Edit: Huichelaar made a cool hack to use if you’re okay with using an alternate version of EMS.
Original post below:
Mid-chapter saves
I’ve seen turn wheels or mid chapter saves discussed a number of times, but I’m unaware of any hacks that actually use this mechanic.
With the Iron Man playstyle being pretty rare, many hacks could potentially benefit from this. Do you want the player to restart your long chapter every time a character dies? Let’s be real, most people probably make the occasional savestate to protect themselves from the game being “cheap”. And some people will even spoil the game by abusing arena or RNG to get good level-ups. As fangame designers, we should consider how savestates might impact gameplay and plan accordingly. Some hacks even intend the player to use savestates to have any chance of completing it.
Why not have a savestate built into the game, then? Or have mid-chapter checkpoints that allow you to save?
@MisakaMikoto / Laqieer (github)'s Autosave killer allows you to use the Suspend + Resume function as a savestate/mid-chapter save, if you want it to.
The .bin code is found here:
FEBuilderGBA\config\patch2\FE8U\autosave_killer
(I couldn’t find another source for it. If you want me to link somewhere, Laqieer, please let me know and I’ll add it.)
Step 1.
Tools → Patches
Install the patch Autosave killer
Step 2.
Ask the player to save every turn
Eg. a turn event. Or you could make it a range event to only save at checkpoints. Up to you, really.
Text example:
EA event example
EVBIT_MODIFY 0x4
TUTORIALTEXTBOXSTART
SVAL 0xB 0xFFFFFFFF
TEXTSHOW 0xA11
TEXTEND
REMA
SVAL 0x7 0x1
BNE 0x55 0xC 0x7
ASMC 0xB5D5D
LABEL 0x55
EVBIT_MODIFY 0x0
EVBIT_T 0x7
ENDA
Step 3.
Result:
Answered “no”:
Answered “yes”:
You can also reset multiple times in a row and the suspend data is never deleted.
Finally, the regular Suspend command works as usual, so nothing to worry about there. Or if you want ONLY mid-chapter saves and no suspend option, you could disable the suspend command as such:
Options / ideas
- Vanilla: Force save after every action
- Force save at start of every turn & remove suspend
- Save at checkpoints only & remove suspend
- Save whenever you want, always optionally, frequently reminding the player
Your hack could break from the mould and be a more relaxed experience. If I had permadeath in my own hack, then I’d personally put this in. I know I’d enjoy some hacks more if they did this.
casual
…or maybe I’m just a casual, haha. 
What do you think? Is this still authentic Fire Emblem gameplay? Would you rather you just force the player to restart when they make a mistake? Do large maps become bearable when you can save?
I hope someone finds this useful. 
