[SOLVED] Prep Screen Help [FE7]

Questions
1

Hello. This is my first prep screen, and I’m having some issues. This is in FE7, but I hope to use this knowledge for FE8 in the future.

I’ve got my beginning events to end with an ENDB, and when the game hits it, it should go to the prep screen. Right? No! It half-way fades, makes all of the already loaded enemy units black, and endlessly cycles through enemy phases while still playing tile animations.

In Nightmare, I’ve selected to enable the prep screen, and I’m in a chapter that uses one in the vanilla game. I also don’t play the opening event in turn events as I’ve read I shouldn’t.

Here are my good and bad units:

[details=Good]Good: UNIT [0x0F] [Sage] [0x36] Level(20,Ally,True) [12,16] [12,16] [Elfire,Mend,Vulnerary] [0] UNIT [0x36] [0x2B] [0x36] Level(10,Ally,False) [11,15] [11,15] [SteelSpear,HandAxe,RuneSword,Vulnerary] [0] UNIT [0x1F] [Swordmaster] [0x36] Level(20,Ally,True) [12,15] [12,15] [WoDao,WindSword,LanceReaver] [0] UNIT
These aren’t the units I plan on using, but these are here for testing purposes.[/details]

[details=Bad]Bad: UNIT [0x62] [0x01] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [9,10] [9,10] [BraveSpear] [0] UNIT [0x62] [0x01] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [11,10] [11,10] [BraveSpear] [0] UNIT [0x62] [0x01] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [12,11] [12,11] [Spear] [0] UNIT [0x62] [0x01] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [13,12] [13,12] [Spear] [0] UNIT [0x62] [Sniper] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [13,7] [13,7] [SilverBow,Longbow] [0] UNIT [0x62] [Sniper] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [13,9] [13,9] [SilverBow,Longbow] [0] UNIT [0x62] [Sage] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [14,8] [14,8] [Fire,Bolting] Guard UNIT [0x62] [Hero] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [9,6] [9,6] [SteelBlade,KillerAxe] AttackInRange UNIT [0x62] [Hero] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [11,6] [11,6] [BraveAxe,KillingEdge] AttackInRange UNIT [0x62] [Druid] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [13,4] [13,4] [Fenrir,Eclipse,Thunder] Guard UNIT [0x62] [0x2B] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [10,3] [10,3] [SilverBlade,Tomahawk] [0x0,0x22,0x0,0x0] UNIT [0x62] [Swordmaster] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [7,2] [7,2] [WoDao] [0] UNIT [0x72] [Warrior] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [6,4] [6,4] [SilverAxe,KillerBow,ChestKey] AttackInRange UNIT [0x72] [General] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [2,3] [2,3] [SilverSpear,HandAxe,LongSword,ChestKey] GuardTile UNIT [0x62] [Bishop] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [3,12] [3,12] [Aura,Physic] [0] UNIT [0x62] [Berserker] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [2,13] [2,13] [BraveAxe] [0] UNIT [0x62] [Sniper] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [7,6] [7,6] [BraveBow] AttackInRange UNIT [0x62] [Sniper] [Nergal] Level(20,Enemy,True) [7,9] [7,9] [BraveBow] AttackInRange UNIT[/details]

Is there something I’m missing? As I said, this is my first prep screen, so I’m not quite sure what else there is to add.

2

There could be some issues with your events leading up to the prep screen. I don’t know the exact problem, but here are a couple of things to think about.

  1. Does your event with the ENDB load both your Good and Bad units? The locations of the units during the prep screen depend on the locations of the units from the Good/Bad macros.

  2. Is your Opening_event the event that has the ENDB, and is it attached to the beginning turn? Oddly enough, Opening_event will operate first if prep screens are programmed and should not be attached to the beginning turn. Instead, the beginning turn should look like this:
    TURN 0x0 First [1,0] 0x0 0x0
    Where “First” is an event with an OOBB macro that takes you back to the map after the prep screen is over.

Again, there could be another problem that I do not know about, but I hope this does solve your issue.

3

Hi. Thanks for helping me here!

  1. All members of my Good and Bad are loaded before my ENDB

  2. Opening_event contains the events that lead up to the prep screen. I added the turn event, First, to my turn events. I assume this is also where I put other events that I want to happen after my prep screen.

All events that lead up to and come after the prep screen occur normally (so I go to back to the map with an OOBB now), but the prep screen still gets skipped. Also, my player units are removed from the map, and I endlessly go through enemy phases.

[details=Begining Events]Opening_event: ENUT 0x30 LOMA [0x05] [7,15] FADU [0x05] MUS1 [0x0022] CURF [7,14] //Text(0x02,0x858) LOU1 Joshua //TEX1 [0x859] //REMA CMOF WarpIn(Forde,10,16) WarpIn(Lute,9,17) CMON MOVE [0x36] [8,15] MOVE [0x0F] [6,15] ENUN //Text(0x51,0x85A) CUSI 0x1F 0x00 MOVE [0x36] [1,3] MOVE [0x0F] [1,3] MOVE [0x1F] [1,3] STAL [0x35] MUEN [0x05] FADI [0x05] UnitClear LOMA [0x16] [2,18] LOU1 NergalStuff MUS1 [0x0010] FADU [0x04] //Text(0x4D,0x85B) MUEN [0x05] LOU1 LavaPeople MUS1 [0x0071] //Text(0x55,0x85C) MUEN [0x10] TEX1 [0x85D] REMA WarpOut(Nergal) MUS1 [0x004A] WarpIn(Nergal2,10,16) FADI 0x10 HIDEMAP REPOS Sonia [10,8] REPOS Limstella [5,13] BACG [0x55] FADU [0x10] SHOWMAP //TEX1 [0x85E] MUSI CALL Quintessence STAL [0x30] REMA MUNO //TEX1 [0x85F] REMA STAL [0x10] WarpOut(Nergal) WarpIn(Nergal3,2,18) CAM1 [7,8] //TEX1 [0x86A] REMA CMOF LOU1 Morphs CMON TEX1 [0x861] REMA MAC1 (0x05) (0x0)//Door opens FADI [0x05] ENDB[/details]

Most text is commented out for quick testing.

4

I noticed you used some LOMA macros in your event. LOMA not only changes the map, it also changes the chapter you’re on. Make sure the chapters whose maps you’re using are also coded to use the same events and prep screens. I’m hoping this is the problem considering you did not go into the prep screen regardless of ENDB.

5

I believe that, if you have a prep screen enabled via the Chapter Data Editor (make sure you’re enabling the right one! LOMA can be nasty), you don’t need to start the opening scene via a turn 0 event.

6

I have a cutscene that precedes when I load my main map that uses a different map, but the 2nd map that I load matches the playing map.

7

Okay, after an hour of testing old chapters from the vanilla, I believe I have the answer.

  1. Make sure the opening/beginning event is not attached to any turn event.

  2. When using LOMA to load back to the map that you will play on, make sure you put ASMC 0x7A869 right before you put the LOMA macro. This way, the game knows to use that chapter’s preparation screen.

I hope this helps.

1 Like
8

#Problem fixed!

This may also be from the ASM routine you specified, or this may be a problem I had during testing the problem. By going from my opening chapter and moving to the chapter in question directly, I loaded some friendly units in a separate chapter. Maybe the game thought before that I had no allied units in my army, so it assumed I chose 0 units immediately and went directly to the chapter.

Thank you so much for your time and help. I really appreciate it.

9

Oh dear. More different woes.

The prep screen appears as normal, but the units I want to join in this chapter aren’t a part of the unit selection screen. I’ve read that I need to add them to my army in the previous chapter, so I tried that, and the same result happens.

Noteworthy shtuff:
I use Nintenlord’s character forcer patch for a few characters in this chapter.
I jump from chapter 2 to 17, the chapter in question (in vanilla terms) for… reasons.

Is there something I’m missing?

10

What did you do with them in the previous chapter?

11

Prep screens use the Good macro to determine the positions of your units for the chapter (including forced units) and the Bad macro for literally everything else. You do not need to introduce allies in previous chapters if you want them in the current chapter. Just have their data written in the Good (or Bad :wink:) macro. For the placements of the characters… things get tedious :unamused:.

If you are using prep screens and you want units (the good, the bad, and the neutral) to participate in the chapter at the very beginning, you must have them loaded in either the Good macro or the Bad macro. All of the enemies and NPCs that will be active in the beginning of the chapter must have a spot in the Bad macro. The Good macro must hold the forced ally units you want at the start of the chapter as well as other ally units you may want in the chapter. For example, if your Good macro consists of the following units:

Good:
UNIT 0x2F 0x28 0x03 Level(4, Ally, 1) [11,6] [11,6] [0x10, 0x16] NoAI
UNIT 0x30 0x28 0x03 Level(4, Ally, 1) [7,3] [7,3] [0x1C, 0x01] NoAI
UNIT 0x2D 0x02 0x03 Level(5, Ally, 1) [11,1] [11,1] [0x0A, 0x6B] NoAI
UNIT

I want unit 0x2D to be forced into the chapter. Use Nintenlord’s character forcer patch to force that unit in. For the other two units, their locations will serve as spots for other units to be loaded on. You can swap them out for other units in the prep screen. The two other units, to my knowledge, don’t need to be alive. The spots will still be used for other allies. The total number of allies in the Good macro will equal the total number of playable units for the start of the chapter. 3 units in your Good macro means 3 units that you can deploy in the prep screen.

If you are deploying units in the Opening_event not through the Good or Bad macros, they (should) disappear as soon as the prep screen starts. If you want those units to participate in the chapter, you would either have to make spots for them in the Good or Bad macros or have them reload later on in the chapter. You do not need to load the Good or Bad macros in the Opening_event; they’ll load on their own in the prep screen.

My apologies for the long, confusing post. Personally, I find working with prep screens somewhat confusing.

3 Likes
12

No! I love long posts. I detest short, confusing posts that don’t answer anything.

So Good should really be forced units (if specified) and however many unit codes as you want playable units in that chapter… and Bad should be all enemy units plus any new (?) units you want coming into your army?

Regardless, I got it working now.

Thank you so much for your help!

FE Universe is the best universe. The regular universe doesn’t have this many helpful people.