5 replies to this topic

[Kung Fu Man]

This seemed to be the best place to hit you guys up with this, but has any research been done on where in the exe these bundles of data are handled? My guess is that the exe is handling them by calling up a data string dependent on the death variable used for the character, and as a result setting up the equipment slots based on that. The problem is while that sounds simple enough, finding out *where* in the EXE this data is handled seems unknown...

If this could be made tweakable in some format it could make modifying the game easier, or at the very least allow for more options. Have you or scient run across anything relating to this?

[scient]

I'm not quite sure what you're asking about? Could you give me an example? And what you're trying to accomplish? And which death variables? There are several. Like ones when PC dies or ones when NPC dies or fortress, etc.

Edited by scient, 30 June 2009 - 11:48 AM.

[Kung Fu Man]

Little hard for me to explain without having the stuff on hand (my laptop's HD blew so some of this is from memory, Qwinn may be able to explain anything I word badly better). What I meant was the identifier string for the character in their CRE file ("Nameless", "Annah", "Morte", "Vhailor" etc). The game uses this string to determine two things:
-What innate abilities the character can have (which oddly includes thief skills from the radial menu, limiting them to only Nameless and Annah as a result)
-What equipment slots the character has available (i.e. Morte having none, Nameless's eye socket slot etc)

What I'm trying to accomplish is some way to modify the equipment slot setups tied to the identifier string, so I'm not absolutely stuck with a character with no equipment slots at all if I want them to be able to use two innate abilities. I really hope that I explained that well...

[scient]

Ok, I think I follow now. For example, make it so you could equip a tattoo on Morte correct? I'm surprised this isn't in the CRE file. I'll wait till Qwinn chimes in because I haven't done any work with regards to how slots are set up. I could probably find area in code fairly easily based on paperdoll manipulation code (like equip or remove an item).

Edited by scient, 30 June 2009 - 01:02 PM.

[Qwinn]

I'm surprised that that sort of thing isn't in the CRE file as well.

Not sure what I can intelligently add at this point.

Qwinn

[Kung Fu Man]

Well while I can't verify it again at the time being, something Platter mentioned years ago might help track down where in the EXE this is being handled: if memory serves, there's one instance where the player's anim set value can alter this. If you change TNO somehow to use the Severed Arm anim set (the one Paranoid uses at the end of the game), the ring slot related to that arm will be disabled. Not sure how much this helps if any at all.

As for getting it to be handled in the CRE, it can be at least set up to be done. From 0x74 to 0x82, these values are never used. They were labeled "Unused Proficiency Slot" because at the time the script actions relating to proficiencies could modify them, though it was later discovered that the actions themselves were broken in that they had no cap (which isn't a bad thing). With some work though you could fit the equipment slot flags into here, making it easier to modify them on the fly?

EDIT: Just noting I do realize how farfetched that sounds, though it does seem likely to offer the smoothest option in this case, simultaneously fixing the issue of characters without one of those 8 strings having no shown equipment slots (a major issue for anyone trying to develop additional PCs for PST).

(Side note, the proficiency actions having no cap being a good thing? It's because you can use it as a workaround to modify values in the CRE on the fly you normally couldn't without that)

Edited by Kung Fu Man, 01 July 2009 - 12:10 PM.