That would be awesome to be able to combine with a random number generator, then we could have random item drops inside the battle. Just like FF6. It couldn't possibly be that hard to do.

If not, I already have events that randomly generate an item after the battle ends.

Also, what did you think of my idea to make a "*entire loc" exports catagory at the top of list when chosing to export/import TF export files? "*Entire Loc" being (map, event, treasure, music) all in one export file. That would be almost as good, if not better than batch import.... probably easier to implement too. What do you think of this?

[Geiger]

So you're saying that with events I could say for examle, have Sir Krawlie's HP changed to some other value and this would change every Sir Krawlie monster's HP to that value?

No, I was saying you could alter the sprite loaded while events are running without using if statements.

Also, what did you think of my idea to make a "*entire loc" exports catagory at the top of list when chosing to export/import TF export files?

It was something I considered for v2.00, but was scrapped for some reason that no longer comes to mind.

---T.Geiger

[Chrono'99]

Could there be an option to automatically back up the former ROM when you save the current ROM? i.e. when you save the changes made to a ROM, the former state of the ROM would be copied to a file suffixed with the date (for instance Chronotrigger-2007-04-12-10-40.smc).

This way there would be a backup for every saved modification; this would be useful to prevent corruption, or to investigate said corruption if there is a need to "go back" and see what modifications were made.

[Zakyrus]

Could there be an option to automatically back up the former ROM when you save the current ROM? i.e. when you save the changes made to a ROM, the former state of the ROM would be copied to a file suffixed with the date (for instance Chronotrigger-2007-04-12-10-40.smc).

This way there would be a backup for every saved modification; this would be useful to prevent corruption, or to investigate said corruption if there is a need to "go back" and see what modifications were made.

If this is done, would it be possible for this to be toggle-able in some kind of options window or something? Nice, but I probably wouldn't use it -- I use exports to backup (One location is easier to watch for corruption than say a whole ROM)

[Chrono'99]

Yeah it would have to be an option, since it would get out of hand else if one saves changes a lot and a lot.

[Zakyrus]

Uh, how bout the ability to duplicate and repoint every bit of data in the game... I just found that CT works in SNES9X if you Lunar Expand the ROM to 8MEG 64mbit HiROM....

Twice as much everything would solve everyones' problem of running out of space and it could be cool....

[Vehek]

How about bringing back the ability to use enemies FB-FF?

[JLukas]

I believe $FF is the "enemy not used" flag and won't be able to be used.  $FB-FE should be possible, though.  I'm guessing some special routines used for Magus battles are causing the problem.

[Geiger]

Twice as much everything would solve everyones' problem of running out of space and it could be cool....

You get diminishing returns when expanding to 64 Mb.  48 Mb gives you roughly 148% of original size.  64 Mb gives you about 173% of original size.  You only get to use about half of the extra space.  Furthermore, since its so cut up with (necessary) mirror data, some packets will not fit in it at all.

To summarize, if you've run out of room with 48 Mb and still have tons of stuff planned, 64 Mbit will not help you at all.  If you can almost fit in 48 Mb and only have a location or two to finish, you would probably be better served by going back over what you have completed and trimming some fat.

I am not saying I will never support 64 Mb, I am just pointing out why its not a priority.

---T.Geiger