While I can't really contribute to any progress in this discussion, I can say I do remember having some small part in that FAQ. It's so long ago, however, that I can really only remember one thing with any clarity. I may or may not have still been on Connectix Virtual Game Station at the time, which really brings me back.
Back then, I was almost certainly still using GameHack for RAM searching and the like. At that point I'd had some experience with hex editing (cut my teeth on Daggerfall) and searching for RAM values. The whole topic of additional hidden content seemed pretty interesting to me, and I thought to myself, "Hey, why not cut to the chase and open the damned door directly?"
So eventually I put together some memory addresses through trial and error. I started by opening other doors in the same map screen and figured out the values for opened and closed. Eventually I found an address that opened *the* door. To my disappointment, it led nowhere.
.... Well, I guess that last sentence could well sum up the whole thing
So I passed along those addresses and the values they held when a door was opened or closed. While they were useless directly (being memory addresses of the emulator application), I figured that'd give Zelda Dude and company a good head start to finding equivalent GameShark codes, and it seems they did find them.
And as for some of those jumbled notes in that FAQ, I have a dusty CCrRooms.txt file that matches those contents exactly. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I *think* I'm the source of "CC90 Start to just before leave for VM w/Guile" through "8 None (also the "room" used from new game until Serge and friends come up the elevator)"
CC90 and such were my .mem save files. Since I tend to keep rather than reuse old ones, I started at CC99 and worked down so that when I had to create/choose a new memcard file I wouldn't have to scroll to the bottom to find it. (Yes, I realize numbering my saved games in reverse chronological order starting at 99 may also be a sad comment about this FAQ's authorship.)
If I'm piecing things together correctly, I probably realized that if the door triggered anything, it would have to involve another map location. So I took advantage of the room location code (once I discovered the equivalent address to my emulator's memory space) to track my location as I started a replay of the game, recording the *decimal* value for the rooms as I went. (Again, GameHack...and being too lazy to convert the number at every turn.)
I probably figured any gaps could be filled in later once all the "ordinary" rooms were clearly labeled. (Yes, I said "clearly." The irony's on the house, folks.) However, I probably did not consider the possibility that an "ordinary" location might have a hidden area, or that a special cutscene could take place in it, which would easily render my efforts useless. But, hell, what's the freshman year of college for if not completely wasting your free time?
Obviously, I got bored in disc 2. Happens every time I replay Chrono Cross. Same thing with disc 4 of FF8. Sorry
Now, I don't want to risk claiming someone else's work by accident (since the file has no author information of any sort), but seeing CC90 through CC83 listed like that, still having a zip file containing CC99 through CC91, and seeing that list of doppelgangs, it strikes me as the sort of scratchpad I'd use during an in-progress game. The doppelgangs, especially, as I always keep a list of acquired ones somewhere. (Honestly, you should see the spreadsheet I'm using to track Veldt encounterables and rages obtained in FF6. I'm a very sad, sad man.)
So, yeah, there's my small part. Helping find the code to open the door and a halfhearted effort to create a comprehensive list of room IDs as I replayed the game. The first contribution was shaped up nicely before it hit the FAQ. The second was pasted directly in. It doesn't really help that CC90 through CC83 actually look like GameShark code values
Now the wonderful part: My mailandnews.com address was canceled through non-usage over a year ago. So here I am, smiling at the awe-inspiring beauty of it. I'm trying to contribute a shred of truth to a morass of rumors and outright lunacy, and I can't even confirm I'm not some random nut just pretending to be Saracoth and adding fuel to the fire. At least you can rest assured I am, regardless of name, a random nut. Word of honor.
EDIT:
Anyone see Zelda Dude's *walkthrough?* "Inspiring?"
*shame*
Anyway, it confirms I was using GameHack and, also, that I am a very, very, very wordy bastage, as you see here. (Also an incredible suckup.) It also means it's much more likely that anything I've said here could have been made up by a passing stranger. Whee! Game rumors are fun
