Need help. I'm getting there... somehow.
FF7 is programmed needlessly complicated.... it really is. I am currently trying to reprogram the way battle speed is used. See... *sigh* the developers of FF7 decided to make this a mess and I need proper values to work with so I can gauge how strong an enemy should be at a given time. Sadly, even enemy speed is different to how character speed is determined, and both use another timer as well as relationship between them to decide how fast a character is. And even that's CRAP.
What I need is this:
Cloud Dexterity = 100 = twice as fast as 50. No ifs, no buts. Cloud at 100 dex should make his bar move twice as fast as it did at 50.
Enemy dex = 100 = twice as fast as 50. Same as above. And totally equivalent of Cloud's speed.
This means that if both characters have dex of 100, their bars will fill up at the same time, and if both are 50... they will fill up at same time.
Also, each character's bar should be totally dependent on their overall dex and in NO WAY related to the overall dex of the party.
Just look at this NONSENSE >>
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/197341-final-fantasy-vii/faqs/22395--- --------------
2.5 The Turn Timer
--- --------------
Finally, the Turn Timer. This is the most complicated of the four timers,
since it is based around the relative Dex stats of the combatants.
First, we must find the normal value: the base Dex to be used for this
battle. This is calculated by taking the average *BASE* Dexterity of all
three combatants in your Battle Party, making sure to round up any fractions.
Finally, we add 50 to this average. We call this the Normal Speed.
For example, if you enter battle with Cloud at 31 Agi and Barret at 24 Agi,
then the Normal Speed would be:
Normal Speed = RU((31 + 24) / 2) + 50
= RU(55 / 2) + 50
= RU(27.5) + 50
= 28 + 50
= 78
Keep in mind that only *BASE* Dexterity counts for Normal Speed. The use of
Speed Sources, Materia and Dex-altering abilities or equipment do *NOT* count
towards this value.
Now, the amount your Turn Timer increases by revolves around the V-Timer. As
such, the Turn Timer will also pause when the V-Timer pauses, and change
speed when the V-Timer does so.
Furthermore, the amount of increase you get is different from party members
to monsters. Your party members get the following increase:
Turn Timer Increase = [(Total Dex + 50) * V-Timer Increase / Normal Speed]
While monsters get this per tick instead:
Turn Timer Increase = [Dex * V-Timer Increase / Normal Speed]
If you've noticed that enemies seem to have rather high Dex values, this is
why. Also, while Sources, Materia and Equipment are not used for Normal
Speed, they *are* used to calculate your Total Dex - so the use of Sources
will make you much much faster than normal.
Finally, the Turn Timer itself (but not the V- or C-Timers) will be halted
under the following statuses: Paralysed, Petrify and Sleep.
You'll find that unless you use a lot of Sources or Dex-increasing items,
your Turn Timer Increase will tend to be very close to your V-Timer Increase;
after all, we're dividing your character's 'Dex + 50' by the party's average
'Dex + 50'. This also means that no matter what your level, you will seem
to get your turns just as quickly as you used to.
However, as you achieve higher Dex ratings, it will begin to appear to you
that the monsters are moving *SLOWER* than they used to. A L6 Cloud only has
a Dex of 6, while a L99 Cloud has an average Dex of 59. Going by what we
know about the Turn Timer now, this means that the L99 Cloud is almost twice
as fast as the L6 Cloud. However, to you, it'll likely look like the exact
same speed as before. Instead, the *monsters* will be moving twice as slow
to you.
One final thing we'll look at in detail is the use of Sources or Dex-
modifying equipment here. As stated, our L99 Cloud has an average Dex of 59.
Using Sources, we can increase his total Dex up to a nice total of 255.
Cloud with 255 Dex is 2.8x faster than when he was at 59 Dex. However,
unlike the natural growth, we will *see* his Turn Timer increasing that much
faster, since the Normal Speed hasn't changed. Understanding this is one of
the keys to understanding how the four different timers interact.
This is one of the reasons the original difficulty SUCKS. The people in charge of modifying all the stats had an impossible job of gauging what difference each stat made to the overall battle. Already I've had to reprogram the needlessly complicated damage equations for the same reason.
So, how the heck am I going to achieve this... Is it doable?