Messages

1

Releases / Re: [FF7PC] Ultima Espio Aeris patch (2011-03-23)

« on: 2014-10-17 20:39:36 »

It would be fun to start over, it would be a nice project There's a lot more oddities in the code that aren't as obvious, and there's quite a lot of them...so starting over sounds better than tracking them down. On top of that I can throw bits out and add bits in.

Dialogue was a problem last time. I'm not even sure if any of it is grammatically correct, or if it even makes sense.

However there is one other project involving Aeris that I want to finish first...

Hmm, alright.  I've very thoroughly tested every event with multiple party combinations up through the sub acquisition and did find oddities or missing scripts in most of them, all of which I've corrected and thoroughly retested.  I'll be doing a total overhaul of the return to the Forgotten Capital event, so I haven't started work on that yet.   

The main thing I noticed about her dialogue (other than the quotations and ellipsis format) is that in most places it's just a slight variation of Tifa's.  I've replaced a lot of it with more unique bits playing off of her established personality of being optimistic, confident, assertive, and adventurous.

I also moved her to the main deck of the Highwind (she stands to the right of Red XIII).  I absolutely understand why you put her where you did, and it works fine, but I kind of like her being present with the rest of the party and not having to go out of the way to interact with her.  I actually toyed with exchanging her's and Tifa's positions, leaving her where Tifa normally is and moving Tifa down to stand by Red, but it ultimately didn't really feel right. I also made fixes to her script so that she properly rotates and doesn't initiate dialogue on touch. 

Obviously I will not distribute any of this without your permission, but I do think it when I'm done it would be worth your time to take a look at it and perhaps use it (or parts of it) as a basis for any future work you do for aeris-based patches.

2

General Discussion / Re: FF7 Character #1 and #2

« on: 2014-10-16 20:00:37 »

This is a tricky question. Info can be found in Shademp's awesome Unused Text series, more specifically at this article. Here is the relevant part:

Hope this helps.

-Vgr

Yes, that's exactly what I needed. Thanks!

3

General Discussion / FF7 Character #1 and #2

« on: 2014-10-16 19:27:36 »

Is there any way to control who the game recognizes as character #1 and character #2 for the various event scripts, whether in the game itself or through utilities here?  I've been looking for the answer to this only but only found one incomprehensible explanation of how it works.

Thanks!

4

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7] KERNEL.BIN editor - WallMarket (v1.4.5)

« on: 2014-10-15 20:16:23 »

Hmm.. I'm using the Steam version, and reunion doesn't allow me to install to dummy folder.  Where are the icon files located in the standard game?

5

Releases / Re: [FF7PC] Ultima Espio Aeris patch (2011-03-23)

« on: 2014-10-13 17:30:06 »

No that's the latest in the first post. Hmm, strange. The one with Schizo happens in the regular game with Vincent. Yuffie's script is set to "Wait for end of execution to continue", but by the time it's finished, the next part runs, so he does nothing.

The Ultima Weapon one in Mideel shouldn't happen, I tested that one a few times. Maybe it varies with the party set up...

If there's enough interest, I'll start it over. It'll take a while though. Next year is the 5th anniversary of the release/major breakthrough, and also the 10th of the original model mod. Hmm...if I rack my brain enough I might be able to come up with extra goodies to hide.

To be honest with you, I'm not sure why'd you'd start it over instead of building on this one.  You'd have to recreate pretty much verbatim about 80% of what you have in this one anyway, and I see no point in wasting time with that. I'm also through with all the bugfixes and dialogue/animation updates I've found (including the Gaea Cliff and and Crater ones that I mentioned having not fixed yet above), which I can happily send back to you to look over and expand on if you want.

For my own personal use, I'm making some edits for it to basically become an "Aeris never dies" patch. So far, I've dummied out the funeral scene and replaced it with extensive dialogue following the stab cutscene, where Aerith is revived by the water's healing properties, apologizes for getting between Cloud and Tifa, and fails to recall what she had been doing at the altar. Giving her amnesia is super cliche, but it's the only way to make it work inside the larger narrative.  The big reveal later when the party returns with Bugenhagen later is not only what she was up to,  but also that she's now living on borrowed time (this is to keep inside the canon that Aeris does eventually die and join the lifestream).  I'll probably make extensive edits to that event to make Aeris mandatory and have specialized dialogue for her.

My next major project is an extensive overhaul of the kernel and treasure events in the flevel to give Aeris 5 new weapons - 1 by buffing her Guard Staff and pushing all her shop upgrades up 1 tier, and 4 by converting 2 each of Vincent's and Cid's superfluous weapons. This will give her an Icicle Inn upgrade, a Mideel upgrade, and 3 end-game weapons including a dbl/tpl growth weapon and a true Ultimate weapon, all of which will be found at appropriate points in the game (I'll probably use the event you set up in the church for her new ultimate).   

6

Releases / Re: [FF7PC] Ultima Espio Aeris patch (2011-03-23)

« on: 2014-10-13 14:27:26 »

I am using the one from the link in the first post, which I believe is from March 2011.  Is there a newer one? If so I must have missed it!

7

Releases / Re: [FF7PC] Ultima Espio Aeris patch (2011-03-23)

« on: 2014-10-13 02:32:31 »

Oh, and a question -

In her talk script on the upper level of the Highwind, what does the following line refer to? If Var[13][99] bit on 4 (else go to label 9)
Whatever that bit is, in my game at least, seems to stay off perpetually meaning she only ever says the line about the flowers.

Also, her rotation is off when contact dialogue is disabled. It seems to work with 192 direction rather than 128. 

8

Releases / Re: [FF7PC] Ultima Espio Aeris patch (2011-03-23)

« on: 2014-10-13 01:20:52 »

Hello Ultima, I just wanted to let you know that I love this patch and very much appreciate all the work you put into it. I played through it once a couple of years ago and am now doing a second playthrough. This time, I'm keeping Aerith in the party pretty much constantly and paying very close attention to her dialogue and behavior in events. I wanted to let you know I've made a few tweaks to a few small areas in case you were ever in the mood to revisit the patch and make updates to it.  Here's the list I have so far:

When the party is hanging around shivering outside of the hut in Great Glacier, Aerith positions herself oddly at times depending on the configuration of the party. Sometimes she'll occupy the same space as Tifa and sometimes contact with her model is recognized oddly (like you have to walk through her/above her to initiative conversation with her).  I have not identified the source or fixed this yet.

In the hallway in Gaea Cliffs where you encounter Schizo, Aerith will appear but does not animate like other characters, she just faces away from the camera and stands still. This is because the script telling her to animate (script #3) exists but is never called by the main section.  Adding a quick entry for Aerith there fixes that.

When everyone is standing around at the crater and you're deciding whom to trust with the black materia and Aerith had been in your party, her line is spoken when you attempt to talk to Vincent instead of when you try to talk to her (I believe nothing happens). So far, I haven't discovered the source of this or fixed it.

With Aerith in the party, the game will freeze following the fight with Ultima Weapon in Mideel when it retreats. This appears to be caused by a loop created by her script for that event which has a "go to" entry returning to the first label after identifying her as a party member.  I've removed that and the game no longer crashes.

Aerith rotates oddly when you talk to her as Tifa aboard the Highwind before she goes up top. I fixed this, but can't remember how. I think it was something very simple missing from her talk script.

After she goes up top on the Highwind, dialogue is started when making contact with her rather than when you hit the confirm button to talk with her. This is because her contact script is missing the return action, meaning it triggers the talk script as soon as you touch her.  A very quick update fixes that behavior.

Much of her dialogue uses quotations and ellipsis that don't conform to those used in the rest of the dialogue.  I.e. the ellipsis are more spaced out and the quotations are straight rather than curly. I've done some extensive copy/pasting to make her dialogue feel more seamless with the game itself. 

That's all for now! I'll let you know if I have more.  I am also interested in actually creating a new event showcasing her resurrection and expanding her story/dialogue some within the game, but I'm still very much in the infancy stages of this. I also intend to make extensive changes to the kernel to give her more seamless growth (primarily, this involves two things; buffing her Guard Staff and bumping all her shop weapons up 1 tier to give her a Mideel-quality weapon, and converting 2-4 of Cid and Vincent's weapons to give her more high level options and an Ultimate Weapon without taking her Parasol).  But, of course,  don't want to hijack your work, so I'd only distribute it if you were interested.  Thanks again!

9

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7] KERNEL.BIN editor - WallMarket (v1.4.5)

« on: 2014-10-11 16:43:43 »

Hello, I love this program! Question, though - is there any way to modify the icons used by items/weapons/armor/etc.?  I want to convert a few weapons to different types (like, say, spears to staffs).  If there is no way with this program, is there any way period?  Thanks!