About Exp calculations and Hard Mode

[God of Humility]

So most of you know about the calculations of Exp in FE7 where in Eliwwod and Hector's normal modes, there is a Mode coefficient in the formula that makes it so sometimes the exp received is ridiculously high. (It happens when a promoted unit kills another, see the Calculations page on the main site if you don't know). The most common solution to this has been to have ridiculously low-leveled promoted enemy units, but that is pretty restraining and can become ridiculous.

Anyway, I've been trying to find a way to work around this. The simplest solution I could think of was to use Hard mode. This seems to fix the problem of Exp calculation (though I haven't thoroughly tested this yet) but it brings with it its own problems. In Hard mode, promoted units grow 19 levels in their unpromoted class while in Normal Mode they only grow 9 levels. This makes them much more powerful, and I would like to remove that effect.

So what I want to know is this: How exactly does Hard Mode work and are its effects editable in any way? Or even better, is there anyway to fix the exp gains in Normal mode without resorting to Hard Mode? It sounds like something relatively simple to do, only one variable to change, but I've searched and nothing has come up.

I've been trying to figure this out myself, but I can't ASM to change the formula. I suppose it would be possible to live with Hard Mode as it is, but I would prefer not to.

Thanks for any and all information on this matter.

[CT075]

if you're going to rule out asm then it can't be done

[God of Humility]

I know asm will be needed for something like this. It just seems like a pretty common problem that is caused by a single variable in a formula. I don't know asm (yet) but it seems like something that someone would have done already.

Oh well, if it happens that no one took the time to do it, I really can't expect someone to do work for me.

[Agro]

why don't you try lowering promoted class growths?

[CT075]

i've been meaning to look into it for a long time but i've been busy with other things

if you can wait a few months i'll see what i can do

[God of Humility]

I'l try lowering the promoted growth rates, this should balance it a bit, I think. Thans for the idea.

However, it seems I'm doing something wrong. When I tested to see if Hard Mode was affecting the Exp calculations, it turns out it doesn't and the normal mode calculation is still used to make promoted units give ridiculous exp. What I'm doing is using the ASM hack to force HHM (by Blazer), slightly tweaked to force EHM, as an event during the first chapter of Eliwood mode. I've checked in the memory viewer at 0x0202BC0C and the value is 40, meaning it is in Hard Mode. Also, the enemies don't seem to have their stats calculated using the Hard Mode formula, they only seem to have 10 levels worth of stats before promo while they should have 19. So, it is pretty apparent that I'm not doing it right and that I'm not even using Hard Mode. I treid using the HHM forcer hack and I have the same results, exp calculation is the same and the promoted enemies seem to have only gained 10 levels. However, all enemies gain some extra levels like it was done in FE7 HHM, so I'm pretty sure I'm using it right.

So I ask, is there anyway to force Hard Mode? Or is there something I am completely missing?

[CT075]

use blazer's routine, clear the chapter, the next chapter should be on hard mode

it's probably just an issue about when enemies are loaded

[God of Humility]

Yeah, turns out you were right. I was loading the routine at the beggining of the chapter, after the enemies loaded.

However, something weird is happening. Promoted enemies are still using the normal Mode formula or their stats but the Hard mode formula for the exp calculations. This is basically wha I wanted all along, but I have no idea why its happening. Just thought somebody might want to know. Either way, I'm satisfied.

Thanks for the help.

[Agro]

Are you sure Eliwood Hard Mode gives the promoted units another 10 levels? I feel like only HHM does that, since EHM seems easier than HHM. Just to clarify, you are forcing EHM, right?

[God of Humility]

Yes, I am forcing EHM. I got my info from this page that says that promoted generics in all 3 hard modes gain 19 levels in the unpromoted class. It might be wrong though, as it didn't seem to work that way when I tested it.