Messages

2671

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: 1GP Sell Price Bit

« on: March 12, 2008, 05:22:59 PM »

Well, that makes me kinda wonder about Summon spells and if they use a bit or a hardcoded range to determine it is a summon (for the internal value multiplier)... although, it's curious how they are listed twice in the spell list.. maybe that's producing the x8 spell base instead of the x4 that all normal spells go through...

2672

General Discussion / Re: The official "Happy Birthday" thread!

« on: March 12, 2008, 04:30:11 PM »

I'm not much of a birthday celebrating guy, but eh...

Enjoy life to the best that you can, because life is too short sometimes.

Hopefully you have gotten older and wiser and pray that life doesn't get "old" for you.

Ok, enough with my random speech.

2673

General Discussion / Re: Paladin...

« on: March 12, 2008, 04:15:41 PM »

Paladin, have you looked into testing the shields and see if they use the spell power byte...? It seems to me that they can carry a spell based on their Magic Defense value.

I've been able to do strange targeting with Shields, so I suspect there is a correlation of sorts.

2674

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Holy Grail - Magic Algorithm

« on: March 12, 2008, 04:04:24 PM »

Updated algo to factor in weapons that cast magic when used as an item.

2675

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Weapon Based Spells Hit Rate

« on: March 12, 2008, 03:59:12 PM »

They have a hit rate of 100%... but that doesn't mean the spells they cast will succeed (mainly because of resistance). For example, the Slumber Sword's Sleep magic doesn't always work since it is level based.

Are you referring to the spell casted when you use it as an item?  As far as I'm aware the spell casted uses it's normal casting success rates.  In other words The White/Holy spear ALWAYS casts Holy/White because the regular spell does.  Sleep has a high failure rate depending on the monsters ailment weaknesses/strengths. 

Yes. The spell casted is definately having a 100% hit rate. The spell Piggy has a 10% hit rate. The Change Rod makes this work 100% of the time.

   How is that possible?  Is there code somewhere in the ASM that makes the weapons' effects act differently than the normal spell versions?

Dunno, but that's how it behaves. I've never seen the Change Rod fail in ANY of my playthroughs, so it must be skipping some algo check or forcing automatic success. It is worth pointing out that spells that inflict status effects ignore magic evade altogether, and that's how I wrote that in the spell algo thread.

2676

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Weapon Based Spells Hit Rate

« on: March 12, 2008, 03:51:16 PM »

They have a hit rate of 100%... but that doesn't mean the spells they cast will succeed (mainly because of resistance). For example, the Slumber Sword's Sleep magic doesn't always work since it is level based.

Are you referring to the spell casted when you use it as an item?  As far as I'm aware the spell casted uses it's normal casting success rates.  In other words The White/Holy spear ALWAYS casts Holy/White because the regular spell does.  Sleep has a high failure rate depending on the monsters ailment weaknesses/strengths. 

Yes. The spell casted is definately having a 100% hit rate. The spell Piggy has a 10% hit rate. The Change Rod makes this work 100% of the time.

I kinda hate referring the Sleep magic from the Slumber sword, but that's because that spell is mostly driven by the caster's and enemy's level.

2677

Gaming Discussion / Re: Leviathan or Mist vs Behemoths

« on: March 12, 2008, 03:46:04 PM »

Leviathan won't make the Behemoth counter with Storm like he would with Mist--which is real bad for your party's health.   

Behemoth counters with Storm only vs Holy attacks. Otherwise it just counters with a physical attack vs everything else. Mist is not a Holy attack.

2678

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Requesting Info: Weapon Spell-Magic Data

« on: March 12, 2008, 03:40:26 PM »

All the relevent info is provided here in the posted file: http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=405.0

Wow, if you actually calculated those power values before looking them up...that would verify the algorithms you've been using.  That's why spells produced from items are so much weaker than the actual casting, isn't it?  I just thought those bytes were a direct substitution for the spell power.

I know that was edited, but I'll requote anyways. The algo wasn't originally mine, but a derived by stuff BSiron figured out long before I did. The stuff added to that involves hit rate, stuff affecting the hit rate, status inducing spells, and the role of magic defense and magic evade on the spell damage algo.

Hit rate is solely dependant on the spell being duped (I -believe-). 

Hit rate is always 100%. However, if the spell multiplier for the casted spell is 0, it effectively disables the spell. This is why some disabled spells like the Power Staff's Berserk and the Wooden Hammer's Lit2 can be seen while Reflect is enabled (including all the "dummied" spells in FF2US). Just check out what Blind status does to a spell with a 100% hit rate like Fire1.. it is next closest thing to what you are seeing.

It is the same reason why the Change Rod has a 100% hit rate, even though the original spell has a 10% hit rate.

2679

Gaming Discussion / Re: A Request for Entroper

« on: March 12, 2008, 02:38:45 PM »

Perhaps I might have missed it in the spreadsheets.. but the spell power of the weapon cast spells are not listed. I think Paladin's data should match up with something in the FF4A ROM.

2680

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Completing Weapon-Spell Magic Hacks

« on: March 12, 2008, 01:35:34 PM »

Thanks Paladin for posting some of the relevent info in this thread: http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=405.0

I wrote some data when testing in this thread: http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=348.0

The data Paladin wrote matches up with this.

I noticed a few strange bits of data in the game..

Power Staff apparently was supposed to cast Berserk, but can't because the spell power data is 0. You will hear the "spell to be casted" when using vs Reflect.

Flame Whip has some power, but has no spell associated with it. I used the FF4 editor for this game and added Fire3 to the weapon, and it was casted... not spell effects unfortunately, but the damage was dealt. The weapon was probably supposed to have Fire3 built into it originally (think of how FF5's equivalent weapon operated).

Wooden Hammer was supposed to have cast Lit2, but can't because the spell power data is 0. You can see part of the effect vs Reflect.

So, to get weapon spell magic working properly, the power has to be at least 1, edit (aka use the editor or hack it manually) to manipulate the spell being cast by the weak (though, I don't even know what location is edited for it to be enabled), and change the spell visual so we're not confused (unless you like using a different spell's visual+sound).

In any case, there are 3 weapons that seem to have been not properly completed or tested by the original developers.

2681

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / 1GP Sell Price Bit

« on: March 12, 2008, 12:29:58 PM »

It exists, but I don't know where that is. It is tagged for the items Ether1, Ether2, and Elixir (and Megalixir in FF4A).

2682

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Weapon Based Spells Hit Rate

« on: March 12, 2008, 12:24:52 PM »

They have a hit rate of 100%... but that doesn't mean the spells they cast will succeed (mainly because of resistance). For example, the Slumber Sword's Sleep magic doesn't always work since it is level based.

2683

General Discussion / Re: Paladin...

« on: March 12, 2008, 12:13:46 PM »

<edit>
I uploaded the most recent version of my "Item Compendium" document. Same URL as before:
http://www.finalfantasyiv.net/emulation/documents/itemcompendium.xls
</edit>

Looks good... I'll have to dissect the spell power of the items at some point to see if any of that even makes sense to me.

I've kinda concluded that item magic has a hit rate of 100%, overriding whatever spell hit rate data it is basing itself on.

Some descriptions of the weapons:

Lightbringer: How to get this and the Caliburn is documented in the FF4A Lunar Ruins guide for Cecil's trial. It's the weapon given to you if you successfully passed all the tests.

Caliburn: It's a play-on-word thing that should be obvious that failure was achieved.

Avenger Sword: Being under Berserk status increases your damage output by 50%... and perhaps one of the better weapons for Kain for FF4.

Slumber Sword: Sleep can be cast by the weapon. The spell's effectiveness under this weapon is primarily driven by level.

Blood Sword/Spear: It is very effective against flan/pudding monsters and Giants. The only monster worth worrying about is the undead and particular FF4A's undead flan monster (I forget its name off the top of my head, but that monster can be found on the "flan" level and in the FF4A beastiary...)

The "Piglet Sword" is aka Piggy's Stick in FF4A. The one found in FF4ET is found in the pot in the pathway between you and Odin at Baron. The one in FF4A is found in the "Chocobo Forest" in the Lunar Ruins. Both have a chance to inflict piggy status on attack.

Abel's Lance: It's Kain's "ultimate weapon" in FF4A. It's simply overpowered. Lightning elemental.. and one of the few spears (like the Blood Spear) that does NOT have the Aerial attribute (I feel that's a bug, but I digress...). It has a random chance of casting Tornado.. which relies on Kain and the target's level. This version of Tornado ignores the boss bit, making it grossly overpowered. This is picked up after the successful completion of Kain's trial.

Blood Spear/Lance: One of the treasures dropped by one of the monster-laden treasures in Eblana Castle. This weapon IMO is weaker than the Blood Sword (not by much) because of its atrocious hit rate.

Hand Axe: Probably was meant to be available when you got Cid, so figure.  It is never normally available in all versions up to FF4A (FF4DS is unknown AFAIK).

Rune Axe: It is dropped by those Giant-mechanical-like monsters. You have the best chance of acquiring one during the Giant when the Searcher monster summons a MacGiant. This weapon is the anti-mage killer. It is unfortunately 2 handed.

Mute Knife: It's not really that great with Rydia. It is relatively beneficial for Edge most of all, because he wields two weapons and has the strength to kill mage enemies at a whim.

Lilith Rod: It has a greater spell multiplier than Tellah's starting Wisdom, so it's actually a significant improvement, plus you don't have to wait for the Pysch/Osmose spell to be cast.

One other thing, there should be a byte designated specifically for certain items (Ether1, Ether2, Elixir) that makes them sell for 1 GP... they don't have a 1/2 sale price.

Byte 0 for the weapons extra attribute (as far as I'm concerned) is the "prevent critical hit byte". If you've ever noticed while using those weapons, critical hits never occur. I forget if Dragonsbrethren confirmed that. Byte 5 for the weapons enemy bonus is for flan/pudding monsters.

Also, the spell based items.. the ? is the spell hit rate... with the highest bit (bit 7) is the "boss bit" (when set, it doesn't work vs bosses). This bit also applies to the spell hit rate list.

2684

General Discussion / Re: Paladin...

« on: March 12, 2008, 09:29:02 AM »

Yo...

Well...if you mean the Golbez-Cecil hack here, then yeah thats me. Heh...it's more of a cheap graphics hack than anything else... But that's some of the first stuff I ever tried to do.

Ironically my FF4 regular playthrough is kinda on hiatus as I'm playing your hack. It's a little glitchy though when the battles starts (dunno what's causing that).

FinalFantasyIV.net is really under a lot of (random) construction on my part. My previous FF4 sites were all static HTML monstrosities that were never complete and impossible to really update. This time I'm building it right with a SQL backend and a custom CMS for data entry and maintenance. It's all custom, none of that is portal software. But who knows when it will ever be completed. One of the ladies at Sygnus.org helps me with some of the story content, but that's what they're about there mostly is the story and characters etc...(although this particular friend has interests in the game across the board)...anyway...she gives me a lot of good insights from a fan writers perspective and she has connections to the Japanese fan base. The ROM hacking side of FF4, and what a lot of you here are doing, is just as important because it reveals the inner workings of the game and a lot of valuable information as well. With the data in Yousei's document, in the Bab-il papers, and the various contributions I've seen here I've been able to scrape out all kinds of cool tables from the ROM. Like a the item drops for monsters, and the definitive data on the weapons, items, and magic. Just to mention a couple.

Well, there will be the day when all of this gets done.. (which is probably never  ) It's nice that a game is always under some sort of research unlike CT (where any idiot can make a hack).

You are correct, some of the data in that weapons article is outdated. I wrote a lot of that before I decoded the status attributes of the weapons, so I did indeed go by J2e's data for the Avenger Sword. I will need to rewrite and revise parts of that document. But that's why I'm using a database now. I can go in my CMS and edit that content pretty easily...which is the whole point. I want the data on the site to be correct. Any suggestions for revisions you'd like to make are totally cool. I suppose you can just post it here...but you can eMail me if you want >>> paladin [at] paladinet [dot] com

I'll probably post it here at some point. My brain is still trying to wrap around frequent Remedy drops that sell for 20000+ GP. 

As for that items hacking document. Yes I've really updated that now, the version online needs to be replaced (I'll do that here after a while). I've found so much valuable information here that I pretty much spent about three whole weeks last month just compiling new data into spreadsheets. I have a huge monster of a spreadsheet for all the offsets I know now. It's not complete yet but when it gets there I'll share that out, especially since a lot of the data was supplemented by the data revealed in the discussions here.

Yea... finding romhackers that hack the same game and still not know enough about the game almost sounds ironic and mystifying. Oh well, we have time. 

2685

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Steal/Sneak Command

« on: March 12, 2008, 08:04:15 AM »

Well, it is kinda lame... because:

1) You don't know what level the enemy is, relative to yours in most cases. Even FF4A's beastiary doesn't even provide that.

2) Those that have no item drops regularly give you potions by default.

3) What you steal is the most common drop...

I'd wish this command was reworked for interest's sake. Randomly steal a different item (if applicable) like if you were doing random drop calculations.. then the command would be really really awesome.