FFIX Trance Seek v0.3.32d (Hard mod by DV - Demo CD3/CD2/CD1 available !)

[DV]

Where is Disc 4 update ?

I see a few messages asking me news about Disc 4 (on Steam, Discord or even Reddit).
First of all, thank you very much for your attention to this mod and let me reassure you: yes, I'm still working on it!
However, Disc 4 isn't just about the Memoria dungeon, Hades and Ozma... I'm planning to add a lot of new content (because FF9 modding allows you to do that, and with the time I've gained a lot of experience).
Unfortunately, my IRL job takes up a lot of my time and, above all, Disc 4 is very ambitious (new characters, new quests, new monsters/bosses, etc.).
I'm being very discrete about it to keep as many surprises as possible. I intend to share some news about Disc 4 with you one day, but... please be patient: I want this final Disc 4 to give as strong impressions (and even more) than the 3 Disc combined ^^

Thanks again! This is my first modding experience and I'm pretty proud of the work I've done so far. See you soon and... Enjoy the game!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi everyone !

I introduce myself: DV (yeap... D and V, simple as that ! :D ) and fan of the Final Fantasy license ^^ After having tested some hard mods from FF7 and FF8, I decided to embark on this adventure too !

Final Fantasy IX is my favorite so i decided to make my own hard mod : i have the pleasure to present you my hard mod called Trance Seek !
I don't hide you that it's my very first experience in modding and I'm quite proud of the result I could give thanks to the great tools we have at disposal :)

What is Trance Seek ? First of all, it's a hard mod but i didn't content myself with just boosting the stats of the monsters... I had fun making a lot of modifications !

IMPORTANT : If that's comfort you... it's NOT an extreme hard mod, requiring you to grind for 15 hours between each boss: that's not the GOAL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqi4yJb-eVI

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the changes made by this mod :

- Each character has a specific mechanic or gameplay, which are normally explained in-game: it's up to you to discover them and exploit them to the full:
- All monsters and bosses have a modified AI as well as their attacks: some slightly, others drastically. Some bosses even have new mechanics/strategies ! You will find some really unique fights in my mod as well as some surprises :D
- Around 30 new bosses added (including 2 superbosses): all the game's bosses have been reworked to offer different mechanics and more!
- All bosses give experience and drop a piece of equipment at 100%: this avoids the player to grind too much, the progression is really straightforward !
- New back raw mechanics : now, in order for a character to benefit damage reduction in the second line, at least one of his comrades next to him must be in the first line !
- Many of skills and abilities have been reviewed or even completely changed.
- The mod has a total of 84 SA (support ability) + 84 additional enhanced versions (WIP).
- All characters have 44 SA available (not counting boosted versions, so a total of 88 SA each!).
- You can have a status immunity with some accessories ! Exemple with Madain's Ring [i.ibb.co]
- Each character has its own unique passive or mechanic. +40 new skills added.
- 59 new items (WIP) !
- And lots more ^_^)

And as well as... :
- This mod use the last build from Memoria, with the new SFX Rework. I'm constantly updating it to keep up with every Memoria update!
- [Memoria] By pausing the game and pressing F8, you can return to the main menu almost immediately ! (This can cause slight bugs but I have never had any major problems so far ^^)
- Beatrix will be a permanent character and you can rename her ! (when you see her at Burmecia)
- New OST (somes from other FF or remix by fan)
- [Memoria] Tetra Master is reworked : the game is a mix with the Triple Triad of FF8 or you can play Triple Triad ! (created by me and now available on Memoria)

Obviously, I haven't listed all the changes to let you discover my mod: my main goal is to let you live a new adventure ! ;)

################### INSTALLATION ###################

1) Download the latest version of Memoria.Patcher.exe => https://github.com/Albeoris/Memoria/releases
2) Place the file in your "Final Fantasy IX" folder and run the executable to install Memoria.
3) Once installation is complete, launch Final Fantasy IX and a new launcher will be available => Go to "Mod", then "Browse Catalog" and download Trance Seek
4) Make sure "Trance Seek" is top priority in the mod list, to avoid any conflicts!
Imo, i suggest these mods for an incredible experience => https://i.ibb.co/f9PN4Y0/image-2024-08-11-143649725.png.
Compatible with Mog Add-ons if you want too !
5) You're ready to play :D

################# BEFORT REPORTING A BUG #################

Update the mod before report one or many bug(s) => From the Memoria Launcher, just delete the mod Trance Seek than download it again (before i upload some quick hotfixes in secret hehe).
If the issue persist, you can report here ^^

#################################################

Finally, I would like to say a few words of thanks :
- Thanks for the few testers who were able to test the previous versions of my hard mod : notably Elysion, Luplow, Nesouk and Ilares !
- Thanks also to Albeoris and his team for creating this great tool which is Memoria, which would not have allowed me to post this mod at this time !
- A HUGE thanks to Tirlititi for creating Hades Workshop which is simply a great tool and also for helping me many times on many subjects and issues ! Without his help, my mod would not be as perfect as it is today !
- And I obviously thank in advance those who will test my mod! I hope you'll like it and I'm looking forward to some of your feedback :D

Good game to you and especially... good luck!

You can find me here or on the FF modding Discord => https://discord.gg/FAvVvVckRH

(Sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes or misunderstandings in my description but I am, of course, available for any information !)

[Sogreth]

Originally posted by DV:

- A character can no longer dodge when defending himself.

This one seems odd. I know the point is to maker the game harder. But this one just doesn't make sense. When you're defending, you're anticipating an attack, so dodging should realistically go up, and not down. You're already sacrificing your turn just to block some damage. And everyone knows the best defence is a good offence (aka, a dead enemy isn't attacking at all). Just my 2 cents.

Anyways, can't wait to try this! Good job!

[DV]

Hi Sogreth! Thanks for your comment.

I can understand perfectly your feeling: my choice to do this is that, as you said... it's a hard mod ^^

Moreover, when a character adopts a defensive posture in this game, I find that he is ready to accept the imminent attack that want to dodge ... but that' s my personal opinion ! But I had never thought about your explanation indeed.

Of course, the defense doesn't bring any more dodge to the character but in parallel, you can reduce the damage by 4 with the Protect spell, which seems to be very interesting for the Cover.

By the way, Patchnote 0.2.5 from my mod hard Trance Seek.... yeah I skipped a few versions :}

Features:
- If the target menu doesn't display correctly the right targets (present on specific fights like Mimic), press the B key (the equivalent of the "Cards/Moggle" button, to hide the HUD in battle) to refresh the menu !
- Cards with a maximum number of arrows now have a kind of golden border ! (the sprite is not definitive of course.) Exemple here ![media.discordapp.net]

Skills:
- Increase Haste cost from 8 to 16 MP.
- Spare Change from Amarant can no longer hit monsters with a perfect defense (equivalent of 255).

Miscellaneous :

- Save The Queen formula modified : it doesn't take into account the level anymore but the character's spirit.
- AI fixed of Black Watz 1 & Sealion.
- AI fixed of Ironite.
- Description of Locomotion in French fixed.
- Fixed Black Waltz 2's animation when he counters.
- Fixed a special fight in Burmecia that could trigger a softlock.
- Improved some of Sword Magic's animations, making Steiner return to his position faster.
- It is now possible to recover the stolen item from a Magic Vice at the end of a fight if he is defeated.
- Fixed Angel’s Snack script.
- Fixed a music loop after the fight with Steiner/Freyja/Beatrix in Alexandria.
- A character no longer uses Auto-Potion when he is under the status "Heat".

[DV]

Patchnote Trance Seek 0.2.8

Features (useless but funny :D) :
- You can change the music of the Chocobo minigame by pressing the equivalent of L1 or R1! (2 new musics added for the moment). You can find a demonstration here !

CD1 & CD2

- Rewards change of some chocographs and chests.
- Changed the AI of the Mistodon.
- Improved the script against a special fight : visual effect added in addition to the text !
- Changed the Tetra Master's Discard Auto to make it compatible with the new system (possibility to specify the number of cards in the Memoria.ini of the Trance Seek folder)
- Changed Beatrix's base stats (from the playable character, not the enemy version).
- Fixed Mug's script (which had the wrong formula).
- Bandit now increases the effectiveness of Mug.
- Fixed Transmute script : Bibi could kill himself under a specific condition.
- You can disable AutoBattle feature in the Memoria.ini in the TranceSeek folder.
- Auto Potion now supports Chemist and Ultra Potions.
- Esuna and Remedies now heal from Old status ( in preparation for CD3)
- Disabled some of Memoria's mode debugs.
- Even more sounds fixed! (about 830 sound files fixed at the moment)

Known bugs:
- When a character misses a physical attack, the hit sound still comes on. (Known by the Memoria team) => Implemented a fix by modifying the weapons script.

[DV]

Patch Note from 0.2.9 version :

IMPORTANT :
- Deleted Sounds02 and Sounds03 folders in my .zip : now, everything is transferred to my second mod which corrects ALL the battle sounds, as well as some sounds from the Tetra Master and the Chocobo mini-game !
A total of more than 1500 corrected audio files, all from the PSX version!
You can find this mod on the following link : https://steamcommunity.com/app/377840/discussions/0/3189117724409401717/

CD1 & CD2

- Mistral also heals Kweena (by an amount equal to her current HP).
- Fixed a bug that was originally present in the Chocobos minigame: the game was using the same sound file when Choco was digging, regardless of the playfield.
- Very slight correction of the Nymph AI.
- Minor animation and sound fixes on some spells.

Known bugs:
- Roulette's animation in the zombies fight aim an invisible enemy (but it's just visual).

[DV]

Patch Note 0.2.10 :

- White Wind's MP cost increased from 14 to 28 MP.
- Fixed an attack by Antlion in Clayra.
- Fixed an error in the Auto Potion script.
- Fixed some enemy spells (some are considered magical, others can be returned with Reflect).
- Changed the name of some skills (in French version).
- Some blue magics can be returned by Reflect. (Monsters are also affected)
- When a character have Healer, the HP panel will be displayed instead.

[DV]

Hi everyone ! New update !

[Version 0.2.11]

IMPORTANT
- Trance Seek is now compatible with Moguri Mod ! :D The installation instructions are indicated in the README file (installation + update).txt
- Modification of the way to install the mod: no more need to download Memoria since the patcher is now included in the .zip!

CD1 & CD2

- Added new Swd Mag spells for Steiner ! Poison, Water and Waterga are now availables.
- Fixed the Soft item script, which no longer removed the Petrify state on enemies.
- Fixed Masked Man's "Ouch!" attack.
- Increased the MP cost of Trickery from 12 to 16 MP.
- Zidane's "Skill" has been renamed to "Thief".
- The price of "Remedies" is increased from 800 to 2000 gils (in preparation for CD3).
- Fixed and modified some stores, to make the Remedies more rare.

[WarpedEdge]

@DV I am pumped to use your mod! I wanted to ask if you knew anything about adding Blank instead of Steiner or if you happen to know how to add his own Trance? I play around a lot with HWS and always loved using Blank (Have a dictionary patch to change him to his pluto knight armor for every battle now) and I always want him in my party, but I could never get trance to work on those guest members.

[WarpedEdge]

Also, are you able to add your source code from HWS by any chance for further modification? (I want to use your mod, but alter skills for Blank). :)

[DV]

Hi! Sorry for the late reply, I'm not too available these days.

For Blank's Trance, I advise you to have a closer look at the Qhimm topic : https://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=14315.0

More precisely this link => https://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=14315.msg264545#msg264545

To replace Blank by Steiner in combat, you have to either modify all the values in the scripts in HW, or do a trick on the .dll... but I'm not too skilled with that, sorry :/

[WarpedEdge]

Thanks for the reply; I figured out how to change the model via dictionarypatch with the help from Tirlititi.
I will look into the trance stuff. Thanks!! It sucks you aren't available much anymore; I saw a lot you have done and thought you would be the best to be the successor to HWS since Tirliti is basically retired from modding heavily at least from before which sucks cuz HWS has so much potential.

[DV]

Ahah! Thank you for your very flattering comment but I am light years ahead of Tirlititi's level. In any case, I won't be able to be the successor of HW as you said because it's way too technical for me ;) I don't have the skills for that at all ^^'

If I can already finish this mod which requires a lot of work and time, that's would be great for me! (and I also made an another mod to correct the sounds in fights, called FFIX Sounds Fix).

Have a nice day !

[WarpedEdge]

Well someone needs to help him xD. Anyways, I saw you working on stuff from the github. Hopefully you have time to finish what you need :)

[ivanfuhr000]

Hi, what prioroty should i give this mod in my mod list. First or last?
Are you still working on this. I think its awesome

[DV]

Originally posted by ivanfuhr000:

Hi, what prioroty should i give this mod in my mod list. First or last?
Are you still working on this. I think its awesome

Hello! Sorry for the late answer.

It's best to put my mod on high priority as there are a lot of modifications.

However, I advise you to wait for the next update, which will contain a lot of new content, modifications and mechanics :) I'm aiming for a CD3 release this summer!

[ivanfuhr000]

Coool. I will wait then :). Thank you