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Messages - Callisto

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1
Hey heromic. ATB related changes are located in the .txt file loosely included in the DL package. Edit it so that it contains only the following lines:

Code: [Select]
600000:1000
+400000

#Status duration per ATB speed setting adjustment (to accommodate change at 844AE)
83307 = 30
83318 = 83 C1 04 56 0F AF D1 8B 4C 24 08 D1 E2 90 8D 34 49 8D 0C B1 5E 8D 04 C8 66 89 14 45 64 7B D2 01 C3

#Narrowing of ATB filling speed based on settings in Config menu
844AE = 83 C1 06 8D 0C 89 8D 0C 89 8D 14 89 C1 E2 05 89 50 10 C7 40 14 00 00 00 00 C3

#Narrowing of Summoning bar speed based on settings in Config menu (redirection to code cave)
8D8F1 = E9 87 B3 6D 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90

#ATB Wait behavior rewritten (redirection to code cave)
A9450 = E9 CC D4 6C 00 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90

#Summoning bar speed (narrowing per ATB speed setting)
768C7B = 90 90 8D 0C C0 8D 14 48 31 C9 8D 04 93 8B 15 38 E7 CF 01 81 E2 FF 00 00 00 66 8B 0C 45 D8 E0 CF 01 83 C2 04 0F AF CA B8 EB A0 0E EA F7 E9 01 CA 8D 0C F5 00 00 00 00 C1 FA 06 E9 6D 4C 92 FF

#ATB stops when selecting targets in Wait Mode; ATB keeps running while searching for spells in Selphie's Slot and during escape attempts even when in menus
776921 = F6 05 3C E7 CF 01 01 74 74 6A 00 E8 CF D4 88 FF 8A 88 BD 03 00 00 83 C4 04 80 F9 04 74 5F 6A 00 E8 BA D4 88 FF 8A 88 A0 03 00 00 83 C4 04 F6 C1 03 75 4A 6A 00 E8 A5 D4 88 FF 8A 88 F8 03 00 00 83 C4 04 80 F9 1D 74 35 6A 00 E8 90 D4 88 FF 8A 88 DB 03 00 00 83 C4 04 84 C9 7C 21 6A 00 E8 7C D4 88 FF 8A 88 AE 03 00 00 83 C4 04 F6 C1 20 74 0C E8 39 6A 93 FF 85 C0 74 03 31 C0 C3 B8 01 00 00 00 C3

Also set ATB Multiplier in kernel.bin to18-20 using Doomtrain tool to get adequate ATB filling speed that is not overly slow.

To those encountering crashes using the aforementioned ATB patch: I have double-checked before initially uploading it and then again after issues were reported here, but didn't encounter any crashes at the start of a battle. I also know of at least one person who got the changes working correctly.

Make sure to disable any other mods that alter the .exe file, as they could cause conflicts when used in conjunction (the hard mode included in the Lunatic Pandora package comes to mind). That's pretty much my only guess for now, sorry for the inconvenience.

2
Hello BerikXardas,

The game randomly crashing after attacking with Squall is a bug in the 2013 Steam version and not mod-related. I'm not sure what causes it, but lowering internal resolution and playing in windowed mode may alleviate the issue.

As for the enemy ability that causes a softlock during the Mobile Type 8 boss: I think it's only used if you attack with the Thunder element a few times. So for now, try to defeat it without using any Thunder elemental attacks, until a proper fix is ready. Sorry for the inconvenience.

@MisterBombastic95: Try the following if still relevant: Right-click on the DEMASTER_EXP folder in download package, select Copy, right-click on an empty space in the game's root folder (Steam -> steamapps -> common -> FINAL FANTASY VIII Remastered) where DEMASTER_EXP folder is present, select Paste and finally "Replace files in the destination" when Windows asks how to proceed.

@kakayijo160: Item IDs in shop.bin are in this order, if that helps. I'm afraid I don't have any information on unsealing locations on disc 4.

3
Updated 2013 Steam with a patch to address ATB related issues. Changes are as follows:
  • The differences between ATB speed settings in Config menu are now much more subtle. Highest speed setting should be safe to use now.
  • In Wait mode, ATB bars stop when selecting targets (without breaking Selphie's Slot Limit Break).
  • In Wait mode, ATB keeps running during escape attempts even when in menus.

A few mistakes present in the previous version have been corrected:
  • Rather than just Shiva, Quezacotl and Ifrit start with EXP-None ability learned as well.
  • Megalixir and Power Generator have been removed from Chocobo World loot.

Haven't found a way to implement the ATB changes to Remastered yet, but will keep trying. Remastered will receive a notification in the opening post for now, as suggested by MrMadakey. Sorry for the inconvenience.

@kakayijo160: Shop inventories are stored in shop.bin, a file contained in the menu.fs archive that can be extracted with the Deling tool. As there is currently no tool to edit the shop.bin file, you need a hex editor to do so. Every shop is 32 bytes each, with every item using two bytes. First byte is Item ID followed by either 00 or FF - FF means item is available right away, while 00 means it requires Tonberry's Familiar Ability to become available.

4
No problem. Didn't regard your post as intentional spread of misinformation - it rather just has that certain saltiness in it, that often leads to unintentional generalization of things.

Anway, I'll take it as a reminder that's there's still unfinished business with this mod, so thank you.

5
Sure, the mod might be more AoE-heavy than the base game overall, but your initial point was about all enemies being able to open with an AoE, which is simply not the case.

The number of enemies capable of starting with an AoE is a little less than 30% of all enemies, including ones that use AoE only under certain conditions (level threshold, specific battles or number of enemies present). Aside from that, not all of them are meant to be threatening (such as the Geezard's or Raldo's Foul Breath), but can potentially become a threat with ATB speed set to max. With highly damaging AoEs usually being strictly regulated to not be used consecutively and with the new Heal ability + Mega-Potion buff, things shouldn't be too difficult, at least in Standard Mode. I can see some more AoE restrictions in a third difficulty option though.

Currently aiming to release an ATB patch by the end of this week. It's basically ready for the 2013 version, but want to look into Remastered too, as I don't want to separate the two versions again, now that they are almost identical. And it's about an important issue that can potentially ruin the entire experience. Will report back.

6
Hey just a heads up, ruby dragon flashback on lionheart mode, wards in battle texture is all messed up and glitched, fight still works and no issues other than that from it
That's an issue caused by a specific Demaster tool setting. The glitched texture can be fixed by unchecking the character resolution limit option.


What did you do to the Abadon encounter? It one-shot two characters with what seemed to be instadeath moves, and then got to move like 5 times in a row against Squall. I'm not playing the Lionheart mode so such cheap tactics shouldn't exist...
Abadon has a 1/3 chance to use a physical attack that can cause instant death, but only while crouching. That attack itself has a 70% base chance to inflict the status, which is reduced by the target's Vit and status defense. So indeed, with some bad luck, Abadon will spam this attack during the crouching phase (which lasts 4 turns). I think it's ok to have an undead boss that can cause Death, so I'll leave that attack in, as even in the worst case scenario, you can use Mega Phoenix or Full-life (which the mods gives you plenty of, long before a full stack becomes easily accessible) to make a comeback. But I'll prevent it from being used consecutively for Standard mode. Thank you for your input.


Hi, is there a Devour list somewhere please? Docs say more enemies now increase character's stats by munching them. Thanks
The HP gains might not be 100% accurate, but it should be the following:

-Snow Lion: HP +10
-Ruby Dragon: HP +30
-T-Rexaur: Str +1
-Chimera: Mag +1
-Adamantoise: Vit +1
-Ochu: Spr +1
-Behemoth: Str/Mag +1
-Malboro: Vit/Spr +1
-PuPu: Spd +1

So, I wanna ask something.. Are you aware of how Damage Per Second works?

I've seen that there is limitations on how much you can manipulate a mob to do however, me getting one shot in a menu before I can even decide what to do because every single mob has aoe at the start of a fight is not exactly what I would call... "Balanced."

Now you've mentioned that there is limitations to this.. Why is there limitations? Just reduce the amount of damage that the mobs do across the board.. It's literally that simple, you've got mobs doing 6 attacks to my entire party before I've even got 2 attacks off and they're doing nearly a 3rd of my life in one hit. If they're doing this many attacks, tone it down a bit maybe?
Actually, only very few enemies have a chance to start the battle with an AoE. In fact, AoE usage is more limited than in the base game. Many enemies are set to not use AoE several times in a row, whereas in the base game, they can basically access them whenever they want (Grendel, Cockatrice, Chimera or Bahamut to name a few). Please check thoroughly before spreading misinformation out of anger.

As for your actual issue: Check your ATB speed setting and reduce it if it's on max. I assume it is, as no enemy can do 6 attacks before you get even 2 turns on normal ATB speed settings. I've already explained several times - at one point even to you directly - that high ATB speed settings are not recommended as they give enemies an unfair speed advantage that you can't negate even with supernatural reflexes. The higher the ATB speed is set, the more attacks enemies get compared to you, that's how it is even in the base game - it becomes noticably more difficult then. And I'm not willing to balance the difficulty of this mod around this setting. It's just way too fast.

Guess I'll have to add this information to the opening post and mod documentation until a proper ATB speed adjustment is ready (I know there is a setting for that in the Doomtrain tool, but changing it so that max Speed becomes more managable results in standard speed settings becoming super slow) - too many players fell for it already, without realizing where the issue stems from, rather blaming the mod instead. I'll do my best to finally come up with that long-needed fix (also making the ATB stop when selecting targets), so this issue can finally be put to rest.

7
Hm, this seems weird. Triggering the White SeeD option in the library actually requires talking to Rinoa as Squall, which is not possible during the scene you mentioned, because Squall is physically not present at this moment, just on the mic.

Anyway, it is no problem to prevent this from ever happening before the intended point with a little tweak to the script. Thanks for the info.

8
There are a few more enemies that use this attack, so sent a PM with a corrected kernel.bin. Thank you.

9
@Aynath: You could upload the kernel to a file sharing site and then send me a PM with the link. Alternatively, I could extract the kernel from the download source and then send it to you. I presume you downloaded it from nexusmods, is that correct?

10
@Aynath: A quick file check showed that the Tonberry King battle seems to be in order. The Arm Slash attack does not exist in the current version and is replaced by an attack called Scourge, which is also used by Tonberry King. So your issue likely stems from the Martial Law compatibility version. If you extracted the kernel.bin file from main.fs archive via the Deling tool and sent it to me, I could fix it for you.

Also thanks a lot for all the feedback lately. The Triple spell is scheduled to be removed in the next version and Renew will be nerfed with Protect and Shell reducing damage by only 25% each. Darkside will be left as it is, as it stacks will critical hits, damage to the back and elemental attack damage, making it a very potent command that can compete with multi-cast spells easily (damage penalty is 20% of users max HP by the way, not 33%).

As for enemies attacking too fast, I don't really see the issue as long as ATB speed isn't set to max in the Config menu. Looking at Nesouk Kefka's video above, you can see that he manages to perform most of his actions in time, even against the strongest enemy in the game. Ifrit using his AoE multiple times in a row should be no problem either as it deals considerably less damage than his single-target attacks at that point.

Sadly, I don't have the time to address all the other arguments made, but everything has been noted and evalutated for inclusion in the next version of the mod. I can't come up with a release window, but it will come sooner or later.

11
Will this get a dialogue update similar to FF7 NT where the translation is improved?
Other than correcting spelling errors and bringing the translation closer to the Japanese original version where applicable, there are currently no further plans to improve the game's translation. For a full overhaul (including changes to certain plot elements), I would strongly recommend having a look at Percival's Succession mod.

This NORG (Lionheart) fight has got to be the most disgusting fight I've encountered yet lol. Reflect misses him so he has free reign to use his Renew, his Renew can't be dispelled, he has a single turn team dispel but no debuff magic works aside from Meltdown. The strategy is just to just out damage his heals. I used Demi a bazillion times and had my DPS damage him fast enough at the tail end so he couldn't cast Renew again. The fight at the prison bridge with the two robots and red soldiers was more interesting than this. I wondered if Doom would have worked too but I'm too tired from trying to check which status spell works and the save point from the boss fight is kinda far what with all the talking and whatnot.

Would Doom have worked on this fight? I'm gonna KO myself if so.
Dispel is supposed to work against NORG's Renew. If it doesn't, you probably missed a step during mod installation, skipping on several mod features. Make sure you have Roses and Wine W07 installed and the Ragnarok_mod.txt file placed at the designated location, as described in the setup instructions.

Doom works against Elite Soldiers 100% of the time, but not against the GIM52A's, so it would have made the battle noticably easier if you can survive long enough.

Ok I give up. I played 190 games and did not get the Rosetta Stone.
Are you certain that it is coded correctly? Maybe in the table you wrote "Rosetta Sone" instead of "Rosetta Stone" like you did here in the table, and that makes the prize impossible to get?
I rechecked and tried to win the Rosetta Stone myself and got one after around 50 games, so it is coded correctly. The only advice I can give here is using the game's internal speed boost (activated by pressing F1 in 2013 Steam or some button on the controller in Remastered) to make this a little more bearable.

Hi, any tips on getting Odin as soon as possible? I'm in Disc 2, I have Tonberry King, and I just beat the Captain/Commander in Balamb; I think I'm still too underpowered to kill the enemies quickly on the way to Odin with the timer and all that etc.

So like any tricks to get it done quickly? I thought I might wait until getting Eden and Enc-None but that might come real late right and thus missing opportunities for Odin to put in work?

Or what's the recommended time to go for Odin?
During the scripted encounter on the way to Odin, you can use Zombie on the Armadodos and then use X-Potions or Curaga spells to finish them off quickly. If you also cast Berserk on them, they won't be able use their Earthquake attack, which might save some more time. The Chimera on the other hand is vulnerable to Gravity damage and Slow, so if you use Demi and Slow, it should go down relatively fast.

As for getting Odin, there is no real recommended time, as he is just optional and no longer possesses the valuable Triple spell. If you try to beat him right after getting control of the Garden, it will likely be hard. But at that time, your party members can already have around 3500 HP and solid stats with the right levels and/or junctions. The spells you should have for junctions when trying to tackle him right away are as follows: Regen, Bio, Life, Meltdown, Reflect, Death, Haste and Stop. Pain is also useful if you managed to get a full stock during the NORG event, but is not a must. The most important thing is that you have something effective junctioned your Spirit stat and some AoE heal available.

Can anyone tell me where the Iguions are ? I've been searching in the sewers for hours and can't find them at all.
Enter the sewers from Caraway's mansion and head east until you reach the ladder that leads to the boxes near the Presidential Residence. From there, go one screen to the left and wait there for several seconds until the Iguions "appear" (I would love to make them visible at that place, but due to Deling tool limitations, I can't).


Short update on new version: Making the Hit stat matter for Squall and Seifer brought more negative side effects than initially thought and is unfortunately not possible by changing just a few bytes in the game's exectuable. It is brutally hard-coded and a lot of manual rewriting was necessary to make it work. Managed to do so a couple of weeks ago, then needed a break from the game as it was a quite daunting task. Will resume work shortly, add some more content and call it a day for now. Sorry to those who are waiting.

12
Hi, in the 2nd battle vs BGH251F2, suddenly Mighty Guard was applied to my party out of nowhere.
Not complaining if it's helping me, but I'm wondering how did this happen?

Also, is Gilgamesh good in this mod?
BGH251F2 using Mighty Guard and Mega-Potion after a certain time has passed is intended, mainly just to make it more believable that Selphie and the others are still trapped inside. Think of it as Selphie having trouble controlling that thing at first (which is understandable considering its nearly broken state), but after some time, she figures out what buttons to press to actually help the party. Not that it really matters in the end - at the time BGH251F2 starts doing this, it barely does any damage anymore, making it basically impossible to lose the battle.

Gilgamesh is unchanged from the base game (damage increase for Excaliber and Masamune aside). If you don't like his random appearances in battle and already got Odin, make sure to have at least 1 Amethyst in your item inventory before facing Seifer in Lunatic Pandora, to avoid Odin getting replaced with Gilgamesh.

Can i play this mod on the nintendo switch?
No, not yet. At the moment, I don't even know how to port it, but I'll take a look at it after v1.3 for 2013 Steam version is done.

As an aside it took WAY too long to get dragon skins: High-Level andacondas aren't available & I don't want to mod that 1 Carbuncle card so Calisto please increase Blue Dragons way too low encounter rate!!!]
Blue Dragons are actually very common at the non-snowy cliff areas near Trabia Garden. If there is any information in mod documents that point to the encounters at the snowy forests, I apologize - they are indeed quite rare at this location. I didn't know about their common appearance at the cliffs until very recently.

Hi guys, does anyone have the full list of abilities each GF can learn on their own, and when they unlock? I want to plan which gf gets to use these gf learning items for my loadout. Thanks.
There isn't such a list available at this time, but you can check GF skill trees by extracting the kernel.bin file from main.fs archive (found in lang-en folder) and then opening it with the Doomtrain tool.

Is this mod the same between the regular steam release and the Remastered version?
The differences between the two versions are currently very few. A short summary can be found here.

Keep in mind that despite JWP's Vit 0 patch missing in Remastered, some enemies are still immune to Vit 0 in that version. If an enemy is vulnerable, they just don't have any resistance and the status will be inflicted nearly 100% of the time (unless the target's Spirit stat is very high).

13
Yes, it's still possible to get a Rosetta Stone from said card player, with the chance being slightly increased compared to the original game (4/256 instead of 3/256).

Furthermore, the item received after a card game is still determined by randomly generated number between 0 and 255, but the range that nets a Rosetta Stone has been changed in this mod: In the base game you need to roll either 253, 254 or 255 to win one, whereas in this mod, you'd need to roll either 239, 240, 241 or 242 - so I don't think that the known RNG manipulating tricks still work.

Here's an overview of what can be received from both card players:

Code: [Select]
Generated number Item 200 G player Item 500 G player

0-118 Potion+ Potion+
119-182 Eye Drops Eye Drops
183-214 Remedy Remedy
215-230 Wind Flute Gaia Drum
231-238 Mega-Potion X-Potion
239-242 Rosetta Sone Power Wrist
243-255 Hi-Potion+ Mega Phoenix

The chance for the one-time item is calculated independently from this and has been increased from 1/32 to 1/8 in this mod, and the reward itself has been changed as well: A Tri-Point card from the 200 G player and a Mobile Type 8 card from the 500 G player.

14
Version for use with latest Demaster patch is now up and can be found at the top of the opening post.

DL for use with zzzDeArchive remains available as usual. Just scroll down to setup instructions for Remastered to find a link if you prefer this install method.

@kx101: Thanks for reporting back. Glad to hear it worked.

15
A compatibility version for Remastered 1.0.3 is now out.

Installation must be done with zzzDeArchive for now, as Maki's Demaster patch has not been updated yet. If you have used Demaster prior to game version 1.0.3 and want to play this mod now, I'd strongly recommend reinstalling your game from scratch before mod installation to avoid start-up issues (mod setup instructions are included within the DL package). An alternative method will follow as soon as Demaster patch is ready.

@MrMadakey: The ATB system works as usual in this mod. Your impression about something being wrong could stem from the fact that the ATB bar doesn't stop while selecting targets, even if it's set to wait. Also keep in mind that some enemy attacks are counter attacks (such as Biggs' slash attack, or Diablos' Haste, to name a few in the early-game) or abilities that are set to be used consecutively, like the Brothers heal followed by an immediate attack regardless of ATB settings. All in all, I would recommend leaving ATB filling speed to default setting or even lower, to make it easier to keep track of the course of battle.

16
Xatm: I went for the 50ap boss reward because I wanted to challenge myself and he was rough. Huge physical AOE and ray bomb make it almost impossible as a sustain fight.
I did manage to win but was disappointed that there were no additional rewards for such a challenging early battle.
I found salvation in Selphies Slots, landing spells like meteor x3, holy x2, meltdown x2 and Flare x1. Her limit break does and continues to do a ridiculous amount of damage for most of disc 1.
Yes, the battle can be rough depending on the resources available. Probably the safest way to go is having a few Double spells left for Selphie and make her some Thundaras with the two Magic Stones that are dropped by Elvoret. With that, X-ATM092 should go into repair mode quickly enough (after dealing around 2300 HP damage). During that phase, it is best to not damage it any further until it gets up again, as the key to winning is triggering the self-repair sequence 5 times. Instead, the idle time should be used to roll through Selphie's Slots until you get something powerful enough to strike it down again immediately after it gets up to avoid any of its attacks for the time being. Right before X-ATM092 stands up for the last time (when all of its ~11000 HP need to be depleted in one go) you should have Protect and Shell on all party members which is most easily done with Selphie's Fortify spell.

As for the rewards, you should have gotten either a Power Wrist, Orihalcon, Hypno Crown or a Force Armlet, as in the base game.

Selphie's possible spell combination at the beginning of the game is admittedly way to good sometimes. Her Limit Break is intended to be powerful due to its luck-based nature, but 3 times Tornado, Quake, Meteor, Flare or Holy was actually not planned and will be adjusted to 1 time max at lower levels for aforementioned spells, and max 2 times for all -aga spells and Meltdown.
 
Quote
President: This guy was a push over, I think he needs more hp or more threatening damage/ a gimmick like zombie chance on hit.
I think this boss is fine on Standard Mode, but yes, for Lionheart, it can be a little underwhelming. For the next version of the mod, I already set some counters for Cura and Fira, and gave it the Zombie spell, but now that you mentioned it, I think an attack with Zombie on hit might be even better than just the spell. I'll think about it.

Quote
Quistis fits in the support role, Matra magic has been extremely useful on more occasions than I expected.
You mean Micro Missiles, right? If so, then yeah, this one is especially useful against many high HP normal enemies later in the game and benefits a lot from having the damage cap removed. Gravity Bombs work similarly, do a little less damage, but hit all enemies and there's no need to be at low HP to use Limit Breaks, so I'd recommend getting them. They can be bought from Odine Shop in Deling City with Tonberry's Familiar Ability learned.

Quote
Zell feels pretty much useless and Irvine is only a slight upgrade to him(curse ammo is somewhat useful in regular fights), I think at this stage my preference is leaning toward heavy magic use like my first playthrough on standard.
Zell and Irvine's usefulness mostly depend on weapon upgrades and leveling up. After reaching certain Strength values, they should be able to compete with the damage spellcasters do, especially when using the Darkside Ability. I know that the investment to make them worthwhile in current versions is a little high, so I'll try to make them do more acceptable damage from the get-go.

Quote
I am having a hard time against regular foes, so much so that I cant even sit and draw to 100 especially with anyone other than Rinoa (due to high magic stat).
Regularly using life/Phoenix downs in-between and during fights because theres just soo much damage being chugged out all the time.
Not complaining mind you, just didn't expect this much resistance.
Most normal enemies are vulnerable against Slow; Blind should also work somewhat reliably. Just keep in mind that when trying to inflict status effect on an enemy, use your high Magic characters if you want to do it by casting a spell, and your physical attackers if you want to cause it through Status Attack Junction, for maximum success rates.

Quote
Raijin/Fujin - Another wall off a boss and sadly I hadn't trained enough to compete on even footing. Additionally I had saved in zells house so any chance to train was out the window.
There is the possibility to leave Balamb for more training before doing Fujin and Raijin, but it's pretty well hidden. It involves the Big Bad Rascal that lives in Zell's house. Check this link for more information.

Thank you for all the feedback in general, it was a very interesting read :)


Hello Calisto,I find a bug in your mod.
During cd2 in the prison when Irvine apear with master class to shot galbadian soldier (just before rinoa kick her ass lol), during this animation, Irvine haw no head, and just after game crash.
I manage to passed this by uninstal the mod, pass this sequence, and them re instal the mod (no conflict with geforce ability by done this).
I checked this and it seems to be a problem with the Demaster tool. Opening the demaster manager in your game directory, and then unticking "Disable field character resolution limit" fixes this.


Hi guys, i have a question, if i use the ragnarok lionheart mode, i can use magic booster option from ff8 steam? I'm late game and it's boring draw magic to take 100 of all magic. I thinking use the magic booster to stay 100 of all magics i have in game, i can do this or the mod is down if a use the option?
Yes, using the magic booster still works as usual in this mod. No conflicts at all.


have small question, finished installing all the lunatic pandora mods and wanted to know if RR is compatible with it

saw that this mod changes some stuff that also LP changes so wanted to know if anyone tried merging both mods

Ragnarok is compatible with all Luncatic Pandora mods, but I would recommend not using the Lunatic Pandora hard mode as it will add features that will further increase Ragnarok's intended difficulty curve (such as decreased physical damage output by party members and increased damage output for enemies).

17
Sorry, the second offset was slightly off. Try 0x2ECB33 from 0 to 4 instead.

18
@darknesshah66: Cover works as usual for me in Remastered, with or without the alteration. Did you maybe overlook the fact that it triggers only for low health characters that also need to be adjacent to the one that has it equipped?

@miruss89: Yes, I had a look at it. To set the Crisis Level to 4 permanently, change 0x2ECAB7 from 75 to EB and 0x2ECB33 from 0 to 4.

19
@EthanWaber: Thanks. I'm also glad there's still some activity and general interest here, which helps with the motivation to finalize version 1.3.

@levantine: It made sense in the base game to not learn Wishing Star, to get Invincible Moon procs even at Crisis Level 4, but Invincible Moon has been changed to "just" a free Megalixir in this mod, so I would say skipping on Wishing Star is not as tempting as it usually is.

Some players also decide to not learn Angelo Strike to have a higher chance of triggering Angelo Cannon because it hits all enemies for about the same damage as Angelo Strike, but in this mod, Angelo Strike has a much higher damage potential with the 9999 damage limit removed; it also inflicts 100% Confuse on an enemy not immune to it to make up for the attack only being single-target.

In the end, I would say you can't really go wrong with learning them all.

20
Most of the data that's in the exe in 2013 can be found in the EFIGS file in Remastered, but searching using the old strings doesn't help in most cases, as regs are usually different compared to the 2013 version.

To change the Angel Wing multiplier to 3 in Remastered (version 1.0.2), locate offset 0x2E46C4 in EFIGS and change 8D 04 80 to 8D 04 40.

To remove the damage reduction from the Cover Ability, locate offset 0x2E46E3 and change D1 6E 34 to 90 90 90.




21
Updated both versions with the following changes:

Remastered
  • DL now includes a new IPS patch to ensure compatibility with game version 1.0.2 and latest Demaster patch.
  • The Spirit stat of two optional bosses has been corrected for Lionheart mode.
Other than that, some more changes have been ported from the 2013 version:
  • Draw point contents are now identical between the two versions.
  • SeeD Rank payout values have been adjusted.
  • Some Draw points change their contents throughout the course of the game.
  • Several Triple Triad cards have had their elemental attributes changed.
  • The PuPu card has been slightly buffed.
With the SeeD Rank payment values now being the same as in 2013, the following Remastered exclusive changes have been reverted:
  • Increased prices for items at shops
  • The harsh calculation of the initial SeeD Rank after returning from the Dollet mission

2013
  • The new EXP-None Character Ability is now properly integrated.
  • Shiva's Ability list has been slightly changed to prevent conflicts with a certain early-game tutorial (in which Shiva's list is highlighted).
  • The Spirit stat of two optional bosses has been corrected for Lionheart mode.

Version 1.3 is still not quite ready, but I'm working on it whenever I find the time. Currently trying to make Auto-Berserk and Auto-Double a permanent status in battle, which is a lot harder than expected. It is no problem to set the two status effects at the start of a battle through a custom Ability, but making them ignore Dispel, Esuna and KO really is.

Also thanks a lot for impressions and feedback lately, and also for answering user questions. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to comment on everything at the moment, mostly due to caretaking business, but I'm trying my best to be a bit more active again from now on.


what is the patch for the FFVIII_EFIGS.dll file for this mod for?
It's actually very important and should not be ignored during mod installation, as it adds features such Draw cap-removal, 9999 damage limit removal, magic damage increase for party members as well as enemies, adjustments to Darkside, Return Damage, Cover, Kamikaze Abilities, Angel Wing damage multiplier etc - pretty much everything that's inside 2013 exe file.

22
Hello everyone, and sorry for the longer absence. During the last few months, I couldn't focus on mod development too well because of the declining health of a family member. Things have settled down a little lately though, allowing me to work on the mod more often again.

A new version should be ready in about a month with a lot of additions and an increase in hard mode difficulty, but I better say in advance that I probably won't be able to release it for 2013 and Remastered simultaneously, as there are several new changes to the 2013 executable that need to be ported over to the Remastered EFIGS file first, which can take time. So the ETA is currently for the 2013 version only. Sorry for the inconvenience.

If you are curious about the upcoming changes, check the opening post. I've added some kind of progress report there.

Now back to some things left unanswered:

Not sure if this bug is with your mod or not, but after defeating Elvoret at the Dollet tower I paused the game and went to go eat dinner with 29:19 on the timer. When I returned and unpaused the on-screen timer read 0:00, the menu timer reads 99:59, and it stays that way even after re-opening the game.
It's probably no longer relevant, but I figured that this is likely an issue with any kind of timers not freezing when pausing the game in the Steam 2013 version. After having the game paused for more than 30 minutes after defeating Elvoret, the menu timer won't stay at 00:00 after the time is up, and will display the max possible game time instead (using a different color). I guess this is what happened in your case. The issue will resolve itself after returning to Balamb though, so it's nothing too serious and can be possibly even abused if you are after the highest Conduct score in the SeeD exam.

and could you suggest at which level the party is recommended to be at some points in the game, like the way you have intended?
example: level 10 at ifrit, level 15 at gerogero, lv 30 at iguions, etc.?
i really want to play a 'recommended' level playing of this mod without being overpowered / underpowered. (right now i'm fighting NORG with squall lv.44 and my ass is being kicked hard... i'm still trying to find strategies to beat it!
In the current version of the mod, character levels aren't all that important in the early-game, so it's a little difficult to give level recommendations. Stat-Junctions are way more impactful and unlocking the HP-J Ability soon is essential. If you have it on all 3 characters by the time you reach the Tomb of the Unknown King, you shouldn't have too much trouble from there onwards if you keep your junctions up-to-date. So instead of only level recommendations, here's a little advice on what else you should have when facing a certain boss:

Spoiler: show
Ifrit: initial character spells, starting levels
Elvoret: Cure, Fire, Blizzard, Thunder; starting levels
X-ATM092: spells as above; starting levels if you are careful
Granaldo: spells as above; HP-J unlocked for at least one character; starting levels
Diablos: Protect and Shell from the previous boss fight, HP-J unlocked for two characters, level 10-12
Gerogero: All spells mentioned above, HP-J unlocked for two characters, level 12-15
Esthar Cyborgs: Aero, Break, Slow, Blind, Silence, Protect, Shell; HP-J unlocked for at least 2 characters; level 15-20
Sacred/Minotaur: Zombie, Double, Float, Protect; HP-J unlocked for 3 characters; level 20-25
Iguions: Life, Drain, Esuna, Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, Cura; level 26-28
Seifer/Edea: as before + a few Haste spells
Biggs/Wedge: as before
D-District Prison top: Water, Bio, Regen; level 28-32
Missile Base soldiers: as before
BGH251F2 (1): as before
Oilboyles: spells as before, level 33-35
NORG: HP/STR/VIT/MAG/SPR-J for all characters (mostly), level 35-38
BGH251F2 (2): level 35-38
Fujin/Raijin (1): level 38-42
Odin: Meltdown, level 38-42
Tonberry King: Double, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga; level 38-42
Cerberus: Meltdown, Pain, Curaga, Dispel; level 42-48
Seifer (2): as above
Edea (2): as above, SPD-J for 1-2 characters
Abadon: Quake, Tornado; level 49-52
Propagator: as above
Jumbo Cactuar: Holy, Flare, Meteor; level 53-60
Bahamut: as above
Ultima Weapon: level 61-70
Fujin/Raijin (2): level 53-58
Mobile Type 8: Renew spell, level 59-64
Seifer (4): level 59-64
Adel: level 65-70, SPD-J for at least 2 characters
All remaining bosses: Ultima spell, SPD-J for the entire party, level 70+


I've been doing a casual playthrough, without a deep knowledge of FF8, and without either grinding or running away from many fights; a proper normal playthrough. I'm having a great time so far. The mod is amazing. The Brothers fight was perfect.

That said, I might need to restart. I'm at the Edea fight in deling city and it seems like losing this one results in a Game Over now. She opens up with maelstrom which severely weakens and slows the whole party, then I can't heal fast enough to keep up with all her turns and spells, especially since she's silencing people constantly with Astral Punch. This one might be impossible currently.

I haven't been stealing anything or seeking out many side quests or extra stuff up to this point. Diablos hasn't learned Mug yet. Maybe I'm underpowered.
Edea can still prematurely end the battle without a Game Over in this mod, but in order to make her do so, she needs to have lost at least 50% of her max HP (on Standard difficulty) with at least one KO'd party member present. If you remove the Curse status on Squall directly after Edea's Maelstrom opener, you could try rushing her down with his Renzokuken (it's usually the most powerful attack against her) to reach this threshold quickly.

If you want to defeat her the normal way, draw-casting her Shell magic and protection against Ice in Elem-Def is recommended. The Slow status caused by Maelstrom is most easily countered by Haste. Esuna can do the job as well, but slows down recovery in comparison to using Haste. All in all, I feel sorry for you to hit a wall in this fight. I guess Edea needs to be toned-down a little more, at least in Standard Mode.

23
Don't worry, I'm not quite that dumb actually despite my appearances - by saying "I found" I didn't mean to say I had full stacks of them, just that I came across them at some point. So I didn't actually acquire them myself. Meltdown was refinable from that item you mug from abyss worms, and doubles from dragon fins, neither of which are exactly the rarest items around. Turning grendels into cards is quick & easy since they're susceptible to sleep and don't have much HP and they tend to stand out in terms of encounters in that little forest you cross on your way to Galbadia Garden. Leaving Doubles to be refinable is probably what I'm objecting to the most here overall, as it exacerbates magic being overpowered(which it just is), and undoes the marvelous idea of rationing your Doubles and having a set, limited supply of them.
Well, I was just a little surprised at first after you said you found the Pain spell on disc 1, so I assumed you might have discovered an unintended, infinite source for it on disc 1. I'm relieved that isn't the case. As far as disc 1 goes, there should only be one invisible Pain Draw point in Galbadia Garden that does not refill, so it should be completely unproblematic to have it there (Pain is even inferior to Bio damage-wise as a compensation for the various status effect it can cause).

The possibility to farm Meltdown spells in the Dingo Desert is intentional and meant as a way to get ahead of the curve a little, and to reward exploration. Getting full stocks takes long, as the Abyss Worms show up only rarely, so I don't think there is a need to remove this possibility (the Vit 0 status in itself will likely be nerfed in the upcoming version of the mod anway). I agree with your concerns regarding the infinite source for Double via Card-Mod though. The option will be removed to keep the prestige of that spell for longer, and the point in time the Double Draw point in Balamb Garden's library starts to refill will be pushed back to late disc 2.
 
Quote from: Ayoyo
I had Demi junctioned to MAG, and berserk for STR for the Edea fight, which I believe is not ahead of the curve at all. I didn't even have bio even though I think you could've gotten those stacks too reasonably easily from venom fangs. My STR and MAG stats have been really close at all times incidentally, because it seems the spell progression without excessive grinding or card modding is quite intuitive & regulated in that sense. And I tend to wait until I can draw new spell stacks from monsters or bosses, ensuring that I'm at the expected power level.

Well, if even after my diatribe it's still definitely a-okay for simply casting magics that are as common as common can be to be stronger than all this other stuff thereby rendering alternative strategies kind of stupid, stronger than your Renzos or most limit breaks usually(and safer, no need to dance at low HP), stronger than any physical attack-oriented strategy even for supposedly "non-magic" characters, and altogether the easiest, most obvious fail-safe method of beating every boss because there isn't a single boss fight where it hasn't been superbly effective(strongest even for bosses WITHOUT elemental weaknesses, let alone if they do) or where there's a heightened risk to spamming magic, and be consistently & practically the best, most approachable strategy for the player to always default to, then I've failed to make my case. But I certainly know for a fact that doing anything other than double(later triple) spamming magic with all 3 characters is knowingly shooting yourself in the foot and being sub-optimal & taking unnecessary risks, but I'm going to have to do it just for the sake of variety. Also I want to believe that maybe magic gets weaker as the game goes on, relative to other methods. I will now forever shut up about doubles, magic and shit(no I won't :P).
Demi on Magic and Berserk on Strength is indeed quite on curve for the end of disc 1. Still, I don't think that magic is too powerful over everything else if you play the game normally (i.e. leveling up). You are shooting yourself in the foot in regards to inflicting decent physical damage by staying at a very low level. Magic damage doesn't suffer from a rather low Magic stat as much as physical damage does from a rather low Strength stat, which explains your impression of "non-magic" characters being too proficient in using magic. Spells benefit from solid base damage, but scaling with Magic is only linear so they fall a bit behind late in the game when stats are closer to being maxed out. It's exactly the opposite for physical damage - it starts out rather low until reaching a certain Strength threshold, when it starts to rise exponentially to keep up and eventually outperform spell damage. I think this threshold is around 100-130 Strength points, so if you want physical damage to be about on par with spell damage, you need to reach that range as fast as possible, which of course will be much easier if you level up your characters.

Quote from: Ayoyo
Indeed this doesn't really address my issues, and indirectly implicates that GF's are more suited/meant for random encounters, which is just unprecedented in the history of Final Fantasy. No way that's the right mentality, IMO... Unless you meant boss fights? Yes, there are some boss battles with more dudes but I mean... Summoning the elemental god of fire and brimstone shouldn't feel like shit compared to just throwing 2 Firas... See, here I go again. But my initial gripe wasn't with the damage even, it shouldn't be over the top because that would make them TOO attractive an option. The main thing was always about their effects and status inflictions, which is a really nice niche for them to have in the mod! So addressing that in terms of boss battles will fix the entire GF problem and make them more of a mainstay in the player's arsenal.
I meant boss fights as well as random encounters, especially later in the game (2x Iron Giants, 2x Behemoth etc). Even though your gripe wasn't really with the damage, I felt the urge to compare damage numbers against the 2 Oilboyles at MD-Levels, and Ifrit (LV 38, SumMag+10/20/30% learned) outperformed a Fira Double cast from Rinoa (Mag 146, which is around the max she can have at that point) by a slight margin. I admittedly replaced SumMag+30% with the new EXP-None ability for Quezacotl, Shiva and Ifrit, which was probably a mistake. Should go for something else instead, sorry. Anway, the point I want to make is that GF are useful in this mod as long as you invest in their growth a little, also by learning their GFHP/SumMag abilities via items (this is why Silver Mail or Gold Armor appear as steals or sidequest rewards), and I hope the increased status infliction rates will contribute to that.

To illustrate how physical damage starts to keep up with magic at Strength values of 100+, I also compared a Fira Double cast from Rinoa with Renzokuken against an Oilboyle who has both moderate Vit and Spr, and Squall (Str 126) outdamaged Rinoa even on the lowest Crisis Level (4 hits = 4000 HP damage, Double Fira did around 3000). Both characters were leveled almost evenly at level 35-40. Results would be much different in favor of magic damage if both were around level 10 for reasons mentioned above (4 hit Renzokuen = 2000 HP damage, Double Fira = 2500 HP damage).

Quote from: Ayoyo
Oof, so you could've still gotten Shockwave there. Pretty crazy, but I'm just gonna throw it out there once again like I've said before, that keep the "overly regulated and controlled" thing in mind. Part of the excitement and fun of these games is somehow, occasionally, breaking the curve and getting some stuff way earlier than expected. Not just talking about magics that are a bit ahead. I'm not entirely against there being a way of getting Shockwave/similar super exciting stuff super early, but it certainly would preferably be something more cryptic than just mugging trifaces. Maybe like a hard-as-balls sidequest somewhere. Something like a more secretive version of the Irvine duel in FH with the guy to get Pulse ammo, that was AWESOME. Only undercut by being able to make endless pulse ammo from card mod anyways... I'd change that, to make said ammo more prestigious, and making the other kinds of ammo more relevant as a result, at least for earlier parts of the game. You can get Elnoyle cards right from the beginning and X-ATMs come in droves on disc 2 if you like card modding.
I planned to just change the item required to create a Dark Matter via Tool-RF, but tying its availability to a new sidequest sounds intriguing. Elnoyle Card-Mod result will be changed, but unsure about X-ATM092. I mean, 10 X-ATM092 cards for 1 Power Generator are a lot. But we'll see.

Quote from: Ayoyo
Oh I'm definitely going back to this one, then. This is more like it in terms of magic usage too, because you're introducing a tactical element as opposed to just spamming whatever and it'll still be strong. It would be perfect if the "wrong" type of spell would be countered somehow.
You won't get punished if you attack them with the wrong element, but almost everything else besides the right element does next to no damage.

Quote from: Ayoyo
Any ideas for the Selphie thing & low level runs? We've talked about it and I know it's tricky, but if you have any ideas, I'd be interested to hear them. Her uniqueness does suffer a bit in my playthroughs because I see some of her spells so seldomly.
Perhaps, Selphie's weapon could be factored into spell selection instead of Selphie's level, or instead of just a random number [0..4] used in the calculation (see here), but I don't know how difficult that would be. On the other hand, making certain spells like Rapture appear more often would be no problem.

Quote
Also I wanna quote some of the stuff that you didn't mention and would like to hear your thoughts on as potential considerations for future, namely...
- Worldmap encounters: There's unfortunately no easy way to have different random encounters based on game progress, but removing enemies from certain areas is always possible. Now that you mention it, it might be a good idea to remove the Bite Bugs from the snowy areas on the Trabia continent, as they feel somewhat out of place there (they are not just too easy as an enemy, they are also weak to Ice so their apperance in snowy areas is a little questionable). If you have other ideas for monsters that should be replaced, let me know.

- Weapon progress: Making weapons increase other stats than just Strength is likely too difficult to implement, but it would be easy to create a weapon that ignores defense, uses the step count formula, heals the target, or does magic damage instead of physical damage. Making a weapon that turns enemies into Cards would probably work too :P

- Renzokuken finishers: Fated Circle ignores defense and Blasting Zone has a noticably higher base damage, so it depends on the enemy's Vitality which one does more damage. Again, the difference would be more noticable with high Strength stats. I'll either increase Blasting Zone's damage further or make it cause a status. Not sure if it could be reworked to hit all battle participants. I'll give it a try.

24
That sounds very peculiar and is probably a bug with the base game, as there aren't any modifications to the fields inside Communication Tower or the timer. I can try to replicate this bug though. At which screen did it happen exactly, and which version (2013 or Remastered) are you playing?

25
Hey there!

Just a quick question:

- The fight with the robot at the end of the missile base mission.. did you add any rewards to the fight if you beat it at 10 minutes? Or does it not matter? (I can't seem to beat him that quick.. I always get to the part where the soldiers come in and then *game over*)
There is no reward in the form of an item, but there will be a noticable increase in SeeD points if you manage to do it in 10 minutes. Another notable benefit when selecting the lowest time limit is that the emergency exit near the self-destruction device will open up to save some time (in vanilla, it will also open up when choosing the second-lowest time limit if I remember correctly).

Appreciate what you did with the mod. For context, I just started playing FF8 for the first time and, having heard of how easy it is to break, I installed this.

I was just wondering if its normal operation for lvl ~25 characters to be facing a boss 10 levels higher than they are? I noticed this when I was up against the first "boss" in D-District.. (start of Disc 2).. And now I'm (presumably) stuck in that Missile Mission led by Selphie with nowhere to grind...

I was wondering if I missed anything.
Some boss levels being noticably higher than party average level is rather an exception than the rule, and usually limited to bosses that appear as common enemies as well, to beef them up a little for their appearance in boss battles. The Elite Soldier and the two GIM52As at the top of D-District Prison are a prime example for this. It was necessary to set their levels a little higher than usual, as the battle wouldn't feel much different than a random encounter otherwise, especially if the player has collected all the spells that are available in the prison (most notably Regen, Water, and Bio).

Grinding at the Missile Base is possible if you blow up your cover or activate the self-destruction device after the boss battle against the soldiers, then heading all the way back to the Missile Base entrance (not using the emergency exit near the self-destruction device). If the Base Leader and the two Base Soldiers are a problem, try inflicting them with the Slow status, which they can't remove (not even with their Remedies) or re-check your GF distribution. Reflect, which can be drawn from the Base Leader, can also be quite helpful in this battle.


@Ayoyo: I think your impression that double-casting magic is too powerful partially stems from the fact that you got full stocks of Double and Pain on disc 1 already, as they increase the Magic stat by quite a bit. Do you remember where you found those two spells? It was definitely not intended to have an infinite source for them that early in the game (outside of the very slow Grendel card-modding process to get Doubles).

As for GF damage being too low compared to double-casting spells, I think it's ok for GF attacks being slightly inferior, to counteract their benefit of usually hitting all enemies. So I guess I would rather prefer making more battles with 3-4 enemies in it than increasing GF base power, to make using GF more worthwhile.

Many of the other points you made are already on the to-do list for version 1.3, such as:

- increased status infliction rate for GF attacks
- some measures to ease progress in D-District Prison
- removing early access to Quistis' Shockwave Pulsar Limit Break
- some more tweaks to certain bosses in Hard mode
- rebalancing Selphie's Slot Limit Break
- more precise hints in regards to complete some of the new sidequests
- making certain bosses vulnerable to more status effects
- making physically-oriented characters less proficient in magic-usage (by reducing overall junction effects one more time)

Quote from: Ayoyo
The fight itself on the other hand is super cool. They have a lot of different attacks and none of them are to be scoffed at. The scan still says that they have reflect cast on them even though they don't initially have it on, though. Diablos also wrecks this fight completely, 2 shotting the Iguions at around level 50. Felt like cheating. I might go back to the save at some point to experiment more. I actually like the thought that Diablos isn't just a miss on bosses(see my thoughts on the utility of GF's in boss fights), but they do need a resistance to it. Not sure if that's possible though given how the Diablos damage seems to be a special case mechanically.
The intended way to defeat the Iguions in the sewer is actually hitting them with their elemental weakness, which shifts constantly over the course of the battle. Too bad you had Diablos at such a high level already. Otherwise, the fight would have lasted longer. Making enemies resistant, but not immune against Gravity attacks is currently not an option. I could make the Iguions react to Diablos' attack with a heal or something though, so they can't be defeated easily by just relying on Diablos (I wouldn't like them to be immune to Gravity attacks, as they would be immune to them during the first encounter as well).

Scan text can't be changed on a per-battle basis by the way; it is always the same for the same enemy, no matter where they appear. I think in the case of the Iguions it just states "Someone has given it the Reflect power", which still somewhat fits their behavior in the rematch, as they sometimes cast a multi-target version of Reflect on themselves.

Quote from: Ayoyo
Anyways, I was surprised to not see a new save point before the Fujin & Raijin boss fight. It's a pretty long stretch to go through the whole balamb scenario & Raijin fight again just because you didn't remember to junction aero & float to elem-def.
There is a save point in Zell's room that can be accessed anytime after talking to the Galbadian Soldiers guarding Balamb Hotel. I'm honestly surprised to learn that the battle against Fujin and Raijin can be triggered without entering Zell's room. Always thought it was mandatory to complete this scenario. Anyway, adding another save opportunity right before the battle should be no problem. I'll also look into the Selphie being absent thing you mentioned.

Quote from: Ayoyo
I think if Odin snuck in some physical attacks every once in a while in addition to the thunder slam (not in stead of it, but a surprise physical all of a sudden in between major attacks) would complete this fight as a satisfying challenge.
Odin unfortunately doesn't have any animation that could be used for a physical attack such as a sword strike. He basically only has his Zantetsuken animation, and even this one doesn't work well with most enemy attacks or spells (Heaven's Wrath being one of the very few exceptions). It's possible to have him use attacks without him moving at all, but it would look a little weird if damage numbers pop out of nowhere, so I'm hesitant to give Odin any other attacks beside Heaven's Wrath. I'll think about it again though.

It is actually no big thing to create additional save opportunities by the way, but thanks for the praise nevertheless :P

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