Idea for FF7 mod - low stats lvl1

[gjoerulv]

Ok, basically 2 ideas of low lvl mod:

1) Static. Level and stats set to 1. HP to 100 and MP to 10.**
2) Dynamic stats that increase very slowly. You'd level normally, but start at lvl 1, all stats at 1, HP at 10, MP at 5.***

You start with 1 of every armor, accessory and materia.
Excluded are armors you'd normally buy as the game progress. That is, iron bangle - crystal bangle (and a few others), as they would be rendered useless, and would net you some extra gil in the beginning.
Master materia excluded.
Enemy skill materia starts with all but damage skills learned. All independent materias with stat boosts will be buffed.

Problems:
**   with 1): If levels are static, when you recruit certain characters they will get a higher level by normal means. Cait Sith and Vincent's stats will be higher than anyone else.
*** with 2): Same as 1, but you could edit the stat curves of each character to flatten out at a certain point to make everyone equal.

I'd personally prefer option 1. But as I'm a bit rusty at moding, and I want every character to basically have the same low stats. I can't recall if you can manipulate how the stats are adjusted once you recruit a character. Is it decided by field script? Looking at key places where you'd suspect the values to be adjusted, I can't find anything. One could just make a note that you'd want to avoid using Vincent and Cait Sith lol (same thing with exploiting W-item).

Are there similar mods out there?

 

[Sega Chief]

I made a Lv.1 mod a while back, which should be in the 7H Catalog. I think I handled Cait and Vincent by going into the kernel and setting their Join Level modifier to 0 (should be on the exp arc screen). Their initial starting stats, however, weren't modified. as these are stored in the .exe and then used to overwrite the kernel (which initially holds Sephiroth + Y.Cloud).

I think best route would be to grab the Lv.1 mod from the Catalog, unpack it, then take the scene + kernel out of it then make adjustments to the kernel for desired initial stats + curves. After that, try to locate the hex address of Cait and Vincent's starting stats and change them to what you want them to be.

These are the notes I have on the addresses but I should mention that I can't remember if they were correct or if I ever tried changing them, etc. They might not even be for PC, just had them floating around in a notepad along with a bunch of other bits and pieces:

Code: [Select]

Cait Sith's Level : 0x520c11 (120011)   (1 byte)Cait Sith's CurrentHP : 0x520c3c (12003C)  (2 bytes)Cait Sith's Base HP :  0x520c3e (12003E)  (2 bytes)Cait Sith's Current MP : 0x520c40 (120040)  (2 bytes)Cait Sith's Base MP : 0x520c42 (120042)  (2 bytes)Cait Sith's stats* : 0x520c12 (120012)   (1 byte each)Cait Sith's weapon : 0x520c2c (12002C)   (1 byte)Cait Sith's armor : 0x520c2d (12002D)   (1 byte)Cait Sith's accessory : 0x520c2e (12002E) (1 byte)Materia on his weapon : 0x520c50 (120050) (4 bytes for each materia slot -       first byte is the materia ID, and       the next 3 bytes are its AP)Materia on his armor : 0x520c70 (120070)Vincent's Level : 0x520c95 (120095)  (1 byte)Vincent's CurrentHP : 0x520cc0 (1200C0)  (2 bytes)Vincent's Base HP :  0x520cc2 (1200C2)  (2 bytes)Vincent's Current MP : 0x520cc4 (1200C4) (2 bytes)Vincent's Base MP : 0x520cc6 1200C6)  (2 bytes)Vincent's stats* : 0x520c96 (120096)  (1 byte each)Vincent's weapon : 0x520cb0 (1200B0)  (1 byte)Vincent's armor : 0x520cb1 (1200B1)  (1 byte)Vincent's accessory : 0x520cb2 (1200B2)  (1 byte)Materia on his weapon : 0x520cd4 (1200D4) (4 bytes for each materia slot -       first byte is the materia ID, and      the next 3 bytes are its AP)Materia on his armor : 0x520cf4 (120000)* Stats are listed in this order : strength, vitality, magic, spirit, dexterity, luck.

 

[gjoerulv]

Yay, thanks, found it and it works! It was at the same locations as you listed. But it's a bit disappointing that it's in the .exe. it would be nice to only use the kernel and scene.

About the level 1 thing, all I did was set exp to 0 on all enemies (super easy with hojo 1.1). That, set the level mod byte to 0 and all starting levels to 1 should do the trick no?

 

[Sega Chief]

About the level 1 thing, all I did was set exp to 0 on all enemies (super easy with hojo 1.1). That, set the level mod byte to 0 and all starting levels to 1 should do the trick no?

Yep, that should do it. I think you need to set Cloud's starting exp to be within the Lv.1-2 range as well but that's about it.

 

[gjoerulv]

Ok, since there already is a lvl1 mod, it'll be option 2. That is, stats are static at 1; HP and MP grows very slowly. MP will cap at 40 on lvl 32 while HP caps at 240(ish) at lvl 52. Level goes by normally.

It'll probably be hardest in the beginning though, but I found it fun to try different strategies on early bosses. Surviving the end of midgard on 21 HP was interesting.

 

[Kaldarasha]

Hmm, this sounds to me like another kind of hard mod with the current system. A problem I see is that that regen status will make you nearly invincible, because the enemies doesn't do so much damage and 240 is a piece of cake to cure for regen. DLPB has planned a system with stats with 100 at max and low HP and MP, too.

Option 3: Change MP (Magic Points) system to a FP (Focus Points) system. You start every battle with 0 FP which fill up slowly to the max FP of the character, if you don't use them before. This way two things happen:
People have to create jobs for there characters because FP points are valuable. The mod developer has also more control about the battle because strong magic isn't available on the start of the battle and can't be spammed so fast anymore on the enemy.
Item became useful. Ether should of course drastically be nerved and shouldn't be available in shops. The currently useless magic attacks items are very attractive now and healing relies outside of the battles entirely on items or sleeping in an Inn now.

Problems: The main question is if functions could be implemented into the game to apply a regen effect on the MP to create the FP system.

Advanced features: If possible the materias status effects should serve the new system. As example some materia increase the rate of the FP regen while other give you are start bonus on the FP so the player can cast some vital or destructive spells at the very start of the battle. Other materia does rise up the max FP limit. There should also be materia which focus more on worrier skills Higher HP, giving stats but decreasing the FP regen and so on.

 

[gjoerulv]

It's not a hard mod pr se. (although it will be hard), more of a mod that makes you play around with all game mechanics pretty much from the get-go.

About regen, one simple solution would be to remove it. But there will be similar "problems", for example w-item is massively OP throughout the game. I'm not planning on doing something advanced, and not sure if it's worth release if there are too many similar mods around.

I've played until junon so far with only minor roadblocks. The elevator battle got pretty interesting on 21hp max due to multi hitting, non-elemental attacks.

EDIT: Actually, regen's heal potential is scaled to max HP, so that won't be a problem.