Messages

2581

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Timers And Haste/Slow/Stop

« on: April 18, 2008, 04:52:15 PM »

Here's a list of timers that exist:
Poison
Gradual Petrification
Count/Doom
Reflect/Wall
HP Leak
Stop
Regen
Paralysis
Sleep

Stop affects the following status timers:
Regen (healing becomes a constant in the SNES version)
Paralysis (timer stops - there are bugs in the SNES version when used with this status)
Sleep (timer stops - there are bugs in the SNES version when used with this status)
Stop (resets the Stop timer)
HP Leak (timer stops - there are bugs in the SNES version when used with this status - only affects characters though, enemies are unaffected)
Gradual Petrification (timer stops - there are bugs in the SNES version when used with this status)
Count/Doom (timer stops)
Poison (timer stops)
Reflect (timer stops)

Haste affects the following status timers:
Gradual Petrification (time to petrification is accelerated)
Regen (number of healing intervals is reduced)
Stop (time to being released from this status is reduced)
Poison (time to take poison damage is accelerated)
HP Leak (timer is reduced from 60 to 48, then 44) - note that haste is +3, so the timer adjustment is 4 HP
Reflect/Wall (time before status removal is reduced)

Summary: Haste accelerates most timers.

Slow affects the following status timers:
Gradual Petrification (time to petrification is slowed)
Regen (number of healing intervals is increased)
Stop (time to being released from this status is reduced)
Poison (time to take poison damage is slowed)
HP Leak (timer is increased from 60 to 90, then 120) - note that slow is -8, so the timer adjustment is 50% slower, then 100% slower...
Reflect/Wall (time before status removal is increased)

Summary: Slow decelerates most timers.

Edit: This list should be mostly complete, unless I forgot something major.

Second Edit: Additionally, all statuses other than Sleep can be reinflicted to reset/update/change the timer.

Third Edit: I totally forgot about the Mage (Mind Flayer summon).

4th Edit: Some summary updates are added to make the info more complete.

2582

Gaming Discussion / FF4A European Font Replacement Bugs

« on: April 18, 2008, 03:18:24 PM »

The descriptions of the Ice+Fire Shields are the longest AFAIK and are affected most by this patch.

Fire:


Ice:

2583

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Status Priorities

« on: April 18, 2008, 02:03:29 PM »

Ok, this is finally done, please let me know if I've forgotten anything of utmost importance.

2584

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Stop Status Behavior

« on: April 17, 2008, 07:32:50 PM »

This status when inflicted stops the target's ATB bar and a few other timers.

All timers stop... Poison, Sleep, Paralysis, Regen, HP Leak, Count/Doom, Reflect/Wall, Poison, Gradual Petrification.

These timers continue when Stop status is removed.

However, in the SNES version, Sleep, Paralysis, Regen, HP Leak (for characters), and Gradual Petrification timers are not restarted. Regen benefits most from this bug. However the other statuses, excluding HP Leak and Regen, will cause the game to act strangely and/or freeze when used on enemies.

Inflicting Stop status on Stop resets/changes the timer.

Edit: Updated info.

2585

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Gradual Petrification Behavior

« on: April 17, 2008, 05:57:19 PM »

Stop at the current count messes up Regen, Paralysis, Sleep, and Gradual Petrification (only SNES applicable though).

Edit: Never mind, found one more.. HP leak. 

2586

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Gradual Petrification Behavior

« on: April 17, 2008, 05:13:16 PM »

Bugs (only available in the SNES version):
Gradual petrification is fucked when Stop is in use.

That's probably why it was changed in the GBA.

I don't think that's a realistic correlation. It's more code checking with the ATB system than anything. The way Gradual Petrification is done in the GBA version, it is nerfed significantly.

2587

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Gradual Petrification Behavior

« on: April 17, 2008, 03:53:06 PM »

I was working on the status thread... until I came to testing this status. The behavior between the SNES and GBA versions are radically different and deserve a detail in mentioning this...

SNES version...

There are 3 officially listed states, but 1 state has 2 different visuals.. which seems to be linked to a timer of sorts.

1/3 Stone = Stiff (FF2 erroneously wrote it off as a Dummied status, which it simply is not)
The area around the character's feet are in a stone color (grey/silver).

2/3 Stone = Petrify
There are two forms of this..
If gradual petrification is unhealed by this point, the petrification reaches most of the body.. up to eye level.
This is only seen under this circumstance as another gradual pertification hit advances a bit further...

When gradual petrification is inflicted for a second time or gradual pertrification has progressed further, the character's entire body is covered in the stone color.

Stone = effectively Death status without having HP loss... it needs no real explanation as it is the final status caused by another hit of gradual petrification (while in Petrify status) or the timer for gradual petrification has completed...

The GBA version does this differently...

When gradual petrification is set, you don't get any useful info from the battle status area... you will see "grey paralysis" surrounding the character.

Further hits from the attack seems to move the timer forward, such as moving from 1/3 Stone to 2/3 Stone, but there's no clear indication of its progression.

There probably is just one timer that this status is based on (for both versions) and the starting point is different for 2/3 stone (at least in terms of this game anyways)

The gradual petrification timer seems to be dependant on the Vitality/Stamina as having more of it reduces the progression/timer (works very much like Poison status's timer).

The major difference between the SNES and GBA version is primarily on how the timer is altered... the SNES version changes the status involved and sets (resets?) the timer as appropriate. The GBA version seems to move the timer along.

Bugs (only available in the SNES version):
Gradual petrification is fucked when Stop is in use. It probably shares the same timer with Stop. When Stop status has ended, the timer either doesn't restart or isn't set anymore... which is similar to what happens with Paralysis and Sleep. The game will behave strangely and has a good chance of freezing when this is used on the enemies.

If gradual petrification was set on all characters (and unlikely situation since the Stone Gaze attack isn't multitargetable by default), the middle character (slot 1) has a good chance of evading petrification due to some coding blunder. That character's timer seems to have expired, but has failed to set the Stone status, so the character stays virtually in Petrify status for the duration of the battle. Inflicting gradual petrification on the character still inflicts Stone status.

2588

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Welcome to FF4 R&D - Read First

« on: April 16, 2008, 07:27:07 PM »

I finally got around to writing this... but anyways...

This board serves more to documenting behavior of this game, whether it be by observation or by looking into the code.

Romhacking information can also be found and posted here. Feel free to contribute any info. If you are to use any info, you must give credit to the source.

You may also feel free to ask questions about anything posted here, however discussions on comparing stuff should be posted in Gaming Discussion instead.

FF4 Versions Referenced Here Are (Primarily) Covered:

• FF2 - SNES US Version of FF4
• FF4 - Original Jap version
• FF4ET - Easytype version of FF4, do not suggest it is FF2 in Japanese, because that is completely untrue
• FF4A - GBA port of FF4WS, US and Euro versions primarily covered which should match up with Jap 1.0 and 1.1 revisions respectively

Versions Not (Fully) Covered:

• FF4PSX - The port is part of the FF Chronicles/European Anthology collection. It's likely a port of Easy Type's engine, with the data from the original FF4.
• FF4WS - Wonderswan Color remake of FF4. This one is likely the same as first releases of the GBA version, but hasn't been looked into at all.
• FF4DS - DS remake of FF4. Somewhat covered, but pretty massive changes have been made to the game.
• FF4TAY - The After Years, which runs on an engine nearly identical to the GBA version. The WiiWare port is somewhat covered, but not the original Japanese cellphone release.

Internal Workings (and other useful information)

FF4 Algo - Input Requested (Deathlike2's Algorithms Guide - starting here is recommended)
The Holy Grail - Magic Algorithm
The Other Holy Grail - Attack Algo
THE Command Thread
THE Status Thread
FF4 bug list?
FF4A Bug List
FF4 Walkthrough - WIP
Useful Links
DS Version Research
The After Years Research

For ROM Hackers

Official FF2us/FF4 documents thread.
Official request thread
FF4 Tools (Phoenix's text, event, and map editor)

2589

Final Fantasy V Research & Development / Re: Hmmm...

« on: April 16, 2008, 04:56:26 PM »

Has there been some behavior that hasn't been fully documented by the FF5 Algo FAQ?

Like what? Got any examples?

I remember a small discussion on Gamefaqs regarding the Song status, where there is some oddity/inconsistancy with how the character doesn't stop Singing after taking a physical attack... I've seen this happen with the Gil Turtle while using one of the Songs (I believe it was the Magic Song) to power up Requirem.

2590

Final Fantasy V Research & Development / FF5 Algo FAQ

« on: April 16, 2008, 04:09:10 PM »

Has there been some behavior that hasn't been fully documented by the FF5 Algo FAQ? I personally think it's been pretty much done for the most part, unless there are details that haven't really been looked into yet...?

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588331/30040

2591

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Shadow Party Stats

« on: April 12, 2008, 09:31:09 PM »

Since there aren't any unused locations of RAM (that I know of), I knew I had to fit as many characters' stat data within this 64 x 5 = 320 bytes of data that I could. Ideally, this would be 14, because there are 14 character classes and sets of sprites (not including Golbez and Anna, who don't have complete sets). In order to do this, I needed to store only the absolutely essential stats of a character, removing non-essential stats like modified strength/agility/vitality, hit percentage, attack statuses, etc. I call these "non-essential" because they can be calculated from a character's base stats and equipment data.

Looking at the data, I pared the stat list down to: character id (1 byte), class id (1), level (1), max HP (2), max MP (2), base str/agil/vit/wis/will (5), helmet (1), armor (1), gauntlet (1), right-hand weapon (2), left-hand weapon (2), and experience (3). This adds up to 22 essential bytes per character. Finally, I divided the 320-byte block by 22, and lo and behold there's room for 320/22 = 14.54 characters. It's like it was fated to be.

Can you say, incompatible SRAM time! The only issue you would have to deal with though is refreshing the character's data, since it is updated via the Equip menu...

Edit: As an aside, a conversion app would be nice, but not required. If the data is fucked up (not sure how you'd test this), use the default character data.

A bonus side effect of this method is that this should fix the adamant armor bug, since switching characters out would clear the elemental defense byte of the character.

Great, so make that fix pronto! 

Also, I have an idea...

Additional Edit: I do blame FF4A (US/Jap v1.0) for this idea, but there should be some event trigger/script that's executed to enable/disable characters gaining EXP while not in the active party. This way, you can maximize their stats and potential, which would make this version much more superior than its FF4A brethren.

2592

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Probabilities For Starting Battle Status?

« on: April 11, 2008, 10:06:54 PM »

I wouldn't call it a status, but it should be more like FF5/FF6 when it comes to such probabilities...

Although, the probability changes with levels, so it's slightly different by comparison.

2593

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Probabilities For Starting Battle Status?

« on: April 11, 2008, 09:47:13 PM »

As far as I can tell, most of this stuff seems to dictated by level or agility, but some info on this would be appreciated..

There are 3 statuses possible...

1) Normal
2) Surprised (Normal with an empty ATB)
3) Back Attack (Rows switched with an empty ATB)

2594

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF2/4/4A Run Behavior

« on: April 11, 2008, 09:44:27 PM »

I hate digging old threads, but there is a valid question to be asked...

What's the actual probability of GP droppage? That would be something worth looking into.

2595

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Writing a FF2/4/4ET/A Document/FAQ

« on: April 11, 2008, 07:24:39 PM »

Ok, it's clear there is not much new on the research front (other than for romhacking purposes).

If there are some lingering questions that exist on any existing thread, please post and add to those threads (most notably the Twin thread, since I had some legitimate questions about the command).

I definately need to finish the status thread as well...

As soon as I'm done with Dual Orb 2 research (and will post a mini-FAQ), I should immediately start working on writing the document for this game. I will upload a copy at Gamefaqs at some point (unfinished). It will be a starting point anyways, since I have way way way too much stuff stored away here. Hopefully this should be done sometime late Sunday (but don't hold me to that specific day).