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Messages - LordGarmonde

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1
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Fixing FF4's "speedrun exploits"
« on: October 31, 2015, 02:49:10 AM »
Quote from: Pinkpuff on October 29, 2015, 05:38:52 PM

Actually the conditional hack wasn't needed; you can do this with a plain old condition check for which event to launch. Basically there's a trigger at the other entrance to Mist and another one at the entrance to Kaipo that checks the "Mist Events" flag. If unset, Zeromus has a few things to say to you ^_^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=komP3DFnKk0

Nice; very clever. Same can be said about your hack overall.  :wink:

Quote from: chillyfeez on October 28, 2015, 06:33:32 PM
Wow, hey, LordGarmonde.
All sorts of folks we haven't heard from in a while are cropping up lately!

Hey there, chillyfeez!  :happy:

2
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Fixing FF4's "speedrun exploits"
« on: October 28, 2015, 12:41:51 PM »
Quote from: Pinkpuff on August 16, 2015, 07:02:49 AM
Aznblusuazn has provided me with a list of the major bugs typically exploited by speedrunners. It would be nice if we had patches for these, as I think it would make the game better as a game, but at the same time, I'm hesitant to build them into, for example, Unprecedented Crisis, as there seems to be a speedrunning community that might not be so keen on playing it if these are fixed. Thus, I think these should be separate individual patches (or maybe a single "FF4 Bugfix Patch" akin to the one for FF6).

I wouldn't mind seeing such a patch. Perhaps someday I'll have the time to sufficiently sharpen my programming skills to the point that I could tackle some of these.  :blits:  Though, at the same time...

Quote from: chillyfeez on August 16, 2015, 08:42:41 AM
The point being, "honest" players, for lack of a better term, are unlikely to ever experience these bugs/glitches/whatever at all, and speedrunners are unlikely to have any interest in a patch that fixes them. So while I might be able to create a fix for some of these, the bigger question might be, "who is the audience?"

I can agree with that too. My answer would be anyone who knows such exploits exist and it bugs them...  :blush:

Quote from: Pinkpuff on August 16, 2015, 07:02:49 AM
[/li]
[li]MP Underflow: I forget how to trigger it, but in any case, you can somehow in the menu cause a character to have way more than their Max MP.

My understanding is that it has to do with a conflict of input between a directional and a button. It seems like when trying to use a spell that there's a frame between that selection and the check for sufficient MP that can be waylaid allowing the spell to be cast anyway.

Just as a reference I've added some links to speed runs and game breaking:

http://tasvideos.org/2033S.html  &  http://tasvideos.org/1149M.html

http://kotaku.com/how-to-break-final-fantasy-iv-499854588




3
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Gauging interest on MP=HP
« on: April 16, 2015, 06:51:04 PM »
Oh I see; that's very good to know. Thanks chillyfeez!

4
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Gauging interest on MP=HP
« on: April 16, 2015, 06:26:55 PM »
Quote from: JCE3000GT on March 05, 2015, 09:56:09 PM
A good formula would need to be created I believe similar or so to your idea above.  I suppose you would have an option to make magic weaker to not drain too much OR actually make some spells stronger that are usually abused/exploited.  Stop or Stone are two such examples.

There's always a way to create a formula.  :wink:  But it is a pretty neat idea; certainly interesting.

I was looking through various bugs/glitches in the series and noticed this under FF4's entry on the page detailing the overflow glitch:

"In the game's SNES and PlayStation versions, when Cure4 heals more than 16,383 damage on an enemy, the spell will heal the MP of that target instead."  - http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Overflow_Glitch

I recognize that 16,383 = ([65536/4] - 1) but where does the 4 come from? It's probably obvious, but I'm just not seeing it at the moment.

5
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Drawing Board
« on: April 16, 2015, 05:41:58 PM »
Instant results - those registers are lightning fast. No delays are necessary.

6
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Drawing Board
« on: April 16, 2015, 02:47:37 PM »
Hopefully this will be relatively short - relative to me I mean.  :wink:

Using Mode-7 for 24-Bit Multiplication:

If, for example, we need to multiply 60,186 ($EB1A) by 67 ($43) the result should be 4,032,462  ($3D87CE)
To do this with the Mode-7 Registers that would require code similar to this:

Code: [Select]
LDA #$1A
STA $211B
LDA #$EB
STA $211B
LDA #$43
STA $211C
The Multiplication starts when $211C is written and the result is:

Code: [Select]
$2134 = CE
$2135 = 87
$2136 = 3D
That's useful, but not the purpose for which those registers were designed. They were set up specifically to handle the fractionals that show up in rotation and scaling. So a more appropriate example would be this:

     18.29 x 67 = 1225.43 ~ 1,225

The trick needed for this calculation is to upscale the 16-bit multiplicand by 256:

     18.29 x 256 = 4682.24 ~ 4,682

Then use that number to do the multiplication as shown above. The result is:

     4682 x 67 = 313,694

But because we scaled up before we need to scale down to get the real answer:

     313694 / 256 = 1225.37 ~ 1225

So in the end it's 1225.37 vs 1225.43, but since we will just ignore the fractional in the end anyway it doesn't matter. The important thing is that by multiplying by 256 we keep the fractional around for computation and then by dividing by 256 we ignore it for later use. The best part is that the final division doesn't need to be performed: just ignore the value in $2134 and read $2135-$2136 as a 16-Bit value and then that's that!

I do not mind saying that given the hardware this seems a pretty clever method to make games like F-Zero possible; I'd never even have thought that such calculations were taking place. Fortunately there should not be too many conflicts in using these registers for our own purposes since FF4 is not a Mode-7 intensive game.

7
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FFIV Job System (Culmination of all of our works and hacks)
« on: April 16, 2015, 02:12:18 PM »
Quote from: JCE3000GT on April 16, 2015, 12:02:16 AM
This is pretty damn cool.  Final Fantasy IV so needs this sort of development and attention.  I'm getting bored of seeing Final Fantasy VI and CT stuff.  :)

Agreed; this is truly some amazing work!

Quote from: JCE3000GT on April 16, 2015, 01:37:59 PM
True! 

Final Fantasy IV is still a better game.  :D

^ Bias because it's my favorite game ever. 

My favorite too, so I guess I'm biased as well; but I'm ok with it. One thing I can say is that it sure has had a lot of re-releases over the years, second I'd think only to the original; so at least it lives on in that way; and of course through everyone here.

8
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Drawing Board
« on: April 16, 2015, 11:39:33 AM »
Quote from: chillyfeez on April 15, 2015, 02:32:53 PM
Wow, man, way to wait til the 11th hour... :laugh:

It's not as bad as it sounds, most of it was done - all old school on paper by me - I just needed to finish it off. The problem I run into is that I tell myself every year "Hire Someone!" and the other half of my brain resists saying "Nah, Dude. You got this!" - But I made it before I had to go to class last night.  :wink:

9
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Battles - Exp gained & Victory theme played?
« on: April 16, 2015, 11:29:01 AM »
Quote from: Grimoire LD on April 15, 2015, 10:31:12 PM
Battle music can be changed with an AI Command, unless you were referring to changing the Fanfare theme. Which... would be tricky and require custom code.

Changing the Fanfare was what I was thinking. Maybe I could get around it by not playing the Fanfare in the battle at all - like in Fabul etc. - and then just play whatever I'd want after the battle just to keep it simple.

10
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Drawing Board
« on: April 15, 2015, 09:03:21 AM »
Quote from: chillyfeez on April 14, 2015, 11:35:17 PM
Wait - do you know how to actually use the mode 7 registers to perform mathematic operations?
I've heard about it being done, but I've never seen the process explained.

I do; but it took a while to get the hang of the subtleties - like most things  :wink:

The most direct reference is from SNES Development Wiki: http://wiki.superfamicom.org/snes/show/Mode+7+-+Rotation

There are two registers that are used for Mode-7 Multiplication (M7M):
  • $211B: 1st  Multiplicand (P) - 16-Bit (Double-Write)
  • $211C: 2nd Multiplicand (Q) -  8-Bit
Where the 24-bit result (R) can be read from $2134-$2136. I chose the labels since it's easy to remember what's what; specifically P x Q = R.

What I have found to be the limits of use for practical purposes are: P = (0-65535) & Q = (1-128). Q is a signed 8-bit value but for dealing with multiplication I found it best to stick with positive numbers since then there are no overflows which can be a pain to deal with in a 24-bit value without 24-bit operations available. Also the reason I say zero is not allowed for Q is because the multiplication is carried out when Q is written, and if zero is written it seems to not produce a zero result. I'm not sure what causes this specifically, so I've just been avoiding it. Fortunately in my calculations Q is always the current level so it starts at 1 anyway and stays well below 128.

I'll follow up later today/tomorrow with a bit more detail: specifically how to actually work with the registers. For now, however, I have to finish off my taxes...  :blush:

11
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Graphics info
« on: April 15, 2015, 08:45:45 AM »
Quote from: Pinkpuff on April 15, 2015, 05:35:22 AM
Quote from: Grimoire LD on April 14, 2015, 08:48:10 PM
What an intense battle! You've done a fantastic job with the balance it would seem. The fight starts out with a "do-or-die" situation that you then have to maneuver back from while Ciriatto is just relentless with his attacks!
Thanks! I want it to be a very scary/intimidating battle but still able to be won. Also I have a tendency to just speed through without grinding, especially in test plays like this. Even a few extra levels would probably make a huge difference.

I'd say scary, intimidating, and AWESOME; way to go Pinkpuff! Those were some cool fights, and a nice reminder of the kind of things that could lie at the end of the hacking-rainbow. I also loved the Wonder Twins reference in the battle against Alichino - nice touch.  :wink:

Quote from: Pinkpuff on April 15, 2015, 05:35:22 AM
Yup. Blink is another diamond in the rough. As for TwinHoly, that's actually the replacement for Comet which is now a normal White/Time spell. The 75% twin technique is TwinFlar ( = Pyro). Also both twin spells deal caster's HP based damage (which I think seems to be using just Porom's HP stat); in any case, my reasoning behind that is to make sure it scales up well and is usable even in the end game, as well as, like you mention, one of the twins is white and the other black, so the techniques are damaging, but you need to stay healthy to get the most out of them.

I wonder why Porom? A few ideas that come to mind would be that she is 1st in the character roster. Probably not the reason, but it's what I thought of first. Maybe it's an agility issue? Does it change dependant on which character actually uses the Twin Command?  :hmm:

12
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Drawing Board
« on: April 14, 2015, 09:21:35 PM »
Update:

I have the recursion formula worked out for TNL. I've written some test code (using the SNES Development Kit) to utilize the Mode-7 registers to calculate the required values with high accuracy. Since the pacing of the leveling in FF4 is one of the things I love most I just couldn't let it go without the calculated values being as close as possible to those tabulated.  :finger:

13
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Battles - Exp gained & Victory theme played?
« on: April 14, 2015, 09:13:06 PM »
Quote from: Pinkpuff on March 29, 2015, 08:24:19 AM
There are some battles with the "no change" music option that award exp/money and play the victory theme (e.g. Cagnazzo battle, MomBomb battle) and others that don't, even if the monsters themselves have rewards... The mystery flags in the formaitons don't seem to have any bearing on this as far as I can tell; does anyone know how this is determined?

I'd be curious to see how that works too. I had another thought as to rewards. I don't know how practical this may be but I had been considering at times to test the feasibility of certain formations automatically leveling up a character. With the game as well paced as it is it would be unnecessary but it is something I was considering for optional side bosses. What brought that to mind was that I was considering using a different theme along with said battle; maybe the "Added to Party" theme. Anyway, just a thought.

14
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Grimoire LD's Notes, Patches, and Hacks (Pointer Table to Event ID Routines)
« on: March 19, 2015, 11:42:22 AM »
Quote from: Grimoire LD on March 18, 2015, 11:39:08 PM
...
I would basically just have to copy this code for the proper flag checks and your idea should be rather simple to put together PinkPuff! But I don't think I can handle that tonight. I'll give it a go tomorrow though.

Oh that's pretty nifty Grimoire LD.  :cycle:         -Best of luck with it; I'm excited to see how it comes out.  :childish:

15
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Apropos of nothing (except of course FFIV)
« on: February 08, 2015, 09:47:18 PM »
Quote from: Grimoire LD on February 08, 2015, 09:37:04 PM
The issue appears in this when there is more than one TrapDoor in the room, this may have possibly worked otherwise, but because of the multiple doors it's not really plausible. Good thinking though.

Right!   :sad:  - I actually thought of that too as I was laying it out - but then pushed it out of my mind when I remembered that it's like 50/50 whether or not I'll loot the cave our just go straight start-to-finish.

This could work for the Behemoth battles on the way to Bahamut though; right?

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