help deciding traits

[0Ptical]

I was wondering if there was traits stats and attributes that can simulate the following:

wearing some sort of protective gear but destoryable- ex. reduces first 3 physical hits but goes away... It is on since the begginning of mission and not activated and if destroyed, not recoverable till next mission.

a list of accurarcy increase methods for a ranged character (non-melee, projectile)- i am pretty sure ive seen some but just to make sure i didnt overlook anything, any other ways of simulating better accuracy would be nice.

"magic resistance"- i think its mysticism in the game? not sure if its that or "elemental resistance" things like resist ice or heat etc. I dont know if the game magic is elemental/arcane based like in RPGs while mysticism sounds like "priest" stuff, or are they lumped together. some sort of natural resistance would be nice.

thanks for the ideas and explaination.

[stumpy]

wearing some sort of protective gear but destoryable- ex. reduces first 3 physical hits but goes away... It is on since the begginning of mission and not activated and if destroyed, not recoverable till next mission.

I don't think we have that, but I suppose it would be possible to build something like it into a variation of the FFX INVULNERABLE code. You gain so many points of invulnerability, but they go away after absorbing a certain amount of cumulative damage, or perhaps after so many individual attacks that do more than a certain amount of damage.

a list of accurarcy increase methods for a ranged character (non-melee, projectile)- i am pretty sure ive seen some but just to make sure i didnt overlook anything, any other ways of simulating better accuracy would be nice.

As best I know, there are two attributes that increase accuracy for ranged attacks: CRACK SHOT and CYBERNETIC BRAIN. MYOPIC does the opposite. We don't know of a way to script attributes like this, so those are probably all there will be.

"magic resistance"- i think its mysticism in the game? not sure if its that or "elemental resistance" things like resist ice or heat etc. I dont know if the game magic is elemental/arcane based like in RPGs while mysticism sounds like "priest" stuff, or are they lumped together. some sort of natural resistance would be nice.

Mystical powers are resisted differently by different materials (see Alex' materials page for info) and by characters with different attributes. The attributes that affect mystical resistance or UNBELIEVER, LEVEL HEADED (also affecting mental resistance), and BEDEVILED. TOUGH GUY affects all state-changing attacks.

Note that not all mystical damage types really reflect effects that are arcane in nature. The blind power could represent magical blindness or just ink in the eyes. Similarly, the stasis effect could be from magical stasis as well as bound with normal rope, webbing, glue, etc. They are all considered mystical in the game, whether or not the rationale for the particular power is arcane or mundane

(The little symbol next to the damage type when you look at a power in the in-game editor indicates what sort of resistance it works against.)

The TEMPERATURE CONTROL attribute increases resistance to heat and cold attacks (that would include freezing attacks). COLD BLOODED decreases resistance to cold attacks and HIRSUITE increases it. HEAT SENSITIVE decreases resistance to heat attacks and VOLCANIC increases it.

[0Ptical]

so the limited armor is out of the Q... since i cant reprogram the game or make anything... i looked at some passive defense but nothing there does what I want.... the most i can do is set it as a pretty low % chance of activating to "simulate" maybe the attack hitting the armor instead of me, but there is no way to limit it...
active skills can be used again and again so as long there is energy...

I guess crackshot is my only accuracy increaser (im assuming its for all things? melee, projectile, area, etc.)?
what is a "direct" type attack anyway?

and as for the resistance to "mysticism"...
bah... so there is nothing really related to what I was looking for... i can resist either temperature, status alterations, and engergy specifics only...

[DEATH]

Actually, if you read Stumpy's post carefully, he mentions that CRACK SHOT and CYBERNETIC BRAIN are for ranged attacks only. 

What are direct attacks?  They are an attack type that doesn't cross the space between attacker and target, cannot be dodged (I believe), and are a seperate group of attacks for defenses (both passive and active defenses can protect from any or all of MELEE, RANGED, AREA and DIRECT attacks).  When I create heroes, I don't often give defenses against direct attacks, as they typically bypass defenses such as dodging, forcefields and armor.

As for the mysticism thing, I wouldn't worry about it; just give the character you think resists magic the appropriate attribute (UNBELIEVER, for example) and don't worry about the resistance to other attacks.  I know that when you are conceptualizing a character these things (such as attribute descriptions or power effects not mapping to comics) seem all wrong.  However, in practice in the game, it's really not such a big deal.  The extra effect will be very occasional.

DEATH

[stumpy]

(DEATH covered some of this, but I started my post a while ago and now am too lazy to edit it.  :P)

so the limited armor is out of the Q... since i cant reprogram the game or make anything...

There is always the chance one of the scripters here will take up the call. Maybe me, if I feel inspired. I like the idea of a BODY ARMOR attribute that provides damage reduction but where that reduction wears off as more damage is taken to simulate the armor being pierced, torn up, shattered, etc. If I were scripting this, I would have the damage reduction decrease by 10% (rounded up) every time damage is done that exceeds the armor's rating. That way, a character could have a 10 point body armor protection that would last a while and not be hurt if he just got slapped for getting fresh on a date (heaven knows why he is wearing his Kevlar helmet on a date, but I'll leave that to the fanfic writers to rationalize). But, if he was dating Wonder Woman and her slap did 30 points of damage, it wouldn't last very long! ;)

Is anyone else interested in this? I think it would add some realism to certain character types we seen in comics where they start out a battle in their shiny armor or shield or fully-charged force-field generator or whatnot and then, as the battle draws out, their gear gets thrashed and more damage gets past it.

I guess crackshot is my only accuracy increaser (im assuming its for all things? melee, projectile, area, etc.)?
what is a "direct" type attack anyway?

CRACK SHOT and CYBERNETIC BRAIN, if that fits your character concept. But, no, both of those (and MYOPIC) affect only the accuracy of projectile and beam attacks. Cone attacks are also ranged, but they never miss anyway. The hit chance for melee attacks is determined by the attack speed (and defender's agility, etc.). I don't even know what accuracy would mean for area attacks. Direct attacks directly affect the target. They automatically hit every time, ignoring intervening barriers, dodging, etc. (though they may be resisted or blocked by defenses, etc., and still have their damage reduced by INVULNERABILITY and PHYSICAL RESISTANCE).

and as for the resistance to "mysticism"...
bah... so there is nothing really related to what I was looking for... i can resist either temperature, status alterations, and engergy specifics only...

I don't know really what you are looking to do here. You are correct that the game does not have a damage mechanism separate from the damage type, if that's what you mean. So, there isn't a way to have a stasis attack resisted as crushing damage or a magic fireball that is resisted as a mystical attack instead of as fire.

Actually, that last bit isn't 100% true. With FFX, you can have stun carrier attacks that swap to some other damage type. So, you could potentially have a crushing attack with stun where that stun swaps out to stasis. Therefore, whether or not the target ends up in stasis would be determined by his resistance to crushing damage (and to stun) instead of his resistance to mystical attacks.

[JKCarrier]

wearing some sort of protective gear but destoryable- ex. reduces first 3 physical hits but goes away... It is on since the begginning of mission and not activated and if destroyed, not recoverable till next mission.

You could sort of fake this with the "Accidental Change" attribute. Make two characters, one of the hero in his armored form, and another that represents him with the armor destroyed. Give the armored version the Accidental Change attribute, with the trigger "IsLowOnHealth". Give the un-armored version "Involuntary Form", with the revert trigger "IsNever". In game, when the armored hero is down to 1/3 health, he'll automatically transform into the un-armored form, and won't be able to change back.

[stumpy]

Okay, while avoiding some other work (heaven save me from priorities!), I took a look at this. Here is some FFX code for the BODY ARMOR attribute I mentioned above.

[0Ptical]

i guess i will follow that thread and play around with the editor when i can to see if i can get that in there.

i do have a question again, if i create a hero using the editor in game... will it level up the stats just like campaign character or do i need to create them fully "built"? can they use "level up" canisters at all?

[stumpy]

Yes, custom characters (those you create with the in-game editor and which are stored as HERO files) can be recruited into a campaign. Once recruited, they gain experience that can be spent to increase the character's levels in his powers or to buy new powers and attributes. They benefit from the canisters the same way the built-in characters do.

[0Ptical]

so i SHOULD NOT increase the skills i create for the heros to 5... or 3.. or 2... etc.

i should let them be increased in game, like the regular game heros... so all the heros i do create, i should keep their skills at lv. 1 only, for the game sake, right?

also, another Q:

...is there a way we can inject background story/details about the character somewhere? (assuming such data is displayed for every character in game, otherwise, inform me and ignore this)

and... the attribute fluctuation: it applies for all damage i am assuming? melee, beam, direct, etc. ?

[stumpy]

so i SHOULD NOT increase the skills i create for the heros to 5... or 3.. or 2... etc.

i should let them be increased in game, like the regular game heros... so all the heros i do create, i should keep their skills at lv. 1 only, for the game sake, right?

In some ways, there are more options for custom heroes than for built-ins. One thing is that you can start their powers at whatever level fits your character concept for the hero and you don't have to level up a power to level 3 before buying another power. You can still only increase them up to level 5 in the game, but you can start them where you like.

The only real thing to take into account is that having one very powerful hero among a group of lessers can be very dull to play. So, if you think starting some of your custom's powers at higher levels would unbalance the game, you probably want to avoid it.

...is there a way we can inject background story/details about the character somewhere? (assuming such data is displayed for every character in game, otherwise, inform me and ignore this)

Not really. You can monkey around with the string files and change the description of the character that shows in the status bar when you hover over him, but it's sort of a pain to do just to change that one thing.

You can use FFEdit to create new built-ins, though. And then you can have the descriptions as you like them.

and... the attribute fluctuation: it applies for all damage i am assuming? melee, beam, direct, etc. ?

That's right. I don't recall if it changes the chances of success for state-changing effects, though.

[0Ptical]

got another question again..
hex = slow effect right?
other than slowing speed, i see no other effects from hex based attacks...

question 2,
what is creating new "build ins"? are you saying instead of using character creation, use the editor to create my character?

[stumpy]

hex = slow effect right?
other than slowing speed, i see no other effects from hex based attacks...

Actually, what most people consider the primary effect of hex is that they leave the hexed character subject very susceptible to stun when he tries to use any power.

question 2,
what is creating new "build ins"? are you saying instead of using character creation, use the editor to create my character?

Yes. Built-ins are usually created using the FFEdit mod tool. You design the powers, character stats, attributes, etc. using that and it stores that information in the game's DAT files.

Actually, though I usually end up doing this the old-fashioned way, there is a great tool that does this for you, allowing you to edit your custom heroes properties and then send them to DAT files where they can be used as built-in heroes. See EZ Hero at Alex's Freedom Fortress.

[0Ptical]

this sure looks like an easy way to put heros into the game... and in a related area:

how do i make it so that some of the moves have yet to be learned? minuteman can learn stuff that is set... but mine is already in place. does that tool or the editor have a place where certain things are set in the hero and they must be baught and trained? i think in the FFeditor there was 2 boxes of skills and im assuming one is for skills already in place and the other is skills that hero has but must be baught.. there there also seem to be a "skill tree" as i couldnt buy that next move till adding levels to vigilance or something...

arg.. head hurts! modding is hard! when will i get to finally play for fun!?

anyway, second Q here is:
if hex isnt to slow... what type of attack can slow down speed of opponet or opponet's rate of attack, or both? (freezing? "slow" spell?)

third Q: i was looking in the character tab of the FFedit tool, and I didnt actually see anywhere that i could insert the description for the character. I dont see that function for the AlexFortress Tool either.

[Panther_Gunn]

anyway, second Q here is:
if hex isnt to slow... what type of attack can slow down speed of opponet or opponet's rate of attack, or both? (freezing? "slow" spell?)

Density Max.  It will drop flyers out of the air (and not allow them to take off again until it wears off), and slow them down, as well.  Not sure by how much, or if it affects their attack speed.

third Q: i was looking in the character tab of the FFedit tool, and I didnt actually see anywhere that i could insert the description for the character. I dont see that function for the AlexFortress Tool either.

To do that, you have to edit the strings.dat file.  Once you find the file (should be in the Languages folder), there should be a strings.txt with it, wich is all of the info in text format.  Make you edits in that, and then go through the Generate DAT's on the main tab (all assuming the FFEdit for FFVTTR is similar enough to the first one).

[Previsionary]

ALso, if you download FFX, you can do a state-swap to gravity increase to slow down targets by making them heavier. Also, density max does "not" stop an AI controlled player from flying. It does slow them down though.

[0Ptical]

uh, kind of late but since i never figured it out, what do you have to type in the string.txt to link the data in the ffedit to the newly created character? i dont see anything in the character boxes/details that links it to anything in string.txt.. I do see the generate button for the language and strings...

[stumpy]

If you look through your strings.txt, you will figure out what they are doing.

Basically, characters have three entries each

Code Select Expand

charactername_01, name of character
charactername_desc_01, short description of character that appear when you mouse over the character in the game
charactername_desc2_01, longer description of character that appears in the character's profile when you view him in the character screen at a base or in the character editor.

For example, if you have a character whose FFEdit name is flederweb, his strings.txt entries might be

Code Select Expand

flederweb_01, flederweb of aetia
flederweb_desc_01, khundish prisoner given bat-like powers during cruel experimentation
flederweb_desc2_01, a boy was born on khundish-occupied aetia and chosen for khundish biotechnology experiments, scientists altered his muscles, skin and bone structure so that he had wings like a bat and could stick to walls. inducted into the khundish military and he was fitted with a mind-control device until freed by the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES, he now fights to free his homeworld from khudish rule.

Note that most entries should have little capitalization because the in-game font is all caps anyway. Upper-case characters appear as boldface in-game.

For powers, there are up to two entries for each power in the FFEdit powers/defenses tab that correspond roughly to the first two entries for a character. For example, a power called flederweb Web Beam might have

Code Select Expand

flederweb Web Beam_01, web shooter
flederweb Web Beam_desc_01, shoots a sticky beam to bind enemies

The same setup applies to attributes, except that they have attrib_ appended in front of the FFEdit attribute name.

For instance, I have a character named Kira as a built in (and her _extra version with all her powers and attributes bought). Her total strings.txt entry is

Code Select Expand

kira_01, kira
kira_desc_01, mystic maiden, mistress of multiplicity
kira_desc2_01, transported from another time, KIRA is a mystic skilled at summoning duplicates of herself and others
tier_kira_a_01, mystic energy
tier_kira_b_01, multiplicity
kira_extra_01, kira
kira_extra_desc_01, mystic maiden, mistress of multiplicity
kira_extra_desc2_01, transported from another time, KIRA is a mystic skilled at summoning duplicates of herself and others
tier_extra_kira_a_01, mystic energy
tier_extra_kira_b_01, multiplicity
kira Teammate Swap_01, teammate swap
kira Teammate Swap_desc_01, swap one teammate for another
kira Clone Selt_01, homunculus
kira Clone Selt_desc_01, create a magical duplicate of yourself
kira Pain Blast_01, pain blast
kira Pain Blast_desc_01, a cone of psychic damage
kira Psychic Shocks_01, psychic shocks
kira Psychic Shocks_desc_01, a scintillating double-dose of stabbing psychic suffering
kira Energy Absorb_01, mystic metabolism
kira Energy Absorb_desc_01, abosrb energy from energy attacks
kira Orgone Leech_01, suck you dry
kira Orgone Leech_desc_01, render another's life essence unto yourself via progressive damage
kira Clone Other_01, cracked mirror
kira Clone Other_desc_01, create a duplicate of an enemy to do your bidding
kira Heat Spur_01, magic missile
kira Heat Spur_desc_01, evoke two fiery shards and send them enerringly at a foe
You can also see from that example how to name the character's two power tiers.

I hope that helps.

[0Ptical]

does it matter where i type those new data? in other words, can i just scroll to the bottem part and start typing or do i have to look for every character description section, move description section, etc.

[stumpy]

FFEdit doesn't care where they are. For your own benefit, you are better off putting them at the bottom of the file, so that you can find them if you want to want to merge them with another mod's string entries (or an those of a newer FFX) or if you update your characters. If you have them scattered all over, they are harder to find and you are likely to end up with duplicate entries (and I think FFEdit only uses the last one, but I am not sure about that).

[0Ptical]

i got another question. where do you go to change the number of hits something does? where does it determine that?

[stumpy]

The number of contacts are built-in to each animation, which are determined by the keyframes file for a mesh. You either pick a different animation with a different number of contact points (for melee powers) or releases (ranged attacks).

If you can't find an animation that does what you want, you can search for another set of compatible keyframes. E.g., some meshes allow different keyframe files to be used with them. E.g. vertex's meshes have several sets of keyframe files that will work for them. Usually, the mesh notes will mention which keyframes it will work with.

If you still don't see what you want, you can edit the keyframe files yourself via hexing or nifskoping. This isn't a totally easy thing to do, though it is pretty accessible with Nifskope. See the hexing forum for more info on that.

[0Ptical]

the problem is there is a couple of animations that could be 2 hits or less hits than it looks (there is one that is a flip kick that does 2 hits but should be 1 IMO just on looks).
is there a easy way to change that with nifskope? so should i go make a post there now?

[stumpy]

The FRWorld wiki has some Nifskope tutorials. You should first look there (there is a link to it in our Game FAQ). I think it explains keyframe hexing pretty clearly. Then, if you get stuck, post in the Hexing forum.