Messages

3976

Gameplay / Re: How to change the AI in Proud Clod

« on: 2014-05-04 04:23:39 »

Good luck, bud; hope your mod works out.

3977

Gameplay / Re: How to change the AI in Proud Clod

« on: 2014-05-03 02:54:46 »

I think you get a one-party fight if Jenova Synthesis gets more than 13 turns before using Countdown and if the average party level is lower than 54. But it's probably the 13 turns thing that's triggered it. In the death counter AI, it looks like this bit determines how many parties fight Bizarro:

Code: [Select]

0x044 If ( (LocalVar:0160 == 1) )
0x044 {
0x04D GlobalAddress <- 3
0x053 }
0x053 Else
0x053 {
0x056 GlobalAddress <- 2 (Cure3)
0x05C If ( ( (LocalVar:00C0 < 6)  Or  (LocalVar:0120 == 0) ) )
0x05C {
0x06C GlobalAddress <- 3
0x072 If ( ( ( (LocalVar:0120 > 0)  Or  (LocalVar:0080 < 8) )  Or  (LocalVar:0060 < 68) ) )
0x072 {
0x089 GlobalAddress <- 2 (Cure3)
0x08F If ( ( ( (LocalVar:00C0 > 12)  Or  (LocalVar:0060 < 54) )  Or  (LocalVar:0100 > 0) ) )
0x08F {
0x0A6 GlobalAddress <- 1

The bit there at 0x089 & 0x08F matches up with the conditions for a 1 party fight (and sets that global variable there to 1). Var 00C0 must be for the number of turns (if greater than 13) and Var 0060 must be for the party's average level (If below 54). I think the last one might be if Var 0100 is set to 1 or higher by a character's individual level exceeding 34.

So I reckon setting all the numbers that're pushed into the GlobalAddress here to 3 will trigger a three-party fight regardless of what happens. That said, there's other places where that GlobalAddress has a value pushed into it (could maybe change these to 3 as well but I'm not confident because there's a line where 0 is pushed into it for some reason) so I can't say 100% that this will work without testing it a few times first; I've not worked with the Global things before. Make sure to create a back-up of your scene.bin before making changes just in case it doesn't go right.

Rude's AI for the Gelnika is busted to hell. He locks when he uses a spell; I think it's caused by the '1' being pushed into Var 0060 (which happens whenever he uses a spell); all of his Main AI requires Var 0060 = 0 to trigger so he goes into a loop of nothing. You can fix it by changing the 1 to a 0 in the four instances of Var 0060 <- 1 that appear.

3978

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: Question regarding enemy levels for all final fantasy games

« on: 2014-05-02 16:49:15 »

In the Hardcore mod, Gjoerulv had an AI script where the Nibel Dragon would enter 'Counter Mode' and give the player a chance to escape if they were under a certain level. If you set up a variation of this with checks for certain level caps then you could alter the enemy's stats in pre-battle to better match the party's level. But like NFITC1 said, it'd take a lot of time to add this to every enemy.  It'd also be quite a lot of code to add in and I think each scene can only hold so much data, is that correct?

You could make it more copy-paste friendly by using variables that won't clash with an enemy's pre-existing ones by using scarcely used variables like Var 0100 or something. Multiplying the enemy's base stats instead of customising the numbers for each enemy would cut down the time needed too, but like NFITC1 also mentioned you don't want physical hitters to be gaining stats to the same formulas as magic-using enemies because of the inverse relationship in damage these have going through the game (magic is stronger early on, but physical attacks far outstrip them by the end). There's also big differences in certain enemies that a multiplication of stats will make worse so might be the case that certain enemies will have to be customised.

This was the pre-battle code for Dragon that Gjoerulv used:

Code: [Select]

0x000LocalVar:0000 <- 3
0x006LocalVar:0020 <- RandomBit(AllOpponentMask)
0x00E If ( (LocalVar:0020.Level < 56) )
0x00E {
0x01B LocalVar:0000 <- 0
0x021 TargetMask <- AllOpponentMask
0x028 Perform("Low Level Heal"[02D4], EnemyAttack)
0x02EDisplay String: "Counter Mode"
0x03CSCRIPT END

3979

Gameplay / Re: How to change the AI in Proud Clod

« on: 2014-05-01 15:32:41 »

No, these should update themselves automatically when you change/delete cells.

3980

Gameplay / Re: How to change the AI in Proud Clod

« on: 2014-05-01 14:49:39 »

Hey, congrats!

I haven't tested this but it should hopefully work unless I've overlooked something.

For Jenova's arms it's the same as setting Safer's stats. They're located in the pre-battle AI, right at the bottom. You need to set their MaxHP and their Current HP (so basically entering the same HP value twice).

The first tentacle's MaxHP (written as MHP in the disassembler) and CurrentHP is in cells 0x380 and 0x38B. Note that these cells start with 61. If we change this 61 to a 62, then the cell can take a 6-digit Hex number instead of a 4-digit one. If you want the tentacles to have more than 100,000HP then you'll need to change the 61 to a 62.

The second tentacle's MaxHP and CurrentHP will slightly change position if you convert the first tentacle's HP cells into a 62. So to find the second tentacle's HP cells, check the Disassembler and find out which cell that the line 'Self.MHP <- 8000' starts from. You're looking for the cell in this block that start with a 61. Do the same with the line 'Self.HP <- 8000' as well. That's the 'safe' part done, so you'll want to save your progress here.

Jenova Syn's Countdown is handled by the 00E0 variable. When she goes below 15,000HP, the General Counter pushes the value '5' into this variable. In her Main AI, at the top, you'll see the line 'If (LocalVar: 00E0 < 6); as 00E0 is now below 6, this top part of the AI triggers instead of the bottom part (where she attacks normally).

If you follow this down, you'll see that this trigger deducts 1 from variable 00E0 on each turn and as the variable 00E0 equals 4, 3, 2, etc. it displays a 'string' which is an in-battle text box telling the player that the Countdown is progressing. When the variable/Countdown reaches 0, Ultima is cast and a bunch of special variables are triggered that affect the last two boss fights.

Having this Countdown trigger at the beginning of the fight rather than the end can be problematic but it's not impossible. You'll want to delete (most) of the code starting from 0x029 to 0x0D1. If you start on 0x029 and hit Delete it'll move the remaining cells up to fill the gap; hit Delete until you see the two cells starting with 72. The code should like like this afterwards:

Code: [Select]

12 2070
02 20A0 (target for Ultima)
90
60 20
60 34 (Ultima)
92
72 0072
72 0034
This will stop Jenova from killing herself after casting Ultima. With that done, we now need to get Jenova away from her Ultima AI. Insert these lines after the 92 in the above example:

11 00E0
60 06
90

This will set the 00E0 variable to 6, and have her skip the Ultima Countdown AI from now on. Now, you have two options. You can leave the General Counter alone, which means she'll use Countdown again when her HP falls below 15,000 (unless this number is changed). Or you can delete the General Counter completely so that she only uses Countdown at the start of the fight.

As far as the global variables go, these handle special stat adjustments for the last two bosses and determine which variation of Bizarro you get (one party, two parties, etc). Jenova's Death Counter AI should handle it all without incident, hopefully.

3981

Gameplay / Re: How to change the AI in Proud Clod

« on: 2014-04-28 23:17:55 »

Yeah, you see that line where it says '03 0000' at 0x0B8? That's the 'Variable: 0000' that you want to change into a static number (click on Disassemble to translate the code on the right there). You're changing that '03 0000' line to '61 0100' which would make Safer have 256 Attack.

The number you want to put into the stat needs to be translated into Hex though, so if you wanted Safer to have 300 Attack instead of 256 Attack then type this into Google: '300 in hex'. That'll give you the hex value (012C) which you'd enter as '61 012C' instead of '61 0100'. That would set Safer's Attack stat to 300 instead.

You can edit the other primary stats in this way; the disassemble option will show you where they are in the AI:
0x0CE - 0x0D8 = Physical Defence

0x0EB - 0x0F5 = Magic

0x108 - 0x112 = Magic Defence

Change the line that says '03 0000' in each of these groups of cells to the 61 code. Everything else should be left untouched. Make a back-up copy of your scene.bin file before you make changes, and remember to click 'Done' when you're finished. Also remember to go to File and click 'create scene.bin' to save your changes.

3982

Gameplay / Re: How to change the IA in Proud Clod

« on: 2014-04-28 22:28:49 »

I don't know if that's needed in this case, the original unaltered AI just makes do without the extra 12 2070 in-between those two attacks for some reason.

3983

Gameplay / Re: How to change the IA in Proud Clod

« on: 2014-04-28 21:42:59 »

That's fair enough. Sorry for causing any headaches, my choice of words on describing some of the things wasn't great. But I do think having some examples to work through can be helpful for getting some context to how the AI works, and it's always handy for getting some familiarity with the tools you're using.

Mexico, about Safer's AI; there's two ways to make his stats not depend on the player's party. First way is to delete the cells that alter his stats but leaving the other cells alone. Specifically what you want to leave alone are the Self.Flag that makes him Death Immune at the start and the Target/Attacks that are used at the end. Then you could set his stats normally like with other enemies.

This is what his pre-battle AI looks like without the stat-altering variables and equations:

Code: [Select]

12 2060
10 402C
80
60 01
90
12 2070
02 2060
90
60 20
61 0368
92
60 20
61 014F
92
73
Alternatively, you could try changing some of the code so that it puts in a static number instead. If you look at the cells from 0x0B1 to 0x0BB, the '03 0000' refers to the Variable:0000, which carries a value that the AI pushes into Safer's Attack stat. If you changed that 03 0000 to a static number, say 61 0100 (it's a hex number which would translate to 256), then 256 will be pushed into Safer's attack stat instead (a higher number can be used). Same applies for the other stats relating to Defence, Magic, and Magic Defence.

Max HP using this method would be very similar. In the chunk of cells from 0x05D to 0x06B, if you change the 03 cells to 62 and input the Hex numbers 013880 (80,000) and 04E200 (320,000) then Safer's Max HP would be set to 400,000 every time you fight him. But there's a set of cells below this that determines his current HP by pushing his MaxHP into it and then subtracting the value of another variable*100. If you change the '03 0040' here to '60 00' (so that the equation uses 0 instead) then that'll prevent any changes being made to the 400kHP; or you could delete these cells and leave that line as Self.HP <- Self.MaxHP.

3984

Gameplay / Re: How to change the IA in Proud Clod

« on: 2014-04-28 19:02:44 »

I want to explain why I wrote it the way I did, NFITC1. From my own experience, the Wiki is quite heavy on technical terms which can be tough to follow for folk like me who don't have a background in programming, and the AI is really daunting at first because it's essentially a wall of numbers. The disassembler helps, but it still takes time to figure out what's doing what.

So what I was trying to do was help Mexico perform some basic AI editing without getting too technical, so that he could maybe use that as a foundation for learning the more advanced mechanics behind AI. Gotta start slow, see?

Mexico, what you could do is delete the AI that changes his stats depending on the party, then you could set his stats normally like with other enemies. You have to be careful though, because parts of that pre-battle AI are needed for the fight to function properly. I'll have a go at editing it and pass the AI code along to you if it works.

3985

Gameplay / Re: How to change the IA in Proud Clod

« on: 2014-04-28 16:50:20 »

[Note: the abbreviation for IA is AI in English, which I start using later on in this post]

I saw the post on the Proud Clod thread recommending that this original thread be used so here we go:

First of all, you need this. It contains a list of the codes that the IA uses to determine things like target, which attack to use, and other things: http://www.mediafire.com/view/umiqacyau66u9c9/opcode_list.txt
I don't know who put that list together, just that I got it from Bosola when he linked Karifean to it on an older thread that I can't find. Keep this document pinned to your Notepad, desktop, etc. It's invaluable when you're getting into IA editing.

The best thing to do is start small and get to grips with the basics of AI editing first and understand what the numbers mean. Kalm Fangs are a good place to start, as they have a very simple AI which consists of only two attacks, one of which has a lower chance of being used than the other.

So this Kalm Fang's Main AI. I've written a basic translation of what each set of numbers mean.

Code: [Select]

12 2070 - Target Mask
02 20A0 - All Opponent Mask
82 - Random bit (it will select a random single target from the All Opponent mask; if deleted, the target will be All Opponents)
90 - Closes the Target AI part (that's my understanding of it)

[The next part is for selecting an attack for the Kalm Fang to use]

81 - Random MOD (this is for determining the chance of the first attack listed being used)
60 03 (this is the number of probability. So 1/3)
34
52
70 0019 - (Relates to the If/Else string)
60 20 - (This appears before most attacks are listed)
61 0172 - (The attack ID for Bodyblow)
92 - (Closes the attack part, like the 90 did for the targeting)
72 001F (part of the If/Else string, if the Random MOD check misses then it'll use the following attack instead)
60 20 - (same as before)
61 0189 - (The second attack ID, Fang)
92 - (closes the attack part)

So let's do a basic exercise. Let's say you want the Kalm Fang to attack itself. You'd open the IA screen for the scene with the Kalm Fang in it and select it's Main AI (it'll have a star next to it, that means there's code inside it; the rest will be blank as the Kalm Fang doesn't have any other special AI). When you've got the numbers for Kalm Fang's Main AI showing, click on Disassemble. This will translate the code and make it much easier to work with.

So if we want Kalm Fang to attack itself, we need to change it's target AI. If you open your OPcode list and look for 20A0, it'll show you that this is the code for All Opponent Mask. A few entries up from this is another code, 2060, which is called 'Self'. If you change 20A0 in Kalm Fang's AI to 2060, he'll target himself with his attacks instead of a random opponent. To do this, click on the cell that contains the code 20A0 in Kalm Fang's AI and then type 2060. Press the down or up arrow key after doing this to move away from the edited cell (if you hit enter, you'll create a new blank line by accident).

Click 'disassemble' again and it should now read 'Target Mask <- Random Bit (Self)'. The Random Bit is now no longer needed, so we can delete this. Click on the cell containing '82' which should be directly below the code you just edited. Press the 'delete' key (backspace doesn't seem to work) and the line containing 82 will disappear. Click on disassemble again and the line will now read 'Target Mask <- Self'. When finished, click 'Done' to have the editor remember your changes. Then save your scene.bin by clicking 'file' and then 'create scene.bin'.

If you make a mistake, however, then you can click Cancel to revert the AI back to what it was. If you get an error message for whatever reason, then click Continue and then click cancel before trying again.

Next thing we need to go over is copy-pasting AI. This is very useful for quickly constructing new enemies or changing the way in which old enemies behave. If you look at Jenova LIFE's AI, you'll see that she has a Magic Counter. This counter is quite simple: whenever Jenova is hit with magic, the AI will check for two conditions. The first condition checks if Jenova does not have the Reflect Status. The second condition checks if she has enough MP to cast Reflect. If both conditions are met, she will cast the Reflect spell on herself.

You can copy-paste this AI into any other enemy. You could also use it as a Physical Counter or even as Main AI. What you'd then do is edit it so that it triggers different attacks/spells under different conditions. So let's do another exercise and give Materia Keeper a Physical Counter based on Jenova LIFE's magic counter.

First thing to do is open Jenova LIFE's AI and select Magic Counter. Click Copy, and a screen will appear asking you for how much of the AI you want to Copy to the Clipboard. By default, it'll be all of it so click OK. Now go to Materia Keeper's AI. You'll notice that his Physical and Magical Counter AI is empty. Select Physical Counter and then click Paste. This will insert the Copied Jenova LIFE Magic Counter AI. Click Done and go back into Keeper's AI. You'll notice that the Physical Counter you just copied in has vanished. There's a trick to preventing this that I have. Copy the Counter AI back in again. Then select one of the cells, preferably one that's on its own. The '80' in the third row should do. Click on it and then re-type the number 80. This leaves the AI unchanged but now Proud Clod will record the pasted AI when you click Done. So click Done and then go back in, your new Physical Counter AI should be there this time.

So now we need to adjust this new Counter AI. There is no Reflect stored in the Materia Keeper scene so the game will try to reference a move that doesn't exist if this AI is triggered as it is now. Let's first change the attack/spell that this Counter uses to Cure2. If you check the Attack ID of Cure2 in Keeper's Scene, you'll see that it's 0001. Go back into the AI and you'll find that Reflect is just listed as 11 and that there's not enough space to enter 0001. This is because spells that can be used by the player, use 2-digit codes instead of the 4-digit codes you've been working with so far. That means Cure2 is actually just 01 instead of 0001. So replace the two instances of 11 with 01; this will replace Reflect with Cure2.

But now we've got this condition at the top, where the Counter will only be used if Keeper does NOT have the Reflect status. This is actually quite useful as you don't want him accidentally reflecting his Cure2 to the player. But we're going to change it anyway. If you look at the AI, you'll see that it starts with this:

Code: [Select]

02 2060 - (Self Target Mask)
00 4012 - (Status: Reflect)
80 - (Required)
60 00 (The number the If string will check for)
40 - (determines the mathematical symbol used, in this case: '=='

This translates (roughly) as 'If Materia Keeper does not have the Reflect Status, and he has enough MP, then cast Cure2 on himself'.

'0' in this case means 'doesn't have', but if we change this to '1' then it becomes:
'If Materia Keeper DOES have the Reflect Status, and enough MP, then cast Cure2 on himself'.

But we're going to change things to make this counter attack trigger only if Materia Keeper has been poisoned. So open up the OPcode list and look for 4012. It's listed as relating to the Reflect status. According to this list, we can change Reflect to Poison instead by changing 4012 to 4003. Click the cell containing the 4012 in Keeper's new Counter AI and enter 4003, like you did with the Kalm Fang AI. We also want this to trigger only when Keeper has been poisoned so change the '60 00' below it to '60 01'.

Now he will only use this Counter when he has been:
A) Hit by a Physical Attack
B) Has been Poisoned
C) Has enough MP to cast Cure2

This was a basic example of how to change and adapt old AI. You could turn this Counter into something more aggressive by replacing Cure 2 with Trine and then changing the Target Mask so that it's used against All Opponents instead (swapping 2060 with 20A0).

Once you've got the basics down, you can start to do a lot more with the game's enemies. Before editing AI, though, read up about the enemy first so that you can make better sense of what the code means. For Safer, remember that he has a set pattern of attacks, some of which don't actually do any damage but are used to handle his change in altitude (when he flies up high and prepares to use Supernova for instance, or when he first descends as the fight starts). His death is also an 'attack' which he uses, in his Death Counter AI, to trigger the effect where he explodes and evaporates.

Sorry for the long response, but hopefully it'll get you started.

3986

Gameplay / Re: gjoerulv's hardcore mod guides? FF VII

« on: 2014-04-28 12:19:52 »

I think Adrenaline works even if he has Resist/Vaccine, but Green is his last form. I think fighting him on Active ATB is the best way because his Peerless buff doesn't last as long (only a few turns instead of lots) and seeing as he'll use Adrenaline whenever he can, you'll want it to be wearing off as fast as possible.

Try having one person use Cover and give them two doses of Dragon Force. That way he can cover the single-target attacks and keep the other two safe. If anyone gets killed you can recover a little easier with that. Also bear in mind that there are multiple versions of his physical attacks, with some ignoring defence (it's an idea to keep Barrier up at all times if you can, and use Sadness too as it'll make a huge difference against the super-strong hits). For damage, you were probably very close to killing him with that Omnislash, Highwind, and KOTR if Omnislash hit for 27k each time. If you don't have more than two shots of KOTR to make use of, then you could try giving Cloud Fury instead of Sadness and hoping for a second Limit break; two Omnislash on top of any other damage will probably kill the guy.

3987

Releases / [FF7PC-98/Steam] Lv.1 Challenge Mod (2014-04-18)

« on: 2014-04-18 16:33:40 »

FF7 Lv.1 Challenge
https://mega.nz/file/a1l0CYwQ#ibQBiG8O5g5vz5mpbHHCQQO2ibO4o6AWfQzrCd9Vbss

FF7 Lv.1 Challenge 7th Heaven IRO
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IXYoK1B75dezh-f9djdr9Zk3Fiw2ESZA/view?usp=sharing

Restricts the player to using Lv.1 characters with their Lv.1 stats; affects the scene.bin and kernel.bin files so it's very lightweight. To install, simply unzip the download and place the scene.bin and kernel.bin into the following locations:

1998 Version
Final Fantasy VII/Data/Battle (scene.bin)
Final Fantasy VII/Data/Kernel (kernel.bin)

Steam Version
Final Fantasy VII/Data/lang-en/Battle (scene.bin)
Final Fantasy VII/Data/lang-en/Kernel (kernel.bin)

If using the IRO, then import to 7th Heaven and activate it (also available through the Sega catalog).

3988

Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] FFVII Lost Wing (PSX/PC)

« on: 2014-04-18 16:11:05 »

I've an idea what that is. When an enemy tries to use an attack or similar but they haven't had an animation set for that attack they'll just kind of soft-lock the fight when they try to use it. I think it can also happen if an attack ID that doesn't exist is referenced by the AI (although I think that causes a hard crash instead).

3989

Gameplay / Re: gjoerulv's hardcore mod guides? FF VII

« on: 2014-03-27 14:38:11 »

Is there a list with all the changes that this mod makes? I'd especially like to know if drops/steals have been changed so I don't spend time trying to get something I can't get

I don't know if there's a list, but the item drops are definitely different. Off the top of my head, here's what you can get early on in Midgar. The number next to it is a rough idea of the drop rate; where 63 is 100%, and 2 is quite rare. Some drops are the same as in the vanilla game.

-) Sweeper: Bolt Plume (52 in Reactor, 16 in Train Graveyard
-) Grashtrike: Spider Web (2)
-) Smogger: Deadly Waste (16)
-) Special Combatant: Shrapnel (2, but a Antidote drop with a probability of 8 must fail first)
-) Sahagin: Light Curtain (16)
-) Ceaser: Lunar Curtain (16)
-) Deenglow: Antarctic Wind (8, but a drop of Graviball with a probability of 8 must fail first)
-) Cripshay: Fire Fang (16, Steal)

I think for a more complete list it'd be worth downloading NFITC1's Proud Clod tool (or the older Hojo tool) and looking at the enemy drops/steals directly. Use either program to open and view the 'scene.bin' file which will be in either the battle folder of the FF7 Data folder (for 1998) or the battle folder inside the lang-en folder of FF7 Steam's Data folder (there are two battle folders for the Steam version).

BTW I haven't had a chance to game that much, but the little time I get I grind for more sources, I am not done with this game yet

Keep at it, remember that you only need to raise Speed or Luck to 125 before two mastered Luck Plus/Speed Plus Materia can max the stat out. You can maybe use an accessory to further boost these stats for one or more characters too and cut the amount of sources needed a bit.

3990

Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.0.5 [BETA]

« on: 2014-02-17 14:15:59 »

Finally got the time to look at the files
I'm gonna have to make a documentation for what is where

I'll put together a list of those flevel changes once 1.1 is out with all the field fixes. I think once those are in, it should be mostly error-free as far as the field goes (with the exception of the Gondola which skips the second part of the ride going over the Event & Ghost Squares). Most of the work is in fixing the scene/bin to get rid of the dodgy steal/drop flags, redesigning certain boss fights, and fixing up the soft-locks caused by some enemies. I'm also planning to experiment with some stuff like 'double' spell animations using a dummy invisible Clod and seeing if I can get that working reliably (an Aire Tam Diamond Flash would be interesting). It'll all be a while off though, got a tonne of actual work to get done over the next few weeks.

3991

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: FF8 Modding: Auto-Aura for Enemies/Lv.100

« on: 2014-02-13 06:46:09 »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3992

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / FF8 Modding: Auto-Aura for Enemies/Lv.100

« on: 2014-02-12 17:33:39 »

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

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

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

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

3993

Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.0.5 [BETA]

« on: 2014-02-10 19:35:31 »

A list would be handy, thanks; I think for the Restore Materia I made Regen and Cure 3 very close together in level, not sure why at the time but I think it was to make the level of AP needed for Cure similar to Fire, Ice, etc.

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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.0.5 [BETA]

« on: 2014-02-06 01:09:06 »

There's a new creature near fort condor that puts all the party into confuse status and taunts the player with a few lines in the battle message, looks like a guy riding a bull. Then the game seems to be stuck, I've waited 2 minutes and also tried escaping but nothing happens. All the atb bars stay on wait.

That's odd, his AI was functioning before. I'll look at him again. I'll fix whatever's wrong with his AI while I re-do his stats (he's specced to be a pseudo-late game boss you can find on Wasteland areas in Junon but it's probably too much).

There's also a crash that involves the steal command. Red 13 is the third party member holding the steal materia. When I use the steal command on a ark dragon or a zemlett, big creature with the tornado attack animation, the game will crash. 

There's a few of those glitches lurking in the game. I've been trying to catch and fix them all with PCFinal but I'm starting to think that more get created whenever I use PCAlpha to edit an enemy formation. It seems to be isolated to certain enemies; I'm planning to go through every enemy with the new editor anyway to get their drop/steal flags corrected.

The mithril mine area also may need toning down a little especially packs with the crab and arc dragon creatures. If you don't get MBarrier up quick enough you quickly get decimated though I am only level 20 at this area.

Yeah, I was toning that area down for the 1.1 release. What happened was I specced enemies individually and didn't take their formations into account so the attacks get a bit overwhelming. Doing the same for other areas, removing certain status ailments and reducing the chance for them to be inflicted. Might be a bit of a rough ride ahead until it's properly sorted out, I'm afraid. But thanks for this feedback, it helps me get the mod in much better shape.

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General Discussion / Re: Lightning returns: Final Fantasy XIII

« on: 2014-02-03 01:53:37 »

That was a pretty cool vid; the bit at 4:17 was hysterical though.

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General Discussion / Re: Awesome work and a request

« on: 2014-01-27 04:05:02 »

Yeah, you can change which limit breaks a character will have/learn. You can even set an extra one for each regular level (wouldn't recommend doing this for the Lv4 but might be worth experimenting). You can also use spells (I think) as limit breaks but I've never tried it myself.

As for actual limit break editing, there's a program that could edit the 1998 .exe to change limit break effects. Might be worth looking into, but I don't think it'd be compatible with a Steam .exe (unless a new version was released).

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Gameplay / Re: gjoerulv's hardcore mod guides? FF VII

« on: 2014-01-26 20:58:02 »

Looks like you're near the end. My advice for Omega is to pick a team and then raise their Luck and Dexterity stats to roughly 125 with sources (which are the easiest to farm for as the enemies that morph into them consistently arrive in groups) and then equip two mastered Luck & Speed Plus materia on them. That should max out their Luck and Speed for the best possible evasion and let them hit with criticals consistently. The rest I guess is up to you.

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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.0.3

« on: 2014-01-26 14:44:47 »

How would you rank NT in regards to overall difficulty? Nightmare is clearly aimed at a hardcore crowd and easily twice as hard as the hardcore mod.

Or do you have some sort of documentation detailing your changes?
On that note, have you done any particular changes to the ff7.exe?

It's tough for me to judge the difficulty of the NT mod. I thought Motorball was a good challenging fight but I know of two people who cheated their way past because they felt he was too much; I reckon overall it's not as tough as the Hardcore mod but some of the story bosses can be quite challenging and the end-game bosses/extra bosses might need toning down in a few cases (I've got a guy who's on Disc 2 at the moment so I'll hopefully have more feedback on them before other players reach them). Standard fights are definitely easier; most standard enemies can be taken out in a few hits or less. The idea was for quick random fights and long boss fights.

I uploaded an updated manual that has more notes on changes to characters, equipment, Materia, spells, and items (it's toward the back under Changelog). I've not made any changes to the .exe but I wanted to for limit break editing (I held off because it reduces the mod's compatibility but as they are it's unbalanced the game slightly which is bugging me).

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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.0.3

« on: 2014-01-26 14:05:25 »

This Mod is amazing its everything I wanted to do with mine for the PSX. But of course due to limitations I couldn't Here's my blind full playthrough of the game https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRI2IVwnxZTYNMHaoW3exyIypoOgjJt7p

I'll give that a watch, thanks for taking the time to upload those; 20-40min videos take a while to render.

I had lots of help from our resident coding masters for those things. You can borrow as much as you want, be my guest. I 'borrowed' a lot of code as well. I don't really care about credit either so you can just take what you need.

N7 was always more of a combined mods mod than it's own thing. Because I don't want to have the drama from last time repeated, how do you feel about seeing these things in N7?(although I have no idea when or at what time I will restart development, might be months yet from now.) Of course you'd be credited for everything in the thread, readme and the ingame welcoming message.

Cheers, Tenko. Same goes for yourself, feel free to use whatever you need from this mod. I've got a list of the new enemy model IDs that I'll send across if you start up work on N7 again (some replaced default models that were duplicates, like the Pyramids). It'd be interesting (and nightmarish) to see NT enemies and Hardcore enemies teaming up.

Once I restart N7 development I might look into how you did things like the extra battle, the party leader changes (although I'm fairly sure I know how you did that), the movie skips(Let me guess. A dialogue choice that jumps bytes and simply skips the play_fmv command?), and especially the sidequests and AI scripts you added and redesigned.

Party leader changing took a while because where Cloud will have scripts for handling things like climbing ladders the other two will have scripts for playing a support character so to get the 'Execute script # from party member 0' working you need to move all of Cloud's party leader scripts right down and then restructure the order of animations for each character so that Cloud, Tifa, and Cid can use the same script when in the party leader role. Then Cloud's original scripts need to be changed so he can play as a support character if a scene triggers. That needs to be done for every field where Tifa and Cid didn't have access to as party leader, but this becomes a nightmare to do if there's multiple story scenes playing out in a particular field because of all the different scripts and animations flying around.

The cutscene skips are more of a case of going through the scene and making sure you get every variable and flag together so that it can triggered if the player opts to skip the flashback/scene. That way the game doesn't trip over itself later on.

This mod looks amazing. I'm going to fiddle with testing Kompass' GameConverter, installing this, then using 7th Heaven to inject mods. I'll try giving the best feedback I can when testing 

Thanks for giving it a shot, Alyza. I'm planning to build on it once it's stable based on player feedback and ideas they might have. Hope ya like it!

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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] New Threat Mod v1.0.3

« on: 2014-01-25 19:59:39 »

I suddenly feel very inadequate with Nightmare 7
Pops to you good sir

Cheers, Tenko but your Nightmare 7 mod does a lot of neat things with hard-coding and has features like the timed treasures which must've taken a long time to implement. I had to resist the temptation to peak at your flevel and 'borrow' some of that script code