[FE8] Sacred Echoes [v1.1] [COMPLETE]

[tea]

Please keep me updated.

[CJDarkSoulCJ]

Hi, I just downloaded your hack since it looks great and I downloaded the newest patch (the one you release on December 6th). For some reason whenever I initiate the first fight the game restarts once I finish taking an action (be it by skipping turn, have Gray or Tobin talk to Kliff to recruit him or have Alm talk with Faye and Kliff to recruit them both).

I really don’t see this problem happening to anyone else in here but do you happen to know why this could be happening?

[FoxBluereaver]

Tried it on the latest version of the emulator and it still happens. Always when I clear a chapter, but it goes away by resetting the game.

[HyperGammaSpaces]

I made a typo in the Dec 6 patch that caused that and didn’t realize my error until I got home from work the next day. If you patch a clean FE8 with the Dec 7 release (or newer), you will be able to progress.

[HyperGammaSpaces]

I finally figured out what caused this and it is now fixed! The Dec. 9 patch I just uploaded includes this fix.

tl;dr explanation

There’s 4 palettes used for the worldmap image in FE8, while the Sacred Echoes map only needs 1 palette. The palette information is stored to a buffer which is also used for spell animation graphics, and the game reads too far past that buffer when trying to look at the bottom of the map since it’s so much taller now, and starts reading leftover garbage. When resetting the game, the buffer is cleared and set to all zeroes, which happens to line up with the value for “use map palette #1” and it looks fine. So I just made it skip the part where it reads that buffer because I only ever need map palette #1 anyway.

[CJDarkSoulCJ]

I see, thank you very much for the quick responde. I really have been itching to play EoV since it came out and I’m glad I’ll to play it!

[FoxBluereaver]

Tested it now, and it works perfectly. Thanks very much!

[ReturnOfTheBlackKnight]

What’s the name of Berkut’s final map theme ? In original version of SoV, if I remember correctly, it was ‘Praise the despair’. I can’t seem to find it in the sound room.

[HyperGammaSpaces]

It’s an arrangement of “The Scions’ Dance in Purgatory” by Uzel. It was originally the battle theme for that map, but I use it for both the map theme and the battle theme here.

Semi-related, but a PSA on music insertion:

Sequenced music, like that of the NES, SNES, GBA, and some DS games, can be inserted into a GBAFE hack fairly easily these days, thanks to the music insertion tools the community has developed or ported. However, because SoV uses pre-recorded music instead of sequenced music, it isn’t possible to port every original track from SoV without either:

1. someone on MuseScore (who are usually trained professionals or dedicated music students) having liked the song enough to have made a transcription of the song as sheet music, which typically takes significant effort on our part to rearrange and format as a GBA-compatible MIDI, or
2. me or one of my music team volunteering our time to spend several days, minimum, listening to the song over and over, piece-by-piece, to transcribe it to a MIDI sequence for use on the GBA.

Thus, we have made some judgment calls on what is worth that time commitment, and some tracks unfortunately did not make the cut. This late into development, I don’t plan on inserting any more tracks without a MIDI sequence provided with the request. I apologize for any dissonance this may cause, and I hope the substitutions I have made where necessary don’t detract from the experience of the game.

[FoxBluereaver]

Apologies for throwing more work so close to Christmas, but for some reason the paths after clearing the Mila Temple and the Sluice maps did not open, and I can’t progress any further.

The only thing I did differently here was that I grinded Fernand until he promoted to Paladin, and I unlocked the Rise of the Deliverance extra chapter (I assume that’s the specific requirement?), but I don’t know if that had to do with it, since they always opened without issue in previous playthroughs.

Here’s the saved file (issue is happening on the first save slot):

Fire Emblem - Sacred Echoes (EN).sav

[HyperGammaSpaces]

I found a fix for this, please download the Dec. 16 patch. It’s not the most elegant solution, but after all the ways this particular bug has popped back up, it will make absolutely sure that bug stops happening. You should see the paths get drawn as soon as you restart the chapter.

[Mr.PlayThrough]

I finally finished it!!! After putting it off sonce the August patch, I finally finished the storyline. I must say, I love the game so much I was hoping there were some additional chapters XD

Units Feedback (just the ones I used most of the chapters other than the main characters):

• my go to sword wielder in Alm’s side, despite his pitiful growth rates, I managed to raise him into someone who one-rounds most witch bosses after promoting him into a Dreadfighter( oh the struggle I went through just for him to get this stats, I had to max his Villager level Mercenary level and myrmidon level in order gor him to have these stats, not to mention the 9-10 level ups where he did not gain any stat at all) but he was worth it as he is the only unit in Alms route that can tank magic damage ( I dunno why the Res growth rates are so pitifully low even with mages and clerics)

-ahh my guy Python, my walking artillery, I did nit struggle much with this guy since I got a Holy Bow early into the game which was a huge blessing, critting almost everything he has in his range

• Delthea! the Est of Alm’s route, high growth rates as well as extremely accurate, cant say much about this girl, although I did bench her for a few chapters since I got low on Holy Rings and her starting spells takes a huge chunk off of her already low HP pool, but after getting a healing ring, she proceeded to demolish enemies on each map (magic seems to be really OP on this game since almost all enemies have really low Res, except for Dreadfighters)

• Lucas and Forsyth, my walking tanks! I gave each a Duma Pike as well as silver shields and a Duma charm and they just stopped receiving damage, i just made sure to keep them away from arcanists and witches and they did their job with flying colors

• the Eccentric Mage, Luthier! I struggled with this one on the earlier chapters since he is my only mage that deals decent magic damage (i did promote Faye into a priestess but cant really rely on her with her single digit stats other that healing), but he took off and started destroying enemies with Delthea after getting his hands on the Speed Ring since speed is his only glaring weakness

• Est, she only had those stats since I only decided to use her on the last 5 chapters on Celica’s route but deym her stat growtg is just nuts

• mah boi Kamui, had higher stats that Gray despite still being a myrmidon speaks for itself on how insane this guy’s growths are, and after getting his hands on a Mercurius, he just became this OP guy who crits left and right

• my MVPs, Saber and Silque, Saber speaks for himself with those stats, but Silque is just a lifesaver, I wouldn’t be able to get most of the chests without her Warp which is just extremely useful on every situation

All in all, I love the game, I just hope you buff the units on Alm’s route a bit, I really struggled with his route due to the poor units, I’m not sure if this is just me but thats what I think… I hope we get to play another hack of yours since this one is really awesome!

[Aeroponce]

Agree, alm’s units are a bit difficult to use and you have to make some serious gymnastics to beat some levels, but close to the endgame everyone started snowballing like crazy and by the time i noticed i reached the end with some solid units

[CJDarkSoulCJ]

Finished playing the whole game last Saturday and it was great. Is the last map glitched or is it meant to just maintain a small amount of enemies at all times? If so it is rather difficult to get the Nomah/Mycen and Clive/Jesse supports.

[HyperGammaSpaces]

Normal mode nerfs the (frankly insane) amount of Mogall and Witch reinforcements that were present in the original map. They are present in the Hard Mode version.
If you go to the Extras menu after you’ve completed the save, and choose “Map”, you can select your Epilogue save and revisit the world map and its shrines. This is the recommended way to fill out the cross-route supports, and you may even have a chance of unlocking some bonus units…
The final release will include a dedicated postgame map as well, as part of the above feature.

[GratedShtick]

Is it Thabes?

[tea]

It’s not; to my knowledge, there isn’t enough room for it left in the game even if Gamma wanted to, and he finds the connections to Awakening a little forced. If I’m lucky, what we do get might be related to a conversation you can find in the game.

[ElectroFou]

this is peak fire emblem rom hack imo.

[UK_fire_emblem]

Wow this is amazing.

[ReturnOfTheBlackKnight]

Hey I just played that music and it’s awesome. I don’t think you even need to replace it with ‘Praise this despair’. Your remix of Scion’s dance in purgatory is honestly better imo.