[FF7PC-98/Steam] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod (v1.0.7.2)

[gjoerulv]

Well... The 9th section of Kernel.bin is the Materia "dump". It starts with 4x WORD which desides the amount of AP pr level. The next byte is the equiped effect. It's just one byte:

Code: [Select]

BYTE STR VIT MAG MDEF MAXHP MAXMP LUCK DEX0001 -02 -01 +02 +01 -05% +05%02 -04 -02 +04 +02 -10% +10%06  +0107       +0108       -010A        +020B -01  +01  -02% +02%0C   +01  -02% +02%0D   +01 +01 -05% +05%0E   +02 +02 -10% +10%0F   +04 +04 -10% +15%10   +08 +08 -10% +20%

13 possible options. The value 0x01 would give:
STR: -02
VIT: -01
MAG: +02
MDEF: +01
HP: -05%
MP: +05%

The Cover Materia uses 0x06:
VIT: +1

I belive the closest to your example would be from the standard low level materia; 0x0B. You could change that to any value listed above (e.g 0x10), but only those as far as I know. I don't know how to change the effect the different values represents.

And I'll be happy to do it for you. Just make a list (or something) of which materias you would like to change the equiped effect on, and which value you want on them (0x00 - 0x10 as you see in the list above). Then PM, Mail or post it and I'll make it. No prob  :-D.

And btw. The accesory Guard Ring has a +50 VIT in my mod. And the Tough Ring a +30 VIT SPR. Kinda to make the Guard Ring more usefull. There are more changed values on the rings as well, and mabye I should list 'em...

 

[Kashmir]

Not quite what i was looking for, by the sounds of it it inst possible so nevermind then.

 

[gjoerulv]

Sorry for the time I use on this one (if anyone cares ). I'm currently done gametesting the 1st continent + boat. I have updated some enemies (see buttom 1st post). The game testing requires some time, but I'll try to be done next week. The complete mod will rock my balls!!

 

[Kashmir]

I never get around to playing it, because i hate the bit im up too... annoying slums bit, climb up to the tower, then run up a million stairs

 

[gjoerulv]

You're after the sector 7 pillar blast? Well if you use the debug room you can skip whatever you want. But this may cause weird bugs in the game and if you're a serious player you wont use that. Anyways I got 1 week before I go back to college to complete this. Not that I won't be able to then. but I obviously will get my hands full with other stuff. Thus I kinda yearn to get this done before I start...

Uhhh, just noticed... In this mod you can't sell previously sellable stuff. Like bangles and sh*t. Will fix that.

 

[Darkever]

I didn't try the mod, but will do as soon as I have some free time.
Just a couple of suggestions (maybe you already tought about them):
- Don't raise enemy's HP too much. That is ok for bosses, but for random encounters it is a pain, because they would last forever.
- I agree with removing the flash command, but that is because it is usually useless. Slash-All does most of the time the same results and also works on enemies immune to death. I also suggest of removing Coin: that blinking Throw/Coin voice in the menu just makes me headaches. Also the fact that throwing coins deals damage is very very lame (critical lame).
- I suggest of leaving the original Master Command. If you got it, it means that (A) you mastered all other commands or (B) you killed Emerald. The concept is that when a player obtains the Master Materias is because his/her character are almost-unstoppable death machines.
- Sometimes just adding a nasty status effect to some attacks may transform an inoffensive enemy into a destruction machine, at least until the pary obtains 3xRibbon.
- I suggest to allow the enemies to drop just few Star Sources (using a global variable, like it is done with Pandora's Box), to avoid Source farming.
- Is there some way to change the enemy AI? I would be glad to modify it to make the opponents a bit more intelligent. That would greatly raise the difficulty without even changing the stats.

 

[gjoerulv]

I didn't try the mod, but will do as soon as I have some free time.
Just a couple of suggestions (maybe you already tought about them):
- Don't raise enemy's HP too much. That is ok for bosses, but for random encounters it is a pain, because they would last forever.
- I agree with removing the flash command, but that is because it is usually useless. Slash-All does most of the time the same results and also works on enemies immune to death. I also suggest of removing Coin: that blinking Throw/Coin voice in the menu just makes me headaches. Also the fact that throwing coins deals damage is very very lame (critical lame).
- I suggest of leaving the original Master Command. If you got it, it means that (A) you mastered all other commands or (B) you killed Emerald. The concept is that when a player obtains the Master Materias is because his/her character are almost-unstoppable death machines.
- Sometimes just adding a nasty status effect to some attacks may transform an inoffensive enemy into a destruction machine, at least until the pary obtains 3xRibbon.
- I suggest to allow the enemies to drop just few Star Sources (using a global variable, like it is done with Pandora's Box), to avoid Source farming.
- Is there some way to change the enemy AI? I would be glad to modify it to make the opponents a bit more intelligent. That would greatly raise the difficulty
without even changing the stats.

This mod is generally made to satisfy me lol. And I consider myself a hardcore FF7 player. I don't think there would be many requests for customisation, so I'll make customized mods if requested. There are random encounters somewhat early in the game (after mythril cave and so on) that are impossible at that time. IMO this spices up the idea of random encounters. Considering this is "hardcore" you should figure out which enemies are worth killing, 'cause some are "die-hard", others just annoying and not worth the spoils received. This goes in general just for the 1st half of the game. Just swallow your pride and flee. I know this might seem frustrating but at least it is "hardcore". Most of the enemies (except 1st reactor, bosses, and towards the end) have 2x or 3x hp.

Coin and Flash are removed. IMO overkill attacks in this mod (if you have lots of gil that is).

The reason I removed Master Command is that it adds another Mime and Coin. I don't know how to remove those alone from it. And I've never liked it. It really won't make much of a difference anyway in this mod. I've changed it to be 1 single command: Flash. Perhaps Flash seemed useless in the standard game, but, trust me, it ain't in this. Towards the end, when it's likely you'll be able to defeat emerald, the enemies will get an HP boost. In northern cave they have at least 5x HP. Some have more than 10x HP. Flash can kill some of these in 1 go. And the battles in general will be much easier and shorter. Trust me! Still if you want it custom made please let me know. I'll be happy to bring it back!  :-D

Enemies aren't just harder by adding STR, MAG and HP. I've also added status changes, speed etch. IMO there is a nice balance.

There are no Source drops beside the standard ones.

And I don't have the slightest clue how to change the AI. I know where it is located but it's too complex to figure out. It would require time I don't have.  :-D

 

[Darkever]

I like the idea of some "impossible" encounters at low levels (Sense may get some uses), but without "normal" encounter it would be incredibly hard to level up ^_^'

Can you tell me where are located the AIs for monsters? I read Terence's Enemy Mechanics FAQ, and most of the AI codes there seemed quite simple. It was probably a simplified pseudo-code, but the original code should be very similar... or not? As long as there is a way to make it human-readable (not hex or binary or whatever) I may look into it.

 

[Kashmir]

There are no Source drops beside the standard ones.

It would be good if you could make source drops available on the world map on disk 3, but i don't thinks its possible. Having to morph sources from monsters is too much of a pain for me to ever want to do.

 

[ARMs]

Everyone likes to play their own way but the way i view it if its hardcore there shoudln't be any unlimited sources to make all characters exact carbon copies.

if you get enough sources to boost characters speed to 255 the speed ups on bosses and enimies just dont' matter anymore.   those 50 points in defense matters alot in the end game.   2x dragon force on a 255 character reduces damage to 2 digits attacks while at 212 bosses can still deal 1000 to 3000 damage.   Max luck is jsut as crazy, Double the damage every turn and increases evasion.

 

[Kashmir]

Everyone likes to play their own way but the way i view it if its hardcore there shoudln't be any unlimited sources to make all characters exact carbon copies.

Thats why i said leave it till disk 3, on disk 3 you start off in the cave & most people just go straight down... that way you would have the choice for those who want to go searching the world for more source's, for those people not to have to waste so much time doing it. But i dont think its possible anyway, i dont think there is any disk 3 exclusive monsters to fight out on the world map.

edit:
I restarted the game from the start (because i deleted my save game by accident ). The balance is much better, and i noticed that there seemed to be alot more use of status effects which was excellent.

 

[gjoerulv]

Everyone likes to play their own way but the way i view it if its hardcore there shoudln't be any unlimited sources to make all characters exact carbon copies.

Thats why i said leave it till disk 3, on disk 3 you start off in the cave & most people just go straight down... that way you would have the choice for those who want to go searching the world for more source's, for those people not to have to waste so much time doing it. But i dont think its possible anyway, i dont think there is any disk 3 exclusive monsters to fight out on the world map.

It isn't possible to make the game read from different scenes only on disc 3. To make this wish come true you'd have to make that possible, which means alter the game engine (I believe  ). The only possible option here would be to add source drops to those monsters in the final cave. Does that sound appealing?

I restarted the game from the start (because i deleted my save game by accident ). The balance is much better, and i noticed that there seemed to be alot more use of status effects which was excellent.

Why thank you  :-D. v0.7.1 is just re-edited to the end of 1st continent+boat. currently I'm done editing 'til the end of the Pagoda tower. Oh look at the time. Gotta go  :-D :-D

 

[Kashmir]

Does that sound appealing?

Yeah. Try it... IMO i think its okay.

 

[gjoerulv]

I like the idea of some "impossible" encounters at low levels (Sense may get some uses), but without "normal" encounter it would be incredibly hard to level up ^_^'

There are places which are easy to level up without too much effort.

Can you tell me where are located the AIs for monsters? I read Terence's Enemy Mechanics FAQ, and most of the AI codes there seemed quite simple. It was probably a simplified pseudo-code, but the original code should be very similar... or not? As long as there is a way to make it human-readable (not hex or binary or whatever) I may look into it.

The AI for each monsters are in the scene files separately I believe. My guess is after the attack section (which is --if I remember correctly-- 24x28 bytes). I dunno how long the AI is, 'cause I haven't even checked yet.

If you, or anyone, could give me some info on it, it would be cool. But I don't think I would edit it too much if possible. Perhaps just some bosses.

 

[Kashmir]

The four slots armor adds +18 strength, that shouldn't do that. The player isn't informed that it happens, i only figured it out by accident... if you want it to add to strength, make it add to attack instead. or remove it completely as the four slots is for mage's not fighters.

 

[gjoerulv]

The four slots armor adds +18 strength, that shouldn't do that. The player isn't informed that it happens, i only figured it out by accident... if you want it to add to strength, make it add to attack instead. or remove it completely as the four slots is for mage's not fighters.

And fixed!!  :-D :-D :-D

Thanks for letting me know!!

Btw Str adds to Attack in case you didn't know.

 

[Kashmir]

Btw Str adds to Attack in case you didn't know.

Thats why i said if it was intentional then to add it to the attack instead, because that way the player would be able to see its effect before equipping the item.

 

[gjoerulv]

It's impossible to add attack to an armour. Not in the kernel at least. But the + to str was a mistake. Thank you for noticing!!  :-D And, as you may know, every armour adds to Spirit as it would to MDef. Thats because of the MDef bug in the game. In the normal version the shown MDef bonus on the equipment wouldn't add any MDef. But now it does. Not by adding MDef, but by adding Spirit. Which is the same as MDef. Think I mentioned this in the 1st post.

Again, any feedback is good feedback!!  :-D

 

[Asdayasman13]

Sorry if this has been said already, but I am busy, and don't have the time to read the entire thread.

When using this, the saves cannot be edited with JENOVA.

I haven't tried any other save editors.

Sorry.

 

[gjoerulv]

Hmmmm... Jenova works for me... Are you sure it's this mod that causes it? Do you have the newest official patch, v1.02? What is the exact problem? You know the older version of Jenova had a stat problem...

Try creating a new game, save, and then try it. If it really is this mod that causes it then I don't know why. You could try mailing me your saves so i can check them on my computer...

On a sidenote. This HUUUUGE project is finally done (v1.0). I'm yet to test it through, but I don't expect any bugs. It's available for dl as we speak.