Author Topic: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v2.0.99994)  (Read 4825712 times)

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.0.5 [BETA]
« Reply #50 on: 2014-06-16 12:08:21 »
The 1.1 Beta is only modded up until Dyne, but the 1.1 release I'm hoping to finish by the 21st will be complete.

This mod adds new monsters to the game and adjusts the stats and AI of each monster like Gjoerulv's mod but it has a few extra features on the side like mini-scenarios to unlock a character's Lv.4 Limit and Ultimate Weapon (usually by fighting a new boss I've made), an Extra Battle for the Battle Square (where you unlock tough monsters to fight by trading in items), and an option to change your party leader to Cloud, Tifa, or Cid from the Highwind's Operations Room. There's a surprise waiting in the middle of the game too.

This time I'm aiming for something that feels different but not as punishing as a Hardcore mod. Random encounters don't inflict as much damage as the Hardcore mod encounters do (you can have your team on the Front Row and pincer attacks aren't guaranteed death), but they're stronger than default game fights and they have new attacks to keep you on your toes. All the story bosses were given new attacks, a new look, and most have new AI. Some might be quite challenging the first time around but there's some new save points dotted around to cut down on back-tracking. Everything gives more Exp, Ap, and Gil too so the game goes by faster and your spells are stronger and cost less MP so that magic isn't as useless toward the middle and end of the game.

But I'm planning on making a much harder version of this mod after 1.1 is done.

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #51 on: 2014-06-28 04:01:22 »
Sorry to bump this thread, but the overhaul of this mod is finished. Details are on the updated front page. Apologies in advance if that image used needs to be taken down due to size. 7th Heaven version tomorrow. Must sleep now.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #52 on: 2014-06-28 04:43:41 »
Just wanted to point out in the readme that Vincent isn't listed under the [Starting Party] section.

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #53 on: 2014-06-28 10:48:59 »
Ah, whoops. Cheers for catching that.

Iceboundphoenix

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #54 on: 2014-06-28 14:02:24 »
Cheers mate I can't wait to showcase your mod once I am done with my hardcore mod play-through I am going to make sure to get a serious crack at this. I will let you know on this thread if I run into any mishaps while i am steaming. Seriously can't wait :)

FFman

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #55 on: 2014-06-28 23:13:40 »
Hey, it's a nice mod you've made ! I really enjoy it even though it may be a little too easy  :-P

I may have found 2 bugs in Mount Nibel :
- Down the pipe 2, when we pick the item it says 'Jem ring' but it is a Powersoul in the inventory (Materia Keeper gives a Powersoul too).
- When Materia Keeper is slained, I can hear a materia boucing (Counter Materia) but no sign of it.

Any hint to defeat Lost Number ?  :-)

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #56 on: 2014-06-29 02:18:59 »
Thanks for letting me know, I'll fix those up. But the materia not appearing is strange. I remember changing the location it spawns from (so that it appears from Keeper's new location) and testing it a few times. I'll need to look at it again; and it now drops a HP<->MP Materia instead, I moved Mega All to the purple Materia cave in it's place.
EDIT: I had a look at the flevel and tested it out in-game, the Materia drops when Keeper dies but it can't be seen. It can be picked up however, search around where Keeper was standing before. I'll try and make it visible for the next update patch.

I moved the key to the basement to a treasure chest (where the Enemy Launcher was) while the Enemy Launcher itself is in the other wing of the Shinra Mansion (replacing a Magic Source). The reason being that Lambda is a strange fight and I didn't want to prevent access to Vincent, but I wanted to make Odin tricky to obtain. Basically, he'll transform when he's attacked while a variable is sitting on a certain value. It starts at 0, and whenever you hit him, it adds 6 to this value. When he uses 13th Aura, it adds 13 to the value. You're looking to make a prime number with the clue being: 34 come before it, and you have to go one over his. But I've been thinking that it's not a good fit for this kind of mod though; I might change it back to the standard fight and use this Lambda build for another project depending on how people find it.

The mod is quite easy but glad you're enjoying it all the same, the basic idea was to just make it fun to play; sometimes it's nice to just cut loose instead of getting knocked about all the time.
« Last Edit: 2014-06-29 02:36:10 by Sega Chief »

FFman

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #57 on: 2014-06-29 10:29:01 »
After beating Materia Keeper again, I saw the materia dropping, it goes off screen under the red thingy indicating the exit.

Thanks for the Lambda explication, i'll try it after getting the tiny bronco.
EDIT: Didn't manage to beat him even if I think I found the number  :'(

My game keeps crashing against Godo at the beginning of the fight, any idea ?
« Last Edit: 2014-06-29 17:46:42 by FFman »

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #58 on: 2014-06-29 18:48:07 »
I'll review both fights, starting with Godo; that's likely caused by the changes I made to his AI. I'll have the scene.bin hotfix updated in about 20 minutes.

EDIT: I fixed Godo and reviewed Lambda; there was a softlock with either form's attack that finishes the fight. Both issues were fixed.
« Last Edit: 2014-06-29 21:51:12 by Sega Chief »

FFman

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #59 on: 2014-07-01 14:09:57 »
I downloaded the scene.bin hotfix and installed it but the fight with Godo still crash at the beginning.

A minor bug : CD1 Battle square, I had 3400 GP and wanted the Pre-Emptive Materia (3000 GP) but I'd got the S-mine instead (which is at 5000 GP).

Are we supposed to beat Jenova Life ? Because I died to her and the game continues anyway.

I read that I can still use Aeris after her death (And the use of a phoenix down  :-D) but I don't see her with the PHS. Is it normal ?

Thanks for your answers.

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #60 on: 2014-07-01 15:48:14 »
Sounds a bit strange, I tested the Godo fight after applying the scene.bin patch. I'll double-check the patch and then re-upload it, something must have went wrong. Actually, I'll test it with the Steam version this time just to make absolutely sure. I'll also re-check the Battle square prize tables and make sure that the right prizes are set with the correct menu option.

It was originally intended (and a bad idea) to make Jenova Life a super-boss that is re-visited later in the game for Aeris' Lv.4 Limit and Ultimate Weapon but I changed it to be a normal boss battle instead. I must have left the commands that disable Game Over in that scene; I'll just fix that up.

But it's not normal for Aeris to not be present in the PHS after her death, she should be added before you set off out of the Forgotten City. I'm now remembering an incident that happened during testing, where I removed the original scene that puts Aeris back in the party and didn't realise until I was in Icicle Inn. I put a command in to add her to the PHS after that, but it's looking like it hasn't done it's job properly. I'll look at this pronto, but to save you the trouble of save-editing her back in, I'll also add a command that automatically adds her in the Icicle Inn field; to my knowledge she and most other party members aren't absent for the rest of the game so it should be fairly harmless.

Thanks for reporting these, by the way; sorry about the hassle.

FFman

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #61 on: 2014-07-01 16:44:54 »
No problem, it's a great mod ! Only a few bugs which are not troublesome  :-)

I'm at the Icicle Inn and Aeris is not available.

After the battle with Jenova Life and the defeat, everyone has 0 hp which means that the next fight is a game over  :-P
She is tough since I can't heal or rez people. Sense does not work so I don't know how much HP she had left. EDIT: Regen for the win !

The only scene I've seen about Aeris ressurection is Cloud saying 'I forgot I have a phoenix down' then it's the end of the CD1.

Maybe the fact that I lose to Jenova Life is linked to the no reapperance of Aeris.
I'll try to beat her to be sure it is not the case.

I'm playing the steam version. I think I installed the v1.1 beta then the v1.1 final then the flevel hotfix then the scene hotfix.
I'll uninstall everything, download the game again, install the up-to-date version of NT and try Godo, Jenova Life and Aeris again.
I'll let your know.

EDIT: Beating Jenova does not change the fact that Aeris is really dead  :'(
« Last Edit: 2014-07-01 17:06:24 by FFman »

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #62 on: 2014-07-01 17:43:45 »
Aeris appears to have a predilection for deadness. We will soon put a stop to that.

The Aeris problem is my mistake. I've found that I put a command to unlock her in PHS but not to actually add her back to the roster. I've since corrected that and added these two commands to Icicle Inn's Direct so that she'll be added when you enter this field screen (saves having to go through that scene again). It'll have no adverse effects that I can think of as she doesn't leave the party again for the duration of the game. Same thing with the battle result; that's something I forgot to remove.

I'm looking at the Gold Saucer prizes too. I think I've found the mix-up. Only thing left that I'm concerned about is Godo. I'll be testing that fight again on both versions of FF7. I'll have updated hotfixes up soon.



FFman

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #63 on: 2014-07-01 18:13:16 »
Don't bother looking into Godo, after a fresh install it is OK. Maybe the last hot fix had a problem during the installation. Windows asked me if it was correctly installed.
« Last Edit: 2014-07-01 18:16:59 by FFman »

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #64 on: 2014-07-01 18:33:30 »
That's a relief, I was about to report back that I couldn't find a problem with Godo. I think in this case, the files being patched were so similar that the hotfix installer perhaps didn't patch the file, thinking it was an identical copy. I had an issue with Mediafire where it wouldn't accept a new hotfix installer because it thought it was the same file as the old one (even under different names).

I think that's all these issues resolved. I'll be uploading the updated hotfix patches now.

SwordofAeons

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #65 on: 2014-07-01 20:33:09 »
So I'm trying to get New Threat working with other mods since I can't live without my auto-run.  I ran your installer over a basic Bootlegger package and played through the first mission.  Everything related to New Threat worked fine (loved seeing Jesse get to kick ass btw), but some of the graphical upgrades got reverted.  The updated music, backgrounds, and menus were all there, but the field, battle, and weapon models were all back to base.  Do you think it'd be possible for me to patch those back in?  I'll figure out how to do it;  I'd just would like to know if there's some obvious, "sorry that will never work."

The field music carrying over into battles was working, but is it supposed to also carry into boss fights?  I also wasn't getting the victory fanfare after the bosses;  was I supposed to or is that something else I gummed up?

Thanks for the mod!

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #66 on: 2014-07-01 21:15:22 »
The mod's installer is rudimentary, and just patches over the top of .lgp files rather than going into them and replacing specific files. The ones it patches are:

battle.lgp (monster models, battle backgrounds, and in-battle character models)
char.lgp (field models; this part isn't strictly needed as only a few models were changed)
flevel.lgp (field files & backgrounds)
scene.bin (enemy formations, stats, AI)
kernel (Spells, character stats, misc.)

Things like music, menus, minigames, and videos are left alone by the patcher but I'm surprised that backgrounds were still okay. Were they field backgrounds or battle backgrounds? As for patching back in the graphical mods, it's more than possible; the only thing the mod needs to do is add in the extra monsters for the game to read, the event script for the flevel, and the scene.bin + kernel.

But Bootleg is something I've not used, and I've no idea how it patches things. But from what I can see in the related thread though, it looks like the NT Mod is getting included with the next updated release of Bootleg (though I'd probably better get all the bugs fixed before then). I'm also working on putting a 7H IRO together which has the game only load in the extra stuff that the mod needs, leaving everything else alone (so custom character battle models, etc. could be used without incident). Problem with that is you'd also need the graphical mods to be in 7H IRO format and to run the game through the 7H Wrapper (which would take a little setting up).

But if you can add the graphical mods manually by decompiling the battle.lgp then it should work fine. One warning is to maybe stick with only replacing in-battle character models and battle backgrounds. I changed a few duplicate models that appeared in the battle.lgp with new monsters so be wary about putting in, say, an HD version of the Shinra trooper to replace all instances of a Shinra soldier.

SwordofAeons

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #67 on: 2014-07-01 21:36:27 »
Ok, awesome!

Yeah I'm looking into a manual decompile and install; it doesn't look too messy.  I'll stay away from the npc models.  I always seem to spend way more time creating the perfect experience than I do actually playing the games *cough*Elder Scrolls*cough*.  Eh, I find it fun.

Edit: It was the field backgrounds I noticed.  Couldn't tell with the battle backgrounds.

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #68 on: 2014-07-01 21:55:49 »
I always seem to spend way more time creating the perfect experience than I do actually playing the games *cough*Elder Scrolls*cough*.  Eh, I find it fun.

Edit: It was the field backgrounds I noticed.  Couldn't tell with the battle backgrounds.

I can relate; I usually spend more time modding TES games because I can't actually stand playing them.

With the field models, the only three to watch out for are Young Cid and the two red-hair NPCs who run the weapon Shop in Sector 7 and who appears with Tifa's Father on that white screen during the Mideel sequence. I replaced one of the red-hair NPCs with a new Shinra soldier. The game will run anyway if these are replaced but it'd be eerie to have Cid clones wandering about.

The battle.lgp can probably be modified too, I think the only monsters that were replaced were mostly duplicates not used by the game's enemy formations. CMD. Grand Horn is an exception though, so be careful if you have an HD model for him. Possibly the Turks too, double-check them with Kimera before replacing them. You might notice that the files go past Chaos all the way to VDDA; these are all extra monsters added to the game so take care not to remove/lose any of these or you'll run into a soft-lock crash later on.




SwordofAeons

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #69 on: 2014-07-02 01:24:52 »
Got the battle models imported, but ULGP threw an ".lpg read error" when I tried to open char.lgp, which is mildly concerning.  Oh well, I actually like the default field models because nostalgia goggles.

Played through the second reactor;  Air Buster kicked my buns once because I forgot items were a thing.  His facing bug was even worse than before, flipping in one frame to attack a direction and then flipping back so his facing was only ever correct by accident.  Don't recall how reflect pierce is supposed to work, but I was getting some funny results.  Trying to cast cure on one of my party members resulted in the spell bouncing 10 or 12 times, finally landing on the original target, and wiping reflect from the target (and maybe the boss?  didn't check).

The crazy animation might've been screwed up by my other mods, but I don't think I put in anything that would mess with reflect.

Edit: Air Buster save Link
« Last Edit: 2014-07-02 01:30:32 by SwordofAeons »

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #70 on: 2014-07-02 01:58:48 »
The facing bug is quite bad (can't remember how it is on PS1); I had to learn the trick to it when fighting the Hardcore mod Air Buster. Usually, whoever attacked him last is who he is 'facing' but this'll sometimes be subverted when he attacks (but not always, which is annoying).

But I don't think I intended for Reflect to be used on Air Buster; just the player party. Might not be possible due to it being a pincer so maybe I went with having it affect everyone in the end. Might not be the best way, because it's pointless with all the bouncing. I better review the fight. How it is with Reflect is that it'll just keep bouncing until the Reflect is gone from a valid target.

The animation for Reflect is in the magic.lgp file so the mod installer should leave this alone, but what do you mean by a crazy animation? Was the spell animation messed up? If it was, perhaps it was related to a battle UI mod? I've seen graphical glitches occurring with stuff like that when things like Countdowns are present. If this is off the back of a Bootleg installation then it might be something has 'invaded' the magic.lgp file; have you installed any mods in the past from Bootleg that affect magic/spell textures?

A little more serious is the char.lgp. I haven't run into any ill-effects with the field models yet, but I don't like the idea of leaving alone some kind of hidden issue with that file, especially with a Bootleg release coming up. One thing I noticed is that, when patching a copy of the game that already has the NT patched to it, the char.lgp will always be 'updated' even if the same one was used to create the patcher. I've been using Aali's LGP tools up until now but I read they weren't as reliable as the ULGP. I'll need to look into this. If my char.lgp doesn't open with ULGP then I might re-do it with a fresh one using the new tools, just to be on the safe side.

Kaldarasha

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #71 on: 2014-07-02 02:22:48 »
If you guys like Chibis then this is for you: https://mega.co.nz/#!rV8gAaTB!H_h0zCI07K8wVyR22zyGVgErANuyxQTkaYsezEzTVfs

These are altered versions of the original models. I have also fixed some missing polygon's (Barret, Cid and Vincent), but I haven't completed all alternate versions of them (Cloud in the wheelchair for example). Feel free to work on them I have put my color notes within.

SwordofAeons

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #72 on: 2014-07-02 02:53:03 »
The animation for Reflect is in the magic.lgp file so the mod installer should leave this alone, but what do you mean by a crazy animation? Was the spell animation messed up? If it was, perhaps it was related to a battle UI mod? I've seen graphical glitches occurring with stuff like that when things like Countdowns are present. If this is off the back of a Bootleg installation then it might be something has 'invaded' the magic.lgp file; have you installed any mods in the past from Bootleg that affect magic/spell textures?

I was referring to the turning animations of Air Buster. 

Sega Chief

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #73 on: 2014-07-02 11:52:21 »
I was referring to the turning animations of Air Buster. 

Ah, that's a relief. On the PC he's just like that, moving and shaking all over the place. Got an update for the char.lgp though; very odd thing happened, I can't decompile past a certain point (it seems to stop when it reaches the file that has a name before char.lgp, almost like it's blocking it). So I renamed char.lgp to zhar.lgp and decompiled again; this time I got all the files out...and they'd changed into default files. No idea what to make of that, it was like a magic trick.

In any case, I'll be looking into ULGP and using that to make a new char.lgp that can be decompiled and edited. I read in the past that Aali's LGP tools had some kind of problem but I can't remember what it was.

If you guys like Chibis then this is for you: https://mega.co.nz/#!rV8gAaTB!H_h0zCI07K8wVyR22zyGVgErANuyxQTkaYsezEzTVfs

These are altered versions of the original models. I have also fixed some missing polygon's (Barret, Cid and Vincent), but I haven't completed all alternate versions of them (Cloud in the wheelchair for example). Feel free to work on them I have put my color notes within.

Hey, these look kinda cool. I'll see if I can't contribute some work to this, once I've sorted out my char.lgp woes.

SwordofAeons

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Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.1
« Reply #74 on: 2014-07-02 16:01:21 »
Took down Reno on my second try, didn't realize he could Interrocage everyone at the same time >.>  Ran into a small graphical glitch.  When he uses Proto Turk Light, it moves the graphic (but not the effect) of Interrocage onto whoever he targets.  I'm guessing it's supposed to target someone already in a cage?