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Phantom
Dust Mod For Custom Arsenals and Improved AI
Why would I want
to read about or use this?
You'll be able to play any single player mission
with a
Cartwheeler or other preferred playable character. We can
also
swap your online arsenals into single player mode.(and still
use
online) The game's original AI is not always programmed that
intelligently and this patch improves a lot of that. For
example,
the original AI will use Reincarnation with only 2 aura,
exhausting it.
Other skills are programmed not to be used at all.
I was able
to change AI instructions on lasers to spam more agressively, giving
you challenges more like you have to deal with in facing human players.
On top of this we'll go through how to edit or
import arsenals into
different stages to make them more challenging. I have also
created "Zmart" Skills which help the AI fight you more intelligently.
With "Zmart" Skills, they won't do something like throw a
Reincarnation with only 2 aura. One Reincarnation "Zmart"
Skill
version won't ever use it unless they have 6 aura to make it survive
erase
shields.
The only real major newly created skills is an
experimental Tiger's Strength
without animation.(But has other penalties) The true Tiger's
Strength is also still in the patch in its regular location.
I
thought having these variants in the mod so AI can intelligently use
Tiger's Strength was worth
the possible trade off of someone cheating with a Tiger's
Strength in this way.
There are penalties and limits built into these versions to
make it obvious
someone's not using the real Tiger's Strength.(and to discourage its
use) Tiger's Strength
is the backbone of a lot of arsenals and I think the trade off of
players getting better AIs vs someone cheating with it in a small
obvious way is worth it.
Do not play people online with the mod enabled.
It is cheating. Your games could crash out and
skills that
were patched out could lead to weird effects. It is easy to
switch back and forth between
the official set and a modded one and we'll go through how.
Getting
Started
I know this is big, but some of these steps are just things
you
need to set up once, and then you'll be able to set up pretty quickly.
To make use of this mod you will need to dump
Phantom Dust.
Offsite link for help on dumping PD if you
haven't done it yet: https://phantomdust.miraheze.org/wiki/Help:Dumping_the_game_files
It's very easy to swap back and forth between the
normal skill game data and the modded set.
So don't be lazy about swapping back and forth between the
mod
and the official set. I will have
listed all the changes later on. You will be able to use
nearly all
uncut skills as normal. I have cut close to 30+
skills and
remade them
into "Zmart Skill" variants the AI should use. You'll find most of your
skills
are exactly the same. Every skill thats modded and
meant
for AI only will have the letter Z before it's name.
They're
meant for AI
use. The only modded skills outside of AI instructions is
Empty
Hand and Fairy Ring. The only mod to them are that Empty
Hand isn't usable if you have only one
capsule left and Fairy Ring will not activate if you have less than 5
life.( I did this to prevent having to mod out another 2 skills)
Binding Needle has now been moved to slot 303.
Did you dump PD yet? If not, go do that: https://phantomdust.miraheze.org/wiki/Help:Dumping_the_game_files
Here is the full file sets for AI arsenals and the mod patch:
Click here to download the patch and arsenals files.
Unzip it somewhere. The file that contains the patch data is:
gsdata_enMOD.dat
Applying
the Patch and Switching Back and Forth Between Official Patch
Once you dump Phantom Dust you want to find its GSTORAGE folder.
Once in it, rename the gsdata_en.dat file already in the
folder to
gsdata_enBAK.dat. This is your back up of the official game
patch
that you should use when playing online. Now
put the
gsdata_enMOD.dat file that you just
downloaded in that GSTORAGE folder. Now rename gsdata_enMOD.dat to
gsdata_en.dat. When you want to play people
online, just go to gstorage and rename gsdata_en.dat to gsdata_enMOD.
Now rename gsdata_enBAK.dat back to gsdata_en.dat.
Then
just restart the game you'll be playing on the official game patch.
It's that simple.
Why You Want to set up
Debug Mode
Once you've dumped Phantom Dust, we want to set up the
Debug Mode as
your default mode because it will allow us to import online Skills,
arsenals, the mod, and switch characters in Single player
mode,
and unlock a few extra challenging missions. Your offline
single
player skills will not get deleted, but we're going to make
use of
your online arsenals, because that's what you're going to tend to use
and it beats remaking them all the time. Without
using that set, you will not be able to use the 301+ skills in
single player. You can still create AI arsenals, but they don't
take advantage of the intelligence improvements I made. You have
to play PD from Debug mode in order to use the Intelligence Patch.
How to set up Debug Mode
If you you're having trouble finding your Phantom
Dust files'
path you could try searching for "DECK_AZIER" 's location .
Wherever you find it you want to go to the folder
called
"Data". Then you want to open the "Menu" folder. As
an
example I named the dump path to my desktop with the folder
"Target3" with "Path3" inside it. An example that will differ
from where you put it :
C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\Desktop\target3\
Once in the Phantom Dust folders, you want to select the folders
Assets, then Data, and then Menu.
In the menu folder:
1. You want to rename mainmenu_en.ssb to
mainmenuX_en.ssb.
2. Now rename menu1_en.ssb to mainmenu_en.ssb.
3. Now rename mainmenuX_en.ssb to menu1_en.ssb
4. If you still want access to splitscreen mode,
rename the file
title_en.ssb to title_enBAK.ssb. Now make a copy of the file
vsmode_en.ssb. Rename the copy of vsmode_en.ssb file
to
title_en.ssb. To access it in Debug Mode menu, scroll to the
bottom right and choose the option called Title Test. It will
take you to splitscreen mode.
5. Now that you made those file
renames, load up Phantom Dust and select a save.
You'll be
taken to the Debug Mode Screen after hitting start and choosing a
profile:
If you want to revert back to the regular menu settings, just repeat
the first 3 steps above again.
We'll go in to the advantages and how to make use of your online
arsenals in the single player mode and the multiplayer mode in the next
2 steps.
1. Change Your Character in
Single Player Mode - After
you choose a profile, the debug menu opens up. If you select
"Character" from the menu, a menu of character names shows.
Just
push up or down to select different Character names. When you
go
down this menu, make sure you select a character that is actually
playable or the game will crash out. Push A to choose your character.
This takes you back to the title screen and seems like it did
nothing. Just pick a profile and when you start stages in
single
player mode, you'll be the character you chose.(including cartwheelers)
2. Loading
up Xbox Live Arsenals into Single Player mode to use All Skills Possible -
YOU NEED TO FOLLOW THESE
NEXT STEPS EXACTLY IF YOU WANT ACCESS TO YOUR
ONLINE SKILLS in Single Player mode and on Xbox
Live. So the
way we
can load up your online arsenals into single player mode is by
Selecting the Chapter 6 menu option in the debug menu. It's
on
the right half in Japanese, but you can clearly pick it out by the
number 6 showing:(highlighted below):
This will jump you into Chapter 6, but don't worry if the time line
Chapter 7 appears. You can get to the simulation room quicker
with Chapter 6 instead of choosing Chapter 7 and the game works as
normal.
(There won't be issues either if you've cleared Chapter 7 already or
haven't cleared any missions)
3. Swapping
your online arsenals into single player-
Once you
start single player mode here, hit start and then select Go To
Xbox Live.(You have to do it this way from Single Player mode)
Don't use the debug xbox live menu options to do this or the
trick won't work. Once you're on the live menu and
loaded
up, just hit B
to back
out. You'll return to the debug screen but doing this
swaps your online arsenals into the single player
mode.(They won't leave online mode either) Now select the Chapter
6 option again and you should start in the simulation
room and be able to use online arsenals and all skills.
4. Debug
menu's "Quest Test" option -
This menu option will
let you see what the Quest number is for a stage.
It
shows each mission title too. We need these quest numbers if
we
want to change the Arsenals used at those quests.
Also there are a
few debug stages you might want to unlock by selecting the quest from
the list here and beating it. Some are unique and good
challenges. Once hidden missions are beaten, you can replay
them
on the computer simulator in regular Single Player mode.(They'll be
each be named
"Placeholder") Debug Quests that are
particularly notable to unlock are Quest 133, 144, and 145.
Quest
135 and 131 are also possible to unlock for more Lane and Sein stages
but they're not particularly
notable.
Actually
Setting Up and Editing AI arsenals
Alright, now that you've got those cool things set up, we're finally
getting into how to install or even create and edit arsenals for the
AIs
to use!
From the dumped Phantom Dust folder go to the "Assets folder", then
"Data
Folder", then "com" folder, and then select the "deck" folder.
I would put the Arsenals folder you get from the zip file
into this folder.(the "deck" folder) This folder is
where the AI arsenals are stored for each stage. You'll
probably
notice some of
these files say DECK_EDGAR_0 or other character names. These
are
the arsenal files these characters use when partnered with you.
If you want you can
customize your teammates now. Or if you want to make things
more
challenging, give them arsenals that don't do anything. So
you
can get challenged by the AI more. You could also make them
use
support skills. Have them Quantum Amp, Friendship,
Alleviate, or whatever. I like to take partner
arsenals mostly out of
the equation because you'll find being disadvantaged against multiples
AIs as good
practice.
What about the arsenals for the AI enemies? Well their
labeled
things like DECK084_X. Where the X is usually 0-3.
There can be up to 8
arsenals per quest. I don't understand 100% the logic but its
easy
enough to save copies of arsenals and then see which ones get assigned
to the AI or not.
The numbers shown like DECK084_X is the quest number which you can find
a list of in the Quest Test debug menu option. Don't worry, I'm
going to give recommendations for each stage you'd likely want to play
against enemies at. But if your looking to mod AI at a
particular
level you can always find the Quest number / Deck number you want to
mod for the stage with the debug menu's Quest Test option.
Sometimes the stages will use the character arsenals instead of the
stage number decks.
Ok so we need to be able to edit or overwrite arsenals.
You'll
have to use a free hex editing program like HxD or another one.
So download one
of those.
Ways of Overwriting Deck
Files With a Preferred Arsenal File
Ok now you know where AI arsenals are. Now I'll
show you a method I use
with HxD to import arsenals into certain missions.
Afterwords, we'll go into editing them.
Importing
Arsenals
In the zip file you downloaded, open one of the Arsenal files
with HxD.
I'll use the Burden Abnormal Rain arsenal as an example:
I select the Burden Abnormal Rain arsenal and open it.(deck files have
no format type) It will look like this:
So this is where you can edit the file. We'll get to doing
that
later.(you don't need to know how to program really to do it)
For now lets just use this pre made Burden and Rain
focused arsenal. Remember the City quest with JD
"Gaze of Interest" where you
have to fight a bunch of monsters? Let's say we want to give
all
the monsters at this stage the same arsenal. You definitely
can
mix arsenals used by enemies, and I'd encourage that.
But
let's just go through how to give every monster the same DECK real
quickly. So this missions is Quest #97.
Now in HxD, with the Burden Rain arsenal open, hit Alt + F and then hit
A to bring up the "save as" Menu. You need to navigate to
Phantom
Dust "DECK" folder. So we now are looking to
overwrite the
file DECK097_0, which is the first possible enemy AI arsenal in Quest
97. (The _0 represents the first AI enemy arsenal at
Quest
97) You'll have to scroll down your list till you reach
DECK097_0:
Double click DECK097_0 and choose yes
to replace DECK097_0 so it is now the
Burden Abnormal Rain
arsenal you want. Now hit Alt + F, then A again. It
will look like
this
Now just hit the End key on your Keyboard. Delete the 0 at
the end and
change it to 1. Then hit enter, you'll be asked if you want
to
replace DECK097_1, choose yes and now you've overwritten the file.
Do the
same thing for overwriting DECK097_2 except change the end number to 2
and the same for 3 and overwrite them each time. Now every
enemy
in that mission will use that arsenal. Of course you can mix
and
match other arsenals. But I wanted to show a quickish way on
how
you can do that. You'll have to experiment to see which
arsenals
are actually getting assigned to each character in a a mission.
Overwriting
Ally Arsenals
You can edit Ally arsenals, but it's also useful to know how to do this
because some missions use the Ally arsenals against you instead
of DECK_XXX_X like we just went through. I don't
know why
there's multiple ones per character,
but you can always overwrite them all to ensure they use the skills you
want them to use.(It seems like they use the first one usually like
DECK_CHUNKY_0 for example.
So just look carefully at what you have in the ally arsenal vs
what you might have assigned at actual stages where you fight them and
see if you're encountering the arsenal you expect to encounter.
Some neat things you can do
with Ally arsenals are to have them bring assistant
skills like
Friendship which they will use on you. You can also just give
them arsenals with just aura to create 2 v 1 quests of you vs the AI
Missions. Other options like Quantum Amps could pick up the
pace
for stages started. Or Blessed Rain to prolong battles.
The
AIs have been trained to use Frighten repeatedly so you can experiment
with landing offensive hits with AI Frightening your enemies.
The
AI is also set to repeatedly use Fairy Ring till they drop to 4 life.
This can let you use arsenals that practice Fairy Ring loops.
Remember you can give these arsenals more than 3 of a certain
skill.
How to read and
modify arsenals
Ok, what is this gibberish?
This is the file information of an arsenal. Each skill in
your
arsenal is represented by 4 hexadecimal characters.(Characters that are
either 0-9 or A-F) If you see "FF FF" for example, that is
considered an Aura Particle. In the picture below, in the red
rectangle, you'll see where a "FF FF" is located.
It is
one of the aura particles in your arsenal. A list has been
made
of all the skills and what hexadecimal set equals what skill.(It's in
the zip file named PDPatchHex.txt)
Where the green Rectangle is, is the representation of the first skill
in your arsenal. "DF 00" happens to be the value for the
first
Burden skill in this arsenal. Ignore the data in the previous
spots. The start of your arsenal always starts in the 2nd
row(000000010) at column 04. You'll see the last skill in
your
arsenal is located in the 5th row(00000040) in the Blue Rectangle "FF
FF".
If you're worried about putting in a skill value that doesn't exist by
accident, don't worry, the arsenal will just put an aura
particle in its place if the value doesn't exists. Its also
something to look out for if the
arsenal you made never seems to use a certain skill you put in there,
it's likely you put an incorrect value inside it.(Or the AI was never
programmed to use it, and I havne't figured out a better
instruction for it!)
Pasting
Advice
Ok, so you can cut and paste values into these
files. But you have to either use Ctrl + B to paste or
select "Paste write"
:
You don't want to do Ctrl + V or Paste Insert. Just use "Paste write" or Ctrl + B
for pasting and you'll be fine. Once you like how the arsenal is set
up, save it with a name. Arsenals do not have a file format
so
don't put one in.
Finding the Hex Values
of Skills
So how do we get the Hex values for a skill we
want in an
arsenal? Luckily we have a file listing every skill avaiable.
You want to open the file called PDPatchHex.txt In
this file hit
Ctrl + F and then enter in part of the name of
the skill you want. It should find it and will list the Hex
value
of that skill. Then simply put that value into a skill slot
location in your Hex editor.
If you want to look up what a Hex value is from an arsenal file,
Just
enter 4 character Hex with a space between 2 characters. If
your
skill Hex is 14 01. You'll search for "14 01" and you'll find
it
matches up with the skill Crush.
Create
an Arsenal Starting from 30 Aura Particles
In the arsenals folder there is a file called __AuraOnlyCase.
If you
open it, it will have an entire arsenal of auras. You can
Save it
as a different file name and then start editing from where the first FF
FF
appears inside to the last FF FF:
Already
Built Arsenals you can use.
In the
file you unzipped are a bunch of
premade arsenals for one type of things or another. You'll
find
all the Arsenals within the Arsenals folder. Most of them are
in
a subfolder.
There are a lot of arsenals built. They're
in the Arsenals folder. I'd recommend putting the Arsenals
folder you downloaded
into Phantom Dust's "deck" folder. You can open them and
overwrite
stage decks easier starting from there.
The file named "Main
Arsenal Data Listing.docx" lists a
lot of plotted out Arsenals in the arsenals folder. You can
read the
file for the contents of a lot of arsenals. There are a few I
didn't bother making listings of that are in the arsenals folder.
Your also going to see a Variant Mixes folder. There is a
separeate document file "_ContentsOfFolder.docx"
listing of thoose. They're not
really well built, but more a variety of moves. I'm not sure
if it
can really do much but their there if you want to try them.
Definitely not the first place I would look for things to use.
Stage
Recommendations And Details on some new special AI skills Are Detailed
Next. First We'll Start With
Stage Recommendations.
After the stages listing here, will
be all the
details on what I was able to change to make the AI smarter, along with
a listing of all the "Zmart" skills you can use with AIs.
Stages with potential - To update the AI DECK you
want to
take the number from the stage and
edit the file that will be named DECKXXX_X. Its weird. There
are
often 4 files in DECKXXX_X, but not all of them always get used.
Human characters sometimes have to have their character
arsenals
edited to face them in certain missions.
So if I want to edit the “Legendary Man” AI DECKs,
I look
up the stage number listed below. It is 48. The
DECK ID
will be DECK048_X where X is going to be a number that is either 0, 1,
2, and 3 most of the time.
Stage Recommendations
Not all of these recommendations have the best testing of.
I think City and Refinery probably have some of the easier
challenging stages to set up. Lane and Sein recommendations
probably also offer good challenges. So I'd give those stages
a
spin if you're not feeling great about the earlier stage options.
I list the deck names to change and the mission Partner name
you
can change. Giving them a deck with just aura, healing moves,
or
shields will make it easier to challenge yourself against multiple AIs.
Palace - I’m especially not crazy
about the options
I’ve found at Palace. Probably not the first stage
you want
to see what this patch can do things with. The Ais tend to be
more passive for some
reason, but I'll try to highlight some that might be worth looking at.
67 The Gyne Sisters Return
- Gyne's tend to be a little more challenging, so maybe they will be
harder for your here. ((DECK067_X)
No ally for mission. 2 v 1 plus an extra enemy.
114
- A Single Mistake
- You
face off against 2 rollers. Maybe their aggressive with
melee???
(DECK114_X) Ally arsenal should be DECK_MEISTER_0.
51 Stray Eyes - Sammah with 2+ enemies
to fight. ( DECK051_X) Ally
arsenal DECK_SAMMAH_0 can be edited to be passive for more challenge.
79 Melee place
- That's
the mission's name! Optimization Automatically Gets Put out
for
Quick action. AI is kind of passive though.
(DECK079_X)
Ally arsenal is DECK_JD_0.
74 Mayday - 2
v 1 This mission lets you choose your partner set (DECK074_X)
Your partner will probably use their first DECK like
DECK_JD_0
for example. Still leaves a bit desired.
134
- Desire to meet - Its a palace 1 v 1 match, but the AI
does seem a bit aggressive in some ways.
48 Legendary man - 2 v 1
- If you edit JD's arsenal to be something useless, you can put
yourself into a 2 v1 situation. Possibly claustro blader
arsenal????
(DECK048_X) JD's arsenal is DECK_JD_0
Highway – Decent Laser Spam testing opportunities
77 Question
of Destiny
- Gynes seem a bit better than others and you'll face 3 of
them.(DECK078_X) Tsubutaki can't die though. Her
arsenal is
DECK_TSUBUTAKI_0. You can make it defensive or heal
heavy. To keep her somewhat out of the way.
56 Edgars
memory - Fight 2 Rollers. (DECK056_x) Chunky
ally DECK_CHUNKY_0
87
Secret business
- Starts you at an exposed spawn for laser dodging practice potentially.(DECK056_x)
Chunky ally DECK_CHUNKY_0
99 Book
ban _ I don't know... Ceno and Roller(DECK_99_X)
vs you and JD DECK_JD_0.
39
Emergency signal 2 v 1. (DECK_39_X) Edgar
partner DECK_EDGAR_0.
58 Highway 2 Gynes at
once but you have to beat one up first. DECK_58_X.
Kind of a slow build though.
60 To those that pass - (DECK_60_X) JD DECK_JD_0
Starts you in a 2 v 2 on a different location than other stages.
I guess you could have enemies bring crawlers to challenge you at
a difficult spawn for them.
64 Medication choose partner vs scoto + claustro -
(DECK_064_X) Kind of weak choice honestly. It does
let you pick your partner for the mission.
Panorama
82 Red Rose of Passion
(DECK_82_X) - Sometimes the AI stands around a bit, but other
times their pretty aggressive here. Ally
pH
(DECK_PH_0)
10 Recipe for recovery
(DECK_10_X) aggresive optimatch – 2 Roller
enemies. Edgar Ally:
DECK_EDGAR_0.
66 Message in a bottle
– (DECK_66_X) Fight against 2 rollers.
You can choose your ally.
55 Sky colored paints
(DECK_55_X) Roller can dodge well sometimes???
Catoptro practice available in mission. Ally Meister
(DECK_MEISTER_0)
54 Sleepland AI Saw
(DECK_54_X) Andro and Catoptro. Can choose starting ally.
16 Red Haired Woman - Full 2 v 2 stage
with Outside spawn Start (DECK_16_X) DECK_EDGARD_0
113 Omen of change 2 v 1 (DECK_113_X) – This is
a closed
in outdoor only mission. Perhaps good quick pressure practice
potential? Ally JD (DECK_JD_0)
118 1 v 1 pano
Chunky
(DECK_118_X) (DECK_CHUNKY_0) – I guess if you want
a Cage
match 1 v 1 this would work. Only out door Pano section
playable
in this mission.
City
– Pretty good variety of missions
125 Writer
Again - 2 v 1 in high pressure difficult
spawn. (DECK_125_X)
97 Gaze of Interest
– Stage has multiple monsters to challenge
endurance. (DECK_97_X) Ally JD: DECK_JD_0
84 Claustro fall
- More than 2 enemies. (DECK_84_X) Ally
Chunky. DECK_CHUNKY_0
52 Young Writer
– Another 2 v 1 scenario. Writer mission (DECK_52_X)
85 Invisible trap
- 2 v 2 potential (DECK_85_X) You can
choose your ally. blah monsters though.
140 Gaze Phobia
(DECK_140_X) . Ally sammah dies quick.
DECK_SAMMAH_0.
65 Scraps of
memory (DECK_65_X) It's possibly a decent set up.
Tsubutaki can die here without issue. Ally
DECK_TSUBUTAKI_0
139 Angry counter attack
(DECK_139_X) Not great, but still a bit different.
Ally DECK_SAMMAH_0
119 secret thought
ph
(DECK_119_X) – Good 1 v 1 stage. Even the
game’s
default deck is actually good for highlighting some weaknesses in
player arsenals.
Refinery
120 Guard and Know
Inversion Refinery elite
– Guard’s (DECK_139_X). DECK_KNOW_0 is
Know’s
arsenal in the match. A good 2 v 1 match level to
have.
This was the classic confused gravity mission.
123 Refinery ommato break
out ph
- Possibly the stage with the most enemies in a mission. It
seems
like some decks duplicate even though this one contains more arsenal
files than usual. ((DECK_123_X) Ally deck is
DECK_PH_0
98
Overflowing Tab – Has multiple enemies.
(DECK_98_X) Ally deck is Sammah DECK_SAMMAH_0
95 Mikan and the red head
refinery – 2 rollers. (DECK_95_X) Lets
you choose your partner.
115 Price of admiration
- Fight a Catoptro and a Roller. (DECK_115_X). Cuff
Button is your partner with DECK DECK_CUFFBUTTON_0.
94 Angel in white refinery
– Catopto and Claustro are used here if you want to
face
uncommon melee enemies. (DECK_94_X) If ally
Tsubutaki is
knocked out here, she can still be resurrected.
(DECK_TSUBUTAKI_0)
Lane
126 Memory Wedge
– This
is a solid match. Taking care of Tsubutaki is a bit annoying
without getting her shielded or armed with heals.
(DECK_126_X) Ally (DECK_TSUBUTAKI_0)
133 Placeholder
– (that's the stage name) This is actually a 4 v 1
match
that is on a bad spawn point. One of the more challenging
situations and gives you a Lane match with no partner needing to
defend. (DECK_133_X)
You have to choose Mission 133 in the Quest Test Debug mode
and
beat the stage to unlock it in the Single Player mode Simulator.
24 Continue: City of
Memory -
You can only select this directly from Quest Test menu and
can't
unlock it like the other hidden Quest Missions that are hidden.
It's pretty good in that you fight 2 v 1 against 2 Freia's
with a
3rd one showing up. Don’t have to worry about a partner and
has a
decent spawn. (DECK_024_X) You can
technically access
it in Single Player mode by Choosing City’s “City
of Memory” stage and
completing that, but it’s probably easier to just choose this
from Quest Test stage 24.
131 Placeholder - It's
a 1 v 1
match against know. It's the only one available on Lane.
Not great but it's your only 1 v 1 option. You have
to
choose Mission 131 in the debug Quest Test menu and beat it to unlock
in Single Player mode.
(DECK_131_0)
Sein
144
“Placeholder” -
(that's the stage name) Know + 2 Guards match 3 v 1
–
This is one of the hardest matches in the game. Partly due to
a
disappearing spawn point. Still good for pressure
practice.
It appears one Guard uses Know’s Arsenal while the 2nd Guard
uses
a different arsenal. (DECK_144_0) Know’s
is
DECK_KNOW_0. You have to choose Mission 144 in Quest Test
Debug
menu and beat it to unlock it in Single player mode.
145
“Placeholder”
-– The is the only Sein level with multiple enemies to fight
at
immediately against pH and Chunky. You have to beat this
stage in
the Quest Test menu(145) to unlock in the simulator.
(DECK_145_X) Ally is JD (DECK_JD_0)
25 "And now to the future"
– Its nice that you can 2 v 1 Freia and Edgar, but still
it’s a bit of a wait having to deal with a doppelganger 1 v 1
first. (DECK_025_X)
The logic of AI arsenal
builds and special modded skills.
List of Skills Removed. List of "Zmart Skills"
added.
You're going to find that some of
the arsenals I've made here break the rules on the number of skills of
a
certain type. Also the ability to go 3 school without regen
penalties. I will explain why I've done this. If
you don't
like my reasoning behind this, you can always make your own AI
arsenals or modify the ones included. I did things like throw
4x
Dance of Deaths in a arsenal in that style. This is because
the
AI is stupid and limited. They can't use Mephisto's Pact.
They're not always intelligent enough to hold onto Dance of
Deaths. Because of their tendency to dig from arsenals every
so
often, this makes up for their stupidity or inability to use Mephisto's
Pact. Its not possible for them to use that skill.
Even if
you force them to use Mephisto's Pact, they aren't even able to get an
Aura
Particle with it! So throwing extra skills in is meant to
make
it closer to playing an intelligent opponent.
Usually
it's done for just one extra of a move. (which they will probably just
overwrite once anyway)
Up to 6 Recalls are used in some arsenals because the AI is not
intelligent enough to use Relearn effectively. Whenever they
pick up Relearn
they will immediately use it instead of waiting to use one up
with
something useful like Recall or Violent Change. They'll
Relearn
an aura particle even if you've got a Recall loop going already.
I keep it within 6 Recalls because Relearns serve that
function.
It's not perfect but the AI doesn't get to use Relearns in
flexible ways with things like Violent Changes which humans
can.
A custom Mist Laser skill was created that doesn't actually hit for
damage or get erased by shields... It is used for DECKs that
intentionally lower their levels.(Like Vicious Balance, Swift Punch,
and Aura Cannon) This simulates the way humans would use Mist
moves to lower level, and not shoot them carelessly into erase shields.
What about Downcast? The truth is that move is inferior
because
its Turbulenced easily and Mist Laser manuals away from shields have
the same effect.(That's why Downcast was replaced by this)
There
are 2 types created here. One will lower level to 2. Another
will
lower level to 6, meant for Aura Cannon arsenals.
Stimulates are in quite a few arsenals that are actually 3 school
without lowered regen rate penalty. The AI doesn't
use Tiger's Strength and Trance that well. By
default
they just use them very little if at all. Stimulate at least simulates
those moves that you would find in their DECKs and have to deal with.
The game lets you build 5 school arsenals without penalty for
the
AI arsenals. I usaually don't go 5 school unless its to test
different combinations of moves. I have made 3 experimental
custom Tiger's Strengths varaiants without animation, that follow
limits or have penalties. One gets a temporary aura regen
penalty. Others require you to have max aura, 6 or more aura,
or
8 aura to use the move. This is done to discourage using
these
moves and simulate the aura you don't get when Tiger's Strength
animation normal activates. I couldn't figure out a way to
get
the AIs not to carelessly Tiger's Strength, so this was a realistic
workaround. Unfortunately, I don't have a better option for
Trance.
Beta
This is a beta build. The original intent was to set up
arsenal
combinations that test dodging ability or dealing with heavy pressure.
Things you have to do more in tag. It kind of
drifted from
that, but there's a lot of building blocks laid down for now.
Whether its a better
solution to use Heats, Turbulences, and 5+ shields here like some
players use is certainly something you can look into trying out.
Defaults I've went with generally are 4 shields, Stimulates
and
some
varying Tiger's Strengths. Because of the limits the AIs have
to
intelligently use certain
moves its hard to know what mimics closer to "real" matches.
Sure
I could go 5+ erase shields but you might find AI just
overwrite
them too because that's what they tend to do.(Not saying more shields
is a bad idea, just that they won't be used optimally by AIs...)
The AI
is probably not going to be the smartest about handling your Armaros'
either. Arsenals could be more tuned to undodgeable effects
like
Judge of Ares and Turbulences.
You will probably be able to take advantage of environmental placement.
I did not give much thought to the process of adding anti
enviro
fail safes. Keep in mind Orb and Amulet won't protect your
Environmentals in Single Player mode! That's just how it's
programmed.
The
Intelligence Updates Detailed
The
patch updates the AI instruction values to try to make
them better. They don't change how they work, just how the AI
uses them. I also created "Zmart" Skills the AIs could
use and their listed past this list of general AI changes.
Lasers - AI
instruction modified to spam lasers more repeatedly.
Auto Activate Moves
– The AI will use these moves as soon as they are able to:
Graceful
Woods, Aura Particles, Void, Opitcal Camo, Place of
Invisibility,
Demon’s Wing, Quantum Amp, Mobilize, Chill Breeze, Blessed
Rain, Heat
Devil.
“Zmart Skill”
Auto Use
– These moves will auto use themselves, but check out the
Zmart Skills
section for versions that are more intelligent you might want to use
instead:
Bravery
Decision, Vicious Balance, Quantum Decay, Rebirth,
Copy -
Move was previously unused by AI. Medium range attack
instructions used now.
Recollection
– Move was previously unused. Now treats them like
close range attacks.
Empty hand
– AI will immediately use it. Just like you mostly
would running auto
capture Memory of Battle arsenals. Move was modded so it
can’t be used
if you only have one capsule left. Throw 9 of these into an
AI auto
capture MoB arsenal in place of Sky Pursuit and Hyperpunch which
regular players would use.
Fairy Ring
– AI will repeatedly use it. Good for Fairy Ring
loop practice. Can’t use if you have less than 5
life.
Levitate, Jump, Skywalk
- will activate at close range use. Previously unused could
use levitate with parabola moves I guess.
Annoying Gift
– Partner will gift things to you. Unclear if
original AI instruction ever did anything.
Charge –
Will sometimes use if target is long distance away. (Old
laser AI instruction used)
Retreat -
Will use if enemy is in close range.
Sword Slap
– Used as close range move.
Frighten -
Set to repeatedly use so you can practice timing with a teammate using
Frighten.
Disintegrate
and Calamity changed to other hole value moves like
Earthquake. Meant
to try to help AI understand them, but not sure it does. You
probably
want Amulets on AIs using these moves. Can’t count
on them to use
shields against themselves.
Ricochet Laser
– Move is set to follow an instruction like Scream
of Evils. This
makes the AIs sometimes use Ricochet Laser on Panorama through walls
like real people do! The previous version activates Ricochet
Laser
when they visibly see you. I created a
“Zmart” skill version ZRicochet
Visual which still follows the older instruction. I think
their both
worth practicing against in Panorama. There are 2 folders in
the
Arsenals folder that either follow one version of Ricochet Laser or the
other. Who knows you could mix both in if you really
want.
Pin Down
– This move is also given the Scream of Evil
instruction. Makes its
pressure with Optimization out difficult to deal with. AI
will target
you in more difficult situations.
Rail Gun –
AI will be willing to use even at long range.
Some of 360+ skills
had their AI instructions altered to what I thought they should
traditionally be, based on other skills I’ve seen in
action. I’m not
going into the details with them. Those skill’s AI
instructions are
trickier to modify/see what they were originally set to.
Because
things like Tiger’s Previals were set to long range I decided
to just
update them to clear AI instruction values. Another example
is they
used to automatically waste Rafflesia's Fang.
Level baton
– Will target their ally but not good about stopping or
hitting.
Sometimes does it at medium range. I guess if you want to
experiment
with arsenals where an ally level batons you while you have little to
no aura is a thing you could try??
Dash – Set to value that is unreliably
used. Previously was set to never use.
"Zmart
Skills
You may want
to
use these custom skills in in your own AI arsenals but they're not
meant
for your own arsenal's use. But definitely check them out for
building your own because they fix certain AI issues. Like
the AI
will throw away Reincarnation by casting it with only 2 aura.
So
if you want to have your arsenals really take advantage of this, check
out the "Zmart Skills".
Here's
the list of custom AI "Zmart Skills"
You'll see everything starts with a Z so you know its not
meant
for a player to use. You can search for the skill names in
the PDPatchHex.txt file included to find out what hex code
equals
a skill when trying to build thse into your own arsenals.
1. ZAura Limit 2 L AI
–
These are aura particles that have a limit on them that makes them
unusable if you have 2 or higher Level. Meant for Vicious
Balance
and Swift Punch/Blow/Kick arsenals.
2. ZAura Limit 6 L AI
–
These are aura particles that have a limit on them that makes them
unusable if you have 6 or higher Level. Meant for Aura Cannon
arsenals.
3. ZMist Laser D to 2
– The AI uses a modified Mist Laser that can’t be
erased.(That does 0 damage) AI will use it till
they drop to 2 Level. (Meant to
simulate people manual aiming lasers away from erase shields to lower
Level.) Meant for Vicious and Swift style arsenals.
4. ZMist Laser
D to 6 –
The AI uses a modified Mist Laser that can’t be erased.(Does
0 damage)
Till they drop to 6 Level. (Meant to simulate people
manual aiming lasers away from erase shields to lower Level.) Meant for
Aura Cannon arsenals.
5. ZMist Laser 11 AI –
Mist Laser is unusable until level is 11 or higher. Meant for
Recall or Level Boost /Berserk arsenals.
6.
ZReincarnation 4 AI – Will only use
Reincarnation if you have 4 aura. Stops AI from overusing
Reincarnation.
7.
ZReincarnation 6 AI – Will only use
Reincarnation if you have 6 aura. Guarantees Reincarnation
isn’t erased by an erase shield.
8.
ZPhoton Barrier 4AI
– Photon Barrier is only usable at 4 aura. Meant to
make it
always retain. Downside is Can’t block for 2
against moves
that don’t break Photon Barrier.
9. ZBravery
Decision 5 AI – Will use Bravery decision only
if you have at least 5 level.
10. ZBravery Decision 7 AI – Will use Bravery
decision only if you have at least 7 level.
11. ZRebirth 11 SK –
Rebirth can not be used once you are down to 10 skills remaining in
arsenal.
12.
ZRebirth 5k AI – Only usable if you have over 5
skills left in arsenal.
13.
ZPiece of Thunder Cr AI
– Move is unusable except as a Piece move to hold to boost
Crystallization. So AI doesn’t throw piece moves
away as
attacks.
14. ZPiece of
Fire Cr AI – Move is unusable except as a Piece
move to boost Crystallization. So AI doesn’t throw
piece moves away as attacks.
15. ZBloody
Ritual 8 – Move can’t be used if you
have less than 8 life.
16. ZVic Bal 8S AI
– Vicious Balance done if user has 8 or more
capsules left in arsenal.
17. ZEL Bomb 11L AI
– Will only use EL Bbomb if you have 11 or more Level.
18. ZScream of
Evil 7AI - Can use till you are down to
6 life.
19. ZChrg Part 11 AI – Charged
Particle is unusable until level is 11 or higher. Meant for
Recall or Level Boost /Berserk arsenals.
20. ZCharged Particle 7
AI – Unusable unless level is above 6
Level. Meant for Aura Cannon arsenals.
21.
ZArrow of Artemis – Must have 6 aura
to use. Guarantees normal retain. Can’t
avoid erase
shields though unless you have 18 aura! I wish I could make
it
more intelligent to always retain, but it's the best I can do.
22. ZRestrain 7 AI -
Unusable unless level is above 6 Level. Meant for Aura Cannon
arsenals.
23. ZRestrain
11 AI - Restrain is unusable until level is 11
or higher. Meant for Recall or Level Boost /Berserk
arsenals.
24.
ZQuantum Decay 12Sk – Will only be able to use
if you have 12 or more skills left in arsenal.
25 ZQuantum
Decay 20Sk – Will only be able to use if you
have 20 or more skills left in arsenal./
26. ZRicochet
Visual AI –
The regular Ricochet Laser had its AI instructions updated to use
Ricochet Laser more like Scream of Evil, simulating the way regular
players shoot Ricochet Laser in real matches.(Sometimes through
objects!) This ZRicochet Visual AI is PD's original AI
version,
where it's willing to fire it only if they directly see you past an
object. I don't think this is bad, but I wanted to give
players 2
different versions they could realistically encounter in
matches.(Especially Panorama) Heck you could mix both types
into
an arsenal if you want!
27. ZSwift B
DoD – Unusable Swift blow. Guarantees
AI won’t waste it when at 2 Level. Meant for Dance
of Death Arsenals.
28. zSplshdn
DOD AI – Unusable Splashdown.
Guarantees AI won’t waste it at 2 Level. Meant for
Dance of Death Arsenals.
29.
ZMist Blade 11 AI – Mist Blade is unusable until
level is 11 or higher. Meant for Recall or Level Boost
arsenals.
30.
ZMist Blaster 11 AI - Mist Blaster is unusable until level
is 11 or higher. Meant for Recall or Level Boost
/Berserk arsenals.
These next 3
skills are a drastic modification. The skills are
Tiger’s Strength without the animation but still a
sound.
This is done because there is no intelligent way to get the AI to use
Tiger’s Strength. But since this skill is such a
major
arsenal skill, I think it’s important enough to have
something
closer to human opponents. People shouldn’t be
playing with
this patch online in the first place. There are drawbacks to
having them even in regular play. It will be fairly obvious
that
they are doing something “off”. And then
you either
don’t play with people doing this or demand they change back
to
the regular games skill data. (gsdata_en.dat file)
It's
still experimental. I thought to make it cast automatically
when
a condition is met. But then it makes any skills that cost
that
amount, hard to use. Currently I tried tailoring the AI
instructions for Charged Particle with it. It makes the AI
use
these moves a decent amount still. If you really don't like
the
idea of it, then most arsenals have some form of Stimulate or Lunar
Force/Heat. Maybe I'll figure out a better way to control it.
31.
ZTiger’s St2–
Will repeatedly activate at max aura. Get
+ 2 Strength for 15 seconds. Meant for
low 2
cost DECKs. There is a penalty to -45% aura regen, but it
avoids
the
tiger’s strength animation. AI arsenals also seem
to regen
decently still, while I hope this discourages real people from using
it.
32.
ZTiger’s St6 – Will be able to
activate T/S at 6 aura. Get + 2
Strength for 15 seconds. Potentially
for Aura Cannon use, but it's a bit mixed in working.
33.
ZTiger’s St8 – Will be able to
activate T/S when at 8 aura. Get
+ 2 Strength for 15 seconds. The theory here is to
make
Tiger's Strength activate after all most other moves could be
used. So the AI doesn't repatedly Tiger's Strength to the
point
they can never cast other skills.
34. ZEL Bomb 11L AI -
Will not
use El Bomb unless you have over 10 aura. ( I did not make a
6
aura version, because you're kind of unlikely to use this in an Aura
Cannon deck)
Other AI Notes
They don’t know how to use Dash. I couldn’t get them to use it consistently intelligently with mods I tried.
They don’t block their own holes well. They will only block with
Shelters against holes, not Absorb shields which are capable of
blocking holes.
Consider Amulets and Orbs if you want to count on AI avoiding Disintegrate or Calamity.
Mine planting somewhat arbitrary.
Fake outs work.
Dumb with paralyze when hit. Keeps trying to move.
Mephisto Pact doesn’t work.
Won’t stop Refreshing if an Enviro stat is out.
Invulnerability set to not use. Doesn’t Play Dead intelligently.
Updates
Got some good arsenal builds for the AIs? There
might be
some updates and if I catch your email I can try and add your arsenals
to the group. Email me at pdfaq2@gmail.com. I
don’t
always keep up with it, but if I do, I’ll update it
and let
you know. If I didn't respond to it and you contact me
elsewhere, don't be afraid to mention it.
The
following Skills were modded out so we could have more intelligent AI
skill uses:
Power, Timer Mine, Bend, Confusion Gas, Reduce Gravity, Brain
Concussion, Return, Surprise Attack, Trench Mortar, Reflect Barrier,
Tremor, Abyss, Swift Kick, Leg Throw, Snap, Mind Reading, Dhampir Claw,
Dhampir Fang, Succubus
Tempt, Thieving Imp, Vacuum Bullet, Vast Mayhem,
Downcast, Failing Wall, Martial Arts Scroll, Dark Protection, Withering
Curse, Venom Drip, Regenerate, Blessed water, Fast Bomb and Auto Shell,
Anti Gravity Trap.
Future Adds/Mods -
I could make Joke of Anubis not work unless user has 6 or more
health. Could make Healing Water not usable to use till AI
has 17
or less life. Limits on using life penalty skills?
Wimp
and Accuracy Mod –
I might make this mod which would lower all damage defaults to 0.(and
not buffable)
It would set all skills to infinite use. This would let you
practice dodging things safely repeatedly. Homing buff skill
like
Traveling Thought but higher and infinite time could be set for max
difficulty dodging.
Betrayal
Mod
-
This would be tricky to set up but a mod could be made where ally
arsenals will attack you, so you could play more matches as being
triple teamed against. Would have to selectively mod skills
the
“Betrayers” would use. Still could be
neat. Our
betrayer probably can't use Melee moves well. But long and medium they
can be a menace with. So custom skills of those would give
you
more triple team match ups too. Not sure how well AI will
handle
your own betrayals on defense. Let's just say I eye
JD more
warily when I had him shooting Blasters and Vibration Lasers at me
after experimenting with this idea.
Credits, thanks to the following players for providing help in some way
of getting things done: Ales4Dvran, Algol Mantis, BlasianBlazy,
Bregan,
Gaignun, Ell, Evolution, HunterRedTalon, Murder Mastodon, NuIon, PDDCM, Phlsphr420, SilverSaint,
Toaf, and Torph.
Some DECKs say playernameish. It means they kind of
follow something these players used or posted, but there might
still be some changes.
If you don't like them, blame the AI or stupid modifications
I
made. Having them makes it easier to make DECKs for
reference instead of digging
into the cobwebs of whatever I've got laying around. So thank
you! If I forgot someone that helped with this let me know at pdfaq2@gmail.com.
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