Final Fantasy VI - Now Moddable

Final Fantasy VI's PC port was definitely not built to be fiddled with. Modders are doing it anyway. And unlike the typical PC port, Final Fantasy VI contains a surprise secret: a pristine copy of the Game Boy Advance ROM buried in its source code.

…From a programming perspective it's a really clever solution to remastering the game, as opposed to remaking everything from the ground up. They just take the data from the old version, and render it out in a supposedly prettier way."

Modder Jed Lang, who goes by the handle Nyxo, has been leading the charge for VI modding with a tool he calls FFVI_Explore. Lang is the reason modders know about that ROM buried at VI's core. FFVI_Explore, which he released the first version of 12 days after the game hit Steam, was the breakthrough that allowed other modders to start digging into FFVI's files. Lang's tool extracts the game's .obb container into its source files, laying bare sprites and tilesets and music and all the rest to be modified.

As it stands now, FFVI_Explore only allows for replacing files. Modders can use it to completely overwrite the game's sprites and backgrounds, for example, but they can't use it to change game logic or rework the functionality of the UI. That degree of modification is more complex than a file explorer can support. But that GBA ROM nestled inside Final Fantasy VI's port may be key to deeper modifications-even opening the game up to new player-crafted story and gameplay within the Final Fantasy VI engine.