Fixing FFX reverse-gravity power swap

[Urthman]

The way the reverse-gravity power swap works in FFX 2.x (and maybe later, I don't have FFvTR) is (I think) it applies an upwards force to the target then uses stasis to hold them up in the air for a bit before they drop.

But what this means is that, except for the stasis part, the power is mostly indistinguishable from an extreme upwards-knockback attack (like Alchemiss's Lift).  Which is to say it doesn't work at all on heavy targets (it just ends up looking like a plain stasis attack).

To me, a reverse-gravity attack ought to work on the target regardless of how heavy it is, both for "it makes more sense" reasons and for gameplay reasons (it's hardly worth the trouble if it does essentially the same thing as upward's knockback).

Would anyone be willing to try to re-code this?  (I'm hoping for a bit of code I could use in my Secret Defenders mod rather than a change for the next version of FFX).  I can think of a couple ways to do it:

1.  Temporarily change the target's mass before applying the upwards force.
2.  Simply teleport the target to a spot straight up, hit it with stasis, then let it drop.

[stumpy]

The easiest approach would probably just be to make the Trigger_Force() force (which is an impulse) proportional to the object's mass. We did something similar once to slow the rate at which an object falls and this would be even more straightforward. If I get a chance and no one else has already done it, I will take a look at this tonight.

Note that this won't do any good for objects that have their 'minForce' object attriute set to -1.

[Epimethee]

Alternatively, IIRC, you could also spawn an invisible platform (a template with standon=1) exactly above the character: the character then uses FF's "built-in air-elevator" to stand on the spawned object. However, you wouldn't get (not automatically, anyway) the flailing animation playing.

[stumpy]

I can't really test this right now, but I looked up the FFX 2.6 code for reverse gravity and it seems to me that you can probably just replace the code for makegravityreverse() with the following

Code Select Expand

# stumpy 2007-02-15, G. Galilei c.1600, G. Benedetti c.1550: made effect proportional
# to target mass to better simulate "real" reverse gravity
def makegravityreverse(char,source,intensity):
    Trigger_Force(char,0,0,1,200*intensity*Object_GetAttr(char,'mass'),TF_ABSOLUTE)


Obviously, you could mess with the coefficient (the 200) to fine-tune the effect. I also got rid of the stasis at the end. It isn't needed to make the characters fall (at least not in FFvT3R, don't know about FF) and it looks weird.

A caveat is that this does a lot of damage to massive (giant) targets. You can lower this by lowering the coefficient.

[Urthman]

Thanks Stumpy.  I'll give this a try and let you know how it works.

I take it there's no way to just add 30 feet to the target's y co-ordinate?

Obviously, you could mess with the coefficient (the 200) to fine-tune the effect. I also got rid of the stasis at the end. It isn't needed to make the characters fall (at least not in FFvT3R, don't know about FF) and it looks weird.

I think the original idea was that the power reverses gravity on the target for 30 seconds and so the stasis was to hold the target up in the air until the gravity reversal wears off, and the target falls and takes damage.   It doesn't look as weird if you see the stasis squiggles as the whirlwhinds or air currents or magic forces holding the target up in the air.

But I can take the stasis or leave it.  For me, the main thing is to have a way of lifting targets that are so heavy they are immune to normal knockback lifting.

[stumpy]

I take it there's no way to just add 30 feet to the target's y co-ordinate?

(z-coordinate?)

For plopping a character a fixed distance into the air, the method that Épiméthée mentioned is the closest I think you can come in the first game. In the second game, you can generate a positional via scripting wherever you want (like 30' above the target) and then teleport the object to it.

Obviously, you could mess with the coefficient (the 200) to fine-tune the effect. I also got rid of the stasis at the end. It isn't needed to make the characters fall (at least not in FFvT3R, don't know about FF) and it looks weird.

I think the original idea was that the power reverses gravity on the target for 30 seconds and so the stasis was to hold the target up in the air until the gravity reversal wears off, and the target falls and takes damage.   It doesn't look as weird if you see the stasis squiggles as the whirlwhinds or air currents or magic forces holding the target up in the air.

But I can take the stasis or leave it.  For me, the main thing is to have a way of lifting targets that are so heavy they are immune to normal knockback lifting.

Gotcha: zero-gravity. The stasis makes some sense with that in mind. I was thinking in terms of the old AD&D Reverse Gravity effect, where gravity was turned off for a short duration and then flipped back on again. For that, the target ought to be in motion until he hits the ground again.

Anyway, feel free to turn the stasis effect back on, if you prefer it.

The little modification I posted should lift any target, regardless of mass. Probably, there ought to be a check so that it doesn't work on characters with DENSITY CONTROL or characters made of air or even on many fliers.

[Urthman]

Stumpy,

This fix works perfectly.   I tried raptors, Man-Bot, Mechs, Man-Bulls, T-Rex, Giant Timemaster, and Mr Mechanical (after deleting his minforce -1 entry in FFEdit) and every single one gets lifted about the same amount in the air.   Just perfect.  I ended up tweaking the coeficient to 170 and liked that magnitude, although I didn't test carefully enough to know if it was really a significant difference from 200.  It worked and I didn't mess with it anymore.

Thank you very much.   

[jmoser]

Sorry to be an ignoramus, but I'd like to make this adjustment myself.  Which file contains this code?

[Urthman]

It's the main ffx.py file (found in the Data/Missions/Scripts folder).  Back it up before you start fooling with it.

Do a search for

makegravityreverse

[jmoser]

Okay, this thread probably isn't the best place for this issue, but it was after I made the "reverse-gravity" adjustment that this particular problem first appeared.  I started by doing exactly what Stumpy suggested, with the coefficient at 170.  After running a few rumble room battles with Graviton, however, I decided to try putting it back at 200.  Then I ran a rumble room battle (in Skirmish Watch Mode) between Graviton and Hulk.  Graviton hit him with the "reverse-gravity," and Hulk went into the air, and hung there....and hung there...and hung there...with Graviton using his super-tk to hit him with stuff.  Then Graviton used another power on him (increase gravity, I think), and Hulk, who was still suspended in mid-air, simply vanished.

But wait, there's more--I went back and tried another rumble room battle, this time between Graviton and the Fantastic Four, but none of their AI seemed to work anymore.  Nobody would move from their starting places on the map.  I quit, looked at their AI files, and everything seemed okay.  Then I went back into the game and tried another battle, this time between Graviton and Living Lightning.  Same thing.  Here's part of the script.log, in case it's helpful:

[spoiler]=====================================
Code for custom_vil_0_1
-----
energy=js.Object_GetAttr(char,"energyPoints")
target=Target_GetCurrentTarget(char)
range=Target_GetDistance(char)
done=0
reserve=34
if js.Object_GetSecondaryStates(char) & js.SCSTATE_POWER_NULLIFICATION: energy=0
if (not done):
   if (not done):
       done = ff.TUseRemedy(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user)
if not HasRole(char, "active_defense"):
   if (not done) and energy>=33 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.AIGenericActiveDefense(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 80, defense_time = 30, energy = 34, situation = 2, time = 5.63, power = "zzz1", mindist = 0, subtype = 3)
if (not done):
   if (not done):
       done = ff.AIGenericFleeOpt(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, movetype = "fly", pct = 60, energy = 0, time = 0.88, mindist = 200, maxdist = 200) or ff.AIGenericFleeOpt(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, type = "any", energy = 0, maxdist = 200, time = 0.88, mindist = 50, subtype = 1)
if (not done) and range >= 206 and range <= 320:
   if (not done) and energy>=66 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 67, situation = 5, time = 2.4, power = "zzz4", subtype = 6, carrier = 94, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300)
   if (not done) and energy>=33 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.TTK(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, time = 3, pct = 60, mindist = 0, energy = 33, maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 34, situation = 7, time = 2.4, power = "zzz7", subtype = 8, carrier = 83, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 34, situation = 9, time = 3.2, power = "zzz5", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 0, maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, type = "friend", mindist = 0, situation = 10, time = 3.2, carrier = -1, subtype = 11, pct = 60, energy = 34, power = "zzz3", maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 34, situation = 12, time = 2.4, power = "zzz2", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300)
elif (not done) and range >= 106 and range <= 205:
   if (not done) and energy>=66 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 67, situation = 5, time = 2.4, power = "zzz4", subtype = 6, carrier = 94, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300)
   if (not done) and energy>=33 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.TTK(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, time = 3, pct = 60, mindist = 0, energy = 33, maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnSelf(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 40, energy = 34, situation = 4, time = 3.2, power = "zzz6", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 0, maxdist = 120) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 34, situation = 7, time = 2.4, power = "zzz7", subtype = 8, carrier = 83, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 34, situation = 9, time = 3.2, power = "zzz5", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 0, maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, type = "friend", mindist = 0, situation = 10, time = 3.2, carrier = -1, subtype = 11, pct = 60, energy = 34, power = "zzz3", maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 34, situation = 12, time = 2.4, power = "zzz2", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300)
elif (not done) and range >= 61 and range <= 105:
   if (not done) and energy>=66 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 67, situation = 5, time = 2.4, power = "zzz4", subtype = 6, carrier = 94, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300)
   if (not done) and energy>=33 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.TTK(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, time = 3, pct = 60, mindist = 0, energy = 33, maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnSelf(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 40, energy = 34, situation = 4, time = 3.2, power = "zzz6", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 0, maxdist = 120) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 34, situation = 7, time = 2.4, power = "zzz7", subtype = 8, carrier = 83, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 34, situation = 9, time = 3.2, power = "zzz5", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 0, maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, type = "friend", mindist = 0, situation = 10, time = 3.2, carrier = -1, subtype = 11, pct = 60, energy = 34, power = "zzz3", maxdist = 300) or ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, energy = 34, situation = 12, time = 2.4, power = "zzz2", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300)
else: pass
if (not done):
   if (not done):
       done = ff.AIGenericMoveOpt(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 100, energy = 0, maxdist = 400, time = 0.88, mindist = 300, subtype = 13)

=====================================
AI: custom_vil_0_1 no tactic chosen this cycle.
####################### TIME: 0.582745 for ai for graviton
=====================================
Code for custom_vil_1_2
-----
energy=js.Object_GetAttr(char,"energyPoints")
target=Target_GetCurrentTarget(char)
range=Target_GetDistance(char)
done=0
reserve=34
if js.Object_GetSecondaryStates(char) & js.SCSTATE_POWER_NULLIFICATION: energy=0
if (not done):
   if (not done):
       done = ff.TUseRemedy(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user)
if not HasRole(char, "active_defense"):
   if (not done) and energy>=33 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.AIGenericActiveDefense(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 80, defense_time = 20, energy = 34, situation = 15, time = 3.2, power = "zzz9", mindist = 0, subtype = 16)
if (not done):
   if (not done):
       done = ff.AIGenericFleeOpt(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, movetype = "fly", pct = 60, energy = 0, time = 0.88, mindist = 200, maxdist = 200) or ff.AIGenericFleeOpt(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 60, type = "any", energy = 0, maxdist = 200, time = 0.88, mindist = 50, subtype = 14)
if (not done) and range >= 206 and range <= 320:
   if (not done) and energy>=33 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 100, energy = 34, situation = 17, time = 3.2, power = "zzz8", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300)
elif (not done) and range >= 106 and range <= 205:
   if (not done) and energy>=33 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 100, energy = 34, situation = 17, time = 3.2, power = "zzz8", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300)
elif (not done) and range >= 61 and range <= 105:
   if (not done) and energy>=33 and energy>=reserve:
       done = ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 100, energy = 34, situation = 17, time = 3.2, power = "zzz8", subtype = None, carrier = -1, mindist = 50, maxdist = 300)
elif (not done) and range <= 60:
   if (not done):
       done = ff.AIGenericPowerOnTarget(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 80, energy = 0, time = 1.52, power = "zzz11", subtype = 18, carrier = -1, mindist = 0, maxdist = 60)
else: pass
if (not done):
   if (not done):
       done = ff.AIGenericMoveOpt(tactic_id,event.object,event.string,event.float,event.user, pct = 100, energy = 0, maxdist = 400, time = 0.88, mindist = 300, subtype = 19)

=====================================
AI: custom_vil_1_2 no tactic chosen this cycle.
####################### TIME: 0.122552 for ai for living lightning
Plugin 'firehydrant' OnPostInit() called
Traceback (innermost last):
  File "C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\.\ffx3\missions\scripts\ffx.py", line 21096, in OnPseudoOnPostInitGo
    exec OnPostInit
  File "<string>", line 1, in ?
  File "C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\ffx3\missions\scripts\ffxplugins\active\ffq_zombie\zombie.py", line 65, in OnPostInit
    for char in ffx.getAllCharacters(): #register existing characters
  File "C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\.\ffx3\missions\scripts\ffx.py", line 19886, in getAllCharacters
    specialChar = isSpecialChar(object)
  File "C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\.\ffx3\missions\scripts\ffx.py", line 19831, in isSpecialChar
    return FFX_GetTemplate(obj) in ('ffx_tiggot', 'ffx_tiggot1', '------------', '---Buddies---',) #please update as needed
  File "C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\.\ffx3\missions\scripts\ffx.py", line 945, in FFX_GetTemplate
    return chardata.GetCharacterData(char).get('charName')
  File "C:\Program Files\Irrational Games\Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich\.\ffx3\missions\scripts\chardata.py", line 316, in GetCharacterData
    _CharData[complex] = Campaign_ReadCharacterData()[hname]
KeyError: mm_dupe
Plugin 'freeroam_keepbuildingdamage' OnPostInit() called
Plugin 'm25ai_lowjumper' has no OnPostInit()
Plugin 'm25ai_realitymanipulation' has no OnPostInit()
Plugin 'm25enc_simplechoice' has no OnPostInit()
AI: custom_vil_0_1 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001749 for ai for graviton
TIME: 0.004661 for AI_UpdateMapInfoStatic
AI: custom_vil_1_2 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001696 for ai for living lightning
AI: custom_vil_0_1 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001875 for ai for graviton
AI: custom_vil_1_2 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001932 for ai for living lightning
TIME: 0.004323 for AI_UpdateMapInfoStatic
AI: custom_vil_0_1 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001875 for ai for graviton
AI: custom_vil_1_2 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001891 for ai for living lightning
AI: custom_vil_1_2 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001789 for ai for living lightning
TIME: 0.004188 for AI_UpdateMapInfoStatic
AI: custom_vil_0_1 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001855 for ai for graviton
AI: custom_vil_1_2 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001951 for ai for living lightning
AI: custom_vil_0_1 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001898 for ai for graviton
AI: custom_vil_1_2 no tactic chosen this cycle.
TIME: 0.001931 for ai for living lightning
[/spoiler]