Final Fantasy VII: New Threat Mod v1.

3 - README
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
7.

WELCOME TO FF7 NEW THREAT

INSTALLATION
CHARACTERS & GAME BALANCE
NEW CONTENT & REVISIONS
BUGS & KNOWN ISSUES
CREDITS & CLOSING

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1. WELCOME TO FF7 NEW THREAT

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey there, and welcome to New Threat! I don't like the name, but it appears to h
ave stuck so I just
call it NT for short. What started as a basic palette swap for the game's bosses
has slowly grown into
a full-scale revision and content mod, focused on enhancing & expanding gameplay
. The original game
had more than it's fair share of problems, chief among them being a very easy ar
c of difficulty that
can quickly render the game trivial for most players, experienced or not. One of
the main objectives
for the NT Mod became tackling this problem, and creating a much more challengin
g and satisfying
gameplay experience that could be considered fair and interesting.
The NT Mod for FFVII was created using a full array of tools, editing the weapon
s, armor, items, Materia,
spells, character stats, enemies, events, and models used by the game. Most of t
he tools were developed
by the hard-working folks on Qhimm, and without which this mod would not have be
en possible for me to
put together. I also owe the FF7 Hardcore mod (made by Gjoerulv) and the FF7 cha
llenge-run community for
getting me to think about the game in new ways and better prepare me for the the
tough job of balancing
the game and creating new content that was challenging but in line with the diff
iculty arc.
In addition to the tools, the mod was shaped and changed over time by invaluable
player feedback which
has helped to further refine the game. Random battles are designed to be quick a
nd fun, with boss fights
providing unique challenges that test a player's knowledge of the game's mechani
cs in ways that the
vanilla game isn't able to. It's been great fun exploring the game's AI and brin

ging unused elements

to the fore that can surprise even the most battle-hardened FF7 veterans.
As far as the game's story goes, there is one feature in NT that needs to be exp
lained and that's the
decision to retain Aeris in the player's party post-Disc 1. While this wasn't do
ne for story reasons,
it does have an undeniable impact on the game's storyline which threatened to de
rail the mod's scope
as a purely gameplay-orientated mod. I spent a great deal of time, however, fine
-tuning the dialogue
in order to keep the impact of this to an absolute minimum. The final result was
that only one scene
required any kind of serious revision, and I took great care and consideration i
n pitching this one scene
so that it a) fit naturally with the localised dialogue, and b) performed it's i
ntended role in the story.
There are also plans in the future to make this part of the mod optional.
As mentioned above, feedback is what shapes this mod and helps NT to develop and
grow into something
bigger and better than I could ever hope to make it alone. If you have any ideas
, feedback, or bug
reports regarding the mod and any of it's features then don't hesitate to get in
touch either through
Qhimm, Insane Difficulty, or through the associated Youtube channel.
Oh, and one last thing:
NO REFUNDS
-Sega Chief, 2015
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2. INSTALLATION

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The New Threat Mod has two installation methods, with some work-arounds for gett
ing it installed to
currently unsupported platforms such as Bootleg. The two 'normal' installation m
ethods include the
mod's 'Main Installer' which simply patches a default copy of FF7 (either the 19
98 version or the
newer releases such as 2012 or Steam) with the NT Mod and the '7th Heaven .IRO'
which is used with
the 7H Mod Loader tool developed by Iros and maintained by EQ2Alyza (god bless '
er).
[Main Installer]
To install the patch, just follow these easy instructions:

First, make sure that you have a regular copy of FF7 installed to your P
C. Preferably one that
hasn't been altered using a program such as Bootleg or similar.
Before patching, go into your FF7 folder and make a back-up copy of the
'data' folder. This
contains all the files that will be patched by the Main Installer. By ke
eping this back-up,
you can swap back to the default version of the game at any time without
having to reinstall.
Run the Installer and direct it to the 'data' folder in the FF7 folder.
This applies to either
version of FF7, despite the slight differences in architecture. Make sur
e that the installer has
the appropriate writing permissions and isn't blocked by your anti-virus
. If you find that the
Installer is unable to alter the data folder due to security, try moving
the 'data' folder to
the Desktop and then patching it there before moving it back into the FF
7 folder.
[7H Installer]
This is a bit more complicated, but much more compatible with other mods:
This is best followed from the relevant Qhimm Forum found here:
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15520.0
Installation of 7H can be complex and plenty of things can go wrong so i
t's best to follow the
advice given here as closely as possible and to ask questions if you're
unsure or run into
trouble with it.
The general procedure for a 7H installation is to clear away any and all
files pertaining to
FF7 from your computer and clean the registry. Then, install the default
FF7 Steam version
and convert it using the 7H Game Converter (GC). This will set the game'
s file architecture
to support the 7H Mod Loader which can be run instead of the usual Launc
her program.
With this done, a 'catalogue' of mods can be loaded which the player the
n picks from to apply
to their game, with the NT Mod being one of the included options. The be
nefits this installation
has is making the mod much more easily compatible with graphical mods th
at change battle models,
field screens, etc.
[Verification]
To check that you've patched it properly:
If you want to make sure that the patch was applied properly, either sta
rt a new game or load
any save file. If the Bronze Bangle armor has three slots instead of non
e, then the mod has been
successfully applied. If you've loaded a save file which doesn't have a
Bronze Bangle in the

inventory then damn son, just start a new game and check it that way.
One last thing to note is that it's highly recommended to start a new game if pl
aying New Threat for
the first time, rather than loading a save file made without the mod installed (
to skip the opening
intro, for instance). This is to avoid missing out on certain early Materia such
as Barrier, Time,
Revive, etc. that come equipped on characters like Tifa, Aeris, and Red XIII whe
n they join.
Save files made on older versions of NT are fully compatible however.
Oh, and one last thing:
VISIT THE BEGINNER'S HALL IN SECTOR 7 FOR PRO-TIPS
No, seriously.
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3. CHARACTERS & GAME BALANCE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Whether you've played FF7 for a long time or just once or twice years ago, you'l
l know that the game
is not the most challenging RPG out there. The game can be cleared with nothing
more complex than a
Cure spell or two with physical attacks & Limits. In fact, you can beat the game
with lv.1 characters
under a whole variety of restrictions; there's hundreds of exploits, imbalances,
and altogether useless
battle elements in this game that never get a chance to shine. The game was rush
ed to the finish line
as well, which has resulted in a whole number of glitches, AI oversights, and ot
her problems. Wading
into that mess to craft something resembling a difficulty arc with proper shape,
challenge, and variety
has not proved easy and previous NT versions have all failed in some way to achi
eve this to the standard
that I want for it.
The fundamental problem with balancing FF7 is that a see-saw occurs with it's ph
ysical attack formula.
As Level is called twice, this results in physical attacks suddenly spiking up o
nce your party has
reached a certain level threshold, quickly leaving magical attacks with their lo
nger animations and
MP costs completely in the dust. There's also the issue with characters being ve
ry generic in their
stats, with only weapons and Limits really separating them from each other. Fina
lly, Materia can be

equipped in very powerful combos with some being as simple as five Counter-Attac
ks + Cover.
So there was several 'fronts' to tackle in bringing a curve, or arc, of challeng
e to the game that felt
satisfying to play. The first of these fronts was bringing some identity to each
character through
their stats and complimenting these with stat boosts and special effects for the
ir weapons.
Here's a summary of each character and the decisions made when speccing them:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CLOUD
--------------A powerhouse in the vanilla game, Cloud enjoyed some great stats, strong Limits,
and the best STR stat.
While this was understandable due to him being mandatory for most of the game an
d his backstory as an
(albeit 'failed') SOLDIER experiment, we've reined this in a bit and toned down
his stats so that he
better fits the all-rounder archetype and can be used for a variety of different
roles. With Cloud being
in the party 90% of the time, it's important not to make him lean too heavily to
ward certain roles.
One of the ways in which characters are given greater identity is through their
weaponry, which only they
can equip. By giving these weapons different stat boosts and other unique effect
s, characters can be 'built'
by the player to better fulfil different roles or tasks in battles. Cloud's weap
ons cover a wide range of
different stat boosts to help him fit into many different roles from caster to t
ank. He has solid stats in
NT, with his vanilla 'weakness' in DEX being made a little more pronounced.
His Limits are still very powerful, with Paralysis coming from Cross Slash and h
is later Limits like
Meteorain and Climhazzard tearing up the joint with their high base-power. In Ar
range, they're given a
slight tweak so that Braver can remain viable against Cross Slash and the remova
l of critical hits from
Meteorain and Omnislash.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BARRET
--------------The original powerhouse with the highest HP and VIT
s, this remains true in
NT with Barret being specced to suit a tanking role
e for the other characters
from the (relative) safety of the Back Row. His SPR
d and he no longer has the
worst SPR stat in the game. To compensate, his MAG,

of all the vanilla character

in soaking up physical damag
has also been greatly booste
MP, and DEX are very lacking

and his STR has fallen

slightly to compensate for his long range weaponry which is more valuable than e
ver with the removal of
Long Range Materia.
Barret's weapons come in two flavours; his long-range weaponry carries no statis
tical benefit but are
quite accurate and will deal full damage from the back-row, which allows Barret
to act as a striker or
to compliment a dedicated striker while being safe from physical attacks himself
. His short-range
weapons, however, provide a hefty VIT/SPR bonus that can greatly boost his survi
vability and make him
a reliable backbone for the party. His poor MP and DEX hinders his Support capab
ility but he makes for
a great safety net against powerful attacks that would otherwise sweep your part
y.
Limits are quite attack-orientated, with Hammerblow and Mindblow adding a little
variety. In Arrange,
Mindblow has dropped the Gravity element but no longer fully cripples enemy MP w
hich allows it to be
used against more opponents while Hammerblow now acts similar to Finishing Touch
and inflicts damage
if the target isn't Insta-KO'd.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TIFA
--------------Outside of a speedrun or challenge run making specific use of her Powersoul, Tif
a was considered to be
ultimately garbage when compared to the other characters. A shoddy all-rounder w
ith roulette limits
that used random targeting, some drastic work was needed to make her properly vi
able again. In NT,
she's been given an overhaul and now sports one of the highest STR stats in the
roster, with great
DEX to keep the hits flying thick and fast. Her main weakness however is her VIT
which leaves her
vulnerable to heavy damage on the front line without some kind of counter-measur
e in place.
Tifa's weapons vary between boosting her high DEX and her poor VIT stat for bett
er survivability on
the front line, with plenty of specials such as the Kaiser Knuckle for instant K
O, God's Hand for 255%
accuracy, and of course the Powersoul. Her Motor Drive can also be used to signi
ficantly amp her DEX and,
if set up correctly, will leave most bosses in the dust or allow her to act as a
fast-response Support caster.
Limits are Tifa's weakness again, as they will select random targets and can Mis
s altogether if you're
out of practice with the reels. The STR boost has helped these considerably howe
ver, and a significantly
shorter 'charge' for her Limit gauge can turn the reels into a great source of d
amage if you can land

'Yeah' consistently. In Arrange, these attacks have been given various effects s
uch as Slow along with
a slight damage boost.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AERIS
--------------Sporting the highest MAG, MP, and SPR stats of the
r strongest stats in
NT with a respectable DEX stat to help her keep up
d their naturally
faster attacks. As you'd expect from a traditional
able to physical
damage and has an abysmal STR stat which makes her
bat.

vanilla game, these remain he

with the physical strikers an
caster, Aeris is quite vulner
unsuitable for front-line com

With the exception of her new starting weapon, the Full Metal Staff, Aeris' weap
ons alternate between
boosting either her MAG stat for better nuking or the DEX & SPR stats for faster
, safer casting.
She also has a weapon that can steal MP from the enemy, making her useful in are
as where MP consumption
can be high or in longer boss battles, while her Ultimate is a pure support weap
on that boosts her MAG
stat heavily while providing HP + Shield on strike.
In terms of Limits, Aeris is exclusively support with no damage-dealing Limits.
They are, however, some
of the most powerful in the game with Seal Evil providing a free 255% accuracy S
top and Fury Brand filling
the Limit gauges of the other characters for some quick offence. She can also gi
ve the Peerless status
(invincibility) and fully restore the party's HP and MP. For this reason, the ch
arge times on her Limits
are now much longer and in Arrange Peerless has been made exclusive to her Lv.4
Limit Great Gospel, with
Planet Protecter providing buffs such as Wall & Shield instead.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RED XIII
--------------Another all-rounder like Tifa in vanilla, Red XIII was nevertheless a solid choi
ce for the early game
thanks to his Lunatic High Limit and decent stats overall. His later Limits, how
ever, are quite bad and
fall short of the other party members. With this in mind, Red was specced as a S
upport character with
great HP, MP, and DEX along with a solid MAG and STR stat to help him keep an of
fensive edge. Though
not as tough as Cloud, he can fit into multiple roles such as Striker and Caster
with his higher DEX
allowing him to get more of an edge over the enemy.
Like with Cloud, Red's weapons can boost each of his stats, but he has a few tha

t inflict statuses and

sports both a rare Long-Range weapon in the Hairpin and a 8-Linked Slots weapon
in the Centclip which
is great for Support roles. His dire late-level Limits were also taken into acco
unt and have very short
charge times as a result, with his Ultimate weapon being given the Premium Heart
formula to make better
use of that Lv.4 Limit by...not using it.
Red's Limits were heavily revised in Arrange, with some much more potent effects
on his 'useless' ones
such as Howling Moon gaining Wall + Lucky Girl (Autocrits). His Cosmo Memory was
overhauled into a
Support Limit though, and instead gives the party a myriad of buffs and other be
nefits rather than
single-hit damage that falls short of the other Lv.4 Limits that have the advant
age of hitting multiple
times.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------YUFFIE
--------------When she wasn't busy warping people to god knows where in vanilla, Yuffie was bu
sy being one of the most
awfully specced characters in the game. With LCK being her only 'good' stat, and
DEX coming 2nd to Red XIII,
she was a glass cannon without the cannon. For NT, she's been adapted to fit tha
t role much better and
her abysmal defensive stats are off-set by her incredible DEX and high STR & MAG
that let her nuke quickly
as either a long-range striker or a caster.
Her weapons focus on either fortifying her DEX stat, or boosting her MAG stat. B
y focusing on DEX and using
spells like Haste and Slow, Yuffie can easily get multiple turns before the enem
y which can be great for
quickly racking up damage or for providing support & healing. Other weapons she
has carry natural elements
and status ailments to compliment a striking role, such as the Wind Slash which
is very effective against
airborne enemies.
Yuffie's Limits are a bit touch and go. Clear Tranquil is a great combination wi
th Greased Lightning
for offence and defence, while Bloodfest and Doom of the Living are decent, if u
nderpowered, multi-hit
limits but All Creation is a single-target Lv.4 that suffers the same problem as
Cosmo Memory when
compared against olther Lv.4 limits; it only hits once. Short charge times for t
he Lv.4 help it compete
slightly, but in Arrange this Limit hits hard with a myriad of nasty status ailm
ents that can debilitate
almost anything.
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CAIT SITH
--------------Recipient of a less than flattering nickname, Cait Sith throws a strange curveba
ll in Vanilla with his
poor VIT and bad MP which doesn't compliment his MAG stat at all. His Limits are
unique in that a
speedrun category is built around them, but that's not going to fly in a regular
run so some major tweaking
was in order. First of all, Cait Sith has a great Lck stat that develops like a
normal stat, easily leaving
him with close to 90 LCK which can be built into a 'Lucky Tank' with the right e
quipment. He also has
decent VIT and SPR to better fit him into a Tank role, but suffers from atrociou
s DEX and bad STR & MAG.
He's a pure tank, with some Support in him.
Luck is the theme for Cait's equipment, with his weapons providing either a heft
y VIT/SPR boost or a
big dose of LCK to compliment his natural stat. He also has access to an early 8
-slot weapon in the
Silver M-Phone for setting him up as a Materia Tank (his traditional role), and
for providing some
Support through his Black & White M-Phones which grant handy buffs when used on
party members.
Cait's Limits were expanded slightly for NT. On Lv.1, he now has Transform which
is an interesting Slots
outcome that combines your party members into Cait to make him into a super-powe
red giant. His Dice Limit
also still ignores Defence, which can be very potent while Slots remains the cur
e-all it's always
been...provided you know how to 'encourage' certain results.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------VINCENT
--------------The vanilla gunslinger was a replacement of sorts for Aeris as a caster, sportin
g a decent MAG stat and
MP for when she kicked the bucket. He was quite fragile though, and his Limits a
re arguably the worst
in the game as they rob you of any control over him and are quite one-dimensiona
l. For NT, Vince is made
much tankier in VIT and retains his high MAG and MP to make him a 'tanky' caster
with the drawback of
having one of the lowest DEX stats. His SPR and HP are also still quite low, so
he's vulnerable to being
nuked by magical damage.
Vincent's weapons are all Long Ranged, with his guns either boosting his MAG sta
t or providing a unique
effect such as the slash-all effect on the Shotgun, the 255% accuracy on the Sni
per CR, or the Inflict
Slow on his Lariat. His Buntline also has linked 2x growth slots which can be us
eful for growing Materia
while still being able to retain basic Materia combos.

Limit Breaks are quite unique for Vincent, transforming into one of four monster
s that can attack either
physically or with an elemental attack. Unfortunately, these can be quite situat
ional and his Lv.4 Limit
is arguably the worst of the lot. In Arrange, these attacks are boosted slightly
with Hellmasker's
Nightmare inflicting Poison-elemental damage and Chaos gaining many powerful eff
ects such as
Ignore Defence.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------CID
--------------The foul-mouthed brawler was often the main pick for parties back in the day, bu
t he was actually
quite behind in terms of stats with only his HP and VIT coming anywhere close to
being on par with
the other characters. In NT, he's been set up as a powerful physical striker wit
h LCK rather than
DEX being his edge over the others. Though quite slow and vulnerable to magical
damage, Cid is quite
tough with HP and VIT, being able to stand on the front line with a greater degr
ee of tankability than
the other physical strikers.
Cid's weapons focus on boosting his VIT for better survivability, or his LCK for
a better flow of
critical hits and Luck-based evasion. He also carries some varied effects on som
e weapons, such
as Water/Lightning elemental on the Trident which is effective against machine e
nemies or the Grow Lance
which is Long Range.
Cid's Limits are excellent damage-dealers, with his Lv.4 being only marginally o
ut-done by Omnislash
in terms of raw power. In Arrange, these Limits have been fine-tuned to bring hi
s weaker ones like
Dragon more into it while taking some of the bite out of Highwind and Big Brawl.
One very important
thing to note is that Hyper Jump's animation can cause infrequent crashing on th
e PC version (particularly
with graphical mods installed that increase the workload for the game), so be ve
ry wary before using it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------With the character roles and potential builds for them more clearly defined, it
was time to tackle the
game's broken balance and start crafting a difficulty curve that was both fun an
d challenging.
There are two main damage formulas in this game; Physical and Magical. The Physi
cal formula starts off
weaker than the Magical one, but see-saws to being the much stronger formula as
the player's levels rise.
By contrast, Magic is the opposite with plenty of power early on but ends up req

uiring higher and higher

base power in order to keep up with Physical attacks. Balancing these against ea
ch other is very difficult,
as different play-styles can result in a level difference of 10-20 (which is hug
e for Physical attacks
going past Lv.40). One key thing to keep in mind is that Physical attacks are mu
ch faster than Magical
ones and don't require MP, so if they are too close to Magical damage then they'
ll render Magic obsolete
and we'll be back to square one. So my solution was to impose a Level cap of 70,
with early-game spells
having a slight increase to MP cost while later spells have higher base power to
keep them ahead of
Physical hits. I also fine-tuned enemy Vitality and Spirit to promote both damag
e types.
Money is an issue that has been tackled several times during major updates to th
e mod. In it's first
iteration, the mod was given the rather unflattering nickname of the 'poverty mo
d' by FF7 speedrunner
XeroKynos (who the hell buys 99 grenades ._.) and this still held true to an ext
ent in v1.2. For the
latest version, I've taken some steps to tackle the expenses that are thrown at
the player, such as
the Gold Saucer tickets and the Choco Lure Materia. Party members also join the
party with expensive
Materia already equipped, which should help with costs later. In general, enemie
s drop more Gil and
a Gil Plus Materia is available early on. Even with all that, don't expect to be
able to buy every single
weapon and piece of equipment you see in stores without a little grinding; a bet
ter approach is to
carefully manage your money, only buying weapons for characters you plan to use
in a particular segment
as it won't be long before a potentially stronger weapon is available for them.
With the game's 'economy' in mind, I overhauled the game's drops, steals, and Mo
rphs available from
each enemy. As of 1.3, a lot of the frustration associated with failed Steals ha
s been pretty much
removed with the player being guaranteed to Steal one of two 'common' items from
each enemy, and a
small chance at getting a super-rare item that can greatly impact the way a play
er advances through
the game. A decent reward was selected for each enemy's Morph, to take into acco
unt the difficulties
with Morphing early on in the game. There's also an Uncommon drop ensuring playe
rs who don't use Steal
or Morph will still be getting a steady flow of items to make use of. There are
also no 'missable' items,
and anything that can acquired early on can be found again later in the game.
The final and most important part of the mod's restructuring is the enemies them
selves. There's no sense
in having an awesome team if you don't have tangible threats to pitch them again
st. Every single enemy
in the game was retrofitted with enhanced AI, fine-tuned stats, and new attacks
to make use of. I spent
many hours meticulosly adjusting each enemy and formation to present the correct
level of challenge and

to last no longer than 1-2 minutes in order to prevent player fatigue. By contra
st, Boss battles are
specced against teams making full use of protective magic and are aimed toward t
he 8-12 minute mark in
most cases for a prepared party. To assist in preparation, consistent elemental
weaknesses have been
enforced with plenty of status ailments to make use of in order to make fights m
ore intuitive and
strategic, rewarding set-ups that are responsive to the local flora and fauna.
But as far as strategy and set-ups go, there's hundreds of effective strategies
that have emerged from
players gunning through the mod so far. There's no 'correct' way to play, and th
e NT Mod was never
billed as being a 'Hard-type' mod. It was designed to present a fun and reasonab
le challenge to both
experienced players and newcomers alike, which judging from feedback it has succ
eeded in doing. I'm very
proud that the mod was able to strike this balance and I've made efforts to incl
ude as many unique and
unusual elements within reason to promote unusual strategies and set-ups. And a
big thanks to people
who took the time to report their strategies and what they found worked, and wha
t didn't.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. NEW CONTENT & REVISIONS

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------New Enemies
o keep players on their

The NT Mod features a myriad of new encounters t

toes. These can take the form of random encounte

rs, or newly scripted

events that trigger a boss fight. There is well
over 100 new enemies,
each with their own model, attacks, and AI. You'
ll also encounter some
'friendly' enemies from time to time who will he
lp you during battle.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Revised Materia
, with the more powerful

Most Materia has been moved around in the NT Mod

ones being found on Disc 3. In addition to this,

the AP required to
unlock spells has been adjusted to help pace out
magic appropriately.

In Arrange, Materia Equip Effects were altered t

o make them much more
double-edged and an important thing to consider
when making Materia
combos. This was lacking in the original game, w
here the equip effects
of Materia were mostly inconsequential.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Level Cap
remendously from higher

Due to the way in which Physical attacks scale t

levels, the NT Mod has imposed a 'soft' Level Ca

p of Lv.70. Most enemies

have AI that track your party's level and will g
ive 0 EXP if any characters
are over Lv.70. This can be worked around to an
extent using passive party
EXP, and certain bosses will give EXP regardless
of the player's level.
There are plans to raise the Level Cap back to 9
9 for the New Game+
add-on, as a new Kernel with re-specced spells c
an be used at that time
to keep Magic competitive.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Revised Spells
overhaul, with some revisions

The spells used by the player have undergone an

being minor and others a little more extreme. Ba

sic elemental spells have

slightly higher base power, with a higher MP cos
t to match and Summons have
been set-up to be effective but costly nukes tha
t will continue to be useful
for a large portion of the game. Enemy Skills we
re revamped, making them
more unique and double-edged, with some of the m
ore useless ones like Roulette
being re-done entirely to provide some extra ele
mental firepower to the player.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Revised Equipment
ore tangible and better

The stat boosts on weapons have been made much m

compliment the nature of each character, with op

tions to create certain

builds and roles. Armour and Accessories were gi
ven the most work, making
previously useless pieces much more valuable. Ev
ery character now has a
Triple growth weapon, with 2-3 'ultimate' weapon
s that either use powerful
effects or have great stat bonuses.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Revised Enemies
, all of the existing ones

In addition to the new enemies found in the game

were given overhauls to their stats, AI, and att

acks to make for a more

challenging experience. Bosses in particular rem
ain true to the mod's
original scope and have been given a different s
lant to their mechanics
with a new visual 'look'.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Stealing
has the following:

Every enemy in the game, with a few exceptions,

An uncommon drop [16 chance]
Two common Steals [32 chance each]
One rare steal [8 chance]
Stealing itself depends on the character's Level

(NOT the Dexterity stat)

and is applied against the target's level and th
e item's steal chance with
the following formula:
LVdifference = 40 + User's LV - Target's
LV
LV Factor = 512 x LV Difference
------------------100
Chance = Itemchance x LV Factor
---------------------256
In addition to the formula, enemies have a 'list
' of four items that are
checked against the Steal formula in order. This
means that items appearing
lower down on the list have a lower chance of be
ing stolen as the items
above it must fail the formula check first.
So with your character attempting to steal an it
em from an enemy of the
same level, you will have a 25% chance to steal
the first 'common' item,
followed by another 25% chance to steal the seco
nd 'common' item, and
finally a 6% chance to obtain the rare item (ass
uming the above checks fail).
A Sneak Glove can greatly boost your chances of
stealing, but in doing so
you'll become much less likely to obtain the Rar
e steal as the odds of the

Common Steals failing become much lower. The sam

e applies with having high
level characters attempting to steal from low le
vel enemies; Rare steals
were set up to be infrequent bonuses that the pl
ayer can acquire rather
than something to be farmed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Morphing
in the game, from the

The Morph Materia is now available much earlier

garden next to Aeris' house (in place of Cover M

ateria). Morphing takes

time and requires that you wear an enemy down an
d then land the killing
blow with the Morph command, which significantly
reduces attack.
The rewards they give tend to be quite useful th
ough, and equipment exists
that can ignore the damage penalty imposed by th
e Morph Command.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Revised Characters
ir stats and weapons in

Each character has been given an overhaul to the

order to make them more suited to certain roles

and to play a more effective

role in the player's set-up. The general strengt
hs of each character are:
-) Cloud: All-rounder, slight edge in VIT/SPR
-) Barret: High VIT, SPR, and HP for tanking
-) Tifa: High STR and DEX for quick, powerful hi
ts
-) Aeris: High MAG and DEX for fast and effectiv
e spell-casting
-) Red XIII: All-rounder, slight edge in DEX.
-) Yuffie: Glass cannon, very quick but fragile.
-) Cait Sith: High VIT, SPR, and LCK for tanking
/evasion.
-) Vincent: High MAG & VIT, a tough but slow cas
ter.
-) Cid: High STR, VIT, and LCK for a a durable p
hysical hitter.
The rate at which Limit gauges fill also depends
on the utility of the
Level Limit. Aeris' LV2 Limits charge slowly, fo
r instance, because they
are capable of filling the Limits of other chara
cters while Red XIII's
Lv.4 Limit fills quickly due to it being underpo
wered compared to other
multi-hit Limits. In Arrange, Limits are modifie
d to make them more
useful and balanced against each other.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Battle Square
tle Square minigame in

A major overhaul has been made to the game's Bat

the Gold Saucer. In addition to much more valuab

le prizes being available

for the three iterations of Battle Square, you n
ow fight the same 8 battles
each time which removes a lot of the RNG from th
is minigame. The battles
fought have also been modified to include some n
ew formations that are
better suited to a solo character fight and an e
arly game boss as the
8th battle.
From Disc 2 onwards, a new Extra Battle has been
added which includes
ten powerful boss monsters to be fought. Each on
e has a decent drop,
including accessories and powerful weapons, but
also a Materia reward
can be obtained by beating each boss for the fir
st time. A lot of the
game's more powerful Materia can only be obtaine
d in this way.
Finally, the Special Battle has been respecced w
ith 8 new battles and
uses the full party instead of just a solo chara
cter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Junon Leagues
ectable Inn' (otherwise

A brand new sidequest available in Junon's 'Resp

known as the 2nd Beginner's Hall), the player se

nds one of the party to

compete in a round-robin tourney against seven o
ther fighters.
Each bracket has two rounds, and if successful w
ith the highest points
at the end, the player earns a prize of several
rare items.
Currently, only two brackets are available with
plans to expand and
enable the remaining brackets at a later date.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cutscene Skips
ws players to skip certain

One of the convenience features, the NT Mod allo

story sequences for faster playthroughs. The ear

ly skips are a simple

menu option, but the new ones have been better i

ntegrated into the scenes

themselves. Currently, the following scenes can
be skipped:
-) Jessie's explanation of Midgar's layout on th
e train.
-)
-)
-)
-)
-)

Cloud & Tifa's Promise flashback.

Elmyra's flashback
Nibelheim Flashback
Corel Flashback
Rocket Town Flashback

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Save Points & Shops

ow become more dangerous

With the increase in difficulty, certain areas n

for causing too much back-tracking through unski

ppable scenes. To remedy

this, the game now has additional Save Points an
d Shops to preserve the
player's progress. The first new Save Point is i
n the Sewers, available
just prior to the boss fight with Aps.
An example of a new shop is the one in Whirlwind
Maze, which is an isolated
area far removed from decent Item stores. Certai
n shops also had their
inventories revised, such as the store in 'Under
Junon' and Bone Village.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Battle Music Mod
aying Field music in battles

The NT Mod has an option to use the currently pl

rather than the regular battle theme. This can b

e a refreshing change from

the same battle theme over and over, and can be
toggled freely once the
player has acquired the Highwind. Boss themes an
d certain mandatory
battles are exempt.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dark Cave Sidequest
by talking to Dio in the

An expansive new sidequest triggered from Disc 3

Battle Square Museum. This scenario requires the

player to track down

their missing party members, fight against some
vicious boss monsters,
and eventually escape.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ultimate Weapons

Added back in for v1.3, the Weapon Shop located

on the World Map has been

retrofitted to handle the creation of powerful U
ltimate weapons for each
character. To make them, players need to track d
own 'ingredients' to
synthesise the weapon. They mostly retain their
original damage formulas
with some changed around to be more effective. T
o compensate for the
high power of some of these formulas, however, b
ase power has been set
to 0; they're still markedly more powerful than
standard weapons though.
-) Cloud: Ultima Weapon, Power increases with hi
gh HP (original)
-) Barret: Missing Score, Power increases with h
igh AP (original)
-) Tifa: Premium Heart, Power increases with hig
h MP (changed)
-) Aeris: Princess Guard, gives HP + Shield on s
trike (changed)
+50 MAG/LCK on equip
-) Red XIII: Limited Moon, Power increases with
Limit gaugae (changed)
This is a strong formula, and was paired
with him due to
his weak Lv.4 Limit.
-) Yuffie: Conformer, Power depends on target le
vel (original)
This also ignores the damage penalty fro
m Morph
-) Cait Sith: HP Shout, Damage equals MaxHP - Cu
rrentHP
+100 LCK
-) Vincent: Death Penalty, Damage increases when
Ally = KO (changed)
+50 DEX/LCK
-) Cid: Venus Gospel, Drains damage as HP (chang
ed)
+30 MAG/SPR
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Enhanced Field Models
ield models that were

The NT Mod uses a set of subtly enhanced chibi f

styled very closely after the originals to bring

them more in line with

the game's original promotional art. Cloud's SOL
DIER uniform, for instance,
is a darker shade of purple with a more defined
shoulder pad. These field
models were made by Kalderasha but were hitherto
unreleased as he moved
away to work on other projects.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elemental Weaknesses
elemental weaknesses

In order to promote intuitive fights, consistent

have been implemented. Weaknesses are assigned b

y three criteria;
the enemy's Type (bug, machine, flying, heavy, e
tc.), natural affinities
(a Bomb has a natural affinity to Fire for insta
nce), and the area in
which an enemy appears (Great Glacier enemies re
sist Ice for example).
Beast/Vermin Weak: Fire/Ice
Machine
Weak: Bolt/Water,

Resists:

Flying

Weak: Wind/Gravity

Resists:

Heavy

Weak: Earth

Resists:

Humanoid
WEAPON

Weak: Poison
Weak: Hidden

Resists:

Undead

Weak: Holy

Resists:

Poison
Earth
Flying/Gravity
Holy
Hidden
Types can be combined, for instance a large flyi
ng enemy will be resistant
to Gravity and only be damaged normally by Wind.
An elemental affinity
will override a Type weakness, and so will an Ar
ea weakness; for example,
if you encounter a bug enemy that uses fire-magi
c, then it'll be resistant
to Fire rather than being weak to it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lv.4 Limit Sidequest
ved and incorporated

The items used to teach Lv.4 Limits have been mo

into a large sidequest featuring nine bosses, on

e for each character.

These are triggered on Disc 3 and each feature a
tough boss to beat.
They can be found in the following locations:
Cloud: Shinra Mansion Basement (solo fight)
Barret: North Corel
Tifa: Nibelheim
Aeris: Forgotten City
Red XIII: Cosmo Canyon
Yuffie: Wutai
Cait Sith: Temple of the Ancients
Vincent: Lucrecia's Cave
Cid: Wall Market
Cait Sith is an exception in that he doesn't hav
e a Lv.4 Limit to learn.
Instead of this, his boss fight drops an item us
ed to create a
Ultimate Weapon.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Disc 2 Boss Menu

player to challenge

Accessed from the Highwind, this menu allows the

all the story bosses from Demon's Gate to Hojo f

or a rematch. It's a
handy way to get some quick EXP and another shot
at their drops and
steals.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Party Leader Swap
the Party Leader

From Disc 3, it's possible to set Tifa or Cid as

instead of Cloud. This allows for party composit

ions that are a

little more focused.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. BUGS & KNOWN ISSUES

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Due to the size of the mod and the nature of some changes, certain bugs and issu
es have popped up
that can affect the way the mod runs. Whenever a crash or soft-lock pops up thou
gh, every effort is
made to correct it ASAP.
In Special Battle for Battle Square, some reels and effects can cause od
d effects such as
unlimited Limits. Because we wouldn't want that, would we.
When using Steal with Barret's Enemy Launcher, he'll attempt to Steal fr
om every single actor
on the field which can result in him running off to god knows where to d
rag items back.
In Junon Leagues, during the 'preparation' phase when the player has opt
ions to access the
Menu, see League standings, etc. mashing Start or another button before
the text box appears
can sometimes derail the script which will cause a soft-lock. Give the g
ame a chance to display
the textbox before selecting a command, just to be safe.
While a fail-safe was added to prevent it, when changing your Party Lead
er on Disc 3 to either

Tifa or Cid you need to be wary of a potential issue that can occur when
using the PHS on the
World Map. The World Map will display the character who has the highest
'priority' rather than
who is actually Party Leader:
Cloud > Tifa > Cid
In other words, if Tifa is Party Leader but Cloud is also in the party t
hen his model will
be shown instead of Tifa. The issue arises when opening the Menu on Worl
d Map, going to PHS,
swapping in Cloud (or Tifa, if Cid is party leader) and then saving/clos
ing the game WITHOUT
closing the menu. This doesn't allow the game to 'update' the character
who should be displayed
on the world map, and so when the save file is next loaded the player wi
ll be stranded in the
middle of the ocean at coordinates x0, y0 (which is where models are 'st
ored' when not in use).
To prevent this, Cloud and Tifa are 'locked' when the initial Party Lead
er swap is made to prevent
them from being placed in the party from PHS on the World Map. But to be
safe, when using Tifa
or Cid as party leader always close the menu after using PHS in order to
avoid being teleported
into the middle of nowhere. Only a save editing can restore the save fil
e by either moving the
player back to the Highwind or putting the party back to the way it was
before the save was made.
At the beginning of the game, a visual glitch can occur on the second sc
reen of the game where
parts of the background do not load in correctly. This is inherent with
the Steam version and
can occur sometimes. There's also rare issues in which a 'giant upside-d
own' Cloud can appear,
though this exists with both versions of the game.
The Bizarro fight at the end of the game has been set to be a three part
y fight, but an oversight
at the time was that players who didn't recruit Yuffie and Vincent would
be left one party member
short of creating all three parties which creates a soft-lock. There's p
lans to make Vincent and
Yuffie mandatory recruitment to avoid this, but for now it's recommended
to at least one of these
optional characters before taking on the final bosses.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7. CREDITS & CLOSING

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Special thanks to...

The dedicated players who helped shape the mod with feedback:
Neurosephiroth:
Raging Flare:
FFMan:
LetCreativityPlay:
Loseless:
PotatoHandle:
Bowser9:
Cicadian:

v1.0.5 bug-testing
v1.0.5 video playthrough
v1.1 playthrough
v1.1 & v1.2 playthrough
v1.2 Feedback & Testing
v1.2 Streaming & bug reports
v1.2 Troubleshooting
v1.3 Streaming & 1.3 bug reports

The creators of the tools that the mod was made with:
Borde:
NFITC1:
Myst6re:
Aali:
Luksy:
Iros:
Bosola:

Kimera & IMG2TEX

ProudClod & WallMarket
Makou Reactor
LGP/UNLGP
ULGP
7th Heaven
Damage Calculator

The people who support the mod on a technical level:

EQ2Alyza:
tient when I messed
Kalderasha:
providing lots of
RedManMark86:
eedback on the mod.
TenkoKuugen:
make the Arrange version

For supporting the mod's 7H Version and being pa

things up :I
For donating his excellent chibi field models &
great ideas for additional content.
For helping with 7H troubleshooting and giving f
For giving me .exe addresses which has helped to
of the mod possible.

And also to:

XeroKynos, for the mod's first stream and bestowing the prestigious titl
e of 'The Poverty mod'
TheStrahl, for all his excellent ideas like 1-second bomb timers.
Lockirby2, for introducing me to the Insane Difficulty forums.
BTB, for letting me use his ReadMe as a template for this one <.<
Gjoerulv for reviving my interest in this game with his excellent Hardco
re mod.
And finally to everyone who chipped in to help shape the mod with their
feedback, bug reports,
promoting the mod, and other ways they've helped this project re
ach the stage it's at.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Please feel free to get in touch with any questions, feedback, or sugges
tions.
You can find places where the mod is supported here:
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=14938.0
http://www.insanedifficulty.com/board/index.php?/topic/5
806-ff7-new-threat-mod-v12/
http://youtu.be/I7JlJHP4xb0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------And remember to attack when the tail is up.