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Final Fantasy 7 => Gameplay => Releases => Topic started by: Armorvil on 2010-11-12 22:59:14

Title: [FF7PC-98/PSX] The FFVII AV mod (2010-11-22 Demo)
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-12 22:59:14
For a description of what this mod does, see the replies below.

The demo is for the whole Midgar section of the game - so it ends as soon as you reach the world map.

Here is the download link (72.6MB) for the PC version. Scroll further down for a link for the PSX version.

http://www.mediafire.com/?1u016l6744zd8kg

And straight from the readme contained in this rar archive :

-Installation instructions (for PC) :
--------------------------

1) Copy your SCENE.BIN, KERNEL.BIN, KERNEL2.BIN, FF7.EXE and FLEVEL.LGP files in the folder you extracted this archive to.

2) Double-click "apply scene patch.bat"

3) Double-click "apply kernel patch.bat"

4) Double-click "apply kernel2 patch.bat"

5) Double-click "apply ff7exe patch.bat"

6) Double-click "apply flevel patch.bat"

Now, the files sceneav.bin, kernelav.bin, kernel2av.bin, ff7av.exe and flevelav.lgp have been created.
Those are the files containing the mod. (EDIT: if one of these hasn't been created, that means that the program overwrited the file you put in directly. So, if for example, you can't find ff7av.exe, that means that the ff7.exe you put in this directory became the modified one). 

7) Rename or move your original SCENE.BIN, KERNEL.BIN, KERNEL2.BIN, FF7.EXE and FLEVEL.LGP files - so you have backups of them.

8 ) If one or all of the files : sceneav.bin, kernelav.bin, kernel2av.bin, ff7av.exe and flevelav.lgp have been created, rename them to scene.bin, kernel.bin, kernel2.bin, ff7.exe and flevel.lgp.
Now, put them back into their respective folder, in \Program Files\Square Soft, Inc\Final Fantasy VII\

9) Play the game!

-How to uninstall
---------------

Either delete / move or rename the modded files, and put the originals back in their place.


-Credits
--------

The entire Qhimm community. Sorry, I'm too lazy to type the name of all the people who helped me a bunch (and there are many!) at the moment, but I'll be sure to mention each person in the final readme (the one that will come with the complete mod).


Any feedback is appreciated :)

EDIT:

And here is the demo for the PSX version :

http://www.mediafire.com/?g5a3e93ugqxzrr5

I encountered some issues while testing it, though. Because of hardware limitations, you can't use Water on all enemies anymore, or the game would crash. To keep you from crashing your game by mistake, Water can only target a single enemy, now. Also, since the enemy spells table is different from the PC version, I couldn't use the same animations for the new spells. Water 1 is unchanged (the "Water Gun" animation still works), but no wind animation seemed to work for the Aero spells. Thus, I temporarily left them with the Demi animations... ...If you read me KM, I'd like to know how you managed to make your Aero spell with the Sand Storm animation (among others) on the PSX version. I'm at a loss, here...

EDIT2:

ZekuMusashi and WingedMasamune (on GameFaqs) told me their games crash with the new psx patch, so link removed for now. I'm in the process of creating a new, working one.

EDIT3:

New PSX patch created. It also works with the xdelta patcher (after all, it works great that way), so you'll have to use CDMage to replace the old scene.bin, kernel.bin, mds7pb_1.dat, limtmenu.mnu and shopmenu.mnu with the new ones.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2010-11-13 00:45:00
any details of what this mod does? ( I can guess from the files modified but some details would be nice )
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-13 09:06:13
I don't have much time to talk about it right now (gotta go to work in 10 minutes - I'll give a more in-depth description tonight (meaning, in 10 or 11 hours)), but I'll say that this is a mod that tweaks about everything that can be tweaked. But I'm not changing things for the sake of changing things. What drives me is the will of enhancing the gameplay experience, to further increase the customization (and as soon as possible), and to make the game even more fun. I made it so the player has a lot of options, and that all of those are viable. Also, in this mod, no player will have the same team, with the same stats, equipment, and materia. It is also a lot harder - but not to the point of being frustrating IMO. You can play through the game without experiencing a single game-over, but your blood will boil many times. You will have to use items to their fullest - and you'll have to wisely choose how to use your money throughout the game.

But it is balanced. Random battles are tough, but end quickly. Enemies (that have been changed - you, for example, encounter BullMotors, Cromwells, etc in the first Reactor - and instead of the Guard Scorpion, you fight the Iron Giant) were tweaked so they're hard but never a chore to defeat. The game feels like a new game, a different experience...

You can check out my Youtube videos, if you like. (http://www.youtube.com/user/armorvil?feature=mhum)
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: xLostWingx on 2010-11-13 15:51:42
FFVII AV Demo whoo hoo!  I've seen your videos and your mod looks great.  I don't think I can help you with making a patcher (although I might...let's wait till someone who does this on a regular basis offers some input).  Glad to see that you are making some progress though.  If nobody else helps you with the patcher I can offer you the process I used for my PSX mod...its a little like the Blind leading the Blind, but the underlying concept is the same...

******************

How is your PSP btw?
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-13 19:08:15
Yeah, thanks for the offer Lost Wing =) I see you used ppf patchs. The right move for a psx mod, IMO (and yeah, my psp still works great :D ). I'll also try to make my mod PSX/PSP compatible, eventually.

Anyways, if no one posts after this, I'll have to double-post to describe my modifications in a more in-depth manner (it should be okay to double-post in these kinds of situations, right ?). I bet I'll spend the whole evening / night typing everything, but this is a needed step : no one wants to install something they're not sure will be worth their time.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Cloudef on 2010-11-13 20:14:56
Looking forward for the PSX version, thank you and xLostWingx for both providing me, since I don't really have the time to make own PSX FF7 mod :P

Anyways, this mod adds more choices to the game? Could there be situations that you don't get some party members or lose some party members on certain choices etc? It sounds fun.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-13 22:17:11
KERNEL.BIN being the skeletal structure of the mod, I'll start with it.

COMMAND tab

* New camera angles for some commands
* Slash all : toggle multiple, can target allies (useful for Aeris and her weapons providing buffs)

ATTACK tab

*Cure/Cure2/Cure3/Cure4 recover set amounts of HP (in battle). They're also not reflectable. Cure restores 500 HP, Cure2 : 2000 HP, Cure3 : 5000 HP, and Cure4 all HP.

* Esuna replaces Poisona.

* Dispel replaces Esuna.

* Defence Break: replaces Resist. Casts Reflect and nullifies Def and MDef. Now that reflect is always a good status effect (healing spells aren't reflected), this is a "drawback" to an otherwise overpowered magic. Plus, it allows enemies immune to Reflect, to also be immune to the loss of defence.

* Life : restores life with 50% HP.

* Status spells have a low MP cost and a perfect accuracy.

* Focus : Replaces Barrier. Doesn't cost MP, and recovers MaxMP*1/32. If a character uses it and has a max MP of 32, he'll recover 1 MP. If he has 960 MP, he'll recover 30 MP for free. Useful when you're in a dire situation and don't have an Ether to spare.

* Cure4 replaces MBarrier.

* Life3 replaces Reflect. Restores all allies to life with full HP.

* Overdrive replaces Wall. Sacrifices the user's limit gauge to fill those of other allies. Costs a lot of MP.

* Blind replaces Haste.

* Pearl replaces DeBarrier. Powerful Holy elemental attack.

* Petrify replaces DeSpell.

* New camera angles for attack spells.

* Some elements are now weaker / stronger than others. Here is the order, from weaker to stronger :
Poison (=Dark) < Ice < Lightning < Water < Earth < Wind < Fire < Gravity (not a % based element anymore) < Holy

So, Bolt is more powerful than Ice, but Ice2 is still more powerful than Bolt (but less powerful than Bolt2, of course).

To go more in-depth about elements, you can now tell which element an enemy is weak to, just by looking at it. Just look at the enemy's color. If black is the dominant color, then it is weak to Holy and halves Poison. If it's purple it is weak against fire and halves ice, if it's yellow it is weak against water and halves lightning, if it's blue, it is weak against lightning and halves water ; if it's brown, it is weak against wind and halves earth ; if it's green, it is weak against earth and halves wind ; if it's red, it is weak against ice and halves fire. And if it's white, it is weak against poison and halves holy. Gravity has no color - it is the "space" element, used for spells like Comet, Ultima, and the Bahamuts. Many enemies are weak to it.

Also, the Poison status also inflicts Dual, now. Think of it as a reverse Regen. It's still considered Poison though - so a Remedy/Esuna/etc will still remove the status. Note that a Bio attack either inflicts all status effects (Poison + Dual + Dual Drain), or none (but if your character blocks Poison and not Dual, he'll only get the Dual status of course).
 
But let's go back to the Attacks tab :

* Water replaces Escape.

* Water2 replaces Remove

* the Aero spells replace the Demi ones. If you want to use % based damage, use the Laser enemy skill.

* Meteo replaces FullCure. More powerful than Comet2, and hits 6 times.

* Water3 replaces Shield.

*New spell : Big Wall. Unusable by the party - can only be used by enemies. Casts Barrier/MBarrier/Reflect.

* Summons ignore the enemies' MDef.

* Enemies skills don't depend on the Magic stat, anymore. Someone with 1 Magic will be as effective in Enemy Skills as someone with 255 Magic. The difference is that Enemy Skills are generally less powerful than normal magics, and that they cost more MP (the price for versatility).

* Power Up replaces L4 Suicide. It inflicts KO on a random party member, but doubles the caster's Strength (max strength: 510). Use this if you feel lucky, because if it targets the caster, then it would have been for nothing.

* Magic Hammer : drains approx ~3% of the target's MP for no MP cost. Some random enemies and bosses have a lot of MP, so it can be useful. Of course, if you use it on a random enemy that only has 100 MP, it's not that good (3 MP stolen, yay...).

* White Wind : heals more status effects, but it has a higher MP cost now.

* Ether Corpse : replaces Big Guard. It restores 1000 MP to one dead ally. Will miss if you target anyone still on their feet.

* Angel Whisper : simply restores life at 50% HP, now. MP cost lowered.

* Refuse: replaces Dragon Force. 1260 Dark damage on all opponents.

* Flame Thrower : 200 Fire damage to a single opponent

* Laser now uses the Poison element, since all Poison attacks use the 'Unknown' one. It has many uses you'll notice. One of which is the fact that, if an enemy is immune against the Poison status effect, it'll also be immune against Laser.

* Matra Magic : 360 Holy damage on all opponents

* Beta : inflicts 1000 Fire damage on all opponents

* Aqualung : inflicts 760 Water damage on all opponents

* Trine : inflicts 500 Lightning damage on all opponents

* Magic Breath : damages MP. Since all rules have an exception, this is the only Enemy skill that increases power with the Magic stat.

* ?? ?? : Hit-elemental. Some enemies can be weak / halve / or be immune to Hit. So if Barret had 200/1000 HP and he'd hit an enemy who halves Hit, he'd deal 400 damage instead of 800.

* Goblin Punch : Hit elemental and perfect accuracy. Use this if the enemy is weak to physical attacks and keeps dodging your attacks. Depends on the Strength stat.

* Shadow Flare : 3000 Gravity damage

* Pandora's Box : 2000 Gravity damage on all opponents.

-------------------------

INITIAL DATA

Character data

Cloud starts the game at level 1. Everyone starts the game on the Back Row with a full Limit gauge.
No one gains stats at level up anymore. The only things that go up are HP and MP.
Everyone starts with ~10 in all stats and 200 HP / 20 MP, except Cloud that comes with ~15 and 300 HP / 30 MP. Use the sources that all random enemies drop to make your characters evolve as you wish. You shape your own team.
Oh, and you need less kills / limit uses to learn new limit skills. The limit gauges also take more time to fill (it was necessary, because since the enemies hit harder, Limit breaks occured too often. I made Limit breaks rarer, so you'll sometimes want to use them in specific spots - not always as soon as they're available).

Equipment that Cloud comes equipped with :

WEAPON : Buster Sword
ARMOR : Soldier 3rd
ACCESSORY : Strife

Materias that Cloud comes equipped with :

*Medic
*All (mastered)
*Low Level magic
*Counter-Attack
*Seal
*Added Effect
*Poison
*Enemy Skill
*Morph
*Focus

Equipment that Barret comes equipped with :

WEAPON : Gatling Gun
ARMOR : Avalanche Warrior
ACCESSORY : Wallace

Materias that Barret comes equipped with :

*Enemy Lure (mastered)
*Double Cut
*Item
*Steal

Equipment that Tifa comes equipped with :

WEAPON : Wizard Glove
ARMOR : Cotton Shirt
ACCESSORY : Lockheart

Materias that Tifa comes equipped with :

*Luck Plus
*Slash All
*Added Cut
*Steal
*Lightning
*All
*Enemy Skill
*Ice

(I won't go over the other characters, for now - laziness and all that...)

Party Data

You start with these items :

-Potion x10
-Hi-Potion x3
-Super Hero Drink x1
-Mega Potion x1
-Ether x1
-Remedy x5
-Phoenix Down x3
-Mega Phoenix x1
-a bunch of Greens

ITEMS

Almost all magics turned into attack items that have the same effect as the magics. Examples : Cure Stone, Ultima Stone, Meteo Stone, Aero Stone. Attack items deal a set amount of damage, and follow the same principle as attack magic. That means that the Bio Stone deals 80 damage, while the Ice Stone deals 100 damage, the Bolt Stone deals 120 damage, etc.

The most powerful attack item is the Pearl Stone, which deals 5000 damage. Oh yeah, and attack items have their own element (Shout). For example, some enemies can instantly die from being hit by an attack item.

Potions restore 400 HP in battle, 100 HP out of battle
Hi-Potions restore 2000 HP in battle, 500 HP out of battle
Ethers restore 400 MP in battle, 100 MP out of battle
Phoenix Downs restore life with 50% HP in battle

Take note that I kept the Light and Lunar Curtains, as one of the only ways (next to Aeris' weapons and some limit skills) to grant the Barrier & MBarrier statuses. But these items are rare, so I'd advise to use them as last resorts of sorts.

As a final note, forget about Eyedrops, Antidotes, Echo Screens and the likes. Now there is only one item to cure all status effects : the Remedy. It doesn't cost much gil, and it's a good idea to stock some. As for Hyper & Tranquilizers, they don't exist anymore. A certain weapon can inflict the Fury status (it makes enemies lose accuracy), and some Limit skills add Sadness to the party, reducing the damage taken.

WEAPONS

All weapons can be useful. Depends on your playstyle, and what enemy you are facing.
Some weapons give stat bonuses, can target MP instead of HP (some enemies can die if they have no MP left - most of the time, you can defeat an enemy with a huge HP pool a lot quicker by depleting its MP), weapons that have the Demi effect, weapons that ignore defence, that deal magical instead of physical damage, that always deal a certain amount of damage, that inflict status effects, that drains HP, etc... ...and all characters have a double & triple growth weapon. Also, in general, the better the weapon, the fewer materia slots they have. Oh yes : all weapons are now Long-Range. I always hated this advantage the game gave to Barret, Vincent and Yuffie over the other characters.

And I almost forgot to say that each character deals elemental attacks. All of Cloud's swords are Lightning elemental, for instance. And even most of his Limit skills deal lightning damage (the exceptions being MeteoRain which is Gravity/Space, and Finishing Touch which is Wind-elemental). The elements of the other characters are just below, in the armors section.

ARMORS / BANGLES

Each character has his/her armor of choice (all with 8 linked slots) that absorbs a certain element. Cloud absorbs Lightning, Tifa absorbs Holy, Barret absorbs Earth, Aeris absorbs Gravity, Red XIII absorbs Fire, Yuffie absorbs Water, Cait Sith absorbs Ice, Vincent absorbs Poison, and Cid absorbs Wind.

Also, each character has better personal armors that cost a lot of gil. For example, Cloud comes equipped with the Soldier 3rd armor. But later in the game, he'll come across the Soldier 2nd armor that absorbs lightning too but has Double materia growth, and adds 30 to both Strength and Magic. As for the Soldier 1st armor, it has Triple materia growth and adds 50 to both Strength and Magic. Of course, only Cloud and Sephiroth can use these Soldier armors. Same thing for Tifa, who has the Cotton Shirt, the Jujitsu Gi and the Brave Suit, etc...

You can also find armors not specific to characters. Like the Gigas Armlet (adds 70 to Strength, Def +200), the Aegis Armlet (adds 70 to Magic, MDef +200), the Dodger Armlet (Dexterity +30, Evade +50%), the Wizard Armlet (Luck +30, MEvade +50%), or the Genji Armlet.

ACCESSORIES

Each character has his/her accessory of choice, that protects against status effects and give additionnal bonuses. These are :

Strife : Repels Death, Death Sentence, and nullifies Bullet attacks (all bullet attacks have their own element)
Lockheart : Repels Sleep, Slow, and nullifies Laser attacks (all laser attacks have their own element)
Wallace : Repels Slow-Numb, Petrify, and nullifies Impacts (like punches, attacks from blunt objects, etc - they have their own element)
Nanaki : Repels Berserk, Frog, and grants Auto-Haste
Kisaragi : Repels Stop, Paralysis, and grants Auto-Haste
Crystal Ball : Repels Silence, Mini, and grants Auto-Reflect
Valentine : Repels Poison, Dual, and grants Auto-Reflect
Highwind : Repels Confusion, Blind, and nullifies Slash attacks (attacks from swords, spears, claws, etc - they also have their own element)

There also are accessories that protect against elements :

Hell Ring : Halves Dark (=Poison) & Fire elements
Heaven Ring : Halves Lightning & Holy elements
Gaia Ring : Halves Earth & Water elements
Blizzard Ring : Halves Ice & Wind elements
Star Ring : Halves Gravity element

And there are accessories that protect against status effects :

Talisman : Repels Poison, Dual, Confusion, Blind
Safety Bit : Repels Death, Death Sentence, Slow Numb, Petrify
White Cape : Repels Frog, Mini, Silence, Berserk
ATB Protector : Repels Slow, Stop, Paralysis, Sleep

...Add to that accessories that give stat boosts, the Reflect Ring, the Haste Ring, the Thief Glove and the Hypno Crown - and I think we're done with the accessories.

MATERIA

All materias give stat bonuses. For example Double Cut adds 1 to Strength and Vitality but removes 1 point to Magic and Spirit. Now you could equip materias with the stat boosts in mind, instead of the effects / magics they give (like putting a bunch of yellow materias to further increase a character's strength, etc).

- the Focus materia replaces HP Plus. Bye bye HP Plus, I won't miss you. Too easily abusable, IMO.

- the Low Level Magic materia replaces the Long Range materia (now useless). The Low level magic materia gives access to the spells Ice, Bolt, Aero, Quake and Water (not in this order though). You only need 100 AP to learn the next spell.

- Flash command removed from Slash all.

- W-Item turned into the Item materia. You can't use items in battle if this materia is not equipped.

- Blank spot under Item : Strength Plus materia.

- Elemental has only two levels, now. It can only halve an element. Not resist or absorb it. If for some reason you want to absorb Fire, for example, use Red XIII.

- Mime turned into the Flash materia

- Blank spot under Enemy skill : Vitality Plus materia

- Blank spot under Vitality Plus : Spirit Plus materia

- Blank Spot under Spirit Plus : Status Ailments materia. Combine this with added effect to either get a Ribbon effect, or to inflict all status ailments on the enemies you hit. A very rare materia.

- Master Command turned into the No Limit materia. Even more rare than Status Ailments.

- Exit materia turned into Water materia

- Gravity materia turned into Wind materia

- Barrier materia turned into Rejuvenate materia. Spells are : Focus, Cure4, Life3, and Overdrive.

- Full Cure materia turned into Meteo materia

- Shield materia turned into Pearl materia

- Blank spot under Master Summon materia turned into Medic materia. Spells are : Cure, Esuna, Life, and Cure2

- Blank spot under Medic is Mid-level magic materia. Spells are : Ice2, Bolt2, Aero2, Quake2 and Water2. Only 200 AP needed to learn the next spell.

- Blank spot under Mid-level magic is High-level magic. Spells are : Ice3, Bolt3, Aero3, Quake3 and Water3. Only 300 AP needed to learn the next spell.

- Blank Spot under High-level magic is Mother's materia. Magic materia, but gives no spell. Aeris comes equipped with it - it's Holy-elemental so combined with Added effect, you can inflict Holy damage / halve Holy, and its equip effect is 10h. Meaning that it adds 8 in Magic, 8 in Spirit, +20% MP - but it reduces HP by 10%.

Kernel mostly done ! ...I'll continue tomorrow, I'm tired x_X
Also take note that even though I'm satisfied with this, it is not set in stone. I've been working for years on this mod, so if you can convince me to change some things, no problem.

EDIT : @Cloudef: no, I'm not doing such field editing (for now, at least). The events will stay the same. I'm only interested in the gameplay, for now.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Timber on 2010-11-14 04:51:58
Wow very nice Armorvil, sounds pretty interesting.
With both this and Rebirth coming, I'll have lots of fresh ways to play my fav game :D
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: xLostWingx on 2010-11-14 05:32:25
Looks great Armorvil.  I've seen the youtube vids before and I think your mod will really leave the player with a unique experience.  Let me know if you want my input for a psx patch (what little input I can provide anyway), or if you think a ppf will work for what you are doing (the program I used didn't seem to be exclusively for PSX files).  Glad your PSP still works, and it didn't get stolen, your luck stat must be quite high.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2010-11-14 11:00:24
Lets go a little in detail

Overdrive, seeing how the maximum MP cost is 255 and that you can pretty much throw around megalixirs at the end of the game, a little broken. Technically, you can also Mime it. Which ends in massive Limit spam over and over. If you have even Aerith from ultimas aerith patch, this is basically a ticket to infinite peerless ( overdrive -> grand gospel -> overdrive -> grand gospel -> overdrive ) Even without aerith, its still much more powerful than almost any other spell. I think it's a little too powerful.

Power up is also a little... well. Lets just say you fight a hard boss, use it, it hits someone, you ress him. I dont know how long exactly that effect stays but if its permanent for the battle, this is totally broken. From what it sounds like, you modified the roulette spell into this or used a similiar mechanism to kill, so death force should negate it. ahoy double str for everyone with ease. A little OP.

Most other spell changes are nice, while some really really depend on the HP your enemies have.

The personified armors and accessoires are a nice touch. I did that to my game too.

All in all, it sounds interesting, but I think there might be slight problems with some of the spells being really useless if you level a lot, since they don't scale anymore.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-14 11:33:10
Quote
Overdrive, seeing how the maximum MP cost is 255 and that you can pretty much throw around megalixirs at the end of the game, a little broken. Technically, you can also Mime it.

You won't be able to throw around Megalixirs / Ethers / Turbo Ethers / Elixirs, because they are either rare or expensive, and WItem doesn't exist anymore. Can't mime it either, because Mime was turned into the Flash materia.

Quote
If you have even Aerith from ultimas aerith patch, this is basically a ticket to infinite peerless ( overdrive -> grand gospel -> overdrive -> grand gospel -> overdrive ) Even without aerith, its still much more powerful than almost any other spell. I think it's a little too powerful.

I'm not creating this patch with Ultima's Aerith patch in mind (meaning you're not supposed to have Aerith after she dies). But because you won't be able to abuse the spell for the above reason, it shouldn't be a problem anyway.

Quote
Power up is also a little... well. Lets just say you fight a hard boss, use it, it hits someone, you ress him. I dont know how long exactly that effect stays but if its permanent for the battle, this is totally broken. From what it sounds like, you modified the roulette spell into this or used a similiar mechanism to kill, so death force should negate it. ahoy double str for everyone with ease. A little OP.

This can't happen. First, because the spell kills a random party member, including the caster. If the spell hits the caster, then he won't get the Strength bonus. The KO status removes the bonus. And Death Force won't be able to protect from it, since Power up ignores any kind of death protection. So no, everyone won't be able to have double strength - it's just not possible. If you're VERY lucky, 2 of them potentially could though - but it would be a dangerous strategy.

Quote
All in all, it sounds interesting, but I think there might be slight problems with some of the spells being really useless if you level a lot, since they don't scale anymore.

I bet you mean the Enemy skills that deal a certain amount of damage... ...Well, they have nice bonuses over normal spells : first they ignore Magic Defence, so they'll always deal this amount of damage (and the damage will be doubled, if they hit enemies weak against their element). Plus, they ignore MBarrier. I admit though, that FlameThrower won't be useful throughout the game (much like the level 1 spells) - it's only a spell useful at the beginning of the game, that you can learn outside the church in the slums.

Anyways, thanks for your replies guys ! I'm glad you like what I did. ^^
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-14 13:45:13
My modifications to FF7.exe

Thanks to Bosola's LiBrE utility (by the way, fun fact : did you know that libre means free -as in freedom-, in French ? :D), I also edited Limit skills. Here is what I did :

- All Limits ignore defence

- Their power has been balanced, so a Limit that only hits once is not always weaker than those that hit multiple times (I'm looking at you, Level 4 Limits).

- Why I made them inflict status effects : because the strength of limits depends on the Strength stat, and since you have a limited amount of Strength sources, some characters will be left with very little Strength. The status effects ensure that their limits are still useful. Example : you decide to feed Cloud with all of your Strength sources, and to give the Magic sources to Tifa. Tifa's strength ends up pitifully low. Now, her Beat Rush won't do much damage, but it will inflict Slow on an enemy - which is nice.


Braver : Inflicts Death. Lightning elemental.
Cross Slash : Inflicts Paralyze (as usual). Lightning elemental.
Blade Beam : Lightning elemental
Climhazzard : Inflicts Death Sentence. Lightning elemental.
Meteorrain : Gravity elemental.
Finishing Touch : Inflict Death, Wind elemental.
Omnislash : Lightning elemental.

Big Shot : Inflicts Petrify. Earth elemental.
Mindblow : Deals 1000 MP damage.
Grenade Bomb : Inflicts Slow Numb. Fire elemental.
Hammerblow : Inflicts Death. No damage (? Not sure about this).
Satellite Beam : Inflicts Paralysis. Holy elemental.
Ungarmax : Earth elemental.
Catastrophe : Earth elemental.

Healing Wind : Restores 400 HP to all allies.
Seal Evil : No changes
Breath of the Earth : cures all negative status effects, and boosts the whole team's Def/MDef by 50%.
Fury Brand : Restores 800 HP to all allies, and fills the other characters' Limit gauges.
Planet Protector : Casts Barrier & MBarrier on all allies
Pulse of Life : no changes
Great Gospel : Revives / restores all HP and doubles everyone's stats.

Beat Rush : Inflicts Slow. Holy elemental.
Somersault : Inflicts Sleep, Holy elemental.
Water Kick : Inflicts Frog, Water elemental.
Meteodrive : Inflicts Blind, Gravity elemental.
Dolphin Blow : Inflicts Silence, Water elemental.
Meteor Strike : Inflicts Mini, Gravity elemental.
Final Heaven : Inflicts Paralysis, Holy elemental.

Boost Jump : Inflicts Blind, Wind elemental.
Dynamite : Inflicts Confusion, Fire elemental.
Hyper Jump : Inflicts Death, Wind elemental.
Dragon : Drains HP/MP. Wind elemental.
Dragon Dive : Wind elemental.
Big Brawl : Inflicts Paralysis, Wind elemental.
Highwind : Wind elemental.

Sled Fang : Inflicts Frog. Fire elemental.
Lunatic High : Gives the Sadness status to all party members, reducing all damage taken by 33% IIRC.
Blood Fang : Drains HP/MP. Fire elemental.
Stardust Ray : Inflicts Berserk. Fire elemental.
Howling Moon : Gives the Barrier and Sadness statuses to all party members.
Earth Rave : Earth elemental.
Cosmo Memory : Fire elemental.

Greased Lightning : Inflicts Stop, Lightning elemental.
Clear Tranquil : Restores 600 HP to all allies
Landscaper : Inflicts Paralysis. Earth elemental.
Bloodfest : Poison elemental (not blocked by enemies blocking the Poison status).
Gauntlet : Inflicts Sleep. Water elemental.
Doom of the Living : Poison elemental (not blocked by enemies blocking the Poison status).
All Creation : Water elemental.

Cait Sith' limits are mostly unchanged. Toy Soldier is Ice elemental, though.
Vincent's physical limits are Poison elemental (not blocked by enemies blocking the Poison status), and inflict Poison+Dual. They are also more powerful, as are his magical limits.

To finish with my modifications to FF7.exe, just know that I also greatly tweaked all shops (thanks to Titeguy3 for White Choco ^^).
For example, the Sector 8 materia shop sells HP<->MP, Water, Earth, Restore, All, Throw, Elemental, HP Absorb, MP Absorb and Status Ailment. In general, I made it so that many good materia are available very soon into the game - so you actually have to choose what to equip. In the original game, too many materia are available way too late into the game. Now you don't have to play 10 hours before finally being able to customize your party with lots of different materias / equipments. The materia system is great, and as a player, I sure want to play with its goodness as soon as possible.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2010-11-14 14:07:24
It's scary how your limits for Tifa are 90% the same as the ones I did.  The only difference is that beat rush and summersault are punch / kick and not holy for me.
hivemind.

I prefer not to have a trillion super materia right at the start, but thats REALLY something thats up to the person playing. I assume it can be fun as hell to mash through the entire game while having the entire materia cast to pick from.

Just a lil input
I would make Catastrophe Fire/Earth ( makes a lot more sense to me, unless you changed the animation drastically )
I don't understand why clouds stuff is lightning elemental tbh. isn't there a "cut" element?
Yuffie's limits look a bit iffy with the elements. Bloodfest and End of the Living are more 'cut' than 'poison'. And All Creation is more multi-element ( fire, holy, lightning, gravity, wind likely ) than water.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-14 14:19:59
It's scary how your limits for Tifa are 90% the same as the ones I did.  The only difference is that beat rush and summersault are punch / kick and not holy for me.
hivemind.

lol. Great minds think alike ?

Quote
I prefer not to have a trillion super materia right at the start, but thats REALLY something thats up to the person playing. I assume it can be fun as hell to mash through the entire game while having the entire materia cast to pick from.

Well, it depends on the player's playstyle, sure. But my logic is : more choices is better than less choices. I want all kinds of players to have their fun. And I can't speak for everyone, but I sure don't like being so limited in materia for a good chunk of the game, in the original. You get status magic very late. Same for spells like Esuna, Revive, etc...

Quote
Just a lil input
I would make Catastrophe Fire/Earth ( makes a lot more sense to me, unless you changed the animation drastically )
I don't understand why clouds stuff is lightning elemental tbh. isn't there a "cut" element?
Yuffie's limits look a bit iffy with the elements. Bloodfest and End of the Living are more 'cut' than 'poison'. And All Creation is more multi-element ( fire, holy, lightning, gravity, wind likely ) than water.

Thanks for this. The logic behind my reasoning is how each character is tied to an element (Cloud being lightning, Tifa Holy, Barret Earth, etc). But my limit breaks edits are not set in stone. As for the Cut element, I used it for something else (the element for the throwable Shurikens you can buy - necessary because since the Throw command increases power with the user's strength, throwing cheap shurikens can become overpowered. Some enemies / bosses halve Cut). I'm also not too keen on the idea of giving any attack spell more than one element - because of the way the game calculates damage (Kjata comes to mind...).

It would have been great if FFVII calculated damage the same way FFX does. In other words, if an enemy weak against both Fire and Earth would take 3x damage from Kjata. Or if an enemy halved Fire and Earth, it would only suffer 25% or 33% damage from it - not just 50% damage. But with FFVII's current damage calculation method, I don't see multi-elemental attacks as a good idea.

EDIT:

Quote
Bloodfest and End of the Living are more 'cut' than 'poison'.

Truth is, I chose Poison because of the attacks' names. Poison also being the 'Dark' element (as in some kind of 'evil' element). I thought it was fitting for attacks named Bloodfest and Doom of the Living...

Thanks for giving your opinion, Kuugen :D
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Aali on 2010-11-14 14:53:09
Did you just make fury brand *better*? It was already like the most overpowered ability ever without the healing effect :P
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-14 15:02:20
Yeah, lol. And since Aeris levels up faster than the other characters (oh yeah, I forgot to mention this), she is a beast in this mod. Her limit gauge takes more time / hits to fill, though. You'll feel the loss, at the end of the first disk.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Bosola on 2010-11-14 16:34:14
My modifications to FF7.exe

Thanks to Bosola's LiBrE utility (by the way, fun fact : did you know that libre means free -as in freedom-, in French ? :D),

Good to know someone is actually using the tool. As for 'Libre' = 'free', that was kind of the idea: Libre 'frees' us by removing one of the last constraints on editing mechanics, and quite happily fits LImit BReak Editor.

I guess the source is also open, though why someone would use it I've no idea. It isn't especially well written. In retrospect, it's actually quite embarrassing to re-read the code.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-14 20:13:05
Well, your Limit Breaks Editor is an awesome piece of work in my opinion. Not only does it work perfectly, but it is also entirely bug-free (and trust me, I tested it a lot ^^).

Now that we're on the subject of Libre, and that I think about it (and to get back on topic), do you think you could do the same as NFITC1 on Wall Market and Proud Clod ; in other words implement a patch applier / creator directly into the utility ? That would be awesome, it would allow me distribute a patch file that users could apply to their FF7.exe... ...Is it possible ? Or do you, by any chance, know another simpler way to create a patch for an executable ?
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Bosola on 2010-11-14 20:25:04
Do you mean create a standalone patch, or are you asking how patching can be done with Libre?

For the latter, all you would have to do is open your new LIMITMNU.MNU or FF7.EXE file, then SAVE AS to a target file - eg FF7.EXE. You can load a PSOne file to patch a PC executable and vice-versa.

Now, if you wanted to create a standalone patch, all you would really need to do is 'patch' limit data to a dummy file, then distribute that and Libre (I'm happy with you distributing the latest version of either the executable or py files). You could create a dummy file however you want. Just creating a PNG called 'limitdata' would be absolutely fine. Libre doesn't really care about filetypes, it just reads and writes raw data.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Kranmer on 2010-11-14 20:37:51
Sounds like it could be a interesting mod, I will be keeping a eye on this.
If you want to create a Patcher for FF7.EXE i would personally recommend using Dup2 (http://diablo2oo2.di.funpic.de) which is a free EXE patcher, it compares the original and the patched EXE and notes all the differences and makes a standalone EXE patch, i used the same system to make the New Battle Interface Patch (you used them i believe when you used the patch for No HP bars and no eye opener) and other users now use them for there mods (DLPB and SL1982 both use Dup2 now, DLPB on his Menu Mod and Re-translation and SL1982 on his GUI 2.0), or if you find that to hard you could try CodeFusion3 (http://www.kobik.net/codefusion.asp) which is also free and easy to use (but i prefere DUP2, the only advantage of CodeFusion is that it gives less false positives on certain v-scanners).
And if you want to create a patch for Flevel you could either make a .BAT file for replacing the files or you could make a patch that will only work on the original Flevel using one of the above programs or you could try something like Xdelta (which isn't bad but i don't recommend it for EXE patching)
Also if you want to create a installer i personally recommend Inno, its free and doesn't require any programming knowledge (although if you know Delphi you can enhance the installer like DLPB has to the script that we came up with).
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-14 20:45:59
I meant the former (the standalone patch), you know, kinda like how Wall Market can create a .wm file containing all your changes so you can distribute it.

Quote
Now, if you wanted to create a standalone patch, all you would really need to do is 'patch' limit data to a dummy file, then distribute that and Libre (I'm happy with you distributing the latest version of either the executable or py files). You could create a dummy file however you want. Just creating a PNG called 'limitdata' would be absolutely fine. Libre doesn't really care about filetypes, it just reads and writes raw data.

Ah yes. I just tried to patch a dummy file : I created a text file, named it whatever.exe, and asked libre to patch it. Then, I opened it in Libre and indeed saw all of my changes. I guess I could distribute it, and people would just have to load it into Libre, then ask Libre to save the data into their FF7.exe (I noticed this whatever.exe didn't really become a ff7.exe even though its file size is more than 5MB - it just contains the limit data, which is logical).

But I just found another method, a lot faster and easier : the ouinja patcher (http://www.zophar.net/utilities/patchutil/ouinja-patcher.html). I made a ff7.exe patch with it - so people can just patch their ff7.exe with with it (by selecting "Ninja - binary" in the ouinja patcher ; the patch has the .rup extension). Works perfectly, and it has the advantage to also patch my changes to the shops.

Now all that's left is a way to create a patch out of my flevel.lgp...

EDIT:

Ah, I just read your post, Kranmer :D Thank you very much for the great insight !
Since Dup2 is an exe patcher, I assume it won't work with an LGP archive, right ?... ...I'll try CodeFusion3 to see if it can work with LGP files.

Or now that you gave me the tip of Inno, I'll try to make an installer ^^. It would be much easier to install, than having to use Wall Market, Proud Clod, the Ouinja Patcher / Dup2, and CodeFusion3.

EDIT 2:

I tried Inno Setup Compiler, and the least I can say, is that is isn't as user-friendly as I thought. I'll need some time to figure out how to make it work the way I want (meaning : replace ff7.exe with the one I provide in the Program Files\Final Fantasy VII\ directory, replace flevel.lgp with the one I provide in the Final Fantasy VII\Data\Field\ directory, etc...).

Meanwhile, I tried CodeFusion. Verdict : it won't do. I can choose the file to patch, but the utility then asks me what is the data to patch. It wants me to enter the offset addresses, the data, the size... :lol: Yeah, right.

As for dUP2, looks like it doesn't want to work with lgp files. I get an error message after a while, when comparing the original with the modded one. Perhaps the file is too big.

The last one was the right one : Xdelta works great. It created a patch of 76.2MB (a bit much for the little modifications I made), but it does the trick. Maybe I'll make xdelta patches for the other files too ; that will make installing the mod a lot faster and easier (I'll create a bunch of already configured bat files in the patches' directory, so the only thing you'll have to do is put your originals in it and launch the bat files one at a time. Beats having to use many different programs).

I'll make all the patches and upload them tomorrow ;) It's getting late in my time zone.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Kranmer on 2010-11-15 10:08:45
Meanwhile, I tried CodeFusion. Verdict : it won't do. I can choose the file to patch, but the utility then asks me what is the data to patch. It wants me to enter the offset addresses, the data, the size... :lol: Yeah, right.

As for dUP2, looks like it doesn't want to work with lgp files. I get an error message after a while, when comparing the original with the modded one. Perhaps the file is too big.

The last one was the right one : Xdelta works great. It created a patch of 76.2MB (a bit much for the little modifications I made), but it does the trick. Maybe I'll make xdelta patches for the other files too ; that will make installing the mod a lot faster and easier (I'll create a bunch of already configured bat files in the patches' directory, so the only thing you'll have to do is put your originals in it and launch the bat files one at a time. Beats having to use many different programs).

I'll make all the patches and upload them tomorrow ;) It's getting late in my time zone.
If Inno is to hard for you to use you could try a free install creator like "ClickTeam Install Creator" or "CreateInstall" (i don't use either anymore since i started using inno but i have used both in the past and both are really easy to use) but your probably better off sticking with .BAT files and patch's if you can't get figure out a installer.
Well for Codefusion it does have a compare function so you don't have to enter the address's manually,
And yes DUP2 does have problems with big files (i only tend to use it as a EXE,DLL or TXT patcher because of that),
I am glad to see XDelta works for you, yes the patch's do tend to be a little big but it does have a internal compressor which can make the patch's allot smaller if you use the right switches (assuming you haven't already used its compression) or you can always just try a external compressor like RAR,ZIP or LZMA etc to see if you can make it smaller.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-15 14:18:02
CodeFusion couldn't compare the two LGP archives, as far as I can remember. But it's possible I didn't use it correctly.
Anyways, thanks for the tip regarding "ClickTeam Install Creator" and "CreateInstall", though I think I'll keep the bat files for the demo (a child could install the mod, with them).
And yeah, I'll create a rar archive containing all the needed files, so this compression should further reduce their size.

I'm looking forward to leaving my workplace, so I can make the archive and upload it on my Mediafire account.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2010-11-15 14:31:57
I think the whole character=elementalligned thing is a nice addition. but not to ff7. Maybe very few exceptions. Nanaki could be earth attributed because of his race and where they lived before. Cat Sith could be lightning attributed because he's a frign robot. Everyone else is really just human, so they might have a prefered elemental attribute, but to make their limits that attribute as well is a bit...
If you really want to make elemental alligned spells out of them, I'd suggest some changes. Really, the attacks itself should have elemental attributes based on the design. I won't go into detail here, but to apply a general elemental allignment to a character is usually not a good idea, unless you find a way to give them something extra beyond the point of limits. like, elemental resistances. Imo, final fantasy characters aren't pokemon.
I am not really a fan of the "no natural stat growth but enemies drop stat items" thing. If you farm the right place you could get ridiculously overpowered. ( lets say, farm the earliest source of strenght items ). At some point, you are strong enough to just hold X, watch everyone one-shot the enemies, run around for the next battle, etc.
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-15 21:08:12
Intreging idea's,

But like all mods on here i reserve judgment untill i've tried and tested for myself. I do like the concept and look forward to trying this out. Thanks in advance for the upload of wkich i eagerly await. ;D
Title: Re: My FFVII AV mod - the demo...
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-15 21:24:36
What you describe is the same as power-leveling - something I don't agree with. But because I don't agree with it, doesn't mean I should remove this option. All players play the way they like. Once again, they have the choice. As long as they have fun, this is all that matters to me.

My mod is designed so you should never need to farm sources, anywhere. You're just supposed to use the sources you get, from fighting random enemies while running from point A to point B. With your logic, even Experience and AP points are a bad thing, because they also lead some players to grind. Someone likes grinding ? I say let him do it. I'm not creating a hardcore mod of some kind, so I can laugh at people who can't beat a boss (no offense to the hardcore mods out there, though - I really liked gjoerulv's, for example). But this is not what my mod is. My mod is another take at FFVII, that is harder and challenging, but that any kind of player can play through and have a blast doing it. And if a player doesn't feel confident with his skills enough, he can grind as much as he likes. Whatever floats one's boat.

As for the elemental attributes of weapons and limits, well... ...It's a choice of mine. It might be 'right' or 'wrong', I don't know - but this is the choice I made. I thank you for voicing your opinion, and I expect others to do the same (as I said, nothing is set in stone). But I would like for some people to try at least the demo and to give me some feedback too, before I changed anything. But one thing is for sure : the mod will evolve. Ideas will be ditched, and some will be born. This elemental business could very well be one of those that will be ditched, who knows.

(but you also have to understand, that if I listen to everyone, nothing will ever get done. Even if not perfect, I intend to complete this project - and I already know that everyone won't be satisfied. You just can't please all players ; it's impossible)

(and thanks Beavii, by the way ;) - the file is being uploaded at the moment)

EDIT:

Upload complete! :) First post edited to give the download link & instructions.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: xLostWingx on 2010-11-15 22:33:53
Do you know (or anyone that is reading this) what happens if I apply the kernel and scene patch (flevel mabe too....idk what that is) to a clean scene/kernel then stick them into the PSX version?  I know I wouldn't get the full effect of your mod, but does such a procedure work?

EDIT:  If you designed it for PC then some of those files are likely too large to do this...but maybe one could work around this?
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-15 22:38:52
@Lost Wing : yeah, it would work. Though you wouldn't get the text changes in the kernel.

ATTENTION : I tried downloading my patch and installing it, just to make sure, and I noticed an unexpected behavior from xdelta. Even though I asked the bat files to create new files, it looks like they sometimes overwrite the FF7.exe, Scene.bin, Kernel.bin, Kernel2.bin and flevel.lgp you put in this directory. So you can ignore some steps (like the renaming ones) in my installation instructions. But make sure you create backups ! I'll edit the first post again to reflect this. It's weird, because the new files were created, when I tested it before making the rar file.

EDIT:

Yeah, Scene.bin increased in size. You should be able to make it fit into the iso, by deleting some useless scenes (useless for the first disk)... ...I think I also read somewhere that Gemini found a way to go around this problem... ...I'll eventually try to make this a PSX compatible mod, though (by creating 3 different scene.bin, I imagine - one for each disk).
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-16 21:13:27
Hey guys, with Armorvil's permission i have began working on an alternative instalation for this mod.
I am looking at making an extra option that allows you to choose between various mods that are at
present not compatible as they all edit the same files.

I will work on this for the next few hours, and hopefully have a beta to release soon.

My Aim is to be able to install unlimited scene/flevel/kernel mods and ff7 simply askes which set to use.


Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-16 22:05:37
Nice project ! I wish you well on your endeavour :)

As for me, there are still many things I forgot to say about this mod / demo.

The flevel changes :

For now, I'm only working on game-breaking things, in the Field files. So, I still didn't edit the item names. You'll thus sometimes read things like :"obtained Elemental materia x1", when you actually obtained something else (you'll quickly notice what it is, in the materia menu). In fact, as of right now, there are only three changes I made :

- after the bombing mission, Barret only gives 15 gils to Cloud. 1500 was way too much.

- in Wall Market, the weapon shop owner would normally sell batteries that you wouldn't be able to afford, 300 gils being a lot in this mod. I changed their prices (in field) to 1 gil each, but it looks like the game still checks for the # of gil you have, before accepting the trade. For this reason, even if you have the 3 gils, the guy won't sell them to you. I got around this by just adding the 3 batteries to your inventory, anyway, after you said yes. So, if you don't have at least 300 gils available, you'll still get the batteries (and for free - you'll see the message "obtained batteries" but won't hear the item sound), but the game won't realize it. If you talk to the shop owner again, he'll still ask you to buy them. Just ignore this.

There is only one drawback to my fix : strangely enough, the third battery won't work. When you'll get to the third box while climbing towards Shinra's HQ (the one holding the Ether), the game will display the message "not enough batteries...", even though you still got one in your inventory.

- I made it so, that the boss battle that occurs in the elevator, in the Shinra Tower, calls a different enemy formation. If you recall, I created a topic for this problem, and it had to deal with an enemy being invisible. My third modification to the field files fixed it.

The Scene changes :

The biggest changes next to the Kernel's. And there are some things you should know.

- First, you can safely ignore the row function now. All enemies' attacks make your characters change rows, even though it's not visible on screen. So, if you have Cloud in the back row, the first hit he'll take will deal half damage, while the second will hit at full damage. The third hit will then be half damage, the fourth one full damage, etc. A design choice of mine, so that, for example, triggering a back or a pincer attack won't lead to an instant game-over if the enemies are too powerful. The row system is a broken system, and this is the best method I found to "remove" it. Plus, I like the "random" damage effect (and if an attack killed a character because it dealt 100 damage, fear not, because after reviving him, the same attack would only deal 50).

- Most enemies have an item to steal, and can be morphed. Heck, even bosses can be morphed. And I tried to make the effort worth the trouble. I tried morphing the first boss once, but didn't succeed :( Can you do it ?

- All random enemies have three item drops. Two of them are different sources (so you can't farm them as easily). The last drop - the rarest one - is what I call a battle item. Like a Potion, a Phoenix Down, a Blind Stone, a Fire Stone, etc. You can also instantly get this battle item by stealing the enemy. This way, you can choose what you'll get at the end of a battle. Will you kill the enemy without stealing them for a high chance of a Source drop, or will you steal from it to stock on helpful items ?

- enemies don't use the same spells. Some enemies that used Enemy Skills might now just use a magic spell, while some enemies that didn't use Enemy Skills might now use them. For a little help, here are their locations :

-> Find an enemy skill in the first reactor.

-> Find an enemy skill in the second reactor.

-> Find an enemy skill in the Sector 8 (near the church / Aeris' house).

-> Find an enemy skill in the sewers

-> Find an enemy skill in the Train Graveyard 1st part (same as the one in the 1st reactor).

-> Find an enemy skill in the Train Graveyard 2nd part.

-> Find an enemy skill near the shop in Shinra's HQ.

That makes 6 different enemy skills, but you might end with 7 when you reach the world map.

That's all I can think of, for now. Don't worry, you don't need to try and manipulate every enemy to get the E. Skills.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-17 08:02:44
het guy's,

I have sucsesfuly created a new AI script selection option for ff7, which will allow the user to choose from multiple mods without the need copying, extracting, renaming etc. Instalation is now fully automated, and backups will be stored.

I have 4 working options at the moment and will add to these as more mods are released, I will create a new topic for this tool with the first release, of which i hope to get out later today. The first beta release will contain 4 mods and is compatible with almost every mod on this site.

Will update in this topic too.


Link to the topic Multiple Dificulties Tool
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11041.0
 
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-17 19:56:28
So, no one tried it yet ? :(
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-17 21:07:12
Sorry spent too much time on my wee tool.

I did try this for an hour before you sent me the other fileset i asked for, but for some reason alot of 0's were flying around (my pc was being weird), Have not done many battle's while testing my Project. and am running 5 mods in that tool so not all battles were with your files.

Will give a proper play tonight once i fix my laptop.

Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-17 21:13:00
No problem. That's nice to hear :)
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-17 21:51:30
can i ask though,

your battle.lgp file. i would have expected some changes to this giving can you confirm which version you have.
Is it original, part of another mod and if so which mod.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-17 22:31:18
Battle.lgp has to deal with in-battle 3D models, so it has no relevance to my mod / this thread.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-17 22:35:56
good point,

How newbish of me to ask such a question, and thanks for halving the size of my beta.  :P
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-17 23:18:54
Well, the Cloud model is Kula Wende's AC Cloud, if this is what you're asking ;) You should still be able to find the download link somewhere around here.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-17 23:27:25
I was being retarded, I dont actualy need to touch the file at all. soz :-P
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-17 23:28:55
No prob ^^ Looking forward to your installer :)
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: TimeSpaceMage on 2010-11-18 16:07:09
I will have a chance to try out this mod at the end of next month... really looking forward to it!
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-18 16:40:32
Cool, thanks ! If you have trouble installing it, let me know ;)
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Kranmer on 2010-11-18 19:59:12
CodeFusion couldn't compare the two LGP archives, as far as I can remember. But it's possible I didn't use it correctly.
Anyways, thanks for the tip regarding "ClickTeam Install Creator" and "CreateInstall", though I think I'll keep the bat files for the demo (a child could install the mod, with them).
And yeah, I'll create a rar archive containing all the needed files, so this compression should further reduce their size.
i am just downloading now and i will hopefully try it either later today or tomorrow morning now,
Also when i finish downloading i will have a quick look as well at the size of the xdelta patch's and see what can be done about it (i mean i will see if i can make the size smaller for you).

EDIT:- OK i have played to just past the first boss (died only once due to my own stupidly in that boss battle, i let Barret die thinking i could revive him with a Phoenix down, i was wrong) and i have to say i am quite enjoying it so far (i was getting slightly annoyed at Barret though who kept getting hit by poison).

Also i did have a quite look at your patch's and why the delta patch's are so damn big, the reason seems to be because of the way the LGP was put back together, when it was recompiled the files are in a different order from the original LGP (if you look at both in a hex editor you will see what i mean), there isn't really a fix for the order problem but you could make the patch hell of a lot smaller by making a .bat to command UNLGP to extract the archive and just patching the changed files then using LGP to recompile the LGP and hey presto you will save over 70MB,
And 1 more small question, i had a look at your flevel and saw you only changed 4 files from the original, but what exactly did you change in the .TEX file you altered ?
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-18 22:21:40
Your mod is included in my project,

I could make you a custom insatller if you want a stand alone version, it wont be anything to fancy
tho, probably an sfx with backup option.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-18 23:02:24
I'm glad you're playing it, Kranmer. Thanks for posting your thoughts ^^

If Barret getting often poisoned is annoying, I can decrease the chance that the status triggers. Let me know if you feel it would make the mod better.

And thanks for the insight about the patch's size. I have no clue why the order of the field files was rearranged. And... ...hahaha, I modified a .TEX file inside flevel.lgp ?! That's news to me xD
Maybe I inadvertently saved the file after I tried some field background editing with some utility (like Palmer, maybe ?). Hopefully I didn't destroy the tex file ^^; (I don't think so but hey, anything is possible).

@Beavii: no, I don't want to abuse your time. It's already great that this demo is part of your installer ;)
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Kranmer on 2010-11-18 23:15:52
I'm glad you're playing it, Kranmer. Thanks for posting your thoughts ^^

If Barret getting often poisoned is annoying, I can decrease the chance that the status triggers. Let me know if you feel it would make the mod better.

And thanks for the insight about the patch's size. I have no clue why the order of the field files was rearranged. And... ...hahaha, I modified a .TEX file inside flevel.lgp ?! That's news to me xD
Maybe I inadvertently saved the file after I tried some field background editing with some utility (like Palmer, maybe ?). Hopefully I didn't destroy the tex file ^^; (I don't think so but hey, anything is possible).

@Beavii: no, I don't want to abuse your time. It's already great that this demo is part of your installer ;)
Well to be honest i think more of the problem with Barret getting poisoned was that i had used my MP up early on so i didn't really have many ways of curing him apart from remedy (which i really wanted to save since i had no idea what battles where ahead, and i didn't want to go wasting my only way of curing any status), a few antidotes would have been nice but i am fairly happy with things the way they are now to be honest (well so far but i have only go up-to the slums in sector7 so far),
and it was Hand_1.tex you had edited, and the only part you edited was a empty part of the file with "EXTFieldArt/hand_1", it doesn't appear to be broken or anything, but i thought i should mention this, There where only 4 file changes to the whole of Flevel.lgp and they were
hand_1.tex
eleout
mds7pb_1
mkt_w
is this correct ?
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-18 23:25:14
Hmm... ...Could this slight edit explain why Aeris' left hand is invisible, the first time you see her just after the bombing mission, in my game ?... ...I don't think so, since everything related to the character models on the field should be in char.lgp, but I guess there's no harm to ask.

And yeah, this list is exact, if you remove hand_1.tex from it that is. I don't know how on earth I managed to edit this texture.

Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-21 09:00:32
Finally I've played enough to comment on this. so without further delay here's a quick review.

If its a new FF7 experience your after then this mod is for you. Throw out that guide book, Forget what you think you know, And please remember to save. For in the AV Demo, Expect the unexpected.

Ive been an FF7 Player since day 1, And for the first time ever, AV's Demo got me a 'Game Over' in Midgar. It seems that every battle, monster and magic has a surprise. To survive you Absoloutely must have individuality for your characters, No more Super cloud, with Yufiie and barret Miming every move.

Admittantly not one for the "Original is Best" scene, But defo worth a try.

If you are having difficulties with installation then try this
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11041.msg153903;topicseen#msg153903

Nice work Armovil, If/when you decide to take this beyond Midgar give me a shout
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-21 11:02:47
Thanks for the little review, Beavii. I'm glad you like it. I don't know what you mean by "Admittantly not one for the "Original is Best" scene", though.

Anyways, yes, I'm still working on the mod. I planned all shops' contents, bosses' drops and morph items throughout the game, yesterday (by the way, in the final game, if you plan to morph a boss, then you should steal it first - since most bosses' stealable items will be the same as their winnable items, it ensures that you get their drop as well as their morph item).

As a side note, I realized I forgot to add protection against the Hit element to most enemies in the 2nd reactor (at least), in the demo. For this reason, the Midgar weapons utterly destroy most of the enemies, and this overpower-ness wasn't intended. It will be fixed in the final version (Vices, for example, will be immune to them). I'd love to add the possibility of more elemental reactions (like enemies only suffering 1/4 or 1/8 elemental damage, taking 300% or 400% elemental damage, etc). Only having enemies able to halve, block, absorb or take 200% damage from elements is too restricting, IMO.

Oh yeah, and I'm also working on converting the demo to the PSX.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-21 12:25:21
Thanks for the little review, Beavii. I'm glad you like it. I don't know what you mean by "Admittantly not one for the "Original is Best" scene", though.

Some Members only like mods that uprade the AI thinking and Calculating, Expect a few post saying "Why'd you change this,Why'd you change that" lol,
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-21 13:16:48
Ha, I understand now. Thanks :)
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-21 21:21:45
Sorry about the double-post, but I managed to convert the demo for the PSX. Thanks to Lasyan3's earlier version of Hack7, that allowed me to edit the 2 field files that caused me problems (about the batteries, I just made them available in shop - I can't believe I didn't think about this solution, earlier).

First post about to be edited with a link to a .PPF patch.

EDIT : 1st post edited with the link.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: xLostWingx on 2010-11-22 02:06:46
Sweet, I will grab your demo for now but probably will not play it for a little while.  But when i do I will provide some feedback.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: sl1982 on 2010-11-22 02:09:32
What does AV stand for anyways?
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-22 10:14:54
It stands for my username. I took a habit of calling my mods / rom hacks "<name of game> AV" (I started the habit with FFVI, and I also have a PS3 AV -Phantasy Star III Generations of Doom- in the works).

About FFVII, I think it's fitting since there already are FFVII AC (advent children), FFVII BC (before crisis), FFVII CC (crisis core), and FFVII DC (dirge of cerberus). Makes for some kind of continuity >_>

@xLostWingx: cool. I'm looking forward to hearing from you ^^
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-22 10:16:50
Sorry about the double-post.....................................

I beleive your allowed to double post in your own project forum with news and updates
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-22 10:24:06
Yeah but even so, I'm not too comfortable doing it  :P

EDIT: there's a problem with the .ppf patch, so link removed for now.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-22 15:21:12
OK, new working patch for the PSX version released in the first post. XDelta patches again, since they work so well (I think... ...no one complained that my .bat files didn't work, for the PC version, yet).
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-22 17:06:06
OK, new working patch for the PSX version released in the first post. XDelta patches again, since they work so well (I think... ...no one complained that my .bat files didn't work, for the PC version, yet).
>:(

I couldn't get them working but then again, had i got them working i wouldn't have wrote 'BML' (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=11041.msg153903#msg153903)
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-22 18:24:41
Beavii, do you have a 32bits or 64bits Windows ?... ...Now that I think about it, I think I overlooked 64bits ones  :-[ . Those who have one should either use BML, or download XDelta 64 bits version (http://code.google.com/p/xdelta/downloads/list), and edit the .bat files I provided to correct the name of the program.

Also, little problem with the PSX patch : Reno, on top of the pillar, uses his rod on all party members in a single attack. Not a problem on the PC version, but the PSX can not deal with the animation. So, the game crashes. I already fixed it in my game, and am currently play-testing it.
So, if I experience other problems like this one, I can instantly fix them.

Bottom line is : you might want to refrain from downloading and installing it until I released a fix. You can still play the game up to this point though, and you'll have to save the game at the bottom of the pillar so you load it again once you installed the soon-to-be-released fix.

Thank you for your patience, everyone!

EDIT:

Here is the fix :

http://www.mediafire.com/?g5a3e93ugqxzrr5

Gosh, I'm tired >_<
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Beavii on 2010-11-23 10:51:02
Beavii, do you have a 32bits or 64bits Windows ?... ...Now that I think about it........

was 64, but in repair shop just now.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-24 19:14:59
I've thought about changing my element system again. Because actually, I'm neither satisfied with the anti-slashes, anti-impacts, anti-bullets and anti-lasers accessories (I'm not sure someone would use them), nor with the fact that Barret would be immune to blunt weapons / punches / etc, Cid being immune to slashes of all kinds, Cloud being immune to firearms, and Tifa being immune to lasers.

Actually, I think I'll turn the Shout element into the magic element, the Shoot element into the physical element, and the Punch element into the "enemy skill" element.  So, all magic spells would come with the Shout element, all enemies' physical attacks will come with Shoot, and all enemy skills of any kind (from the techniques labelled as Enemy Skills, to the Beam Gun, Tremor, Fire Breaths, ...these are specific to each enemy and there are too many to list) would come with the Punch element. It would allow me to make "physical" characters naturally halve all physical attacks (by halving Shoot), all "magical" characters naturally halve magical attacks (by halving Shout), and the three other characters naturally halving the enemies' special attacks (by halving -you guessed it- Punch).

I really like this idea, because it would specialize the characters without making their Vitality or Spirit stats sky-high right from the start (so they'd still have room for growth). And it would give an interest in changing your team members if you know you're about to deal with a boss that mostly uses physical, magic or "special" attacks. Besides, FFVII's vitality & spirit stats work the same as FFVI's, but only halved : whereas having a charactar with 255 in defence in FFVI reduces physical damage by 100%, having 255 in vitality in FFVII only reduces physical damage by 50%. That means there is not much difference between a character with 50 vitality and another with 0 or 100 vitality, in FFVII. The damage difference is quite ridiculous in this case.

With this idea implemented, differences between the characters would show more. If a magic attack dealt 1000, Aeris with 255 Spirit/MDef would only take 250 damage, whereas Barret would take 500 (with the same stats). With very powerful enemies, it would add another tactical dimension to the game.

And what do you think of this :

Cloud would halve the three elements (after all, he's a freakin' SOLDIER),

Would halve physical attacks : Barret, Cid
Would halve magical attacks : Aeris, Tifa, Vincent
Would halve special attacks : Red XIII, Yuffie, Cait Sith

I'm open to suggestions. Please tell me what you think ^^

EDIT:

And actually, I don't know if Cloud should halve all three elements - it would make him too overpowered, perhaps... ...Maybe only physical attacks.

EDIT2:

Here is what I decided, for now :

Cloud : halves damage from physical attacks and enemy techniques
Barret : halves physical attack damage, Def + 128
Tifa : Def + 128, MDef + 128
Aeris : halves magical attack damage, MDef + 128
Red XIII : halves damage from enemy techniques, Def + 128
Yuffie : halves damage from enemy techniques, MDef + 128
Cid : halves damage from physical attacks, MDef + 128
Vincent : halves damage from magical attacks, Def + 128
Cait Sith : halves damage from magical attacks and enemy techniques

...I'm sure you can see where I'm coming from - added some unique-ness to the characters, made Barret the tank, Aeris a tank mage, Tifa a well rounded fighter with no real strengths but no weakness, etc.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2010-11-28 04:21:11
whole post in 'my opinion' style. people who feel offended, feel free to go and make a campfire.

Are the damage modifiers supposed to represent something we can link to the visual appearance? Because some stuff doesn't make a whole lot of sense, tbh.
If anything, Cloud should be the all-rounded character.
Barret as tank is spot on, he's the muscle guy.
Tifa seems to be more specialized in physical combat than magic, and thus should reduce physical damage ( not as much as for example barret, but she's stronger than others )
Aerith, sure, is the magic girl. Instead of halving all magic damage, she should halve all positive elements ( aka, the elements that make up the earth aka 'holy' because thats imo what her allignment should be ) and completely null Holy.
Nanaki be somewhat like Cloud, all rounded but with more focus on physical than magical. halving enemy techniques is essentially much less useful than the other stuff.
Yuffie should be focused on speed ( like, permanent haste anywhere ) and evade instead of actual damage reduce. If push to shove, she's the one character thats the most likely to have anything to do with enemy skill stuff, but I still say thats pretty useless.
Cid being the robust mechanic is okay, but I say he should be less robust than barret and instead get a boost to physical attack. ( or maybe a major boost to attack and take more damage from magic, because.. well.. he's cid. the science and mechanic guy. nothing to do with magic, really )
Vincent the monster should get 1/3 of both physical and magical resistance and halve the negative elements ( poison, gravity, whatever you think of as negative and unholy ) he's basically the dark counterpart to aerith's holy.
Cat Sith... I really dunno. Enemy skills make sense, true. Maybe give him mdef and def boosts, seems more logical seeing how he's a robot.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-11-28 10:03:17
Thank you for posting your thoughts, Kuugen :)

Overall I kinda agree with you, but there are reasons why I chose this. First, I think you underestimate the "Halve enemy techniques" ability. It doesn't only reduce damage from Enemy Skills, but from all these attacks enemies do that aren't magic or melee. Like lasers, white flashes, blue flames, grenade attacks, white flashes... ...and there are a lot. In fact, their frequency is almost as high as physical attacks' (as opposed to purely magical abilities, that enemies wouldn't use much if I didn't add more spells to some enemies).

The other reason was to balance the trio that is Cloud / Barret / Tifa. I wanted to give access to the three kinds of characters as soon as possible, so you'd notice the difference of damage they take. If Tifa also halved Physical attack, the difference in melee damage that Cloud, Barret and Tifa would feel, would be negligible. Also, Tifa is "all rounded", but still on the weak size. The +128 in def/mdef equals to a decrease in magic & physical damage by 25%, as opposed to the 50% that some characters get. I wouldn't feel comfortable giving those attributs to Cloud, and I think they're fitting for Tifa who doesn't look as tough with her white top, mini-skirt and suspenders :P (oh yeah, and Cid is indeed less robust than Barret... ...As for the bonus to damage, the strength stat and weapons will deal with it. What I describe above are armors and accessories attributes only).

Quote
Aerith, sure, is the magic girl. Instead of halving all magic damage, she should halve all positive elements ( aka, the elements that make up the earth aka 'holy' because thats imo what her allignment should be ) and completely null Holy.

The problem with this, is that some physical attacks are elemental. For example, Bombs' headbutts are fire-elemental, and I wouldn't want Aeris to halve these attacks. As for nullifying Holy, I agree that it should be her alignment - but since she disappears half-way through the game and since enemies will start dealing Holy damage later in the game, I don't see the interest. Hence why Tifa inherited it.

I also agree with you about Cid's magical resistance, but... ...It's quite hard to implement. You see, I made it so all characters are different. So I needed a character who had some magic resistance and halved physical attacks....Hm... ...Maybe I could swap Cloud's abilities with Cid's, so Cloud has some MDef while Cid halves enemy techniques... ...But then, I'd have to rework some battles in Midgar, as they might be too tough now (or maybe not). Tell me what you think, anyway ;)
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Tenko Kuugen on 2010-11-28 15:00:18
mean wretch warning issued, I have a headache

when you say 'enemy skills' it does sound like you are refering to >LEARNABLE enemy skills, which I what I am refering to
Generally, the way you go about it isn't bad, but I really dont know enough about your mod to go any further than this.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: xLostWingx on 2010-12-03 05:49:16
I'm pickin up what you're laying down AV.  I think that your solution is perfect for what I think you were trying to attain.  It is also an innovative method that gives me some ideas for future work.  You should get to work on that and test it out to see what it feels like.

EDIT:  About Cloud.  You could go crazy and make him really unique and perhaps give him a mix of High and Low stats and Abilities (such as the half-physical, half-magical and whatnot) and give him a ultra steep XP curve or something.  Cloud is just a weakling with a successful Jenova cell implantation...makes for some strange effects perhaps...

Also, when making the mod for PC did you consider the break damage limit or HP limit?  Because if so, the PSX version may be unbalanced.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2010-12-13 12:17:07
Thanks Lost Wing, will do :D (and sorry about the late reply ^^; )

About Cloud, he seems fine for now. I'll see if I have to change things along the course of my playthrough / hacking.

As for the BDL, and even though ARMs made a working patch for the PSX (with a cap at 32,000 damage), I'm designing the patch without it mind.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Vgr on 2011-01-06 20:33:01
Sorry asking maybe so much, but can you put in a new post all the features of your mod (and then edit your first post) because everything is messed up anyways :P I'm about to test it. Seems very good :)
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: RickJMan on 2011-02-11 02:03:09
Armorvil i have a question. I seem to have run into a little issue when applying your mod to my psx version of the game. when i double click the "apply scene, kernel, limtmenu, and shopmenu patch" nothing happens. the only one that works for me is the mds7pb_1. im probably making some stupid mistake and overlooked something, which i usually do lol, but i was wondering if you could help me out or send me the av files for these. although i do have well above an average skill in modification, i cant seem to figure this out :/ btw i absolutely love what you have done for this game. i have played final fantasy 7 since i was 4 when it came out and i have loved it since. i am 17 now. i have only started modification on it for the past 2 years though. your mod is exactly what i was looking for. it gave the game more definition if i could say that. but i think i have another thing you may be interested in, i had a thought that if you are playing the psx version of the game on a ps3 it would be no problem to add the more realistic characters into that version of the game by replacing them on the disc and deleting nonessential data (movie files that arent viewed until disc 2 or 3 or other character models redundant to the story at the time) from the disc to maintain its original size. ive tried it but it had major bugs im trying to work out. the only character i could change without causing the game to crash was the cloud battle character to the advent children model. i will keep you posted on my progress on this project if you would like. :)


i look forward to your reply and/or help with my issue and thank you in advance. and if you have any interest in my projects let me know and ill find a way to send you the files that you need to try them out for yourself.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2011-02-21 19:41:48
Well, I never tried modding FFVII on the PS3 (I didn't buy it on the PSN actually, so I can't even try), so I can't help you there. Still, if you managed to replace Cloud's battle model with the AC one, it is quite an accomplishment ! I'm looking forward to hear more.

As for the patch, you're not the first one to have a problem applying it. Are you using the Greatest Hits version ?... ...Because another person who can't make it work has it, and I'm not sure if there are differences with the normal edition (I don't think so, but heh).

EDIT:

@Vgr255 : Yeah, I should edit the first post with all the info (and sorry about the late reply)... ...but I'm lazy :P
Also, I already told you in PM that I'm working on a separate patch with different features these days, but I thought it wise to mention it here, too.

It'll be called "FFVII: Total Grudge" or something like that - since almost all enemies have an attack that deals damage dependant on the target's # of kills (like Master Tonberry's Everyone's Grudge).

I've reached Gongaga, and I've never had so much fun with FFVII. You have to play with all characters and think about who's gonna get each kill, so no one ever gets one-shot'ed. You're happy everytime you obtain a new party member, because this means that you have a new way of absorbing kills. Of course the characters' max HP and # of kills to learn new Limits are consequently decreased.

And of course, there are many features of FFVII AV that are included in this. I'll talk more about it once it's complete (which shouldn't take too long, the development takes a lot less time than FFVII AV's).
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: xLostWingx on 2011-02-22 17:12:51
Total Grudge sounds cool.  Its still based off of AV?  Sounds even better lol.  How is Cloud holding up since he is in the party so often?  Sounds like you could play a number of different ways - Make one character get all kills so everyone else never gets hurt; Spread kills out to balance the damage; or deliberately keep two or three characters from getting any kills.  It would be interesting if you eliminated the ability to escape from battles or were to create more formations with side attacks so you are forced to kill at least one enemy before escaping.  If this is based off of AV, then do you still have the Sources as items dropped?  Otherwise you may have hampered the player's ability to farm sources later in the game without handicapping Yuffie (depending on if the Conformer is intact).  Sounds cool though.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2011-02-22 19:35:04
Quote
Make one character get all kills so everyone else never gets hurt;

Yeah, but by doing so, no level 2/3/4 Limit breaks for the others :P

Quote
Spread kills out to balance the damage

Yeah, that's how I'm currently doing it. Cloud killed 35 enemies (350 damage hurts a lot, since his max HP is ~700 with a HP+ at level 23), Yuffie killed 29, Tifa killed 27, Cait killed 22, Barret killed 24, Aeris killed 25 (and already learned Breath of the Earth), and Red XIII killed 27. I still feed Cait Sith some kills while heading to Cosmo Canyon, and can't wait until I get Vincent... ...As for Cloud, he killed more because of my own stupidity.

Leveling them evenly is also a lot of fun - I never did it before, because I wasn't "forced" to (I always played with Cloud+Tifa+Yuffie).

Quote
or deliberately keep two or three characters from getting any kills.

Not a bad idea. I guess you could make a "boss only" party, with other characters taking care of random battles. That way, the boss only party would have a easier time dealing with the bosses...

Quote
It would be interesting if you eliminated the ability to escape from battles or were to create more formations with side attacks so you are forced to kill at least one enemy before escaping.

Actually, the beauty of this is that escaping battles finally has a use. You can escape battles all you like, but then you can kiss much needed Exp/AP/Gil goodbye. And escaping battles when you visit a previous area (like when you want to teach White Wind or something to a new Enemy Skills user) is a godsend. It isn't very interesting to increase your kill count (=the enemies' damage output) when you're gonna net low AP/Exp/Gil.

So no, most of the time, I don't want to force the player to kill enemies.

Quote
If this is based off of AV, then do you still have the Sources as items dropped?

Not in the version I'm playtesting. I think I'll add them though - because with the limited number of enemies you can kill throughout the game, might as well help the player increase in power. Enemies such as bosses also give more Exp/Gil, so you have an easier time leveling your characters evenly (after defeating Reno & Rude in Gongaga, everyone is level 22 or 23... ...except Aeris who is lv 34 that is (because of her "special growth") :P).

Quote
Otherwise you may have hampered the player's ability to farm sources later in the game without handicapping Yuffie (depending on if the Conformer is intact).  Sounds cool though.

I see what you mean. Anyways, all characters now have multiple ultimate weapons, so everyone has a weapon like the Ultima Weapon (power dependant on HP), the Missing Score (power dependant on AP), the Conformer (power dependant on enemies' levels), etc. You only get them late in the game though (some are in the Midgar raid, others are in the Ancient Forest, etc).

And yeah, it is cool ^^ Thanks for your interest, LW :)
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: xLostWingx on 2011-02-22 20:07:37
Sounds like you took all factors into consideration ;)  Have you used Libre to modify the Limits?  Perhaps you could discourage players from some of these honor-deficient strategies by making higher level limits much more valuable (at least relatively speaking - Braver might suck so there is extra incentive to obtain Climhazard, or maybe it doesn't take much more damage to fill the Limit Bar at level 3 compared to level 2, so there is more incentive to kill enemies.  Make the player really want to kill enemies while at the same time dread killing enemies lol). 

As far as recieving sources from enemies goes...you only get items if you complete the entire battle.  If you were to only give enemies that appear in large groups (Headhunters, Capparwires) the potential to drop sources - and make the odds 1/3-1/4 - then the player would be presented with a choice:  Rack up kills in order to obtain sources or Forego stat building in favor of enemies being less deadly.  AKA an offensive or defensive approach to the game.  You could prevent enemies from dealing massive damage, but your party's stats would suffer or you could farm sources but every sources you earn increases the power of your foes.

This new mod sounds really cool and I think there is a lot of potential for it.  I am making another mod too coincidentally.  I am focusing on the scene.bin and its hard to articulate some of my ideas, but the strategies available to the player are going to number in the dozens - each with their own strengths and weaknesses.  I really enjoy discussing/exchanging ideas so let me know what you think about my thoughts on your mod.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2011-02-22 22:15:58
Hey, no prob ;)

This "Total Grudge" mod is quite hardcore. There is an armor that reduces damage from all Grudge attacks (you actually start with it, it's the Iron Bangle), but it has no Def/MDef, and few materia slots. I'm not using it while play-testing (when I tested the first reactor, I still didn't implement this idea, so no Grudge damage reducing for me), so you won't need to equip it to finish the game (I don't know why I tell you this, you didn't ask me anything about it ^^; ).

About Limit Breaks, I'm about to do it, yeah. The changes will surely be much like what I did with FFVII AV. Rebalancing, making some Limits actually useful, etc. And yeah, since I didn't modify the HP Divisor, Limit Breaks trigger very often - so I'll have to weaken them a bit (Gi Nattak takes ~2000 damage from Cross Slash  :o ...A good thing this boss now has 20,000 HP).

For the sources, I think I'll do the same thing as in the AV mod : give them a 100% drop chance. But your idea has merits, because fighting battles with more than one enemy can be a big challenge if they use Grudge attacks (2 hits being sometimes sufficient to kill a party member, you can have two or three corpses lying around in record time). So yeah, I should make it so that battles with only 1 monster would net less interesting drops.

And no prob, I love talking about modding too ;)
Title: FFVII 'AVgr' Mod
Post by: Vgr on 2011-02-25 18:00:28
Since Armorvil no longer works on this mod, I will continue the work for him. I will change the name of this mod to 'AVgr' to combine both usernames. I believe that some people wants to keep the original name, so just tell me about that.

- From ArmorVil to Vgr255 :
The changes in this mod will be made so you feel you still play the original AV Mod. I will keep the same kind of work Armorvil did.

- After-Midgar changes :
Most of you played until the end of Midgar in the AV Mod. The KERNELs are already modified in the bigger part so I practically won't touch them. I will mostly modify the scene.bin to tweak the enemies. I will maybe change some things in the KERNELs but not very likely. Sephiroth will be controllable in the flashback. He won't be immortal anymore.

- Ideas and feedback :
If you've got ideas for some tweaking in the scene.bin that you think might be useful, I'll be glad to implement these. Also, I need feedback! Feedback help me correct things and so on.

- Bugs report and the like :
This will be my first tweaking in the AI. Bugs are very likely to happen. Report them with a scene number, a code and a savegame if possible. If you're using Aali's custom graphic driver and the game froze (oops, something very bad happened etc), provide me APP.LOG and crash.dmp and tell me which version of the driver you use.

- Beta-testers :
I will be busy with tweaking so the testing will wait... PM and/or add me to [email protected] (with a text to tell who you are) but this won't be for now.
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2011-02-25 18:44:19
Just to confirm what Vgr just said.

After a problem with my kernel.bin, I went back from the beginning, and took a different approach to the mod. This is how "Total Grudge" was born. I'm currently working on the Temple of the Ancients, so progress is going well. Also, the gameplay of this new mod of mine is exactly what I was aiming for, in all those years working on FFVII AV. Because of this, right now, I kinda lost interest in working on turning the demo into a finished project.

So, Vgr proposed to carry on the work I started with this demo. I gave him all of my documents regarding it (even docs written on paper, that I had to scan :P ), tips regarding what to look out for, and general guidelines. I expect the end product to be in-line with what I envisionned for this particular mod, so if you liked this demo, you can count on the fact that Vgr's work will be satisfying in the same way. We keep in touch, so I can help him and stuff, anyway (imagine the "armorvil's seal of quality" stamped on it ^^).
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: xLostWingx on 2011-02-26 05:08:18
Will you be creating a Total Grudge thread Armorvil?
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Armorvil on 2011-02-26 08:13:05
Yeah ^^

EDIT:

Though I'm not in a hurry to create it. I'd rather have something to release before starting the thread, and I think that will be the finished mod (=less talk, more walk - I often noticed that with such projects, you ended up spending more time arguing with others and talking about it, than actually working on them... ...That's not to say feedback isn't important -because it is- but I'd rather get feedback when most of my work is done, so I'm not slowed down).

Also, I'm not saying I won't work on AV again ; it is a lot of work and I would understand if Vgr quits after a while. If that happens, I'll return to AV as soon as I'm done with TG (with Vgr's help of course, if he'd still be interested).
Title: Re: [WIP]The FFVII AV mod - demo released
Post by: Vgr on 2011-02-26 22:37:31
I am pretty interested of course, but with your kernel2 it is pretty difficult to work on it with WM, but even so, I think I will do some other things before that (like finish FF7AV first) but I am working slowly on it :P