New Game +

[Kiggles]

I have come to the conclusion that a new game plus feature is the single more important element for all decent RPGs to have, but unfortunately no Final Fantasy to date has made use of such a handy feature.

Whether any of you agree or not, how possible would some of you folks say hacking such a feature into FFVII PC might be?

[RPGillespie]

Just use Jenova to give your new game party the same stats as the one you finished with.

 As for implimenting the actual feature... That would be tricky. I'm sure dziugo (the master) could do it though if he wanted to.

[dziugo]

(...)if he wanted to.

And had skills required  . But... how would you want it to be implemented? The general idea of course, not the technical stuff...

dziugo

[Threesixty]

....FFX-2.

To date, isn't exactly the truth.....

[EmperorSteele]

BTW, Jenova can't edit stats properly last I heard... I dunno if Qhimm ever released a fixed version =/

[Modem]

There's only two games I can think of that have that feature (both SNES):

1:  Chrono Trigger

2:  Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

What other games have that feature?

[steven]

There's only two games I can think of that have that feature (both SNES):

1:  Chrono Trigger

2:  Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

What other games have that feature?

thats all I know of

ps: is it relly that hard to make a new game+ feature. I would think the hardest thing would be to add a auto save point at the end after the credits (a clear data save (then make sure the game knows to start you off at the biggining of the game with that save (with all your items and materia)

[L. Spiro]

Actually it would be incredibly easy to do.

We know which parts of a save file are your items, stats, characters, etc.
The things you want to keep after a New Game+.

To actually achieve a New Game+, you overwrite the entire save file EXCEPT for that data.

All the progression flags will be reset and you will start at the beginning.
After that you need only minor tweaking.  Unequip all characters but keep the items.  Remove all characters from your team but Cloud.
And so forth.
These are all things we already know how to do.


A program to edit a save file in this manner would take no more than a day.


L. Spiro

[dziugo]

A program to edit a save file in this manner would take no more than a day.

So it was about modifying save-game, not adding that option to ff7?

dziugo

[L. Spiro]

It gets the job done.
That’s the only point there is.

Who cares if there isn’t an actual save-point added to the game at the end?

People (in general) need to stop being so whiney and expecting too much.

And we have more important things to do anyway.  If he wants the feature, he gets what we give given the amount of time we have to make it.
So, he can beat the game and just use the program.
Done.


L. Spiro

[Threesixty]

What other games?

Parasite Eve series.
Fatal Frame series.
Devil May Cry.
Metal Gear Solid series
Vagrant Story (I think)
Shadow Hearts series
Xenosaga Ep2
SMT: Nocturne
SMT: Digital Devil Saga
Star Ocean 3 (In a very small sense, unlockables thru battle trophies)

I'm sure I missed more than a few.

[Modem]

Should have thought of the MGS series, haha.  Ah well.  I have Star Ocean (one of them, can't remember which),  but have yet to go through it.  Even have parasite eve, but have yet to go through that as well.  I really have a ton of games I need to go through, sheesh.

[Deathblow]

i dont know about how you can transfer your stuff and stats, but as soon as thats figured out all you have to do is make a scene.bin file with all the creatures at maxed out levels like your guys prolly are, so they can take many hits with the 4x cut + ultima weapon combo that would normally do 9999 damage per hit, basically a game that makes it super hard from the beginning cus obviously you've mastered the game if you beat Sephiroth, and change the values of what the potion and hi-potion to heal to 1000 and 5000 hp. thats basically what a +newgame is, the same gameplay except a little extra something in the beggining and much harder gameplay from here on out. PS, does anyone notice that if you use Jenova before the flashback sequence in Kalm sephiroth and cloud cant hit anything (their weapons are gone though you can still see them) if you wait till afterwards to edit anything and you won't have that problem.

[Zyrusticae]

Add: Soul Calibur 3.

[L. Spiro]

Anyone remember the actual point of this thread?
Stop worrying about what damn games are on that list.
If you have a technical idea to contribute towards the actual purpose of this topic, please do so.


L. Spiro

[steven]

Anyone remember the actual point of this thread?
Stop worrying about what damn games are on that list.
If you have a technical idea to contribute towards the actual purpose of this topic, please do so.


L. Spiro

I agree this tread was made for this game not making a list of game with the feature we want to add.

I may not know how to program, but I think I might have a idea on how to do it.

First find the part of the cade that makes the save point at the end of disk one and 2. The add the save point at the end of the last fmv, then figure out how to make the save file save it so you start out at the trainstation with only cloud

[The Skillster]

Come on, isnt it just a case of READ Stats and inventory at the end of the Safer Sephiroth battle and then dump those into a fresh save of cloud at the train station at the start of the game?
Couldnt you use a program running in the background to capture the information in memory and make the save file?

[James Pond]

Come on, isnt it just a case of READ Stats and inventory at the end of the Safer Sephiroth battle and then dump those into a fresh save of cloud at the train station at the start of the game?
Couldnt you use a program running in the background to capture the information in memory and make the save file?

Do we even know how to "make" save files yet?

[dziugo]

Come on, isnt it just a case of READ Stats and inventory at the end of the Safer Sephiroth battle and then dump those into a fresh save of cloud at the train station at the start of the game?
Couldnt you use a program running in the background to capture the information in memory and make the save file?

Do we even know how to "make" save files yet?

You would be surprised if you knew how easily it can be done (the whole New Game+ mod, not just "making the save files").

dziugo

[EmperorSteele]

What i wanna know is if there's a way to just cruise around on the world map and access the gold saucer after "beating" the game, kind of like how you can finsish the "GTA" games, but then still run around.

[Kiggles]

Finally got around to dropping by again.

The idea I had would function along the lines of selecting a particualr save file to load up. -- it could literally be any save file and not necessarily a clear game save. For example, take Chrono Trigger. You required a clear game save,  then loading a New Game+ the save you selected was irrelevant --. After selecting the desired save file, an app could hack in the apropriate values while the player loads up a New Game through FF7PC. Once it is booting they could simply close the app, and save normally.

An external app would likely be the easiest method. There will likely be a whole bunch of issues to contend with, such as who's statistics/level are dependant upon Cloud's, or are pre-defined within the binary itself.

If so, then numorous hacks would need to be made to eliminate and remedy all such instances, for a truely complete NG+ mod. Needless to say, such a situation would be a serious pain in the ass.

Anyway, I suggested the idea, because utilizing Jenova, to transfer every detail item by item between save files is a serious pain in the ass. Is just giving yourself master everything a solution? Nah, it doesn't have the same feel that an NG+ would. The key here is simply automation. The less trouble end users have to go through, the better the feature.

So let's assume character levels/stats are out of the question. Fair enough. But how about items/materia(+AP)/weapons/accessories? All of this can easily be read from a save file, and either actively hacked back into memory, or simply thrown into another save file. I am infavor of the later, since the player would simply need to select the seed file (which contains the equipment/etc) and the recieving file to be hacked. Click go and then they're ripe to load it as ussual. Yeah, it is a far cry from having all of that fun stuff RIGHT from the begining, but it is the difference of 10 minutes of gameplay, and we could at least pick up all of the goodies for the first boss fight.

Ultimately, a save file editor that is dumbed down but tailor made to swap items from one game to another quick and easily is a great and perfectly realistic goal.

Ah well. Just an idea, and I am rambling too much. If the coders out there are interested, consider this just inspiration. I'd rather the folks with the talents pursue something they are genuinely interested in.

[The Skillster]

Kiggles: "Ultimately, a save file editor that is dumbed down but tailor made to swap items from one game to another quick and easily is a great and perfectly realistic goal."

Exactly what I meant, but you have to remember, you need to have a save from the end of the game to transfer items/stats from.
So therefore I said it would be easier to pull the stats and inventory from the memory at a given time and then put them into a fresh save file.
If we can edit save files (Jenova, FF7edit, etc) and read stats from the RAM (trainers etc), why cant we do just that?

[Kiggles]

Well, it isn't absolutely necessary to have end end END game stats. Just let the player select which save file to use. This is exactly how NG+ worked in Chrono Trigger. You have to beat/make a clear save, but you were by no means obligated to utilize that clear save file for your New Game+ "seed". You could use ANY of the three save files.

Sure, we will miss out on the oppotunity for absolute end game data, but do we get anything from the last few boss encounters? I honestly don't think it will matter TOO much, whether we mandate the player complete the game, or even have passed the first disc.

I guess that will null the idea of a New Game+, but I don't want a potential project to get too convoluted. A generic --if however streamlined-- save edittor that would essentially just swap up the location of save points/scenario info back to the reactor would probably be the easiest on coders, and most flexible/easy to use on the clients.

Depends on how far coders are willing to go, howver. If someone gets intensely inspired to really fry their brain and hack the whole function/feature into the FF7.exe, who am I to stop them?

[The Skillster]

I see what you mean, so rather then having a background program grab the stats from memory, just grab the stats from any save game,

[steven]

Well, it isn't absolutely necessary to have end end END game stats. Just let the player select which save file to use. This is exactly how NG+ worked in Chrono Trigger. You have to beat/make a clear save, but you were by no means obligated to utilize that clear save file for your New Game+ "seed". You could use ANY of the three save files.

Sure, we will miss out on the oppotunity for absolute end game data, but do we get anything from the last few boss encounters? I honestly don't think it will matter TOO much, whether we mandate the player complete the game, or even have passed the first disc.

I guess that will null the idea of a New Game+, but I don't want a potential project to get too convoluted. A generic --if however streamlined-- save edittor that would essentially just swap up the location of save points/scenario info back to the reactor would probably be the easiest on coders, and most flexible/easy to use on the clients.

Depends on how far coders are willing to go, howver. If someone gets intensely inspired to really fry their brain and hack the whole function/feature into the FF7.exe, who am I to stop them?

that sonds like a good idea. Since you get nothing from the last bosses you relly won't lose anything. I hope someone makes this soon because I am allmost done with the game and I like to be able to have this so I can start my new game with my old stats