[FF7PC-98/PSX] The FFVII AV mod (2010-11-22 Demo)

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I meant the former (the standalone patch), you know, kinda like how Wall Market can create a .wm file containing all your changes so you can distribute it.

Now, if you wanted to create a standalone patch, all you would really need to do is 'patch' limit data to a dummy file, then distribute that and Libre (I'm happy with you distributing the latest version of either the executable or py files). You could create a dummy file however you want. Just creating a PNG called 'limitdata' would be absolutely fine. Libre doesn't really care about filetypes, it just reads and writes raw data.
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Ah yes. I just tried to patch a dummy file : I created a text file, named it whatever.exe, and asked libre to patch it. Then, I opened it in Libre and indeed saw all of my changes. I guess I could distribute it, and people would just have to load it into Libre, then ask Libre to save the data into their FF7.exe (I noticed this whatever.exe didn't really become a ff7.exe even though its file size is more than 5MB - it just contains the limit data, which is logical).

But I just found another method, a lot faster and easier : the ouinja patcher. I made a ff7.exe patch with it - so people can just patch their ff7.exe with with it (by selecting "Ninja - binary" in the ouinja patcher ; the patch has the .rup extension). Works perfectly, and it has the advantage to also patch my changes to the shops.

Now all that's left is a way to create a patch out of my flevel.lgp...

EDIT:

Ah, I just read your post, Kranmer :D Thank you very much for the great insight !
Since Dup2 is an exe patcher, I assume it won't work with an LGP archive, right ?... ...I'll try CodeFusion3 to see if it can work with LGP files.

Or now that you gave me the tip of Inno, I'll try to make an installer ^^. It would be much easier to install, than having to use Wall Market, Proud Clod, the Ouinja Patcher / Dup2, and CodeFusion3.

EDIT 2:

I tried Inno Setup Compiler, and the least I can say, is that is isn't as user-friendly as I thought. I'll need some time to figure out how to make it work the way I want (meaning : replace ff7.exe with the one I provide in the Program Files\Final Fantasy VII\ directory, replace flevel.lgp with the one I provide in the Final Fantasy VII\Data\Field\ directory, etc...).

Meanwhile, I tried CodeFusion. Verdict : it won't do. I can choose the file to patch, but the utility then asks me what is the data to patch. It wants me to enter the offset addresses, the data, the size... :lol: Yeah, right.

As for dUP2, looks like it doesn't want to work with lgp files. I get an error message after a while, when comparing the original with the modded one. Perhaps the file is too big.

The last one was the right one : Xdelta works great. It created a patch of 76.2MB (a bit much for the little modifications I made), but it does the trick. Maybe I'll make xdelta patches for the other files too ; that will make installing the mod a lot faster and easier (I'll create a bunch of already configured bat files in the patches' directory, so the only thing you'll have to do is put your originals in it and launch the bat files one at a time. Beats having to use many different programs).

I'll make all the patches and upload them tomorrow ;) It's getting late in my time zone.
 
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Meanwhile, I tried CodeFusion. Verdict : it won't do. I can choose the file to patch, but the utility then asks me what is the data to patch. It wants me to enter the offset addresses, the data, the size... :lol: Yeah, right.

As for dUP2, looks like it doesn't want to work with lgp files. I get an error message after a while, when comparing the original with the modded one. Perhaps the file is too big.

The last one was the right one : Xdelta works great. It created a patch of 76.2MB (a bit much for the little modifications I made), but it does the trick. Maybe I'll make xdelta patches for the other files too ; that will make installing the mod a lot faster and easier (I'll create a bunch of already configured bat files in the patches' directory, so the only thing you'll have to do is put your originals in it and launch the bat files one at a time. Beats having to use many different programs).

I'll make all the patches and upload them tomorrow ;) It's getting late in my time zone.
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If Inno is to hard for you to use you could try a free install creator like "ClickTeam Install Creator" or "CreateInstall" (i don't use either anymore since i started using inno but i have used both in the past and both are really easy to use) but your probably better off sticking with .BAT files and patch's if you can't get figure out a installer.
Well for Codefusion it does have a compare function so you don't have to enter the address's manually,
And yes DUP2 does have problems with big files (i only tend to use it as a EXE,DLL or TXT patcher because of that),
I am glad to see XDelta works for you, yes the patch's do tend to be a little big but it does have a internal compressor which can make the patch's allot smaller if you use the right switches (assuming you haven't already used its compression) or you can always just try a external compressor like RAR,ZIP or LZMA etc to see if you can make it smaller.
 
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CodeFusion couldn't compare the two LGP archives, as far as I can remember. But it's possible I didn't use it correctly.
Anyways, thanks for the tip regarding "ClickTeam Install Creator" and "CreateInstall", though I think I'll keep the bat files for the demo (a child could install the mod, with them).
And yeah, I'll create a rar archive containing all the needed files, so this compression should further reduce their size.

I'm looking forward to leaving my workplace, so I can make the archive and upload it on my Mediafire account.
 
I think the whole character=elementalligned thing is a nice addition. but not to ff7. Maybe very few exceptions. Nanaki could be earth attributed because of his race and where they lived before. Cat Sith could be lightning attributed because he's a frign robot. Everyone else is really just human, so they might have a prefered elemental attribute, but to make their limits that attribute as well is a bit...
If you really want to make elemental alligned spells out of them, I'd suggest some changes. Really, the attacks itself should have elemental attributes based on the design. I won't go into detail here, but to apply a general elemental allignment to a character is usually not a good idea, unless you find a way to give them something extra beyond the point of limits. like, elemental resistances. Imo, final fantasy characters aren't pokemon.
I am not really a fan of the "no natural stat growth but enemies drop stat items" thing. If you farm the right place you could get ridiculously overpowered. ( lets say, farm the earliest source of strenght items ). At some point, you are strong enough to just hold X, watch everyone one-shot the enemies, run around for the next battle, etc.
 
Intreging idea's,

But like all mods on here i reserve judgment untill i've tried and tested for myself. I do like the concept and look forward to trying this out. Thanks in advance for the upload of wkich i eagerly await. ;D
 
What you describe is the same as power-leveling - something I don't agree with. But because I don't agree with it, doesn't mean I should remove this option. All players play the way they like. Once again, they have the choice. As long as they have fun, this is all that matters to me.

My mod is designed so you should never need to farm sources, anywhere. You're just supposed to use the sources you get, from fighting random enemies while running from point A to point B. With your logic, even Experience and AP points are a bad thing, because they also lead some players to grind. Someone likes grinding ? I say let him do it. I'm not creating a hardcore mod of some kind, so I can laugh at people who can't beat a boss (no offense to the hardcore mods out there, though - I really liked gjoerulv's, for example). But this is not what my mod is. My mod is another take at FFVII, that is harder and challenging, but that any kind of player can play through and have a blast doing it. And if a player doesn't feel confident with his skills enough, he can grind as much as he likes. Whatever floats one's boat.

As for the elemental attributes of weapons and limits, well... ...It's a choice of mine. It might be 'right' or 'wrong', I don't know - but this is the choice I made. I thank you for voicing your opinion, and I expect others to do the same (as I said, nothing is set in stone). But I would like for some people to try at least the demo and to give me some feedback too, before I changed anything. But one thing is for sure : the mod will evolve. Ideas will be ditched, and some will be born. This elemental business could very well be one of those that will be ditched, who knows.

(but you also have to understand, that if I listen to everyone, nothing will ever get done. Even if not perfect, I intend to complete this project - and I already know that everyone won't be satisfied. You just can't please all players ; it's impossible)

(and thanks Beavii, by the way ;) - the file is being uploaded at the moment)

EDIT:

Upload complete! :) First post edited to give the download link & instructions.
 
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Do you know (or anyone that is reading this) what happens if I apply the kernel and scene patch (flevel mabe too....idk what that is) to a clean scene/kernel then stick them into the PSX version?  I know I wouldn't get the full effect of your mod, but does such a procedure work?

EDIT:  If you designed it for PC then some of those files are likely too large to do this...but maybe one could work around this?
 
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@Lost Wing : yeah, it would work. Though you wouldn't get the text changes in the kernel.

ATTENTION : I tried downloading my patch and installing it, just to make sure, and I noticed an unexpected behavior from xdelta. Even though I asked the bat files to create new files, it looks like they sometimes overwrite the FF7.exe, Scene.bin, Kernel.bin, Kernel2.bin and flevel.lgp you put in this directory. So you can ignore some steps (like the renaming ones) in my installation instructions. But make sure you create backups ! I'll edit the first post again to reflect this. It's weird, because the new files were created, when I tested it before making the rar file.

EDIT:

Yeah, Scene.bin increased in size. You should be able to make it fit into the iso, by deleting some useless scenes (useless for the first disk)... ...I think I also read somewhere that Gemini found a way to go around this problem... ...I'll eventually try to make this a PSX compatible mod, though (by creating 3 different scene.bin, I imagine - one for each disk).
 
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Hey guys, with Armorvil's permission i have began working on an alternative instalation for this mod.
I am looking at making an extra option that allows you to choose between various mods that are at
present not compatible as they all edit the same files.

I will work on this for the next few hours, and hopefully have a beta to release soon.

My Aim is to be able to install unlimited scene/flevel/kernel mods and ff7 simply askes which set to use.
 
Nice project ! I wish you well on your endeavour :)

As for me, there are still many things I forgot to say about this mod / demo.

The flevel changes :

For now, I'm only working on game-breaking things, in the Field files. So, I still didn't edit the item names. You'll thus sometimes read things like :"obtained Elemental materia x1", when you actually obtained something else (you'll quickly notice what it is, in the materia menu). In fact, as of right now, there are only three changes I made :

- after the bombing mission, Barret only gives 15 gils to Cloud. 1500 was way too much.

- in Wall Market, the weapon shop owner would normally sell batteries that you wouldn't be able to afford, 300 gils being a lot in this mod. I changed their prices (in field) to 1 gil each, but it looks like the game still checks for the # of gil you have, before accepting the trade. For this reason, even if you have the 3 gils, the guy won't sell them to you. I got around this by just adding the 3 batteries to your inventory, anyway, after you said yes. So, if you don't have at least 300 gils available, you'll still get the batteries (and for free - you'll see the message "obtained batteries" but won't hear the item sound), but the game won't realize it. If you talk to the shop owner again, he'll still ask you to buy them. Just ignore this.

There is only one drawback to my fix : strangely enough, the third battery won't work. When you'll get to the third box while climbing towards Shinra's HQ (the one holding the Ether), the game will display the message "not enough batteries...", even though you still got one in your inventory.

- I made it so, that the boss battle that occurs in the elevator, in the Shinra Tower, calls a different enemy formation. If you recall, I created a topic for this problem, and it had to deal with an enemy being invisible. My third modification to the field files fixed it.

The Scene changes :

The biggest changes next to the Kernel's. And there are some things you should know.

- First, you can safely ignore the row function now. All enemies' attacks make your characters change rows, even though it's not visible on screen. So, if you have Cloud in the back row, the first hit he'll take will deal half damage, while the second will hit at full damage. The third hit will then be half damage, the fourth one full damage, etc. A design choice of mine, so that, for example, triggering a back or a pincer attack won't lead to an instant game-over if the enemies are too powerful. The row system is a broken system, and this is the best method I found to "remove" it. Plus, I like the "random" damage effect (and if an attack killed a character because it dealt 100 damage, fear not, because after reviving him, the same attack would only deal 50).

- Most enemies have an item to steal, and can be morphed. Heck, even bosses can be morphed. And I tried to make the effort worth the trouble. I tried morphing the first boss once, but didn't succeed :( Can you do it ?

- All random enemies have three item drops. Two of them are different sources (so you can't farm them as easily). The last drop - the rarest one - is what I call a battle item. Like a Potion, a Phoenix Down, a Blind Stone, a Fire Stone, etc. You can also instantly get this battle item by stealing the enemy. This way, you can choose what you'll get at the end of a battle. Will you kill the enemy without stealing them for a high chance of a Source drop, or will you steal from it to stock on helpful items ?

- enemies don't use the same spells. Some enemies that used Enemy Skills might now just use a magic spell, while some enemies that didn't use Enemy Skills might now use them. For a little help, here are their locations :

-> Find an enemy skill in the first reactor.

-> Find an enemy skill in the second reactor.

-> Find an enemy skill in the Sector 8 (near the church / Aeris' house).

-> Find an enemy skill in the sewers

-> Find an enemy skill in the Train Graveyard 1st part (same as the one in the 1st reactor).

-> Find an enemy skill in the Train Graveyard 2nd part.

-> Find an enemy skill near the shop in Shinra's HQ.

That makes 6 different enemy skills, but you might end with 7 when you reach the world map.

That's all I can think of, for now. Don't worry, you don't need to try and manipulate every enemy to get the E. Skills.
 
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het guy's,

I have sucsesfuly created a new AI script selection option for ff7, which will allow the user to choose from multiple mods without the need copying, extracting, renaming etc. Instalation is now fully automated, and backups will be stored.

I have 4 working options at the moment and will add to these as more mods are released, I will create a new topic for this tool with the first release, of which i hope to get out later today. The first beta release will contain 4 mods and is compatible with almost every mod on this site.

Will update in this topic too.


Link to the topic Multiple Dificulties Tool
https://www.ff7catalog.com/threads/7389/
 
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Sorry spent too much time on my wee tool.

I did try this for an hour before you sent me the other fileset i asked for, but for some reason alot of 0's were flying around (my pc was being weird), Have not done many battle's while testing my Project. and am running 5 mods in that tool so not all battles were with your files.

Will give a proper play tonight once i fix my laptop.
 
can i ask though,

your battle.lgp file. i would have expected some changes to this giving can you confirm which version you have.
Is it original, part of another mod and if so which mod.
 
Battle.lgp has to deal with in-battle 3D models, so it has no relevance to my mod / this thread.
 
good point,

How newbish of me to ask such a question, and thanks for halving the size of my beta.  :P
 
Well, the Cloud model is Kula Wende's AC Cloud, if this is what you're asking ;) You should still be able to find the download link somewhere around here.
 
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I was being retarded, I dont actualy need to touch the file at all. soz :-P
 
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