Author Topic: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v2.0.99994)  (Read 4837414 times)

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #475 on: 2014-11-02 20:20:15 »
I'm not sure why the Menu Overhaul would break it, I know very little about that mod and only used it once for a test-play of Kuugen's Nightmare7 mod. It might be that it's not set up properly, but if it's working with the default game/other mods then there's likely a conflict somewhere. What I do know is that MO interacts with things like the kernel for text, etc. so that might be where the conflict arises.

I can't actually build a 7H version because of the way a game converter is needed to get the program running properly, and my PC doesn't work with it for some reason (which would make it very difficult to test if it works). Also, the scene.bin and some other files need to be coded into some kind of special patch rather than just being placed into folders (that's my understanding of it anyway) and I wouldn't know where to begin with that. Alyza had volunteered to put one together for me as part of the catalog, but she's not been in touch about it for a few weeks now so I don't know what's happening with that at present.

I could have a shot at tinkering with the NT files and an installation of Menu Overhaul (using the non-7H installer for Menu Overhaul) and then the models could be patched in through 7H after that? I'm not sure how it would all go together as I can't run the current 7H properly without the Game-Converter patch.

RedManMark86

  • *
  • Posts: 83
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #476 on: 2014-11-02 20:36:15 »
You always reply so fast you never cease to amaze me.

Ok I have done loads of testing and pretty much every mod works with your mod in 7H that I have tested, that being all the graphic increasing mods such as spell effect, models, weapons, world map textures, field textures, battle textures, sound effects and avatars so menu overhaul must be messing with something and you know it messes up pretty early on. The first battle with the two soldiers will be a battle with a high level enemy in a forest who kicks your butt in two seconds. loading a previous saying and ending up in a battle just causes a crash.

If we can crack this down maybe you won't need a 7H version? I'd be happy to help you test idea's if you want to work together on this?

BTW I had trouble with the game converter as well, specially if i FF7 installed in any form of program folder, even on my secondary drive but sticking it in \Games\Final Fantasy 7\ got it to behave and run properly

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #477 on: 2014-11-02 22:09:57 »
Thanks for that info; wrong encounters loading sounds a lot like a kernel synching issue that can happen when either the kernel or scene.bin have been edited which means the Menu Overhaul is likely making adjustments to the kernel which leaves it unsynched with the scene.bin. That means the kernel and scene.bin have to be re-synched once Menu Overhaul has been installed.

Have you tried installing Menu Overhaul from it's separate installer? I think it's part of the Reunion installer but everything else can be left unticked so that only Menu Overhaul installs. With that in, you could then manually re-synch the scene + kernel using the Proud Clod tool. Basically, all you'd have to do is give PrClod admin permissions, open up the scene.bin, and then select create/save scene.bin. The tool would then ask if you want to check the kernel and if yes, it'll offer to synch them if they don't match up. Then you could run 7H to apply the graphical mods, etc.

One thing I'm wondering about is if I can make a special hotfix patch made using a Menu Overhaul modified kernel, and if it would be usable with 7H Menu Overhaul. I could maybe try it if the Reunion installer is temporarily unavailable (I think it was taken down pending the R02 update; if so, I'll have a shot at it; the special patch would be 700KB or so, but no guarantees it'll work).

Edit: I got the Menu Overhaul working with the NT Mod, but the kernel-scene seemed to be fine. I reckon a NT Mod installation, then the Menu Overhaul (just the Menu Overhaul part of the Reunion installation), followed by running 7H for graphical mods could do the trick.
« Last Edit: 2014-11-02 22:26:14 by Sega Chief »

RedManMark86

  • *
  • Posts: 83
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #478 on: 2014-11-02 22:37:16 »
well in 7H you have limited options concerning the menu overhaul mod but the main part is doing something :/ If i choose no change but do choose to have no command box, no battle box and the 9999 break limit applied it will run fine... so not sure what menu overhaul itself is doing as this isn't my field, I don't mind trying your idea unless you already have a patch for me to try?

seems you were right, as they are working on RO2 they have took RO1 down :(
« Last Edit: 2014-11-02 22:53:04 by RedManMark86 »

PotatoHandle

  • *
  • Posts: 15
  • Does things quickly, no matter how long it takes.
    • View Profile
    • Twitch Stream
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #479 on: 2014-11-03 08:17:59 »
'Ello Chief; quick bug report. The Sea Worms near Mideel seem to have a move which softlocks the game. Really enjoyed the new Battle Arena 2 boss btw. \o/

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #480 on: 2014-11-03 12:56:39 »
Found the issue, one of the two Sea Worm entries has Sandstorm listed twice in their animation index instead of the new attack Tidal Wave. All it needs is the 700KB scene.bin patch, so I'll quickly upload that.

Screaver

  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #481 on: 2014-11-09 19:13:15 »
Hey Sega,
first I would like to thank you for making this awesome mod! It got me playin' my old favorite game again :) But I have a question - when I'm fighting the turks in Gongaga, the battle continiues endlessly ... If the battle is won, reno just repeats his first question an so everything starts again ^^ Is there already a fix for this?

ps: if my english is not correct, sorry^^

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #482 on: 2014-11-09 19:16:15 »
I'll look into it and get it fixed right away.

Edit: I found the issue, a handler for music behaviour was jumping back to an earlier label in the script (repeating the scene) rather than allowing it to finish. A flevel/field Hotfix patch will be up in about 20-30 minutes (110MB).
« Last Edit: 2014-11-09 19:29:58 by Sega Chief »

PotatoHandle

  • *
  • Posts: 15
  • Does things quickly, no matter how long it takes.
    • View Profile
    • Twitch Stream
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #483 on: 2014-11-09 23:43:52 »
So I finished disc 1 last night, some amazing bosses in the latter part of the disc, haha. Really awesome job, loved every bit of it.

One question though; is the game balanced for powersoul use from Nibel onwards? After smashing the last two bosses with it without any real trouble, my chat is suggesting I ban the use of powersoul in my playthrough to make the fights more interesting; which I'm happy to go along with, but if the fights are going to get tougher to accommodate the use of powersoul, I may keep using it. I'm used to pure difficulty mods where they just assume you'll be using powersoul and adjust the bosses accordingly, so I'm just deciding the best course of action to make for a fun stream, hehe. \o/

Thanks for any advice. \o/

LetCreativityPlay

  • *
  • Posts: 44
  • Final Fantasy FTW *_*
    • View Profile
    • https://www.youtube.com/user/LetCreativityPlay
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #484 on: 2014-11-10 00:11:59 »
I think you're going to see the use of power soul dissipate entering disc 2. You'll find more equipment with interesting effects as you go along. The difficulty certainly spikes up, and I found myself switching different equipment/materia combinations  a lot. But that's just me 8-)

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #485 on: 2014-11-10 00:46:05 »
Yeah, I watched the stream and I've got a few things to say about this:

-) Nothing (if anything) in the mod was specced with a Powersoul (or Master Fist) in mind. I fought and balanced everything based on a 'standard' team; if you want to fight with a Powersoul then I've no problem with that, I'm fully aware of how strong it is (I used it myself to decimate a French Hardcore mod a while back) and I also know how fun it is to use and that the majority of people would want it to be in the game, intact.

The reason I didn't spec bosses/enemies to handle it's potential damage output is because I felt that making an enemy tough enough to withstand a mechanic like Powersoul, Omnislash, KOTR, etc. makes those mechanics necessary, and completely obsoletes everything else. If a boss has enough HP to survive a barrage of Mimed Limits then Mimed Lv.4 Limits become the only viable option. The better thing, in my mind, is to find a way for as many mechanics to co-exist with each other as possible. There's also the chance that people wouldn't get the Powersoul until later; that'd leave them stranded to a degree if they then came up against bosses with enough HP to tank Powersoul damage.

Thing is, your situation isn't that simple because you've got people watching you play and they'll have different ideas about how Powersoul (and other things) should be used. It's ultimately your call, I'm afraid. That said, there's a weapon coming up for Tifa that might tempt you away from the Powersoul, or at least take some of the sting away if you do decide to drop that weapon for streams.

-) Sadness + Backrow: One thing I've been meaning to say is that you may actually be hampering yourself with this Hardcore mod set-up to a certain extent. With no Long Range, a lot of your physical attacks are dealing half damage and Sadness is crippling your Limit Breaks. When I re-balanced the mod for 1.2, the party were always front row with no Sadness because I didn't want people to have to take a defensive approach all the time as it slows the game down for them. There's actually enemies/bosses that are harder to fight with a set-up like this, because some have AI that triggers a powerful attack after a certain number of turns or which use magical/%-based attacks.

There are exceptions like Powersoul Keeper when it's under Death Sentence (the timer for which can be ran down in one turn using Full-Speed Active ATB; I think that's the trick the guys in your chat were referring to), but for the most part a front row team is more than viable in this mod. Random enemies were always specced to fight this; front row, no sadness, no barriers. For tougher enemies and bosses, it was still front row and no sadness but barriers were used. It's up to you, but I'd recommend being more aggressive with random encounters at least.

But at the end of the day, there's no right or wrong way to do things. Just varying degrees of efficiency. By the way, part of the update coming up is a new boss for the Alexander fight (it currently uses a regular enemy formation, which is double-lousy because that fight can actually be ran away from and be counted as a win). There's also another League bracket going in and a bunch of new random enemies to bolster the ailing ranks of my poor battered beasties. I'm aiming to have the update done soon(ish).

@LCP, I removed the item requirements from Extra Battle; they can be fought whenever now.

PotatoHandle

  • *
  • Posts: 15
  • Does things quickly, no matter how long it takes.
    • View Profile
    • Twitch Stream
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #486 on: 2014-11-10 03:25:49 »
Thanks for the very detailed information. I'll continue without Tifa for the storyline stuff, but I'll still use her for stuff like the Junon leagues as needed. (Which I'm trying to beat Amateur before I move on towards the great glacier with some level of success, hehe.)

As for Sadness/backrow; it's an awkward thing because the mod, while it isn't a total RIP-fest like the mods made purely for difficulty, it's still challenging enough to warrant general carefulness. My general method for bosses on the first attempt of other mods (Usually on the assumption that I will almost certainly be killed on my first try. :P) is to 'survive and learn' and while your bosses are by design, not as brutal as previous mods I've done, they still often require a lot of learning and testing.

Even with Sadness though, I've found nearly all the bosses until Rocket Town at very least adequately challenging, usually moreso. So I will probably keep generally using Sadness as a first point of call, but I'll try and be more weary of the potential of needing to level limits.

And for back row I'll be using this situationally, I've been trying to set up characters in 'roles' for the whole game, but I keep changing people's 'jobs' so to speak, so I haven't gotten very far yet. As I go through the glacier though, I'm hoping to set up Cloud as the support/tank with cover/barrier/haste in the back row, Yuffie in the front row as physical damage, eventually with Mug and/or 2x cut, etc as well as various independent materia and Aeris as the token omni-mage in the back row. That said, the early availability of reflect rings may lend itself to an interesting triple-mage/triple-reflect destruction squad for some fights, but usually when I try and set that up it doesn't work very well because of the lack of healing. (See: Palmer, haha.)

I'm happy to wait until the weekend for the Alexander fight; got to catch up on other streams, so if it's done by then I'll give it a go, thanks for the heads-up! \o/

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #487 on: 2014-11-17 01:02:46 »
Hey there, I've got an experimental .EXE patch for the NT Mod that could do with some testing if anyone's up for it. This is only for 1998 installations at the moment, I've not drummed up a Steam version yet.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/7fmfse2w533f3jf/NT_Mod_.EXE_Patch_2.exe

Installation is a little different this time but still pretty simple; make a folder on your desktop called FF7 EXE, drop a default ff7.exe into it, then run the patcher and point it at the folder you made. Once it's done, drop the patched .exe file back into the game's folder.

Basically, this would be an optional .EXE patch designed to make play a little more challenging in the NT Mod. It does three things:

1) Enables long range physical attacks for enemies; this helps to hamper the effectiveness of Back Row and fixes one of the more broken mechanics in the game.

2) Alters Materia Equip effects so that they're much more pronounced; this makes set-ups harder to come up with because equipping too many powerful Materia will leave you with very little HP and other weaknesses. Though the equip effects are 'done', their overall impact on an entire playthrough is still a mystery as enemies weren't specced with it in mind. This is one of the main things I'd like some feedback on.

3) Limit Break Adjustments: I made tweaks to most of the limit breaks, some quite subtle and others not as much.

And finally:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/1a5nd84a32u7v2e/FF7_NT_Mod_EXE_Readme.txt

This ReadMe has a note on most of the changes for Materia and Limits. The main thing right now is getting some hard data about how it affects a playthrough because the Materia Equips in particular might make the game quite brutal to play if the penalties turn out to be too much (or worse, push the player away from using most of the spells/etc).

Cheers to Kuugen for giving me the heads-up on Materia Equip effects in the .exe. The long range stuff and whatnot I got from posts made by NFITC1 and Bosola when I went trawling through old threads.
« Last Edit: 2014-11-17 01:09:43 by Sega Chief »

Fennas

  • *
  • Posts: 11
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #488 on: 2014-11-18 08:38:46 »
Loving this mod so far. I just finished Corel, got my buggy and decided to go back to fight the Alpha Zolom but he flushes me away everytime. Is there a secret in this mod to be able to fight him?

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #489 on: 2014-11-18 14:16:57 »
Glad you're liking it, bud. For reasons I'm not quite sure of anymore, I set the Zolom to sweep away the player party if they had any character below Lv.70. The problem is, a level cap was introduced since then for Lv.70. I think the original idea was that this guy was going to carry Zeio nuts or something, but it goes dropped and they're back with the Goblins.

The next time there's a patch, I'll set the level cap down to 60 for him and give him a brand new item to drop. I'll need to give him some extra attacks though, he's not very versatile.

Ljubic

  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #490 on: 2014-11-18 15:55:24 »
Thanks for the mod. I played through it two times now and i really liked how you changed bosses and added new things which were not there before. I only have one flaw (for me personally). I dont like how much you have to grind after every tenth level you reach (11,21,31 and so on) so i wanted to ask if there is any way to turn that off because I want to level up more fluently.

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #491 on: 2014-11-18 16:02:33 »
The old version had the normal level caps, but a problem that sprung up was that people were hitting Disc 2 at Lv50+ and the main complaint I was getting was that fights were becoming too easy and/or that they felt like they couldn't stop to fight anything because of it. The level caps thing solved the problem in that everyone was reaching the Crater at roughly the same level range, but this was implemented before an actual level cap was put into enemy AI for giving EXP so it might not even be necessary anymore.

What I'll do is make a special patch that uses the old EXP curves for you and make it available to other people to try out. If it works out, then I can maybe roll that out as standard. It'll be uploaded in about 5mins?

Edit: Here it is, installation is the same as the Mod itself/hotfix patches, just point it at the relevant data folder: http://www.mediafire.com/download/a9g26oqldp2f198/NT_Mod_Original_EXP_Patch.exe

One thing to note, if this is used with pre-existing NT Mod save files (ones made with the old EXP curves) then a visual glitch will appear with the EXP gauges (because there's too much EXP in the gauge). This should correct itself after leveling up once and has no other side effects that I know of.
« Last Edit: 2014-11-18 16:16:22 by Sega Chief »

Kaldarasha

  • *
  • Posts: 2449
  • Prince of Model Editing
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #492 on: 2014-11-19 04:33:12 »
Have you an idea how to create a hext file of this for DLPB's Hext_Launch?

Fennas

  • *
  • Posts: 11
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #493 on: 2014-11-19 06:08:06 »
Glad you're liking it, bud. For reasons I'm not quite sure of anymore, I set the Zolom to sweep away the player party if they had any character below Lv.70. The problem is, a level cap was introduced since then for Lv.70. I think the original idea was that this guy was going to carry Zeio nuts or something, but it goes dropped and they're back with the Goblins.

The next time there's a patch, I'll set the level cap down to 60 for him and give him a brand new item to drop. I'll need to give him some extra attacks though, he's not very versatile.

So that's how it works. I usually come back to the zolom to get beta from him. No wonder I couldn't fight him with my lvl 22 party. I think I saw a playthrough for version 1.1 where he could be fought earlier. Anyway, thanks for the info :)

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #494 on: 2014-11-19 14:03:24 »
Have you an idea how to create a hext file of this for DLPB's Hext_Launch?

You mean for the vanilla EXP patch? I suppose so, but I'd need to find the hex addresses first.

Kaldarasha

  • *
  • Posts: 2449
  • Prince of Model Editing
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #495 on: 2014-11-20 05:37:43 »
You mean for the vanilla EXP patch? I suppose so, but I'd need to find the hex addresses first.

I mean your whole exe patch.  Long range physical attacks for enemy's sounds pretty cool.  ::)

Sega Chief

  • Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 4086
  • These guys is sick
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #496 on: 2014-11-20 06:14:16 »
Ah, gotcha. It's notes I took from info NFITC1 and others gave on old threads; I compiled what I found into a notepad. I could have a shot at setting up a Hext_Launch file.

levantine

  • *
  • Posts: 223
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #497 on: 2014-11-20 08:00:39 »
Hi, firstly really nice work man you re incredible :D

I just have a question, could you make this mod with some HD graphics? I mean like the advent children mod or something else that change the avatars? So long time i see thoose older avatars and mods like advent children bring fresh to this exellent game :)

levantine

  • *
  • Posts: 223
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #498 on: 2014-11-20 08:21:29 »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YALsdU4Mj0

If you can combinate this version with yours this will be perfect :D

ManuBBXX

  • *
  • Posts: 273
    • View Profile
Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.2)
« Reply #499 on: 2014-11-20 08:53:57 »
Hello !
Sorry if the question has already been asked but : is it possible to install NT Mod with the exe and keeping my 'bootleg graphical overhaul' of the game( char and fields ) ?