[FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v2.0.999992)

[Walter253]

yes you could simply change the boss fight so you need to destroy his minions first, that would also solve it, although I was under the impression that he resurrected them if they were destroyed?

It is the case. So ye the fight would be more intensive if we have to fight these guys for hit him with short range attack.
Would be crazy to add him a magic counter too but it's sound trash . ;p

-) Reduced encounters and disable run away options

I had enemy away, it didn’t make much of a difference I found, only when it was mastered, in which case it made too much of a difference, I think I may request this mod elsewhere as there is a tweak in 7th heaven to switch off encounters, but not reduce.

I personaly edited this myself to set only 1 level for Enemy Away/Enemy Lure (like Underwater Materia)
To remove the AP needed you have to set this at 65535 or more and the Wall Market tool will set it to blank by default if you click on another Materia.
Then remove all Materia Type Modifier expect the 1 and 2 and set the 2 at 100 (assuming it's not in hex i don't know, otherwise 63 should be the right value?).
 You should never see any encounter like No-Enc in FF8. To half the encounter rate then set it to 50?
See the screen for the exemple: http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2015/19/1430984400-enemylure.png
Not sure if it's work since I only tested with a value at 14 like the original purpose. I have to try it for the sake of knowledge.

 

[Rufus]

yeah if you had to destroy them, then you could attack him for a while, but then he regenerated them, and you had to destroy them again, it could be kind of cool.

well you could just make him generally immune to magic, I guess limit breaks would still work on him including tifas limit break.

but I can't think on any boss that had an issue with short range attacks without him being high up or floating or something, I don't know if it's possible to change the bosses status like that on the fly, also barret would still be able to attack him regardless

maybe something else could be done that forces you to destroy them first, maybe the minions could cast shield on the boss very similar to the palmer fight, and at that point you wont have debarrier, but in this case shield could be timed,...hmm seems I am going into something quite complicated.

 

[Rufus]

-) heal HP/MP at save points ala FFX

You can still do it with Makou, it's not hard at all to do. Just add a simple commande like this :
http://www.noelshack.com/2015-19-1430982759-hpmpsave.png
to the whole save points, find them easily with search function with SAVE. And that's it you got your FFX save point.

Wow, thanks for letting me know how it's done, I have never made a mod before but maybe this will be my first.

I'm surprised it's not been implemented already, tents are a waste of time, its like 'buy a tent for 10gil and fully recover at any save point' for ff1-9, then when 10 came along it finally realised how stupid they were and just gave everyone full recovery at all save points.

I noticed you can change encounter rate as well, which I like, I will need to look into the tool, but I wonder how my changes would affect other mods, wont anything I do conflict with NT mod, or would I install NT mod then I open up the files with makou, then edit the new fields with my extra changes then save that.

-) HP regenerates by walking
Interesting idea; I think it can be done but again some strategies depend on low HP like Powersoul/Masterfist.

Heh the accessory Cat's bell already do this. We don't need to have this all the time, do we?

yes I mentioned the Cat's bell earlier, but no it would be optional, as I said at the very top of the post when I made these suggestions these would be tweakable.

example

KO'd members automatically revive after battle - like chrono trigger     on/off
Modern Save Points recovery ala FFX                                                 on/off
recover HP while walking ala xenoblade chronicles                              on/off
no encounters on world map                                                            on/off
encounter rate reduced by 30%                                                       on/off
disable run away ability                                                                  on/off

but I was thinking it would be presented in the same way that gameplay tweaks is in 7th haeven where people choose 'lucky tifa' etc.

 

[Walter253]

I'm surprised it's not been implemented already, tents are a waste of time, its like 'buy a tent for 10gil and fully recover at any save point' for ff1-9, then when 10 came along it finally realised how stupid they were and just gave everyone full recovery at all save points.

I'd like to removeTent from all shop, so that they're only available on chest/enemy drop.

I noticed you can change encounter rate as well, which I like, I will need to look into the tool, but I wonder how my changes would affect other mods, wont anything I do conflict with NT mod, or would I install NT mod then I open up the files with makou, then edit the new fields with my extra changes then save that.

You can do lot of thing with Makou. The only thing you have to be worried if you change yourself the flevel.lgp from NT mod is that for next release/next hotfix all your change 'll be canceled since SegaChief doesn't know about it.

 

[Rufus]

why remove tent, that will make no difference balance wise, phoenix downs and potions are practically free anyway, removing tents would only make the game worse as you need to spend more time in the menu.

yes im guessing i will have to wait for NT mod latest revision, then change the flevel with makou, and I would have to do this everytime a new version of NT mod is out.


okay I had a look at that code for the save point, it works really well, I even removed the message so I just run through the save file like ff6, and I get my party recovered, its basically like ff6 and ffX save poitns rolled into one, this combined with the save anywhere tweak makes a big difference to gameplay

BUT, when i search for all other cases of save points I get a lot, maybe over 100 different ones, the even bigger issue is I take it I will need to mod it all over again when another NT mod revision is made.

so really this method isn't viable, is there some other way around this, maybe a way to change the functionality of all save points in one go, or maybe another way to do this all together.

 

[qmodder]

The models I was looking for was Barret Aeris and Dyne

 

[Sega Chief]

Aeris: RVAA (all character-based models start at RSAA (Character under Frog status) and end at SMAA (Chaos)

Dyne: EHAA

Barret has four separate battle models that correspond to the different attack animations he has with certain weapons:

-) SBAA: Melee
-) SCAA: Bullet-based Ranged
-) SDAA: Cannon-based Ranged
-) SEAA: Microlaser Ranged

 

[qmodder]

Ive tried to get to RVAA with PrC but by putting numbers in the box the closest i could get is 01CF which gives RVDA how do I convert the letters to numbers? same with EHAA and SCAA

 

[Sega Chief]

Oh, I've misled you by accident. In PrC it lists the DA file, not the AA; sorry about that. In Kimera, we usually load the AA file for the entire model but in PrC it does it by the DA file. 01CF is correct for Aeris.

 

[Sega Chief]

Quick update:

I'm currently working through the AI of every enemy in NT; the AI groups I used are quite old now, so I'm tightening them up and adding Arrange functionality for selected enemies so they have some additional attacks/AI to run through when that setting is selected. I also skipped some of the more complex enemies during initial development but I'm more confident with AI now to revisit these and clean up the majority of their scripts.

In addition to that, I'm taking the opportunity to 'shrink' the scene.bin and have started cleaning up duplicate enemy entries that aren't really adding much to the game. In their place, I'm either adding new low-key enemies to bolster the ranks or leaving the spaces empty for a future date.

There's some issues with the current build that need to be highlighted:
-) Difficulty Modes; While Expert is likely functional, AA is poorly optimised due to a bad decision on my part to boost enemy Magic Defence which renders a large number of fights too tedious. Save files started on Expert or AA will be compatible with the update that rolls out Original/Arrange in their place (using the same variables); but I recommend steering clear of AA for now.

-) Walter highlighted some AI issues with enemies using certain flags to direct their attacks. I'll hopefully have these cleaned up for the update, but in the meantime if you see an enemy decide to hit itself then that's why it's doing that :I

 

[Rufus]

Good to hear progress is being made, at what point do you plan to call it 1.4?

and is there some issue that the latest version is not on 7th heaven, and when 1.4 does come out will it be on 7th heaven at the same time.

A change log would also be great I i can check that the parts that have been done have actually been done.

 

[Sega Chief]

This isn't an update to 1.4, it's just maintenance fixes for 1.3 and some small additions here and there. I want v1.4 to be a 'completed' mod, with all of NT's features and content not just implemented but bug-free and working as intended. The mod will be sitting on 1.4 for a while, because the last addition going into NT for v1.5 (the last planned major update) is the most ambitious part of the project.

But for now, I'm focusing on improving 1.3. As for the IRO, Alyza's quite busy right now with her job and NT tends to be in a constant state of flux so it's likely best it stays as-is on 7H for now until I've gotten things settled a bit.

A change-log is something I should have been keeping from the start; I could put a loose one together based on versions then start doing it by date for recent updates.

 

[Rufus]

care to tell what is in the plan for 1.5 ;D

I just can't see it being more ambitious than it already is, maybe in that version yuffie and vincet become forced party members and tough bosses in their own right, maybe also even more new threat bosses, the ones I played seemed great anyway.

also if your expecting me to NOT do the end story bosses prior to the new threat bosses as you need to EXP, I think you should maybe make that understood to the gamer somehow, thus my frustration at beating hojo at level 40 then jenova/sephiroth being inpossible at level 42, this was on 1.2 as well so things may be different.

it may even be a good idea to not allow the final battle to be accessible until the new therats are dealed with, I'm not talking about the ruby weapon etc. I mean just like fighting Zack, aerith's mime etc.

 

[puffypez]

Hey tried finding it on here but couldn't just want to ask, i skipped powersoul keeper and went straight to rocket town to fight palmer, but after defeating him the game kind of froze at the end of the battle as it wouldn't load the battle scene where palmer taunts the party runs away and gets hit by the lorry.  It literally kept my ATB at wait and was just playing the boss battle theme.

Is this because i skipped the boss battle with the powersoul keeper???

 

[Sega Chief]

Hey tried finding it on here but couldn't just want to ask, i skipped powersoul keeper and went straight to rocket town to fight palmer, but after defeating him the game kind of froze at the end of the battle as it wouldn't load the battle scene where palmer taunts the party runs away and gets hit by the lorry.  It literally kept my ATB at wait and was just playing the boss battle theme.

Is this because i skipped the boss battle with the powersoul keeper???

No, it's got nothing to do with Keeper; it's an AI error in Palmer. I just checked, and it looks like I forgot to add an attack to Palmer's animation pool; he got a new one for the difficulty modes update. I'll make a quick patch for it.

care to tell what is in the plan for 1.5 ;D

I just can't see it being more ambitious than it already is, maybe in that version yuffie and vincet become forced party members and tough bosses in their own right, maybe also even more new threat bosses, the ones I played seemed great anyway.

also if your expecting me to NOT do the end story bosses prior to the new threat bosses as you need to EXP, I think you should maybe make that understood to the gamer somehow, thus my frustration at beating hojo at level 40 then jenova/sephiroth being inpossible at level 42, this was on 1.2 as well so things may be different.

it may even be a good idea to not allow the final battle to be accessible until the new therats are dealed with, I'm not talking about the ruby weapon etc. I mean just like fighting Zack, aerith's mime etc.

I've got something big planned for 1.5. In the meantime, I'm just working through ideas for features and seeing what can be implemented and what can't. At the moment I'm wanting to do something with Gold Saucer's Event Square; it basically lies derelict after the date scene for the entire game so something could be done here; a movie/music theater was a suggestion someone made.

As for the progression curve on Disc 3, I'm about to start a new playthrough of NT so that I can correct balance, progression, etc. 1.2 is a bit different compared to 1.3, but it's been a while since I went through anyway so it's time to see where things are at.

 

[Yuffie1983]

No, it's got nothing to do with Keeper; it's an AI error in Palmer. I just checked, and it looks like I forgot to add an attack to Palmer's animation pool; he got a new one for the difficulty modes update. I'll make a quick patch for it.

I've got something big planned for 1.5. In the meantime, I'm just working through ideas for features and seeing what can be implemented and what can't. At the moment I'm wanting to do something with Gold Saucer's Event Square; it basically lies derelict after the date scene for the entire game so something could be done here; a movie/music theater was a suggestion someone made.

As for the progression curve on Disc 3, I'm about to start a new playthrough of NT so that I can correct balance, progression, etc. 1.2 is a bit different compared to 1.3, but it's been a while since I went through anyway so it's time to see where things are at.

I think someone came up with it before but the idea of auction was a good idea. Anyway I was wonder could this mod work if I was to use Bootleg and then install this mod afterwards or will it get messed up. Or could it be used with &th heaven and then installed afterwards.

 

[Sega Chief]

Yeah, an auction was one of the ideas. Cloudiar made one before, I think, so it's definitely possible. Problem is, I don't like auctions 

I honestly don't know about the Bootleg thing; I think a lot of people tried but it didn't work out very well. As for 7H, maybe if you installed it and then applied mods on top it could work out...but you'd need to be careful not to replace any of the critical files like the kernel, scene, and certain parts of the flevel. Before doing anything though, make sure to back-up your FF7 Data folder in case something goes awry. That way you can swap it back in easier if it doesn't work out.

Edit: New patches are up. I didn't want to update just yet, not until I'd finished the overhaul of enemy AI & Balance, but a critical bug with Palmer needed fixing so up it goes. I think if you're playing the game on it's Normal difficulty then you don't necessarily need to update but if you do encounter trouble with Palmer when he dies then the patch will fix it.

Edit2: The damn battles in the Train Graveyard (the early ones with Sweeper, Mono-Drive, and Guard Hounds) weren't set properly. I'll (quickly) update the scene hotfix again.

Edit3: That's that fixed; forgot to change the Sweeper's ID in formations to the new 'junk' one I used in Gongaga.

Edit4: ...except that Junk Sweeper model is the 'type 2' sweeper model and has fewer animations than the type 1 sweeper which means it causes a soft lock when it tries to use Anim 5 (because it doesn't have one). Gimme a sec-

Edit5: Fixed it this time; all tested. New scene hotfix patch is up.

 

[natepley]

Hi Sega Chief,

I had an alternate idea for how players could get new spells without having as many materia equipped as possible all the time.  The idea of finding materia with ap already on them would work, but requires players to replace their existing materia.  So I thought of a way that would allow the player to level up his or her own materia without equipping it when they don't want to use it.  You could set up either  forced optional events when you think a player should gain a new spell.  I'll give an imaginary example because that's easier to communicate:

You decide that before fighting bottomswell is when players should gain bolt 2, and level 2 cover.  You put an NPC in Junon that tells you he can upgrade your magic, but you have to do what he says.  He tells you to equip your lightning materia and cover materia but remove all the others.  Once you do that, you enter a battle with him in which you just cast bolt on him or something and then the battle is over.  He gives you the exact amount of AP to level up those 2 materia.  Done.

To make it a little more interesting the NPC could be like a Magic Pot enemy and demand that you give him an item.  This item could be something that you have to win from a tricky or difficult normal enemy.  Maybe buff the Zemzelet a bit and make his drop the item you need to give the NPC.  That would make it kind of like a mini-quest to upgrade your materia.

The weakness to this solution would be that it relies on trusting the player to actually remove his or her other materia (a reward of 1500 ap would be hard to pass up).  But if players wanted to cheat and make it easy for themselves, I kind of feel that that's up to them.  They can choose whether or not to follow the rules and really play NT like it's supposed to be.

Anyways, I think that either solution could work.  I hope this latest idea is helpful, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with your mod.

 

[Walter253]

Gold Saucer's Event Square

The theater for movie and music is good idea!
(can be an issue for original 1998 version since the movie are played on different Disc. but not a real problem I think).
Make a Boss at Disc 2 on this Event Square, like after Junon's Escape before the team know where Cloud is.
Then after defeating this new boss the player unlock the theater and 100 GP or maybe a cool armor/items.
Make movie free to watch but they 're unlocked after seeing them in game. Music could cost GP to unlock but are free to listen.
Also, you can add some PNJ like the one for Boss Rush in the Highwind. Plus why not a save point?

The auction ala FFIX why not

Another suggestion about Event Square:
Would be fun if the player can re-play the date scene but with a "new threat scenario" at Disc 3 before entering North Cavern.
The participation would cost GP (or Gils?), and give a reward depending of the player's choice.
The Dragon could be a new threat enemy too


About Save Point :
A mini-quest that consist to find all the Save Point in the game (except from North Cavern).
It's mostly for the fun of the completion, a reward is not necessary, maybe an useless key-item
In the mythril cave the PNJ give you information and say how many Save Point the player is missing.
Then hide some Save Point in the game and/or make one that attack the player on contact.
Not a hard battle ofc and the fake Save Point become a real one after the fight.

 

[Rufus]

I'd love FF7's magic system to be fixed such as what natepley suggests, I have a much simpler idea to give the gamer materia though.

my Idea is to give materia at the end of boss fights, so you can get esuna after a boss fight as an example, for the cases of bolt2 well the gamer would simply unequip their bolt1 for bolt2, its not too unlike ff8 where you can move level 2 magic to people and remove level 1 magic from others, something like this only happens at a few points in the whole game, its likely you will get fire2/bolt2/ice2/Quake2 all at the same time, I would also suggest everyone getting 3 of each.

A materia like life2 is something you can get after defeating aerith mime in the new threat boss, that way defeating bosses would be really cool as you get materia that really makes a difference,whereas vanilla ff7 was really crap in that you got life2 by just equiping life as soon as possible and just leveling up the materia which is just a boring way to give you awesome materia.

for materia like 2x cut that can come from maybe the last new threat boss, I think there should be only 1 materia like that and you can't level it to 4x cut, but I'll make that your decision, I don't even know where 2x cut is in your NT mod.

but yeah doing this would make the game WAY better, possibly the best final fantasy magic obtaining system to date.

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I don't see the point in movie/music player, I'd never use it, but I wouldn't be bothered if it was there or not.

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an FF9 auction, not sure on that, overall I would prefer the whole money system was rebalanced better, maybe it should be discarded entirely, or used only for the auction? and in that case shops sell items for free, because things are soo cheap in final fantasy they might as well be free.

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I don't know what you mean by replaying the date scene, would you get another boss fight, and how would this play into the story, well i think fighting a boss fight it that play thing would be cool, but a battle map would have to be made.

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finding the save points seems useless, but I guess some people like that kind of thing.

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another cool thing could be to have midgar zolom as a new threat boss, in this case he wont eject you out of battle, he can also give you cool materia, I don't know how midgar zolom is scaled in NT mod, I never went back to try to defeat him later in the game.