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.

Sprite Types

Unintuitively, some sprite types don't map 1 to 1 with file names, or some sprite types don't map 1 to 1 with the appropriate weapon. the proper distribution looks like this:

        SHP       | SEQ       | WEP SHP  | WEP SEQ  | EFF SHP  | EFF SEQ
TYPE1 : TYPE1.SHP | TYPE1.SEQ | WEP1.SHP | WEP1.SEQ | EFF1.SHP | EFF1.SEQ
TYPE2 : TYPE2.SHP | TYPE3.SEQ | WEP2.SHP | WEP2.SEQ | EFF1.SHP | EFF1.SEQ
CYOKO : CYOKO.SHP | CYOKO.SEQ | N/A      | N/A      | N/A      | N/A
MON   : MON.SHP   | MON.SHP   | N/A      | N/A      | N/A      | N/A
OTHER : OTHER.SHP | OTHER.SEQ | N/A      | N/A      | N/A      | N/A 
RUKA  : MON.SHP   | RUKA.SEQ  | N/A      | N/A      | N/A      | N/A
ARUTE : ARUTE.SHP | ARUTE.SEQ | N/A      | N/A      | N/A      | N/A
KANZEN: KANZEN.SHP| KANZEN.SEQ| N/A      | N/A      | N/A      | N/A

There are no files in the game for RUKA.SHP. Despite there being files for TYPE2.SEQ, TYPE4.SEQ, EFF2.SHP, and EFF2.SEQ, none of these files are indexed, and thus are never opened into RAM.

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 at what animation to unpack the attacking sprites of the attacker and their target to VRAM. the target is skipped if there is more than 1 target in the target list. Additionally, it makes the target stand upright until their animation is updated by another process.
BB - This number tells the game to instead skip unpacking the attacking sprites, and instead open the sprite's SP2 file to the VRAM, if it exists. additionally, it skips making the target stand upright waiting for the attack, for some reason.

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

          Size |Anim0|Anim1|Anim2|Anim3|Anim4|Anim5|Animation 6 ...
00000404: 5C 16 00 00 03 00 02 00 01 00 08 00 07 00 0B 06 0A 08 ...

Size - this is the size of the block of data.

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()). Signed.

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.