Library of the Ancients => Final Fantasy IV Research & Development => Topic started by: Phoenix on March 18, 2008, 05:36:58 PM
Title: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 18, 2008, 05:36:58 PM
I've been deconstructing the spell subroutines ASM over the last few days, and have made a few finds. I thought I'd post them here and add to it as I make more discoveries.
Like the Cure subroutine does a check for Cure4, I confirmed that the Life subroutine does a check for Life2, which is why it does a complete HP restore. The Life subroutine also checks for a few other monster spells (AB Recover and AC Remedy) and does a full HP restore for them, too.
I also confirmed that the generic spell subroutine does a check for summon spells, and if one is being casted it checks if the targets are allies (Asura skips this check). So, I was right that there is an ally safeguard for these spells. Why? I don't know, since you're not allowed to target them on allies anyway, and they're not reflectable. Anyway, to change this behavior and skip the check, change the value at 1D37D (ROM with header) from [10 AE] to [80 00]. You can then target allies with summons if you change the targeting byte within the spell. I'm not sure if this affects other spells or enemy attacks, so let me know if you notice anything strange (especially since I plan on using this in my hack).
The ASM for reflected spells does a check on whether party slots are viable (i.e. not empty, or have a character with swoon/stone/jump/hide/magnetized status). If I'm reading the code right, this means that magnetized characters can't have spells reflected onto them. Can anyone confirm this? I tried doing a test but I didn't have enough time to find out if it worked.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on March 18, 2008, 05:45:55 PM
Nice finds. Is there anything in Life's subroutine that checks for Asura's life spell? Still wondering why that one can hit dead characters when multi targeted and the normal ones can't.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 18, 2008, 06:13:42 PM
Yeah, that's the main reason I've been looking in the ASM data. It's all so I can make a multi-revive possible. Asura's bypass of the targeting check is not in the Life subroutine that I can tell, or within the normal spell routine. But, there's more subroutines that are called from both of those that I haven't analyzed or been able to figure out yet. I'll post as soon as I find it.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 18, 2008, 06:36:35 PM
3. The ASM for reflected spells does a check on whether party slots are viable (i.e. not empty, or have a character with swoon/stone/jump/hide/magnetized status). If I'm reading the code right, this means that magnetized characters can't have spells reflected onto them. Can anyone confirm this? I tried doing a test but I didn't have enough time to find out if it worked.
Magnetized characters can have spells hurt them when reflected. Sorry.
Nice finds. Is there anything in Life's subroutine that checks for Asura's life spell? Still wondering why that one can hit dead characters when multi targeted and the normal ones can't.
Probably, but it's supposed to avoid the standard multitargeting check for targeting dead/live characters in regards to status afflications (Life is reversing Death status)
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 18, 2008, 07:19:49 PM
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Magnetized characters can have spells hurt them when reflected. Sorry.
Hmm...must have read the code wrong. I wonder what check I was looking at. I'll have to go back and analyze it again.
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Probably, but it's supposed to avoid the standard multitargeting check for targeting dead/live characters in regards to status afflications (Life is reversing Death status)
Asura's spell is definitely special in that it avoids a targeting check, but it's not within the Life subroutine. I think it's in the subroutine that's called when you cast a spell/use an item, but that one is really long so I haven't been able to figure it all out yet. I've found a couple of areas where the code checks if the characters are alive, and excludes those that are dead, petrified, jumping, or hiding, so I'm guessing it bypasses one of those.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 19, 2008, 09:07:03 PM
Some more things I've discovered:
I looked for a long time a while ago for how to change the black/white/call casting effects for the spells. After I couldn't find them, I thought they were probably hardcoded, which I've confirmed in the generic spell subroutine. It checks for the spell number, and performs the animation based on that. So you could expand the range of black/white/call spells, but you can't pick and choose individual ones.
Silence only affects spells below 5F (i.e. character spells). Enemy attacks are not affected by this status.
Again, if anyone can confirm these or show them to be false, please do.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 19, 2008, 10:01:58 PM
I looked for a long time a while ago for how to change the black/white/call casting effects for the spells. After I couldn't find them, I thought they were probably hardcoded, which I've confirmed in the generic spell subroutine. It checks for the spell number, and performs the animation based on that. So you could expand the range of black/white/call spells, but you can't pick and choose individual ones.
Silence only affects spells below 5F (i.e. character spells). Enemy attacks are not affected by this status.
Again, if anyone can confirm these or show them to be false, please do.
I've always thought it was simply cosmetic, but I guess that's only for weapon based spells.
I think what would be more interesting is being able to tweak what the spell uses to power itself (using Wisdom or Will Power, enemies just use their magic power as a universal stat).
Silence's behavior is not surprising, although maybe the exception is the weapon-item special spells and W-Meteo (to an extent).
Weapon/item based spells ignore Silence, so go figure.
I get the feeling some of the Item based spell were meant to be used by Kain, such as Poisona and the Dancing Knife... although Kain does have Spears that cast magic.. though it wouldn't surprise anyone.
It would be nice to know what those weapon-item based spells are powered by (Wisdom or Will... most likely Will Power)
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 19, 2008, 10:29:51 PM
I found the code that specifies the spell multiplier (which we knew to be [wisdom/will] / 4 + 1). Within this block of code is a section that says if the spell has the status-spell bit set in the effect data, then this multiplier is set to 1. So far, this bit doesn't seem to have any other uses besides this.
Deathlike2, I think you'll be particularly interested in this. I think I found the algorithm that calculates the spell hit rate. It uses the base hit rate of the spell and the modified wisdom/will of the character (modified meaning after equipment bonuses). The modified hit rate is the spell's base hit rate + (modified wisdom/will)/2. Furthermore, if the caster is blind, this modified hit rate is cut in half. Also, it appears to do a check to see whether the caster is in the first slot (character or enemy), and gives a 25% bonus to the hit rate if so. Here's some code to make it a little more readable:
modified hit rate = (spell's base hit rate) + (modified wisdom/will)/2 divide by 2 if Blind multiply by 5/4 if in slot 1 Let me know if I'm wrong on this and tests don't support it. That block of code was a little complicated so I might have missed something. I think the next block of code balances this against the target's magic defense %, but I'm not going to look at that part yet because it's a little too much right now.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 19, 2008, 10:39:24 PM
I found the code that specifies the spell multiplier (which we knew to be [wisdom/will] / 4 + 1). Within this block of code is a section that says if the spell has the status-spell bit set in the effect data, then this multiplier is set to 1. So far, this bit doesn't seem to have any other uses besides this.
I've replied to that thread, and I believe that sounds about right.
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Deathlike2, I think you'll be particularly interested in this. I think I found the algorithm that calculates the spell hit rate. It uses the base hit rate of the spell and the modified wisdom/will of the character (modified meaning after equipment bonuses). The modified hit rate is the spell's base hit rate + (modified wisdom/will)/2. Furthermore, if the caster is blind, this modified hit rate is cut in half. Also, it appears to do a check to see whether the caster is in the first slot (character or enemy), and gives a 25% bonus to the hit rate if so. Here's some code to make it a little more readable:
modified hit rate = (spell's base hit rate) + (modified wisdom/will)/2 divide by 2 if Blind multiply by 5/4 if in slot 1 Let me know if I'm wrong on this and tests don't support it. That block of code was a little complicated so I might have missed something. I think the next block of code balances this against the target's magic defense %, but I'm not going to look at that part yet because it's a little too much right now.
I'll have to look into the slot 1 issue (does this mean the center position for the characters?). I find that a little fascinating.. I'll end up testing with Rydia+Piggy because that spell needs massive help for success. Assuming it is the center position, it implies that a 2-fighter, 3 back-row character is intended to favor spellcasters even more (more than I originally though).
If what you saying is true about hit rate being boosted by Wisdom+Will (which is more logical than my level based reasoning, but I still think I'm right on that), that would explain better the hit rate for particular spells.
Blind apparently affects more than I thought (I thought it was a hit rate reduction of 1/4, but 1/2 is truly significant). This is a relatively underrated status effect that gets very underused AFAIK.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 19, 2008, 10:48:59 PM
Yes, slot 1 is the middle slot. The slot bonus took me a while to figure out, simply because I couldn't believe that a bonus would be given to an individual slot. But I worked through it a few times and came out with the same result, so that seems to be what it is. I might still be wrong though, so if it doesn't pan out let me know.
Blind does seem to be underrated and underused, especially since there's no spell that characters have access to that inflicts this status (right?). It'd be nice to have a blindness-inducing spell, although frankly I don't use status spells that often. Just doesn't seem worth the time . . . but maybe that's because the FF2us version is so easy.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 19, 2008, 10:57:33 PM
Yes, slot 1 is the middle slot. The slot bonus took me a while to figure out, simply because I couldn't believe that a bonus would be given to an individual slot. But I worked through it a few times and came out with the same result, so that seems to be what it is. I might still be wrong though, so if it doesn't pan out let me know.
I'm starting to think positioning has a "starting" ATB bonus of sorts.. I have some older thread documenting the order characters go in a preemptive attack.
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Blind does seem to be underrated and underused, especially since there's no spell that characters have access to that inflicts this status (right?). It'd be nice to have a blindness-inducing spell, although frankly I don't use status spells that often. Just doesn't seem worth the time . . . but maybe that's because the FF2us version is so easy.
The notable monsters that inflict it are those butterfly/moth monsters and the Marlboro's (spelled Molbol in FF2US) Breath attack. I don't know of any monster that inflicts that status attack normally as part of their physical attack.
Also.. this may or may not be important. I did my testing of the magnetic status in FF4, not FF2. It may be worthwhile to check if your "magnetic" finding in FF2US correlates with FF4's spell code.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 19, 2008, 11:10:09 PM
I checked FF4 and it has the same code there, so I must have made a mistake. Some time I'll go back and figure out what it really is, but right now I'm still searching for Asura's code. That mysterious woman, she's so good at keeping her secrets . . . :angry:
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 19, 2008, 11:15:35 PM
I checked FF4 and it has the same code there, so I must have made a mistake. Some time I'll go back and figure out what it really is, but right now I'm still searching for Asura's code. That mysterious woman, she's so good at keeping her secrets . . . :angry:
She's only cute when she casts uber "Cure4" on you. :wink:
Ok.. testing was done.. it seemed to affect Odin significantly, but not in the method you described. Yes, his hit rate is 0, but if your hit rate bonus is true, then this code was intended to reduce the hit rate of the caster.
This is done to prevent insta-death killing sprees for easy EXP. Remember that the first character to go is in the one in the middle, if all ATB were the same.
This may also explain why the Evilmask has trouble casting multi-targeted Reflect on your guys.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 19, 2008, 11:34:28 PM
I'm not quite sure what you mean. How does multiplying by 5/4 reduce the hit rate? Or are saying that number is wrong?
Either way, I think it's more to affect enemies than the party, although why they would include the party's slot 1 when they could just exclude it is puzzling.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 19, 2008, 11:36:16 PM
I'm not quite sure what you mean. How does multiplying by 5/4 reduce the hit rate? Or are saying that number is wrong?
Either way, I think it's more to affect enemies than the party, although why they would include the party's slot 1 when they could just exclude it is puzzling.
I think it is multiplying by 4/5, not 5/4.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 20, 2008, 12:00:50 AM
I went back and rechecked that part of the subroutine, and it's definitely multiplying by 5/4. I know this because it performs a multiplication subroutine on the modified hit rate and 5, and then shifts the bits of the answer to the right twice (effectively dividing by 4). So I'm not sure where it's going wrong, but that part is multiplying by 5/4. There might be another area that modifies it; perhaps I'll find the answer when I deconstruct more of it.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 20, 2008, 12:06:28 AM
I'll check with a different spell then.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 20, 2008, 12:18:49 AM
This looks good for Break/Stone. Hit rate increased a bit, so it sounds legit. I'm not sure if it is applicable to FF4A though (not tested yet).
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 20, 2008, 12:31:27 AM
Yey, I'm not totally crazy! :laugh:
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 20, 2008, 12:48:15 AM
It seems to work on FF4A as well for the most part.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 20, 2008, 07:35:49 AM
Finally! I found the special check that Asura does. It's part of the subroutine that matches the summon spell to its effect spell, and choses the random Asura effect. Within this subroutine, it also sets the target of Asura to all five party slots.
However, it's not going to be easy to replicate this behavior for Life or Phoenix Downs. I'm trying to figure out why they don't work this way already, but all my ideas have been dead-ends so far. There's a targeting check during the spell/item subroutine that removes all the non-targetable slots, and I thought this would be the key, but it is bypassed if the spell is Asura's multi-life or any of the Life spells (Life1, Life2, Recover, Remedy, Vanish). So this can't be it. Somewhere along the line it's removing the already dead targets, but I can't find where it is. It's driving me crazy! Asura, you tricky woman, I thought I had you figured out . . .
A :cookie: for me and a :banonsmash: for Asura
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 20, 2008, 09:00:53 AM
Well, consider this. The spell itself is not naturally multitargetable. Battle scripts such as Rubicante focuses Life1 multitargeting on your characters in a reaction to Fire (not Edge's scripted battle though).
Then there's the monster Zemus's Mind that casts a multitargeted Charm, even though the original spell doesn't normally perform this (though changing the spell's behavior seems to work just fine)...
So it's kinda logicial that overriding spell targeting has priority.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 20, 2008, 04:01:00 PM
Pray, Sing, Gird/Endure, Peep/Scan (probably doesn't matter though...), Recall/Remember should be affected by this increased hit rate multiplier... (at least Pray is working better in testing)
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 21, 2008, 06:05:25 AM
Some Magic Defense findings:
Magic Defense % gets cut in half if blind. It also gets the 5/4 bonus if the target is in slot 1 (enemy or ally). So I guess this negates the Magic Hit Rate % bonus, and makes an enemy stronger against the rest of your party.
If the status bit is set on the spell, the Magic Defense Multiplier is set to 1.
If the target is a Toad or charging (from Yang's Power command), the Magic Defense Multiplier is set to 0.
If the target is an enemy and its Magic Defense Base is 255 (0xFF), then its Magic Defense % and Magic Defense Multiplier are both set to 99.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 21, 2008, 06:21:14 AM
Magic Defense % gets cut in half if blind. It also gets the 5/4 bonus if the target is in slot 1 (enemy or ally). So I guess this negates the Magic Hit Rate % bonus, and makes an enemy stronger against the rest of your party.
Edit: Not many enemies that cast spells as the primary attack (or as a counter) are in the front row, so this is somewhat irrelevent. A few enemies comes to mind.. such as the EvilMask or the BladeMan (aka Ghost Knight in FF4A).
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If the status bit is set on the spell, the Magic Defense Multiplier is set to 1.
I guess that's an attempt to make status spells to be "nicer" vs your guys.... somewhat...
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If the target is a Toad or charging (from Yang's Power command), the Magic Defense Multiplier is set to 0.
I'll have to test Toad. Yang has crap for a Magic Defense Multiplier.. which for him solely relies on Agility. You really wouldn't have noticed this normally. At least I can finally tell people that that command is crappier than Jump for a good reason.
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If the target is an enemy and its Magic Defense Base is 255 (0xFF), then its Magic Defense % and Magic Defense Multiplier are both set to 99.
Yes.. it's the next closest thing to invincibility. The Spell Multiplier for your characters never exceed 25 anyways, so it works out.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 21, 2008, 06:24:55 AM
Just tested Toad status... yes, it's confirmed. Wow, I didn't know Toad screwed with the multiplier. Now if Piggy did something else.. other that just disabling Commands and most other spells... I should have bothered testing these status effects at some point...
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 21, 2008, 06:52:31 AM
Quote
Edit: Not many enemies that cast spells as the primary attack (or as a counter) are in the front row, so this is somewhat irrelevent. A few enemies comes to mind.. such as the EvilMask or the BladeMan (aka Ghost Knight in FF4A).
The slot number for enemies doesn't seem to correspond with row data. The first enemy in the enemy set is set as slot 1 (a value of 0x80), so all bosses and lone enemies exhibit this behavior.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 21, 2008, 06:54:15 AM
Edit: Not many enemies that cast spells as the primary attack (or as a counter) are in the front row, so this is somewhat irrelevent. A few enemies comes to mind.. such as the EvilMask or the BladeMan (aka Ghost Knight in FF4A).
The slot number for enemies doesn't seem to correspond with row data. The first enemy in the enemy set is set as slot 1 (a value of 0x80), so all bosses and lone enemies exhibit this behavior.
Does it ever matter that they still die horrible deaths easily? :tongue:
Edit: Never mind, I should reread more often.
2nd Edit: I'm pretty sure a similar thing is enforced when the enemy starts with 255 Defense as it is with 255 Magic Defense..
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 21, 2008, 07:51:30 AM
I agree. Most likely, everything that deals with Magic Defense corresponds to Defense, Mag. Def. % to Evade %, etc. We already know some statuses (e.g. Blind) work this way, so I think it's pretty safe to assume Defense stats works similarly.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 21, 2008, 09:06:14 PM
OK, here's what I've figured out on the targeting for multi-Life: I've search within the Spell/Item subroutine over and over, and it's not there. I believe that once you've set targets to "all" or "one", the code goes through a subroutine that eliminates the dead/inactive targets, then calls the Spell/Item subroutine. Asura's multi-revive works because it changes this information back to all targets. I'm not sure why there's a second targeting check within the Spell/Item subroutine . . . I'm sure there's a reason, but I don't know why.
Working on this theory, I set spells with the Life effect (0A) to reset targeting to all, before the second targeting check and after the spell data is loaded. This was successful in creating a multi-revive, but the targeting for the spell would always be "all", no matter who you selected. I also set only the spell Life1 to work this way, and it worked as well. So, you could create a single spell or item that would revive everyone, or let all revive spells/items work this way, but it would always target all allies.
That's as far as I'm going to go on this for now. I've already gone farther than I intended to in researching it -- I was able to replicate this behavior in summons a while ago, which is all I needed. All this work was so that I could create a Phoenix summon (no surprise there) for my hack. I need to get back to working on it (rather than obscure ASM data) if I intend to ever finish it. If someone else wants to pick up where I left off, I can give you my notes on the Spell/Item subroutine and give you the (rather large range of data) of where I think the first targeting check is.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 22, 2008, 06:55:53 PM
Your finding on Yang's Power command makes me wonder if the Defense multiplier is also affected...
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 23, 2008, 05:44:49 PM
I was curious about what Protect and Shell actually change, and made some interesting findings:
Protect adds 5 to the physical defense base of the character, up to a max of 255.
Shell adds 3 to the magical defense base. I'm not sure why it's less, other than mag. def. stats are always less than physical def. stats for the characters.
Here's what's interesting: neither of these will work in the battle with Zeromus. There's a check that skips the subroutine if you're fighting Zeromus, making the battle that much more difficult. I guess they wanted that extra challenge for the last battle.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 23, 2008, 10:20:19 PM
I was curious about what Protect and Shell actually change, and made some interesting findings:
Protect adds 5 to the physical defense base of the character, up to a max of 255.
Shell adds 3 to the magical defense base. I'm not sure why it's less, other than mag. def. stats are always less than physical def. stats for the characters.
Here's what's interesting: neither of these will work in the battle with Zeromus. There's a check that skips the subroutine if you're fighting Zeromus, making the battle that much more difficult. I guess they wanted that extra challenge for the last battle.
I presume Magic Defense is limited to 255?
And.. WTF?!?!?!?!? I thought Shell would be useful. Edward in FF4A now looks like a POS vs Zeromus. Mind you, he is very capable if you max out his stats.. (I should run the numbers at some point).
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on March 24, 2008, 02:56:33 AM
Out of curiosity I decided to take a quick look at Dispel and effect 2A (used by Blk.Hole and Zeromus before you use the Crystal on him). Here’s what I found:
Dispel removes all the statuses we thought (Berserk, Image, Wall, Barrier) but also removes HP Leak. :eek: I think that’s a mistake, since it’s not a positive status.
Effect 2A removes Berserk, Float, Image, Wall, Barrier, and resets the speed modifier. That means this effectively removes Slow/Fast, and only positive statuses.
So effect 2A is a real Dispel. Since there really aren’t many (if any?) enemies that use Fast on themselves, or Float, I recommend changing Dispel to this effect if you’re planning on making it active in any hacks. There is one more difference between this and Dispel, however. Dispel has a check if the target is Berserked, and does something to the next command for the target, perhaps to reset its attack sequence, I’m not sure. Using effect 2A might not work well on enemies, since it’s a shorter subroutine and intended to only be used on your party. Anyone that tests please post!
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 24, 2008, 06:44:22 AM
Out of curiosity I decided to take a quick look at Dispel and effect 2A (used by Blk.Hole and Zeromus before you use the Crystal on him). Here’s what I found:
Dispel removes all the statuses we thought (Berserk, Image, Wall, Barrier) but also removes HP Leak. :eek: I think that’s a mistake, since it’s not a positive status.
Well, I've confirmed HP leak is lost after Dispel is used, though there is some extra leakage that occurs, but it stops immediately afterwards.
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Effect 2A removes Berserk, Float, Image, Wall, Barrier, and resets the speed modifier. That means this effectively removes Slow/Fast, and only positive statuses.
So effect 2A is a real Dispel. Since there really aren’t many (if any?) enemies that use Fast on themselves, or Float, I recommend changing Dispel to this effect if you’re planning on making it active in any hacks. There is one more difference between this and Dispel, however. Dispel has a check if the target is Berserked, and does something to the next command for the target, perhaps to reset its attack sequence, I’m not sure. Using effect 2A might not work well on enemies, since it’s a shorter subroutine and intended to only be used on your party. Anyone that tests please post!
At least Protect/Shell is unaffected (although useless vs Zeromus as you said earlier)... but nice to know (at least Slow will stick on Zeromus, since spells can't target everyone on the field)
A small number of enemies cast Fast on themselves... well, there's the EvilMask (via Reflect).. but the obvious one is the Tricker. Then, there is Cagnazzio (Elemental of Water) at Baron...
I wrote something on the effect of Berserk and the Avenger Sword... it should answer questions you have.
Removing Berserk (Black Hole or Dispel) simply resets the ATB counter and stops whatever command issued for the next attack. However, the Avenger Sword just reapplies "Auto-Berserk" when the character turn comes up, but that character's turn has to "occur" when it is their "virtual turn". It doesn't occur in FF4A... Auto-Berserk is removed under Black Hole for the duration of the battle. Dispel doesn't affect Auto-Berserk here...
It is worth pointing out that auto-Berserk from the Avenger is slightly different than Berserk in terms of how either Dispel effects operate, particularly in terms of the port of the game you are testing on.
It seems to change the properties of an elemental... or at least make the enemy execute a different counter command. Think of Holy and the Behemoth and how its counter script changes if Holy is reflected onto it.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on April 02, 2008, 06:46:33 PM
I've finally gotten around to confirm Power/Build Up's magic evasion droppage (even though it is normally non-existant for most of the game to begin with).
Fortunately, his regular evasion isn't dropped, which is nice.
Now I can tell idiots that Jump is better than Power on the FF4A board (for the most part anyways).
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on May 06, 2008, 05:46:27 PM
Cure4/Curaja - It doesn't appear to do max healing as it should at times. It seems to heal up to 2^14 or 16384 (or so). Any more damage taken there, healing automatically fails (whatever numbers that are produced is a lie :bah:). When healing is above 9999, the "healing" done is whatever that number is minus or mod 9999. It should be looked into further.
Not tested in FF4A yet, but that's what is happening in the SNES version anyways.
Edit: FF4A's Curaja only heals up to 9999.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on May 07, 2008, 05:26:57 PM
In the damage subroutines, the damage value is two bytes. The most significant bit of these bytes determines whether the damage is normal (0) or recovery (1). The second most significant bit determines whether the damage is HP (0) or MP (1). I took this information from the Tower of Bab-il document on spell coding:
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After the subroutine returns, A2-A3 is damage done to the caster (MSB/bit 0 set for HP recovery, bit 1 set for MP damage)
So, values for the damage can be from 0x0000 to 0x3FFF = 16383. Cure4 calculates the amount to restore as the max HP - current HP (for single targets) then sets the cure bit. So anything over 16383 would be MP recovery (values from 0x4000 = 16384 to 0x7FFF = 32767). Values above this and under 0xFFFF = 65535 would also be MP recovery, since the cure bit is already set. Values above 65535 would probably wrap around.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on May 07, 2008, 05:47:52 PM
So, you're saying Cure4 cures MP when the damage is that significant eh? Seems relatively useless then, especially when they consume 0 MP anyways, but it is interesting nonetheless.
It explains why Asura died one time after using Cure4 on herself...a berserked Edge finished her off shortly afterwards.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Cleteromagos on May 07, 2008, 09:16:40 PM
Quote from: Deathlike
And.. WTF?!?!?!?!? I thought Shell would be useful. Edward in FF4A now looks like a POS vs Zeromus. Mind you, he is very capable if you max out his stats.. (I should run the numbers at some point).
Wait, the numbers and the Zeromus thing aren’t common knowledge? I read that on a Japanese fan site ages ago.
Besides, if Gilly has the Harmonious Ring, you must’ve already beaten Zeromus. Also, he’s far from a P.O.S., with or without it …
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on May 07, 2008, 09:21:54 PM
And.. WTF?!?!?!?!? I thought Shell would be useful. Edward in FF4A now looks like a POS vs Zeromus. Mind you, he is very capable if you max out his stats.. (I should run the numbers at some point).
Wait, the numbers and the Zeromus thing aren’t common knowledge? I read that on a Japanese fan site ages ago.
Besides, if Gilly has the Harmonious Ring, you must’ve already beaten Zeromus. Also, he’s far from a P.O.S., with or without it …
Eh?
Edward has always been underrated (his Harp attacks have been more than useful), but also underpowered (every command is useless IMO).
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Cleteromagos on May 09, 2008, 06:14:00 AM
Right, Hide has no tactical application whatsoever. :wink:
Anyway, you said that Gilly would be a “P.O.S.” against Zeromus in FFIVA, now that you knew that Protes and Shell were ineffective in that battle. This would suggest that you are referring to his “Chant” ability, which replaces Sing upon equipping the Harmonious Ring, and is a free, instantaneous casting of both Protes and Shell at once. However, this is only obtained after beating Zeromus, not before.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on May 09, 2008, 12:46:07 PM
:tongue:
If you max out his stats, he is guarenteed to do 9999 to any enemy race type, even if they have 254 armor.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Cleteromagos on May 09, 2008, 07:07:29 PM
With Loki’s Lute?
Well that’s really very nice, Deathlike, but I’m still wondering why you said earlier that he was a “P.O.S.” against Zeromus.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on May 09, 2008, 07:25:11 PM
Well that’s really very nice, Deathlike, but I’m still wondering why you said earlier that he was a “P.O.S.” against Zeromus.
His other options suck. By comparison to the other characters who are designated fighters, he's below average (weaker than Yang), though I guess that's better than everyone else that's primarily a spellcaster (including Rosa, Rydia, Palom, and Porom).
I forgot to mention that Loki's Lute doesn't expose Flan/Pudding.. oh well.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on June 02, 2008, 08:19:40 AM
I wonder what other spells don't work on Zeromus... I know the Beastiary item doesn't do it (the one that does Scan/Peep for everything including bosses).
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on September 01, 2008, 12:05:15 PM
This seems like a good thread to :bump: for my question.
Do monster spells get affected by Blind status? It doesn't seem to affect them at all.. at least with Remedy (healing = 1/10 of monster's max HP).
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: JCE3000GT on September 01, 2008, 12:07:21 PM
This seems like a good thread to :bump: for my question.
Do monster spells get affected by Blind status? It doesn't seem to affect them at all.. at least with Remedy (healing = 1/10 of monster's max HP).
You'll be able to find out using my hack. Or use Lord J's srm editor and put spell #72 in someone's magic menu and test it--that is in my rom where I created the Blind spell. I don't think it does, but that's a guess.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on September 01, 2008, 12:08:34 PM
I'm pretty much thinking that way as well.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: JCE3000GT on September 01, 2008, 12:10:56 PM
Wouldn't the easiest way to test it would be to blind your own character?
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on September 01, 2008, 12:15:59 PM
I looked over the Spell subroutine code again, and while I'm not positive, it looks like Blind should have an effect. The reason it wouldn't on Remedy is because it's hard-coded to 10%. Check and see if it has an effect on normal damaging or healing spells. The code is a little convoluted, so I could be wrong. Let me know what you find.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on September 01, 2008, 12:16:12 PM
Wouldn't the easiest way to test it would be to blind your own character?
Normally, that's true, except you have too high an initial Wisdom to see if it made an impact (you have a initial 4x spell multiplier for Black Magic) and the spell itself is a 100% hit rate spell. I think the Basilisk's Stone Gaze spell (partial/gradual petrification) is unimpacted, so I believe this is the case.
I looked over the Spell subroutine code again, and while I'm not positive, it looks like Blind should have an effect. The reason it wouldn't on Remedy is because it's hard-coded to 10%. Check and see if it has an effect on normal damaging or healing spells. The code is a little convoluted, so I could be wrong. Let me know what you find.
Spell like that should work only half the time (though it gets the hit rate boost being solo) since the monster itself has no magic power to speak of (meaning he has a 1x spell multplier).. but it works all the time. So it must be ignoring Blind status as far as I can tell. I think that also applied to the Mist Dragon's damaging ColdMist attack.. where the damage wasn't reduced while Blind was inflicted.
:edit:
The Mist Dragon has way too high a hit rate if part of the magic stat is added to the spell hit rate...
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on September 06, 2008, 09:10:07 AM
Speaking of Spell Hit Rate.. in what order is all this stuff is applied:
1) Wisdom/Will hit rate boost 2) Slot 1 hit rate boost 3) Blind hit rate reduction
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Phoenix on September 06, 2008, 11:05:22 PM
1. Wisdom/Will hit rate boost 2. Blind hit rate reduction 3. Slot 1 hit rate boost
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on September 06, 2008, 11:12:04 PM
Now if we could get the input for everything else... :wink:
Thanks.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on September 15, 2008, 12:17:04 PM
Referencing this thread: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=588330&topic=45437593
That's interesting, since I've just tested that out, and it's true that the FF4 version of Sylph costs MP.. I've retested all the other SNES versions for this, and it seems that FF4 has it working properly. Every other version has zero MP consumption...
So, it begs the questions:
1) What the heck was changed since then?
2) Is the translation patch responsible for a fix?
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on October 13, 2008, 07:52:22 PM
It had only occured to me now that monster magic with HP Leak always succeeds.. although Zeromus makes both Bio/Virus and Big Bang work 100% of the time (not Nuke/Flare or Meteor).
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: bond697 on October 13, 2008, 09:19:56 PM
:edit:2 yeah, those sentences had to go now that i see how the glitch works.
that's rydia's next turn after having casted sylph. so, question #2 above is answered.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on October 13, 2008, 10:01:47 PM
Nintendo would have no idea... you mean ask Square.
The only requirement is having 25MP available.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: bond697 on October 13, 2008, 10:28:07 PM
ah damn, i'm so tired i ought to just go to bed... i can't believe i really typed nintendo. :sleep:
anyway, i basically never, ever use sylph, so i was expecting it to say 000 for it's mp cost. let me re-do that and see if it subtracts...
:edit:
ok, did it right. look above.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on December 28, 2008, 12:31:32 AM
Quote
Here's what's interesting: neither of these will work in the battle with Zeromus. There's a check that skips the subroutine if you're fighting Zeromus, making the battle that much more difficult. I guess they wanted that extra challenge for the last battle.
I was looking for this statement and was actually gonna confirm it (it is so much easier after modifying the Protect/Shell data)... apparently nothing is added even though the graphics is shown (confirmation of success). Testing for Protect has no impact since Zeromus never attacks physically... but I guess I hadn't really paid attention to that anyways.
The obvious reasons of doing this is probably to reduce the code to "remove" it with maybe Black Hole or the hidden spell that Zeromus shakes with.. but also the massive "free time" you get to cast Protect/Shell before Zeromus transforms...
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 06, 2009, 08:40:52 AM
Is there any actual differences between 0xAB (Recover) and 0xAC (Remedy)?
I had just recently noticed that 0xAC is used for the Waterbug class of monsters for self healing, but also for the Magus Sisters for reviving (it will do one or the other, but not both at the same time I think).
What's up with 0x77 (Hold Gas). It seems to operate differently than Sleep (Tongue and Gas) and Paralysis (Entangle and Bluster) attacks when it comes to succeeding.... which is kind of strange. It doesn't seem to rely on Agility....
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on March 06, 2009, 10:12:07 AM
Remedy is called Reraise in the Japanese version, which is also the name of FF6's Life 3, that might shed some light on how it may have been intended to work. In the DS version the Water Bug targets all enemies except itself with it, using it to revive any monsters that have died, rather than fully restoring itself.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 06, 2009, 02:30:24 PM
In terms of this game, I think it's simply to mean "Rise Again", instead of the FF6 version. It wasn't even done in FF5 in the first place as a spell... although monsters were allowed to revive on their own accord because of their battle scripts, but that's FF5.
The WaterBug was never exposed to do something like that normally, but now that you mention that tidbit, I could certainly rewrite what that series of monsters do in my hack (I don't plan on changing the Waterbug, it would make grinding too easy that early in the game).
On the other hand, I have yet to figure out why Black Hole doesn't extend it's field of influence when I use it in enemy scripts to target all enemies... I had to use Dispel (which worked out fine) to do the "perfect Wall/Reflect" combo.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on March 08, 2009, 10:42:05 PM
I should test this more, but Hold Gas seems to apply Paralysis status.. but a timer doesn't seem to run.
This is relatively significant info... given that this attack always succeeds (unless there's status resistance involved), it is significantly much more effective than Entangle.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on April 18, 2009, 08:50:17 PM
Is the Strengthen/Boast 99 Wisdom cap restricted to characters only, or does that include monsters? I should run those tests myself though... I get the feeling monsters avoid this behavior.
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Grimoire LD on January 26, 2013, 11:38:22 AM
Hmm, similar to the Bluff bug, Protect/Shell also carry outside of battle until you encounter a new battle. You can see this by casting Shell, running from battle, and looking at your Magic Defense stat. It will be higher than it normally is, but it will revert to normal when you enter a new battle.
(Not sure if this has been recorded yet)
Title: Re: Spell ASM Finds
Post by: Deathlike2 on January 26, 2013, 02:21:10 PM
I haven't. At least it confirms the values of the spells themselves...