General question re: CT hacking

[Duneflower]

I've been a Chrono fan for years now and am only now starting to think seriously about trying to implement an idea I've been kicking around for a couple of years. My question is this: Would it be even remotely possible with the tools available to completely revamp the battle-engine - that is, for example, make CT battles run like CX battles? Or would this pretty much require a whole new build?

[ZeaLitY]

It would require ASM hacking. Which is possible, but it's going to take serious devotion to learn ASM. I don't know much about it at all, so you might be able to learn more at romhacking.net's forums.

[justin3009]

As Zeality said.  The farthest we've ever gotten to edit really anything in battle and the menu's was re-arranging where everything goes.

[Chrono'99]

"CX" battles?

[utunnels]

"CX" battles?

X = Cross

[Duneflower]

It would require ASM hacking. Which is possible, but it's going to take serious devotion to learn ASM. I don't know much about it at all, so you might be able to learn more at romhacking.net's forums.

Mmmmh...any clue how difficult that would be compared to building from scratch?

Actually, I think I can answer my own question there: Graphics scare me. >.<

Btw, awesome av. ^.^

[Mauron]

As a person with ASM hacking and other programming experience, trust me, building it from scratch would be much easier, even if graphics scare you.

This is part of the ASM code used by the game to display tech descriptions.

Code: [Select]

Disassembly:
$C2/57EE B7 0D LDA [$0D],y[$CC:3A0B] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVmxdizc
$C2/57F0 85 31 STA $31    [$00:0231] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVmxdizc
$C2/57F2 A9 00 00 LDA #$0000 A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVmxdizc
$C2/57F5 E2 20 SEP #$20 A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVmxdizc
$C2/57F7 A5 0F LDA $0F    [$00:020F] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/57F9 85 33 STA $33    [$00:0233] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/57FB 64 30 STZ $30    [$00:0230] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/57FD A5 14 LDA $14    [$00:0214] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/57FF C9 02 CMP #$02 A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5801 D0 04 BNE $04    [$5807] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5803 A9 00 LDA #$00 A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5805 80 02 BRA $02    [$5809] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5807 A9 08 LDA #$08 A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5809 85 34 STA $34    [$00:0234] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/580B A5 14 LDA $14    [$00:0214] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/580D 10 02 BPL $02    [$5811] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/580F 64 34 STZ $34    [$00:0234] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5811 A9 04 LDA #$04 A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5813 85 15 STA $15    [$00:0215] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5815 A2 00 02 LDX #$0200 A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5818 86 3D STX $3D    [$00:023D] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/581A A9 00 LDA #$00 A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/581C 85 3F STA $3F    [$00:023F] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/581E 64 17 STZ $17    [$00:0217] A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5820 2B PLD A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5821 28 PLP A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
$C2/5822 6B RTL A:0002 X:0010 Y:0002 P:enVMxdizc
Scary, right?

Edit: That is of course comparing it to a high level programming language.

[Duneflower]

Meh...not really, apart from the fact that I've no clue what it means. That's what...two-dozen lines? Doesn't look that bad, and being clueless can be remedied with relative ease.

FYI, I've been fiddling with Python some recently, compiling a CIV mod.

[Mauron]

Well, it was supposed to look scary. That's just the obvious part I found by setting a read breakpoint on the pointer to the tech description.

Python is a very different language. It's made to be interpreted by humans, and is later compiled into machine code. ASM is machine code. You have a lot more flexibility with the former.

[Agent 12]

I really hope that looks scary to you .....python vs assembly isn't even comparable.

--JP

[Duneflower]

O, for sure, and I wasn't trying to compare the two - I'm just saying that it's very difficult to scare me with code anymore - especially code like that, as it looks rather orderly, which suggests that it wouldn't be hard to interpret once I understand how it works.

[FaustWolf]

If the Xenogears battle system could somehow be transferred to Chrono Cross, I would cry tears of utter joy. I wonder if it's possible to excise one game's battle system and just shoop it into another game...much easier said than done of course.