FFXEdit2 won't show powers

[queo_Lita]

Hi, uhmmm ... I'm not really sure if this falls under technical issues, could have been hero files or general since I don't believe there is anything that's initially gone wrong.
OKay. So I installed the FFX 3.2 and then used FFEdit to change the characters. I wanted to play the campaign with characters I've made. So I changed the templates, powers, attributes, etc. BUT when I go to FFXEdit2 and click, let's say the_ant it won't show the powers I've assigned to him. I noticed that if the character hasn't been modified it'll display the powers.
Anyway I went ahead and did everything as I wanted (keeping with the_ant) - changed his speed decrease (also have tried with hex and gravity maximization) to magnetize. In the rumble room all works OK, but in campaign those attacks won't work and characters would use the original attack. Is there a way to fix this?
Short: Wanna give the campaign characters entirely new powers, but since they won't display in FFXEdit2 they wouldn't work.
Anyone knows a fix it to this?

[stumpy]

Well, you are talking about built-in characters and not customs, so it seems like the first thing to check is that the FFX Control Centre is set for the right mod. In other words, if you used FFEdit to change The Ant's powers for the FFX3 mod, then you have to make sure that's the mod the CC was set for. If you created another mod (like MyFFX3 or something), then it has to be set for that one.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Also don't forget for built ins to run the power id generator.

[queo_Lita]

Oh! Power ID generator? I'll look in to that.
I do edit the FFX3 mod though. Cause the data folder is set to FFX3 and in rumble room the powers work just fine. The campaign though...
Thanks catwhowalksbyhimself, I'll see what I can do.
EDIT:
So, I created the powerIDs, but they were created in the scripts folder. I don't know if that is the place it should be, so I made a capy of both powerIDs files (.py, .pyc) in the original FFX3 folder. It still doesn't work. Could someone describe the process of creating entirely new power for a built-in? I must be missing something little.

[stumpy]

We are still talking about power state swaps ("character state customizations"), right?

The power ID data for a mod's built-ins go in that mod's missions/scripts folder. If that's where you found it, that's the right spot. I would not keep around other files with the same name elsewhere in the mods directory tree, in case the game ends up grabbing outdated info from them and you are stuck trying puzzle that one out. (It's happened to me in the past...  :banghead:)

But, now I am a little lost on what exactly the symptoms of your problem are. At first, I got the impression that the built-in characters' powers were not showing up when you ran the FFX CC and tried to set the state swaps. Now you are saying that the powers work fine in the Rumble Room, making me wonder how you set the swaps if the powers never showed up in the CC? I think something in you first post may be throwing people off the scent of the real problem. You probably might want to clarify how you are setting the power swaps and what you were trying before where you couldn't see the powers.

Anyway, here are a couple stabs in the dark, some of which may not apply depending on how the above clarification pans out.

• 1) Make sure the power names are legit. I don't recall the exact characters that may cause trouble, but I stick to letters, numbers, space, and underscore.


• 2) Remember that most swaps are only supposed to work properly with certain attack types (melee, beam, projectile, and cone).


• 3) I have had a couple of times when my built-in power IDs weren't written properly and I have no idea why. I think it may have to do with modifying any powers in FFEdit while the game is open.  If you look at the power ID info for a given built-in power and the last entry is zero instead of some fairly longish float, then you may be having the same problem. I think the procedure that typically works for me is:
  
  
  
  • Make any new powers and modifications in FFEdit then save.
  • If you've created any new built-in or custom characters since the last time you opened the FFX CC, then open it again to brand the new guys.
  • Open the game and run the power ID generator.
  Actually, it seems like once or twice that last step didn't seem to take as long as usual. There were no errors in the log files, but my power IDs still were largely zeroes. So, I ran it again, and it took a while longer, and everything was okay. Go figure.

I have a suspicion that that third item may be at play here, since the code for power swaps is forced handle built-in differently between campaigns and RR missions. (For other coders reading, this has come up before and is another example of IG's "custom_template_#' pseudo-templates biting us in the butt.)

Anyway, maybe some of that will help out. If not, then clarify the earlier question and post your script.log and ffxpowerids.py file from after you've run the ID generator. Also mention some of the names of the powers you were trying to customize that weren't working.

[queo_Lita]

Thank you, stumpy. OK, deep breath. Clarification.
The problem: FFX CC won't show built-in characters powers in the swap section. At first when I just assigned the powers and did swaps of states without selecting power (like for a custom character) it worked in the rumble room. When I created Power IDs they no longer work in there too.
I checked the file powerIDs.py and all powers were created (with pretty long numbers).
When I named the powers (and I think this is where I messed up) I didn't want to go into strings, so I just named them as I wanted them to appear. Examples: Distortion, Quick Burst, Cold Art, End Of Times, Shadows Upon the Wicked, etc. BTW this is how they are spelled in the editor with the caps. And I know FF makes difference between the cap and low cases. Plus I didn't put "the ant", "tombstone", "alchemiss" or anything before that which I believe could also be a problem since I noticed the powers created for them in FFX have that prefix.
Soooo ... I believe this is where I messed up. I'll fix the names and see if that works.
Just this liiiiiittle thing  :doh:
Well, thanks a lot Stumpy and CatWhoWalksByHimself. Awesome mod (as I believe you two have something to do with it).
EDIT: I just created a power called 'the ant Object Hex' and without even making Power IDs it's showing it in FFX CC. Yeah, that was it. Nice job, Dian, saving yourself a couple of string lines is gonna have you redo everything.
EDIT 2: After playing around with it I found out that even if the character prefix is not there, but the power starts with a lower case cap it would work fine. Soooo ... I guess it's hard to code with FF since it makes such a distinguish difference between lower and upper caps (:\

[stumpy]

That's interesting. I didn't know powers starting with uppercase characters caused trouble in the CC. I was thinking there still might be some miscommunication between the mod FFX CC was looking at and the mod set in FFEdit where you modified things in the Characters, Templates, and Powers tabs. I know for sure that the first part of a power's name doesn't have to match the name of the character's template for it to show up in the CC.

We'll have to check into that at some point...

BTW, you might still be looking to modify the strings entries anyway, since you may not want your new character to be called 'The Ant' in game, even if you left that as his template name so that he would show up in the missions where The Ant is supposed to.

[queo_Lita]

Yeah, I did modify the strings before and actually went to adding descriptions to the powers I was making, but gave up as I wanted to play. Although I did change the character's descriptions too, which I have to say didn't really need as I don't read them (I'm talking about the long ones, the ones shown in the target tab I felt necessary to change  :rolleyes: ).
I never did bother making the powers start with the hero's name. They were simply Distortion, Shadows Upon The Wicked, Cold Art, Spine Arrow, etc. Now I only added simple "a " in front and they work. Didn't give them new power ID too and they work just fine (I might get disappointed with that decision later, but wanted to play the game, as I've been going through the Red October-Nuclear Winter levels like 4 times now. I'd rather not use Mission_Win() or give my characters fake CP since I like the experience of playing).
Well, we'll see. Thanks though.
EDIT: Oooooh! I forgot. Only the first character needs to be lowercase. "cHARM Kiss", "charm Kiss" and "CHARM KISS" would work fine, while "Charm Kiss", "Charm kiss" and "Charmkiss" would not.
Have fun! :P

[stumpy]

Glad it's working for you now, but I must say that the CC would care about the case of the first letter still strikes me as odd. I know it still shows such powers in the power list for the character. I wonder why it doesn't like them for swaps?

But, I just did a quick check, and it looks like I've never had a character with an upper-case-first-letter power. I just created one and saw the same thing you did.  :?:

[queo_Lita]

Well, FFX CC is created on some base that is close to FF, right (this is only my guess)? When you make a power with upper case in FFEdit you'll notice it's being put on top of all others as if upper cases come before lower cases and since (my guess again) FF is very sensitive towards upper and lower cases, AND FFX CC is close to FF, they don't like upper cases. Or it's something like a natural flaw in the FF base itself.
Who knows? I guess the people who work with FFX would figure it out. I don't think it should really matter.  :rolleyes:
Although, when you make it an uppercase power and it goes to the top (in FFEdit) it's easier to find later if it needs modifications.
Oh, but that's only in power tab (upper cases sorted before lower). In character when you choose power to add to tiers they're all sorted right. Upper case "D" would not be before lower case "a".
Can't believe it hasn't happened to anyone. I feel sorta happy to have discovered it (or most likely, complain about it).  :D

[stumpy]

The FFX Control Centre was written independently of Irrational's work on FFEdit and the games themselves. It was developed by DrMike2000, who is a long-time member here and the originator of FFX for both games and also creator of several mods for both the first and second games, though he no longer actively mods or develops for FFX.

Anyway, the CC is a C++ project, as I recall (which may also be true of FFEdit, though I have never checked that), so the difference in sorting could be as simple as calling for a case-sensitive sort in in part of the code and a case-insensitive sort elsewhere. But, even if things were sorted oddly, it is odd the the power wouldn't show up at all.

I know there was talk in the FFX 3+ development group (of which several active members here are part) of rewriting the CC from scratch in python to address a few issues that he come up as FFX has evolved. This is something that probably needs to be added to that list. The rewrite is a fairly serious undertaking, though, so I don't know if will be happening anytime soon. Thankfully, the workaround for this issue is easy.