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

[Sega Chief]

I'd like to report a minor bug. In the Sector 1 reactor, at the beginning of the game, the Field Music parameter doesn't work for regular battles (before the player triggers the bomb timer). I turned on the Field Music option as soon as I got to the save point before the bomb setup, immediately got a battle, and noticed that the regular battle music was still playing. It seems to be an issue only in this moment though; I loaded a different save and got into a battle elsewhere, and the field music option was working fine in battle.

Maybe it's just an incorrect flag somewhere?

There are lore implications with Cloud using the Masamune that perhaps would be too weird. Maybe for Game Type B it would be fine.

What do you think about adding a side quest that ends with the Buster Sword getting powered up to become Cloud's best weapon? I think that'd be super cool. The Buster Sword is Cloud's canonical sword; it'd be nice if he would circle back to using it at the end. Similarly to the Masamune in Chrono Trigger for Frog.

It seems that when the flag is toggled, it won't affect the music until you visit the next screen. When I get a bit of time, I could sit down and add the music behaviour change itself to each save point's toggle function so that it's being immediately changed rather than only taking effect when the next screen loads.

Would like to power up older weapons in some way, but think it needs a separate kernel or some way to modify the static values loaded in by the kernel while the game is running.

Is this in the scene before the battle, or in the actual battle itself? It could be the camera data needs to be adjusted on my end if the party is off-screen. If it is in-battle, try toggling the camera mode to the other setting in the menu>config; I tend to do all my testing with the normal camera mode, rather than fixed.


During battle.  I've tried both camera options and they're still off screen.  It must be a problem on my end because I've seen recent playthroughs of the mod on YT and no one had the issue.

Edit:  Got it.  I've been running the 60FPS mod, it apparently bugs out this battle camera. 

Gotcha; thanks for letting me know. I'll see if I can alter the battle camera somehow to avoid this.

***

Patch is up, 2.0998

Spoiler

2.0998
-) Disabled encounters during Church barrels scene
-) Tweaked save option pre-Bizarro boss (can save after each party reorganisation instead of once only)
-) Improved scene handling in final area (saving, fade transitions, character placement)
-) Fixed party leader support for secret event (North Crater, Type B)
-) Added minor visual use for Flowers key item during two potential scenes
-) Added logic to check for escape during Red Materia cave boss battle (was unable to replicate exploit but added anyway)
-) Adjustment to Hojo dialogue (Mako Cannon, Disc 2)
-) Fixed toggle for No Exp at Kalm Savepoint
-) Reverted change to Ultimate weapons (special formulas, 0 base power)

I'm about to run out of numbers, maybe it's time to jump up to 2.1 soon?

 

[AuthenticM]

It seems that when the flag is toggled, it won't affect the music until you visit the next screen. When I get a bit of time, I could sit down and add the music behaviour change itself to each save point's toggle function so that it's being immediately changed rather than only taking effect when the next screen loads.

Ah, I see, I wasn't aware of this. If that's the case, then that's fine. I don't mind that. I was just worried that the feature wasn't working properly. If changing the music behaviour requires too much work, then you don't have to worry about that.

Would like to power up older weapons in some way, but think it needs a separate kernel or some way to modify the static values loaded in by the kernel while the game is running.

So it would require a lot of work / would be hard ?

I'm about to run out of numbers, maybe it's time to jump up to 2.1 soon?

I have a request for 2.1. Could you please make it so that Aerith can only be revived in Game Type B? I really like the content partitioning between Game Type A and B, A being essentially a "vanilla+" experience, while B goes buck wild with changes. But the possibility of saving Aerith does not jive with the rest of the vanilla+ experience that is Game Type A. I know some people who are adamant about not wanting to touch New Threat because of the possibility of saving Aerith, and altering the game's story, being merely present, while at the same time being interested in the new game systems and mechanics. If saving Aerith was scrubbed from Type A, I know that it would get more people to try out the mod. The new bosses aren't an issue because the crazy endgame bosses are locked behind a flag that is only triggered when you reach the very end of the last dungeon, which everyone only reaches after they have experienced the vanilla endgame. And the couple of mandatory new bosses such as the Nemesis Scorpion tank are minor and are well-integrated into the lore.

I know you've been resistant to this request in the past, but I would seriously appreciate it if you could reconsider. New Threat might have been known as "the mod that lets you save Aerith" in the past, but I think this reputation lapsed years ago. New Threat is bigger than this now, and I truly believe that the mod would benefit from secluding Saving Aerith to Game Type B because it would cater to a bigger demographic.

Please.

Thank you.

 

[Sega Chief]

Ah, I see, I wasn't aware of this. If that's the case, then that's fine. I don't mind that. I was just worried that the feature wasn't working properly. If changing the music behaviour requires too much work, then you don't have to worry about that.

So it would require a lot of work / would be hard ?

I have a request for 2.1. Could you please make it so that Aerith can only be revived in Game Type B? I really like the content partitioning between Game Type A and B, A being essentially a "vanilla+" experience, while B goes buck wild with changes. But the possibility of saving Aerith does not jive with the rest of the vanilla+ experience that is Game Type A. I know some people who are adamant about not wanting to touch New Threat because of the possibility of saving Aerith, and altering the game's story, being merely present, while at the same time being interested in the new game systems and mechanics. If saving Aerith was scrubbed from Type A, I know that it would get more people to try out the mod. The new bosses aren't an issue because the crazy endgame bosses are locked behind a flag that is only triggered when you reach the very end of the last dungeon, which everyone only reaches after they have experienced the vanilla endgame. And the couple of mandatory new bosses such as the Nemesis Scorpion tank are minor and are well-integrated into the lore.

I know you've been resistant to this request in the past, but I would seriously appreciate it if you could reconsider. New Threat might have been known as "the mod that lets you save Aerith" in the past, but I think this reputation lapsed years ago. New Threat is bigger than this now, and I truly believe that the mod would benefit from secluding Saving Aerith to Game Type B because it would cater to a bigger demographic.

Please.

Thank you.

It's pretty late and I'll need to think about this; if anyone has an opinion on it, then feel free to chime in. I did actually consider locking it to Type B a few times during the development of 2.0 but I had a couple of reasons for not doing that in the end, will go over those tomorrow. I'm open to changing my mind though.

 

[AhBeng2]

It's pretty late and I'll need to think about this; if anyone has an opinion on it, then feel free to chime in. I did actually consider locking it to Type B a few times during the development of 2.0 but I had a couple of reasons for not doing that in the end, will go over those tomorrow. I'm open to changing my mind though.

Hi Sega,

I have some requests for version 2.1 if you do eventually create one. A while ago, I suggested that Aeris (if she is revived) should have a stronger reaction to Cloud handing over the Black Materia to Sephiroth at the Northern Crater in Disc 2. Currently, she is pretty much a passive observer to the whole event; which is very odd from a story perspective. Hopefully, you can add some dialogue for her in version 2.1 to make the whole event more coherent. 

I also did suggest having Aeris collaborate with Tifa to "fix" Cloud's mind in the lifestream during the Mideel sequence since in the OG, it was left ambiguous as how Tifa's (and Cloud's) mind survived after drowning in the lifestream. I understand that you were very reluctant to make this modification previously, but I hope that you will take this suggestion onboard this time around.

This one will be difficult but it will be good to have more story modifications (akin to the Midgar part) to the Type B version of NT; if possible.

Thanks for all your hard work.

 

[Sega Chief]

Had to update prematurely, I left the red materia cave boss HP low for testing by mistake. We're on 2.0999 now; only change was to their HP.

Hi Sega,

I have some requests for version 2.1 if you do eventually create one. A while ago, I suggested that Aeris (if she is revived) should have a stronger reaction to Cloud handing over the Black Materia to Sephiroth at the Northern Crater in Disc 2. Currently, she is pretty much a passive observer to the whole event; which is very odd from a story perspective. Hopefully, you can add some dialogue for her in version 2.1 to make the whole event more coherent. 

I also did suggest having Aeris collaborate with Tifa to "fix" Cloud's mind in the lifestream during the Mideel sequence since in the OG, it was left ambiguous as how Tifa's (and Cloud's) mind survived after drowning in the lifestream. I understand that you were very reluctant to make this modification previously, but I hope that you will take this suggestion onboard this time around.

This one will be difficult but it will be good to have more story modifications (akin to the Midgar part) to the Type B version of NT; if possible.

Thanks for all your hard work.

We discussed this idea before, and I'm not keen on the Mideel part of it. I can't recall what I said before, but that character doesn't really have anything to do with that scene in general; it's Cloud and Tifa figuring things out around the events of Nibelheim. I'd rather leave the how of it ambiguous than use Aeris like some sort of magic bullet to explain it away and then have her hanging around for that whole thing like a third wheel.

I'll look at the black materia scene though, from what I recall the 3rd character you take with you will usually just kind of stand there in idle for the whole scene. This carried over from vanilla, so what I could do is try and rectify that to a small extent. Nothing major, just something so it doesn't seem as odd.

 

[KomradKrunch]

I'll check that save point and update it tonight.

Looks like it works now; thank you!

I saw earlier in this thread you were talking about revamping hard mode. I've personally found the lack of free gil a welcome challenge when paired with a level cap (so that grinding for saleable items doesn't make the party over powered). For example:

Spoiler

In an earlier attempt at hard mode I spent some time stealing ethers in the train graveyard after picking up Tifa to be able to afford a second steal and restore materia for the Airbuster fight. However, just that little bit of early grinding set me up to be high-enough level for all of Midgar to be trivial.

In my latest run-through, I only let the party get to level 8 before getting on the train, despite doing a similar amount of grinding for items, and didn't allow them to hit level 9 until after they beat Airbuster. That method of only allowing one level per story milestone made all of Midgar much more interesting.

Perhaps making something like that an official part of hard mode might be enough to get the challenge level to where you want it?

 

[MidgarCanon]

Hello, sorry if the question has already been answered, but is it possible to play this mod in german language?

 

[Sega Chief]

Looks like it works now; thank you!

I saw earlier in this thread you were talking about revamping hard mode. I've personally found the lack of free gil a welcome challenge when paired with a level cap (so that grinding for saleable items doesn't make the party over powered). For example:

Spoiler

In an earlier attempt at hard mode I spent some time stealing ethers in the train graveyard after picking up Tifa to be able to afford a second steal and restore materia for the Airbuster fight. However, just that little bit of early grinding set me up to be high-enough level for all of Midgar to be trivial.

In my latest run-through, I only let the party get to level 8 before getting on the train, despite doing a similar amount of grinding for items, and didn't allow them to hit level 9 until after they beat Airbuster. That method of only allowing one level per story milestone made all of Midgar much more interesting.

Perhaps making something like that an official part of hard mode might be enough to get the challenge level to where you want it?

The original builds of the mod (1.0 up until maybe 1.2-1.3?) had a level cap built into it where enemies would check the level of participants and then 0 their EXP if it exceeded whatever value was set. Could resurrect that for this stand-alone hard mod, if it gets made.

Hello, sorry if the question has already been answered, but is it possible to play this mod in german language?

I'm afraid there's no german translation of the mod currently that I'm aware of; the 1.5 build of the mod was translated into spanish by a user called Markul (he maintains that build as his own), and I think satsuki or mexico on ff7.fr translated it into French (unsure about that, I may be mis-remembering).

 

[MidgarCanon]

Too bad. Yet you do a good job. your mod is recommended to me even in German Discord

 

[BiOMEGA]

The original builds of the mod (1.0 up until maybe 1.2-1.3?) had a level cap built into it where enemies would check the level of participants and then 0 their EXP if it exceeded whatever value was set. Could resurrect that for this stand-alone hard mod, if it gets made.

That better be 0 AP, too

I think that'd probably be a workable solution, but it's tough to say. I'm not usually a fan of gating like that in hardmode content - I want to have to use the tools at my disposal, not have them taken away. But level does have a significant impact in this game, so that you'd probably be hard-pressed to eliminate effectively otherwise. It may be a necessary evil to gate levels by progression thresholds.

You can easily see why that's important if you play e.g. gjoerulv's hardcore mod, which has several moments where spending some grinding just a few extra levels SIGNIFICANTLY affects the difficulty of upcoming fights (e.g. the first Jenova). Not so much at endgame, but during the story, absolutely. And once you overlevel things by a good margin, the fights really don't feel fun anymore.

I don't suppose the reverse is possible? Scaling enemies UP based on your level? That'd be interesting to explore, and could even spawn an entire different mode (start at lvl 99, have everything be super powerful).

 

[NissyHime]

Im not sure if im just very unlucky, but does cloud's passive not stack with other counter materia? after I started using them I havent seen his passive while defending happen a single time

 

[AhBeng2]

Hi Sega,

I was just playing through the latest version and I found one oddity.

Spoiler

During Cloud's and Aeris's sidequest at Nibelhiem, right after the battle royale, both Cloud and Aeris engage in a conversation. There are now flowers located between both of them that weren't there previously. Do these flowers serve any purpose? These flowers seem to throw off Aeris's position on the screen when she approaches Cloud and holds his hand.

I tried to post a screenshot of this cut scene but unable to do so.

 

[NissyHime]

I just read in the forums how to save aerith, if that wasn't done on disc 1 do you permanently lose the ability to get her back?

 

[galax-C]

Dumb suggestions/ideas that are more goofy than useful, food for thought: If you're still toying with the Dark Cave or invented scenarios, I think it would be very funny if the player returns to Hojo's lab, late game, and you have to fight a version of Aerith and Red XIII that are a bizarre romantic couple. Maybe they traveled from an alternate universe to stop the player from breaking them up.

Or fight a version of Barrett and Cloud that fell in love on the Gondola Ride. If Cloud and Barret are in the player's party, they start the battle with confusion status.

When you first go to Aerith's house, and you have to sneak out of her home at night, instead of going down the stairs you can walk into her room. She has a response already, but I think the humor of barging into her room at night could be heightened. Maybe if Cloud walks in he'll have dialogue, "I'm ready for my date." And Aerith gets pissed and you're sent back to the spare bedroom.

It's also strange to me that Cid, being a mechanic, never once expresses any interest or curiosity in the fact that Barrett has machinery grafted to his arm. You'd think he'd have some questions, maybe he'd want to put a propeller on him instead of a gun...I think that's an enemy you fight when you climb sector 7 tower.

It would be cool to have a scenario where you have to actually commandeer the Highwind with Barrett and whoever else when Tifa is in the Gas Chamber. Fight some battles along the deck and interior of the ship before making it to the bridge. Then a Boss, the Turks, guard scorpion, whatever...

It would also be cool if Marlene gets possessed and becomes a demonic child you have to beat up. Maybe, like many children, she pets Red XIII too hard, and blah blah blah, and then you fight her. Then the Guard Scorpion attacks you from nowhere...

Alternate reality where the female characters have to dress up as men to get into Dawn Cornelia's manor in Wal Market. Then you fight her pet Guard Scorpion or something...

A pandemic breaks out in the slums and Shinra puts everyone in quarantine. Battle your way to where the virus originated from: Hojo's Lab...

 

[wdx]

I just read in the forums how to save aerith, if that wasn't done on disc 1 do you permanently lose the ability to get her back?

No.

Spoiler

 theres a npc on the highwind which can revive her

 

[NissyHime]

Sorry for playing 20 questions but is there also documentation somewhere that has all the details of accessories and what they do such as the cursed ring etc in detail?

 

[BiOMEGA]

Sorry for playing 20 questions but is there also documentation somewhere that has all the details of accessories and what they do such as the cursed ring etc in detail?

I don't think so.

Most accessories are self-explanatory, or work pretty much the same way they do in the unmodded game. Curse Ring only works slightly differently, i.e. it blocks certain positive effects now in addition to the massive stat boost and Death Sentence it does in the original. You can check a character's stat screen to see that, where you'll see that it'll e.g. make you immune to certain buffs etc.

The only accessory I can remember off hand that is new to this is the Relic Ring, which gives massive stats but makes you

Spoiler

take damage from healing

.

 

[Wut]

Hey ya,

Can you only use the dialogue revamp from this mod or it's all or nothing?

 

[Sega Chief]

Hey ya,

Can you only use the dialogue revamp from this mod or it's all or nothing?

I've got a combat-only version in the works, it just needs testing.

 

[Sega Chief]

Mod updated to 2.09991

Spoiler

-) 2x-Cut altered to avoid a softlock issue when used by weapons with innate All targeting
-) Reverted change to 3D-Battler (matches decided after 10 hits instead of 5) due to softlock
-) Fixed coords of Gongaga 1/35 soldier (credit to Vdain for spotting it)
-) Disabled use of flowers key item due to collision problems
-) IRO Only; char.lgp had vanilla files removed which affected mod compatibility