[FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v2.0.99994)

[Sega Chief]

[New Threat Mod v2.0.99994]
A gameplay overhaul mod for Final Fantasy VII:
*) Enemy & Player-Character Rebalance (Intended difficulty: Midcore)
*) Dialogue Revamp (maintains original game's style)
*) Additional Sidequests & QoL Scripts (e.g. Flashback skips)
A fuller list of the mod's features can be found in the Documentation download, or under the Features List tab.

Stand-alone Installer
Download
*This is for use with the base game if no other modding frameworks are installed or being used. It's a hard-patch of the game's files, so remember to make a back-up of the Final Fantasy VII/Data folder before installing. To uninstall, the backup data folder can be reinstated or, if on Steam, a file validation can be performed to restore the altered files. Avoid using this with 7th Heaven or Reunion.

7th Heaven Mod Loader: Sega's IRO Catalog
iros://Url/http$pastebin.com/raw.php?i=vXc4PpBS
*This is a Catalog Link to be used with the 7h Mod Loader. Copy-paste the above link into 7th Heaven's Settings > General Settings > Catalog Subscriptions and click Save. Refresh your Browse Mods list and/or restart 7h to see the new IROs. For more information about the 7th Heaven Modding Framework, check here: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15520.0

Catalog IRO List:
*) New Threat Mod 2.0
*) New Threat Mod 2.0 Combat Only
*) New Threat Mod 2.0 Vanilla Combat
*) New Threat Mod 1.5
*) New Threat Mod 1.5 Vanilla Combat
*) True Necrosis
*) Lv1 Challenge
*) NPC Mouth Replacer/Remover
*) Battle Model/Costume Swaps (OG Style)

If the Catalog Subscription link doesn't work, then the New Threat 2.0 IRO can be downloaded and imported manually here

Reunion Version
Download
*Specifically for use with the Reunion (R06) Framework. Place the unzipped folder into: FINAL FANTASY VII\The_Reunion\CUSTOM. In the Options.cfg file of The_Reunion folder, set the New_Translation option to 'n' and under [CUSTOM] set this line: Mod_ID = New_Threat_Reunion_209997

New Threat 2.0 Documentation
Download
Contains the following in Notepad format:
*) FF7 NT 2.0 Balancing
*) FF7 NT 2.0 Features Overview
*) FF7 NT 2.0 Item & Materia Placements
*) FF7 NT 2.0 Models List (modder's resource)
*) FF7 NT 2.0 Patch Notes
*) FF7 NT SP Upgrades

Credit and big thanks to Lumii for making these spreadsheets for 2.0
*) FF7 NT 2.0 Equipment Spreadsheet
*) FF7 NT 2.0 Materia Spreadsheet
*) FF7 NT Secrets Spreadsheet


New Threat 2.0 Enemy Drop/Steal/Morph Google Spreadsheet
Credit: Berub
Link

New Threat 2.0 Save Files
Link
*Originally created during development of the 2.0 build, contains save files from various points of the game; included for people wanting to revisit certain sections, testing, etc.



[Prototypes & Variants]

New Threat v2.0 - Combat Only
7th Heaven IRO
Reunion R06
*This is a build of NT 2.0 that only has the alterations made to combat, with no field scripting.

New Threat v2.0 - Vanilla Combat
7th Heaven IRO
*This is a build of NT 2.0 that only has the field scripting changes, with no changes to combat.

New Threat v1.5
Stand-alone Installer
7th Heaven IRO
*This is the previous build of the mod; it contains content that was cut from 2.0 and a different approach to balancing. It's still being maintained alongside the latest build.

New Threat 1.5 - Vanilla Combat
Stand-alone Installer
7th Heaven IRO
*Version of NT using vanilla enemies + characters but using NT's field-event scripts such as flashback skips, dialogue alterations, etc. Most new encounters were also disabled and unique items held by these encounters were returned to their original locations.

New Threat 1.5 Spanish Version
Credit: Markul
Thread Link
*The Spanish version of NT was put together and translated by Markul; be sure to give him props.

New Threat 1.5 French Version
Credit: Satsuki
Thread Link
*This is a mod pack that the ff7.fr community put together for their translation project, Neo-Midgar, that has NT as one of the options. Satsuki_Yatoshi appears to have put the pack together.


[Feature List]

Spoiler: show

~~Features Overview~~
Below is an overview of each feature offered by the mod, broken down into section.
More detail of the changes can be found on the respective feature's page.

Event Scripting & Dialogue
-) Text:
   + Dialogue in the game, and all other text, revised.
   + Plot points made clearer & general grammar improved.
   + Original style and quirks maintained.

   The goal of this change was to provide a better script while also retaining
   what makes the game's dialogue unique. Characters generally speak in the same
   way that they originally did, and new scenes were written carefully to make
   them fit with the rest of the game.

   These changes should not be viewed as a retranslation of the original script
   in the Japanese version, though it was referred to at times for some of the
   more obfuscated scenes.

   
-) Events:
   + Deactivated/bugged scenes restored to working order.
   + Party members can be found and interacted with in towns/cities.
   + Additional sidequests added.

   A number of scenes exist in the game files that were either stripped out or
   left unactivated due to oversights. The majority of these have been restored
   and in some cases adapted into a more complete scene.

   While visiting towns, the player can find various party members around the
   area with their own dialogue (which may change depending on the player's
   progress through the story).

   New content was added that provides optional encounters or gates off certain
   items/abilities. Character may have to deal with a special encounter or event
   to obtain their final Limit Break, for instance.


Battle Balancing
-) Curve of Progression:
   + Intended to be moderate with a stable curve to the end.
   + Grinding not intended to be required but EXP is freely available if needed.
   + Not intended as a Hard-Type mod, though some difficult optional encounters exist.

   FF7 NT's aim is to avoid the label of being a 'hard-type' hack, the name of which
   carries a stigma of punishing fights, HP bloated enemies, and unfair mechanics.
   The goal with this mod is to strike a balance between being accessible while also
   having enough weight in its combat to make it satisfying to play.
   
   That's not to say there aren't some excellent hard-type mods out there; Gjoerulv's
   Hardcore mod is the best you'll find for testing your knowledge of FF7 mechanics to
   its limits. But NT is trying to occupy a spot that's around the midcore area;
   something that can be played casually while enjoying the enhanced features present.
   
   Players will be looking for, and expecting, different things from their FF7 playthrough and
   it's impossible to cater for both extremes. Instead, NT looks to cover as wide an area as
   possible in the middle. For players wanting a more serious challenge, a toggle for Hard Mode
   was added and some additional difficulty may be found with optional encounters.

   
-) Characters:
   + Each party member has more defined base stats.
   + Unique innate ability for each character to use in battle.
   + Player chooses which stats to raise to help make character builds.
   
   A criticism made of FF7 characters is that, in-battle, they can feel interchangeable
   due to the lack of a character-specific skillset (Limits not withstanding).
   NT first tackles this by altering the base stats of each character to make their role
   in battle feel more defined.
   
   Going further, an innate ability was added to each character that either works passively or
   is activated by the player. These abilities cover effects such as surviving a KO once per battle
   while retaining all buffs/any queued actions, raising stats over time or in response to certain
   actions, refreshing MP, and others.
   
   In addition to gaining stats per level, players also upgrade character stats using a new system.
   After unlocking the Source Point upgrade system the player chooses upgrades for the character
        to develop their stats. Players may want to build on the established strengths of a character,
        address some weaknesses they have. Characters have equipment and a mix of physical/magic
        Limit Breaks that can fit with specific builds the player comes up with, such as developing Aeris'
        strength to raise the effectiveness of her Healing staves or building Barret into a spellcaster to
        maximise his Mindblow (deals damage in NT), Satellite Beam, and Catastrophe Limit Breaks.

   

-) Equipment:
   + Full revamp of every weapon, armour, accessory, and item.
   + New effects and stat gains on equipment.
   + New items added.
   
   Equipment serves as the other half of preparing a player party, with most pieces
   having either a stat bonus or other effect like elemental/status resistance to consider.
   These can be used to either bolster a character's stronger stats, round out weaknesses,
   or exploit a weakness in local random enemies or a specific boss.
   
   Items also have more consistent effects and provide more utility. Potions raise HP by 300
   making them more relevant through early areas of the game and attack-items are more rounded out.
   Some new items have also been added with their own effects to discover.
   
   
-) Materia & Spells:
   + All spells revamped.
   + Materia AP, Spell-Lists, and Bonus/Penalties revised.
   + New Materia and Spells added.
   
   Every spell was tweaked and some effects modified to bridge some gaps and create more balance
   and variety in the player's magical arsenal. Enemy Skills were mostly revamped to remove redundancies
        and make some more interesting effects available that would be out of place in the conventional spell-set.
        Summons ignore magic-defence, making them useful as a panic button or for busting highly defensive enemies
        and some additional spells were added like Osmose and water/holy element equivalents to the Contain spells for late-game.
   
   Materia has some alterations to AP levels and some new ones were produced to handle new spells like
   the Osmose Materia. Some Materia like Summons have been locked to 1-star and cannot be divided; to
   account for this, the way in which Master Magic, Command, and Summon are obtained has been changed;
   they will no longer consume all the requisite Materia when being made, but can also only be obtained
   once.

        Some new Materia was added to allow for spells ordinarily sandwiched on Materia to be used easier
        with Support Materia like Magic Counter; spells like MBarrier, Regen, Dispel, Slow, and others were
        given their own separate Materia that the player can find out in the world. Some new Materia was
        added to separate out commands like Slash-All and Flash, while some combine spells from different
        Materia such as the Core Materia which is a mix of elemental and healing spells.
   
   Finally, Materia has had the stat bonuses and penalties they give altered. HP penalties are less
   prevalent with basic Magic materia and more situational Materia like status magic now carries some
   better benefits to make them less of a dead weight when their spell isn't required. Summon Materia
        carries very diverse stat bonuses/penalties to help with creating builds or addressing weaknesses
        on the fly.
   

-) Enemies:
   + Comprehensive overhaul of enemy stats, attacks, formations, and AI.
   + Remixed version of every boss.
   + Brand new enemy/boss encounters.
   
   Every enemy in the game has been updated with stats that better fit the intended curve of progression,
   adjusted attacks (and some new ones), some alterations to the formations they appear in, and more
   importantly a full re-write of the majority of their AI. Unique behaviour has been maintained and
   rewrites were made to fix bugs or to make the mechanic(s) more prominent.
   
   A retry option was also added to a number of boss encounters that occur during lengthier story
   segments (which comes with an opportunity to adjust party set-up).
   
   In addition to the pre-existing monster roster, brand new enemies were also added with their own
   unique models. These new enemy models were made using pre-existing game assets for visual consistency
   with the other enemies found in the game.
   

[Installation]

Spoiler: show

~~Installation Guide~~
There are two core versions of FF7 PC; the 1998 version, and the 2012/Steam version.
While both have a similar folder architecture there are some key differences that need
to be kept in mind before patching your game:

1) Do not use a cracked copy of the game
   Games with patches to beat copy protection tend to have alterations made to the
   executable that are lost when a mod is applied that makes its own changes to that
   .exe file. This will then cause the game to no longer boot as the cracks needed
   to make the game run will be lost.
   
2) 1998 version compatibility
   Getting the original version of the game to run on a modern PC has some steps involved
   as it was originally designed for the Windows 1998 OS and has pretty severe compatibility
   problems when running on newer operating systems. You will need a copy of Aali's Graphics
   Driver to get the game running in a state similar to the Steam version. Bear this in mind
   if planning to acquire the 1998 PC version.
   
3) Patching to Spanish/German/French
   The folder architecture and some file names are different in the spanish/french/german
   versions of the game. Compatibility options have been added to the installer but the
   files will mostly be converted into English. However, the mod has been translated to
   French and Spanish and is maintained by Mexico (French version) on ff7.fr and Markul
   (Spanish version).
   

Next to consider are the modding platforms available for FF7.

1) Stand-alone Installer
   For users wanting to play the NT mod on its own with no other modifications this is the
   fastest and most stable option. The installer will patch the game files and you'll be
   ready to play within a few minutes.
   
   Download the Stand-alone installer, right-click it to bring up Properties, and ensure that
   the installer has admin permissions + is unblocked (if this option appears).
   
   Next, make a backup copy of your game's Final Fantasy VII folder; this is to quickly revert to the
   default game files without having to perform a reinstall/file verification to reacquire
   the base files.
   
   Run the installer as Admin, and progress through until asked for the directory in which
   FF7 is installed. The target address is the folder called Final Fantasy VII (or FF7).
   Confirm and check the installer report; if it was successful, then you're ready to go.
   
   Also note that the installer is fairly robust; it will overwrite any version of FF7
   so if it has been modded already these changes will likely be lost; on the plus side,
   this also means you don't have to have a 100% clean default copy prior to installation
   and avoids issues with 'unknown version' problems.
   
2) 7th Heaven Mod Loader
   Often abbreviated to '7H', this is a mod loader that reduces mods down to their constituent
   files in order to combine mods and produce compatibility via a launcher without having
   to manually combine mods together. It has its limitations, some mod types can't be
   combined through this process, and both the program itself and its installation process
   are prone to error.
   
   A full set of instructions for preparing 7H can be found here: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15520.0
   Once you have installed 7H and have tested that it is working as intended, you are ready
   for the next step.
   
   7H uses 'IROs' which are basically mods packaged up for use with 7th Heaven, and are named
   after the original author of the tool. With 7H running, you can either import FF7 NT's IRO
   and activate it that way, or you can activate it through the catalogs available through 7H.
   They are the same file, just acquired in different ways.
   
   When activating NT's IRO, make sure to have an appropriate mod load order (a
        recommended list can be viewed on the 7H Tutorial).

3) Reunion (R06)
   An alternate modding platform that boasts enhanced visuals, audio, and other benefits though
        lacks some 7h features such as on-the-fly file hotswapping. This is currently my preferred way
        of playing the game. Unzip the downloaded folder, place in the Custom folder of the R06 install
        and then update the options.cfg with the added folder. Remember to disable the new_translation
        option however as it is incompatible with NT.
   
4) Sister-Ray Modding Framework (IN DEVELOPMENT)
   This is still in development and a section will be added when it officially releases.


Cross-Platform Modding
Thanks to the efforts of certain individuals, the NT mod has been successfully installed to several
platforms including Android and the Nintendo Switch. No known port has been made to the PS4 version
but as the file architecture is identical to the PC version it may well be possible. I will try and provide support
for cross-platform, but it will be limited as I'm unfamiliar with the process and do not own a Switch to test.

Android: (Unsure where to find out more, a user reported getting this to work)

Switch: https://gbatemp.net/threads/final-fantasy-vii-a-new-threat-switch-version.534578/

PS4: Not yet confirmed
   
Testing the Installation
The final step is testing that the mod has installed correctly across every file; the core files
for NT are:
*) scene.bin
*) kernel.bin
*) flevel.lgp
*) battle.lgp
*) char.lgp
*) ff7.exe or ff7_en.exe (if using the installer, otherwise these changes are applied via hext)

Scene.bin: This file is where the enemy data is kept.
         
Kernel.bin: This file is where the equipment, spells, and character stats are stored.
It is also responsible for setting the game's initial state and acts as a look-up table for the scene.bin.
If the kernel is not patched when starting a New Game, an error message will be shown.
If a non-NT save game (or one where the kernel was not patched when it was started) is loaded into
Reactor 1 then an error message will show.

Flevel.lgp: This file archive handles the game's dialogue and events.
When starting a new game, a new set if dialog boxes and options should appear
for selecting Game Type instead of jumping straight into the opening FMV.
         
.EXE: This file is what makes the game run and contains various pieces of information such as Limit Break data.
To test this has been patched, try using a Potion in the field menu; if it restores 300HP here then the .EXE is patched
(note, this test is to be performed outside of battle; the behaviour of Potions in-battle is handled by the kernel.bin).

         
Troubleshooting
1) I've installed the mod and now my game won't run at all
   A) This can be due to either patching a non-English version of the game, patching a pirated
   copy that relies on .EXE hacks to beat the copy protection, or a bad install of the game that
   has been broken by a Windows update (common issue, particularly with the 7H Modified version).
   
2) I installed the mod but failed one of the installation tests
   A) This issue typically occurs with the 7H version and with the kernel.bin file specifically
   or the .EXE file will fail to patch due to security protection in the Installer version.
        For best results, it's more reliable to have FF7 installed outside of protected systems folders
        (for instance, outside of Program Folders) and to ensure that any installers used are being run
        as admin & are unblocked via properties on your PC.
   
   If the issue occurs on 7H, then you may need to repeat the installation process for 7H again.
   
   In severe cases, a manual patch is available which is placing the mod's files directly into
   the FF7 folder. This is available on request if troubleshooting fails.
   
3) The Installer (stand-alone) says it can't find files to patch/they are already patched
   A) The target directory for the installer changed for the 1.5 and 1.5+ versions of the mod
   from the FF7/Data folder to just the FF7 folder itself in order to apply changes to the
   game's executable file. Older videos and materials of installation will report the target
   directory as FF7/Data so watch out for that.

   Another possibility is permission issues. The Installer should be set to run as admin and
   be unblocked via its Properties. For better results, having FF7 installed in a non-systems
   folder can also help (typically it installs to Program Folders by default which can make
   it more difficult to alter by third party programs).

[Changelog]

Spoiler: show

A full list of previous patch changes can be found with the Documentation

2.09999
*) Revisions made to how Bizarro battle prep and conditions are handled
   1) Saving is now done after preparing your party/parties
   2) Type A has a 1-Party battle on Normal, and a 2-Party battle on Hard
   3) Type B has a 2-Party battle on Normal, and a 3-Party battle on Hard
   4) The player can opt to change Bizarro to a 1, 2, or 3 Party battle during the prep stage
   5) The 2nd and 3rd party no longer have to destroy secondary targets to expose their side of the Core to damage

*) Fixed a menu bug at New Game where selecting 'Return' would instead advance to the next step of the mode-selection process
*) Added Cait #2 to Gongaga scene (after Temple of the Ancients)
*) Added a handler to prevent a Chocobo (and potentially Highwind) from becoming unrecoverable when leaving the Great Glacier with a party leader other than Cloud
*) Updated Chokhmabo's AI text to refer to its name correctly
*) Tweaked an attack for Ghirofelgo and Gigas to deal 15/32 of MaxHP as damage instead of 16/32
*) Aeris no longer chilling in costa del sol after Temple of the Ancients

[Sega Chief]

Hi folks, I tried to release a gameplay mod on the releases thread a few days ago but it's been locked to wait for moderator approval (damn you, due process). So figured I'd try and drum up some early interest in the meantime. Got a full(ish) list of what the mod does and it's features in this manual here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/dzbq6cqq2c27ard/FF7+NT+Manual.doc

Features that might be of interest are;
-) 100+ new bosses and enemies, with every story boss given a new set of moves and AI
-) About 40 or so 'unique' models made for enemies using in-game monster parts; we got a robot dragon in there somewhere
-) Quick but rewarding random encounters coupled with longer tougher boss fights
-) An Extra Battle added to the Battle Square that's a bit like the Monster Arena in FFX
-) Some new thingies like extra save points, merchants, and the option to skip the lengthier cutscenes and flashback sequences to make the game go by a bit smoother
-) Extra end-game boss fights to unlock Lv4 Limits and Ultimate Weapons as well as the option to change party leaders from the Operations Room once the party has reached the bottom of North Cave (or North Cavity as the cool kids are saying nowadays)
-) Fixed the age-old 'perfect game' dilemma of whether to use the third battery or not

It's been played by a couple of people who said they were enjoying it. So that's something. If anyone's interested in giving this mod a go then the download links for it are in the video description for this tutorial on the mod's installation: http://youtu.be/VsJnt1eRw7g

Any feedback on how to improve balance or bug reports for technical issues is always welcome.

[Covarr]

We don't have a formal mod approval process. However, our forum software requires threads with more than a certain number of links in the OP to be approved. Unfortunately, these threads don't show up if you click "Show unread posts since last visit" like I usually do, so I don't always notice 'em.

If a mod release thread (or anything else that isn't spam) ever ends up in approval limbo, feel free to send me a PM and I'll take care of it. This goes for everyone.

[Zara8]

Hey

will this mod make ff7 10 times more harder now to beat

[Sega Chief]

We don't have a formal mod approval process. However, our forum software requires threads with more than a certain number of links in the OP to be approved. Unfortunately, these threads don't show up if you click "Show unread posts since last visit" like I usually do, so I don't always notice 'em.

If a mod release thread (or anything else that isn't spam) ever ends up in approval limbo, feel free to send me a PM and I'll take care of it. This goes for everyone.

So that's what happened to it; cheers for the info, Covarr!

Hey

will this mod make ff7 10 times more harder now to beat

Sadly, it'll only make the game nine times harder to beat. But for next release, we're hoping to push that up to 9.2x. The idea wasn't to make a Hardcore-difficulty mod though, I was aiming for a more reasonable level of difficulty (but that mod name was taken; all the good descriptive names have been taken).

I've noticed you've had difficulty installing other mods on here, though. I recommend making a fresh installation of the game, and then to watch and follow the video tutorial I made (put the video on 1080HD and watch in full screen to make the text sharp enough to read). Remember that in the video the 1998 version is patched first. I patch the Steam version right after that so if you own the Steam version follow that part of the tutorial only. And make sure to download the correct patch; there's one for the original 1998 FF7 release and one for the FF7 Steam release.

[Kaldarasha]

Alright I have made a test play (not very far but enough for an overview).
First thing, please find another way to patch the flevel.lgp. I fear that many people like to use the Reunion mod and your overhaul will overwrite it (however using the Reunion after it should work with a few errors I guess). Luksy has written a tool for flevel patching, but I don't know how it works.
The next thing is the difficult, using status effects at the very beginning without a way to avoid these is unrewarding. The eyedrops are useless, because in the next turn of the enemy's, they will make one of the character blind again. A ten percent hit chance or a lesser use of them would be a bit fairer. But I wouldn't use those things until I give the player a way to avoid those, anyway. A success because of good planning feels better rather then trying to survive a situation.
I also don't understand why a simple MP can deal more damage as a 1. Class Soldier (or a successful Sephiroth copy). It is elemental for the story to show Cloud super strong. Over all I wouldn't start this game this hard, the new AI is great, but 2x tougher as the original should be enough for the start. You can rise the difficult up after the player get access to the first shop. Speaking of the start, skipping the intro movie prevents the music to play at the beginning, it will play after the first battle, but it's odd to have no music for the intro scene.

At bottom line: it is a great hardcore mod, if it would be reasonable then Cloud wouldn't stand in the back row by default. 

[Sega Chief]

Cheers for the feedback, Kaldarasha. I'll add it to my notes but as far as flevel patching goes there's a lot of new code in certain fields to handle new fight triggers, item placements, some NPC replacements (Young Cid was replaced with a new field model so I've used 'old' Cid in the scenes where young Cid appears) and the party leader swap thing I added in which needed a mountain of code in the end. It will work with the reunion mod applied on top of it, but a good chunk of the mod will be 'missing' and certain items like Cosmo Memory might not be possible to obtain; there's also the danger of running into back-attacks and pincer attacks which were mostly removed from this mod, as well as certain formations being used for bosses later on. If you're playing with the Reunion patch on top, then I can't guarantee that the NT mod won't do something ridiculous. I'll look into Luksy's flevel patcher though and see what can be done.

I think I put eye-drops and antidotes in as drops more for use against the Scorpion boss who uses darkness and poison in his attacks, which I felt were slow enough in-between Scopes to get some use out of them. A reduced percentage for these statuses to be inflicted would probably make these items much more useful in regular fights though so I'll probably implement that across the entire mod for the next version of it; I'm reviewing all the status-inflicting attacks soon to get rid of the bad combos like Slow + Paralysis and move those to much later in the game or remove them entirely.

About the MPs vs. Sephiroth copy, that's a story-side thing and I was focusing more on the gameplay side of things. The idea of the first fight was to make a scenario where the player would have to use a potion/use magic or at the very least not be able to just breeze through the fight. That way, I can quickly get the message across to the player that they might need to make use of things that ordinarily they wouldn't have needed to use to make it through each area. I've found that it's easy to fall into old habits with this game, and with a difficulty mod you need to try and instill versatility into the player's approach as quickly as possible. I was watching a stream where someone was playing the mod and what I saw was that they were just using the attack command; they weren't healing with items or using spells, and they wouldn't run from a fight if it was going badly. That's why the the first fight is the way it is. Doesn't make sense from a story perspective maybe, but most RPGs cause that kind of issue with their leveling system; if that rabbit with a carrot-sword in the Icicle Area happened to wander into Midgar it'd probably bring down Shinra overnight.

The opening movie skip is a bit buggy. I had to remove it from the Steam version because it caused an unknown crash when the first fight started up and for the 1998 I've been trying to figure out how to get around the no music problem. I even had to remove the two potions from the guards because that caused a soft-lock when the skip was wrote in. It's likely I'll remove that particular skip altogether unless I can make it a little more stable because I imagine a lot of players would use it and it's not a great first impression to start the game in complete silence.

At bottom line: it is a great hardcore mod, if it would be reasonable then Cloud wouldn't stand in the back row by default. 

That is a good point. I'm trying to avoid calling it a Hardcore mod though because there's already one of those (the reason I made this mod was because I enjoyed the Hardcore mod so much). Because back row and front row is probably one of the more broken aspects of the game (an essentially free 50% reduction in physical attacks is crazy) I specced all enemy physical attacks with a back row party in mind and then gave the player early access to a Long-Range Materia to encourage the player to stay in the back-row. I'll maybe rewrite the bit I said this was a reasonable difficulty mod; don't know what I was thinking.

[Kaldarasha]

One last thing I forgot, rise up the amount of use of limit attacks to get the next limit. I'm not sure, but 5x more uses and kills should be fine. I would also modify the HP which a Potion restores, 100 is to less 200 or 300 would be good. In return you could should reduce the droprate for them and give later access Hi-Potions (which should restore 1000HP).

The Reunion will work. Toughscript will only skip fields, which have more/lesser windows as the original game has. But I haven't test it right now, I'm currently busy to look through your Kernel.   

[Sega Chief]

Ah, I see. Giving it a thorough look, eh? If you find 'the secret', make sure to keep it under wraps, eh? It can't stay a secret forever but it'd be a nice surprise for folk to find (and I'm gonna say now that it was coded from scratch, I wanted it to be unique so I didn't use any other mod's flevel as a point of reference).

For limit breaks [could've sworn you mentioned making it take longer to learn limit breaks, did you edit your post?], I boosted the amount of damage a character needs to take in order the fill the limit bar for each limit (with the exception of Vincent, who has all three transformations on the first three limit levels; the difference between them is how quickly they fill. The first limit level fills quickly while the third takes an age to fill; it's so players can free up Vincent's attack commands if they don't want to use his limit breaks for a particular fight).

But I'm hesitant to boost the number of kills needed to get to the next limit level for each character because limit-grinding is quite common from what I've seen and I can see people actually just grinding for longer to learn them which would leave them overlevelled. I had a draft .exe where the limit breaks had been directly changed but I left it out in the end; I figured it'd be too incompatible. Is it a good idea to bring an .exe side to the mod or would that cause too many problems with other mods?

The drop-rate for potions is very high in the first two reactors because it's possible to become stuck if the player runs out of healing items/MP. I think out of Midgar the item drops become a bit rarer; I was having issues with glitched items on certain enemies as well so in some cases the item drop list was filled up using ProudClodFinal to avoid the problem. I'll consider fixing up the amount of HP they recover, and I was meaning to add a cure for Dual-Drain to Antidote's effect (Poisona already has this) to make them more useful. Maiden's Kiss was also changed to recover Berserk and Confuse while Cornucopia now recovers both Mini and Frog.

That sounds good about it being compatible with Reunion; I'll have another look at Touphscript. Thanks for all this feedback, Kalderasha!

[Kaldarasha]

I have tested the idea with the potion set to 300 and it works pretty well, now I have more time to start some attacks, but I still need much potions.
The new scorpion is awesome ... was really a surprise.
Btw. are you patching the char.lgp? This might be a problem with the Reunion, but I guess I will update my mod with the model selection of the Reunion to make it compatible.
I really looking forward to this mod. 

[luksy]

Just a FYI the patcher doesn't do anything yet, but it should be ready soon enough and I'll make sure to make it easier to understand.

[Sega Chief]

Btw. are you patching the char.lgp? This might be a problem with the Reunion, but I guess I will update my mod with the model selection of the Reunion to make it compatible.

There's only two new field models to account for in the char.lgp and they appear for an optional encounter in Nibelheim, in the Whirlwind Maze, and on the Highwind's chocobo bay (replacing the Wutai Corneo Ninja and Young Cid); I could just remove them and use something else for the next version instead if that's easier. The rest of the changes are just to synch certain field models up with their new battle colours and aren't that important.

If you've tested the potions and found them to offer more utility at 300HP then I'll implement that for the updated version with all the other fixes/balances which I'll cobble together in a week or so once the early players have advanced a little bit further and delivered more error reports and feedback (one's just cleared Corel Prison). I was thinking of making the Materia function available earlier, or giving Cloud a Cure Materia on top of Fire, Ice, and Bolt; that'd solve a potion crisis and the player would have two Cure Materia for the game (which is very useful to have).

Glad you liked the scorpion by the way, there's a fair few more surprises like that in the mod. 

Just a FYI the patcher doesn't do anything yet, but it should be ready soon enough and I'll make sure to make it easier to understand.

Sounds good, looking forward to seeing it. I've been wanting to give that Reunion mod a proper go but I'm waiting on the Weapon side of things to be finished, and maybe the Iscar too. Should be interesting to see how certain story scenes pan out with a human character.

[Zara8]

Hey sega chief

I have a neat request to add please

my request is if you could in a option that allows to choose sephiroth or cloud for 2 different story plots

thanks

[Covarr]

I take it nobody noticed that I approved Sega Chief's mod thread? Anyway, I did a few days ago. And I merged the two threads just now, so if this seems a mess, that's why. ~Covarr

[cmh175]

Hey sega chief

I have a neat request to add please

my request is if you could in a option that allows to choose sephiroth or cloud for 2 different story plots

thanks

Full side quests are possible to do but require a lot of work since they're mainly made from scratch and still have to fit into the game without disrupting the normal games event triggers. Something like that probably wouldn't be compatible with the Reunion either.

[Sega Chief]

Hey sega chief

I have a neat request to add please

my request is if you could in a option that allows to choose sephiroth or cloud for 2 different story plots

thanks

That'd take an age to make I'm afraid, buddy. The mod isn't complete just now and there's some stability issues popping up that need to be fixed first (someone tonight found that the piano is unplayable when Cloud reaches Nibelheim and that there's a crash on Lost Number's physical form so those'll be fixed tonight and a new patch is going up). I'm fairly sure I saw other mods that put Sephiroth in the leading role, though. Maybe they'd be what you're looking for?

I take it nobody noticed that I approved Sega Chief's mod thread? Anyway, I did a few days ago. And I merged the two threads just now, so if this seems a mess, that's why. ~Covarr

Yeah, cheers Covarr; this poor release thread was getting all lonely and neglected.

[Zara8]

Hey

is the 1998 version of ff7, the steam version

or is that a different version all together

and is the 1998 version of ff7 on this threat mod, fully playable

thanks


is this mod 100% fully playable now


I am very scared of this mod

incase it gives me huge grapic glitches on it

I went ahead and merged your posts for you. In the future, please don't triple post, especially in the same day. If you have something to add, use the edit button. ~Covarr

[Sega Chief]

is the 1998 version of ff7, the steam version
or is that a different version all together
and is the 1998 version of ff7 on this threat mod, fully playable

This mod works with both versions of FF7. The 1998 version is the old release that uses discs and has a lot of fundamental issues so it needs things like official patches, Aali's graphic's driver etc. The Steam version is much more functional, and doesn't require any special work to be done to it. If you own the Steam version of FF7, then download and use the Steam Patch. If you own an older copy of FF7, then use the 1998 patch instead. I recommend uninstalling and then re-installing the game first. There's a video tutorial you can follow on how to apply these patches here: http://youtu.be/VsJnt1eRw7g  Note that in this video I show how to apply the 1998 patch first, and then I show how to apply the Steam patch.

is this mod 100% fully playable now

I am very scared of this mod
incase it gives me huge grapic glitches on it

The mod is playable; I completed a playthrough of it but there will be glitches and bugs I didn't find during this playthrough. There shouldn't be any graphical glitches though. If you experience severe graphical glitches then it might be something to do with either your PC or the way the game has been installed. I recommend uninstalling FF7 and then re-installing it just to make sure that it's a clean install.

[Zara8]

Hey sega Chief

The first boss battle after you get the restore materia on the very first start of this game

is very impoissable to beat, because the enemys are way to strong

and the random encounters are way to hard to beat at the start of the game as well

and can you remove the 20 minute timer on the guard scropion boss battle please

its making me real nervous that i won't win the battle in time

and its tail laser kicked cloud out of battle as well

[Sega Chief]

The first boss battle after you get the restore materia on the very first start of this game
is very impoissable to beat, because the enemys are way to strong
and the random encounters are way to hard to beat at the start of the game as well

I disagree, the regular enemies are fairly simple to beat but you have to make proper use of your spells and items. You can kill most enemies except Sweeper with a single spell (Ice is effective against Grunts), and the drop-rate for items is very high to keep the player supplied. If you try and go into fights and use nothing but the attack command you'll likely be overwhelmed.  I also provided the player with enough starting items to push straight onto the Reactor Boss so that no grinding is required. The new mini-boss on the Restore Materia requires a little strategy; you should focus attacks on one Engineer at a time, then go after the Sweeper. A single grenade will kill an Engineer if you have any otherwise a spell followed by an attack will likely do the job.

and can you remove the 20 minute timer on the guard scropion boss battle please
its making me real nervous that i won't win the battle in time
and its tail laser kicked cloud out of battle as well

As for the countdown, I'm not removing it. There's plenty of time to beat both Scorpion fights and even take on a few random encounters along the way (and have five minutes to spare) with a 'no-grind' team, that is I tested it by running through the reactor without stopping to farm for items or level up my characters. And because this mod is for experienced players who know the game and the enemies, I made it so that avoiding Scorpion's Tail Laser counter-attack is a necessity as it'll knock a character out of the battle and make it much harder to win. Scorp will raise his tail usually after two attacks so plan ahead and play it safe.

-UPDATE-
I've uploaded a video guide of getting through the first Reactor, should hopefully serve as a visual guide and as a trailer of sorts for people interested in the mod: http://youtu.be/dXZMhIOfzlc

[Zara8]

Hey sega chief

I would like to request to see if you could add in a

boss rush mode on this mod, so after people this game, the boss rush mode will be added under new game and continue

thanks

[Sega Chief]

I would like to request to see if you could add in a
boss rush mode on this mod, so after people this game, the boss rush mode will be added under new game and continue

If folk want to play a Boss Rush mod, then Karifean recently made one that offers a gauntlet of highly-specced, AI-adjusted story bosses that should challenge any seasoned FF7 player. The beta was great fun and now that it's more complete it should be even better. You can find it here on Qhimm: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=14937.0

As for this mod, there should be enough end-game content to keep people busy. The Extra Battle, new super-bosses, and even just the final bosses and WEAPONS themselves should present a solid challenge (after tweaking depending on feedback)

[Zara8]

hey sega chief

I know how you can make the first bombing mission much more harder

after someone is done beating the first guard scorpion, the save spot dissappears so no 1 can save there game after that

to make it much more challanging, what do you think about that idea

and later in the game when people want to get to the boss, they need a boss key to open the boss door and the boss key will be in a chest somewhere in the board

thanks

[Zara8]

Hey everyone

Keep up the great work with this mod

i really like it alot

[Tenko Kuugen]

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