Restoring the Japanese Supernova and more

[Gemini]

Seems like not much research was put into this, so I gave it a look myself and found out that:
- All versions of FF7 still have the data to execute the original and much shorter Supernova;
- Sepher Sephiroth behaves a little differently in its original incarnation.

Restoring the Supernova isn't very difficult, even though locating the data responsible for the change was tricky. So, step 1: we replace the reference index that calls Supernova Redux (ID 0x13E, file SNOVA\LASBOSS3.BIN) instead of Supernova (ID 0x125, file MAGIC\LASBOSS.BIN). If you try to execute Supernova now in the Sepher battle, all you will get is absolutely nothingness. This is because Supernova loads correctly, but doesn't execute at it's supposed to. So, step 2: we replace the entrypoint value, which is 0x801B0040 in LASBOSS3, with its original value, 0x801B0000. All this data is stored inside the main battle overlay, that is file BATTLE\BATTLE.X (gzipped, so decompress it first). This changes translate to these assembly lines that can be compiled with armips:

Code: [Select]

.open "BATTLE",0x800A0000
.psx

.org 0x800EFDA2
.dh 0x125 ; replace LASBOSS3.BIN reference with LASBOSS.BIN, was 0x13E

.org 0x800F03EC
.dw 0x801B0000 ; fix entry point, was 0x801B0040

.closeFinal step: we replace the SCENE data for Sepher, which is subsegment 231 (counting from 0). The Japanese version uses a sightly different format for SCENE segments, so you've got to fix it to follow the international format, which uses 32 bytes for strings instead of 16. If you're too lazy to do this yourself, use my personal revision of the subfile.

This procedure was done on the International build, but with a couple address changes it should be compatible with other builds too. As for the PC port, no idea how it's managed there. The Supernova might still be there somewhere, but there's probably another procedure to call it. I'm not really interested in the PC port, so it's up to somebody else to find it because I won't for sure.

You can find a video of the original battle here.

[DLPB_]

You work fast   Cool to see something work out 

[Bosola]

I think that's the fifteenth assumption about modding FF7 Gemini has disproven this month.

I've also taken the liberty of posting a topic on GameFAQs, directing people to your video (here)

Edit: Egemonia de Ares?
 
Ares is the God of War, Hegemony is rule - The Rule of Ares?

[Gemini]

Yup, more or less. I decided to rename it that way because the original name was too long to be included for entire. I used Ares, Roman war god, as the "Supreme Wargod" (超究武神), while Hegemony/Egemonia replaces "ruler's slash" (覇斬).

By the way, you made a small error in the gamefaqs post. I didn't edit the Italian PAL version (which doesn't exist), but the Japanese International one.

[DLPB_]

Yeah I was going to use Ares Slash or hachiman Slash or other names but eventually had to have a vote and Omnislash remained.  I like Gemini's name too

[Gemini]

Back on the Supernova topic, I remember many people wanting to use it as a skill, summon technique, or Limit Break (for Sephiroth, mainly). Many claimed that Supernova Redux works fine only in the spiraling heaven scenario, but I think the same would not happen with this Supernova as it doesn't have any "world destruction" animation. Maybe it can be done now that such effect is not there anymore? I'll look into that soon and I'll try switching animations with a summon, but I have a good feeling about it.