1. Battle tasks and action effects
    1. Task system
      1. Task id table
    2. Action execution pipeline
    3. Damage number popups
    4. Function addresses

Battle tasks and action effects

The battle module’s internal scheduler — the task system that sequences windows, captions, stage loads, action animations, magic effects and damage popups — and the full pipeline from an executed command to the numbers on screen. Complements Battle module runtime and Battle UI. Addresses for FF8_EN.exe, image base 0x400000.

Task system

30 task slots of 12 bytes at BATTLE_TASK_SLOT, linked-list managed by BATTLE_TASK_MANAGER:

+0  u8   list index
+1  u8   priority (high nibble) | state (low nibble: 0 pending, 8 deferred, 0xF done)
+2  u16  task id
+4  ptr  callback (or data pointer, per task)
+8  u32  packed parameters

Tasks enter through addElementBattleStack(id, priority, data) and run each frame in BattleTaskMainHandler, gated by a priority threshold. Special id 0x6B purges pending action tasks below a given priority. A separate small UI queue (3 slots, BattleTask_UI_Enqueue) carries window requests.

Task id table

Id Effect Id Effect
1 camera reset 0x68 execute action sequence
3/4 fade/transition helpers 0x69 hide selection triangle
8 print caption text 0x6A AI death (transform)
9 load b0wave.dat 0x6C/0x6D set/unset RUNNING anim (all)
0xA execute callback 0x6E/0x72 set/unset PREPARING_ATTACK
0x11 / 0x12 open command window / next character (UI queue) 0x6F chain transformation
0x40 / 0x41 HUD show / hide (UI queue) 0x70 enable AI
1002 load battle stage file 0x71 callback when anim unlocked
1003 stage post-load 0x73 victory pose (R0WIN)
    0x74–0x77 wait-ready / status→anim / anim status bits

Action execution pipeline

  1. Director (FIGHTING) → BattleTurn_ProcessActionQueue → BattleAction_ExecuteCommand — handles Triple/Double casts, Berserk/Confuse retargeting, Angel Wing.
  2. computeCommandAction runs the damage formulas; computeTargetData fills TARGET_DATA[] (damage dealt, hit type, statuses) and BATTLE_TASK_68_DATA (magic effect id, command type, target list). Reflected spells re-queue as bounced casts here.
  3. Task 0x68 is enqueued with that data (plus a task 8 caption). Next frame, BattleTask68_DispatchActionSequence picks the per-command tick: physical, GF cinematic, or default magic.
  4. The magic tick loads the effect (Magic_GetIDLoad, effect id = kernel magic id + 4), waits, then runs the procedural MAGIC_EFFECT_LOGIC_CALLBACK — which also selects the battle camera sequence (the camera VM shares the AnimSeq byte-code VM).
  5. Attacker/target animations run in the AnimSeq VM; its opcodes B2/B7 call ApplyActionResultToTarget: status→animation, hit reaction, crit flash — and the damage popup spawn, plus drain-back application to the attacker.
  6. Effect-end wait → cleanup → the task completes; victory/turn-end checks happen back in the director.

Damage number popups

BattleFx_DamageNumbers_Spawn — one per target (and a second for drain-back on the attacker), suppressed when the result is reported as text (LV Up/Down…) unless it’s a MISS.

  • Glyphs come from the AICON.SP1 sprite atlas: digits = glyph 56+digit (up to 4, leading zeros trimmed), MISS = glyphs 70+69 stacked, reflected = wide glyph 16; 8 px x-advance, centered by 4 px per digit.
  • Colors: white modulate (0x808080) for damage, green (0x408040) for healing; frames 8–9 fade out with a palette scaler + semi-transparency.
  • Animation: 10 frames, y-offsets from the animation table — damage bounces (−12,−16,−17,−17,−16,−12,−13,−13,−12,−12), healing rises steadily (−12…−21).
  • Position: projected once at spawn — an anchor 0xF0 above the target model (GetEffectSpawnPosition) through the battle camera (TransformWorldCoordinateToProjectedSpace), clamped to x∈[32,288], y∈[32,152]. The popup does not track the target afterwards.

Function addresses

Function Address Description
BattleTask_InitManager 0x500C00 Initializes the task manager
BattleTaskMainHandler 0x500CC0 Per-frame task-list runner
addElementBattleStack 0x500DF0 Enqueues a task
BattleTask_UI_Enqueue 0x4AD620 Enqueues a UI window request
BattleTurn_ProcessActionQueue 0x485460 Executes the queued player/AI actions
BattleAction_ExecuteCommand 0x485610 Handles Triple/Double, Berserk/Confuse retargeting, Angel Wing
computeCommandAction 0x48D200 Runs the damage/heal formulas for the executed command
computeTargetData 0x48EF80 Fills per-target result data (damage, hit type, statuses)
BattleTask68_DispatchActionSequence 0x50A790 Picks the per-command action-sequence tick
BattleTask68_LoadActionContext 0x50BF90 Loads context for task 0x68
ApplyActionResultToTarget 0x506690 AnimSeq opcode handler for hit reaction/status/damage popup
BattleFx_DamageNumbers_Spawn 0x5068B0 Spawns a damage/heal number popup
BattleFx_DamageNumbers_TaskTick 0x5069B0 Per-frame tick of an active damage popup
BattleFx_DrawGlyphString_AICON_SP1 0x4A93D0 Draws the digit/MISS glyphs from the AICON.SP1 atlas
BATTLE_TASK_SLOT 0x1D96AB8 Global variable/data, not a function — 30×12 B task slot array
BATTLE_TASK_MANAGER 0x1D96D68 Global variable/data, not a function — linked-list task manager state
TARGET_DATA[] 0x1D28344 Global variable/data, not a function — per-target result buffer
BATTLE_TASK_68_DATA 0x1D280C4 Global variable/data, not a function — action-sequence task data
BattleFx_DamageNumbers_AnimTable 0xB8B830 Global variable/data, not a function — popup y-offset animation table

Addresses are for FF8_EN.exe (2000 PC release) as mapped in IDA (image base 0x400000).