SEQ & Animation info page

SEQ (Sequence) files contain the information to animate a unit or a weapon and its effect. While SHP files contain the breakdown of each frame, Sequence files describe how they are strung together, plus some additional commands that dictate sound, loading graphics related to the unit, and sliding the unit graphic on the screen, among others.

Section 1

Using Type 1 SEQ as an example:

          AA AA BB BB
00000000: 78 00 FF 00

These first few bytes dictate some specifics regarding unit interactions. In RAM, they are expanded to take up a word of space each.

• AA - This number tells the game to set an animation for the target as well as an animation for the attacker. this animation puts them standing upright, and may be overridden by damage or dodging.
• BB - This number tells the game to stop this process.

Section 2

          Animation 1|Animation 2|Animation 3|Animation 4|...
00000004: 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 ...

These are all pointers to animations. This section is always exactly 0x400 bytes long.

Section 3

          Anim0|Anim1|Anim2|Anim3|Anim4|Anim5|Animation 6 ...
00000406: 00 00 03 00 02 00 01 00 08 00 07 00 0B 06 0A 08 ...

This section contains the animation commands themselves. it stretches on until the end of the file.

Noteworthy RAM locations

0x80094364: Weapon Change of Animation (Animation - 1 (if away from camera) / 2)
	0x00 + weapon type * 3: Low swing animation
	0x01 + weapon type * 3: Same-height swing animation
	0x02 + weapon type * 3: high swing animation
- These are loaded when the unit attacks or the UnitAnim for attacking with the current/temp weapon is called.

0x80094548: Unit, weapon, effect, and damage text layer priority quadruplets
	Every 4 words is a unique set of values (0 through 3) that govern when a certain graphic is loaded, so it is under/over other graphics. this only applies to a unit and its weapon, its swing effect, and the damage/status text.
	Possible values:
		- 0x00: unit graphic
		- 0x01: weapon graphic
		- 0x02: effect graphic
		- 0x03: status/damage text graphic

0x800a1c84: Location of First loaded section 3 in RAM
- This location stores the animations for the unit.
! To investigate ! do Arute and Kanzen have reserved spaces due to their complicated animation set?

0x800bfa30: Location of First loaded section 1 & 2 in RAM
- this location stores pointers to the unit animations, which are updated according to section 2 in RAM, and the location of section 3 when it is stored in RAM.
- Section 1 is stored as words here instead of halfwords, as in the file.

Known SEQ Commands

• LoadFrameAndWait (Frame, Wait)

		- Frame
			- Loads the frame of animation from SHP Data
			- for weapons, the weapon type will dictate the 0-frame of animation, and count from there with the value.
			- For units, above a certain value, the second half of the spritesheet is loaded from. Above another value, swimming top half sprites, and then swimming bottom half sprites.

		- Wait
			- Waits to execute the next command by the designated number of frames.

• WaitForDistort(ffc0, ##)

		- If no animation has been set by QueueDistortAnim(), this instruction does nothing.

		- No Bytes (##)
			- loops the last ## bytes of animation (signed) if a distortion animation is currently underway

• QueueDistortAnim(ffc1, Distort ID, Var)

		- Queues a secondary graphic animation to trigger (such as mounting a unit, or jumping). can distort unit graphic.

		- sets a byte check that allows WaitForDistort() to loop until the secondary animation is complete

		- Distort ID
			- ID of secondary animation to trigger

		- Var
			- Initial variable that has a variety of effects. typically monitors the rate at which an animation is completed.

• UnloadMFItem (ffc3)

		- clears Move Find Item graphic trigger

		- Is also used for Chests and Crystals

• MFItemPos (ffc4, XX, YY)

		- X Pos (XX)
			- Sets front/back (+/-) position of item, relative to unit centre

		- Y Pos (YY)
			- Sets Down/Up (+/-) position of item, relative to feet of unit

		- Is also used for Chests and Crystals

• LoadMFItem (ffc5)

		- Sets Move Find Item trigger

		- Is also used for Chests and Crystals

• WaitForInput (ffc6, ##)

		- No. Bytes (##)
			- waits for controller confirmation while looping last ## bytes of animation. Signed.

• MoveUp2 (ffcb)

		- Moves the unit upwards by 2 units.

• MoveUp1 (ffcc)

		- Moves the unit upwards by 1 unit.

• MoveBackward2 (ffcd)

		- Moves the unit backwards by 2 units. 

• MoveBackward1 (ffce)

		- Moves the unit backwards by 1 unit.

• MoveDown2 (ffcf)

		- Moves the unit downwards by 2 units.

• MoveDown1 (ffd0)

		- Moves the unit downwards by 1 unit.

• MoveForward2 (ffd1)

		- Moves the unit forward by 2 units.

• MoveForward1 (ffd2)

		- Moves the unit forward by 1 unit.

• WeaponSheatheCheck1 (ffd3, ##)

		- No. Bytes (##)
			- Loops the last few command bytes until damage numbers fade. Signed.

• PlayAttackSound (ffd4, SoundID)

		- Sound ID
			- 0x00 calls woosh sound, 0x01 calls hit sound.

		- Use for weapons or effects returns an error and deactivates the animation.

• IncrementLoop (ffd5)

		- Used by animations that loop. Will increment a loop counter on trigger, and loop the animation indefinitely.

• WeaponSheatheCheck2 (ffd6, ##)

		- No. Bytes (##)
			- Loops last ## command bytes until damage numbers fade. Signed

• SetFrameOffset (ffd8, Rotation)

		- Rotation
			- Sets a constant value to the frame offset (added to frames called by LoadFrameWait())

• QueueThrowAnimation (ffd9, ####)

		- Queues a hardcoded routine that saves thrown Item ID.

• ReturnErrorFinishAnim (ffda)

		- returns an error. likely no use.

• SetSlowdown (ffdb, Wait)

		- Wait
			- Sets constant slow down amount in frames. Does not persist between animations.

• ReloadAnimation (ffdc)

		- Reloads previously saved information about the last animation (prior to executing OverrideAnimation(ID))

• OverrideAnimation (ffdd, ID)

		- ID
			- Saves all information about the current animation to graphic data, and overrides the current animation.

• PostGenericAttack (ffde)

		- Calculates damage numbers to appear at the end of an animation

		- Allows Sheathe Checks to continue animation (uncertain)

		- if ability has a secondary particle affect (Knight break, aim, snipe, jump):
			- sets attack woosh colour based on weapon element, if ability has a secondary particle effect (Break equipment, Aim, Snipe, or jump)

			- Saves appropriate dodge/block animations to target & attacker

• SetYRotation0 (ffdf)

		- Resets graphic rotation to 0.

• ClearShadow (ffe0)

		- Removes the unit's shadow

• SetShadow (ffe1)

		- Enable the unit's shadow

• SetLayerPriority (ffe2, LayerID)

		- No Notes on valid Layer ID's.

		- for weapons/woosh effects, sets starting frame offset to LayerID. this would be useful if weapons did not already automatically set their own 0 frame based on their weapon type.

		- for units, sets their current Animation layer priority. these priorities are found in quadruplets at 0x80094548

• SaveYSpin (ffe5, Spin)

		- Spin (halfword)
			- Saves a value directly to Y spin.

• FlipVertical (ffeb)

		- Flips the graphic vertically.

• FlipHorizontal (ffec)

		- Flips the graphic horizontally.

• MoveUnitFB (ffee, XX)

		- Movement in pixels (XX)
			- Moves the unit forward (+) or backward (-) by XX units, relative to how they're facing.

• MoveUnitDU (ffef, YY)

		- Movement in pixels (YY)
			- Moves the unit down (+) or up (-) by YY units.

• MoveUnitRL (fff0, ZZ)

		- Movement in Pixels (ZZ)
			- Moves the unit right (+) or left (-) by ZZ units.

• QueueSpriteAnim (fff2, Graphic, ID)

		- Graphic
			- Prepares weapon (01) or effect (02) for animation.

		- ID
			- The Animation of the Graphic being called.

• PlaySound(fff6, ID)

		- ID
			- the ID of the audio byte to play (only ever used in the same capacity as PlayAttackSound()?)

• MoveUnit (fffa, ZZ, YY, XX)

		- Movement in Pixels (ZZ, YY, XX)
			- Moves the unit in any/all 3 perpendicular directions. Right(+)/Left(-) by ZZ, Down(+)/Up(-) by YY, and forward(+)/backward(-) by XX.

• Wait (fffc, ##, Loops)

		- No. Bytes (##)
			- Loops last ## command bytes.

		- Loops
			- The number of times to repeat those bytes.

• HoldWeapon (fffd, ##)

		- No. Bytes (##)
			- Has the same looping effect as the Sheathe checks, but without checking if the damage numbers have faded.

• EndAnimation (fffe)

		- Finishes the animation, deactivating the graphic.

• PauseAnimation(ffff)

		- Sets wait to 0, without deactivating the graphic, pausing the animation until it's ended by another process.

Unknown SEQ commands

   0xbe -> clears some unused data?
   0xbf -> jumps to somewhere with no routine recorded on the wiki.
   0xc2 -> queues next command immediately. no other known purpose.
   0xc7, 0xc8, 0xc9, 0xca, 0xe3, 0xe4, 0xe6, 0xe7, 0xe8, 0xe9, 0xea, 0xed, 0xd7, 0xf0, 0xf1, 0xf3, 0xf4, 0xf5, 0xf8, 0xfb -> skips over input value. no other known effect.
   0xda -> unused command, ends animation early by deactivating graphic, potentially just unwritten.
   0xf7 -> skips 3 input values. other effects are unknown.
   0xf9 -> does something vectory. seems to slide the unit rapidly to the right of the screen.