Author Topic: The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)  (Read 16042 times)

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This thread has been changed to a new topic, skip to the end for the latest & greatest, which at the moment isn't anything :-?, feel free to join in in development  
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---------------- Previous Mod, no longer in progress -------------------------
---------------- Download Link -------------------------
http://www.geocities.com/b_smithie/fixzmodv040.zip - newest (Major encounter bug fixed)
---------------- Download Link -------------------------

----------- Mod Changes/Features ---------------------
- Monster HP x 3
- Monster MP = HP
- Monster Lvl x 2
- Sephiroths HP = 5,000,000
- Bosses Immunities Corrected
- 1% chance to recieve a source potion from a Monster
- Removed a misplaced item (Barrets asault gun)

p.s. Please notify me of any problems + send me your save game

The Skillster

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #1 on: 2006-01-01 18:23:28 »
which app did you use to edit to stats for the monsters?

dziugo

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #2 on: 2006-01-01 18:48:07 »
Can you post a link to your mod? I might want to try it out.

dziugo

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« Reply #3 on: 2006-01-02 08:04:21 »
Quote from: The Skillster
which app did you use to edit to stats for the monsters?


i used just the scenereader + scenester.

i've fixed two of the standard three problems that tend to occur, the third problem occurs at wutai (in the battle tower) were as im still in midgar so i cannot fix it yet - im pretty sure that the problems are initially caused by scenereader not extracting/compressing the files correctly, as the errors occur in the same files (area's in game) every time. scenes 54-56 and 110-111, i think the third error is in 147-148(affect's the materia keeper fight and yuffie's fight in the tower). It's got something to do with the part of the file that tells the game which scene is to be loaded next, i wish it would be fixed or that i had to the source to try and fix it.

Well here's the link, ive made it up to where you get Red XIII and i've only managed to find 1 source potion campaired to my previous run where i found about six by this point.  Also at one point i got killed(game over) once by a hell house & serious beat up by Ap's (Tip: use a hyper on aeris for that fight).

--- add ---

btw - dziugo this isnt the mod i was refering to in your post, this is an older one i started working on again because things were looking bad with the new one, it was turning out too much the same as the 2x mod. Anyway this ones pretty good... better than i remembered. Ive just made it out of midgar at lvl15 in a rushed game. i expect most people to make it out between lvl17 and 20.

Great Sephiroth

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weird bug
« Reply #4 on: 2006-01-02 14:22:39 »
ok i test your hard core mod (in the end only) and i see strange thing!!!!!!!!!!   like instead of fighting normal monster (before fighting the Last Jenova) i fight several Jenove(the last) instead of fighting the boss Jenova i fight Bizzaro Sephiroth on the left side instead of fighting Bizzaro Sephiroth i fight Bizzaro Sephiroth(right side) and instead of safer saphiroth i again fight Bizzaro Sephiroth left side and in the Supposed last battle Cloud VS Sephiroth I fight Bizzaro Sephiroth Left side and i can only target my team (Cloud only)


Strange can you tell me whats wrong????

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« Reply #5 on: 2006-01-02 18:01:15 »
It mean's there is an error in one of the files before it, it throws the next couple of battles out of order.

sends us a save game and i'll fix it up, thats if its not already fixed as im about to upload a newer version with a major bug fixed in it.

Great Sephiroth

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #6 on: 2006-01-02 18:08:06 »
i was thinking did your hardcore mode is compatible with my FF7 French Version (maybe it is the bug ?????? if you think its not that  ill send you a savegame via email



Thanks in advance



The Great Sephiroth

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« Reply #7 on: 2006-01-02 18:12:45 »
It will not be affected by your language version, test the new version and if that hasn't fixed it send me a save game because i dont have any near that location to test with.
It wont take long to fix, it can just be a pain in finding which file the problem occurs in.

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #8 on: 2006-01-02 19:31:10 »
Quote from: Great Sephiroth
i was thinking did your hardcore mode is compatible with my FF7 French Version (maybe it is the bug ?????? if you think its not that  ill send you a savegame via email



Thanks in advance



The Great Sephiroth

These bugs are probably caused by the french kernel.bin.
The third subfile of the kernel tells the game how many files are in each scene.bin's block.

If they're not updated, bugs similar to yours appear.

It's just a supposition, though.

Great Sephiroth

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #9 on: 2006-01-02 19:35:16 »
ok maibe its that but i have send a savegame to smithie and when he will come back with it I wii test it and give tou some news


The Great Sephiroth

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« Reply #10 on: 2006-01-02 20:21:57 »
It worked fine for me, make sure you scrolled up the top(of this page) and downloaded the newest version v0.40, because ive updated/fixed the file four times since yesterday also make sure you are installling the file correctly into your battle folder over the top of your old scene file. The very top link is the newest the old ones are there for people if they dont like any of the changes ive made.

If that still fails, send me the original scene file that is on your FF7 cd and i will check to see if the french version differ's in anyway.

but like i said everything worked fine for me.

Great Sephiroth

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #11 on: 2006-01-03 10:51:23 »
it dont work for me (probably because my french version) but im trying to make my own Hard Core for French players Mod with scenester and scene reader and im going to make a test after that(i hope you dont mind i used some of your idea for making mine like the HPx3, i to give a small % about 1 to 10& for the source) but i change a little something i also double the XP AP amount given by monster(in my book doubled level mounster= double EXP and AP) and in a certain point ill make the hp * 4 because if i increased the EXP given by normal monster and boss its will be like i ve done almost nothing .if you want me to send my mod after its complete just tell me and ill email it to you but to play it i sugest to use the hp/mp limit breaking and also a little cheating for increased your hp little by little(not in the beginning) like me i will add each 5 level 100 hp and in the later levels like 60 and more i will add 500 hp for each 5 levels(its too bad that i cant change the hp given by level. it will be a bit helpful with the hpmp limit breaking)

i think it will be great mixed with hl/mp limit breaking

The Great Sephiroth

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #12 on: 2006-01-04 10:48:05 »
I've tried something simular to what your sugesting with the 2xstat mod i released before and it didn't work well.

If you increase the Exp & Ap gained it makes the game go way too quick, were as i want the opposite. I wanted players to spend a little more time in areas they previously wouldn't have. Its best not to alter any of the rewards at all, the only reason why i added in source potions is because normally you would only collect about 10 or so of them through out the coarse of the entire game. Also it gives the player a chance to customise each character. e.g. cloud-melee, barret-tank, tifa-magic or somthing like that.

If any one encounters the error that sephiroth has describe above in the english version please give me a yell, because i might in fact have uploaded the wrong version if it does.

----------------------------------- add --------------------------------------

A new version might be out in a week or so, im just going threw changing misplaced items so that previously un-used items will get some use in game, e.g. cloud's mithral-sabre, yuffie's starting weapon, if possible(unlikely) i would like to remove a item of vincents from a chest as well. Because you find a gun of his before his even in your party.

If anyone has something to add to the list of misplaced items tell me.

The Skillster

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #13 on: 2006-01-04 16:10:37 »
You know I noticed that the more deeper you go into editing the scene files (not just HP and stats, but steal and manipulate rates, elemental attacks and raw hacking) to longer it takes to get through it and the more motivation is required.
Especially in my case where I really wanted to be difficult in some areas but ok in others.

I was wondering if it was a good idea to pool everyone's time together and allocate sets of scene files and specific edits for people to do.
Ie: we do 10 files each a month?

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« Reply #14 on: 2006-01-04 23:23:58 »
Quote from: The Skillster
You know I noticed that the more deeper you go into editing the scene files (not just HP and stats, but steal and manipulate rates, elemental attacks and raw hacking) to longer it takes to get through it and the more motivation is required.
Especially in my case where I really wanted to be difficult in some areas but ok in others.

I was wondering if it was a good idea to pool everyone's time together and allocate sets of scene files and specific edits for people to do.
Ie: we do 10 files each a month?


I wouldn't mind, i tried to start something simular before but then left the community for a while because of ahh.. real life issues. Lack of motivations killed quite few of my mods ive tried to make, i get half way threw editing the files then stop delete and start on something else. Also the more you try to customise each fight the more & more time it starts to take. Thats why i usually use changes that can easily be done in my head i.e like 2 x Hp. This way i can get the entire file done in 4 to 8 hours rather than months on end. ..... so im in if you are :D.

I would like it if the weapon changes im making are included into it as well. Because as the name of my mod states this mod was more about fixing issues in the game rather than making things harder, to me the fact that you can steal a hardedge with shinra hq renders the placement of the mythral sabre obsolete and useless.
Another less posible thing i want to change is the price of yuffies weapons, they need to be made dirt cheap as they are intended to be thrown by the highly unused throw command (well mabye its just me that never uses it) to make it more like shadows throw command with his ninja stars that you could easily buy 99 of.

So if you intend to make a group/community developed mod create a new thread so its no cluttered by crap and we will get started, but i must admit i have no idea just how abouts we are going to go about this.

The Skillster

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« Reply #15 on: 2006-01-05 08:47:41 »
Well we have a base for it already in your mod, and ideas I have been given by kiggles and co when I was making mines (IE fix certain elemental weakness and add certain elements to certain attacks etc).

I agree if you manage to steal a Hardedge you are infact well placed till Junon at least.
I do belive in having more items/sources made stealable and less weapons and armor - as they have less effect in the long term compared to a platinum bangle or a force stealer (double growth swords) etc.

We can schedule sets of scene files for editing, and maybe discuss the kind of overall changes we would like to make and changes to bosses etc.
You may have ideas or suggestions for files that I am editing, thats even better since we can improve each others work as we go along, and keep a log of specific changes (like rare items or fixes).

Please have a quick read through my The Skillster's Hardcore mode thread in the Game Tweaking section:
http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=4795
and also the Topic that got split from it about hacking of certain enemy attack data:
http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=4939

Once you have done that we can suggest where to start off from,
Or if you get stuck understanding anything just let me know and I can explain it.

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #16 on: 2006-01-05 14:02:46 »
What do you mean by start from my mod?, i suggest we start anew from the original scene files.

Is there anyway we can have a shared log file in which we can both edit? to do as you say keep a log of who is doing what & what changes are beening made.

I suggest we start off with the beggining & i'll do from 76 to 82 (start to guard scorpion). And you can do from 83 to 92 (from 7th heaven to air buster). It will make it easier to keep track of in section such as those. or we can swap it around if you like.

--- Proposed Changes for scenes 76 to 82, without the obvious difficulty increase's ---
I'll try to keep the list smaller by leaving out explanation's but if you dont understand why, or want to suggest something else just ask away.
Monster Lvl Range 5-10
Guard Scorpion
- Remove barret's assualt gun
- win steal materia
- Add two Mp's to fight
- Cold immunity
- w-machine gun, attack's both players
Sweeper
- Add darkness to smoke shot.
- Add cold immunity
- Add Matra Magic??? not sure if this is possible
- w-machine gun attacks all
- machine gun fire elemental damage
Guard Hound
- Shoot unavoidable
- posion melee
MP
- Cold half damage (They look like they are wearing winter gear)
- lightning unavoidable
- Cut double damage
Mono Drive
- absorb lightning
- cold unavoidable
1st Ray
- null cold
- absorb lightning ;D
- add sleep & water elements to ray
Grunt
- Add water element damage
- Absorb Ice, combined with monodrive weakness to cold should make an interesting fight
- Half cut damage
- weakness to shoot
- Posion melee attack

Going ahead to airbuster, i would suggest to give morph as a reward for beating it. After all doesn't he say that "the data we will gain from your dead bodies will be of valuable information". This will give the player some good use of command materia earlier on before magic takes over.

I've read over your forums which contained some good idea's and also some which i have tried before, alot of the ones mentioned above i have tried + taken idea's from your forums. while i understand alot of what is been said in the technical one i dont yet have the ability to do any of it, hopefully it wont be too difficult for me to learn how. Also what hex editor are you using, mines a very simple(free) one which cannot do very much. And can only view the file as a whole and judging by the offsets given i would say that is definatly not what you are doing, you look to be spliting it up into sections based upon the offset for that section & and then the offsets for each bit of data within that section.

I really want to be able to do alot of the hex editing as it will greatly improve what we can make the mod + new formations are really cool, if they work.

The Skillster

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #17 on: 2006-01-05 16:17:58 »
Hey great to see you accepted the invitation.
Alot of ideas you have there, I suppose it is wise to work nice and slow through each monster/formation/scene file and thats exactly what we aim to do in order to add quality to the mod.

I use a basic free hex editor:
http://www.hhdsoftware.com/hexeditor.html
Also a good one is called Hex Compare, which I used to use for comparing two scene files, but it needs $30 to unlock it after 14 days!

Careful with editing formations, it is easy to simply take the formation data of say two MPs from another fight and put them into the Gaurd Scorpion fight. But it is also possible to overlap each other and/or move them right off the screen :)

Introducing command materia is also a good idea.

Right so I have the Sector ? underground, and the 2nd Reactor.
Both reactors are quite similar, but you need to bare in mind (after playing Elentor's Mod I realised) that you dont have Cure or many items in the first reactor.

So you can really afford to take the suckers to Hell in the 2nd one :)

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« Reply #18 on: 2006-01-05 18:40:41 »
Quote
Both reactors are quite similar, but you need to bare in mind (after playing Elentor's Mod I realised) that you dont have Cure or many items in the first reactor.


I played around with upping the odd's of recieving potion's to 25%, and tried to add in grenades as well so you would have three elements Fire, Ice & Light.

I reckon i can take them to hell with only those items, however you are right this area's pretty limited... i'll try to make it interesting rather than hardcore.

The Skillster

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The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progress)
« Reply #19 on: 2006-01-05 18:56:20 »
When I said "suckers" I meant the players and not the enemies :D

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« Reply #20 on: 2006-01-06 07:21:39 »
So did i.

The Skillster

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« Reply #21 on: 2006-01-06 09:10:16 »
Ok so far I have just done the basic HP/MP/Stat and Level increases.
Also added different types of Sources to win at 1%
About Air Buster, someone mentions that if you hit it from behind it does 3x the damage, someone also claimed to have fixed this, how? Increasing the Def Stat?

Once I have finished the basic stats editing, I will play test it and thing up ideas of things to change like you have and then do the advanced editing by hand.

Oh, and dont forget - dont edit/add/remove elemental properties for an enemy with Scenester, do it by hand.

Cheers!

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« Reply #22 on: 2006-01-06 11:35:03 »
Quote
Also added different types of Sources to win at 1%
About Air Buster,

someone mentions that if you hit it from behind it does 3x the damage, someone also claimed to have fixed this, how? Increasing the Def Stat?

--------------------------------
Are we going to put source potions on all monsters like mine? I haven't put any in yet.
--------------------------------
He only takes damage at 3x from melee attacks from behind, magic is only needed to cure people in that fight. Im not really too sure what you should do about him, as far as bosses go his the lamest in the game, maybe a greater weakness to lighting would help bring some magic into the fight, at the moment his magic element is only unavoidable.
--------------------------------
Is a standard PC charaters speed = 85. So if a monsters attack speed is 85 will the monster get in one attack for every player attack? in testing this seems to be true. correct me if im wrong.


------------------ADD---------------------------

Just noticed something which was a bit of a slap in the face,

Quote
Guard Scorpion
- Remove barret's assualt gun
- win steal materia
- Add two Mp's to fight
- Cold immunity
- w-machine gun, attack's both players


.. you cannot win materia!!!   soo.. there goes that idea.

The Skillster

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Re: The Skillster's & SmithiE's Hardcore Mod (In Progres
« Reply #23 on: 2006-01-06 11:55:34 »
[quote="smithie- 1% chance to recieve a source potion from a Monster
[/quote]
Thats what you said, but I can change that.

Crap I forgot that as well about winning materia.
I suppose instead you can give items with attack/defense/status uses.
Like bolt plume or light curtain etc
But not this early in the game.

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« Reply #24 on: 2006-01-06 12:17:04 »
Quote
1% chance to recieve a source potion from a Monster


That was from the previous mod, i wasn't sure if we were using that or not. I suppose we will then, it work's fairly well.

I just got beat by guard scorpion :o , but other than that the rest seemed a tad easy, and will need to be upped. For some unknown reason grendades will not drop either? dont know why.