FF7 hacking / modding possibilities

[lparcshinoda]

Hi again. I was thinking about making a mod but since i'm not yet expert about hacking or modding ff7 I'd like to ask to some expert out there how much is possible to mod this game. In particular I'd like to know if it's possible to add new monsters (with an own 3d model or just another model using a model already used in the game) or new dialogues or new weapons or new materia or just anything new or if I have so add new things OVER the ones used by the game. I know for example that scene.bin can be edited with all the monsters details. Could I add a new monster with his own details or I have to replace a monster with MINE ?? And the same for all the other things like dialogues, weapons, magics or special effects used during the battles and so on.... ???

Please excuse me but I'm really new to the modding of ff7 

[ultima espio]

Sorry no 

[lparcshinoda]

no what ? I have to replace existing items (monsters, weapons and so on..) ^^^

[ultima espio]

sorry no new enemies.....at least not at the mo. I could be wrong since Battle isn't my area.

[stormmedia]

Well.. you can easily replace items or anything... but adding something would mean messing with the game code ... witch is very complexe because ff7 doesn't like adding line to it's code... well for what I tested it can't take any more lines than what it already has... plus.. if you wanna replace a monster for your own... you'll have to make sure to respect the number and settings of the bones  of the original model because if you don't .. it will be all messed up because of the annimations... so the best way would be to choose a monster that fits the most with your model and then to adapt your model to it.

[Cyberman]

The game engine of FF7 is quite stretched for it's day.  In other words they pushed it quite hard.

Although possible to do (add new enemies) you need to do several things for this.
1) create a new enemy model.
2) create animations for this new enemy (there are several default animations you must have).
3) create a new ID for the enemy
4) Add AI to the new enemy for any specific attacks this requires script coding.
5) Add the enemies stats and attack information.
6) Add the special attacks into the MAGIC information.

This is just off the top of my head.  I don't think it's practical at the moment.  Maybe when Q-gears is much further along shall we say?

Cyb

[lparcshinoda]

Good.  Thanks everybody for the answers. I'll try to learn something new about hacking to do some sort of modification similar to the ones the i liked to do on the game.... while waiting for the Q-gears to be ready (I could get really old in the meantime)