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I have been using the Tools > Cheats Manager > Cheat Search in Dolphin 3.5 x64 to find Action Replay codes for Infinite HP and MP in battle, mostly as an exercise for my personal benefit. At this point, I have found codes for the first, third and fifth party member slots:

Code:
Infinite HP 1
025ac526 0000270f
Infinite MP 1
025ac5a2 000003e7

Infinite HP 2
025ad286 0000270f
Infinite MP 2
025ad302 000003e7

Infinite HP 3
025abe76 0000270f
Infinite MP 3
025abef2 000003e7

Infinite HP 4
025ad936 0000270f
Infinite MP 4
025ad9b2 000003e7

Infinite HP 5
025acbd6 0000270f
Infinite MP 5
025acc52 000003e7

An anomaly has arisen regarding the "Infinite HP 5" code, which aims to lock the fifth party member's current HP value at 9999. When encountering a random battle in the Mythril Grotto (the very first dungeon of Ceodore's chapter), the game has a seemingly random chance of freezing up before the battle transition. Interestingly, this error can still occur even if the code is deactivated afterwards. I was wondering if any one with a higher degree of knowledge into code finding and this game could provide any useful insight into how to prevent this issue. Thank you.
The first thing you can try is to use a more recent build ( Download Page ).

Also assuming you've already played the game without cheats you obviously didn't get these freezes before right? So it might simply be an issue with cheats. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it does not. Sometimes it may cause issues.
If you did get these freezes before then it's another problem.
Thanks, but I'm already using the latest stable version of the emulator. What this communicates to me is that I should expect these sorts of technical difficulties in the development versions which are not guaranteed stable.

The nature of the codes, which only alter one address, give me no reason to imagine why they should have such a profound effect upon the whole functionality of the game. I can only imagine that there is some link between the fifth party member's current HP value and battle generation, but I cannot fathom what this relationship is to any decisive conclusion. Further boggling is how a later address--the fifth character's MP value--has no such errors associated with it. I can't imagine why drawing the fifth character's current HP value is any different than the first or third's. The fifth character's current HP variable is stored an equal distance away from the fifth character's MP variable to either the first or third's HP and their corresponding MP.
(05-10-2013, 02:38 AM)GreenBanana Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks, but I'm already using the latest stable version of the emulator. What this communicates to me is that I should expect these sorts of technical difficulties in the development versions which are not guaranteed stable.

Actually when I suggested you to use a more recent build I meant latest "Development versions". So you should try one of them Smile
Well, if you insist, I'll give it a try, but it would seem to me that a developmental version would be more prone to potential errors. Hence the "in progress" gist of it.

As a sidebar, I haven't had any issues with using save states in this game. Does anyone have more elaborate experiences with save states "not working properly"?
(05-10-2013, 03:04 AM)GreenBanana Wrote: [ -> ]Well, if you insist, I'll give it a try, but it would seem to me that a developmental version would be more prone to potential errors. Hence the "in progress" gist of it.

You didn't answer: Did you get freezes before using cheats? If you did then recent builds can help you.


(05-10-2013, 03:04 AM)GreenBanana Wrote: [ -> ]As a sidebar, I haven't had any issues with using save states in this game. Does anyone have more elaborate experiences with save states "not working properly"?

You've never mentioned savestates. But this might also be the source of your problem. Savestates sometimes cause issues
(05-10-2013, 03:17 AM)LordVador Wrote: [ -> ]
(05-10-2013, 03:04 AM)GreenBanana Wrote: [ -> ]Well, if you insist, I'll give it a try, but it would seem to me that a developmental version would be more prone to potential errors. Hence the "in progress" gist of it.
You didn't answer: Did you get freezes before using cheats? If you did then recent builds can help you.
(05-10-2013, 03:04 AM)GreenBanana Wrote: [ -> ]As a sidebar, I haven't had any issues with using save states in this game. Does anyone have more elaborate experiences with save states "not working properly"?
You've never mentioned savestates. But this might also be the source of your problem. Savestates sometimes cause issues
  • I didn't get freezes before using cheats. I don't get freezes without using the cheats.
  • I didn't use save states before the freezes occurred.
  • The latest build shows the same exact issues as before.
Therefore, we can conclude that blaming the game itself or save states would be a digression to this investigation. The issue that remains, then, is that having a "locked" state on the fifth party member's current HP variable somehow has an effect upon transitioning into some random battle.

Thus far, I had previously discerned that this may only affect certain enemy formations, but have had an instance of encountering the suspect enemy formation without the game freezing.
(05-10-2013, 03:59 AM)GreenBanana Wrote: [ -> ]we can conclude that blaming the game itself or save states would be a digression to this investigation

I agree. The game itself hasn't to be blamed. It works fine and I've never got any issue (it's one of the rare WiiWare games I've got).

For savestates I just indicated they might cause issues. You're likely to encounter an issue one day Tongue .


(05-10-2013, 03:59 AM)GreenBanana Wrote: [ -> ]The issue that remains, then, is that having a "locked" state on the fifth party member's current HP variable somehow has an effect upon transitioning into some random battle.

Thus far, I had previously discerned that this may only affect certain enemy formations, but have had an instance of encountering the suspect enemy formation without the game freezing.

So it's probably due to the "cheat" itself
Indeed. I find it a bit awkward for a single current HP value to have this sort of impact, but it shall have to remain off and my curiosity unsated until a solution has been found. I admit I have only a rudimentary understanding of code manipulation to the point of searching for and isolating this value and using the given software to lock it. Perhaps I could find some forum that's more code-oriented, with a grain of salt. I'll go look for one when available (although if any human recommendations are given, it would certainly expedite trawling through gibberish search results for a couple of hours).

Incidentally, I also tried ArtMoney just for kicks, but it couldn't even find the updated value. I'm sure there is a world of reasons for this, but I'm content to stick to Dolphin's built-in functionality.

A further development reveals that departing from the Red Wings' airship to the overworld after Biggs has left the party (but not Wedge) while the fifth party member's MP has been locked also freezes up the game. Fascinating. What are the fifth party member's values being used for? Also, either the HP or MP codes for either the second of fourth party member slots also can lead to unexpected freeze-ups. Upon having gotten around to searching code addresses for all five party members' current HP and MP values, it seems they go in this order of character from top to bottom: 3, 1, 5, 2, 4. Each HP address is spaced 1712 addresses apart (6B0 for a hexidecimal calculator). MP addresses are located 124 (7C) addresses after the corresponding HP address.

05/21/2013 Update: Edge's tale is especially screwed up for this. While the 9999 HP/999 MP codes generally work for other tales during the Challenge Dungeon portions, when the game switches team members during event scenes, these addresses are pointlessly swapped out for completely different addresses altogether, which the Cheat Search evidently cannot watch for. Things get bizarre during Edge's tale, where the aforementioned codes can have inexplicable affects on graphics and even crash Dolphin completely. I don't understand why this happens. I don't understand why one specific address would affect so many other seemingly random facets of the game's programming. I don't understand how we're meant to use the Cheat Search to circumvent these bizarre issues. I don't understand how to get the characters' current HP and MP values to stay at the prescribed values without random affects transpiring in unrelated areas of the game's code. Why should in-battle HP and MP affect splash screen graphics, menu graphics, stability during map and battle transitions, and so forth? I thought I'd followed instructions on using the Cheat Search.

The Gecko codes seem to arbitrarily reassign control settings, and the Inf MP in Battle code does not apply to using Bands.
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