FFTA hacking requests

[rrs_kai]

I want a few things changed about FFTA

-1-Can doublehand be increased from 20% to 40% (I am assuming its only a byte change, but where)
-2-Can we have directional damage in FFTA similar to that of FFTA2? Less damage from front more damage from back (similar to the way evasion is directional)
-3-Can a Mag.RES+ be coded akin to Wpn.DEF+

[Darthatron]

The first one should be pretty easy to do. I'll look into it. Unless I already did? bcrobert?

As for 2 and 3... They are a little harder. Editing the way something works and adding something new are very different. But I'll look into both when I can get a chance.

Would accuracy still be effected by Facing as well?

[Ethereal Embrace]

Hm I can personally appreciate all 3 of these.

Just some input for #2: Yes I agree that it should be damage based rather than accuracy, but I don't think it should quite be the extent of A2's: Front: 1x, Side: 1.5x, Back:2x (Magic = always 1.5x)

That seems a bit way too much imo, I'd personally prefer something like Front: 1x, Side: 1.25x, and Back: 1.5x (Magic = 1.25x??)
*since Magic in this game is affected by direction, making a whole system where magic specifically isn't affected by Direction seems like it could be a lot of work to do

[rrs_kai]

The first one should be pretty easy to do. I'll look into it. Unless I already did? bcrobert?

As for 2 and 3... They are a little harder. Editing the way something works and adding something new are very different. But I'll look into both when I can get a chance.

Would accuracy still be effected by Facing as well?

Thanks

Yes, if possible let accuracy and damage both be subject to direction. I am personally willing to trade variable accuracy for variable damage just to see if it can be done, although not logical.
I consider best part of FFTA2 to be directional damage.

Mag.RES+ in my opinion should have been in vanilla, if you are looking for a support skill slot to replace then I vote for the removal of "Reveal" as only panthers have access to it and the only class that can turn invisible is the Sniper.

Hm I can personally appreciate all 3 of these.

Just some input for #2: Yes I agree that it should be damage based rather than accuracy, but I don't think it should quite be the extent of A2's: Front: 1x, Side: 1.5x, Back:2x (Magic = always 1.5x)

That seems a bit way too much imo, I'd personally prefer something like Front: 1x, Side: 1.25x, and Back: 1.5x (Magic = 1.25x??)
*since Magic in this game is affected by direction, making a whole system where magic specifically isn't affected by Direction seems like it could be a lot of work to do

I was hoping for 0.75x, 1x and 1.25x damage.
I dont mind magic being affected by direction, although wierd incase of a few animations.

Since TO:LUCT released after FFTA2 I was expecting directional damage in it, but its just accuracy based.

[bcrobert]

If it's anything like accuracy, the damage calculations are likely to all be close to each other. I'm sure Darthatron could find a whole mess of useful things in that region of the ROM. And I very much agree with buffing Doublehand. Maybe even more than 40%. It's strictly worse than dual-wielding, which makes it useless for humans.

Darth, I don't remember you finding the damage formula yet. I think we were only interested in accuracy at the time. TFergusson's Mechanics Guide goes into extensive detail on the formula itself though. He even lists off some of the checks, which could make deciphering chunks of the in-ROM formula easier.

I don't know if using that would be any easier than following the bouncing ball from RAM to ROM to RAM again, but I thought I'd mention the guide anyway. :/

[Darthatron]

I've had the damage formula for a long while now. I just checked it out. Apparently it's roughly 20%, but it uses the same value for MagPOW+ and WepATK+. So changing the byte will make everything change.

The way it calculates it at the moment is: Damage = (BaseDamage * 307) / 256

I'll see if I can find some way of doing it simply ASAP. Value is stored at 0812F524 as a 32bit signed value. 00000133 by default.

[bcrobert]

I've had the damage formula for a long while now. I just checked it out. Apparently it's roughly 20%, but it uses the same value for MagPOW+ and WepATK+. So changing the byte will make everything change.

The way it calculates it at the moment is: Damage = (BaseDamage * 307) / 256

I'll see if I can find some way of doing it simply ASAP. Value is stored at 0812F524 as a 32bit signed value. 00000133 by default.

So the good news is that this will fix both Pow+ and Atk+ in one fell swoop. That's good considering they're strictly inferior to Turbo MP and Double Sword.

Does WepDef+ also use this value or is it calculated elsewhere?

[rrs_kai]

So the good news is that this will fix both Pow+ and Atk+ in one fell swoop. That's good considering they're strictly inferior to Turbo MP and Double Sword.

Does WepDef+ also use this value or is it calculated elsewhere?

This FAQ explains S & R abilities along with their values.

Also, Wp.ATK+ and Mag.POW+ aren't that inferior.

Wp.ATK+ boosts the damage of fight and fixed damage skills like air-render, far fist, etc., but doublehand only boosts fight damage which is really useless. Buff it to 50% maybe.

-edit-
Mag.POW+ boosts all magic damage/heal, the MP costs being so low for spells makes turbo MP feasible, the concept itself is well balanced in my opinion. 30% damage boost + 15% accuracy boost for twice the MP cost.

[Eternal]

Just a few miscellaneous requests that may be impossible. I dunno.

-Disable Fleeing.

-Make Boots stealable (this was done ages ago I believe, but the hack was lost to time's embrace).

-In the first ??? box in AIO, allow a weapon to proc a spell. For example, if the first ??? box says 01, the weapon may proc Cure X% of the time.

-In the second ??? box in AIO, allow a weapon to proc a status. If it's 61, for example, inflict Sleep X% of the time.

-Sleep/Stop/Frog do not affect the accuracy of non-damaging skills.

I'm sure I'll come up with others. Eventually.

[rrs_kai]

-Make Boots stealable (this was done ages ago I believe, but the hack was lost to time's embrace).

bcrobert archived it in his FFTA: Nightmare Modules and data archive topic
It contains a text file called minor hacks which has stealable shoes...which I did not test, but its supposed to make them as accessories.

Also, can you make equip shields work. The only equipment change I wanted in FFTA:DE was to allow Defenders to equip shileds; equipping a 2H sword with Monkey Grip and not doing anything with the other hand is in-efficient and stupid.

[bcrobert]

bcrobert archived it in his FFTA: Nightmare Modules and data archive topic
It contains a text file called minor hacks which has stealable shoes...which I did not test, but its supposed to make them as accessories.

Tested it back when I was still making an FFTA hack. Tested the crap out of it with my moogle thief, before eventually changing him into a dual-wielding gunner and slaughtering all of Ivalice. The shoe thing works.

[Eternal]

Excellent, thanks for the info. Another one that I could use rather immediately:

-Combos reduce the JP of all units involved to 0, rather than just the user's.

[Darthatron]

I thought you wanted combos removed completely anyway?

[Eternal]

That'll be a long ways away, since I know you and Blank are busy. I repurposed them into Limits (as you can see in the other thread), but they're fairly broken unless it reduces the JP of -all- Combo-goers to 0 after a Combo.

[rrs_kai]

Tested it back when I was still making an FFTA hack. Tested the crap out of it with my moogle thief, before eventually changing him into a dual-wielding gunner and slaughtering all of Ivalice. The shoe thing works.

I wonder which aspect of FFTA did your hack target? (If I had to guess I would say missable items.)

Anyway, I have been reading Terence Fergusson's FFTA mechanics guide and wanted to know how easy/difficult it is to change the damage calulation formule, attack modifiers, etc.
The damage formula halves target's DEF/RES, can this be changed?

I've had the damage formula for a long while now. I just checked it out. Apparently it's roughly 20%, but it uses the same value for MagPOW+ and WepATK+. So changing the byte will make everything change.

The way it calculates it at the moment is: Damage = (BaseDamage * 307) / 256

I'll see if I can find some way of doing it simply ASAP. Value is stored at 0812F524 as a 32bit signed value. 00000133 by default.

Does this mean that MagPOW+, WpnATK+ and double-hand are using the 307/256 (20%) as a reference, or is it coded into each ability individually?
I am not sure how but if say 307/256 (approx 20%) is itself coded seperately then is it possible to reference other attack modifier values, like double-hand being made to reference the damage modifier from boost which is 384/256 (50%)?

[bcrobert]

The main goals were to eliminate missables, rebalance a few things, and crank up the overall difficulty of the game. I was also considering editing event dialogue here and there to make the characters sound less...stupid. I still have everything outlined in txt files but sadly my free time died off after college.

Also, I second doing something about that "halving target's DEF/RES" thing. It's a horrible implementation and never should have been a thing. But even if the goal were to change it into 3/4 or something seemingly simple, it would probably require expanding or moving the formula. I only say that because I'm guessing it's using that same mechanic that the ability powers use, which makes it easy to get 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 etc but hard to get more useful values. >_>

But maybe Darthatron noticed some place he could save space with his wizard eyes? /optimism

[rrs_kai]

The main goals were to eliminate missables, rebalance a few things, and crank up the overall difficulty of the game. I was also considering editing event dialogue here and there to make the characters sound less...stupid. I still have everything outlined in txt files but sadly my free time died off after college.

Also, I second doing something about that "halving target's DEF/RES" thing. It's a horrible implementation and never should have been a thing. But even if the goal were to change it into 3/4 or something seemingly simple, it would probably require expanding or moving the formula. I only say that because I'm guessing it's using that same mechanic that the ability powers use, which makes it easy to get 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 etc but hard to get more useful values. >_>

But maybe Darthatron noticed some place he could save space with his wizard eyes? /optimism

If that guess turns out to be true here's a more useful number from T.Fergusson's guide:
If the Target is under Petrify status:
             Def = [Def * 460 / 256] (approximate 80% increase)

Dmg = Atk - 0.8*Def is better than 0.5*Def.
On second thought double-hand also feels better at 80% increase and berserk status should be 40% boost instead of 20%.

[Darthatron]

To get 3/4 I would just get 1/4+1/2. I would probably be able to fit that in.

Code Select Expand

ROM:0812F7DC                 MOVS    R0, 460
ROM:0812F7E0                 MULS    R0, R4
ROM:0812F7E2                 ASRS    R4, R0, #8

That's taken from the Petrify check that you suggested. It takes 8 bytes instead of 6 and is a bit slower because it multiplies.

[portalreaper]

Tested it back when I was still making an FFTA hack. Tested the crap out of it with my moogle thief, before eventually changing him into a dual-wielding gunner and slaughtering all of Ivalice. The shoe thing works.

Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today.

[Ethereal Embrace]

just curious, did anyone ever figure out how to buff doublehand?