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Messages - secondadvent

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151
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-25 05:07:32 »
you have to set the enemy to use an animation or it will just sit and do nothing because it is waiting for an animation to use.

152
i could do that, but it would not be a true auto leveling thing (only every five levels), and as KM said, it'd make the stats get really high. if you were to make different level multipliers, it only gets larger in size.

i took my current method, and took it down to the absolute minimum (the minimum for any method of leveling enemies, plus a simple loop of 22 bytes), and to add a certain amount of stats, 0-255 a level, with no randomization, or different ranges of values, it would take 248 bytes to do. that is the bare minimum, and definitely is not something that would work out nicely, especially higher up in level.

what i need from here is a simple way to add changing stats over the course of leveling (must be fast at first, then slow don at higher levels for normal stats, and HP/MP doing the opposite, slow then fast), and i made a very simple one before i went to sleep, for the random factor (not perfect, but does do what i need, and i was half asleep when i made it ;)). the random mod will be a not (random mod) for regular stats, so at lower numbers, it has a higher chance of boosting, and at higher levels, a lower chance, while hp will gain little then a lot, since it will use a regular random mod. here is the equation:

random mod = (num1+ level)/num2

very simple and doesn't really range much, but it does do what is intended. the first num divided by the second is pretty much the base mod, so whatever it is is what you build from. lower number num2 yields greater change, while larger is smaller fluctuations. it could use some work (and a unique one will be used for every stat), but it does a pretty decent job now. the size this equation takes if used by every stat (adding the random mod as well) would be an extra 19 per stat, so max of another 171 bytes an enemy, with a new absolute max of 446 (adding a not to all random mods but hp/mp would make it 453 :P).

i still need a way to change the constant amount added (if any is to be added) through another equation, preferably, so that it goes pretty smoothly, but size is still an issue. i guess it will have to be no matter what i try out. if i just made set constants for different level ranges (sadly no simple way to add fractions of a stat... have to make an if statement, costing 19 more per stat using a fraction of a point per level), it would cost me 33 for ifs (only three level ranges), and 6 per stat per if, to a max of 162 more for three level ranges, which is why i would like another equation, because even if it does take slightly more, it'd still balance out more than just using exacts would, and emulating the same without an equation gets massive, so it's a good tradeoff  :roll:.

if you guys can think of any simple equations (or complex if it only needs one value added per stat, and is based off of level >:D) that would help me out, i am all ears, because i suxxors at making equations up :P. hp needs to be able to gain a large (like a couple hundred or more) per level in the high ranges, depending on the enemy, so it could need a separate equation, and mp is similar, but a weaker equation should still be fine (never need to gain over 255 a level for it, 255 at 255 levels is near the cap of 65535 :P).

since i know it will be al large amount of ai space either way, i would just like to balance size used with performance. the method the party uses could get up to around 800 bytes when done, and that was just for setting variables alone  :-o, so lets call that the one extreme :P. the other extreme is the basic add x per level, taking 248 bytes to do, but doesn't offer much appeal, being weak in the beginning then massively overpowered at higher levels unless only using a constant of one for basic stats. if one equation would do a simple amount, and cost a total of 550 bytes for all stats, but a 580 byte one did it 10x better, i would sacrifice more space for the much better system. right now, performance while keeping size to a minimum is all i really need to do, i will worry about the enemy attack ai when i get to it, but for now this is taking priority.

i think i am going to take a break from ffvii for right this moment, and work more on uncovering breath of fire iii info (which i found much of, it is very easy ;)), but don't hesitate to post here, because i will still be keeping up with things here. in all actuality, if i were to do a full hard mod for bof3, it wouldn't take more than a month to complete, and that is if i took my time, since it is that easy to do :P.

153
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-24 06:59:09 »
yeah, but then it becomes overflowed with unnecessary folders... there are only 3 enemies per scene, so each folder would only have three files, and a sort by name in the single folder would order them from 000 to 255 by itself (and if not, since windows likes to sort numbers weird sometimes, by date modified, because it wouldn't create all files at the exact same time.

ok, not sure if you know about this yet or not, but there is a bug when trying to inject a section of code to a blank (just 73) ai script - object reference not set to an instance of an object:
Code: [Select]
************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at ProudClod.Form2.PasteScript_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

you can get around this by just typing in a value, say 90, and then paste, deleting the added value afterwords.

154
ok, i dont think i will be coming up with a very simple and effective leveling method anytime soon, so i will just have to tweak my current method slightly, since it actually works pretty well. i just have to avoid certain fractions for the random chances, and i cannot easily add fractions of a number to the stats, so that they occasionally gain another extra point naturally (or to make a stat gain once every so many levels).

i will see if i can tweak my current method some to do what i want it to do without increasing the size, preferably decreasing it, but i don't think it is easily going anywhere...

155
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-23 22:13:19 »
meh... i kinda figured that the cursor things i found wasn't what you needed, but i don't really know vb.net, so i was just trying to throw some stuff out there :P. i know capcom != square enix, just kinda tossing the info out there. i'll stop with the bof talk then  :-). i could probably make a topic about bofiii in the unrelated section, since there are many hackers here, but not sure how that would go, or if anybody would even care...

i am used to sifting through massive amounts of files, and having multiple files named with the scene# and enemy# would make tracking things down much easier if you know where the info you are looking for is located in the scenes. it would also probably be best if it were to make a folder to dump it all in, because having the files just pop in whatever folder would be a little messy >:D.

156
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-23 21:48:39 »
i saw some of the things i figured out in the wiki too... did you do that? :P.

anyhow, today i am hacking breath of fire iii, something very little is known about (already figured out 90% of the basic item/equipment info, same going for the attacks), and i am slowly figuring out the enemies, which have a set place in the files. rather than making a file for all enemies and their formations, and calling on these from specific areas, they made it so that the enemies are part of the area data, so you can have up to 8 enemies, and i think 18 formations per area, with the possibility of easily strengthening enemies by area, so rather than making new enemies, and eating up more space, you just use specific sprites/animations, and the little enemy programming does the rest (136 bytes for the entire enemy data, 8 for name, 12 for stat, and 9? for resistances, the rest is mainly moves and such, and items).

so far, it has been pretty easy to figure out the information, just because of how simple everything is in the game, and i am going to be working on a mod for it as well alongside ffvii, but vii will take much more work (have to revamp my leveling system because of a snag, an space it takes), where a simple little full-game patch for bof3 would probably take under a month to do, even just a few weeks (most of the time is just figuring out the info).

i dont care how long it would take to dump, as long as it dumped them, and separate files would still be preferred, because it is easier to compare that way, rather than needing to search a massive file.


and about the cursor positioning, i found this: http://www.java2s.com/Tutorial/VB/0260__GUI/Setcursorposition.htm, but i don't know if it is what you are in need of or not.

a little thing on how to get the cursor position is here: http://www.devx.com/vb2themax/Tip/18831, but it doesn't say how to repoint it, and i do not know how it would react with scroll windows, it could keep the same position, even if you scrolled the screen down, and left the mouse in the same spot.

try searching around google with "positioning cursor in vb.net", or looking at the cursor class (what some sites said). i know nothing about vb.net, so i cannot do anything other than point you to sites i found with similar info, but i think it will take a good bit of code to add the feature if you can do it with scrolling windows.

157
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-23 05:22:38 »
hey nfitc1, do you think you could make it so that PrC can create ai dumps, showing both disassembled and coded (or just the normal coded, you could just manually disassemble the script) forms so that you wouldn't have to look through two different PrC instances to compare ai?

if so, could you also possibly implement a way to one, import the ai back in from the dumped file (like for restoring older versions of ai instead of manually doing it, which is nice for when the enemy is the only one in the game, and you lost the old version of the ai. it could be easier to do if you made prc create an ai dump for every enemy, so that you wouldn't have to make it point to a specific place in a file, just have it point to a single file (name the files based off of the scene and enemy number in the scene, like scene 75, enemy 0, the MP enemy). you could make the format of the files look exactly the same as in PrC's ai section, the opcode, then a space or two, then the argument, and then a new line, making it pretty easy to read, and should be easy enough to import back in.

i could see a problem being if someone were to make changes in the files, if they made it formatted differently, because that could cause errors to happen during importing. this could also be a way to easily import ai to different areas of a scene without having to copy, but would be more of an asset when importing to a different scene.bin altogether.

also, how is PrC coming? you kinda fell off the front page when i started my mod (i took away the life support :roll:). are you still working on the copy/paste function (not that it doesn't work, or is difficult to use, just wondering  :-P), and how is the multi-pass disassembler coming, because i would really like to see that when it is done?

ok, i know this will likely be very hard to implement, but could you possibly make it so that when you click on a specific area of the disassembled code, it will jump to that area of the code to the left (i know, not an easy feat to do)? you could just make the main things like self, target, enemy, etc. masks, and variables clickable, since they would be the easiest to keep track of, and are the key pieces of coding to want to look for anyway (when disassembled, make every variable store it's starting offset somewhere for the disassembled script to change the current position of the coded section, so 0x and 1x opcodes would trigger this). if it is too much to ask for, then forget i even asked :P.

158
hmm... just to warn people, the first version i will release will not be too smooth with the level up feature, as in it will progress smoothly three times, it will massively jump at two places, lv 30, and lv 60. the reason why is because the first version will be using a method that was my first idea to use, and it seems to be ok, but could still use work (i plan to do this later, but i want to at least see how people will like the current method before i tweak it more).

when i do release it, it would probably be a good idea to edit the kernel with, say, wall market, to make your levels (exp, not actual level, because it will not raise your stats if you just boost your level) to go through three times to see the difference (so no grinding would be needed to do it naturally), one at the normal level, one at around 30-50ish, and one higher u, say lv 99. there's an experience chart in the party mechanics guide that you could use as a reference, but i may just stick a couple of modified kernels in to test with.

i am still working on it, so it isn't being released quite yet, but this is just something i wanted to say now for those who are interested, because if you like the first version, the basic intro version, you will definitely like the future versions :P.

as of right now, i figured out how to balance the enemies pretty well with my current method of leveling, but i am pretty sure that the more refined method will react much better, and save more space than the version i am using does. i am entering the mp's stats now for testing, and i have high hopes that it will now be a pretty decent enemy (all enemies will actually be pretty weak at low levels, and increase in power massively at higher levels, something the refined method will be fixing, making them pretty balanced throughout). after i test the mp's, i will move on to the other enemies, which shouldn't take too long to do.

i should be done with the stat section of the enemies by sometime during the night, or tomorrow, but then i will have to work on the drops, resistances, and ai modding (not much i can do for many of these initial enemies, but i can add some pumped up versions of the current moves to the enemies just for added effectiveness, while using the limited animations. enemies that use magic have it made though, because i can actually make them use more powerful attacks then, suxh as mono drive using firaga/fire3 at levels over 60, and fira/fire2 at over 30 or so.

i figured out the amount of space it would take to have an enemy gain every stat, using whole number, and a fraction of a number as a gain for every level, on top of the random chance to gain another point, and for one enemy, it would eat up 623 bytes of space, 1869 for three enemies (absolute maximum), out of the 4048 available, so almost half of the ai space. that is a hell of a lot of room to level up enemies using this method, but luckily this isn't going to be the final way to do it, and hopefully my refined one (when i figure out how i am going to lay it out), will be at most 2/3 the size of this one, because ~1200 bytes i should be able to work with, without needing to sacrifice very often, but where i am looking to hit is 1/2 the size it uses now.

of course not every enemy is going to use every stat, many will have no use for magic or mp, which will cut down some, and some enemies do not even use any stats at all (dummy enemies like rufus' plane, the mu's hole, emerald's legs, etc.). i think i will eventually add an exp/gil/ap boost as well, but it isn't going to be as random as the stat boosts, just a simple exact increase every level the enemy gains (i could still make it boost at different speeds, but it isn't necessary to do). actually, even using up half of the ai room, it should still easily fit into most of the scenes after compressing down the ai, but there isn't much room for ai growth, which is the only reason i am worried about the space limit to begin with.

whoops, found a place where i could reduce the size a few bytes... my bad XD. no need to check for the level being >= 60, because if it isn't <= 29, or <= 59, then it will always be >= 60 *facepalm*. i would also make the checks be < 30 and < 60, but there is no need since it takes the same space... makes it easier to remember where the levelup changes are.


hmm... i am actually not sure if my current method will work while using fractions of a point while leveling up, i think it will just floor the fraction. i may have to get the better version done sooner than i thought, which may push me behind a bit.

Edit: nope, i just read the WM ai section for dividing, and as i thought, it does not store fractions of a whole, but it rounds up instead of down. i will have to work on my better version then, so the method my first release will have should be the final method of leveling, though the stats of the enemies may still change as i see fit.

159
yeah, it is a good bit of work, but i dont mind (also starting breath of fire iii hacking on the side, along with school ^^).

battle square has it's own special layout, the main data is in the scene.bin itself though (recently figured out). the first battle that occurs is likely caused by the field file for the battle square (since the fights are events, and not random encounters, it may be done in the main data of the battle square field file, instead of the random encounter section), but after that, the rest is done by the scene.bin. when a series of battles occur (like the hojo battles), the first battle is the only one that matters battlefield-wise, so only the initial fights must be set to use the battle square battlefield, the rest can be any regular encounter.

when the first fight is won, it checks out part of the enemy's data to see which four formations to choose from (all with 25% chance to be the next fight), and then continues on to the next fight (which leads to four more, and so on and so forth). i may be making many older enemies make appearances in the battle square (such as bosses >:D), to spice things up a bit. because of the way the battle square works, i can pretty much link to any encounter, and possibly make them all appear there if i really wanted to (regular enemies and some bosses, not actually everything :P).

unlike the normal chain battles (also edited from the scene file formation data), the battle square battles will not always happen after the formation is defeated, it only works if the formation is defeated in the battle square (so a fight with hojo normally always lead to the heletic/heretic hojo, but in the battle square he could lead to any battle, and will not link to the normal second fight unless it is one of the options in the battle square section of the formation data). you could make the final hojo battle (lifeform) a possible candidate in the square, without needing to fight the first two battles.

ultimate weapon stores it's hp into global variables, so the amount of damage you do to him is kept track of, and he flies over CC when his hp gets to a certain point (which is why he can take longer in one save to go there than another save with a better party). you can do this for other enemies as well, to make different things happen during the fight depending on how many enemies you killed or whatever.

i have been learning most of what i know recently (as well as figuring out some unknown stuff), so don't feel bad, because a few weeks ago i knew barely anything, and now i am making a very complex mod :P.

160
i don't know if the field can be changed with ai, and if it were based off of levels, it would still be possible to fight in the wrong battlefield.

for me to be able to actually do what you are suggesting, i would need to know a way to change the battlefield with ai, global variables to be used/set for checking when the battlefield should be different (after killing guard scorpion, the battlefield for mp's would change to the street version (for the three fights right after blowing the reactor), and then again at air buster, etc (could also be changed in the field files themselves if needed, i think). i would also need a way to change the enemy names in-battle, so that it could reflect the new versions of the enemy, as well as a way to change the color of the enemy to match that as well.

but, even with all of this, formations would still be limited, as the mp doesn't always appear alone, it could be with a guard hound or mono drive, and those aren't necessarily going to be in other places as well, so i would still need a couple scenes to make multiple different formations, creating the same problem yet again. unless formations can be created in the field files, and not just set, then it will have to stay the way it is.

and i know you can use different scene files for the same area in-game, it is the limitations in the scenes themselves that is the problem - not enough formations, and inability to use monsters from other scenes in the formation data (has to be the same scene, or the game will freeze). if they made all enemies placed in one file, and formations in a separate one, then they could have x amount of enemies (no need for repeats, since one would be enough), and x amount of formations, but any enemy could be used however you want, since all enemies would be in the same file. it is likely there would be plenty of room for ai as well, but since it isn't like that, and it is doubtful anybody will be able to hack the .exe to run from a setup like that, we have these limitations.

161
the thing about that is there is only 4 possible formations per scene file, and while i could make only a few encounters with the MP enemy, it would make the battles really repetitive. also, i cannot easily use one MP battle for all palette swaps of the MP enemy, because for one the name would be wrong, and two the battlefield would look like the reactor, since the battlefields you fight on are coded in the formations, not the field files. i mean i could take one of the grenade using versions of the MP (for the extra animation), and actually do that, but it wouldn't look too pretty throughout the game, what with mismatched battlefields and all :P.

on the new items as they level up deal, i am still trying to find the actual ai location for it, but for now i can still do it (more ai than needed though, if i had the actual values instead), but they will still have a chance of dropping the same things even at higher levels, on top of the better stuff. i could remove drops completely from the enemy data (filling it with steal data instead, for four steals and however many drops), but that would take a lot more space.

the only downsides with not having the actual drop data (outside of size used), is one, the multiple drop thing, which can be prevented, but by making size more of an issue, and the fact that you can get some drops early that may be intended for after the battle (like possible weapons to throw for boosted damage, elixirs, damaging items like grenades, and stuff like that), which isn't that big of a deal, it just makes the battle slightly easier in some cases.

meh... i guess i will just do what i can for now, and if size becomes an issue, i will just find a square employee to hurt ^^. id probably just have to sacrifice some ai modifications, or drops to shrink it enough to fit, which isn't really that big of a problem right now, since the only places that this should be a problem is with some boss scenes, eligor and it's massive ai that takes like five mins to pop up in PrC, and the end-game areas, since enemies have much more ai modding then.

so i do have plenty of time to find a solution to the space issue, but what i'd like is for help in locating the item info (drop, steal, morph, and possibly a flag that is set on/off when an item is stolen, so i can possible enable multiple steals ^^), status immunities (for moar evilness), and possibly more different types of elemental resistances (other than the current null/absorb) in the ai.

162
and the movie skipping feature rawks for testing >:D.

163
the pc one has no regular size limit, but the scene.bin has an ai size limitation of 4kb per scene file (256 of them in the scene.bin), and my little addition will take over 1kb for a group of three.

i could reuse some of the ai for multiple instances of enemies, like reusing the MP ai for grenade combatants, marines, attack squad, submarine crew, captain, and the underwater MP, but that would only save time, not space, since you cannot directly reuse an enemy from a different scene file without it being there, so no simple pointing to an enemy in the formation data across scene files.

if i could do that, then there would still be an issue with the same name being used throughout the game. i can actually reuse battle formations from other areas (i could make the guard scorpion battle a common enemy in the northern crater for instance), but the battlefield would look like the original instance of the fight (so you would see the reactor's background instead of the crater's), and if i were to reuse enemies instead of having palette swaps, there would be the name issue, the background issue, and formation limitations (have to use a pre-built formation, and there can only be four formations per scene file).

it isn't quite that simple to do, but the best i can do is reuse ai for palette swapped enemies, just tweaking slightly for a little bit of variety (and because palette swaps of mp also have grenades they can use, whereas the MP cannot due to not having that animation). now something else i can eventually do is increase the encounter rate in many areas to make it so you actually see more of the battles, instead of only fighting a few times an area, though it'd take longer to finish an area, but that is the point, and levelling up too far is going to be a thing of the past :P.

164
the only big snag i am worried about is the ai size limitation. the leveling up ai addition takes a good 300+ bytes for stats alone, not including the newer pieces of ai that i would want to add eventually, meaning for a group of three enemies, the leveling ai could take up to 1/4 the max ai allowed for a specific scene file. some enemies will have to settle with what they have, made as simple and effective as possible, which should help make room for other enemies to have more room for added ai.

in the end, if space becomes an issue, enemies will have to have the best balance between stats and abilities i can manage, though i doubt there will be too many places where size will become an issue, even with the massive amount needed. psx users are probably going to be unable to use this mod, since it is very unlikely that i can make it fit back into the original disk when done.

my other mod made the ai as small as possible, and in this one i have to pretty much use up all the room made and then some  :|.

165
yeah, i have been behind on my mods because i have been busy figuring out some of the unknowns in vii, mainly in ai and formation info, since that is where i have been spending most of my time. the more that is known, the better we can make the game  :wink:.

i am making my excel spreadsheet base right now for when i get a mod released (will take a lot of info to be added into the spreadsheet, as well as the hours/days it will take to get up to air buster done, which is where my other mod is at), similar to my dragon quest viii spreadsheet for recruitable enemies i made a while back, but much bigger :P. if you want to find anything in the enemy data (ai, formations, basically the whole scene.bin, or anything related to enemies, and some other things, like shop info), hit me up, and i will help you look, since it is where most of my time is spent. i am in the middle of finding the psx master materia sell price, which i think is in the slxx file, since it is NOT in the shopmenu.mnu file... i tested it all  8-).

meh... epsxe isn't working for me right now, so the psx location for master materia multiplier will have to wait >_>.

here is an example pic of what the stats of an enemy would look like in the excel spreadsheet, using the MP enemy from the start of the game (the pic may be hard to see). this is NOT guaranteed to be this enemy's final stats, i am just using this as a placeholder for testing purposes, and some of the max stats are not the true max (some use a random chance to gain one point, not a random amount gained like HP, and in these cases the amount listed as max would be 2x the true amount, so that the average listed is much more accurate. the stat could increase one ever level as well, so the max could be even higher than the doubled amount shown for those non-hp stats, but isn't very likely to happen at high levels).

http://static3.filefront.com/images/personal/s/secondadvent/167186/buyplsprbp.jpg

here is the same chart but with the highest person in your party's level at 1:

http://static3.filefront.com/images/personal/s/secondadvent/167186/hssdghboqz.jpg

as of right now, the MP's low level stats are pretty weak, but i do plan on making all of the enemies much harder, i am still testing out the leveling feature though  :-P. the hp for it may be ok with the reduced stats of the party, but the other stats definitely need boosted, specifically attack, which at those low levels would be doing it's attacks' worth of damage, and unless it attacked as fast as you can blink, that wouldn't be that hard to survive ;).

i think i may modify my chart to make more accurate status listing, it currently has the minimum with no random stats added, the "max" which has relatively high depictions of the highest stats (could be higher, but unlikely to do so), and an average that is just min+max/2, which could definitely use more work. i think i am going to add the absolute max, as if all random stat boosts were to reach their highest, a slightly higher low (basically the reverse of the current max, set it to use 1/2 random amount boosts, and 1/4 random chance boosts), slightly mod the max one currently in use to make it have 3/4 the random amount mods, and a true average calculation using the average of each random mod, so 5 different stat listings for the enemy, which isn't necessary, but having just the min and max alone doesn't sow a decent average, even while having the true average there (looks sloppy :P), and having a high and low would look weird without a base and capped stat listing as well, so micgh as well put em all in :P.

166
meh... i know it is a lot of work, but after getting the base for the leveling done (which it pretty much is), and with PrC's copy function for ai, it will not be much different from normal modding in that way, only a few extra test phases (for the different reactions from the ai at different levels). and i have plenty of time to boot, so why not put it to use? i am going to school for game programming anyway, so it could be considered experience  :wink:.

i know it is only really good for psx modders and such, but it also fixes ai bugs in the original, so it is a dual mod, bugfixing and made smaller for easier psx modding (this mod is going to use it as a base so hopefully i can make it fit into the original psx iso when done, but that would only be the scene.bin, other things would easily go over the limit. nobody that downloaded it even commented on it, or reported any bugs, which is what i wanted, but i guess that is what happens to less useful mods for the general users.

oh, and i will be trying to find the psx master materia sell price as well, but i am not going to put my full concentration on it (a little checking here and there until i hopefully find it), since i will eventually want to edit that as well, though for the pc version that is easy enough to do.

167
ok, as of right now i am just at the beginning of my mod, though it will take a long time before each new release will come out, one, due to the amount i am changing, and going solo will take a while, but is what i prefer :P, two, it will be worked on side by side with my ai compression mod, since i will need a smaller base to work with due to the amount of ai editing going on.

i had a release of my compressed ai mod out (up to air buster), but since people weren't really that interested, i decided to start on this instead. if anybody wants a newer version of it, please let me know as i progress, because i doubt it will be posted here otherwise (unless many people become interested in it).

things i plan on adding to this mod are:

1. adding a level-up method for enemies, so that they will continue to grow over time as you do, to keep the difficulty up throughout the game. i already have the base for this, all that needs to be done is to balance out the growth of the enemies, so that they start slow, then gradually get much stronger. the only bad thing is that it is likely that they will not level as well as the party does, smoothness wise, because it already takes a good bit of ai space with the current method, but if i have plenty of space near the end of the project, i will make them progress much smoother. also, it is possible for enemies to go over the lv 99 cap, and if you yourself level that high, pretty much everything you fight will be past that cap, and the damage output increases greatly at that point.

2. on top of the leveling method, they will also be adding more moves as they grow (some enemies are limited, due to me not knowing how to add animations to enemies in the battle.lgp file... if anybody could help me here, it would make many enemies much better in the end), some gaining auto statuses as they level, such as auto haste, or even auto life (still working out the kinks, but so far it will work once a battle, which is good ;)). elemental resistances will also increase, such as gaining immunity or even absorption from certain elements. this will also include manipulate moves if/when i can find the location in ai.

3. if i can find it in the ai, i will be adding status immunities to them as well, and even causing some of their attacks to inflict immunity to your party, coupled with a bad status, such as death sentence, and immunity to it, to stop removal of it. it will also be possible for the enemy to make you immune to, or absorb restorative spells/items, making phoenix downs miss, or cause instant death, depending on the resistance given, though this (zombification) will be a rare thing to be used, since it can be very bad, very fast, though death could be made to work on those killed with these resistances, unless death immunity was added as well >:D.

4. if i can find this as well, i will be adding more drop/steal/morph items through ai, as well as removing the older drops and such, as they progress in level. for now though, i can at least make them drop a new item when killed in the same way the vice enemies give back your stolen items when they are killed: a dialogue box is shown, and the item is automatically added to your inventory, though this allows you to use it in the same battle if it is usable in battle, when it should be a end-of-battle reward. i can still make them be dropped at random, and have multiple different items that can be gotten, but they will still possibly drop their regular item, and it will have the possibility to be used in the same fight, which is why i want to find the main info in the ai. i cannot currently change the steal/morph items either, but definitely will if/when i get access to them.

5. all party stats will be reduced, and sources will be made a lot harder to come by, made as drops instead of morphs, and i can also cap off stats at somewhere under 255 if i wanted to, so even if they were plentiful, they would still not offer the same amount of help as usual. i will try to make the party members have more unique stats, but i am not sure how it is going to be yet... the first release or so will only have enemies tweaked for the most part.

6. all weapons and abilities will be modded as well, to weaken some, and strengthen others (ultimate weapons will NOT have their normal attack mods, since they are too broken). KotR will take a big hit, being massively reduced, but still being the strongest summon overall (will not be reduced to a pitiful state, but it will not be reaching max damage per hit either :P. the cumulative damage will still be much greater than bahamut zero). some enemy moves will be boosted though, and may gain extra benefits as they level as well.

7. as i go, i will also try to make less things missable, especially summon materia (possibly add things to the field files, to make them appear elsewhere if missed, or as limited supply battle square prizes like omnislash). by the end, there should be very little you cannot get if you missed it, if anything (have to do something to get them though, not going to be handed to you if you missed them the first time).

a lot to read, as usual from me, but i hope people will actually have some interest in this mod, unlike my compressed ai mod  :x.

if anybody has any experience in adding animations to enemies, i would like to have your help in that part, because as it stands now, unless the enemy has direct access to magic, they will be unable to use magic in a normal way (have to use a physical animation, which doesn't show the magic animation, though damage is still done). even adding new physical attacks has to be done on older physical animations if no new animations are added, which gets repetitive.

on the same note, but less needed for now, if anybody could make it possible to have new enemies added, i would like that as well, because extra optional enemies are always nice, and adding new battle square enemies could be fun too  :-P.

when i do (if people want it) make a release, i plan to make an excel spreadsheet showing all enemy info, such as stats, moves, items, etc. since it will not be able to be seen in an enemy editor like hojo (moves for all levels would be shown though), because it will only list the base stats, and even at the same level (except the base level), enemies can be greatly different stat wise, and even resistance wise if i make them at a random chance to happen, so i think a little spreadsheet to show the min/max stats, and all possible things they can have would be a good thing to have.

168
Releases / gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod
« on: 2009-06-19 01:58:54 »
i have an idea for you, which could take some time, but would increase the difficulty some. if you go through all normal encounters (non-ambush/preemptive fights) and set their special battle modifier (offset 0x12 in the setup 1 data) to 08, it would make your party locked in the front row, disabling the change command as well, so that it would force the player to always take the maximum from attacks. the only foreseeable problems would be with regular preemptive and ambush fights (where either you or the enemy is attacked from behind), as changing rows is still possible there.

I'm against that idea.  It takes some strategy out of the game and reduces the usefulness of ranged weapons as well as the Long Range materia.  The game is more fun with more options available to you throughout.

As for a new superboss dude, I was going to suggest making a dragon larger in size, coloring it dark grey and calling it Tiamat... but Chocobo Weapon works too!
it could at least be used in more than the ~10 that it is normally used in... maybe making all battle arena/square fights like that. it seems underused to me at least... it wouldn't have to be against every encounter, though ranged weapons would still be needed, since enemies keep their rows the same, only your back row is prevented, and flying enemies (row 16... unreachable by short range attacks) would still have use for ranged weapons/LR materia, but i do see your point.

169
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-18 18:26:55 »
ok, ok, my bad then :P. i get it now...

i will probably be off for a little while, maybe a day or so to play ffvi, since seeing typhon (aka chupon) gave me the urge to play >:D. i will see if i can find the psx master materia multiplier first, but i may not find it.

ok, i think i am going to continue working on my main mod, because it has been left out in the cold for a while and probably needs fed  :lol:. if you want help in finding anything out, let me know cuz i will be still keeping an eye on this thread.

170
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-18 17:39:48 »
sounds good to me ^^. we now have a fully working new part to use that was there the whole time :P.

i think i may try to find the psx master materia data now, since a good bit of the formation data has been opened up more, i know it isn't in the shopmenu.mnu file, since i checked the entire thing (if it is stored as 46 in the hex, 70 normally, then it isn't in it :P). my guess is that it is in the slxx file, since that is like the main part of the game, everything starts from there.

171
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-18 16:59:35 »
@akari type 5 is used in a couple battles, some are dummy battles. here are the locations of each fight if you want to check them out (starting from scene 0):
scene 1 - formation 4
scene 9 - formation 2
scene 23 - formation 3
scene 25 - formation 4
scene 172 - formation 3
scene 180 - formation 4
scene 188 - formation 1

i couldn't really tell what was up with them, because the battle wasn't set up for it (used the first MP fight :P), but these should give a better idea of what goes on in the sephy version.

for the enemy advantage... wouldn't the amount given overflow if the random was too high? either way i guess they would still end up going before you most of the time.

@nfitc1 yeah, this is how it seems to be working so far... i haven't gotten to that fight yet (started at 75, the MP fight, and am around 200 now, then will go back to previous ones... odd, i know :P), so i am unsure how the higher numbers work, and i havent done a ton of testing, but what i wrote seems to be how that part is working at least so far.

i can see the 4 covering a 4,5 or 6, or a 6 covering a 4 or 5, since multiples of 3 can cover the smaller ones in the same group only?, and it seems that the multiples of 3 cannot cover each other unless? they are the same number. perhaps multiples of 3 can only be attacked if all non-multiples of three are destroyed in the rows in front of them (same row has no effect). this is what i think is happening form my earlier testing and your results from this battle, but i cannot be entirely sure unless i do more testing on this, so just speculation for now.

172
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-17 21:35:00 »
hmm... i figured that it would be the key to changing the camera in battle. oh well.

anyway, i am trying to figure out what each of the flags in the escapable byte(s) is for... so far they are all on by default, and bit 2 seems to handle the escaping, if it is off, there is no escape. trying to learn what the others are... bit 1 seems to be off all of the time, could be what turns on/off the spoils pages, have to get back on that one :P. bit 4 is off in some of the later reactor 1 fights, and seems to do nothing when turned off... could be dealing with the specific area, since GH has it off as well. get back when i determine more about it.

all on seems to act like the normal battle, but something has to be different since on of the normally off flags is set. whatever these enable/disable is probably anything from a wide range of things.

going to make a list of used values to see if i can narrow down the usage more.

bit 3 may be used as something for side attacks, since air buster has this turned off in his fight.

ok, values i have seen are:
FF, FD, FB, F9, F7, F3, F1, EF, ED, EB, E9, E3

bits seen disabled are bits 1-4, and any combination of that (sans all four off, most off is all but 1)

f3 is used in the bizarro sephy fights (first formation in each, not sure which is used), f1 is used in all sephy fights, and air buster. e3 is used in the diamond weapon formations, and ruby has ef, so maybe bit 1 has something to do with temporary escape prevention?

0x11 seems to be always ff as well, so i think it was just used as a placeholder for something, something that was removed at some point, or just to make it an exact 20 bytes, so should have no real use.

ah... ok, so far this is what i have:
bit 0 - ?
bit 1 - ?
bit 2 - on, escapable, off no escape
bit 3 - on, victory dance, off, no victory, fade to spoils pages
bit 4 - ? (may have something to do with enemies with special death animations, like how the sword dance enemy, as well as many other machine enemies break apart rather than just fade away)
bit 5-7 - unused?

hmm.. i noticed accidentally that in terence's enemy mechanics guide that the levrikon enemy uses the camera data in it's ai to use an extra attack if the conditions are right:
Quote
AI: Setup
{
   If ([2020] == 2) Then
   {
      [0000] = 1
   }
}
AI: Main
{
   If ([0000] == 0) Then
   {
      Choose Random Opponent
      1/4 Chance: Use Flaming Peck on Target
      3/4 Chance: Use Bird Kick on Target
   } Else {
      Choose Random Opponent
      1/4 Chance: Use Bird Kick on Target
      3/4 Chance: Use Flaming Peck on Target
      [0000] = 0
   }
}
when exactly would it do this, becuase it could answer what the third set of data would be for, since it seems to be looking for that information. and in the ai itself, i noticed that the other enemies handle the chocobo script, as in when you can catch it, not the chocobo... that is pretty strange to me...

and introducing the initial camera data... offset 0x13 of setup 1. i am guessing it is from specific set starting places, so tweaking it may not be as easy as the actual camera final position.

now i know these are known, but i don't see them listed out anywhere, so here goes... for the formation type (offset 0x12 of setup 1):
00 - normal fight
01 - preemptive
02 - back attack
03 - side attack
04 - attacked from both sides (pincer attack, reverse side attack)
05 - another attack from both sides battle (different maybe?)
06 - another side attack
07 - a third side attack
08 - a normal battle that locks you in the front row, change command is disabled

i am guessing that the different side/attack from the side battles are just for different starting formations. kinda hard to tell by using the first enemy fight, since the enemies do not move where they are supposed to, like your party does - they have to be programmed into position by the formation data. command 08 would be a nice addition to a difficulty mod by disabling the back row for your party, which is an evil thing when the enemies are powerful >:D.

as of right now, setup 1 should be around 99% figured out... just a few flags to learn and that should be all... the same could be said for setup 2, all we need to know is how the second and third are called upon. i guess i should hit up the formations themselves to see what i can uncover there.

hmm... al that isn't really known well is the one unknown, and the initial flags, and it will take some time to look through it all, but i already know bit 0 in the first byte of flags is initial invisibility. bit 1 seems to be dealing with side attacks, and how you receive back attack damage. if no enemy had this flag disabled, you will not receive any back attack damage at all it seems, and it has to be set on the side that is at your back, or else it would be happening in reverse, taking back attack damage when facing the enemy.

the value at offset 0xa seems to make certain rows normally unreachable until the rows in front of them are killed (but can be hit with ranged and magical attacks). i tested this on the back attack triple blood taste battle (a battle normally using this unknown), which had it's unknown the same as it's row, and i could normally attack the back row even without long range attacks. so i am guessing that the value is essentially used like "if the value is less than the row, then all enemies within that row must be killed before able to be hit by short range attacks". 0 seems to be like an off switch, and is off in most battles.

the value does not have to be set in only back attacks either, it can be done in any type of fight. there is even at least one normal fight in the game which uses this ability... an example would be formation 0179, a singe whole eater, and two hedgehog pies... the back row hedgehog cannot be attacked with short range attacks until the front two are killed.

the second hell house (hidden one) is packing the invisible flag, and bits 4 and 3 off as well, so it uses two at once. bit 4 is the main ai flag, and bit 3 is the targetable flag... it seems like the flags that are able to be set in the ai are initially set here, so 4020-403f should be able to be set from the formation data initially if i am right, and it keeps the same order as in the ai.

i guess not... turning on what should have been the physical/magical resistances did nothing, so maybe it is just the first 8 that are in the same order then?

ok, to make it easier to read the previous findings for the initial flags (first byte only):
bit 0 - invisibility flag
bit 1 - side attack flag (changes facing, needed for those "behind" the party, usually the left side of the screen)
bit 2 - probably the same as the 4022 flag in the ai
bit 3 - targetable flag
bit 4 - main ai flag
bit 5 - ?
bit 6 - ?
bit 7 - ? (could be current facing, which deals with back/side attacks, and switches when attacked from an enemy with the same facing, because that is when back attack damage occurs)

i think that is enough for tonight... my eyes hurt :P.

ok, addition to the 0xa offset unknown... it acts more like this - if an enemy is currently in the 2nd row with one value there, and an enemy is in the first row with the same value, it is unreachable with short range attacks until the front row one is killed. this can be with multiple numbers as well... if there are four enemies, two front, two back, and the front were to have, say 1 and 2, and same for the back, then only one back row enemy could be reached if the enemy in front of it (same number) were killed, but the other would still remain out of reach. this is also true for multiple rows. i used the 5x proto machinegun battle, setting each one's row higher than the next (1-5), and set all of their 0xa values to 1... i could only attack one at a time with cloud's sword, though i could freely attack with magic just the same.

setting someone to 3 makes you unable to hit with short range attacks as long as there are any in the front row with a 1 or 2, so a group of five, two set to 1, and two set to 2 (or any combo really, just one would work) would block access to the one set to 3 (if it was behind everyone... if it were in row 2 with the second set of each, it would be able to be hit then), until ALL enemies were killed in front of it.

ok, this is how the flow works: if there is a 1 in front of a 2 or 3, they are out of short range until it is killed. if a 2 is in front of a 3, the three isn't able to be hit just the same, so all 1's and 2's need to be killed for a three to be killed (if it is in the row(s) behind the 1's and 2's). the same is for 4,5,6, but they will not work with 1,2,3, only with their own group. also, if a 3 is in the front row, any 1's or 2's behind it cannot be reached until the 3 is killed, kind of reversing the usual role.

173
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-17 20:25:03 »
hmm... i knew it had to be camera data, but i thought it was for different battle types :P. i wonder exactly how the game determines when to use the change camera animations? it may be helpful to look in the enemy animations themselves (the raw data in the battle.lgp file), but i have no knowledge of animation data, so i wouldn't be of too much help there right now.

i will see what happens with the remaining offsets in setup 1 (0x10-0x13, check what happens when 0x6-0x7 are changed, and check out how the escape counter works, since it is only listed as a counter, with no details  :|), and get back to you soon, hopefully.

0x6-0x7 doesn't seem to do anything when changed, but it could be something internal, or dealing with the arena as well, and since i am not at the arena to test it out, i do not know for sure if it does anything at all.

what does 2020 (camera data) in the ai work with, does it work as a mask using certain variables, or is it called from another mask? if it is a mask itself, some of the unknowns could be working with it alone, and could be why some don't seem to do anything when set to an enemy. i was wondering this to see if the camera could be called upon in the ai like the game does for the initial camera movement (if it works through ai the same way, it could be used as a way to make multiple camera movements, or to actually change the camera without an animation).

174
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-17 19:28:58 »
ok, i got them. i will check over the info, test things in-game, and so on to see what all i can find (put finding the psx master materia sell price, and the drop/steal/morph items in ai on hold for now). are your planning on doing one for the formation info as well? i could do it if needed, from a fresh scene.bin, since mine is massively edited atm :P, but it would take me some time to put together. i don't know if you are ripping them scene by scene, or as a whole through a program, but i would have to do it all manually >_<.

going through the beginning of the game part listing enemy formations that appear, so that it is easier to find out if any special formation data is held here. not going to write it all, just up to GS, since that should give a good idea of the basic info.

i see what you were talking about with the battle arena data, it is pretty easy to see with it lain out like that, not that i would have seen it right away :P. the double mp fight at the beginning has a repeating 012c (300) thing going on, i don't know what that is about as of yet, but at least a big portion of the first setup is pretty much known now, though it will still probably take a good bit more to completely understand it all.

hmm... a quick search showed that it was the only one with that data in it, what does that mean... was it like a dummy fight for the arena at some point? it seems to be pointing back to itself rather than to another enemy group. if i am seeing correctly, the 03e7 is pointing to an enemy that has all 00 for the arena data (dummy enemy), and the PrC that is the final in the arena also has all 00 in the arena data, so i am guessing that it acts like an end statement, or something like that (03e7 calls a dummy enemy which has 00 in the data, and formation 0 has a similar dummy enemy which points back to the final dummy enemy, something there has to prevent it from looping, or the 7th fight ends the battle chain, and the jump doesn't matter)

175
FF7 Tools / Official Proud Clod 1.0 Topic
« on: 2009-06-17 17:43:26 »
do you think i could get a copy of that hexdump? i kinda thought that something would have to be in the scene files about the battle arena, and i did notice a few fights that did not occur anywhere else, sans the battle arena, like the one triple bloatfloat battle in the 80's near air buster, which is a possible encounter in group a's second fight. maybe we can finally figure out the scene.bin in it's entirety?

we would also need to find here the strength boost comes from, and it is probably not from the scene files, more likely from the exe.

yeah, i knew those were the default ones, since most every enemy has them, one of the three air buster formations has it set for all three groups of data, making the default the initial camera movement.

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