Separate Special Sprites list (just like Map Sprites)

[TiMMyyMMiT]

For the Java tools (the battle editor), I want to be able to load the special sprite associated with the specific special enemy (zeon, taros, kraken). Currently part of this required data is in SF2Enums (enum SpecialSprites) and some of it is in specialsprites.asm. Since specialsprites.asm is also a code file then the Java tools should not interact with that, so, ideally, we could extract the required data (pt_SpecialSprites) from the file.

1. Can we extract pt_SpecialSprites from specialsprites.asm and move to data/graphics/specialsprites/ as an entries.asm file (or similar list)?
   • Can/should this list also reference the asset that it loads (like mapsprites do), or is this not how the system functions?
   

Additional Questions

1. How does the engine map from 'mapsprite' to 'specialsprite'? Since the mapsprite values/order do not align with specialsprite values/order
   e.g. How do I get from "MAPSPRITE_KRAKEN_HEAD" to /specialsprites/kraken.bin ?
   
2. You can see above, that this list includes 4 defs for Kraken and 2 for Zeon, do these have any meaning or just placeholder entries?

[TiMMyyMMiT]

@xenometal

[xenometal]

1. The special sprite index is derived from subtracting a given mapsprite index from MAPSPRITES_SPECIALS_END. This explains why specials are declared in reverse order relative to their regular counterparts.

2. I don't know for sure but at a glance, mapsprites 240 to 249 might only be reserved due to MAPSPRITES_SPECIALS_START equating 240. Mapsprite 250 corresponds to SPECIAL_SPRITE_ZEON_2, which upon inspection appears to be the "real" Zeon whereas SPECIAL_SPRITE_ZEON_1 would be the one appearing through Evil Spirit (i.e., SpecialSprite_EvilSpiritAlt). This is confusing, and a re-labeling seems to be in order here. And I can't think of a use case for those extraneous Kraken labels. In fact, I don't remember adding those myself 😅 Maybe @Accumulus41 can chime in with some insight?

[TiMMyyMMiT]

Ok, this is clear. Reverse order is weird but understood 😅

[xenometal]

@TiMMyyMMiT
Sorry for bringing this up so late, but there's an important detail that I forgot to mention!

I've only just remembered that in build/standard, I implemented a new, more flexible mechanism for mapping mapsprite to specialsprite indexes with the added benefit of enabling the definition of a specialsprite as being either an ally or an enemy.

https://github.com/ShiningForceCentral/SF2DISASM/blob/build/standard/disasm/data/stats/specialsprites-standard.asm

Question: Would it be more appropriate that this file be located at data\graphics\specialsprites\specialsprites-standard.asm instead?

[TiMMyyMMiT]

@TiMMyyMMiT Sorry for bringing this up so late, but there's an important detail that I forgot to mention!

I've only just remembered that in build/standard, I implemented a new, more flexible mechanism for mapping mapsprite to specialsprite indexes with the added benefit of enabling the definition of a specialsprite as being either an ally or an enemy.

https://github.com/ShiningForceCentral/SF2DISASM/blob/build/standard/disasm/data/stats/specialsprites-standard.asm

Question: Would it be more appropriate that this file be located at data\graphics\specialsprites\specialsprites-standard.asm instead?

You pose an interesting question here - Ultimately, I might leave it up to you or Wiz to decide.
This is not a definition of sprites, more of an override so I am not sure if there is a right or wrong approach with this

I don't think that it has a big effect on the BattleEditor but I could put it in the backlog to implement. Also, ally sprites aren't used in the Editor so this would not affect those.