FF8 Modding: Auto-Aura for Enemies/Lv.100

[Sega Chief]

Hi all, I've been making tentative steps into FF8 modding with an aim of making a special mod specifically for a challenge run. Was hoping to get some advice about making certain things happen with the game using the currently existing editors. If anyone has some Gameshark notes that could make these things happen, though, then I'd be very interested in that too.

First, I was wondering if it's possible to have all enemies/bosses in the game have the Aura effect active at all times. Aside from the strength boost, I was reading about the special attacks that certain monsters gain access to under Aura; are there many of these attacks or is it limited to Thrustaevis, Raijin, and GIM52A? (pulled this info from the Wiki). I know it's unlikely, but is there a flag for Auto-Aura or a way to insert some AI into the enemies that has them placed under the Aura effect? If it's not possible/feasible at the moment, then no worries.

As a back-up, I was thinking of doing a Lv100 run but I thought it would be a nice twist to do it with an initial-level party, rather than a Lv100 party. Is it possible to circumvent the game's mechanics and have enemies spawn at Lv100 regardless of party level? A few folk told me that the enemy level is fixed for certain areas, like the Lunatic Pandora, so I was wondering if there was something in the flevel that activated this and which could be altered and applied to more areas (haven't had much luck deciphering the scripts). I also read somewhere that the way the game handles enemy level and where this calculation takes place is currently unknown, but it never hurts to ask.

Any advice that can be offered would be appreciated. Could always do a plain ol' Lv100 run with other challenge conditions but there's something about fighting golden enemies that just seems appealing, y'know?

[Vgr]

Ifrit will let you change the enemies' stats, although I don't see anywhere you can fix its level. Besides, formulas depend on the level.

If you do find anything though, please share. I was looking forward to an FF8 mod.

[Aavock]

Hey Sega, good to hear; I was also testing the enemy editor "Ifrit", all formulas and information can be found in the readme. I tried to double the strength and magic stats but because of the formula the highest level 1 possible value is 70 and a few enemies have more than a 35 default strength/magic stat value (for example level 1 Hexadragon default strength is 52). As far as I know a 200% strength/magic increase for all enemies is not possible, a 200% HP stat is possible though.

Lv100 mod sounds interesting but keep in mind that some enemies level are locked (like Ifrit); also, if all enemies are level 100 the player will be able to draw powerful magic right from the beginning of the game like Firaga from Bite Bug making Fire and Fira already "useless" so it will be quite unbalanced.

[Tenko Kuugen]

pretty sure it's not the field that determines the level range but the actual encounter. There are areas that have mixed encounters, partially fixed level or at least capped and then unlimited, making me believe that this is handled somewhere in the actual encounter file

[Sega Chief]

Ifrit will let you change the enemies' stats, although I don't see anywhere you can fix its level. Besides, formulas depend on the level.

If you do find anything though, please share. I was looking forward to an FF8 mod.

If I do find anything, I'll let folk know; sorry for the misleading thread title 

Lv100 mod sounds interesting but keep in mind that some enemies level are locked (like Ifrit); also, if all enemies are level 100 the player will be able to draw powerful magic right from the beginning of the game like Firaga from Bite Bug making Fire and Fira already "useless" so it will be quite unbalanced.

I was planning to combine some modding with challenge restrictions to get something unique on the go; for instance, setting enemies to Lv.100 and then tagging on a restriction like 'low-level magic only' (which would restrict our access to certain magic because low-level spells would have to come from Refine abilities which rely on items). I remember the game being much harder at higher levels so I was hoping to make use of that and to maybe add some other things that aren't possible with the unaltered game, like the Aura thing. But the Ifrit editor I downloaded has an old type of Help file that I don't think is supported by Windows anymore though; all of the entries in it are blank for me.

pretty sure it's not the field that determines the level range but the actual encounter. There are areas that have mixed encounters, partially fixed level or at least capped and then unlimited, making me believe that this is handled somewhere in the actual encounter file

That makes sense; I think I read somewhere that for the Ultimecia fights, if your party changes due to a KO/Spirited Away after finishing a phase then the enemies that consist of the next phase (Griever for instance) have their level determined by the new current party so it's maybe calculated as the formation loads up rather than from the field screen like I assumed.

[FF_Obsessed]

You change the levels in Scene.out using Hexeditor. Levels are located at the last 8 bytes of the section. Here is a link for each encounter. http://aladore3viii4.free.fr/files/FF8/Battle%20Scene%20Test%20%28US%29.html.   

In Hexeditor, arrange by 128 bytes per section. Take fight number on given link, multiply by 128 and thats your Offset....in HEX. If i remember straight FC is normal value for  follow your level formula? and any value 100 or below is the set level.

I'm new to modding myself, but I gathered that information on this forum. Also, this is for the PC version, weather that makes a difference when modding PSX I have no idea.