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

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Gonna be tough; tomorrow is the busiest day of the year. We're doing a full stock-take D:
 
I've said a few times that I'm only starting work in earnest on New Game+ once the NT Mod has reached a point where I'm happy to call it 'finished' and upgrade it to 1.4. When the current re-balance + features are done, I'll likely call it 1.35 because the changes have been quite vast since 1.3 initially released. It's important I focus on the now and make the mod as good as possible with everything I can fit into it.

Edit: Forgot to mention something, I had an idea a while back about giving characters some kind of innate ability. For instance:

Barret: Gains +1 Vitality/Spirit when attacked (maximum of +20)
Tifa: Random counter-attack chance against physical attacks (separate from Counter-Attack materia)
Aeris: Party gets 2x HP from healing
Red XIII: Strength/Magic rises by +1 every turn (maximum of +15-20)
Yuffie: Has a random chance to evade a physical attack, separate from normal evasion (sort of like how Cactuars work)
Cait Sith: Some kind of randomised 'Rage' system using spells + buffs (like Gau, sorta)
Vincent: Innate Fire, Bolt, Poison, and Death resistance (based on his Limit forms)
Cid: When present in battle, all characters have their Luck stat doubled

Just stuff like that. What do you guys think, any ideas? Too broken? I couldn't think of one for Cloud :I
I like the idea so far. I'm not so worried about what the innates do because I know you'll do a good job figuring out the balance. What I really like is "how" the innates are activated. With the exception of Cid, I'm seeing abilities that fit the three basic roles of offensive, defensive, and support:

- Abilities that are activated by dealing damage (melee or magic).
- Abilities that are activated when receiving damage.
- Abilities that are amplified support (buffs, debuffs, heals).

This helps balance class roles among the characters and would give me an opportunity to choose other party makeups based on what enemies I'll be facing rather than who has the best weapons/limit breaks (because we know those are PERFECTLY balanced in vanilla game :P). I don't think Cid's fits the mold though because there is no RNG/Turn-based element involved in it. Having the ability work straight from the start of the fight and automatically double something would almost lock him in place as first party member for most party makeups I might want to play.

I would aim for all innate abilities to have some kind of %chance to activate if possible, with a maximum that it can stack. So for instance, Barret's current suggestion could be 10% chance on hit to gain a +5 Vitality/Spirit stack, up to 5 stacks. Offensive abilities could stack offensive stats, or simply perform a critical/double hit. When anything stacks though, I would like to see them wipe if the character dies and revives in combat.

No idea if any of this can be done. I'm just letting my excitement ramble on 8-)
 
Having the effects wipe out if you get KO'd makes sense, also adds value to keeping your guys alive rather than just reviving repeatedly!
 
To add to the soft lock at the crater Aquarii mentioned, I just got there myself and the same happened to me. When the scene first loaded only Cloud, Aerith, Cait Sith and Red were visible. As everyone walks away Yuffie and Vincent jumped into shot but that was it. Tifa wasn't there at all. If memory serves, it's her line at that moment (after the white flash and Cloud stops walking). Dunno if that's a possible cause?
 
To add to the soft lock at the crater Aquarii mentioned, I just got there myself and the same happened to me. When the scene first loaded only Cloud, Aerith, Cait Sith and Red were visible. As everyone walks away Yuffie and Vincent jumped into shot but that was it. Tifa wasn't there at all. If memory serves, it's her line at that moment (after the white flash and Cloud stops walking). Dunno if that's a possible cause?
Yeah, I made a mistake when I was tuning something in that scene. I forgot to restore some of the character's set position coordinates after I was done working on it. I've fixed it now, but I can't update the patcher until I've got these extended save points sorted out. They've been implemented, but I still need to run up to each one and make sure I've set them up properly. Once that's done, I can update the patch; it'll likely be tomorrow.

I like the idea so far. I'm not so worried about what the innates do because I know you'll do a good job figuring out the balance. What I really like is "how" the innates are activated. With the exception of Cid, I'm seeing abilities that fit the three basic roles of offensive, defensive, and support:

- Abilities that are activated by dealing damage (melee or magic).
- Abilities that are activated when receiving damage.
- Abilities that are amplified support (buffs, debuffs, heals).

This helps balance class roles among the characters and would give me an opportunity to choose other party makeups based on what enemies I'll be facing rather than who has the best weapons/limit breaks (because we know those are PERFECTLY balanced in vanilla game :P). I don't think Cid's fits the mold though because there is no RNG/Turn-based element involved in it. Having the ability work straight from the start of the fight and automatically double something would almost lock him in place as first party member for most party makeups I might want to play.

I would aim for all innate abilities to have some kind of %chance to activate if possible, with a maximum that it can stack. So for instance, Barret's current suggestion could be 10% chance on hit to gain a +5 Vitality/Spirit stack, up to 5 stacks. Offensive abilities could stack offensive stats, or simply perform a critical/double hit. When anything stacks though, I would like to see them wipe if the character dies and revives in combat.

No idea if any of this can be done. I'm just letting my excitement ramble on 8-)
I think any stat alterations are, handily enough, wiped when the party member is KO'd but if not I could add it to Death Counter AI where the original stats are restored (stats tend to be stored in variables so I can just push them back in, hopefully).

I figured Cid's innate wasn't too bad because most characters only have about 20-30 Luck anyway, but even if it didn't apply to his own high Luck then Cait would still be sky-rocketed to 200+ or thereabouts. I can make them trigger to a %, sure. Should I add a quick text string showing when it triggers? Would that be too distracting?

Edit: Alright, the new flevel patch is up. It brings in extended save points and fixes an issue with the ending scenes not playing out correctly. As for the extended save points, they have an option currently to visit the Rank-Up screen but this is currently disabled because it's not complete yet. Pressing that button should do nothing, but if I've missed one then expect to be teleported to the Rank-Up screen and then unceremoniously dumped in the Nibelheim Reactor :p
 
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Hey guys, I need a little help....

I was messing around with some older versions of the mod and I screwed up. I deleted my old backup of the scene, kernel and kernel 2 files (the game's originals, not the mod ones) and I kind of need them for comparing some things. I don't have the game with me here and can't reinstall, so I was wondering if anyone has these three original files and wouldn't mind sending me them. Otherwise I'm pretty much stuck.
 
Hi,

How can i get the golden chocobo because i want the KotR Materia :P
Same way as before; grab a Great + Good and breed them with a carob nut (racing them to Rank A can boost probability) for either a green or blue choco. Then after fighting a set number of battles they'll be able to breed again; aim for the opposite colour + gender of your first special chocobo (so if you got a green male the first time, aim for blue female the second time). Race these to A, then breed the Green + Blue with a Carob nut for a Black chocobo. Now catch a Wonderful of the opposite gender, race 'em to A or S, and then breed them with a Zeio Nut. And boom. Zeio Nuts are gotten from Goblins on Goblin Island, Carob Nuts are dropped by a red dragon called Vlak found in green areas of the Icicle Area on the world map.

There's a tonne of guides online for chocobo breeding too; I'd check them out if you haven't done this before. It's more or less the same procedure in NT than it is in the default game.

Hey guys, I need a little help....

I was messing around with some older versions of the mod and I screwed up. I deleted my old backup of the scene, kernel and kernel 2 files (the game's originals, not the mod ones) and I kind of need them for comparing some things. I don't have the game with me here and can't reinstall, so I was wondering if anyone has these three original files and wouldn't mind sending me them. Otherwise I'm pretty much stuck.
I've a patcher that can restore the game to it's default state: https://mega.co.nz/#!P59iDADZ!_tqb7dQiZgyH0TMOC5cjK-DTRe98aVfU8vO4T2AEs7w
 
hey sega chief

the people could also use the ff7 save editor to get the gold chocboo the easy way right
 
Sweet, new flevel patch with the extended save points. Time for another quick vacation in the world of New Threat. Thanks, Sega Chief.

Edit: On innate abilities @Sega Chief.

I feel that they should help reinforce the character's intended role by rewarding players for playing well and surviving. In that regard, your initial ideas are pretty great. Here are my thoughts and suggestions. Most of this is without % chance or a critical health requirement, but I'm fine with either if it makes things fun.

Cloud: An all-rounder is tricky, and the fact that he's the party leader for the majority of the game means the innate ability should be straight forward. Maybe a mild bonus to party Dex or Spr, like a stack system granting a +1 each turn, max +20 (or more every other turn depending on how the turn counter works). Makes long fights a little faster and safer assuming you aren't constantly losing characters.

Barret: The proposed Vit and Spr stack when attacked is pretty great. I'm wondering, though, if it would be possible to have his innate be based on row placement. It'd be interesting if Barret, a normally one dimensional tank, had an in-battle offensive and defensive wind-up mode. Front row = str & mag; back row = vit and spr. Go full tank, or go bruiser.

Tifa: She should get some kind of Dex bonus/stack if she uses the attack command and hits an elemental weakness. If that's not feasible, then a str bonus/stack while at full health would be a nice mix-up to her typical "critical HP" shenanigans. If you find some way of making the innate ability based on Rank Up, she could have a party leader version that grants a stack of Str to the party each turn.

Aeris: Get a stack of Mag every turn while at full hp or when you remove a negative status. I still like the idea of healing x2, though.

Red XIII: Attacking should grant a debuff stack of some kind. Maybe Mag or Spr debuff. If debuffs would be too much since they don't go away if Red XIII gets KOd, hitting an elemental weakness with magic could restore a small amount of MP back.

Yuffie: Attacking should grant a debuff stack of some kind. Maybe Str or Vit debuff. If debuffs would be too much since they don't go away if Yuffie gets KOd, hitting an elemental weakness with an attack or magic could remove a negative status effect from Yuffie.

Cait Sith: That Rage system would be crazy hype! You are a god if you pull it off. If not, I'd settle for something simple, like getting a stack of Vit/Spr for casting spells.

Vincent: Innate resistance when in a limit form is great. If it's just one element, maybe it should be immunity since you're still losing control of Vincent? Well, I tend not to rely on limits in the NT Mod anyway, so I'd prefer if the innate ability wasn't restricted to the limit break form. Something like recovering a little HP when hitting an elemental weakness with magic, or gaining a buff if a negative status is successfully resisted.

Cid: Luck boost sounds awesome. Luck stacks every turn up to a max would be the happy middle ground, but I'm totally cool with 2x luck. Cid for party president.
 
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About row changing - it could be cool (or overpowered) for Barret to sit in back row getting tough, before hopping into the front row to punch stuff hard while keeping his toughness!
 
I like that idea of Barret's bonuses changing depending on which Row he's in. I think I can set that up, depending on how handy the game is with checking a character's row (Grunt's default AI should provide what I'm after). I'd have the bonus gained from one row be reset when receiving a bonus from the other Row (so if you build his Vit/Spr to max stacks in the back row, these are reset when receiving the first Front Row stack).

Tifa: She should get some kind of Dex bonus/stack if she uses the attack command and hits an elemental weakness. If that's not feasible, then a str bonus/stack while at full health would be a nice mix-up to her typical "critical HP" shenanigans. If you find some way of making the innate ability based on Rank Up, she could have a party leader version that grants a stack of Str to the party each turn.
There's an idea; I have a few empty variables that can be used for in-battle purposes. Changing/upgrading the innate based on Rank-Up could add an interesting dimension to it beyond stats. It depends how easy it is to implement though, at present I only know how to set these in an actual battle (Arrange is triggered through an alternate first battle with Trainee MPs that have the AI to flip the variable). If I can figure out how to get it to work from a Field trigger then I could do some things there.

Stacks at MaxHP is a good idea too to avoid the critical HP scenario, although MaxMP could offer some possibilities. Maybe a temporary boost to Magic while sitting at MaxMP which is lost after casting the first spell?
 
Max MP bonus sounds fun, and could be a pretty big bonus as it doesn't become too powerful until you either have MP Absorb (which rarely covers the cost of the spell anyway) or lots of ethers!
 
Max MP bonus sounds fun, and could be a pretty big bonus as it doesn't become too powerful until you either have MP Absorb (which rarely covers the cost of the spell anyway) or lots of ethers!
Oh yeah, MP Absorb would be pretty great with that. I was just thinking of something like +10/15 or something, or could do something else entirely with it like better defences or whatnot.

Anyways, good news; the early prototype for Barret actually worked without a hitch. Got his Strength to rise 5 times after he was attacked while he was in the front row. Now I need to code in the back-row part of it; my only concern is that the kernel might go over it's size limit while implementing all of them, but I've made a back-up just in case.
 
I may have mentioned this before but I still think FF8's limit break system was the best risk/reward system out there, in that case it only activates when low on HP rather than by damage taken.

I think you said it couldn't be done anyway.
 
FF8's limit break system is easily the most broken aspect of that game; it's so easily abused that it forms the foundation for most speedruns + the No Junction run and can pretty much ruin the game if you let it. There is little risk associated with it; all you need is at least one guy with critical HP, the other two supporting him/her by keeping themselves healthy while chucking a Phoenix Down/similar at the critical party member if they get KO'd.

If I use an innate triggered by critical/max HP then it'll be for an appropriately small bonus as opposed to, say, a potential 7 hit Renzokuken + 17 hits from Lionheart on tap.
 
maybe you could take the FF8 idea and just nerf it a little, maybe make it less likely to activate, so you need to keep mashing the 'switch character' button until it activates, in addion there can be a cool down period whereby after doing a limit break it will take soo many clicks/turns before it can be reactivated with low HP.

BTW I have a 52 page document about the new threat mod requests, its basically all I have posted here, seems FF7 needs a lot of work.
 
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Same way as before; grab a Great + Good and breed them with a carob nut (racing them to Rank A can boost probability) for either a green or blue choco. Then after fighting a set number of battles they'll be able to breed again; aim for the opposite colour + gender of your first special chocobo (so if you got a green male the first time, aim for blue female the second time). Race these to A, then breed the Green + Blue with a Carob nut for a Black chocobo. Now catch a Wonderful of the opposite gender, race 'em to A or S, and then breed them with a Zeio Nut. And boom. Zeio Nuts are gotten from Goblins on Goblin Island, Carob Nuts are dropped by a red dragon called Vlak found in green areas of the Icicle Area on the world map.

There's a tonne of guides online for chocobo breeding too; I'd check them out if you haven't done this before. It's more or less the same procedure in NT than it is in the default game.

I've a patcher that can restore the game to it's default state: https://mega.co.nz/#!P59iDADZ!_tqb7dQiZgyH0TMOC5cjK-DTRe98aVfU8vO4T2AEs7w
That´s the Problem. I just get a yellow or black chocobo. The golden one doesn´t appear.
 
That´s the Problem. I just get a yellow or black chocobo. The golden one doesn´t appear.
Ah, there's a glitch with that. I think you need to talk to a specific parent first in order to have any chance of getting a Gold:

When speaking to them for the breeding, always speak to the Black Chocobo first. And try to get them both to S-Rank for the best chance of success.
 
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