Chapter 61: Map Sprites
Before you get started on learning how to edit map sprites, I suggest you read:
Chapter 45, Working with GBAGE
Chapter 60, Weapon Icon Editing
As they prepare you for use with using GBA Graphics Editor and I am not going to explain things as detailed here as I have done in previous chapters.
First you must find the location of the graphics. You can either:
Scroll through GBAGE until you find the map sprites (I suggest using greyscale width 2 as it will make it much easier to recognize them).
Use the offsets from a map sprite module, if one exists for your ROM—I don’t think one exists for FE6.
In the case of A, open up GBAGE, open your ROM, and scroll through until you find them. They will be compressed and they will all be bunched together so feel free to skip sections of the ROM that you know they won’t be in (for example, if you start seeing spell animations, skip past them, the map sprites won’t be in between spell animations). They are likely in the first half of the ROM (though I don’t guarantee anything).
In the case of B, you’ll need to open up Nightmare and take the offsets from the map sprite modules. The standing one is for idle poses, the other one is for moving poses—yes, they are separate images.
You’ll want the “animation pointer” (which should really be labeled graphics pointer, as the “another pointer” is really the animation data… heheh). Stick that into GBAGE. If you are using the other module (for standing sprites), use the “Pointer to graphics”.
Note that the size should change depending on the size of the image. A width of 1 is equal to 8 pixels; thus a width of 2 is equal to 16, and 4 is equal to 32. The height does not matter much as the data is compressed so GBAGE will only show as much data as there is. I just keep my height at 32 and set the width to 2 or 4, usually 2, depending on what is needed. This is important in viewing the image properly.
We now need an appropriate palette. Depending on the game, type in or copy/paste the map sprite palette to the palette offset slot.
FE6: 0x100968
FE7: 0x194594
FE8: 0x59EE20
After applying the palette the image should look nice. If it isn’t aligned change the width/height accordingly. If the palette is still messed up double-check you did the right offset.
For different palettes (allegiances, greyed out, and secret ones), press up on the palette index. You can get various different palettes. For example, this one:
To edit the image or save it to import it elsewhere, use save as bitmap and preferably save it as a PNG. I suggest using a program like Usenti that will maintain the colors and order of the palette so that when you re-insert the image, the palette does not screw up (see weapon icon tutorial for a more length talk about this issue). When you import a bitmap you’ll want to check the following:
As usual a palette menu will come up, hit okay and it should insert. However, if it does not, this means the old graphics take up more space than the new ones (and for the record, this may happen even if the size is the same or the image is less complex, so do not freak out). In this case you must repoint the graphics by typing in a new graphics offset to free space and checking “repoint graphics pointers” on the above menu, then reinserting.
That is all there is to it. Good luck! With your custom classes!