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Questions regarding Skills, Ailments and Monsters

Started by Panda_Tar, November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am

Panda_Tar

November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am Last Edit: November 22, 2016, 10:37:45 am by Panda_Tar
Good day!

After a couple of years of absence, I have been perusing some threads and posts here and there to find out the possibilities and limitations of modding a new project (story-line-wisely), so as to plan things with palpable ideas, and some questions arose. I have asked Elric some and others ended up finding out while playing some mods (Ko and Jot5). If someone knows the answer or knows if there's a thread explaining these questions which I missed, I'd appreciate any directive. I'm mainly asking if these things are already known issues. I asked some of these through PMs, but maybe they're also someone else's questions, then it would be more useful making it a public reference.

SKILLS

1. If I want to tie a status boosting effect to the terrain when moving over it, can it be done?
The example: The MOVE skill says that if I'm over grass terrain, my PA is + 2. When I'm not on grass, it gets back to normal. It doesn't increase +2 each time I move on grass; don't want it to stack values, only once WHILE I'm on grass.

2. If I want to tie an ability, which might be reaction or movement or support, that randomly checks if my character is suffering a set of ailments to pick one and cure it, can it be done?
The example: The SUPPORT skill says that at the end of my turn, my character purifies him/herself against certain ailments, only one per time. If I happen to be under Darkness and Silence, it'll pick one of the two per time and cure it, not all of them at once.

3. The DEFEND and CHANGE EQUIP commands are added to the main set of actions of a character when equipped as support. Is it possible making CHARGE, JUMP or THROW work the same way?
The example: my ninja has a set of skills (whichever effects), has the TWO STRIKE and THROW abilities as support. When you equip Throw, you can throw items by using the additional command added to you command menu, detached from your ability sets. Same for Jump and Charge.

4. Is it possible adding a new character animation tied to a certain skill?
The example: there's an ability that makes your character have to hold his hand aloft like a ballerina, in a very characteristic way.

5. Regarding STEAL command, can you set equipment values to whether they are more or less hard to steal?
The example: Maximillian has a 30% persistent impossibility to be stolen, whilst Gengi Armor has 25%. And apply these stances to the ordinary Steal functionality.

6. Regarding editing a spell effect, I read somewhere that you guys still didn't figure it out how to make the screen or character flash. When editing a new spell sprite/animation, can we add a white squire and cover the screen with it by tweaking transparent settings with time lapse to simulate a screen flashing? I know this is a basic conception, but as I don't know much of freedom one can do, doesn't hurt asking, I guess.

MONSTERS

1. As Elric explained to me, when adding a monster family, you change a monster which has 3 variants through color pallet. What I want to know is when you add a monster family in the place of another character, for example, Zalmo's slot, if that monster will have pallet parameters too, or if Zalmo is coded as a non-pallet unit, thus not allowing a whole monster family being set, only a single monster?
The example: I take Zalmo off and add Flan. Will I be able to set Flan, Mousse and Pudding by pallet editing or just Flan?

2. Is it possible making monsters equip items? Something akin to how default Reis base-job defines her.

3. I gather that monster skill occupies a Skill slot, am I wrong? Is it possible using that skill slot to be used into a job ability set and vice versa (migrate a job related skill to become ONLY a monster skill)?

AILMENTS

1. Can we add a new ailment/buff? I mean, adding an effect completely, and not just erasing one to add another in its stead.
The example: I want to make a Freezing ailment. The effect tied to it is that one cannot move, and will get doubled physical damage.

2. Regarding FROG, when you use frog on your enemy, your enemy still has the default movement (which means that a frog red chocobo will still move about the whole scenery). I want to know if when frog is applied, can you set a default movement to, say, 3 and jump to 6 and raise its evading numbers? Mainly is that I want to convey by adding frog ailment: it won't go too far when moving, still will be able to jump high and be harder to spot and hit.

3. Regarding SLEEP, STOP, DON'T ACT, can you make STEAL command 100% successful on a target inflicted by those ailments? I just think so strange the sleeping guy dancing about to evade thievery, or you missing the action on a completely paralyzed foe. And this would feel about my 5th question on the Skill section above, because even if your foe cannot move, some items are harder to simply steal. Of course, we can imply all this at the impossibility of stealing sleeping and stopped units, I just wanted to know if it's possible making stopped and sleeping targets easier to steal from at % odds of success.

Well, that would cover the most urging questions as for now.

I thank in advance any directions which can be given. I'm more a Sprite-kind-of-guy, which is where I'm going to start if I decide going on with a project, but I'd love knowing how far with editing and changing one can go with the current knowledge and tools, so as to set a tangible meta.

P.S.: this is all towards PSX version of the game.
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

Xifanie

I'm confused whether you're asking if those things are possible to code, or if they were already coded, thus "possible for a non-hacker". If it is the latter, then it just isn't possible for any of your questions.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
1. If I want to tie a status boosting effect to the terrain when moving over it, can it be done?

Yes, it would be possible... I would guess by adding the extra PA before the Attack Up checks...

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
2. If I want to tie an ability, which might be reaction or movement or support, that randomly checks if my character is suffering a set of ailments to pick one and cure it, can it be done?

It's possible, but I personally lack the knowledge on how exactly statuses are cured/added... it's more than just the stuff you can find in Battle Stats, AFAIK.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
3. The DEFEND and CHANGE EQUIP commands are added to the main set of actions of a character when equipped as support. Is it possible making CHARGE, JUMP or THROW work the same way?

Given the nature, I would guess this wouldn't be too hard to code.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
4. Is it possible adding a new character animation tied to a certain skill?

You'd have to add the animations in TYPE1/TYPE2.SEQ, and even then, we're already pretty much maxed on space for these files... the SEQ files are loaded right next to each other, there really is no room to add anything unless you're ready to sacrifice another animation. That's why we weren't able to add an animation for Link's whirlwind blade.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
5. Regarding STEAL command, can you set equipment values to whether they are more or less hard to steal?

I don't think it would be too hard to code it to load the target's item for a given slot and lookup its steal rate in a table.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
6. Regarding editing a spell effect, I read somewhere that you guys still didn't figure it out how to make the screen or character flash. When editing a new spell sprite/animation, can we add a white squire and cover the screen with it by tweaking transparent settings with time lapse to simulate a screen flashing? I know this is a basic conception, but as I don't know much of freedom one can do, doesn't hurt asking, I guess.

This question is very confusing, unless you yourself, were confused when writing it so you didn't write it coherently to start with... I'm just going to have to assume "No, not possible".

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
1. As Elric explained to me, when adding a monster family, you change a monster which has 3 variants through color pallet. What I want to know is when you add a monster family in the place of another character, for example, Zalmo's slot, if that monster will have pallet parameters too, or if Zalmo is coded as a non-pallet unit, thus not allowing a whole monster family being set, only a single monster?

...I think it will work? You could test that yourself. I know the whole egg reproduction thing won't work, at least.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
2. Is it possible making monsters equip items? Something akin to how default Reis base-job defines her.

Possible? Yes. Done? Nope. I think there are 2 things preventing this: The monster gender, and the Job Range (Mime to Tiamat)... meaning this latter portion has already been hacked and only needs to be adapted.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
3. I gather that monster skill occupies a Skill slot, am I wrong? Is it possible using that skill slot to be used into a job ability set and vice versa (migrate a job related skill to become ONLY a monster skill)?

That question doesn't make sense.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
1. Can we add a new ailment/buff? I mean, adding an effect completely, and not just erasing one to add another in its stead.

Nope. Unless you're willing to spend the next 10 years on this.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
2. Regarding FROG, when you use frog on your enemy, your enemy still has the default movement (which means that a frog red chocobo will still move about the whole scenery). I want to know if when frog is applied, can you set a default movement to, say, 3 and jump to 6 and raise its evading numbers? Mainly is that I want to convey by adding frog ailment: it won't go too far when moving, still will be able to jump high and be harder to spot and hit.

That sounds like a lot of trouble for what it's worth, tbh. Possible, but troublesome.

Quote from: Panda_Tar on November 22, 2016, 09:33:35 am
3. Regarding SLEEP, STOP, DON'T ACT, can you make STEAL command 100% successful on a target inflicted by those ailments? I just think so strange the sleeping guy dancing about to evade thievery, or you missing the action on a completely paralyzed foe. And this would feel about my 5th question on the Skill section above, because even if your foe cannot move, some items are harder to simply steal. Of course, we can imply all this at the impossibility of stealing sleeping and stopped units, I just wanted to know if it's possible making stopped and sleeping targets easier to steal from at % odds of success.

That still requires hacking the formula, but yes it's possible.
  • Modding version: PSX
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Anything is possible as long as it is within the hardware's limits. (ie. disc space, RAM, Video RAM, processor, etc.)
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Emmy

Skills:

1.  That sounds interesting enough to pursue, but probably outside my coding ability.  Might need to do something like multiply damage on certain terrain (like with attack up) instead of just a flat +2, to prevent characters from walking back and forth on different land to continuously buff themselves.

2.  Would probably be a nerfed/ much longer to code version of my Shed Skin code.  You'd need it to check for valid status effects to remove, and rng between each one.  Use my Shed Skin hack as a framework here.

3.  The framework for this has already been done. :)  Which support abilities do you want to replace for this purpose?  http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=10132.0

4.  This exact example sounds like a spriting problem.  However if you are a good spriter, you can probably make a monster sprite that has unique animations like this.  The humanoid sprites are pretty set in the types of movement they can do though.

5.  Sounds like an additional hardcoded routine must be added to steal to do this. 

6.  No.  This idea will break sprite limits in many battles.  Unless you want to do a special palette swap of every character for the use of this.  In which case, I'm still not sure if it can be done.  Probably not though.

Monsters:

1.  If you want them to be playable and function the way they do in vanilla (breeding, poaching), you need to replace one of the standard monsters with your new one.  If you are not replacing a class that uses "Monster" sprite in vanilla, that sprite has a unique ID like any other character.  And if you want to make it playable, you need to also edit the formation screen sprites.  For example, if you are replacing Zalmo with a Flan, you need a valid formation sprite to replace too.  To make for example, Flan, Pudding, Tofu; you need 3 classes to replace.  If flan group are just enemy only, you only need one sprite to replace (say Zalmo's), and you just set it in patcher for the 3 classes you're replacing as a group the sprite you need.

2. This is a problem of superfluous hardcoding.  I found at least a dozen instances of this hardcoding, disabled it all, and still haven't had any success. :(  Which tells me there's more of it.  By superfluous hardcoding, I mean several instances of the code where items are involved, the game will do a completely unnecessary check if the unit is a monster, before doing a check to see if a unit has an item in that slot.  I'm betting a lot of this is hidden in undocumented sections of the code.

3.  I'm unsure what you're asking.

Ailments/buffs:

1.  Yes, you can code new status effects!  You will need to replace something though, but things like Wall, Cursed, and the Blank slot are easy enough to replace.  Status code for effects like your example requires finding a relevant routine to stick the hack in.  For example, editing the same routine that the damage buff to Frog units to include the damage buff to Frozen units, and editing routines that determine if a character is capable of moving to include Frozen.

2.  Adding evasion will be easy to do (just add it in as part of Defending or Abandon to also check for frog).  Changing the character's move, it might be possible as part of the routine that the Flee hack is written in.

3.  This is easier to do than your idea to have hardcoded item steal rates.  Would require a custom routine for it though.

All in all, it sounds like you need to learn ASM.  :P  There's very few of us left who do ASM work, and I'm still a beginner.  If you do learn ASM though, the options for editing and changing aren't limited to what you can find in other people's threads, and you'll have a much better idea of what is reasonable to code yourself/ask for help with, and what isn't.
  • Modding version: PSX

Panda_Tar

Thank you kindly for the quick and clarifying answers.

The reason I'm asking this is first to see how far we can go and how far it's been gone, because knowing that some stuff were coded already is a very good starting step (I have noticed many of these things already by reading threads, so I just gathered here what I didn't really noticed), and because that I'm fully aware that I would have to learn ASM and that it'll require time to grasp things. It's been a while since I last meddled with programming; perhaps rust-off time is on schedule.

1. Ah, it seems Emmy's suggestion as for Att UP feels the way I was thinking, helping to avoid PA stacking.

2. I'll look into that Shed Skin code when I start learning ASM then, if you allow me to do so.

3. SQUEE!

4. That was what I was wondering when watching people making sprites. It's a table with graphics and it just makes sense there's no more room in there to add anything, now that you guys explained. Unless we change some default movement/sprite which wouldn't be used anymore?

5/3. Just curiosity. ^_^

6. Hm ... it's because I don't know how animation edition works for these matters. I was taking the example of RPG Maker experience of years ago when editing effects, which you could have a certain sprite grow or shrink on the screen and set opacity to it, so you could make a white square as big as the screen and simulate flashing of screen by setting opacity with the timeline (although RPG maker had a flash screen option already, of course). I was asking this because I remember reading in some older thread around here that it wasn't known yet how to hack means to make the screen or the character flash into some color. That's all.

1. Ah, I see. So only monster-coded will have the three-species relation (not really worried about eggs) ... that's really clarified now, thank you.

2. Ok, it's not a mandatory thing, mostly curiosity in the making.

3. We have skill sets with skills for jobs that occupies skill slots. I'm trying to ask if Monster skills exist as if being skill slots which could be added in a job skill (example if we make a Blue Mage with Monster abilities; or if characters cannot have skills which are set for monsters by default).

1. Ah, understand. The quickest way would be exchange some of those three which are not really interesting, since adding anew feels like a lot of trouble.

2. Ok, just similar to the feeling of Sleep being able to evade stealing, nothing really important if that's simply too much trouble. Thanks.

Another question I forgot to make:

Regarding monster pallet, is there a 'transparent color' when editing their variants? So we might use transparent color on one of the versions of the being on the parts of the shape we don't want to appear, and then color them on another visible color and give the impression the monster has a different shape, an additional horn, wing etc.?

Again, thanks for your time answering this. Where would you point out so I could start grasping ASM-hacking conception?
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

3lric

Quote
3. We have skill sets with skills for jobs that occupies skill slots. I'm trying to ask if Monster skills exist as if being skill slots which could be added in a job skill (example if we make a Blue Mage with Monster abilities; or if characters cannot have skills which are set for monsters by default).


Yes. Jot5 has blue mages, as do most other mods.
  • Modding version: PSX

Nyzer

There's nothing at all wrong with having monsters and players use the same skills, but monster PA/MA is scaled differently, so their skills would be more powerful in general.

Monsters automatically ignore some traits of skills, like MP cost or Requires Sword. They're still affected by CT - not that any monster skills in vanilla have CT. Of course, you could give them passive CT 0 to give them an edge over players using the same skill, if you so desired.

  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

Panda_Tar

November 22, 2016, 01:28:55 pm #6 Last Edit: November 22, 2016, 03:10:17 pm by Panda_Tar
Hmm, got it! That's nice to know.

Marked it as solved given it was mostly a clarification sort of thing.

  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.