Quick Questions

[Ranigad]

Alright so I was messing around with ZOLE earlier, specifically the chest portion of it, and I stumbled into a few issues. The first was that every time I made an edit in ZOLE and I saved, I had to re-enter the script for the item-unfreeze in the chest reader thing. Is there any way to make it permanent or do I have to update it every time I change the rom?

Second question. So I made two chests on one map but I couldn't figure out a way to edit the two chests. Instead what happened was that both chests gave me the same item (the level 1 wooden sword) and whenever I left and re-entered the map, the chest that was not in the position that corresponded with the one set in the chest editor would reset itself and give me another wooden sword. So is there a way to program in two chests on one map and have them give different things and how would I do so?

Third question. How do you make your own chests without "borrowing" ones from other maps?

Fourth question. I was wondering if anyone could explain how to utilize the codes on the list of codes site, there are some who's meanings are unclear (to me at least) and some who I don't know how to write out. Specifically, I'm interested in making a short cutscene or something like in Ages on map 2 (where the black box appears with text) and then on map 3 (where you meet possessed Impa and the octoroks run away).

Final Question. I got everything to work in terms of chests and, out of curiosity, I edited a map and made it so I could go to Tingle with a sword and a roc's feather. After I popped his balloon and spoke with him, everything went smoothly until I received the treasure map. Then, after the dialogue was over, the game froze (like when I didn't chest script thing). Does this mean that I have to unfreeze every single item if I want to gain access to it?

Bolded the questions to help people avoid my long winded story telling.
Thanks for help in advance!

[Lin]

1. Read the first question here: http://zeldahacking.ulmb.com/index.php?topic=6.0

2. You can only have one chest on one map. That's how the game works.

3. You don't. There's a patch automatically applied to the overworlds though. Map 0 should have 30 extra chests in each overworld group.

4. ZOSE just takes practice. Follow the skeleton script provided in ZOSE.html and look at Fatories's tutorial.

5. Unfreezing only works for chests at this point unless you can use a hex editor.

[Ranigad]

Some of the answers didn't really help xP So i'll reword my questions.

1) Is there any way to make the ZOCF changes permanent or do I have to re-edit the items with ZOCF everytime I save a change on ZOLE?

2) Thanks

3) So there's no way at all?

4) Well there are some scripts offered on ZOSE.html that I have no clue how to use. For example, how do I use "showtext"? Fatories doesn't really incorporate all of the scripts into his tutorial (even though he does give good explanations on the ones he does use) so I'm stumped. Also, could you explain how to make a cutscene or should I figure that out on my own?

5) So as of right now, I can't have NPCs give items unless I have a hex editor (whatever that is)?

[Fatories]

1) Is there any way to make the ZOCF changes permanent or do I have to re-edit the items with ZOCF everytime I save a change on ZOLE?

What we are trying to get at here, is that your doing something wrong. The changes are supposed to be permanent and only done once. What you are most likely doing (somehow) is opening the ZOLE and loading your ROM, then proceeding to open ZOCF with the same ROM. You then are probably doing the chest fix, everything correct but you go back into ZOLE which is now loaded with the old copy of the ROM without the chest fix and saving. This causes an overwrite on your chest fix, rendering it useless. Try opening the ROM in ZOCF and make sure there is no ZOLE window whatsoever opened. ZOLE also has a launch feature that prevents this from happening so you should try that as well.

3) So there's no way at all?

While there is no way to actually make your own chests, Lin has so graciously created a patch in which each over world gained 30 extra chests. Those 30 chests are located all on map zero. Basically with 30 new chests on the over world there is hardly a need to even make your own chests.

4) Well there are some scripts offered on ZOSE.html that I have no clue how to use. For example, how do I use "showtext"? Fatories doesn't really incorporate all of the scripts into his tutorial (even though he does give good explanations on the ones he does use) so I'm stumped. Also, could you explain how to make a cutscene or should I figure that out on my own?

at the compliment, but you're correct I really only go ever simple things in that starting tutorial. Not to say there isnt other simple stuff, a lot of it really is, it's just confusing at first. I may plan on doing a more in-depth tutorial on other things in the future. As for the cutscene that involves to much explaining for me to really go about showing what you can do and stuff, which to be honest I just dont want to do right now.

5) So as of right now, I can't have NPCs give items unless I have a hex editor (whatever that is)?

Yeah, more or less.

[Gamma 31]

Yeah, more or less.

What if you use the Giveitem command in a custom script?

[Fatories]

What if you use the Giveitem command in a custom script?

That's not an NPC giving an item though, thats just a script to give the player an item :p

[Gamma 31]

Or perhaps you could use checktext, then have the item spawn next to the NPC once they're done talking? It's not the same, but...

[Mue]

You could sorta do this to imply an NPC is giving you an item.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_de-_91vkA

[Jigglysaint]

Truth is, this is begging for a proper chest editor.  Certain items in the game have different sub ID's which determine how an item is acquired.  Keys, for example, have 4 sub ID's that control how the keys appear.  The first one is just plain, and is the kind that npc's woud use to give an item.  The second makes the key appear with a little poof cloud.  The third makes the key fall from the ceiling, and the last one makes a key come out of a chest.  If you open a chest and the item is not set to come out of a chest, then the game will freeze as the game is waiting for you to acquire the item.  The chest fixer is nice, but what if you want a previously chest held item to be given or found on the ground?

Here's how the chest data works:  In oracle of Ages, the address is at 59332.  Item entry 00, which is blank, has 00 00 FF 00 set.  If you look to the right of that(each item is grouped into 4 bytes), you will see item 01 has 80 BE 54 00.  When an item uses a subID, the main list will contain a pointer to a small list of that data(also 4 bytes each).  If not, then it will define the item where it stands and the subID won't be important.  The actual item data format itself is simple.  The first byte is the control code that controls how the item appears.  This is the byte the chest fixer works with, but it only turns non-chest items into chest items.

Let's look at the item data for the key, which has the subID's start at 596D6:  For subID 00, which is a plain key(plain as in just appears), the first byte is set to 18.  This tells the game that the item does not sound the item get sfx, nor does it pause the game or make Link hold it up.  It does tell the game to set 20 in the room flag data and to make the regular item pickup sfx when gotten.  The next byte is used for the items level.  On items that have levels, or add quantities to your inventory, this byte tells the game how much to increase a specific memory address by.  The third byte is the text byte, and if set to FF, means no text is displayed.  The final byte is the item sprite ID.

The first byte uses flags for the different attributes such as if it falls from the ceiling or comes out of a chest.  I'll have to experiment in order to remember them all.  There is one more piece of crucial data that chest editors would want to know, and that's how items actually give you items.  I forget where it's located though.