Creating a Dark Knight Ramza

[Crossplay]

Yes, yes...  I know.  Every newbie asks for it.  I'll give you a moment to roll your eyes at me.

All done?  Good.  Now, here's the situation.

I want to do a Solo Class Challenge with the Dark Knight on the PSX version.  I tried using the Gameshark and, while that basically gave me what I wanted, I wasn't happy with the results.  In a nutshell, I changed Ramza into Gafgarion, learned all the skills and then changed his sprite back (because I knew I'd forget and get caught in a soft lock later).  This ended up with a video of me using Dark Sword over and over again while standing in place to boost my CT.  I won the battle but it's not exactly riveting gameplay.

I've decided to give the class 3 more skills based on the War of the Lions adaption.  I've looked up comparisons and have found some similarities.

Crushing Blow seems very similar to Templar's Vengeance.  I actually prefer Vengeance's damage effect so I'm willing to keep it.  I just need to turn the range down to 3 and the effect radius to 2.  The MP cost should stay as that gives me reason to use Night Blade and is the cost for the potential damage it can cause.  I also want to add a Stop proc to it and change the element to dark.

Abyssal Blade looks like the Monk's Shockwave.  I'm considering giving the class the monk's innate Brawler ability if the skill as-is isn't strong enough.  However, if I do that, I want to add self damage as well.  Naturally its element should be changed from earth to dark as well.

Unholy Sacrifice will be the tricky one.  Using Kotetsu would be the natural thing to do but I've done a stupid amount of research already and have found that Iaido skills are hard coded to use katanas.  Looking for a replacement, I've come across Death Cold/Ague.  I feel that will do the trick if I take its range down to 1, the effect to 3 and add an MP cost.  It already has slow so all I would need to do is change the element to dark.

And though I'm going to bang my head against the desk for this later, I want to give all these skills to Gafgarion as well, especially when he's an enemy.  It's only fair that he's just as good a Dark Knight as I am.

If all of that isn't too difficult, I'll consider changing animations so they all look like sword skills.  I also need to set jp costs as I don't want all my abilities available right away.  The challenge is getting them and choosing which is more important for what battle.  And, just for flavor, I would love to edit the quotes sometimes spoken when these skills are used.

Now the specific kind of help that I want is to be pointed in the right direction.  I know this is going to require making a patch as I am literally creating new skills.  I just need to know what tool is best to use, what existing skills can be replaced and not harm the game and how far can I go with editing skills to get the look that I want.  I also would like to know of some common pitfalls to avoid since I am doing this to Ramza's squire class.

EDIT: I ended up bumbling my way through things anyway as no one has replied yet.  I'm going to post my results in case anyone else is interested in doing what I'm doing.

First, FFTPatcher is one very robust skill but I hope there's a manual for it somewhere.  There are things I've heard of so I can tinker with them with little fear but others make no sense.

Since I'm replacing Ramza's core skills with Dark Knight ones, there's no need for his core skills anymore.  As such, I hope I can safely replace Yell, Cheer Up, Wish and Scream.  I'm not going to touch Ultima.  I have a feeling that would change it for all.

Found out that Delita's version of Guts uses Wish.  That skill isn't available.

I'm not sure why the Guts skillset is listed 4 times.  I know there's a version for chapter 1, chapters 2 & 3 and chapter 4.  Does chapter 3 get its own version?

I'll need help with the status infliction.  I don't know the difference between "all or nothing" and "separate".

Well, back to the lab again...

[Pride]

Each guts is for the different chapters, 1, 2/3, and 4. The last guts is for Delita.

[Jumza]

I can answer random FFTPatcher question you have. Bumbling around is probably the best way to achieve your goal

I'm not going to touch Ultima.  I have a feeling that would change it for all.

I think this Ultima is the Ultima that only Ramza, Alma and Celia / Lede have access to. Don't quote me on that.

I'm not sure why the Guts skillset is listed 4 times.  I know there's a version for chapter 1, chapters 2 & 3 and chapter 4.  Does chapter 3 get its own version?

It goes:
Chapter 1 Ramza
Chapter 2 / 3 Ramza
Chapter 4 Ramza
Chapter 1 Delita

in the order the Guts skillsets appear in FFTP.

EDIT: As Pride pointed out before I could finish my post Thanks Pride!

I'll need help with the status infliction.  I don't know the difference between "all or nothing" and "separate".

All or Nothing means what is says on the label, if the skill hits all boxes checked will activate, if the skill misses all boxes checked will not activate.

Seperate means that it splits the chance to activate each status infliction, so if you see that the skill Bad Breath only has a 25% chance to inflict poison, it's just telling you that there is literally a 25% chance you will be poisoned, but the other %'s are the other boxes you have checked, the skill does not get reduced to 25% overall accuracy.

[Crossplay]

Thanks guys.  In all the times I've played, I've never noticed that Delita had Guts as a skillset in chapter 1.  What's even more sad is that I DID notice his job changed in all the other chapters.  Thanks to you, I have avoided turning him into a dark knight s well.  As hilarious as that would have been for the challenge, it would have been hell to fix.

From what I'm understanding, the damage formula for Vengeance has a hard-coded attribute that prevents status ailments.  I'm moving Stop to Abyssal Blade.

Speaking of which, Earth Slash's targeting and damage formula is way too powerful to base Abyssal Bade on so I'm modeling it more off of Lightning Stab.  I think I'll change the name too.  Obsidian... something.  Still working on it.

Another question about status infliction.  Is the percentage proc hard-coded or can it be changed?  I know there are attacks in game that are 100% while others are 20%.  I'd rather have the 20% on these attacks.

EDIT: Well, I just made the big changes and applied my first patch.  Going to test it now.  Wish me luck!

[Nyzer]

Formula 2D - the one used by all of Agrias' abilities - has a 100% status chance upon hit if All or Nothing is selected. Any ability  that ONLY inflicts status will do so based on the ability's hit rate. Any remaining ability that inflicts status AND deals damage will inflict the status at a 1 in 5 rate. 2D will use the regular 20% chance if Separate is chosen as the infliction  method.

[Crossplay]

Just tested it and the game didn't crash right away.  That's always a good thing.  The skills are working as intended but...  Well...  I gave crushing blow the vengeance formula and, at first, it showed that I wasn't going to do any damage when my hp was full.  Then i stepped forward and every enemy took a shot at me.  I only had 3hp left.  I used the skill then and the animation pretty much played out like I expected.  What I didn't expect was to one-shot 3 enemies with one skill.  It would have been 4 if I set the vertical distance higher.

Yup!  Time to swing the nerf bat!  Set learning jp to 500 and single target only.  Though I can see that skill pulling off some clutch saves!

My next issue is how to start with Night Sword learned.  It sucks to do the first chapter 1 battle without skills.

Formula 2D - the one used by all of Agrias' abilities - has a 100% status chance upon hit if All or Nothing is selected. Any ability  that ONLY inflicts status will do so based on the ability's hit rate. Any remaining ability that inflicts status AND deals damage will inflict the status at a 1 in 5 rate. 2D will use the regular 20% chance if Separate is chosen as the infliction  method.

I checked Agrias' settings and she has Separate selected.  I went with that except for the last skill.  There doesn't seem to be an entry for slow on separate.  The best I've seen is all or none.  Since I don't want to mess with the game's values, I'll let it be.  Besides, it's only on the final skill.

Edit: I'm almost finish debugging the skills.  I'm having an odd problem with the last one.  When initiating it, Ramza punches instead of sticking his sword out.  The character animations match the other skills so I'm guessing, because I used spin fist as a base, the punch animation is hard-coded in.  I can barely see straight so I'll get some sleep and try fixing it tomorrow.

I still need to find where the skill quotes are as Ramza says, "no message" for all 3 new skills.  I'm not even sure where to be begin looking for that.

[Jumza]

I'm almost finish debugging the skills.  I'm having an odd problem with the last one.  When initiating it, Ramza punches instead of sticking his sword out.  The character animations match the other skills so I'm guessing, because I used spin fist as a base, the punch animation is hard-coded in.  I can barely see straight so I'll get some sleep and try fixing it tomorrow.

Go to the Animations tab of the FFTP, change your edited skills to the same code that appears on the right of a swordskill (like stasis sword or night sword or whatever, they should all be the same), then go to those skills in the abilities tab, you'll notice they have a box called Weapon Strike checked, check that on your edited skills.

I still need to find where the skill quotes are as Ramza says, "no message" for all 3 new skills.  I'm not even sure where to be begin looking for that.

You can either remove the quote by going into the FFTPatcher abilities tab and unchecking the Quote box on the bottom, or you can go into FFTacText and edit the spell quotes section there. All the skill names will be listed on the left, and all the quotes will be on the right.

I checked Agrias' settings and she has Separate selected.  I went with that except for the last skill.  There doesn't seem to be an entry for slow on separate.  The best I've seen is all or none.  Since I don't want to mess with the game's values, I'll let it be.  Besides, it's only on the final skill.

The last 10 or so entries in the status effects list are empty and unused, so you can edit them to anything you want and not mess with anything!

Just tested it and the game didn't crash right away.  That's always a good thing.  The skills are working as intended but...  Well...  I gave crushing blow the vengeance formula and, at first, it showed that I wasn't going to do any damage when my hp was full.  Then i stepped forward and every enemy took a shot at me.  I only had 3hp left.  I used the skill then and the animation pretty much played out like I expected.  What I didn't expect was to one-shot 3 enemies with one skill.  It would have been 4 if I set the vertical distance higher.

You're probably using the formula that does damage based on how hurt you are. It's like, (maxHP - curHP). This is not what that skill does in WoTL, it just does a lot of damage with a chance of stop.

My next issue is how to start with Night Sword learned.  It sucks to do the first chapter 1 battle without skills.

I don't remember if it's the slot in the skillset itself, or if it's the actual slot the skill is in, but replacing Wish with Night Sword (by right clicking, then selecting Clone, then Paste Clone) in the abilities tab, and then setting that ability to the same spot Wish was in in Ramza's skillset should make him have it in the first battle. Even if you set other abilities to 0 JP and 100% to learn in his skillset, he won't have them because his beginning equipment and abilities are set somewhere other than the FFTPatcher. There is a spreadsheet to edit it, but you don't need it if you only want the one skill.

[Crossplay]

Go to the Animations tab of the FFTP, change your edited skills to the same code that appears on the right of a swordskill (like stasis sword or night sword or whatever, they should all be the same), then go to those skills in the abilities tab, you'll notice they have a box called Weapon Strike checked, check that on your edited skills.

You probably just saved me 2 hours to half a day of heartache just by telling me this.  Thank you so much!  I seriously doubt I would have found that on my own.

I don't remember if it's the slot in the skillset itself, or if it's the actual slot the skill is in, but replacing Wish with Night Sword (by right clicking, then selecting Clone, then Paste Clone) in the abilities tab, and then setting that ability to the same spot Wish was in in Ramza's skillset should make him have it in the first battle. Even if you set other abilities to 0 JP and 100% to learn in his skillset, he won't have them because his beginning equipment and abilities are set somewhere other than the FFTPatcher. There is a spreadsheet to edit it, but you don't need it if you only want the one skill.

Considering that the challenge starts a few battles after the first, I'm going to let it go for now.  However, I'm sure someone's going to ask me for this patch later.  I'll have to ask for the spreadsheet then.  That why I'll know for sure that it's fixed.

[Jumza]

You probably just saved me 2 hours to half a day of heartache just by telling me this.  Thank you so much!  I seriously doubt I would have found that on my own.

I'm glad I could help!

Considering that the challenge starts a few battles after the first, I'm going to let it go for now.  However, I'm sure someone's going to ask me for this patch later.  I'll have to ask for the spreadsheet then.  That why I'll know for sure that it's fixed.

If you find a post by the user RavenofRazgriz, his signature has his crazy amount of spreadsheets full of useful stuff for download. It's in there somewhere.

[Angel]

Crossplay, if the last reply in a topic is your own and it was made less than 24 hours ago, please edit your post to add what you were going to say rather than posting again.

Sorry for the aside, please resume normal activity.

[Crossplay]

Crossplay, if the last reply in a topic is your own and it was made less than 24 hours ago, please edit your post to add what you were going to say rather than posting again.

Sorry for the aside, please resume normal activity.

Wait... What?  I didn't see anything in terms of service about waiting 24 hours before posting behind yourself.

[Xifanie]

Well, ignoring your Private Messages really doesn't help your case, which led you to repeated offense.

But you do have a point, ever since the registration agreement was implemented, you are the first person to ever point this out. Meaning, out of the 50 people or so I warned for double-posting, you are the only one to claim to have read the agreement. I just assumed that ex-admin X actually put it in there, but I guess he didn't. And it was bad for me to assume he did. Regardless, it's been updated.

Sorry for the trouble, and stop ignoring your PMs.

[Crossplay]

Well, ignoring your Private Messages really doesn't help your case, which led you to repeated offense.

But you do have a point, ever since the registration agreement was implemented, you are the first person to ever point this out. Meaning, out of the 50 people or so I warned for double-posting, you are the only one to claim to have read the agreement. I just assumed that ex-admin X actually put it in there, but I guess he didn't. And it was bad for me to assume he did. Regardless, it's been updated.

Sorry for the trouble, and stop ignoring your PMs.

It's not that I was ignoring the private messages.  They just don't stick out.  Seriously.  The only reason I saw it was because I happen to check my email and see the warnings there.  Perhaps having the font's color change when a message is received or have the number blinking would help.

In other news, I actually finished the patch, did all the bug testing and even changed the quotes.  There's just a bit more hex hacking to do to have the first skill learned but I find that I changed the class too much to really call it a Dark Knight now.  I'll keep the patch but I'm already moving to another project.

[Angel]

In regards to the PM visibility, I just have it set to show a popup notification (in the event I don't hear my phone notify me of the email alert, anyway). It could definitely be more visible otherwise, it's true.

Glad to hear about the progress!

[Crossplay]

I was going to let this go as-is but I decide to go all the way with it since I've already changed so much.  I'm changing the project name from Dark Knight Ramza to Ebon Knight Ramza.  The reason being is, even in War of the Lions, I found the Dark Knight skills lacked variety.  While the first two will remain the same, I'm ditching the rest for more interesting abilities.  Other than that, there are several more things I want to modify before I call this patch truly complete.

- Even with replacing Ramza's unique Guts skills, I still need to know which skills aren't used by any character or AI because I need a few more slots.

- When fighting Gafgarion, I need him to know all the Ebon Knight skills.  Can this be done with FFTpatcher or do I need to tweak spreadsheets?

- What are all the "Dark Knight Ramza" sprites that have been made?  I'm hoping to have a good choice for chapter 4.

[3lric]

I was going to let this go as-is but I decide to go all the way with it since I've already changed so much.  I'm changing the project name from Dark Knight Ramza to Ebon Knight Ramza.  The reason being is, even in War of the Lions, I found the Dark Knight skills lacked variety.  While the first two will remain the same, I'm ditching the rest for more interesting abilities.  Other than that, there are several more things I want to modify before I call this patch truly complete.

Well that and you can't exactly make the WotL Dark Knight in the PSX version anyway. (The way they worked actually had quite a bit of variety)

- Even with replacing Ramza's unique Guts skills, I still need to know which skills aren't used by any character or AI because I need a few more slots.

If any skills were unused or this was as easy as you are thinking, people would've already made a list of them. In order to continue making new abilities, you'll need to start removing some existing ones.

- When fighting Gafgarion, I need him to know all the Ebon Knight skills.  Can this be done with FFTpatcher or do I need to tweak spreadsheets?

Patcher

- What are all the "Dark Knight Ramza" sprites that have been made?  I'm hoping to have a good choice for chapter 4.

Confused over you knowing they exist, but not knowing where they are. Check the custom sprites section on the Main Site.

[Angel]

Also, just a heads up: changing Ramza's sprites will make every non-standard animation (EVTCHR) he has in cutscenes turn to garbage. Every turn of the head, lift of the arm, etc will turn into a garbled mess.

[Crossplay]

The reason I keep asking these questions is because there are so many things spread out all over the forums.  I've seen at least 2 Dark Knight Ramza sprite sheets but I don't know how many more there are.  I've heard that there are 2 skills that aren't used in the game but I can no longer find the thread, let alone the post, that stated what those skills are.  I've seen some tutorials for the fftpatcher but all the ones I've come across are at least 2 years old.  Don't even get me started on trying to find videos that show what all the skills look like.

There's this obsessive-compulsive aspect of mine that is screaming to consolidate the hell out of all this information!  I've been trying to fight it because I have a limited time to start my own business or rejoin the rat-race that is working for others.  I shouldn't be doing things that would detract from my goals...  But there is a reason why it's called a compulsion.

[Angel]

Oh, we definitely know a few things about compulsiveness.

In most cases, existing and old tutorials are still accurate and trustworthy. As for skills, there is this topic, though I know Elric also had his own set of videos, I don't see them on either the forum or the wiki.

I keep meaning to say more, but I keep falling asleep at the keyboard. x.x

[3lric]

Elric also had his own set of videos, I don't see them on either the forum or the wiki.

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