[PSX SO2] Gauging interest for method to swap in characters - including illegal combos
So what I'm working on is a method to splice in characters in memory using a debugger or hex editor for the original PSX version of Star Ocean: The Second Story. Is there anybody out there like me who still thinks this is the best version of the game? Or does everyone think the PC HD2D remake is the best and this work is moot? I digress.
I'm about halfway mapping out all of the bytes for a non glitchy starting version of each character (except Claude and Rena - because why)? Anyways, I did this fairly successfully to swap in Dias into a Claude Scenario about 15 years ago. Finally recovered what I failed to properly document back then. I know there's gameshark code to swap the byte for which character is in a slot but this is the whole enchilada for each character. So dream layouts of non-glitchy will be entirely possible with their proper starting stats and other mystery bytes in RAM.
What this is not going to be is me creating a tool insert characters dynamically where they're supposed to be - because I frankly don't want to write the byte search routines for a game that uses ASLR to obfuscate. You will need to be comfortable using a debugger or a hex editor.
What I will provide for each character:
- The 112 bytes detailing the first half of the stat block
- The 192 bytes detailing the second half of the stat block
- A map to the best of my reckoning of what each byte does - some are still genuine mysteries but seem to have something to do with the specific character.
- How to find each in memory (each chunk type is clustered and ordered but there are two distinct blocks)
- How to find and modify friendship and romance values
A favor: If there's no interest, just move on and ignore this post. Please don't downvote and mask other's interest. If there is interest please upvote or leave a comment - not karma farming (I don't care TBH) nor do I have some special threshold. You can just leave a comment if you don't want to upvote. Just using it for signal to gauge interest.
If there's a nontrivial amount of interest, I will publish something to GameFAQS. Probably this weekend. I just don't want to go through the effort if no one really cares.