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

[Sega Chief]

Lightning maybe, with a small pulse in the screen's hue, but snow is limited to the Great Glacier because the field screens use an overlay there. Rain is triggered by a variable, instead.

[Rufus]

so I need to know when 1.4 will be out along with the change log

I realize the version number is insignificant, but i prefer to do my next run through on the next official version, so i have a better basis of comparison from 1.2.

[Sega Chief]

It's difficult to say when it'll be done. I usually get called into work for cover shifts in the morning, evening, or through the night which makes it tricky to plan a schedule properly. There's four things that are needing to be done before I'll 'upgrade' the version number to 1.4:

-) Re-balance the game with a playthrough to account for changes since 1.1 (this is in progress; I'm not planning to make any major changes to the battle system after it's complete).

-) Fine-tune the game's script/dialogue & expand NPC scripts in towns; my goal here is to repair some of the damage done by the re-localisation that was done during the PC port, clean up the windows/text errors (admittedly some of them are my own fault :I), and to get rid of inconsistencies.

-) Complete/Refine NT's side-content; this won't take as long as it sounds, because the basic infrastructure has already been implemented for a lot of it.

-) Fix any remaining bugs/glitches that arise as a result of the above three; the idea going into 1.4 is that it's as bug-free as possible. Because the mod is constantly being developed, there's usually a steady stream of new bugs that pop up but with the mod 'finished' this'd be the ideal time to sweep them all away.

I'm going to guess that it'll take about a month to get all this done. I've already been working on these over the last few weeks and if all goes well we'll be sitting with a stable and finished NT Mod. Then it'll be onto developing that New Game+ campaign, which'll be a separate mod that can be played either from scratch with a new party or with a pre-existing NT Party that's completed the story in NT.

[Rufus]

oh that's okay, i can wait a month or two.

but how will this new game+ thing work out, i take it levels will be reset, and if so what exactly would you carry over, to me it doesn't seem likely that that would work out very well.

you can't exactly carry levels over, as you'd be too powerful, if you carry materia over, your magic will be way more powerful than your attacks,so yeah not exactly sure on what would happen.

[powerincarnate]

Another little bug i've seen, when in battle, the target sign keeps flashing and isn't able to be turned off?  I've tried pressing all buttons, but it stays on and flashing.  Any idea what's going on??

[Sega Chief]

oh that's okay, i can wait a month or two.

but how will this new game+ thing work out, i take it levels will be reset, and if so what exactly would you carry over, to me it doesn't seem likely that that would work out very well.

you can't exactly carry levels over, as you'd be too powerful, if you carry materia over, your magic will be way more powerful than your attacks,so yeah not exactly sure on what would happen.

Here's the plan, see:

The NG game starts in Tifa's Bar in Sector 7; from there, you need to reach the Crater and beat up Safer. The enemies will all be remixed and specced against end-game teams (Lv.70+). The first objective is to escape Midgar itself, which'll be a similar scenario to the Dark Cave sidequest; from there, you'd be loosely following the same progression through areas as the regular game, eventually reaching the northern continent with the Bronco to head for the Crater. It'll be like a gauntlet; minimal story, and more about surviving.

A lot of the towns and areas you pass through will be deserted, shops & Inns will be few and far between, and there'll be a lot of new events and unique challenges to make your way through. Areas that aren't compulsory to visit will contain bonus loot and bosses to take on, to encourage players to explore. This is going to be a big project which'll likely require a new separate set of files; for that reason, I'm thinking of making it a stand-alone mod that can be played without a finished NT save file; I can set the Kernel to have characters start at a high level and with a reasonable inventory of items, equipment, and Materia (though likely nowhere near as much as what a finished NT file would have).

It'll take a while to finish something like this, though; that's why I want to 'complete' NT before moving onto it.

Another little bug i've seen, when in battle, the target sign keeps flashing and isn't able to be turned off?  I've tried pressing all buttons, but it stays on and flashing.  Any idea what's going on??

Sounds odd, I'll check my game just now and see if it's happening there too.

Edit: Seems to be okay on my end. Do you have a controller plugged in? The game can take input from multiple sources at once, and if the target flag is flashing then it might mean that a button binded to it is being held down accidentally (or might be malfunctioning). For instance, if I hold my controller's shoulder button down then the target flag flashes while I input commands using a keyboard. Could it be something like that?

[Rufus]

wow sounds awesome

but i would say to not call it a new game+, because it doesn't really have anything to do with that, not sure what to call it, maybe a 'boss rush story mode'?

i think it would be best if you don't allow the import a save file as i think you should have control over what the player has and doens't have in this boss rush story mode, but it's up to you off course.

even if i have a completed NT mod save file, i will be starting it with the party that is given if i don't import a file, as i prefer to review the balances/difficulty that you have given me, as this is something you can test and spec against.

Honestly importing a save file is almost like choosing an easy mode or hard mode depending on how much you played the NT mod save.

[Sega Chief]

I've already decided it's going to be set up for a continuation of an NT save file. As for balancing, just leave that to me; I'd be balancing it against a 'new' team for the first few areas, maybe the initial Midgar Escape, but after that it's going to be specced against a completed save file.

[Zara9]

hey

is there anyway you could make it poissable for the party members to use the black materia in battle

[Sega Chief]

Nope, it's a key item not a Materia. Besides, you need a lot of spiritual energy to use it

[Rufus]

I've already decided it's going to be set up for a continuation of an NT save file. As for balancing, just leave that to me; I'd be balancing it against a 'new' team for the first few areas, maybe the initial Midgar Escape, but after that it's going to be specced against a completed save file.

okay but then wont i be under or overpowered if i choose a 'new' team once i pass that area?

[Sega Chief]

The Midgar area will help new teams catch up a little, but a completed save file is always going to have an edge over it. I don't really consider this to be a problem, as much as a challenge in it's own right.

[Aquarii]

Hi,

I don´t believe it but the Game freezes again, when i enter the Dark Cave. Same Error+Message and yes, i installed the newest patches.
 
Greetz Aquarii

[Sega Chief]

Ah! I know what's happened. When I was developing the new Yuffie event, I used the back-up flevel to make the fix for that. But I forgot to carry the fix over to the (now) current flevel as well. My bad, I'll go and make the change.

[powerincarnate]

Here's the plan, see:

The NG game starts in Tifa's Bar in Sector 7; from there, you need to reach the Crater and beat up Safer. The enemies will all be remixed and specced against end-game teams (Lv.70+). The first objective is to escape Midgar itself, which'll be a similar scenario to the Dark Cave sidequest; from there, you'd be loosely following the same progression through areas as the regular game, eventually reaching the northern continent with the Bronco to head for the Crater. It'll be like a gauntlet; minimal story, and more about surviving.

A lot of the towns and areas you pass through will be deserted, shops & Inns will be few and far between, and there'll be a lot of new events and unique challenges to make your way through. Areas that aren't compulsory to visit will contain bonus loot and bosses to take on, to encourage players to explore. This is going to be a big project which'll likely require a new separate set of files; for that reason, I'm thinking of making it a stand-alone mod that can be played without a finished NT save file; I can set the Kernel to have characters start at a high level and with a reasonable inventory of items, equipment, and Materia (though likely nowhere near as much as what a finished NT file would have).

It'll take a while to finish something like this, though; that's why I want to 'complete' NT before moving onto it.

Sounds odd, I'll check my game just now and see if it's happening there too.

Edit: Seems to be okay on my end. Do you have a controller plugged in? The game can take input from multiple sources at once, and if the target flag is flashing then it might mean that a button binded to it is being held down accidentally (or might be malfunctioning). For instance, if I hold my controller's shoulder button down then the target flag flashes while I input commands using a keyboard. Could it be something like that?

Yeah, I'm using a PS3 Sixasis controller.  It ended up being my R2 was stuck somehow where it was still depressable and barely stuck, so I didn't notice it was stuck.. after you said it was fine on your end, I went investigating it and low and behold it was stuck. 

thanks

[Sega Chief]

No prob; my PS3 controller's left analog locks sometimes now so I've ran into the problem a few times.

And the new flevel patch is up, Aqua.

[HeaN]

I hope there will be more new threads for challenge

EDIT: Somewhere I got the "Limited Moon" from Red XIII ?! Something needs to be wrong here.... I will delete it ofc

[racompave]

I'm getting a black screen in one of the areas at Forgotten City. It freezes completely the game and I need to reboot.

I'm playing with the latest flevel update ( 22nd May ).

Edit: I went to that area again and I didn't get the crash. I think this happens if you go to that particular screen after sleeping at one of the houses there ( crash produced by the weather system? )

[HeaN]

The Ultima Weapon of cloud sucks balls-.- Sorry.. xD ...I switch to Buster Sword

[racompave]

About the previous crash:

So, I found out that resting in that house is mandatory to progress in the game because it unlocks the stairs that you have to take to go where Aeris is.

The think is, if you go to any of the other screens after sleeping in that house, you will get a black screen no matter what, making impossible to progress further in the game.

[Sega Chief]

Looks like I've missed a post here:

is there any way to guess variablis element weakness tho
kinda defeat the point if u can just hit him with comet/ultima
i never even manage to hit his weakness once , not even once
i like the idea of boss changing element weakness but if i cant even hit one element spell , it just doesn't feel right

You're right, Variablis was designed with the Number024 boss and Magimaster from FF6 in mind, but those bosses allowed Scan to be used to track his weakness. What I forgot about at the time was that Sense doesn't function at over 30,000HP, and that elemental weaknesses set through AI aren't tracked either (it looks at the scene where the enemy is stored for elemental weaknesses, which are static). It's likely I'll re-wire it entirely and make it completely different.

I hope there will be more new threads for challenge

EDIT: Somewhere I got the "Limited Moon" from Red XIII ?! Something needs to be wrong here.... I will delete it ofc

I think certain bosses and enemies can drop Ultimate Weapons as a rare steal in some cases. It's something that needs to be corrected, I'll eventually find them as I'm going through each enemy individually right now for a re-balance (which includes their held items). And regarding certain Ultimate Weapons, I'll change tact and make them much better.

About the previous crash:

So, I found out that resting in that house is mandatory to progress in the game because it unlocks the stairs that you have to take to go where Aeris is.

The think is, if you go to any of the other screens after sleeping in that house, you will get a black screen no matter what, making impossible to progress further in the game.

I'll remove weather from that area entirely, and then run through to test it.

Edit: Seems to be something was knocked out of whack with the default screen tint that's here during the Altar event (when the screen is darkened) so whenever this effect is activated it locks. Just trying to locate the cause by comparing it to a default.

Edit2: I think I've figured out the cause, I'm going through each Forgotten City field and correcting the numbered labels for them; the jumps seem to have been 'auto-corrected' or auto-wronged', rather.

Edit3: That's the patch uploading. I'll need to watch out for that in future, it seems that if a label jump has no target then Makou will create a new label to try and cover it but scripts vary wildly so odds are it can create an infinite loop (and if this happens in an Init script then the field won't really load at all).

Edit4: New flevel patch is up, sorry for the hassle.

[racompave]

Thanks Chief, I appreciate your dedication.

This is one of the best (if not the best) gameplay mods of FF7 out there.

[Sega Chief]

Cheers, bud; I appreciate that. If there's any other problems, let me know.

Next thing I'll start on is a temporary re-spec for these Ultimate Weapons, something to make them worth getting. I'll fine-tune them when I grab them in the playthrough I'm doing.

[FrozenExcalibur]

looking forward for the re-spec ultimate weapon

[Sega Chief]

New scene patch is up (24th), that re-specs the Ultimate Weapons to be stronger.