Views is ignoring my field .tpl.php file when the field is used as a replacement pattern in a rewritten field
Have you tried using the other method? Using template.php. I don't have time to test this, so consider this as a possible answer.

Add the following code to the bottom of your template.php file (located in /sites/all/themes/yourtheme/ folder)

function themename_preprocess_views_view_fields($vars){

      if ($vars['view']-&gt;name == "view_name" &amp;&amp; $vars['view']-&gt;current_display == "block_1"){
        $vars['fields']['field_name']-&gt;content = 'hello world';
      }
    }



replace themename with your theme name
replace view_name with your view name
replace block_1 with your machine name
replace field_name with your field name