Mod Updates

Xenosaga - Episode III - Also sprach Zarathustra - HardType v1.6 (PS2)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ttj4u5bmak97061/XS3HTv1.6.7z/file

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mrnrpv5rgsj0mvp/XS3uncHTv1.6.7z/file

The first link is the HardType mod for the original version of the game. The second link is the HardType mod for the Completely Uncensored hack of Xenosaga III.

Dragon Quest VIII - Journey of the Cursed King - HardType v1.3 (PS2)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/2xhhiigozhvll62/DQVIIIHTv1.3.7z/file

Shin Megami Tensei - Persona 4 - HardType v1.2 (PS2)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/qflxtjm1q91zg2c/P4HTv1.2.7z/file

http://www.mediafire.com/file/lmq8gqaogbdm5s1/P4undHTv1.2.7z/file

The first link is the HardType mod for the original version of the game. The second link is the HardType mod for the UNDUB hack of Persona 4.

Xenogears - HardType v4.2 (PSX)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/6ph8lvjr6ds0twd/XGHTv4.2.7z/file

Castlevania - Symphony of the Night - HardType v4.9.1 (PSX)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/rv7a7nncvalrvoh/SOTNHTv4.9.1.7z/file

Hey LandonRay, good to see you are still working on mods and sharing them. I've recently finished your xenogears hardtype after hearing it was too difficult, and found it to be excellent all-round, infuriating, but keep me completely hooked and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you.

I'll definitely be using your Xenosaga hard types next time I go back to the series.

Btw, Do you ever go back and edit old mods you've made? Or do you consider them finished projects?

Glad to hear it. People generally hate that mod. I, probably, should have written a tutorial on how to beat Calamity, given that it is RNG heavy and a bit counter-intuitive. Post-Calamity, I should've pointed out that using two Old Circuits and a Frame HP makes you basically indestructible (in gear form) until about half way through the Tower of Babel.

As far as the Xenosaga HardTypes are concerned, there are a few issues.

Xenosaga I is good other than the final boss. I've had major problems getting that fight to work properly, but other than that it is quite enjoyable. Oh, and sub-weapons are a bit under-powered.

Xenosaga II... man, I haven't played that game in a long time. If I recall, there are two version of the mod. One is normal difficulty, one is hard difficulty. The normal one is good for people who haven't played the game before and would like a challenge. The hard version is brutal at times. Particularly on disc 1. Some of the fights seem borderline impossible. The last time I played through it, I think on a few occasions I was literally screaming profanities at myself for making the game too difficulty. Also, some of the new healing spells can't be cast out of combat, which is annoying. That said, the ability re-balances make combat far more enjoyable overall (in my opinion).

Xenosaga III, I love this game. Prior to the latest release, it suffered from the same issue a Xenosaga I. However, in version 1.6, I finally got Zarathustra working correctly. The difficulty of this mod is largely dependent on how familiar you are with it (which is to say that it is based on strategy and not the RNG). On my last playthrough, I believe the only game overs I had were from fighting Sigma. On my first playthrough I had dozens and dozens of game overs (particularly in E.S. fights on Abel's Ark and Michtam). There's nothing like sinking 45 minutes into a boss fight, just to have the boss go crazy and kill you when he is almost dead. Well, at least those fights have great music.

I do often go back and play older mods. When playing through them again I tend to make little tweaks as needed (both with my mods and other people's). Sadly, I'm not in great health right now, which is why I'm trying to finally finish up my Persona 4 (I adore the Persona games) mod. I've written it up from scratch about a half-dozen times, but I keep scrapping it for various reasons. Thankfully, it should be done in a day or two. If you have some changes you'd like to see in my other mods, make a list. I'll get to it as soon as I'm done with Persona 4. You would be doing me a favor, as it would give me something to do, and help keep my mind off of things.

OH a Dragon Quest VIII mod, I'm actually really interest, thought there wasn't any mod for this game, care to share the changes you made on that one ?

I believe the base alterations for enemies are something like HP x2 and Attack x1.5 (some enemies have higher or lower stat alterations as needed for the sake of balance). Originally the damage ranges for non-physical attacks were increased as well, but the end result of that was not very amusing. Basically, enemies that used non-physical abilities could consistently out-damage the party's healing capabilities in the first half of the game (which made the game nearly impossible). Instead, I gave additional MP, Agility, and Defense buffs to most enemies that use non-physical attacks.

I would like to overhaul non-physical abilities, then compensate by increasing healing, tweaking physical abilities, and overhauling equipment. However, that would take quite a while, and likely will not happen.

As it stands, the mod is pretty basic, but if you're looking for a challenge (albeit a grindy one) then it can be fun.

Yeah I find Offensive Magic really bad in DQVIII outside of Magic Burst compare to physical, the fact it lack a buff similar to Oomph and most spell have a damage cap IIRC really underplay Magic in this game and the physical abilities are so strong anyway. I'll maybe give it a shot later.

Shin Megami Tensei - Persona 4 - HardType v1.2
http://www.mediafire.com/file/qflxtjm1q91zg2c/P4HTv1.2.7z/file

This patch is a difficulty modification for the PS2 NTSC-U version of Persona 4.

Enemy HP, Str, and Mag have been increased. Some enemies have a higher level. Enemies provide less experience and yen. Re-balanced persona and enemy skills.

Skill Attack Power

Bash - 60
Cleave - 65
Skewer - 70
Sonic Punch - 75
Double Fangs - 40
Single Shot - 85
Arm Chopper - 40
Hysterical Slap - 45
Poison Skewer - 60
Skull Cracker - 60
Muzzle Shot - 60
Assault Dive - 100
Twin Shot - 50
Kill Rush - 45
Cell Breaker - 80
Brain Shake - 55
Power Slash - 120
Cruel Attack - 120
Fatal End - 125
Black Spot - 130
Poison Arrow - 130
Mighty Swing - 135
Torrent Shot - 45
Tempest Shot - 90
Gigantic Fist - 330
Vile Assault - 350
Rainy Death - 390
Brave Blade - 700
God's Hand - 800
Primal Force - 920
Heaven's Blade - 1100

Gale Slash - 80
Rampage - 40
Swift Strike - 65
Herculean Strike - 90
Mind Slice - 90
Crazy Chain - 90
Seal Bomb - 90
Atom Smasher - 50
Mustard Bomb - 110
Navas Nebula - 110
Heat Wave - 125
Blade of Fury - 25
Virus Wave - 90
Vicious Strike - 140
Deathbound - 145
Arrow Rain - 80
Aeon Rain - 90
Blight - 130
Myriad Arrows - 75
Akasha Arts - 150
Agneyastra - 120
Vorpal Blade - 400
Hassou Tobi - 35
Pralaya - 2200

Agi - 40
Maragi - 40
Agilao - 100
Maragion - 100
Agidyne - 320
Maragidyne - 320
Ragnarok - 720

Bufu - 40
Mabufu - 40
Bufula - 100
Mabufula - 100
Bufudyne - 320
Mabufudyne - 320
Niflheim - 720

Zio - 40
Mazio - 40
Zionga - 100
Mazionga - 100
Ziodyne - 320
Maziodyne - 320
Thunder Reign - 720

Garu - 40
Magaru - 40
Garula - 100
Magarula - 100
Garudyne - 320
Magarudyne - 320
Panta Rhei - 720

Megido - 120
Megidola - 180
Megidolaon - 420
Black Viper - 880
Morning Star - 880

Note: Attack power uses the square root (i.e. Blade of Fury = 5 per hit, Vorpal Blade = 20).

Further Note: Elemental bonuses (boost, amp, and accessories) stack multiplicatively and cap at ~x1.875.

v1.2 Changes
altered all enemies
tweaked the final boss, the reaper, and margaret
buffed enemies in yomotsu hirasaka and increased their experience and yen
removed experience from free bambinos
increased experience from great kings

v0.7 Changes
altered enemies up to the escapist soldier

v0.6 Changes
altered enemies up to the momentary child

v0.5 Changes
altered enemies up to the intolerant officer

v0.2 Changes
re-balanced abilities

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I, probably, should have written a tutorial on how to beat Calamity, given that it is RNG heavy and a bit counter-intuitive. 

I'd really like to hear how you are supposed to go about it. I actually documented some of my playthrough on the mod itself here : 

I tried to figure out calamity, but I just can't see much of a way to beat him outside of what I was doing. Would love to hear if I was doing something wrong.

Quote

Sadly, I'm not in great health right now, which is why I'm trying to finally finish up my Persona 4 (I adore the Persona games) mod. I've written it up from scratch about a half-dozen times, but I keep scrapping it for various reasons. Thankfully, it should be done in a day or two. If you have some changes you'd like to see in my other mods, make a list. I'll get to it as soon as I'm done with Persona 4. You would be doing me a favor, as it would give me something to do, and help keep my mind off of things.

Sorry to hear that, hope your health improves.

Um, I don't really know if I'd have any changes to make. You can see all my issues and struggles in that thread, excuse the hyperbole and anger, I genuinely really loved the mod.

The nocturne building, pipes? where its Fei and citan and you face those gun guys and again another variety of them in fort jasper? Is the main place I had complaints for balance, they are just way too strong. I'd say the frame hp being on citan should be moved elsewhere? As its completely missable, and you can't win that gauntlet vs elly without out it. Actually, now that I think of it, I just hated all the gauntlets and early gear fights in general. Everything on foot was for the most part fine imo. 

I also used power soul vs grahf and executioner. I'm very curious is that fight balanced around it? I can see it being possible without it, but way too RNG based, and would really need insane luck or much more levels than I had. Curious on your thoughts on that fight in general.

Thanks. The issue with Calamity is that if you conserve fuel he will eventually wear down your HP. On the other hand, if you go all out, you will run out of fuel several power level one attacks short of defeating him. The key is to note that as his HP gets lower the odds of him using his ether attack increases. His normal attacks aren't much of a threat if you use Wild Smile. If I recall correctly, the basic strategy is to build up to power level two, use a power level one attack, build back up to power level two, and then use charge. Do this twice for both Fei and Bart, at which point you should be in good shape on fuel. Once a character gets near half HP then use the booster. Try to keep your power level at two (in case you need to charge) and only use power level one attacks until you are close to the end of the fight (unless you think that character may die on the next turn), then finish Calamity off with a pair of power level two attacks. IF (and I stress “if”) I recall correctly that should give you a very good chance against Calamity.

Those fights with Fei and Citan were some of the hardest in the game. There was a viable strategy for them but I honestly don't recall what is was.

I should move the Frame HP30 to Weltall. However, I have tested the Gebler forces fight with Magnetic Coats and even Resp Circuits. It can be won that way (not that I would recommend it). Anything other than a Frame HP30 just creates unnecessary problems.

The Graff fight was balanced around a high speed sandbagging setup or a damage nuking setup with Maria (or a hybrid of the two). I believe I found a few other setups that worked as well. Power Crisis was likely one of them.

LandonRay, your Castlevania SOTN mod is buggy because it has malformed EDC/ECC. You can fix this by applying STARWIN's EDC/ECC recalculator to it, as per this review:

http://www.romhacking.net/reviews/3744/#review

I run it with the Quality hack, and - with fixed EDC/ECC - it works just fine. I can't get past the first boss, but other than that it's fine.

It's pretty simple to use, even on Windows. I just use "cd" and "dir" commands in Powershell to navigate to wherever I have it and the CSOTN disc image, type the first few letters of the tool and hit tab to autocomplete, repeat the process with the CSOTN ISO, hit enter, wait a minute, and it's done.

I can't really remember the calamity fight much now, but I'll definitely try that in future, thanks.

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Those fights with Fei and Citan were some of the hardest in the game. There was a viable strategy for them but I honestly don't recall what is was.

Feis counterforce was key for me to get through, and sometimes I'd cruise by, but other times I'd just end up being annihilated, too overwhelming with them vs just the two of you. I believe one of them can do 200 a hit and you can fight 4, theres not really anything you can do if they get the jump on you, just gonna die. It's much better in fort jasper when you have the full party and more build options.

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The Graff fight was balanced around a high speed sandbagging setup

This was basically how I took the fight on, but it became too much for me... I'd feel I was getting closer, then RNG would screw me, so I just said to hell with it and went with power soul abuse. I wanted to play around with it more as both fei and bart can avoid miangs 1 shot skill with their counter skills, but turn economy is so important, and even just putting up that buff once can cost you if RNG screws you, but I felt with that + citan I might be able to scrape by..... I found Billy to slow for that fight. One of the hardest fights I think I've ever played in a mod, definitely really enjoyed it, a fitting fight for grahf. Felt a little cheap abusing power sould to get by though....I'd really like to see someone get by this fight without power crisis, but sadly theres basically no footage or lets plays of it. I do intend to give that fight a proper run at some point in the future when I replay xenogears.

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However, I have tested the Gebler forces fight with Magnetic Coats and even Resp Circuits. It can be won that way (not that I would recommend it). Anything other than a Frame HP30 just creates unnecessary problems.

I tried with resp circuits, but it was unbearable, I didn't have enough magnetic coats at the time either. I guess that would be another "issue" I had but I don't think theres anything to change about it. Fights are basically unwinnable (without driving yourself insane), or an absolute breeze depending on if you have a certain piece of gear or not. Once I had a huge variety of gear then I found it enjoyable, switching in and out gears dependant on enemy trying to find the best balance.... like vs the gauntlet at shevat. But that was once I had many options. At the start, it's very limited and not many choices at all. Thats more so xenogears than the mod though.

Yeah, I found Billy a bit too slow for that fight, which is why I decided to try Maria. While she is incredible slow she can also kill Miang fairly easily (if she stays alive long enough to get the chance).

I added a Frame HP30 to Weltall, a Frame HP10 to Brigandier, and removed the Frame HP30 from Heimdal. I just finished testing Calamity with a variant of the afore mentioned strategy (taking into account the Frame HPs) and beat him fairly easily. So that fight should be fine now.

Xenogears - HardType v4.2 (PSX)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/6ph8lvjr6ds0twd/XGHTv4.2.7z/file

awesome, thanks!

MysticLord, I use Linux and haven't had any success getting that program to run. If you'd like to post a corrected version of the patch, that would be appreciated.

12 hours ago, LandonRay said:

MysticLord, I use Linux and haven't had any success getting that program to run. If you'd like to post a corrected version of the patch, that would be appreciated.

https://ufile.io/1z2psjtn

No idea if this file uploader will work, the first thing that popped up when I googled free file uploader. Should be fine as long as file hashes match. Link expires in 30 days.

SHA256sum of my unmodifed CSOTN disc image, a *.bin I renamed as *.iso because pSX doesn't need Cue files.
ce01203a9df93e001b88ef4c350889c19f11ffba89d20f214bdd8dec0b2d8d7c

After your patch (SOTNHTv4.8) is applied, but before EDC/ECC is fixed.
e1d9e84b1dc477d5cd458b5aaaf21f77f29689fadcada44bc704734455089850

After EDC/ECC is fixed.
fa169cb35d1ec5643bbaa26c825098f89276e6374d45e2f269e924d0e5ab167c

CSOTN-HT-Fixed.ppf
3051567f4e0a1d56e526cb03ccfc1fa8561354d876572ab28195096291499aa7

CSOTN-HT-Fixed.zip
e1f70888e585112656a3c6aafd9bd4b07a57abe4bf72128744ac8ed32b762b5b

Do you want me to do the No Exp Patch too?

edit

I couldn't find source code for Starwin's tool, but I did find these:

https://github.com/saramibreak/EccEdc

https://github.com/claunia/edccchk

Have to type this on my phone because the forum randomly doesn't let me edit or post.

Is the source code included with Starwin's EDC/ECC fixer? Have you tried compiling it? What error messages do you get?

Thanks, the patch seems to work perfectly, so I will include it in the next update. If you'd like to do the No Exp Patch I'll include that in the next update as well.

I haven't tried compiling starwin's tool. I'll definitely take a look at the other two as well.

Thanks again!

sha256sums:
ce01203a9df93e001b88ef4c350889c19f11ffba89d20f214bdd8dec0b2d8d7c *Castlevania SOTN.bin
7ad4eef08947bef9bd18da69d6c63b35e96157570d22194ca5c4567ecfadde51 *Castlevania SOTN - Hardtype No Exp.bin
cee8dbd07c6fcdb46b3e8eb32d9f80e8d064a117c9be784faf014d5055d5d9f9 *CSOTN-HT-NoExp-Fixed.ppf
5002447cee0463d9ec02c92c9778aba9026a2d8d56358a0144d026fc57d361fb *CSOTN-HT-NoExp-Fixed.zip

Download for No Exp patch:
https://ufile.io/aas9hlbr

Starwin's EDC/ECC calculator is here, it includes a single *.c source code file that may compile with a call to gcc.
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1264/

Try:
gcc error-recalc error_recalc

The No Exp patch you posted is identical to the original. Were there any problems using the No Exp patch by itself? Or were there only problems when combining it with the HardType patch?

I'm sorry about that. I actually tested this version, and while it has a single temporary bug it seems to work once you get past the point where that bug is triggered. I didn't test both hardtype and no-exp together.

https://ufile.io/7i49lhfy

7ad4eef08947bef9bd18da69d6c63b35e96157570d22194ca5c4567ecfadde51 *Castlevania SOTN.bin
392c074ac8d82296efadaee234286ac3bf7cc1540a0a626e8fbc6a8978859c4e *Castlevania SOTN - No Exp.bin
8bb359091aec183e7117846cb4139eae09852b46928c3ad68d0b171da425fc29 *CSOTN-NoExp.ppf
ce4f384e6f2ec5b5c4458f4596e5c511805c43d19103a31f38a77d6492c49687 *CSOTN-NoExp.zip

Tested it and it seems to work in regards to no experience gain.

The No-Exp patch doesn't seem to implement the Hardtype. Enemies died in one hit with Alucard's Sword, and dealt only 1 HP damage to me, I assume you're supposed to apply both to get the effect of both? I didn't play to the Marble Gallery.

My first test with No-Exp was loading a the first save where I tested Hardtype. In jumping through the gap above the area where Death steals your gear, the game seems to enter a sort of infinite loop where you keep dropping through the top of the screen again when you reach the part where the bottom of the screen should start to track downwards. It seems like it's an issue related to loading a save from a different hack. This bug didn't reappear when I made a fresh save with just NoExp; unless you encounter it - or someone else does - in any circumstance where they made a new save, I wouldn't worry about it.

The No-Exp patch seems to have an error where pausing the game freezes it. Not sure how'd you fix it. It seems to permanently goes away once you get the Short Sword drop from the first skeleton you see or you make your first save, so I assume this was an attempt by you to remove the bug where you can avoid Death stealing your gear by preventing the player from accessing the start button menu.

The start button freezing the game could be an issue with pSX, I didn't test it on my PSP or another emulator. Mednafen is the most accurate and the best PS1 emulator on Linux (has an OK debugger too, though I wish it was in a different window), so I'd try it on that. No idea what you'd do if it persists other than ask for help at RHDN.

No-Exp.ppf is pretty large, seems like you edit a lot of different sectors and it generated a lot of EDC/ECC in these sectors. That must've been a pain doing it by hand on Linux with no file import/export or disc image build tools.

In the future you can avoid EDC/ECC issues altogether by compiling Starwin's EDC/ECC fixer, which is found on RHDN and comes with a single C source code file, or by using psxinject to inject modified files. The latter is found here, along with source code in the second link:
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1404/
https://github.com/cebix/psximager

psximager also includes a tool to rip PSX files and a tool to build a disc image. If you need to do batch file insertion, this Python 3 script I wrote should allow you to do so with a bit of modification:
http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=31293.msg399800#msg399800

batchRip.py

import sys,os,glob
for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
    for files in glob.glob(arg):
        os.system('psxinject.exe MyGame.cue ' + '/MyDirectory/' + files + ' ' + files)

MyGame.cue is the name of the game's cue file, /MyDirectory/ is the directory where you files are found.

Terminal syntax is:

python batchRip.py [rippedfiles]

You could probably easily modify the string on the line that starts with "os.system(...)" to acommodate psxripper as well. Use print(...) statements to debug it and get a grasp on what you're doing.

Do you have a background in coding?

Thanks again!

If I recall correctly the pause screen freeze is an emulation issue (although I could be mistaken).

I'm self-taught so I have no real background in coding.

Someone made a GUI Windows tool to correct EDC/ECC. You can link to it in your readme if users have issues.

http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1550/

I would make a note of the bug, that it's temporary, and how to avoid it in your readme as well.

Python 3 is pretty easy, the tutorial is online and Thonny is a decent IDE. I learned Python 2 at in high school, the teacher just read the tutorial and worked through exercises she made up. I was 17, could have done it at 11 if I had better math instruction (but then again, I didn't have problems sitting at a desk for hours as a child).

https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/

@LandonRay quick question: Does this Persona 4 mod works with the UNDUB version?

I haven't checked, however it is very unlikely that it would. I might be able to port the mod to the UNDUB version.

Here you go.

Shin Megami Tensei - Persona 4 - UNDUB - HardType v1.2

http://www.mediafire.com/file/lmq8gqaogbdm5s1/P4undHTv1.2.7z/file

Let me know how it works.

17 hours ago, LandonRay said:

Here you go.

Shin Megami Tensei - Persona 4 - UNDUB - HardType v1.2

http://www.mediafire.com/file/lmq8gqaogbdm5s1/P4undHTv1.2.7z/file

Let me know how it works.

Many thanks for the undub patch. Will try to play it this weekend and once I get over my other lp I would even try to make some showcases

Hey Landon Ray,

I recall the og P4 and Undub having the enemy sections in precisely same place. So I wonder if you changed something else than just the enemy strength values?

Keep up the good work.

Those links I posted should expire soon, do you have a discord I can post them too so they will persist until you update the download links here and at RHDN?

I have two minor suggestions for the DQ8 hardtype. Firstly, I think you should increase the starting area monsters EXP (before getting Angelo/being able to farm metal slimes) to make it a smoother experience and less grindy. Second, I would make the first Timbrel of Tension available earlier to facilitate the harder boss fights.

Only other suggestion is I wish this was a hardtype of the 3DS version instead, but alas I imagine that isn't possible. Also just wanted to say thanks Landon for the mods over the years, played a lot of them!

Hello, thanks for the good and sacred work on patching difficulty!

I patched Xenogears vith hardtype 4.2 using PPR-o-Matic and the NTSC-US version cue/bin file, but can't launch it on Retroarch or Epsxe. Retrolaunch says Bad Sector. 

What did i do wrong?

Thanks!

On 23.2.2021 at 5:12 PM, Soundman said:

Hello, thanks for the good and sacred work on patching difficulty!

I patched Xenogears vith hardtype 4.2 using PPR-o-Matic and the NTSC-US version cue/bin file, but can't launch it on Retroarch or Epsxe. Retrolaunch says Bad Sector. 

What did i do wrong?

Thanks!

You may have patched the .cue file instead of the main image file. The other thing, you might've accidentally patched the images with wrong disc patches.

The infamous Landon Ray still in the ring? I've missed this entirely. I remember googling Xenogears mods years ago and found almost nothing except your mod, accompanied by woe and lamentation from those who played it, haha. I put it in the backburner but now after all this time it might be time to finally have a go at it, although jugend's impressions do make me hesitate a bit... If the difficulty is quite frontloaded, ostensibly mostly because of the lack of options as is usually the case early on in RPGs, and by the endgame when you'd usually want the most challenge - because you have all these awesome bells & whistles and actually know how to play the game - the difficulty nosedives, then it's really the wrong way around and might not be worth it for me. Any thoughts on that?