Building the character refresh without losing the original timing
The Java rebuild now prepares the original fresh-character stats, graphics, object scan and palette together. Connecting that work to live player controls is the next step.
Source work recorded October 13, 2026. Published here on October 25, 2026.
Build 0.16 adds real Java calculations for the fresh hero’s original stats. Both stat calls in the opening’s character refresh now run the source formulas, rather than a successful placeholder. The preparation includes all three characters’ graphics, even when the other two characters are inactive.
Equipment graphics use the original transparency rule. The conversion preserves the recovered image data and prepares the tiles the original game expects; it does not replace the artwork with newly drawn sprites.
The original refresh also waits for an extra graphics interrupt. That interrupt advances the hardware field without advancing the normal game frame or the current world-update phase. Java now has a separate continuation for this wait so the opening’s event, input, movement and stat work will not run twice when it resumes.
The October 25 website launch also gives this project a home on COSOM: a self-hosted player for the original USA cartridge, the separate Java development build, a dedicated music player and this development blog. The original-game option uses SNES emulation; it is not the unfinished native Java rebuild.
What changed
- Implemented the original fresh-character stat recipe and initialization of the 144 stat-owned bytes.
- Prepared 12 original party tiles and the 64-tile equipment conversion, together with the original object scan and five-word auxiliary palette copy.
- Required the actual species of all three characters before preparing their graphics, including inactive partners.
- Kept pending changes isolated and guarded adoption against a changed actor, pool, global or scratch snapshot.
- Added the original-game browser player, the Java build and source download, and a separate player for all 59 unique cartridge music sequences.
What we verified
- Six new Java component suites passed: stats 190,448 assertions; refresh with real stats 7,078; graphics 9,781; object pool and contact 3,065; hardware-interrupt clock 1,152; complete character-refresh preparation 266,835.
- The compiled Java browser opening passed its regression check.
- The export tools reproduced four source-data files and nine graphics files byte for byte. The original USA cartridge data remained unchanged.
- All 59 music listening copies were decoded and probed, with distinct nonzero captured audio and verified file hashes. The unchanged USA cartridge boots in the browser player.
What remains unfinished
- These preparation components are not yet connected to the live player-control handoff. The Java opening still pauses after its dialogue.
- The complete Java campaign, native player movement, combat, audio playback and general equipment behavior remain unfinished.
- The separate original-game player runs through SNES emulation; it is not the Java rebuild.
- Music is presented as listening renders of up to two minutes with a fade; repeat restarts the recording rather than reconstructing a seamless original loop.
Next in the rebuild
Connect the source-owned actor and world state to the retained graphics continuation, then continue the same original animation call before normal player movement is added.