Patch Ideas Proposal Thread

[nitwit]

Head over to GBAtemp forums and ask around in the PSP boards until you find something that lets you extract files from a PSP disc image similar to CD Mage for the PS1. CD Mage is here on the wiki, I think PS1 games use mode 2, form 1 when opened with CD Mage, I always forget. There are only 4 possible options (mode 1/2 form 1/2) so try everything until it works.

If that works, do as I said in my last post: compare file sizes, compare hashes, find a binary diff program. I think I have one lying around somewhere (unfortunately it was written in Java), so I can post it when you get that far and after I rouse myself to write a good readme for it.

Don't worry about decompressing anything until you get to that point, otherwise you'll be too demoralized to continue. Even if it is compressed, there is almost certainly a tool to decompress it on a romhacking site somewhere, and any headers present in such files should be obvious to anyone who's worked with file headers before.

Once you have a set of sound files and you have a means to split them into parts, you can directly compare them byte per byte or you can look around for documentation on the subject and perhaps even programs to handle them. I remember someone at Qhimm worked on a sound editor for FF8, which was made around the same time as FFT. Probably uses a very similar format.

Here's a tutorial on using the command line.
https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=12738.0

"Awareness of your ignorance is the first step to becoming wise."
~ Boko

edit

If you can figure out the structure and location of sound files on disc, then you should be able to find them in a save state, and from there RAM. Once you have their location in RAM you can very quickly test out various values to determine what parts of the data do what.

Designing a test scenario where you can debug things as quickly and completely as possible is a very useful skill to have.

[C1REX]

I was thinking of a patch that would block transfer of skills between jobs except the one in the middle (support skills).
So only chemist could use items, only thief could have move+2 and only monk could have counter attack.
It would instantly make the game more difficult but also make some jobs waaay more viable (chemist) and monsters could be good companions in fights. Also only calculator could use math skills and would not be that broken. 5 chemists would be a viable team.

I have a feeling it was initially intended and combining jobs breaks the game. Also that's why humans are so much stronger than monsters.

What do you think?

[Seta194]

Anybody interested in making a patch that gives units EXP/JP even when they miss their targets? I always disliked that missing not only means a wasted turn, but also a missed opportunity to level up.

[nitwit]

Anybody interested in making a patch that gives units EXP/JP even when they miss their targets? I always disliked that missing not only means a wasted turn, but also a missed opportunity to level up.

What happens when you blind your entire party, give them mantles, face them off against each other, and have them whiff each other for an hour? Or fight an enemy with optimal evasion and healing but no offense, blind everyone, and set them to auto-battle while you take a nap?

That said; I'm by no means an expert, but I assume you'd start with this routine:
https://ffhacktics.com/wiki/Main_Action_Routine_-_performs_ability_effects

Specifically this line:
0018bf38: 104001ca beq r2,r0,0x0018c664      Branch if Attack Missed

You need to rearrange a lot of stuff here so the experience gain occurs even if attack misses... that assumes this is the only relevant routine, which it probably isn't.

[Snowmeow]

Man, so many ideas, ones good, others not-so-good, others WTF... A newbie like me feels lost and fears to comment about an idea from lotza time ago.

But, I have my two cents of ideas, that some modder can apply (If possible), in case these ideas may be interesting.

-Hi-Phoenix Down: A bigger Phoenix Down that recovers five times more HP than the standard Phoenix Down. In Example, the standard Phoenix Down recovers 11HP, the Hi-Phoenix Down would recover circa 55HP. It avoids the risen character to be KO'ed again by a mere Throw Stone, for example.
-Salvage: A Thief skill, that consists in stealing items from dead enemies. Chances of success are 99% for weapons, 80% for hats and shields, 75% for armlets, rings and mantles, 55% for boots and gauntlets, 50% for women accessories (Perfume, Lip Rouge), and 40% for armors and vests. The item to be salvaged from the dead body is random - The CPU decides which item from the dead body will be salvaged.
-Maintenance more useful: Beyond preventing items from to be broken by Knight's Battle Skill, it cancels also Thief's Steal and wreckage of the katanas when using Samurai's Draw Out (Correct me if it's already on the Vanilla).
-"Seal Evil" to be a Priest skill: IMHO, to seal evil spirits in stone is more compatible to a Priest than to an Engineer.

[nitwit]

-Hi-Phoenix Down: A bigger Phoenix Down that recovers five times more HP than the standard Phoenix Down. In Example, the standard Phoenix Down recovers 11HP, the Hi-Phoenix Down would recover circa 55HP. It avoids the risen character to be KO'ed again by a mere Throw Stone, for example.

I don't know if it ignores the item's Z value, but here's the formula:
https://ffhacktics.com/wiki/4B_Heal_(Rdm(1..9))_100%25_Status

A better Phoenix Down seems useful.

You can free up some item slots by putting 2 or 3 debuff removers on each existing debuff remover item, then nixing remedy (if you're okay with not having a universal debuff remover).

-Salvage: A Thief skill, that consists in stealing items from dead enemies. Chances of success are 99% for weapons, 80% for hats and shields, 75% for armlets, rings and mantles, 55% for boots and gauntlets, 50% for women accessories (Perfume, Lip Rouge), and 40% for armors and vests. The item to be salvaged from the dead body is random - The CPU decides which item from the dead body will be salvaged.

I remember thinking that I should make steal skills work on dead characters, but looking at the formula there it isn't obvious how to do it. It's buried in one of the subroutines (or their subroutines).

https://ffhacktics.com/wiki/26_Equipped:_Steal_Hit_(SP%2BX)%25

-Maintenance more useful: Beyond preventing items from to be broken by Knight's Battle Skill, it cancels also Thief's Steal and wreckage of the katanas when using Samurai's Draw Out (Correct me if it's already on the Vanilla).

It already prevents theft of items. Preventing Draw Out katana breakage is a good idea. I'd expand it to prevent stat breaks too, were that possible.

-"Seal Evil" to be a Priest skill: IMHO, to seal evil spirits in stone is more compatible to a Priest than to an Engineer.

Someone made a hack that changes Undead_Hit(SP + X)% to Status_Effect_Hit(SP + X)% recently.

I agree that there should be more anti-undead skills, especially for the priest. One solution (ignoring that you need to make 1 to 3 more spell animations, which isn't trivial) is to make a few more holy elemental attack spells similar to the black mage's fire/ice/bolt spells. This gives the priest affordable general offense options, but then again you may not want the priest to have such options.

If you make the priest a fast mage, it should use the vanilla Undead_Hit(SP + X)% formula just as well as Mustadio.

[Orkney]

Hi,

The salvage skill is a good idea. But you'll have to allow that ability to target dead unit.
I think that you can target a dead unit only if the ability is going to cancel death. It's possible but it'll require some ASM skills.
It happens here Set_some_data_for_current_attack The routine is called in Pre formula set up routine just after the return from the formulas.

And there might be others checks in the routines that modify target equipment...

[Zolias]

So, I've been having an idea growing in my head, but I feel it's beyond the scope of what I'm capable of - hence why I'm throwing it out into here.

It's essentially an overhaul to the current job system, where some jobs are altered to do something else entirely - along with some quality of life changes.  This is for either version (PSX or PSP, though I've heard it's easier to work with the PSX version - I'll leave this up to you, though I'll be adding stuff based on the PSX version).  There might be spoilers for those who have never played it - however, this is an almost-30 year old game, so...

Note that I do understand that it's very unlikely that I'll see this anytime soon, so if anyone wants to take any of these ideas for their own game mod, by all means, feel free to do so!

I'll begin with the QoL changes that I'd recommend to see...

Section 1: Quality of Life Changes

- Special Units can go on Tavern Jobs.

- Special Units cannot abandon the party because of having too high a faith or too low a bravery value.

- Remove Faith from magic/status calculations.

- All Monsters always have access to their Beastmaster skill

- High-Tier End Game Heavy Armors also increase MP.

- Gear Changes - Gender-specific equipment restriction lifted, and changes to the items that make them appear less gender-specific (Tynar Rogue, for example, could be changed into a cloak of some kind)

- Map treasures (Treasure Hunter required) are the same regardless of their quality - always equipment of some kind.

- All classes have innate Defend and Change Equipment commands.

Note that I know that there are ASM's that do some of these, but I lack the knowledge on how to use them.

Now for the job list - note that some will be overhauled heavily.  I'll start with generics and then go into the special ones (Will be using the PSP skill names as I'm most familiar with those).  Additionally, I will be adding some changes to some job level requirements to better suit the flow of my interpretation of the game.  If none are listed, no changes need to be made:

Job Changes

Squire

Remove Beastmaster Support Ability and Throw Stone Action Ability.

Reasoning - Look in the QoL section for one, and next section for the other.

Chemist

Remove Treasure Hunter Movement Ability.

Knight (Requires Lv.2 Squire)

Action Ability Overhaul, changed to direct melee-ranged weapon damage abilities - think along the lines of FFTA's Fighter inspiration, along with a spinning strike ability that hits the cardinal areas for less damage than/equal to the attack command.  Add the Vigilance and Fury Reaction Abilities.

Reasoning - This gives them an identity of their own instead of just being "The Worse Meliadoul" or just the stepping stone into the better classes.  Also, I hate the idea of a generic enemy being able to just shatter your possibly-one-of-a-kind equipment by mere chance.

Archer (Requires Lv.2 Squire)

Complete overhaul for action abilities.

Action Abilities: Aim - Legs (Inflicts Immobilize), Aim - Arms (Inflicts Disable), Beso Toxico (Single Target Damage + Inflicts Poison), Rend MP, Rend Power, Rend Magic, Rend Speed.

Reasoning - The charged abilities were essentially useless; quite often, your enemy moved out of the shot range.  This helps in the long run to give them an identity all on their own - ranged status.  Expecting the AI to make good use of this, as well!

Thief (Requires Lv.3 ???)

Just remove the Vigilance reaction ability.

Note: For the class required, check the next section

Monk (Requires Lv.3 Knight

Merge Chakra and Purification into one ability called Purification - remove MP recovery of Chakra, keep the HP Recovery with Purification's status recovery.

Reasoning - MP recovery on an ability that has no cost can be quite strong in some scenarios.  As I don't feel like adding MP costs to everything as a balancing act, this is the second-best thought process.

White Mage (Requires 3 Chemist)

Action Ability Removal - Remove Curaga, Curaja, Arise, Reraise, Protectja, Shellja, and Holy.  Remove Arcane Defense Support Ability.


Reasoning - Check the next section.

Black Mage (Requires Lv.3 Chemist)

Action Ability Removal - Firaga, Firaja Thundaga, Thundaja, Blizzaga, Blizzaja, Poison, Toad, Death, and Flare.  Remove Arcane Strength Support Ability.

New Action Abilities:  Stone, Stonera (Earth-elemental magic), Water, Watera (Water-elemental magic)

Reasoning - Check the next section.

Orator (Requires Lv.5 Squire & Lv.5 Chemist)

Action Ability Removal: Stall, Condemn, Beg, Insult and Mimic Darvalon.

Reasoning - Too many abilities that seem to do the same thing - it's a waste of perfectly good game resources.  As for Stall and Condemn, that will come later... in the next section!

Time Mage (Requires Lv.3 White Mage)

Action Ability Removal - Hasteja, Slow, Slowja, Stop, Quick, Gravity, Graviga, and Meteor.  Remove Teleport Movement Ability.

Reasoning - check the next section

Mystic (Requires Lv.3 Black Mage)

Action Ability Removal - All; replace with Beowulf's Templar Action Abilities except for Chicken and Break; add Slow.

Reasoning - check the next section

Ninja (Requires Lv.5 Thief and Lv.5 Monk)

Add the Move +3 and Jump +3 movement abilities

Bard - Removed Completely

Dancer - Removed Completely

Mime - Removed Completely

Arithmetician - Removed Completely

Section 2.1 - Special Unit Job Changes

Note: All Special Unit Jobs that can be party members will have Safeguard as an Innate Ability - for the same reason as why Knight has Rend abilities removed

Ramza

Chapter 1 Changes

Job Name: Cadet

Skillset Name: Mettle

Action Abilities: Tailwind, Salve, Chant.

Chapter 2 & 3 Changes

Job Name: Mercenary

Skillset Name: Mettle

Action Abilities: Tailwind, Salve, Chant, Focus, Shadowblade*, Duskblade*

*: These abilities can be learned by Gaffgarion hitting Ramza with them.

Chapter 4 Changes

Job Name: Champion

New Skillset Name: Heroics

Action Abilities: Tailwind, Salve, Chant, Focus, Shadowblade, Duskblade, Judgment Blade, Cleansing Strike, Northswain's Strike, Hallowed Bolt, Divine Ruination, Ultima

Note: In his Champion job, Ramza can learn Shadowblade and Duskblade using JP if he fails to learn them in his Mercenary job.  Learns Ultima the usual way.

Agrias

Job Name: Paladin

Skillset Name: Divine Blade

Action Abilities: Judgment Blade, Cleansing Strike, Northswain's Strike, Hallowed Bolt, Divine Ruination, Seal Evil, Shadowblade*, Duskblade*

*: She can learn these abilities from either Gaffgarion in Chapter 2, Ramza in Chapters 2/3/4, or Orlandeau in Chapter 4.


Mustadio

Job Name: Machinist

Skillset Name: Ancient Tech

Active Abilities:

Defense Node (Adds Protect and Shell to himself or an ally one tile away; 1 vertical) - 100 JP

Restoration Device (Restores 70% HP when in critical health to himself or an ally one tile away; 1 vertical) - 100 JP

Hermes' Box (Adds Haste to himself or an ally one tile away; 1 vertical) - 150 JP

Refractive Spray (Adds Reflect to himself or an ally one tile away; 1 vertical) - 150 JP

Body Purifier (Cures Poison, Blind, Petrify, Toad, Oil, and Sleep on himself or an ally within 3 tiles; 1 vertical) - 200 JP

Mind Purifier (Cures Silence, Charm, Confusion, and Berserk on himself or an ally within 3 tiles; 1 vertical) - 200 JP

Soul Purifier (Cures Doom, Undead, and Vampire on himself or an ally within 3 tiles; 1 vertical) - 200 JP

Revive (Same as Monk ability)

Beowulf

Job Name: Elemental Knight

Skillset Name: Elemental Blade

Active Abilities:

Shimmering Blade (Fire Elemental Physical Attack, one target in melee range) - 200 JP

Skyfury Blade (Lightning-elemental Physical attack to one target in melee range) - 200 JP

Hoarfrost Blade (Ice-elemental Physical attack to one target in melee range) - 200 JP

Shining Blade (Holy-elemental Physical attack to one target in melee range) - 200 JP

Lifethread Blade (Dark-elemental Physical attack to one target in melee range) - 200 JP

Galeforce Blade (Wind-elemental Physical attack to one target in melee range) - 200 JP

Tremor Blade (Earth-elemental Physical attack to one target in melee range) - 200 JP

Tidal Blade (Water-elemental Physical attack to one target in melee range) - 200 JP

Reis

Job Name: Dragonkin

Skillset Name: Draconics

Innate Abilities: Tame, Dual Wield

Action Abilities: Fire Breath, Ice Breath, Thunder Breath, Holy Breath (900 JP)

Dragon's Strength (Increases any ally's Bravery by 5, and their Speed, Physical Attack, and Magical Attack by 2) - 500 JP

Orlandeau

Job Name: Sword Saint

Skillset Name: Swordplay

Active Abilities: All except crush-types, which will be replaced with Beowulf's Elemental Blade skills)

Meliadoul

Job Name: Divine Knight

Skillset Name: Unyielding Blade

Action Abilities: Stronger versions of the Knight skills.

Cloud

Job Name: SOLDIER 1st Class

Skillset Name: Limit

Innate Ability: Swiftness

Action Abilities: Unchanged

Section 3 - New Classes

Bard Replacement - White Wizard (Requires MASTERED White Mage & MASTERED Time Mage - NOT Gender-locked)

Skillset Name: Sacred Magic

Innate Ability: Arcane Defense

Equipment: Same as White Mage

Abilities: All CURRENT White Mage & Time Mage Action Abilities, plus the following: Curaga, Curaja, Arise, Reraise, Holy, and Quick. 

Add Swiftness and Arcane Defense Support Abilities

Dancer Replacement - Black Wizard (Requires MASTERED Black Mage & MASTERED Mystic - NOT Gender-locked)

Skillset Name: Devastation Magic

Innate Ability: Arcane Strength

Equipment: Same as Black Mage

Abilities: All CURRENT Black Mage & Mystic Acton Abilities, plus the following: Firaga, Firaja Thundaga, Thundaja, Blizzaga, Blizzaja, Poison, Toad, Death, Flare, Break, Stop, Gravity, Graviga, and Meteor.

Add Arcane Strength Support Ability, Magick Boost Reaction Ability and Teleport Movement Ability.

Arithmetician Replacement - Grand Sage (Requires MASTERY of all generic mage classes - White Mage & Wizard, Black Mage & Wizard, Time Mage, Mystic - and Lv.8 Summoner)

Skillset Name: Sagacity

Innate Abilities: Arcane Strength, Arcane Defense, Halve MP, and No Charge (I think that's the name of it...?)

Equipment: Light/Medium Armor, All Head Equipment except Helmets, Staves, Rods, Poles, Shields

Abilities: All Action Abilities from all of the generic mage classes - excluding Summoner.

Note: For a stat growth idea, it would be decent in HP and Speed, poor in Physical Attack, and have the absolute best Magical Attack and MP - MP seconded by Black Wizard's growth.  This is my counter to Arithmeticks, as that was relatively easy to get as a job and essentially did the same thing, but even without MP costs.  This way, you have to actually work hard for your broken mage.  As a small benefit, you can have all the magics at no Charge Time by throwing Summoner on as the secondary!  Just make sure that if you plan on learning Zodiark, you STILL need to be a Summoner to do so...

Mime Replacement - Treasure Hunter (Requires 2 Squire)

Innate Ability: Treasure Hunter

Abilities:  Stall (reduces target's CT to 0 - doesn't require talking), Hide (Invisible), Throw Stone.  Treasure Hunter Movement Ability (imagine that~)


Ok, with that, I'm finally done.  I am so tired now - spent 10 hours thinking and coming up with the right way to phrase things properly, and may still have failed spectacularly!  Again, I don't expect to see such a thing, but if I do - awesome!  If not, maybe some of these ideas can be used by some people?  I'm certainly fine with it if they are - what's the point of giving out ideas if they're not intended to be used?

[Ka Zan]

Hi.... How about Delita's Story? We do miss a lot of events there.

[TaxicabSamurai]

Hey there, had an idea about a mod that essentially added an extra slot in combat specifically for monster units.
As it is currently there's no real reason to use any monster unit over a human one, so monster units and recruiting them either gets ignored or you just poach the units for items. Balance could be an issue, giving you another unit in all your battles might trivialize the difficulty.
I just think it'd be cool to implement something that encourages monster use. It feels bad to use monster units when even generic human units are so vastly superior.