I honestly have no idea, but now that I know it is for fact the .gz files, we're closer to the solution. I'm going to finish this patch (recompressed them) and if that doesn't work, I'll look at other people's patches inside of the program and see what they did with the gz files.

I'm running Windows 7 Pro, by the way, but I highly doubt the OS is the problem.

EDIT

While I wait for the patch to finish, I opened up the Less Bust mod and they are handled the gz files exactly as me. The difference I see...is that they have the gzs as seperate exes! I'm thinking when the obb gets TOO big, it won't work! I'll test the .gz sprite mod as a seperate exe and see if it works!

EDIT 2

Recompressing did not work.

EDIT 3

Definitely the .gz. I just made a small patch with the face graphics and one gz sprite, the one for Terra, and it loaded upon save. As soon as Terra's sprite was supposed to show, it crashed.


EDIT 4


I don't know why the .gz files were accepted then, but not now. I'll keep trying to figure it out though, I promise. :)

EDIT 5

Okay, out of desperation, I extracted a pure .obb and opened Terra's sprite, char00.bmp, in Gimp and drew a green line from her hair across her face. I saved it, compressed to .gz and then made a single patch with just that file in it and applied manually.

It launched and there was a change in game, but it changed her entire Sprite to nearly black;

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/id/Rhyagelle/screenshot/932678595879767294

This leads me to believe either file size IS very important OR that the colors from the new sprite are not acceptable by the game, but that's less likelly given I successfully patched it with the manual patch last night (see my instruction thread for photo evidence).

EDIT 6

Worst case scenario, I will give cvg my patched obb that is working and he can upload it here for you guys, until I can figure this out or until someone who has used this successfully before can help us out.

Well, I just tried adding .gz to the base files (bmps and tgas) and made the patch, but it crashes at the same screen. However, if I make the patch with them as simple bmps and tgas, it goes in game without any change to the sprites.

This is really weird.

I have on more thing I can try. Recompresing the files into .gz and see if that was the issue. Here it goes.

Originally posted by solfizz:

Originally posted by Rhyagelle:

I'm only doing what I can to help cvg. It is the least I can do. I don't want his efforts to go to waste either, because the instructions for this tool are as about as clear as murky Skyrim water. lol

As an update, I tried making an .exe patch with the bmps and tgas by themselves. The patch went through and the game launched, but the sprites were the only things not working. Right now I'm making a new patch with the bmp/tgas as extracted by with an added .gz to their paths to see if that's the way you are meant to use the gz files.

I'll update as soon as I find out if this worked or not. It takes redownloading a new obb every time I make a patch though, so it takes time.

EDIT

Is it not working for you too solfizz? Manual or exe?

I haven't tried it yet because I see that the process to get it going isn't finalized, so I've been waiting (very patiently!) to hear from you and kvg88 when it becomes a solid solution.

It would help if you could at least test manual. I need to know if the manual is broken as well. For now, I'm thinking something else is wrong with kvg88's tool, because the manual patch I gave cvg is working for me.

Originally posted by kvg88:

Tried manually installing the patch again and it still crashes. I'm starting to wonder if the version cvg uploaded to the public was correct or if it could have been one of his previous attempts...

I think that's unlikely. He made the updated thread right after I gave him the link. He just renamed the zip. Hmm.

I'm only doing what I can to help cvg. It is the least I can do. I don't want his efforts to go to waste either, because the instructions for this tool are as about as clear as murky Skyrim water. lol

As an update, I tried making an .exe patch with the bmps and tgas by themselves. The patch went through and the game launched, but the sprites were the only things not working. Right now I'm making a new patch with the bmp/tgas as extracted by with an added .gz to their paths to see if that's the way you are meant to use the gz files.

I'll update as soon as I find out if this worked or not. It takes redownloading a new obb every time I make a patch though, so it takes time.

EDIT

Is it not working for you too solfizz? Manual or exe?

Originally posted by kvg88:

Originally posted by Rhyagelle:

That should be it as that's what it is for me otherwise that would mean that all users need to have cvg's sprites first and manually drag them into the window, which would be creating a patch rather than applying one, which makes the patches useless at that point. Something else is wrong here.

I'll see if an older version of the tool can create a working exe patch.

EDIT

Just msde a new patch! It works! I found the problem. It is with the sprites in the .gz file. They will not work in an .exe! Huh! I'll figure this out, don't worry. It could be a missing file or a broken file.

Good work! Thank you for guiding me haha

No problem! I just wish the guy who created this tool had a better explaination than the extremely short guide in the read me. xD

Once I have it figured out, I will ship the files to cvg and (if it is a new instruction) adjust the guide. For now, the manua should definitely work. You just have to make sure you are opening the good obb in open archive tab and then close, reopen, click patch window, open patch and apply.

EDIT

Yup, just tested two versions of the .exe. One with the gz files and one without. The one without the gz files installed correctly. Perhaps the .exe auto compresses the files and for that, I do not need to throw the gz files in but rather their extracted forms. Hmm.

Originally posted by kvg88:

Originally posted by Rhyagelle:

The one linked to in my instruction thread here. It is the latest, from the creator's own link.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/ff-modding/discussions/10/1699416432411423372/

I'm craftigng the patches now. If they work, I'll send them to cvg and tell him the self applying one was borked for some reason.

Just make sure that when you use either patch, you do not have the tool open, FFVI and absolutely have a pure main.obb.

EDIT

Okay, this is really weird. The self applying patch is acting as if the paths are incorrect, but the manual patch is perfectly fine.

For now, please use the manual patch. I know you are having problems, but I will write instructions on how to use it in the instruction thread and hopefully what is happening is that there's an application misuse.

Just give me a minute and I'll have it up.

EDIT 2

I just updated the guide thread. The second post is for users looking to patch their game. The first post is for modders creating patches. Please tell me if the manual patch works using those instructions.

When I open the patch file (not the exe) in Explore, the paths to all of the files look like this:

C:\Users\theke\AppData\Local\Temp\FFVI_Explore OpenPatch\0

Could this be the problem?

That should be it as that's what it is for me otherwise that would mean that all users need to have cvg's sprites first and manually drag them into the window, which would be creating a patch rather than applying one, which makes the patches useless at that point. Something else is wrong here.

I'll see if an older version of the tool can create a working exe patch.

EDIT

Just msde a new patch! It works! I found the problem. It is with the sprites in the .gz file. They will not work in an .exe! Huh! I'll figure this out, don't worry. It could be a missing file or a broken file.

FFVI_Explorer Tool Download Link:

http://www.rivernyxx.com/projects/download.php?pn=FFVI_Explore

For the sake of it, here is the defilter mod link:

http://www.rivernyxx.com/projects/download.php?pn=FFVI_Defilter

BOTH links will AUTOMATICALLY update as the creator updates them.

(^ posted by Nyxo himself!)

Secondary Link:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=591798883

Originally posted by kvg88:

What version of Explore did you use?

The one linked to in my instruction thread here. It is the latest, from the creator's own link.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/ff-modding/discussions/10/1699416432411423372/

I'm craftigng the patches now. If they work, I'll send them to cvg and tell him the self applying one was borked for some reason.

Just make sure that when you use either patch, you do not have the tool open, FFVI and absolutely have a pure main.obb.

EDIT

Okay, this is really weird. The self applying patch is acting as if the paths are incorrect, but the manual patch is perfectly fine.

For now, please use the manual patch. I know you are having problems, but I will write instructions on how to use it in the instruction thread and hopefully what is happening is that there's an application misuse.

Just give me a minute and I'll have it up.

EDIT 2

I just updated the guide thread. The second post is for users looking to patch their game. The first post is for modders creating patches. Please tell me if the manual patch works using those instructions.

Originally posted by kvg88:

Originally posted by Rhyagelle:

I'm testing a fresh obb patch with the self patcher right now to see what could be wrong but for now, can you delete your FFVI_Explorer Tool entirely and reextract the package?

If you are willing to do that and have done so, open it and press open archive and point it to your new main.obb (this step has to be done again every new obb file or it crashes). Next, go to PATCH window and open the PATCH (manual file, not the exe) and then press apply. Does it work then?

Okay I went through these steps and the same thing happens, it crashes at the Square-Enix logo.

EDIT: my new main.obb's have all had that proper file size.

Yup, self-applying patch seems to crash for me too, but the manual works just fine (just repatched manually and it works). Hmm. Let me see if I can create a new self-applying patch for cvg_ens23. It was working last night when I made them for him. Weird.

Originally posted by kvg88:

Originally posted by Rhyagelle:

Don't have FFVI open or the Tool when you are redownloading the new obb. When you are done, reopen FFVI_Explorer Tool and click "Open Archive" and reselect the new obb. And then manually apply the patch.

If you are using the .exe, same. Do not have the tool or FFVI open when you try to apply the patch to a brand new obb. :)

Okay, so I tried applying the patch with FFVI explore and it still crashes... In addition to my previous attempts, I've even tried to apply the patch both ways now to clean installs of FF6 to avail. I'm not sure why this isn't working, puzzled lol

I'm testing a fresh obb patch with the self patcher right now to see what could be wrong but for now, can you delete your FFVI_Explorer Tool entirely and reextract the package?

If you are willing to do that and have done so, open it and press open archive and point it to your new main.obb (this step has to be done again every new obb file or it crashes). Next, go to PATCH window and open the PATCH (manual file, not the exe) and then press apply. Does it work then?

EDIT

A new main.obb will have the file size of 721,835 kb. Nothing more, nothing less.

Originally posted by kvg88:

Wait, I need to use FFVI_Explore to apply the patch?

My sequence was as follows:

Download the patch, unizp the patch. Open the patch. Select main.obb. Let it run through. Open FFVI. Crash.

Revalidate the file. Open the patch. Select main.obb. Let it run through. Open FFVI. Crash

Delete main.obb. Revalidate the file. Open the patch. Select main.obb. Let i run hrough. Open FFVI. Crash.

But if I need to use FFVI_Explore to apply the patch, that could be why I'm crashing... I'll try it out!

No, if you are using .exe. I was giving instructions for both methods, manual and self-applying. If it is crashing, it is because something is wrong with your main.obb.

Let me test the self-applying patch and I'll see if perhaps it is messed up. Manual for sure works though. Give me a min. :)