Flags (using FFTPatcher 0.236)

[Raijinili]

Some flags (things that can be turned on and off) are still unknown in FFTPatcher.

This topic will help by listing flags with what they're associated with.

Learn-box (first box of abilities): Unknown 1
Skills that have it unchecked:
Gil Taking
Steal EXP
Invitation
Negotiate
Scream
Dragon Tame, Dragon Care, Dragon Power Up, Dragon Level Up
Shine Lover (steals gil)
Math Skill
Reactions
Movements

This leads me to theorize that the AI is prevented from using these skills, and that the last eight boxes of Learn-box are actually AI boxes.

Unknown 2 (usually off):
Beneficial summons except Fairy
Silf
Ben. Draw Out
Sing
Steal Exp
Scream

I think this means "Don't worry about hitting enemies, they won't see it," and Silf and Fairy were accidentally switched. Anyone wanna test whether the AI will cast Silf?

Unknown 3 (usually on):
Harmful summons except Silf
Fairy
Harmful Draw Out
Dance
Gil Taking
Invitation
Allure
Ja Magic
Despair 2
Return 2
Dragon Tame
Nose Bracelet
Grand Cross

I think this means "Don't worry about hitting allies, they won't feel it," and Silf and Fairy were accidentally switched. Anyone wanna test whether the AI will cast Fairy?

Unknown 4 (usually off):
Spin Fist
Repeating Fist
Wave Fist
Earth Slash
Secret Fist
Steal (not Heart)
Battle Skill
Dash
Throw Stone
Shadow Stitch
Dark Bracelet
Blood Suck
Snipe
PA*[PA*Br/100] monster attacks (not Triple Attack)
Choco Ball
Goblin skills
Cat skills
Black Ink
Skeleton skills
Ghoul skills
Cockatrice skills (not Feather Bomb)
Pig skills (not Pooh or Please Eat)
Leaf Dance
Wave Around
Blow Fire
Lick
Goo
Sudden Cry
Tail Swing
Throw
Jump
Charge

Offensive abilities which are affected by Martial Arts? Someone check if Snipe is affected. I'm more interested in if Throw is affected.

Status Effects:
Second, Sixth bits: Crystal and Treasure (permanent?)
Third bit: Defending, Performing
Fourth: Poison, Regen
Fifth: Confusion, Transparent, Charm, Sleep (ignore?)
Seventh: Crystal, Invite, Treasure (uncancellable?)
Twelfth: Confusion, Berserk, Poison, Stop, Sleep, Don't Move, Don't Act, Death Sentence
13th: Crys, Dead, Undead, Jump, Petr, Inv, Treasure, Critical
14th: Darkness, Confusion, Silence, Transparent, Berserk, Chicken, Frog, Stop, Charm, Sleep, Don't Move, Don't Act
15: Crys, Dead, Undead, Petrify, Invite, Blood Suck, Treasure, Chicken, Frog, Charm, Death Sentence
16: Crys, Dead, Undead, Petrify, Invite, Confusion, Blood Suck, Treasure, Chicken, Frog, Charm, Sleep, Don't Act, Death Sentence

Doing some searching of my own I came up with this for the unknowns in the 'AI Behavior' box:

Unknown 1-

All white magicks
All black magicks
All time magicks
All yin-yang magicks
All summons except Golem
Both versions of Ultima, and All-Ultima
Dark Holy
Deathspell 2
All Bio spells
All 3 dimension magicks
All ja magicks
Mute
Despair2
Return 2
Midgard Zolom
Lifebreak
Nanoflare
Grand Cross
Magic Barrier

The only thing they seem to have in common is a CT greater than 0, but so do the sing and dance skills. However those 2 sets of skills don't use this flag. The only other thing is that they seem to all be spells.

Unknown 2-

All white magicks
All black magicks
All time magicks
All yin-yang magicks
All summons except Golem
Both versions of Ultima, and All-Ultima
Dark Holy
Deathspell 2
All Bio spells
All 3 dimension magicks
All ja magicks
Mute
Despair2
Return 2
Magic Ruin
Speed ruin
Power Ruin
Mind Ruin
All sword magicks except 'Shock!'

I was thinking it might have to do with there being an MP cost, but I found some with cost and no flag, and some with no cost but with a flag. Still, I didn't take into account weather these incongruent skills were used by humans or monsters.

Unknown 3-

Spin Fist
Repeating Fist
Wave Fist
Steal Helmet
Steal Armor
Steal Shield
Steal Weapon
Steal Accessory
Head Break
Armor Break
Shield Break
Weapon Break
Magic Break
Power Break
Mind Break
Speed Break
Dash
Throw Stone
All versions of Small Bomb
Flame Attack
All PA/Brave based monster attacks INCLUDING Triple Attack
Choco Ball
All Goblin skills except Turn Punch (mistake?)
All Cuar skills
Black Ink
All Skeleton Skill
All Ghoul skills
Look of Devil/Fright
All Avis skills except Feather Bomb
Blow Fire
Goo & Moldball Virus
Sudden Cry
All Dragon skills
Triple Bracelet
Snake Carrier

I see a similarity to Unknown 4 in the main flag box.

[Archael]

Very good research Raiji. I will try some of them.

[Armorvil]

Yup, the AI does cast Silf sometimes.

[Raijinili]

I meant to ask, "Will they cast Silf if there aren't any allies in the AoE?"

[Vanya]

They shouldn't. Since it is mistakenly set to ignore enemies, the AI should be looking to hit allies as if it were a beneficial spell. Probably what should be happening is that since the allies can't be targeted the tiles under them are targeted instead.

[Raijinili]

The point is to try to disprove that theory, since it's just a theory.

[Gamesoul Master]

::Necro-bump::

This thread still needs attention. Plenty of info here about these unknowns, and they're all still Unknown in FFTPatcher, so probably a good idea to start looking into these more.

While we wait and see if anybody has any updated info on these (or *any* unknown available if possible), I'm gonna work on making a test battle set-up for testing things like this.

[Vanya]

Thanks for the necro-bump, I was looking for this a few weeks ago.

I'll start looking into these again soon. ^_^

[Gamesoul Master]

Well, since *you* were the one who replied to my post in the other thread by mentioning that a thread like this existed somewhere, I finally got around to searching for it... lol. That reply you posted was probably the reason you were searching for this thread, eh? ;D

[Gamesoul Master]

Sorry for the double-post, but I wanted to put a fresh post to update the thread with my results.

I ran a test for the first Unknown byte (in the unlabeled box under the ability type list). I created a battle with one enemy knight across the map from my starting position (to ensure it can't get to me in one turn). I modified the Knight job to have the Night Magic skillset (last one on the list, easy to remember), modified to only contain Scream (which I modified to cost 0 JP to learn and learned 100% of the time). I also decreased its movement range to 2, just to make sure it would never get even close to me to do anything to me. All other values for everything was left at default. The only thing I changed for the second battle was that I enabled that first Unknown byte for Scream. I gave the enemy three turns in each battle to try and do something. Here's the result:

- First battle: Enemy did nothing but move closer to me on all three turns.
- Second battle: Enemy moved closer to me on all three turns, and *also* used Scream on itself all three turns.

Conclusion: We can safely state that the first Unknown byte dictates whether the enemy can use the ability or not. Good name for it would probably be "Allow Enemy Usage".


Edit: Ran a test on the second Unknown byte in that box, using the same exact conditions, except I also edited Scream to have an effect range of 7 (to make sure I could get close enough to be in effective range, but not close enough for them to walk up to me and attack me), and I added a second Knight of course. And of course, the second battle involved *disabling* the byte instead of enabling it, as its on by default.

- First battle: Enemies used Scream despite me being within range of it.
- Second battle: Enemies still used Scream despite me being within range of it (no change).

Conclusion: The second byte seems to be something else completely. Further investigation is required.


Edit: Ran a test on the third Unknown byte. Used Ultima instead of Scream. Gave it an extended effect range (to ensure that she'd almost *have* to hit her ally while trying to target me). Default byte setting on first battle, enabled on second battle.

- First battle: Enemies only used Ultima on me when it wouldn't hit their ally (interesting enough, wasn't afraid to hit *themselves* in the process... lol).
- Second battle: Enemies only used Ultima on me when it wouldn't hit their ally (again, wasn't afraid to hit themselves and me at the same time).

Conclusion: Well, it's now proven that the byte doesn't involve calculations as to whether they'll hit their ally or not, as they seem to avoid it either way. Doesn't control whether they're willing to hit themselves either... lol. There's probably another byte that controls this though. Further investigation required.


Edit: Tested the fourth Unknown byte in that box. No real specifics need to be given, besides the fact that I enabled it on one move, disabled it on another (that had the same exact formula and X/Y values), and equipped Martial Arts to Ramza. Both moves did the same exact damage, so the byte doesn't determine whether Martial Arts affects the ability or not. Besides, if the rest of that box is AI-based, it wouldn't make sense for that last Unknown to involve Martial Arts in any way.

So all in all... we now know for sure what the first Unknown byte is, and still unsure of what the other 3 are.

[Vanya]

About the 4th unknown byte. If it has anything to do with martial arts it is to tell the AI that it is affected by martial arts. Whether martial arts actually does affect the skill or not is irrelevant.

I think a better test here is to give an enemy unit, with Martial arts and no weapons equipped, the option to use 2 identical skills. One skill with unknown 4 checked and the other with it unchecked. Then we should test to see if the enemy unit prefers the one with unknown 4 on.

Then a second test with the same parameters without Martial arts or weapons equipped.
Then a third test without Martial arts but with weapons equipped.
Then a fourth test with Martial arts and weapons equipped.

The results from this test should say for sure weather or not it has any impact on the AI's understanding of a skill being boosted by martial arts. ^_^

[Gamesoul Master]

Would the weapons part really matter if tests showed that the AI preferred whichever skill had that byte enabled? Like, just run two battles, one with the first ability having the byte enabled, and the other with the second ability enabled. If it prefers the one with the Unknown byte each time, that's a definite answer. I do understand where you're coming from with your version of the test though, so I'll give it a go that way (that way, we'll not only answer the mystery, but also possibly get another glimpse into how this game's odd AI does things... lol). It can't hurt to see if the AI is smart enough to see the equipped weapon and ignore the active byte that's telling it the one move is Martial Arts friendly... lol.

I'll give that a go later though. Right now, I'm just checking around here a bit, and then heading off to sleep. Good catch, by the way... I have no idea why I was thinking that the last Unknown byte would relate to the ability actually utilizing Martial Arts when almost all the other variables are AI control bytes.

[Vanya]

I'm just trying to cover all possibilities since we don't know if the unknown byte causes the game to check for the presence of weapons, the Martial Arts skill, or both. ^_^

[Gamesoul Master]

Alright, I just spent the last hour and a half running tests on this. The whole time, I was using *2* enemy units, which you'd think would speed things up. I did so many different things, it'd take forever to describe it all.

Final answer is that I don't think it tells the AI that the move is affected by Martial Arts and should be used if you have Martial Arts. Some of my tests involved innate Martial Arts, some involved having it equipped. In every battle, one enemy had a weapon equipped, one didn't. Sometimes they had abilities equipped as well as innate, sometimes they didn't. I used the second Ice Bracelet and Fire Bracelet (with element removed from each one). Both were given 0 JP cost and 100% learning rate, and their job was always lvl 2 or higher (with no subjob set).

About 99% of the time, both of them continually used Ice Bracelet on me, regardless of what was set. It should be noted that they *always* used the same move within a battle (they *never* changed it up once they picked one, and Ice Bracelet, I should note, is the first ability on the list). There were only two times where an enemy used Fire Bracelet on me (in both cases, it was Fire Bracelet that had the 4th Unknown byte enabled).

- First time: It was the enemy with a weapon equipped who used it. Both enemies had innate Martial Arts, and the one who used it had Counter on (no other support equipped). The weaponless one who decided on Ice Bracelet had no support abilities equipped at all. That one I found extremely odd, as it was the opposite of what I expected.
- Second time: Was exactly as I would've expected if this byte marked the move for Martial Arts in the AI. Neither enemy had any support abilities equipped, and both had innate Martial Arts. The weaponless one stuck to Fire Bracelet, and the other used Ice Bracelet.

In all other instances (even the ones where they *only* had Martial Arts equipped, with no innate abilities), both of them used Ice Bracelet as their only move of choice. I kept thinking maybe they were only learning the first one, but the above two results showed that they *were* learning Fire Bracelet just fine... they simply weren't bothering to use it.

I'd also like to note that I was always standing in the same exact spot, as were the enemies. I tried to control all the variables I could, and only tweaked one thing at a time between each battle. But with the only two interesting results listed above seeming to be almost completely opposite, I'm lead to having no idea what this particular Unknown byte is for.

Oh, and before actually getting into this, I ran some tests without Martial Arts or the Unknown byte. The enemies both always preferred Ice Bracelet then too.

[Vanya]

The only other thing that they all have in common is that all the skills marked with unknown 4 can be considered physical in nature. I'll have a closer look.