VIII "Remastered" - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - v34+ (2020)

[Klitlika]

Heya, new Login since i gave up trying to regain access to my old one for now... it is I, the Creator... QNSK/Klitlika...

Been itching to fix the remaining bugs like the broken Rinoa Limit Break's/Angelo (Hard Crash) ...
(f*cked the kernel.bin at some point, hard to revert now)
Scripted Malboro Fight problem... (gotta replace its .dat file and go from there)
2-3 Disc 4 bosses with issues... (eg: gotta move Catoblepas back to disc 4 from disc 3 and hope that fixes the issue created by that idea)
so i will try to get things setup again, been ages since i played and then will try to start fixing up v51+ again...
also curious if any of the testers were still around...

[Klitlika]

Here is a link to V55 - NEW Update - (Link only valid for <30 days...)
https://easyupload.io/x8p9aw
the one BIG FIX compared to v52-v54 is basically Rinoa / Angelo finally DOES NOT HARD CRASH THE GAME! yay!
this turned out to be easier to fix then expected, it seems when I put too many hours into this, my attention to detail dropped and mistakes were made.
Enjoy finally grabbing this while you can! hopefully i will continue, motivated by my most hated bug being fixed finally...

[forkst]

Great Job on getting this new release out so quickly, how much more longer until the rest of the stuff is fixed on this mod and keep up the great work on it

[Klitlika]

Great Job on getting this new release out so quickly, how much more longer until the rest of the stuff is fixed on this mod and keep up the great work on it

THANKS well, I've lost my saves but that matters little for battle (scene) tests... so mostly I'll try to get the list of 800+ battles again, last time i had to save it using time machine on the old qhimm, and it seems I've lost all of my notes etc... so likely will try to limit myself to trying out some of the specifics like Malboro testing asap, perhaps redoing the .dat file for that one...  I hoped to continue doing Enemy AI Script mods mostly... that was the main remaining time-sink, the Rinoa/Angelo bug was triggering some ADHD rage for a while there, so knowing it's finally gone and i somehow previously was just not noticing the "number of hits" being accidentally set to Zero for 1 of Angelo's moves... which this time I spotted easily... I'm 34 and only officially got the ADHD diag last year... so still enjoying feeling more capable of anything, realising my past mistakes etc... motivated by your reply, I'll start it up now and see how i go... also having the ability to watch YouTube / twitch etc footage of players testing out the mod was very informative / motivating in the past... perhaps you stream?

[Klitlika]

TIP FOR THOSE TRYING THIS OUT...
Once the GF get to LVL 10, they can start learning more abilities...
eg: Shiva LVL 10 unlocks Boost (only 4 AP) -> which unlocks Mug (60 AP) ... etc
some are fairly linear now from that point onwards so the auto-learn should work well but be sure to notice and set it to learn boost etc at lvl 10 when they hit it...
makes sense to perhaps also think moreso about not overloading a character with too many GFs...
"AP is never split. All GFs junctioned to active party members get a full share.
XP is split amongst all GFs junctioned to a given character"

Shiva lvl 1 as an example already has...
HP-J (which is currently All-J basically, opening it all up for whoever has her)
"Cast Magic"
"Summon GF"
"Draw Magic"
"Use Item"
"Doom"
"Defend+" (Defend got a big upgrade in this mod, try it out)
"Darkside!" 3x DMG Attack (Physical), some HP lost!
"Absorb" (also Buffed)
"Counter" (yep, basically already having Counter on 1 character should keep the DMg happening even if they are the only one left trying to stay alive, a little help towards the tough journey ahead...)

Quezacotl lvl 1 is similar (ALL-J + DEFEND +)
but also gives you REVIVE Call Shop/Junk Shop/Familiar & ABILITY x4:)
I've tried to make them all worth leveling up, keen for feedback on those once they are seen

[forkst]

How is the fixing coming along so far on this mod, because i would like to try out the new version soon with all of the fixes on it, and keep up the great work on your mod

[Klitlika]

How is the fixing coming along so far on this mod, because i would like to try out the new version soon with all of the fixes on it, and keep up the great work on your mod

well the Malboro issue turned out to be Visual only in my testing... so if you're not fussed about that, gameplay bugs were gone AFAIK, nothing to crash the game hopefully...
(zell's specials used to sometimes have issue in the past, afaik those were sorted out a while back, but any Zell nutters can let me know if anything was missed...)

Update: moments later one more thing came to mind...
well there is one optional boss to avoid in disc 4... Catoblepas...
afaik it might work with a vanilla save, but on my mod you get you fight him during disc 3 (as Laguna?)
so trying to fight him a second (disc 4 - optional) seemed to crash the game last time i tried... so technically you can't 100% unlock all yours skills/abilities i suppose... until that one is looked at... i'm hesitant to revert what i had done, compared to trying to go further and bypass/fix the new issue i created...

[forkst]

how the fixing coming so far on this mod

did fix up any of the bugs yet on this mod

because i would like to try out the newer versions of this ff8 mod again 1 day

[Klitlika]

how the fixing coming so far on this mod

did fix up any of the bugs yet on this mod

because i would like to try out the newer versions of this ff8 mod again 1 day

been a while since i touched it... last i recall, rinoa got fixed... which was a big deal...
no more Angelo = game crash...

i need to redo a full check of all enemies, which would take a while even using the debug rooms... to check for Texture issues... unsure if a few minor issues remain, i had been deep into end-game / optional boss testing when i lost my notes etc a while back. having testers who stream probably was when i got most active on this. i do hope to perfect things one day... (ADHD AS F! thought it seems)

[Klitlika]

how the fixing coming so far on this mod

did fix up any of the bugs yet on this mod

because i would like to try out the newer versions of this ff8 mod again 1 day

having a better look around, the link to v55 is dead... i can't seem to find it locally on my HDDs... perhaps one of you has the file?

[Klitlika]

Managed to find the v55 files again... Spectacular !!!   
...easy copy/paste install once you have Demaster running on your FF8 "Remaster" steam version...
tip: if it's a fresh Steam install, be sure to run (play the game) least once before you install Demaster to avoid an error that might still exist...
(note: game updated past v1.00 required to work with "demaster" properly)
Maki's https://github.com/MaKiPL/FF8_demaster)

V55 (August 2022 - The Rinoa / Angelo Gamecrash Fix) - reuploaded December 2024
https://www.sendspace.com/filegroup/2VqErTV9Cko%2BSGpVFNqY4w

FF8R HBFS v55 (aug22) by KLITLIKA - requires Maki Demaster Launcher.rar 258.74MB
FF8R HBFS v55 by KLITLIKA - Optional Alternative Enemy Colors - Texture Pack.rar 120.12MB
(decided to split up the mod to exclude the Optional Enemy Texture pack from the main mod .rar )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
also optional: someone may choose to omit some of my gameplay changes...
main.fs - Main Rebalancing done to game feel / Junctioning Gains / Starting equip (fresh saves only)
battle.fs - Enemy/Boss vs Player LVL scaling TWEAKED... countless Hours also on the Individual Enemy files here, gradually going from simple stat changes to new moves (burrowed some from other enemies etc) to a probably a dozen or so of the enemies getting actual script changes for entirely new behaviour + New Custom Battles added to help with Field battle Variety ... (the .dat enemy editor was one of the problematic parts of the modding last i checked... as it would sometimes cause texture problems on that enemy... i had to revert a few enemies to stock & tried again, seemed to correlate with number of textures an enemy has / larger or complex enemies more prone to issues)
(world map wasn't able to be customized as much, but i had an enemy list which helped to still figure it out (working backwards to also do what i could at times)
menu.fs - Text changes like "Draw" to "Draw Magic" (had mixed feelings about this)
field.fs - changes to Field Encounter Variety & rates led to me including this rather large file...
* Field edit also allowed the Junction-ing Tutorial Skip at the Fire Cavern Entrance ...
& the special Debug Rooms via the Balamb Garden's Training Center's "CC Joker" NPC Location...
(forgot he can appear there when i picked that spot to make into a Debug Room Shortcut... Save (backup?) before entering, if doing so... i did create an "exit", but despite appearing outside of Balamb Town/Village when using it, the saves can be messed up by changes you made via the debug NPCs... though most things worked well, viewing disc 1 FMVs / listening to the Soundtrack / giving the party temporary members back as permanent... *Squall as Leader is safest, but Laguna Kiros Ward Seifer Edea are great fun to switch in... before visiting some of the Battle rooms (once you find that NPC)... 0000-0800 or from memory but you enter the number in reverse if that helps anyone... Lists online exists (wish i still had my list of changes though, many hours of documenting my changes lost to HDD fail years ago now...)
Top Right Corner / Bottom Left Corner of each Debug room take you forward/back a room if that makes any sense... you spawn in center of them when it switches... with NPCs around you...)

SeiferVIII Gaming's Run... for some footage... old version but still, Fire Cavern 1st attempt 
https://youtu.be/D_MDfvFBvkk?t=6406
(would love to work together again, if you do see this... having a tester felt like a self imposed Crunch-Time which was great for the progress made, though i felt bad when i got burnt out)

Mod made with :
Deling: Final Fantasy VIII field archive editor (and for access to the files for the others)
Cactilio: FFVIII Battle Structure Editor
Doomtrain: Final Fantasy VIII kernel.bin editor
ifrit version ? (old secret version) *: Final Fantasy VIII monster .dat editor - will be great to try out the "ifrit-enhanced" replacement to what had my the tool causing me the most frustration when i got to my patience limit seemingly back then...
Quezacotl: Final Fantasy VIII init.out editor
Junkshop: Final Fantasy VIII wepon.bin editor

[forkst]

I tried running your ff8 mod with the demaster stuff

and it kept on saying this to me, a program error has occurred.

error:3889861889:337, Can't open Configuration file: config.txt

[Klitlika]

Old Footage SeiferVIII 's "FF8 Hardcore Mod - Harder Better Faster Stronger, Ep.1-9 We will Die. Alpha Testing
https://youtu.be/2NUOZegQPog?list=PLTgQi1PmS9l3J3yp4iar23ISRUzXTuxpc

[forkst]

Hey

I fixed it by launching the ff8 game first so it could create the config.txt file

i just forgot how to install your mods over demaster after so many years of taking a break on it

[Klitlika]

Hey I fixed it by launching the ff8 game first so it could create the config.txt file
i just forgot how to install your mods over demaster after so many years of taking a break on it

Sweet, it did occur to me to type it earlier, but i've made it BOLD now so perhaps that helps more people...
tip: if it's a fresh Steam install, be sure to run (play the game) least once before you install Demaster to avoid an error that might still exist...

[forkst]

Hey Klitlika

I am really enjoying your v55 of your ff8 mod so far

if you have anytime soon, can you fix up the aura stone to give haste out on the party member insted of slow please

thanks and keep up the great work

[forkst]

Hey

here is a screenshot of this plant enemy monster being broken on your ff8 mod

it shows 0 HP when i scan it, and everytime i attack it, it does the non stop break spell

thanks

https://imgur.com/a/dSc6uMv

[Klitlika]

Hey
here is a screenshot of this plant enemy monster being broken on your ff8 mod
it shows 0 HP when i scan it, and every time i attack it, it does the non stop break spell
thanks
https://imgur.com/a/dSc6uMv

oh true, Broken Malboro ... yeah i should be able to do something there for sure...
the Aura Stone i think i had experimented with Aura being something you would choose carefully the pros and cons of... Slow but powerful idea... truly forgot that's how i left that item, though i think at least 1 item might still be game crashing... the Magic Items where some of my least tested experimental stuff tbh... will try to look into both pretty soon... glad you're enjoying it... i suspect the Malboro encounter is a problem esp to proceed with some of the Garden Events... just noticed lvl 100 on that Malboro... maybe you're not where i thought you were...
i also rejoined the discord recently, you can find me there for extra support... probably a faster reply also ... or if someone reading this can't reply here without a login, perhaps consider the qhimm discord... i used to have my own tiny section, but it appears to be gone these days...

[forkst]

hey

is there anyway i could fix up the aura stone item myself to put haste on it

and is there anyway i could fix up the broken enemies myself on your mod as well

and keep up the great work on this mod, and happy holidays