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Passive Weapon Leveling

Started by PigonMuffin123, September 09, 2017, 03:15:13 am

PigonMuffin123

It sounds dumb and stupid, but is there a way for a specific weapon to increase power every chapter (*shower thought*)? If so, do I have to replace several weapons to make it happen?

For example, let's say I put King Arthur in the game and I want him as one of my starting characters. Giving him the actual Excalibur with that insane Weapon Damage kinda throws balance but I also want him to have his signature weapon. I make the plastic sword version of the weapon and give it to him. Now I'm in late Chapter 2 and the weapon I had so much effort just to put in the game becomes overwhelmed by a mere Coral Sword. And then the weapon is lost in the ages....

Is it possible or no?

Cheers!
  • Modding version: PSX

Satoh

My gut tells me you need multiple copies of the sword with different strengths and you need to manually replace it somehow at varying points in the story.
The reason I say this is because its how Ramza works. They controlled how strong he could be at any given point in time by having multiple copies of him and simply replacing the old Ramza with a new one each chapter.

I mean, in theory you could alter the stats of the weapon somehow with ASM hacks, but it would likely get pretty hairy pretty quick, as you'd have write a routine and link it to an event condition or map instruction, and in that routine you'd have to locate the Excalibur stats (assuming they're even in memory and not just read direct from disc each time) and alter them somehow...

Another option might be possible by formula hacking and making Arthur the only one who can equip it. The skill formula would probably need to be ASM hacked still, and would likely need to be something like Excalibur PWR = (Excalibur Base PWR / 50) * Character's Level
If you could manage that it would give the sword its regular 21 Pwr at level 50, and that would continue to increase damage by one point roughly every 3 levels or so.

But I haven't formula hacked at all so I can't tell you where to start looking for that.

  • Modding version: PSX

Lionheart537

Yeah I'd suggest changing clothes or harps weapon slots into 3 distinct versions of this "upgrading" sword. Or I guess you could use patcher to raise the Wp manually every now and then, or add new elements/innates. On whether it's possible I'm feeling a no on an item actively changing throughout the game,  but who knows the wizards here do all kinds of insane stuff (like how the heck do they setup spreadsheets like that!?)
  • Modding version: PSX
It's not much yet but check out my spriting thread!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11772.0
Here's a look at my vanilla mod thread, progressing one step at a time!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11785.0

PigonMuffin123

Quote from: Satoh on September 09, 2017, 05:37:21 am
My gut tells me you need multiple copies of the sword with different strengths and you need to manually replace it somehow at varying points in the story.
The reason I say this is because its how Ramza works. They controlled how strong he could be at any given point in time by having multiple copies of him and simply replacing the old Ramza with a new one each chapter.

I mean, in theory you could alter the stats of the weapon somehow with ASM hacks, but it would likely get pretty hairy pretty quick, as you'd have write a routine and link it to an event condition or map instruction, and in that routine you'd have to locate the Excalibur stats (assuming they're even in memory and not just read direct from disc each time) and alter them somehow...

Another option might be possible by formula hacking and making Arthur the only one who can equip it. The skill formula would probably need to be ASM hacked still, and would likely need to be something like Excalibur PWR = (Excalibur Base PWR / 50) * Character's Level
If you could manage that it would give the sword its regular 21 Pwr at level 50, and that would continue to increase damage by one point roughly every 3 levels or so.

But I haven't formula hacked at all so I can't tell you where to start looking for that.



I see something in the ASM that is "random unit gear based on progression" in ASM. Is that what you are referring to?
  • Modding version: PSX

3lric

Quote from: Satoh on September 09, 2017, 05:37:21 am
My gut tells me you need multiple copies of the sword with different strengths and you need to manually replace it somehow at varying points in the story.
The reason I say this is because its how Ramza works. They controlled how strong he could be at any given point in time by having multiple copies of him and simply replacing the old Ramza with a new one each chapter.

I mean, in theory you could alter the stats of the weapon somehow with ASM hacks, but it would likely get pretty hairy pretty quick, as you'd have write a routine and link it to an event condition or map instruction, and in that routine you'd have to locate the Excalibur stats (assuming they're even in memory and not just read direct from disc each time) and alter them somehow...

Another option might be possible by formula hacking and making Arthur the only one who can equip it. The skill formula would probably need to be ASM hacked still, and would likely need to be something like Excalibur PWR = (Excalibur Base PWR / 50) * Character's Level
If you could manage that it would give the sword its regular 21 Pwr at level 50, and that would continue to increase damage by one point roughly every 3 levels or so.

But I haven't formula hacked at all so I can't tell you where to start looking for that.


Ramza is a special case, the main reason he works that way is to make his sprite change and give him a couple more abilities, AFAIK his stats don't actually change in regards to this.
  • Modding version: PSX

Satoh

Quote from: Elric on September 09, 2017, 02:38:11 pm
Ramza is a special case, the main reason he works that way is to make his sprite change and give him a couple more abilities, AFAIK his stats don't actually change in regards to this.

True it is mainly due to his sprites, but his skill sets also change according to chapter. The reason I mentioned it was that in Chapter 2 he can learn a new skill he could not learn in chapter 1, in his Guts skillset: Cheer Up. And once again in chapter 4 he gains 2 extra Guts skills: Scream and Ultima.
At least assuming the skill sets in the patcher are accurate. I assume they are since I haven't modified anything.

Quote from: PigonMuffin123 on September 09, 2017, 01:30:49 pm

I see something in the ASM that is "random unit gear based on progression" in ASM. Is that what you are referring to?


No, random unit gear based on progression is something else. I don't know what exactly it does, so it may or may not be worth looking into, but I suspect it's more directly related to soldiering office recruits.

I was simply saying that 'with enough work you could probably create some ASM hack that would still fit into the game's existing code space, that changed the sword over time.

And secondly, you could modify a damage formula (still technically an ASM hack, but a different kind than I meant before) and give Excalibur that new formula instead of the standard weapon formula. You would likely have to sacrifice an existing formula, as I understand it.

Any way you look at it it seems like you'd need an ASM hack somewhere, but Lionheart's suggestion of having three copies of Excalibur seems the easiest to achieve, since then all you'd need to do is figure out how to swap the character's weapon at the beginning of the chapter.
  • Modding version: PSX

3lric

Quote from: Satoh on September 09, 2017, 05:49:20 pm
True it is mainly due to his sprites, but his skill sets also change according to chapter. The reason I mentioned it was that in Chapter 2 he can learn a new skill he could not learn in chapter 1, in his Guts skillset: Cheer Up. And once again in chapter 4 he gains 2 extra Guts skills: Scream and Ultima.


That's why I mentioned abilities
  • Modding version: PSX

Satoh

Quote from: Elric on September 09, 2017, 06:04:54 pm
That's why I mentioned abilities


*rubs eyes*...So you did. In the very thing I quoted even... Mea culpa.

...Back to looking at potential solutions, I could see something working if you used the event instruction upgrade hack.
You would need a few copies of excalibur, and you'd need to know what ENTD ID Arthur has.
You would then load Arthur's stats, look at his left and right hands' equips, and replace either of them if it is Excalibur, and you would probably need to remove the old one from the player inventory and replace it with the new one.

All of the functions needed for that appear to be readily available in the Event Instruction Upgrade hack.
Personally this seems like the simplest, lowest effort way to achieve a leveled Excalibur.
Event editing seems like it would already be something you'd need to do for this idea anyway.
  • Modding version: PSX

Emmy

The best bet for this would probably be a unique formula for the sword itself, instead of the usual pa * wp formula; and if he has sword skills that use this sword, they also need to scale to whatever you use for punch art instead of to pa * (wp+y).  I'd need to know how you plan on scaling the rest of the game in order to have a good suggestion for this formula.
  • Modding version: PSX

PigonMuffin123

I want the sword to be weak early on but later becomes a killer later on in the chapters.
  • Modding version: PSX

Timbo

Use the Synthesis Shop. Create a series of unique weapons called the Rusty Sword, Reforged Blade, Caliburn, Excalibur, and an unequipable piece of equipment called Spirit Stone. Start Arthur with the Rusty Sword or create an event where he pulls the sword from the stone or receives it from the Lady of the Lake. Then dole out spirit stones via
events, as move find items, or as specific battle rewards.

Using the synth shop Rusty Sword + a Spirit Stone gives you the Reforged Sword. The Reforged Sword + a Spirit Stone gives you the Caliburn, and so on.
  • Modding version: PSX
  • Discord username: Timbo