Scarica Color Restoration Patch Rom Hack

Final Fantasy VI Advance
Color Restoration Patch

Version 1.01
Released on June 10, 2011
Last updated on September 19, 2012

By Novalia Spirit
Contact information: novaliaspirit (AIM and Hotmail)
http://novaliaspirit.99k.org/


Table of contents:
1. Description
2. Version history
3. Acknowledgements
4. Legal disclaimer


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 1. Description
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To accommodate for the undersized, relatively dark monitor of the Game Boy
Advance, a variety of colors in Final Fantasy VI Advance exhibit a higher
degree of saturation than that of the earlier versions. Consequently, the
graphics generally appear brighter, and certain colors diverge significantly
from their original specifications. As such, the purpose of this patch, which
supports all three versions, is to restore the colors to their former state.

Elements whose colors have been restored:
 ? The initial fade-in for particular sequences such as the title screen.
 ? The snowfield and snowflakes from the opening credits.
 ? Blue and yellow text displayed in menus outside of combat.
 ? Various shades of grey for text displayed in menus outside of combat.
 ? Character portraits, including Terra in the form of an esper,
   which originates from the PlayStation installments.
 ? Status icons.
 ? Versus icon from the coliseum.
 ? Character sprites as displayed in menus.
 ? Maps and sprites for locations that do not utilize Mode 7.
 ? Map timer, whose sprites inherited a custom palette.
 ? Palette-oriented map animations, such as that of the river surrounding Doma.
 ? Overworld maps and skies.
 ? Portion of the gradient overlay that covers the sky.
 ? Serpent Trench map and arrows.
 ? Scrolling backgrounds from the mine cart sequence.
 ? Monsters and espers, including the alternate forms of the legendary dragons.
 ? Battle backgrounds.

Elements where no modifications were necessary:
 ? Lightning bolts, clouds, and mountains from the title screen.
 ? Default parameters for fonts and wallpapers.
 ? All menu text, with a few exceptions.
 ? Character sprites as displayed in battle.
 ? Substitute colors for status effects.
 ? Blink indicating enemy action.
 ? Conventional death animation for monsters.
 ? Magitek armor as displayed in battle.
 ? Battle gauges.
 ? Slot reels.
 ? Attack animations.
 ? Evasive actions, including Golem and Interceptor.
 ? Miscellaneous battle graphics: healing and damage numerals, miss
   message, cursors, arrows, character shadows, status animations.
 ? Substitute background colors for the encounter with Chadarnook.
 ? The reaction of Tritoch during the initial encounter.
 ? Overworld sprites, excluding the aforementioned overlay.
 ? Substitute backdrop of the sky for the approach toward Vector.
 ? Scene depicting the emergence of the floating continent.
 ? Closing cinematic to the World of Balance.
 ? Graphics exclusive to the epilogue.
 ? Screen that denotes the conclusion of the narrative.

Elements whose colors have yet to be restored:
 ? The logo from the title screen, as the restoration attempt did not yield the
   intended result; the alpha-blending process is suspected to be the culprit.

Bugs originally present in the game:
 ? As indicated in the following section, a fade-in is achieved by gradually
   increasing color components. Because of imperfections stemming from the
   algorithm, the process is concluded by the direct restoration of the colors.
   Certain events that take place on the overworld, namely the scenes involving
   the Light of Judgment, disregard this final phase, resulting in slightly
   darker images.
 ? Because of a programming error, the palette of Air Force is inherited by
   Missile Bay, thereby resulting in a color scheme that is dominated by
   various shades of red and grey.
 ? As the two forms of Chadarnook interchange, the background colors are
   constantly substituted, many of which persist thereafter. In the portable
   versions, however, the auxiliary shades retain their original configuration,
   permanently forcing the background into a considerably darker state.
 ? To accommodate the various subsystems, three different arrangements of
   character palettes were generated. The first was designed for the battle
   engine and retains its original aspect. The remaining sets, associated with
   maps and menus, appear brighter and exhibit discrepancies, which are
   particularly pronounced in the case of Umaro. The menu palettes in the
   American version were restored to their initial state as an attempt to
   remediate the situation, which fails to address the crux of the issue.

Version differences:
 ? The visual representation of the colors remains consistent between the Super
   Famicom and the Super Nintendo versions. The sole exception lies in the
   lightning bolts from the title screen, which are purple and yellow,
   respectively.
 ? Character portraits seen in the handheld counterparts are slightly smaller.
   As a result, certain colors have become obsolete, additional colors have
   been incorporated, and the internal arrangement of each palette has been
   considerably altered.
 ? A number of monsters in the Game Boy Advance editions no longer share a
   common palette. Each element duplicated for this purpose thus led to a
   corresponding shift in the data.
 ? Another difference pertaining to the handheld releases lies in the fact that
   the absolute degree of brightness is no longer regulated by a hardware
   register. Rather, the colors are adjusted on a real-time basis to achieve an
   analogous effect from which a number of discrepancies arise, as demonstrated
   by the comparatively darker output when gameplay is paused amidst a battle.
 ? The text displayed in the menus outside of combat, as well as the versus
   icon from the coliseum, feature only a single shade of grey in the Game Boy
   Advance versions. The palettes are generated strictly by code.
 ? As a result of the censorship in the European and American adaptations for
   the Game Boy Advance, the palettes for Siren and the female form of
   Chadarnook were restored to their original state. It should also be noted
   that while the distinction is indiscernible, Siren exhibits a palette with a
   radically different arrangement.

Supplementary patches:
 ? Lightning: Converts the purple color of the lightning bolts from the title
   screen into yellow. Refer to the preceding list for the rationale underlying
   this modification.
 ? Monster: By reversing the process that served to lighten preexisting
   monsters and espers, this patch attempts to emulate the restoration for
   those newly introduced, which includes Enkidu. Because of the slightly
   inaccurate nature of the reversal process, certain liberties had to be
   taken.
 ? Animation: By reversing the process that served to lighten preexisting
   monsters and espers, this patch attempts to emulate the restoration for new
   attack animations. Only the following elements of such animations refrain
   from utilizing an existing palette: needles fired by Gigantuar, weapons of
   Gilgamesh, spheres and bats accompanying Diabolos.

Supplementary patches that have yet to be created:
 ? A patch that improves the gradient effects for the menus, the world maps,
   etc. While these are not colors per se, their effect is sufficiently
   pronounced to warrant an intervention.


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 2. Version history
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Version 1.01:
- Restored the various shades of grey for the field menus and the versus icon
  from the coliseum. Updated the description accordingly.


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 3. Acknowledgements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

erokky, for his invaluable assistance with proofreading and for proposing a
substantial number of improvements with respect to the description.


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 4. Legal disclaimer
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The contents of this document cannot be reproduced without the written consent
of the author, unless for personal purposes. Permission to distribute the files
included in the archive is granted exclusively to www.romhacking.net.

? 2011, 2012 Jame Coban. All rights reserved.