Radiant Dawn: Reverse Recruitment [Complete]

[Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn - Reverse Recruitment]

Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn has always been my favorite game from a gameplay perspective. And since I didn’t really mind the faults/inconsistencies with the story, it is a game I keep coming back to. However, the balancing of the game is quite strange, and at some point I’ll want to start a balancing patch. RD is not the most hacked game and since there’s not as much in the form of resources compared to FE7 etc, I thought I’d start this by learning the hex editting one step at a time. So that’s where this patch comes in. The premise of the Reverse Recruitment is rather simple, and also fun for the drafting community, since there probably hasn’t been one of those yet. It’s also a great way for me to learn the inner workings of RD one step at a time, since you have to apply the same basic action to pretty much every character; swapping them with another. However, script dialogue, base convo’s that recruit people, talk conversations te get people to join and other events all pop up sooner or later and complicate the process of inserting a new character. It’s always one thing at a time though, which gives me a great way of easing myself into the depths of the game’s code. And thus we arrive at this topic, where I’ll be posting updates sporadically since I have a job and busy life (and the weather is just too good to stay inside atm). I would really appreciate it if people would give me feedback on what can be done better, point out bugs and tell if characters need buffs or nerfs. I hope you all enjoy, and thank you for playing!

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[Patches]

Patch 4.0 for the entire gameis here! You can download the patch file here: Patches - Google Drive

Just go into the folder labeled “Patches” and download the patch file, xdelta is very easy to use.

*IMPORTANT: There might be some bugs here and there, which are being worked on. Please let me know in the discord channel “bug reports” if you encounter any! There is also a “known issues” document that has listed some current minor problems.

[How to patch]

The patch is made through xdelta, and patches can be applied to ISO files with it’s patcher program, which can easily be found through a quick google search or in the drive. The only thing you’ll need besides the patch file is a RFEP file, which is the European Radiant Dawn ISO. I cannot provide it here

[Discord]

If you want to discuss the game on other platforms, a Discord link can be clicked here: Gritnea Tower; Vicious Sal's FE10 hacking scene The Discord also has channels for suggestions, bug reports etc so please do come on over!

[Excel character swap sheet]

You can find the link with the character excel sheet below, you can also find some notes about the excel sheet below, which go into the thought process of making the sheet.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18dYBbU1PJIsWkgLBgw23kt9oQxH52wTM/view?usp=sharing

*Small Note, the game has had some minor tweaks compared to the Excel sheet. So not everything is 100% accurate.

[Notes]

1] Ok, so there are some things that had to happen to make this a workable Reverse Recruitment. Mostly because there are three herons in this game and if you at some point get two in the same army, the game turns into a one-turn curbstomp. To work around this you’ll notice that sometimes units that join at the same time are in a different order than the “recruitment page” on the main site. For example, Nasir and Gareth join at the same time, so you could swap Leonardo with Gareth and Edward with Nasir or vice versa.

2] The Black Knight is not a unit that is allied for the entire game, so he also does not partake in the list and is regarded as a free unit as long as he is part of your army. He is however sporting a new set of armor.

3] When you remove the herons and the Black Knight from the list, you are left with 69 playable characters. So unit number 35 does not switch places since that unit is smack dab in the middle. The units who is exactly in the middle is, in this case, Ike! Having Ike stay as the main character makes it a lot easier since this does not require me to alter seizing ability and things like godslaying skills.

4] Regarding the herons, they swap with each other. Leanne takes Rafiel’s Place. Rafiel takes Reyson’s place and Reyson takes Leanne’s place. Good luck with new positioning and vigor strategies!

5] The Light mage and Light Sage classes now promote into Chancellor, since Micaiah arrives in Tier 3. They all keep the chancellor model and as seen in the excel sheet Lehran has altered growths and promotion gains. The same goes for Sanaki. Sanaki starts as a Thundersage, almost ready to promote. She turns into her regular Empress class.

5] The worst unit in the game swaps with the best one, Lyre swaps with Haar. Which is rather amusing. Fiona swaps with Tibarn, both have saviour which is nice. There are some fun things to find out.

6] Elincia arrives later, so she has altered growths and bases, since she does not have a Tier two model and all falcoknights are already in use so I can’t immediately throw her model over them.

[FAQ]

Q: “How exactly do I play this?”

A: You’ll need a working emulator (dolphin is recommended), a fresh FE10 (EU) ISO, and a program used to patch the file (to the ISO) I have provided. xDelta works fine. Patch the ISO file using that program.*

Q: “What are you trying to accomplish with this hack?”

A: Mostly this Hack is a challenge to myself. I have thought about impproving Radiant dawn for years and now I’m finally taking the steps to learn how to do that. Besides this, a Reverse Recruitment hack would be a nice new way to play the game for casual gamers, but also for drafters. This is possible with most Fire Emlem games at the moment, but not with the GC/Wii games.

Q: “The game offers almost the exact same items as before, why do I get a Brave Sword when i need laguz items?!”

A: Adjusting items to suit your new units is something that has been added. Currently units get some items that will benefit them directly, like laguz stones, but also some more indirect advantages. Expect the Cards to be valuable in the early stages of the game when you need to be able to attack without taking a counterattack. I welcome any and all feedback regarding items. I do not want to bombard the player with laguz stones, so things like shine barriers and pure waters are items i would like to play around with.

Do note that as of part 4, shops and stores more or less have no significant changes. As your army is large enough to not warrant any further changes. The items listed often are sufficient for what you need.

Q: “What difficulty should I play?”

A: Normal mode.

Q: “Why are the cutscenes so weird?”

A: The game wants to load the normal characters, but can’t so a lot of weird movements happen and it’s like ghosts are talking. It has no gameplay impact and cannot be changed.

Q: “Any general tips?”

A: You will be getting only a few Olivi Grasses and Stones in the beginning of the game at the moment, but you will also be getting two blood tides, night tide and white tide, so positioning is key!

Q: “I will be getting Royals in part one, this game will be a cakewalk!”

A: I would not count on it, most laguz are balanced in such a way that while they may be strong and have high Hp, their defenses are lowered quite a bit. This also means growths are adjusted, which means BEXP might be more useful for them now, instead of just giving HP, Skill and Luck. High level early laguz hardly gain exp however, so be sure to not overly rely on them.

[Credits]

  • LordMewtwo73 for his invaluable help when I was stuck. His fresh eyes have seen errors that I had missed multiple times. His knowledge was of great value!

  • The contributors to the FE10 hacking notes topic. The combined knowledge is key to gettng started.

  • HeartlessSeph, for creating an FE10DATA.cms editor, which greatly reduced the amount of work that had to be done!

13 Likes

Sanaki as a Thunder Sage? I would’ve thought Fire because of her personal tome being something like the sun.

1 Like

The Fire Sage Female model is Calill. So that one is unusable for Sanaki. Since Ilyana appears as an archsage her 1st and 2nd tier classes are free to use. Sanaki has the same caps in Empress class as normal and her fire weapon rank is higher than the rest in this class.

So tl dr, Fire Sage is an unavailable class since she’d look like Calill.*

*This might change later, since it is possible (Mia and Lucia are both swordmasters) but so far this worked and fire sage turned her into Callil

2 Likes

Question, where would you recommend getting the ISO for RD? And will the Reverse Recruitment patch go up to the endgame?

For the ISO, try google, that’s the best place to search. Can’t help you mcuh further than that I’m afraid. =/
The plan is for it to go up to endgame, but I’m planning on releasing the game in 6 patches. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 up to 3-6, Part 3 endgame, Part 4 up until the tower and then the entire game. So currently it’s at 1-E, with 1-9 being a non chapter.

There is a new patch in the drive with the tool to apply it found there as well.

This’ll be a bit of a dilemma, in that case though, is there a way where there can be a patch for the American version or no? If not, there I guess I’ll just try to find a safe iso somehow.

The NTSC ISO (of which there are actually two versions as well) if differently coded so no, this will not work on NTSC. I know the ISO is still out there, but I can’t provide one.
You could ask in the discord if anyone knows where to get one from, but as I said, I don’t know. I downloaded the ISO’s I use years ago and wouldn’t know where that was or if the sites are even still up.

How exactly did you create this by the way? I’m wondering if I might be able to use your method to create a new patch for NTSC, though it would probably be laborious work if could

You need knowledge of hex editing, and through HxD and Wiiscrubber you can extract and modify the Scipts, Dispos and Shop files among others. but those are needed for the RR.

1 Like

k good to know

Started on 2-P, and since Haar is being replaced by everyone’s favourite viable laguz unit, Lyre! Lyre can now also fly, because cats.


2 Likes

Lyre can now also fly, because cats.
this is officially the best one-sentence quote on FEU, all others must bow down to it

Big update: Part Two is finished! A new patch is coming soon, with massive improvements compared to the first. The 1-9 Bug has been resolved and some slight stat alterations have been made to make certain units a bit better. That and more. But for now:






A new patch for the Radiant Dawn reverse recruitment hack has been uploaded to the drive! The current patch goes up all the way to 3-E, though there are some hiccups here and there. What’s new: - The game works a lot more smoothly, cutscenes are less buggy. - Bargains have been adjusted to your party’s needs. - Some base stats and growths have been slightly altered - Lire can move on clouds - Chests and some hidden items have been adjusted - Units that normally arrive/escape etc now do this correctly - And much much more! There is also a known issues file now where bugs can be added. Be sure to also mention them in the bug report channel! You can play the game all the way to the end probably, though from 4-P onward characters are in weird classes. Some other characters during part 3 have some bugs, like Marcia and Nephenee being able to shift. Besure not to click this because it causes a crash. Other than that, everyone else up to 3-E is reversed, with stats altered. Let me know what you think! https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1-r6itdSrozOrV71HNZv54OS3KjqBM3Dy

[ 14:47 ]

Want to know more? Check out the topic on SF!

[ 14:47 ]

It’s time for an update and with the update, an entire new patch!

Patch 3.1 is the best one yet since xdelta is now operational and has made the patching process incredibly easy! Just one file, one patch and one program. No more need for wiiscrubber etc.

So what does the latest patch do? First off, for the changes to take effect you’ll need to start a new game.

  • Lots of bugfixes, that’s almost literally it. No new maps have been fixed. 3-E is still the furthest point that has active changes.

  • Caineghis is no longer a villager

  • Sigrun should now recieve a Spear instead of Amiti

  • The herons might work as intended, though this has not been tested.

  • Bastian and Tanith should work as normal beorc, though the scenes outside of battle sometimes area bit wonky because they expect Laguz.

  • A few classes that show up before part 4 have been changed ahead of time. (Tormod for example)

  • Muarim should end up with the correct stats in 3-E, he might still kill the Bk in 3-4

  • Fiona no longer jumps to level 20

  • Aran is no longer a Black dragon in 3-E

  • Ilyana is no longer a red dragon in 3-E

  • Rhys no longer turns into short hair Lucia

  • Micaiah stays as lehran after promoting Other than that, there are some slight changes.

  • Marado Knights have slightly higher bases to make them a bit more durable

  • Giffca is slightly stronger, though not tankier

  • Ena and Gareth are broken in this patch, they have an additional +10 to every stat. (this is purely for quicker playtesting and will be reversted later)

  • Volke is slightly stronger

  • Stefan is slightly stronger and a bit more durable

  • Tibarn has slightly better offenses

  • Mist has not been buffed, sorry guys, no Florete yet

-*Nephenee and Marcia still crash the game when shifting, this issue is one I am actively hunting down. Use at your own risk.

The known issues file in the drive has been updated.

So with that I hope you all enjoy!

2 Likes

And with that. The hack is done!

Part 4 is live, and the hack is officially playable the entire way through. Some sporadic updates might be coming along to fix some bugs, but other than that, I hope you all enjoy!

Looking good, I wish I could play but xdelta is being stupid and won’t patch the file :]

Big thanks to BA RD for playing the finished product for this year’s FEE3!

1 Like

Hi, this is the second time I play RD reverse recruitment and Tanith gives me lots of bugs, such as negative 128 health on 0; but despite that, she makes my game crash in a way that she didn’t do last time: in 3-13 she shifts and teleport at the place where Nailah usually goes when she rescue Rafiel (the herons still don’t work as intended: Rafiel is a worse classic Reyson, Leanne is an inverted classic Reyson and Reyson is a classic Rafiel) and after the dialogue between Ena, Elincia, Ike, Tibarn and Ranulf, the game crashes (even if I skip veeeery fast all of the dialogues & cutscene it doesn’t work).
Can you please fix it? After this, there is a whooooole list of bugs with Tanith that I can do if you want to correct them, but they’re avoidable bugs

I found two ways to get over it: or Tanith randomly decide to NOT run in the wall and then teleport in place or killing Ike before Tanith shows up; the second option may resolve all the others bugs with Tanith, but I need to check