FF7/Battle/Battle Scenes/Battle AI Addresses

In this page, an "actor" is defined as an entity instance in a battle (scene). The "current actor" is an actor that is executing a script or performing an action. An "active actor" is one that can perform actions. An "action" is defined as an event with a visual representation in battle (eg. an attack or a position change).

Most of the complexities of AI scripts use different memory addresses to make decisions based on the actor performing an action or the target of an action. There are three categories of address each spanning a separate useable¹ address ranges.

Range	Usage
0x0000 - 0x03FF	Random Access Variables. No initial value or significance to battle.
0x2000 - 0x21DF	Globally accessible values. Values are the same for all actors.
0x4000 - 0x433F	Actor specific values. Contains information such as HP, MP, Level, stats, etc. One for each Actor, 10 in all.

Each address references a specific bit of memory rather than a byte which means individual bits can be manipulated without using BIT-wise operations in script. Every 8 address values is the beginning of a byte (ie. 0x0000, 0x0008, etc.). The code used to access an address determines whether a bit, byte, word, or dword is being read/written.
Addresses must be accessed directly. There is no pointer support to these values accessible in AI scripts.

Random Access Variables

These values are used between scripts and not automatically set/cleared at any time during battle. If an address is set to a specific value in one script, it will retain that value when the next script begins. The initial value is 0. Each actor is allotted 1 kilobyte with which to store values and addresses are unique to the actor. Going beyond 3FFh as an address will result in memory leaks.

Global Values

Generally these contain information about the battle itself. These values are the same when any actor accesses them, although they do change to reflect the battle's events.

Address	Value
0x2000	Command Index of last action performed
0x2008	Action Index of last action performed
0x2010	Memory 1/2 Bank access value
0x2018	DUMMY. Used in one script in a test enemy.
0x2020	Battle Formation (side, pincer, pre-emptive, etc.)
0x2038	Limit Level. Only used by Vincent during transformation.
0x2050	Active Actor List. A bit mask of all active (scripts enabled) actors.
0x2060	Single bit indicating which actor owns the script that is currently executing. Changes as scripts are triggered.
0x2070	Bit mask of actors indicating targets of the current action. Should be set prior to any action.
0x2080	Bit mask of actors indicating actors the current actor considers as allies. Changes as scripts are triggered.
0x2090	Bit mask of active actors indicating actors the current actor considers as allies. Changes as scripts are triggered.
0x20A0	Bit mask of actors indicating actors the current actor considers as enemies. Changes as scripts are triggered.
0x20B0	Bit mask of active actors indicating actors the current actor considers as enemies. Changes as scripts are triggered.
0x20C0	Bit mask of active player's characters
0x20E0	Bit mask of all active and inactive actors present in the battle.
0x2110	Set of flags indicating battle rewards (functions unknown).
0x2120	Elements of last performed action.
0x2140	Formation Index of the current battle.
0x2150	Index of last performed action.
0x2160	Some sort of flags (unknown effect).
0x2170	Special Attack Flags.
0x2180	Unknown
0x21A0	Something to do with String display (not sure what).
0x21C0	Party's Gil

Actor Specific

These values are reflections of a given actor's status. They include some obvious things like Statuses, Level, HP, MP, etc and a few abstract things like Animation IDs for reactions. Every actor has their own copy of these values that reflects their instance. These values are accessed by masking the address with a specific actor(s) in the script. Using the mask will let the script interpreter know which set of physical addresses to use.

Address	Value
0x4000	Bitmask of current Statuses
0x4020	Set of flags relating to situation (defending, backrow, etc.).
0x4040	Actor Index
0x4048	Level
0x4058	Greatest Elemental Damage modifier (No damage, half, normal, etc.)
0x4060	Character ID (+10h)
0x4068	Physical Attack Power
0x4070	Magic Attack Power
0x4078	Physical Evade
0x4080	Idle Animation ID
0x4088	Damaged Animation ID
0x4090	Back Damage Multiplier
0x4098	Model Size (default is 16)
0x40A0	Dexterity
0x40A8	Luck
0x40B0	Related to Idle Animations
0x40B8	Character that was just covered. (Character index +10h)
0x40C0	Target(s) of last action performed by actor
0x40D0	Previous Attacker
0x40E0	Previous Physical Attacker
0x40F0	Previous Magical Attacker
0x4100	Physical Defense Rating
0x4110	Magical Defense Rating
0x4120	Index of actor
0x4130	Absorbed Elements
0x4140	Current MP
0x4150	Max MP
0x4160	Current HP
0x4180	Max HP
0x4220	Initial Statuses
0x4268	Magic Evade
0x4270	Row
0x4278	Unknown (something to do with the camera?)
0x4280	Gil stolen (Enemies only)
0x4290	Item stolen (Enemies only)
0x42A0	Unknown
0x42B0	AP actor is worth
0x42C0	Gil actor is worth
0x42E0	EXP actor is worth

Thanks to unchecked memory leaks¹, any actor can directly access another actor's script values. The following table is to be read across to show what address should be used to access another actor's values starting at 4000. For example, Actor 2 can use 4D00 to access Actor6's values. Also, Actor 8 can use 2540 to access Actor 1's values.

Actors2	Actor 0	Actor 1	Actor 2	Actor 3	Actor 4	Actor 5	Actor 6	Actor 7	Actor 8	Actor 9	RAVs3
Actor 0	*	4340	4680	49C0	4D00	5040	5380	56C0	5A00	5D40	6080
Actor 1	2220	*	4340	4680	49C0	4D00	5040	5380	56C0	5A00	5D40
Actor 2	2220	2540	*	4340	4680	49C0	4D00	5040	5380	56C0	5A00
Actor 3	2220	2540	2880	*	4340	4680	49C0	4D00	5040	5380	56C0
Actor 4	2220	2540	2880	2BC0	*	4340	4680	49C0	4D00	5040	5380
Actor 5	2220	2540	2880	2BC0	2F00	*	4340	4680	49C0	4D00	5040
Actor 6	2220	2540	2880	2BC0	2F00	3240	*	4340	4680	49C0	4D00
Actor 7	2220	2540	2880	2BC0	2F00	3240	3580	*	4340	4680	49C0
Actor 8	2220	2540	2880	2BC0	2F00	3240	3580	38C0	*	4340	4680
Actor 9	2220	2540	2880	2BC0	2F00	3240	3580	38C0	3C00	*	4340

This is mostly unhelpful as formations can vary greatly and actors can still indirectly access each other's values based on controllable conditions. There are lots of examples of indirect access, the memory leak trick is just interesting.

NOTES:
1 - Address values are only checked by the minimum value and stored accordingly. The structure in memory stores the Global Variables first, the Actor Variables second, and the Random Access Variables last. Technically, a value of 0xFFFF could be used as an address, but that would result in a memory leak producing erratic results.
2 - Actors 0-2 are player controlled characters, Actors 4-9 are enemies. Actor 3 is a omnipresent battle actor that holds formation AI, if it exists. It does nothing on its own and is only used in a few boss battles.
3 - This will access the Random Access Variables starting at 0x0000. This is stupid as it requires more work to get to them. Don't do it this way!