[PSX] FFT - FFT:DRM (Doublecast Red Mage)

[Celdia]

Final Fantasy Tactics: Doublecast Red Mage
FFT:DRM

- What is it? -

As the name implies, FFT:DRM is a mod that modifies the vanilla game to add in the many-times-requested Red Mage class. It also adds in a Doublecast support skill. This mod can be freely used as a base to build other mods off of.

- Why is it? -

A lot of people over the years have requested mods with a Red Mage class and I decided to make one. There are some other changes, a few by necessity and a few just for fun or for Quality of Life purposes, but overall this is still a very vanilla presentation of PSX FFT.

- How is it? -

Good, I hope. Cross-Skip and Smart Encounters come built-in for QoL. Red Mage going in means something else goes out, so Calculator (and thus Math Skill) are absent from this mod. Don't worry though, RDM and Doublecast make up for the lack of ridiculously overpowered instant speed no MP cost infinite range spell casting. Fits right in line with the vanilla power curve.

- When is it? -

Total build time on this project was about 5 hours, maybe a little more. I used mostly-complete tools and hacks already available to the community from other projects or just stuff created to be used by our wonderful group of talents modders and coders. The mod is available right now and should be considered completed at the time of this posting.

- Who is it? -

Other than myself I had help and used mods by various members of the community. Special thanks to Talcall for working out the Doublecast function for me and getting it working solidly, as well as for his continued supportive presence with this project and others of mine. Also quick thanks to Xifanie, Pokeytax, and Lijj for their contributions to the community for the hacks and sprites I used in this.

- Where is it? -

Right here! You can download the PPF file from this post and apply it to a clean, PSX ISO or BIN of FFT and get right to it! Check the spoilers below for a more specific list of changes.

spoiler: New Stuff Added

Added Red Mage job. This includes new unit sprites and appropriate changes to text.
Added Doublecast Support Skill. (Causes Doublecast-capable spells to automatically cast twice. This costs no extra MP. Spells that can be Doublecast have "Doublecast" in their spell descriptions. This replaces "Calc" in their descriptions where relevant.)
Added Red Magic Support Skill. (Adds access to White Magic & Black Magic skillsets in battle regardless of Job or Secondary skillset equipped.)
Added Grey Magic Support Skill. (Adds access to Time Magic & Yin-Yang Magic skillsets in battle regardless of Job or Secondary skillset equipped.)
Added Smart Encounters hack. (Moving over Green Dots on the map skips battles 100% of the time, stopping on Green Dots enters battles 100% of the time.)
Added Cross-Skip v3 hack. (Holding X during events/dialogue skips text very quickly.)

spoiler: Old Stuff Removed

Removed Calculator Job and Math Skill skillsets. (There isn't a way to add a new generic job without removing an old one. Calculator got cut.)
Removed Gained JP Up. (All JP costs of player-buyable skills have been halved. This is considered a QoL change.)

spoiler: Extra Changes Made

Rearranged Reaction/Support/Move skills from Calculator to other Jobs and shuffled up some others due to space limitations.

• Red Mage received Absorb Used MP, Counter Magic, Magic Defend Up, Doublecast, Red Magic (Support), Grey Magic (Support).
• Squire lost Gained JP Up and received Gained EXP Up.
• Chemist received Move-Get JP.
• Archer received Move-Get EXP. (This was because I had no idea where to put it and I wanted it on an 'early' job.)
• Priest lost Magic Defend Up and received Distribute.
• Wizard lost Counter Magic. (Allows players to focus learning spells while in the job. RDM doesn't have active skills to learn so saving JP there for RSM skills balances a bit better.)
• Oracle lost Absorb Used MP and received Damage Split.
• All spells previously capable of being used for Math Skill can now be Doublecast. Non-Math spells that can also be Doublecast are Cure 4, Protect 2, Shell 2, Fire 4, Bolt 4, Ice 4, Haste 2, Slow 2, Quick, Meteor, Spell Absorb, Life Drain, and Ultima (Ch.4 Ramza). They were added because I figured it would be fun.

spoiler: Known Bugs/Issues

• It has been discovered that Two Swords seems to affect Throw in an interesting way with the Doublecast mod (regardless of if the unit has Doublecast) - Ninja using Throw will Throw their selected weapon once and then immediately Throw a copy of their off-hand weapon at the target, making them much more dangerous. A fix is in the works If any fix ever happened I don't think I remember it. This might just be fucked for now.
• A unit can only have a maximum number of Act choices of Attack + 4 Skillsets. With a unit in the Red Mage job, equipping both a Secondary skill *and* Grey Magic Support skill can overload the menu. This won't crash anything but the last skillset, Yin-Yang Magic, will be inaccessible.
• A unit in the Red Mage job with a Secondary skill equipped will list White Magic as a Primary, then the equipped Secondary, then the Black Magic skillset below that. I feel it's a little messy looking but that's all.

- Image Gallery -

(Images may not reflect final release of mod)

Red Mage Makes the Scene!

Above: Red Mage has no active skills to learn, only RSMs, because you bring your spells from Priest and Wizard with you instead.

Above: A Red Mage with Grey Magic Support (and no Secondary) bringing 4 kinds of magic to the battle.

Above: Non-Red Mage units equipping the Red Magic skill get to bring both White and Black Magic to battle. Secondary skillsets will appear between White and Black Magic.

You can also see how having a Red Mage using a Secondary skillset (Summon Magic) and Grey Magic won't be able to access Yin-Yang Magic. This is an unfortunate bug I don't currently have a fix for.



I hope you enjoy FFT:DRM!

Please report any bugs you find in the mod here in this thread or to me on Discord. Feel free to use this thread to post gameplay/reactions/criticisms as well.

[Celdia]

I realize after the fact that I never put the unlock requirements for Red Mage into any of the documentation. So here it is for folks that want to know without actually testing it themselves:

spoiler: Unlock Requirements

White Mage 3, Black Mage 3

[Celdia]

It has been discovered (Thanks Akashachi!) that Two Swords seems to affect Throw in an interesting way with the Doublecast mod (regardless of if the unit has Doublecast) - Ninja using Throw will Throw their selected weapon once and then immediately Throw a copy of their off-hand weapon at the target, making them much more dangerous.

Added this note to the Known Bugs list above.

[Nyzer]

It's not a bug, it's a feature

[bee]

This looks amazing! I was looking at replacing calculator with a Blue Mage (I know, so does everyone) but now I'm reconsidering. I do wish there was a version available without the QoL changes / skill reassignments, so that I could decide whether to apply them on a case-by-case basis, but I'm so excited to try this out.

*EDIT* I don't suppose it'd be too difficult to just add any intended monster skills to the Red Mage's otherwise-empty ability list section, but I suspect that would conflict the with white mage skillset, or at very least exacerbate the menu overload bug...

[Celdia]

This looks amazing! I was looking at replacing calculator with a Blue Mage (I know, so does everyone) but now I'm reconsidering. I do wish there was a version available without the QoL changes / skill reassignments, so that I could decide whether to apply them on a case-by-case basis, but I'm so excited to try this out.

*EDIT* I don't suppose it'd be too difficult to just add any intended monster skills to the Red Mage's otherwise-empty ability list section, but I suspect that would conflict the with white mage skillset, or at very least exacerbate the menu overload bug...

Thank you!

Since the RDM pulls the literal WHM and BLM Skillsets and not it's own assigned skillset is battle, you would have to add the Monster skills to WHM and BLM for the RDM to be able to cast them in battle.

[Holy2Tack]

This looks amazing!

I do have one question. I read the entire thread, including the collapsed bits. So I hope I didn't miss it, but is there any compatibility issues with The Lion War?

[Nyzer]

Never mix mods unless they're explicitly stated to have compatibility.

[3lric]

This looks amazing!

I do have one question. I read the entire thread, including the collapsed bits. So I hope I didn't miss it, but is there any compatibility issues with The Lion War?

Every compatibility issue you can possibly think of, and then a few more

[Super Saiyan Eevee]

this is awesome! How were you able to make the Skillsets a support ability??? I am looking to try to do the same thing but with replacing Catch with Items. is that possible?
I'm sorry for the noob questions. Would this be considered an ASM hack? I would love to be able to get this good. Do you by chance have the ASM's for Dualcasting and "skillset" Support abilities?

[Celdia]

this is awesome! How were you able to make the Skillsets a support ability??? I am looking to try to do the same thing but with replacing Catch with Items. is that possible?
I'm sorry for the noob questions. Would this be considered an ASM hack? I would love to be able to get this good. Do you by chance have the ASM's for Dualcasting and "skillset" Support abilities?

Working with Item specifically is a goddamned mess, but many of the other skillsets work just fine in their own way. I'm on the Discord server if you want to talk about the whole How-To of it sometime.

[Comicalistical]

Red Mages got a major buff here compared to other ff games lol