Chronotools - variable width 8pix font

If you find the standard item name length limit (10 characters plus symbol) or the standard tech name length limit (10 characters plus symbol) too restricting, forcing you to make ridiculous abbreviations, you can install a support for variable width 8pix font.

This consists of the following components:

• VWF8 font
• VWF8 program module
• Binding the program module to the ROM
• Conversion of the item / tech / monster tables

You need a font. Take one from DOCS/ct8fnV.tga and edit it to match your character set.

Edit the font8vfn setting in the [font] section of your configuration file so that the insertor knows the font.

Add the following lines to your ct.cfg in the [linker] section:

# VWF8
load_code "ct-vwf8.o65"
add_call_of "EquipLeftItemFunc"  $C2A5AA 4  false
add_call_of "EquipRightItemFunc" $C2F2DC 1  true
add_call_of "ItemListFunc"       $C2B053 13 false
add_call_of "EquipLeftHelper"    $C2A57D 14  false
add_call_of "EquipLeftHelper2"   $C2A5B6 2   false
add_call_of "BattleItemFunc"     $C109C1 32 false
add_call_of "DialogItemCall"     $C25BA1 36 false

# VWF for techs: Have your tech list in *t format and use:
add_call_of "BattleTechFunc"     $C10B5B 32 false
add_call_of "BattleTechHelper"   $C10A99 0 false
add_call_of "DialogTechCall"     $C25A90 55 false 
add_call_of ""                   $C10ABE 16 false
add_call_of "TechListFunc"       $C2BDB2 52 true

This tells the insertor that it must include code from ct-vwf8.o65 and insert calls of several routines to your ROM.
By selecting the right add_call_of lines you select which features of the ROM you want to patch.

You can create ct-vwf8.o65 by compiling the included ct-vwf8.a65 file with snescom, a SNES assembler, or asking me to send it to you.

Normally the items, techs and monsters are inserted as constant-width tables in the ROM, denoted by the label *l11 in your script.

When you are ready to get rid of the item length limit, replace the *l11 in the script with i11.
Same goes for techs: *l11 is changed to t11, and for monsters *l11 is changed to m11.

Note: Monster name conversion does not work yet.

If you use the VWF8 patch for items, the equipment screen will be slowed down and is a big sluggish to use. This problem is currently unsolved.

The official home page of chronotools is at http://iki.fi/bisqwit/source/chronotools.html.
Check there for new versions.