Here's a link to all the mods, not just the one you're asking for, just in case you need them:

https://mega.nz/file/zdwF1TJS#rG7u5bbjmWVmobrwM_FpZs2kOATjRpIL0h9AQNIgEPk
https://mega.nz/file/OBZ3GZ4D#ZFeZ903Dl4wfI1e7B_j8Xsf2SUtFfC5iivCWjdptRB8
https://mega.nz/file/SdxDRBQD#u2ebymeChjReidTIuKki4UoBIDhLu9flVI1RhsCqhg4
https://mega.nz/file/WFoRxA7b#Re_TKd2tTGXSiUwlyg_hTP3m6_PXMp6lFeyrk8Zy3C0
https://mega.nz/file/zYYC3LwY#__J1xJ4wCqnlj1WALEJZyW_584QzCZPN7UGWG5h1puo

I've got two different versions of the Monster Mod Pack, the last "official" release and also a "beta" release, that, as far as I'm concerned, is fine to use. The biggest differences here are that more cactuar variants were added, but there were also some under-the-hood changes made between versions 18 and 26b, so I'd recommend 26b, but I'll post both so you have the option to use whichever you'd like:

https://mega.nz/file/jVYFQQaB#P-_xxbRNAlcM5i2nzj7jRHmtrcUO835O9MObboF7vCU
https://mega.nz/file/nAJThYja#3P6_gwHc3gi3uqskCzLBpWUlg-udlgyH_60DtWllM_4

Looks like Krisan's taken his Patreon page down, killing the links.

Thankfully, I'm an archivist, so I've got this stuff backed up, here's a link:

https://mega.nz/file/OBZ3GZ4D#ZFeZ903Dl4wfI1e7B_j8Xsf2SUtFfC5iivCWjdptRB8

Originally posted by Theroux:

Everything appears to be in order, although Cactuar Prime starts with 0 HP, Strength, and Magic (1 HP in battle), but upgrading it in the Crystarium works fine. Its Feral Link animation seems to be broken too.

Yeah, the purpose of the stats starting at 0 was to avoid the randomness of stats, there wasn’t any other way to do it. If you use all Potent materials you get a lovely amount of 7s when you’re through. About the animation, broken how? It’s been a while.

Originally posted by Theroux:

Just to confirm something that was mentioned a while ago: the Behemoth and Puma were originally a Commando and Synergist, and Glyptodon and Phosphoric Ooze never had Auto-Haste? Because the latter info probably originates from here[gamefaqs.gamespot.com]. Do you know what could have caused this contradiction?

I’m not sure, this is more of a question for Krisan, he’d know better than I would, digging in the files and such isn’t my area. I never accessed anything like that in the original game prerelease or otherwise, but it’s my understanding that Krisan put them back in the game just like they were originally, so I’m not really sure. Sorry I can’t be any more help about that.

Originally posted by Theroux:

Cactuar transforms into Giant Cactuar, which is then implied to transform into Cactuar Prime (just like in FFXIII). I actually hadn't realized Giant Cactuar was in XIII-2; with the way the readme was written, I thought it was added into the game, but the mod simply makes it tamable. As for your sorting issue, the readme did also state that it was fixed for Lightning COM, Sazh, and Gilgamesh, implying it was messed up in the base game. Although, like Scarlet said, you probably have a different version.

Correct. Giant Cactuar was made tameable, then by my request, we added Cactuar Prime to the game as well, as a kind of miniboss. And it’s also tameable, and all three of them have their own flavor as monster crystals. The sorting issue was handled at some point but I forget exactly when.

Originally posted by Theroux:

I did get each mod from the Patreon page, and it looks like the monster mod there is an older version (1.2.18). Is it safe to apply the updated version without any issues? I also used the CCP variant.

So Cactuar Prime wasn’t actually added until version 1.2.19b, it makes sense why you wouldn’t be seeing it. It was my understanding that there was a broken variant of 1.2.26b out there, where Caius and Vanille were not tameable, due to a work in progress alternate recruitment method that was never finished, and I guess it was rolled back to 1.2.18 on the Patreon page, and yet you’re aware of Prime’s existence, so it must be mentioned somewhere. There were some other tweaks here and there (not just for Cactuars) between 1.2.19b and 1.2.26b, but 1.2.26b was a stable release I was confident in releasing, just for some reason, the wrong one was uploaded and unnoticed for a time, but if you use the link I posted in my previous post, that one should be fine. CCP is implied.

> The monster mod readme says Giant Cactuar eventually transforms into Cactuar Prime, but it doesn't seem to be available since it didn’t transform after roughly 12 minutes of waiting, and the Patreon page doesn't mention it.

It’s possible that you may have a build where the transformation doesn’t work. This is Krisan’s doing, there was a test build posted on the Patreon due to an internal numbers mistake and I guess he never fixed it. I told him about it. Here’s a link to the build that should be stable and work:

https:// m e g a . n z /file/nAJThYja#3P6_gwHc3gi3uqskCzLBpWUlg-udlgyH_60DtWllM_4

> You can get multiple copies of Azure Behemoth and Nightblade Puma at once, whether that's intentional or not.

This is intentional, the number of copies you get directly corresponds to the number of copies that Jihl can summon at once during her fight. This is so that you can build them differently, because you can only get a finite number of these crystals.

> When sorting monsters by name, Caius and Vanille seem to move to a random spot.

This should also be fixed with the bios that I posted above. Took a while to figure out what was causing this.

————————————————

I answered what I can. As always, I was the tester, not the mod maker, so I’m not sure about the other things. I haven’t seen them or noticed, personally. Aside from the fact that yes, you do need to install the mods twice if you want to play them in both languages.

Did you do a fresh install from the beginning, just to be sure? Because I tested it myself before sharing, and it definitely lets me recruit them both.

Well, there are two variants of 1.12.18, so it's possible that the one that's on Krisan's Patreon is the one that isn't compatible with CCP. Here's a link to the one that does work with CCP:

https:// m e g a . n z /#!iURkkIbb!P-_xxbRNAlcM5i2nzj7jRHmtrcUO835O9MObboF7vCU

Further testing, my own copy of 1.2.26b did not have the weapons you're speaking of, chrcoluk, what happened with that was Krisan was doing some tinkering and didn't actually update the version number, so his 1.2.26b was actually what should be at least 1.2.27b, and, well... yeah, mistakes were made. I've supplied him with mine, which has Cactuar Prime in it, as well as being able to recruit Vanille and Caius as you should be able to. It's not up yet, but it should be... soon.

I knew I wasn't crazy, I really didn't test those weapons because from my perspective, they never did get off the R&D table, sooo... yeah, they weren't meant to be in the build at all. It was their implementation that would have made the old recruitment methods obsolete, but it wasn't fully implemented either, so you're in a limbo of not being able to use either method with the version that was up on the downloads page before.

But the good news is, I did a fresh install test of all of the mods, including the fixed buttons for Xbox 360 and my 26b, and it's all compatible, it all works, and there are no problems anywhere.

So an update, well... kind of. The version on the downloads page is now 1.2.18 (down from 1.2.26b), but it's a stable release, shouldn't have any problems. It won't have those weapons, it won't have Cactuar Prime, but it should have everything else working as it should. Also the button prompts mod had a small typo in the 360 installation part, so it works now without having to rename anything or do anything other than just running the batch installer.

If that’s what the new weapons are, then well, I’ll bring that up to him, maybe that could be part of the problem. I’m actually surprised that’s in the mod, personally. That was something that, to my knowledge, was still in R&D, so I don’t want to say too much about it.

I’ve spoken with Krisan about it currently being broken, and it’s at least partially my fault. I don’t believe there was an announcement, but he updated the files to include Cactuar Prime, which was a pet project of my own, and the assumption I gathered was that something broke between the last version and the one that added Cactuar Prime to the crystal lists. I tested it a fair bit, so I would probably rightfully assume that the Cactuars can be recruited, if nothing else could be, but on that build, I was only testing the Cactuars, because it was assumed that everything else was still working, because I didn’t really have any reason to believe that they would have been broken. I had already built my ideal Caius and Vanille on that file, so I didn’t try getting them again. Still, it’s a mystery, and will have to investigate. I’m hoping I’ve still got an older build saved somewhere for comparison to see what’s broken, in the event that it isn’t related to those weapons.