FFTPatcher Blank & Unknown Research

[Vanya]

Help us make our community better!! ^_^

As many of us know there are a number of options in melonhead's patcher that are marked unknown or are blank. We need some thorough testing to decipher what these things do if anything at all. Anyone who would like to contribute to the community or just has some extra time on there hands is encouraged to participate in the testing of these values.

As we make discoveries they can be added to the wiki for convenience.

I'll begin by listing the relevant options from the patcher and my own notes.

[Vanya]

Unknowns & Blanks:
(listed top to bottom, left to right)

Abilities Tab[/b][/u]
Unlabeled AI Box 1
(under skill type pull-down menu)
01) Action?---------->Controls weather the ability's name is displayed before execution. On=display name. [contributed by Kamek]
02) <empty> 1st
03) Unknown 1st---------->Controls weather the ability is considered for use by an enemy unit. On=usable by enemy. [contributed by Kamek]
04) Unknown 2nd
05) Unknown 3rd
06) <empty> 2nd
07) <empty> 3rd
08) <empty> 4th
09) <empty> 5th
10) Unknown 4th---------->*Controls the target's side-step animation if this ability misses. On=trigger side-step animation.[contributed by R999]
*Note that this requires that the 'Evadable' boolean at the bottom and the Unknown 3rd boolean in the AI Behavior box are unchecked(off).

AI Behavior Box
01) Ignore Range?
02) Unknown 1st
03) Unknown 2nd---------->Informs AI that this ability is affected by the Faith statistic.[contributed by R999]
04) Unknown 3rd---------->Informs the AI that this ability is evadable. On=trigger side-step animation.[contributed by R999]
05) <empty>

Unlabeled AI Box 2
01) <empty> 1st
02) <empty> 2nd
03) <empty> 3rd
04) Normal Attack?

Items Tab[/b][/u]
Shop Availability Pull-down Menu
01)5 <Blank>.
02)Literally hundreds of Unknown (##).

Unlabeled Shop Box
(under availability pull-down menu)
01)Unknown

Unlabeled Weapon Type Box
(upper right-hand side)
01) <empty> 1st
02) <empty> 2nd

Unlabeled Attack Type Box
(weapons only)
01) <empty> ------------------------>This is required for the weapon to show up in the Throw menu.

Items Attributes Tab[/b][/u]
All 3 Status Boxes
01) <empty>
02) Dark/Evil Looking
(really just want clarification and confirmation of the effects of 02)

Jobs Tab[/b][/u]
Equipment Box
01) <empty>

Action Menus Tab[/b][/u]
Pull-down Menu
01) Blank 1st
02) Unknown 1st
03) Blank 2nd
04) Unknown 2nd

Status Effects Tab[/b][/u]
Hex Value 1st
01) Unknown

Hex Value 2nd
01) Unknown

Unlabeled Attribute Box
01) <empty> 1st
02) <empty> 2nd
03) <empty> 3rd
04) <empty> 4th
05) <empty> 5th
06) <empty> 6th
07) Blank
08) <empty> 7th
09) <empty> 8th
10) <empty> 9th
11) <empty> 10th---------->This bit determines whether the status is canceled by the special status "Immortal". [contributed by Zodiac]
12) <empty> 11th

Inflicted Statuses Tab[/b][/u]
Unlabeled Status Type Box
01) <empty> 1st
02) <empty> 2nd
03) <empty> 3rd
04) <empty> 4th

ENTD Tab[/b][/u]
Unlabeled Attribute Box
(split into 2 boxes)
01) <empty> 1st
02) <empty> 2nd
03) <empty> 3rd

Unknown Box
01) hex value 1st
02) hex value 2nd
03) hex value 3rd
04) hex value 4th
05) hex value 5th
06) hex value 6th
07) hex value 7th

Distribution:
□□4□
□257
136□

Jobs Unlocked Pull-down Menu
01) Unknown

Initial Direction Pull-down Menu
01) Unknown0x30
02) Unknown0X33

Move-Find Item Tab[/b][/u]
Unlabeled Attribute Boxes
01) Unknown 1st
02) Unknown 2nd
03) Unknown 3rd
04) Unknown 4th

[Vanya]

Phuckin' bot...

[Mental_Gear]

Thing is, if some of these are unused spots they can be used to add instead of replace (though they wont show up in TacText) but if they work in the background they can cause glitches.

I think unused slots like Midgar Zolom should be put here too.

[Vanya]

Well the blank/unused skill & skillset slots don't really pertain to this. This list is for the bytes you can set within these slots.
We pretty much know exactly what skills and skillsets are used and which are not by examining job & ENTD entries.
(Midgar Zolom is one of Serpentarius' skills.)

What we really need is some serious testing to see what the unknown booleans and values do if anything. There are some values that I already have leads on, but most of these haven't been closely examined. The point of this is not only for documentation, but also to find out what values are truly unused. The ones that are not used at all can be exploited for some really awesome ASM hacks.

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

I just realized, you can use the Gameshark tab in FFTPatcher to get the codes for these, which could make for easier testing.  If I didn't live in a tent right now, I'd be testing.

[Vanya]

Interesting point, Ditrta. I'll keep it in mind.

[Kamek]

In the "Abilities" tab, there's a checkbox marked "Action?". This value appears to control whether or not the skill's name is displayed before being executed. Most skills have it on, but there are a few that don't. If you've ever wondered why the Byblos' Energy and Parasite never show the skill name, this is why -- their "Action?" flags are missing.

Counter Tackle and Counter don't have the flags, either, and those two reaction skills don't display skill names.

I discovered this while trying to make two new skills for a custom job class, and wondered why the AI would never use said skills, or why the skill name never showed, then I realized I was missing two checkboxes -- the "Action?" flag, and the first Unknown flag. Then I noticed the lack of "Action?" flags on Energy and Parasite, and came to this conclusion. Sure enough, the Byblos skills now display their names when being used.

[SilvasRuin]

Nice discovery.

I still have yet to test it, but I think the first of the last three values in the new animation tab controls what type of effect it is, such as the energy gathering for spells, the wisps of power when summoning, etc.  I notice it is a different value for each of these action types.  It would probably be a quick test, but I'm kind of lazy about making and applying patches just for testing purposes.  I suppose all I'd have to do though is put the number the summons have in for one of the Squire's abilities and see if those wisps show up...

[Kamek]

Yeah, copy the values from a summon spell to say, a black magic spell, and you get the summon spell green orb thingies. Basically seems to be the "preparation" part of the spell, whether the guy stands still, stands in a "ready" pose, chants, sings, dances, etc, plus the charge-up animation or whatnot.

[Vanya]

@Kamek: Nice work! I added your info about the action flag. About the  1st unknown flag... if I understand you correctly, it means that if it's off that an enemy unit won't use the skill at all?

@SilvasRuin: You are indeed correct. When I researched these values months ago I verified this. Basically all animations have 2 parts. The first part is a prep animation and the second is the action animation itself. For example; most spells consist of the energy gathering part (first value) then the casting part (second value). The third value seems to control certain text being displayed after the action is completed like telling the player that they gained some PA or whatever. Note that the third value doesn't control all text as some seems to be hard coded to certain actions.

[Kamek]

Yeah, it seems first unknown flag controls whether the AI will use the skill or not. It's turned off for skills like Gil Taking, Negotiate, Invitation, etc, so the AI will never steal gil or try to invite your units. It's also turned up for Scream (auto-battle Ramza will never use it), as well as Dragon Tame (adds Invite), Dragon Care, Dragon PowerUp, or Dragon LevelUp. Not sure why they left it off for those...

Assassin Seal is disabled too, but for a different reason (AI flags are set to "Cancel Status" instead of "Add Status", so it's never considered for use.)

I also expanded the observations on the ENTD unknown bytes (http://www.ffhacktics.com/wiki/ENTD#Unk ... servations). I believe it's a flag-based field, though I'm not exactly sure how the flags work. For instance, a 48 in field 4 indicates to attack/defend a unit, while a 58 also indicates to attack/defend a unit, but may indicate a more aggressive strategy. The flag there is 10, and I tried setting that on a bunch of random battles, but didn't notice much of a change in the AI behavior... though I was able to get a critical Vampire to come and Blaster my guys at Mandalia Plains (instead of running away) even with other enemies still in good health.

[Vanya]

Cool. Thanks for the contribution. I added the info on "unknown 1st".

[Xifanie]

Statuses, bit 15 = Immortal immunity

[Vanya]

That would the last check box on the right hand column?
Also, by Immortal immunity I'm guessing you mean that the special status Immortal will block any status with this bit turned on?

[Xifanie]

not last, before last.
and yes.

I didn't know how to work it so I just went the simplest I could.

[Vanya]

That's ok. Data updated! ^_^

[Xifanie]

not the 11th, the 15th. You're missing 4 bits in your list.

[Vanya]

Code Select Expand


[] Freeze CT     [] Can React
[]               [] Blank
[]               [] Ignore Attacks
[]               []
[]               []
[]               []
[]               [] <----- This one, right?
[] KO            []



[Vanya]

OK. I figured out the the blank bit in the attack type box for weapons in the Item tab.
It's the blank spot between 2 Hands and Forced 2 Hands.
It is required for weapons to show up in the Throw menus.
If there are any rare weapons you don't want to allow for throwing, then clear that check and vice-versa.