Messages

1

General Discussion / "Final Fantasy VII Kids!"

« on: 2014-11-15 18:20:45 »

Hey guys, I've been working on some mods and have just uploaded some footage to YouTube of them in action. I'm not currently planning on releasing these, as they use a lot of other modders' work and would be difficult to package without also sharing Square-Enix's copyrighted materials. So I thought I'd just show them off in video form for now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkHwNayW4BY&index=7&list=PLkkwDsMv6nUit118yRHvyTUr3llIlI00b

Hope you find these as cute and funny as I do. Look out for Barret in Part 2. :p

2

Releases / Re: [FF7PC] No Chibis in FMVs (1.16)

« on: 2014-10-14 16:57:16 »

UPDATE (Ver 1.16b)

parashot:
Replaced the file in the zip with one from my data folder, after successfully testing it in game. I don't know if it's actually any different from the version in 1.16, but the following youtube video shows how it should run. Not completely perfect, but his parachute should open and he shouldn't disappear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxhH0Ia8iR0

3

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-06-14 11:36:44 »

UPDATE: (Ver 1.16)

CannonSequenceFix:
Redid the fix so that Tifa no longer suddenly vanishes. She is visible for as long as she should be and is dragged off frame by the natural camera movement.

4

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-06-13 17:32:52 »

UPDATE: (Ver 1.15)

parashot:

Re-cut to more accurately line-up timings with the real-time models.
Note, Cloud's parashoot looks a little wonky in the final shot, his real-time model is animating faster than it should... But it's only slightly odd, it still works.

Added an optional file called "CannonSequenceFix", which if installed will remove Tifa's field model from the hwindfly sequence (otherwise it's possible for her to appear on top of the entire FMV)

5

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-06-13 16:25:56 »

I did also have an issue in the Tifa Junon cannon scene, I could still control her throughout the movie. I just ran her off screen and it was fine, but I think maybe a cue got missed

Ok THAT is weird! That cut-scene doesn't even feature real-time models, they shouldn't have appeared at all... I need to see what's going on there..

EDIT: Just tested the scene, I didn't realise it does actually use real-time models, right at the very start, you still had control over Tifa until she went off camera. I'm not sure how I can fix this by editing the video... Instead I'll include an optional flevel patch in the next upload which hides Tifa's model during this cutscene... That means she does essentially vanish, but it's probably better for her to disappear for a split second than for her to potentially be walking around on top of the entire FMV.

In the process of uploading now.

6

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-06-13 16:22:07 »

I didn't completely follow what the issue is, but you are able to replace the videos that use in game models. The trick is you need to use the correct codec and they need to be exactly the same length, don't alter the length of the originals in anyway. Are these videos yours or the originals (or from others) mixed with your custom videos? I don't think your videos would effect the others that use in game models as long as their codec and length are untouched.

You'd think so, but no... As soon as you replace the FMVs at all, even with videos of the exact same length, the real-time models go hey-wire, they animate at a faster than normal speed and skip their cues, appearing too soon. I've been going in cutting the FMVs short, so as to line-up as best as I can with the crazy new timing of the post-mod real-time models. I'm currently uploading a new version of Parashot...

7

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-06-12 22:27:13 »

Hey DrLilo, Really enjoying this mod and I appreciate your hard work.

Only found this so far

In the Parachute into Midgar FMV, Cloud's Parachute doesn't open and in the next few frames he is missing completely.

Thanks... For some reason all the FMVs that feature real-time models on top seem to got out of time when you replace the videos with custom ones, even if the timing is identical to the vanilla video. With all the other real-time model FMVs I've tested them enough times to get the timing back to more or less right, but to be honest I've never actually replayed the returning to Midgar sequence since making this mod, so I completely missed that one. I'd pretty much put this mod to bed recently, but now I guess I'll have to go back in and fix this...

8

Releases / Re: [REL] Remove snowboarding completely

« on: 2014-05-30 18:03:44 »

I didn't make ulgp.  That was Aali and Luksy

Noted. :p

9

Releases / [FF7PC] Remove snowboarding completely (1.0)

« on: 2014-05-30 13:14:32 »

DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/download/pry5sqmdoo9ytty/RemoveSnowboaring1.0.zip

This small mod when installed will (sadly) remove every instance of the Snowboarding mini-game from Final Fantasy VII. Why would anyone possibly want to do such a thing? Well, unfortunately, we still don't have a way (as far as I know) to mod the snowboarding mini-game and replace its chibi-style character models with better ones. That means that this forum's most popular mods such as Reunion and Tifa's Bootleg all suddenly hit a problem when Cloud starts snowboarding and suddenly reverts to his original blocky model.

One day someone will figure out how to mod this mini-game, but until then this is, I'm sorry to say, the easiest way to ensure that the game graphics remain in a consistent style while playing a modded version of the game. Don't hate me, I love the snowboarding mini-game as much as anyone, it's just a temporary fix. (Note that the motorbike and chocobo racing mini-games CAN and have been modded successfully and so are not affected in any way by this removal mod).

After installation there will no longer be any references to how to control a snowboard in the NPC dialog in Icicle Inn and after the player leaves the map and the NPC shouts "Be careful!" it then fades to black and the player finds themselves lying unconscious at the Great Glacier entrance sign, where-after the game continues as normal.

The Gold Saucer version of the mini-game simply says "Out of Order".

To install:

Extract the zip file and place the new folder in the Final Fantasy VII root directory (where FF7.exe or FF7_en.exe are found).
Double Click on "RUN ME.bat".
Press Enter when instructed.

Ulgp Credits:
   luksy
   Aali

10

General Discussion / Re: Final Fantasy III on steam

« on: 2014-05-30 11:20:48 »

I got the steam port, it's not bad, and looking at its file structure, looks like it'd be quite easy to mod... All we need is a way to extract and recompile its archive format and we can fix those low res textures. Its music is in looping ogg format, so that can be swapped out easily (not that there's anything wrong with it now).

EDIT:

For anyone who want's more info on whether the port is worth buying... It's definitely higher res than the DS version, it looks sharp. The opening FMV has some nasty upscaling artifacts, but it's just an mkv file so it'll be easy to replace. The font seems to have some weird glitch where it displays erroneous pixels here and there around the text, not sure what that's about. The textures on the low poly models look decidedly old-school with massive pixels, far worse than say FF8 on PC. They could really do with some modding. One nice touch is, it has the same launcher window as FF7 and 8 on steam. Points for consistency lol.

11

Releases / Re: [REL] Minor Fixes for Reunion

« on: 2014-05-27 00:12:36 »

You haven't nitpicked enough, she still has a ribbon. I have made a ribbonless model, if you download the single files of my mod you should look for AUFX in Aerith folder.
You should also change Sephiroth to the model with sword after he has killed Aerith. I like to have these little tiny changes that's why I made a topic for it: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=14598.0
Luksy has planed to make some kind of patch program but I think he has currently no time to work on it.
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=14936.0

Btw, where is young Clouds helm in his hand?

UPDATE: (Ver 1.2)

Removed Aerith's ribbon.
Changed Sephiroth to his sword holding model in that field.

The problem with Cloud's missing helmet is nothing to do with this mod, must be something I did by mistake at some point... In any case that model is not affected by this mod and it shouldn't have any effect on anything.

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Releases / [FF7PC] Minor Fixes for Reunion (1.2)

« on: 2014-05-26 22:54:57 »

DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/download/wau6rcwi6t3xmto/MinorFixes1.2.zip

Here's a trio of tiny little fixes for users of Reunion or Bootleg, or anything else which uses the non-chibi models this community has worked so hard on.



For some reason even though a perfectly excellent model of Sephiroth holding Jenova's head was included in the mod packs, in this one field a duplicate of the chibi model is called instead of the other model. This corrects that issue.



For some reason this guy's legs are visible through the wall... Not sure what that's about, but whatever, fixed.



This won't be compatible for anyone who uses a different Aerith field model than I do, but for those who do, you might notice this little nitpick... Aerith's Holy materia was made visible in the field by our modders, which is a nice touch, except for in this scene, where it should be underwater by now! This fix removes it from ONLY the scenes where it should be gone, it remains through the rest of the game.

Install:

Extract the folder to your root Final Fantasy VII directory (where the FF7.exe or FF7_en.exe is found)
Inside the extracted folder double click on RUN ME.bat
Press Enter when instructed

CREDITS:

Reuion Credits:
   DLPB
   SquallFF8
   PRP
   Kaldarasha
   Grimmy
   Pitbrat
   Dahfa
   Bloodshot
   Strayoff
   Anfiga
   

Ulgp Credits:
   luksy
   Aali

13

Troubleshooting / Palmer reimporting issue

« on: 2014-05-21 17:21:58 »

Hey, I didn't want to necro an old thread, so I'm posting this here, hope that's ok.

I need to replace one of the field backgrounds, but Palmer only seems to let you do that if you're using Aali's custom graphics driver, by making use of it's mod path folder... Is there not a way to actually overwrite the background file and re-encode it into the flevel.lgp, so it works with the vanilla drivers?

14

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-18 18:48:08 »

UPDATE: (Ver 1.13)

By popular demand, the videos are now in HD. Bear in mind though that the work was done on top of the original 640x448 files, so this is extra pixels only, the quality won't magically explode upwards. That said, compared side-by-sde, the 1.12 release is definitely fuzzier.

NB: I'm not going to re-upload all the Youtube videos, so they'll stay in their current resolution, unless I make further changes to them.

15

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-16 23:53:09 »

Are the links in the first page updated as well to watch the preview? Thanks!

I always keep them up to date, should work, unless there's a problem.

16

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-16 13:12:48 »

UPDATE: (Ver 1.12)

fallpl:
Tightened up timing with real-time models.

hwindfly:
Changed Tifa's falling angle so she appears to hold the rope.

monitor:
Completely redid the camera movement.
Painted out chibi employee frame-by-frame.

17

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-16 01:01:18 »

Just curious, How come you aren't using the new 1280x960 videos?

Dunno really, I don't have them... at this point it's too late tbh, we're hundreds of frames of photoshop work in, using this resolution. I may eventually render them out at a higher resolution, but it'll still be using this size as a base. Sorry about that. At the end of the day the source material was this res, so any improvement you get from up-scaling is fairly minor.

18

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-15 20:56:10 »

UPDATE: (Ver 1.11)

dumcrush:
Cut out small clip where Tifa was running on the spot.

fallpl:
Blended the superimposed cable in better with the original cable.

hwindfly:
Sped up Tifa's running sequence.
Redid the falling shot, restoring the original rope animation, frame-by-frame.

19

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-14 20:08:48 »

onctrain:
Clouds crouch seems unnatural, Maybe position a leg back, as in reality it would give him more stability. maybe even put a hand down on the train as well.
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs21/f/2007/239/1/e/GP076___Crouching_Girl_by_guilty_pleasure.jpg(dispite the name it is very SFW) is a perfect example of what i'm thinking (thank you google images )

Can't get his arm all the way to the ground, it's too short (and badly rigged by me), but this is hopefully closer to what you wanted.

UPDATE: (Ver 1.10)

ontrain:
Changed Cloud's end pose to kneeling.

20

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-14 18:23:41 »

UPDATE: (Ver 1.9)

hwindfly:
Removed chibi Barret frame-by-frame, instead of using the 'bubble' effect. (this change was in ver 1.8 )
Gave Barret animation. (this change was in ver 1.8 )

ontrain:
Moved 'thud' sound effect to match video.
Changed Cloud's end pose to be more crouched forward.

21

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-13 22:38:00 »

Good work so far 

dumcrush: Between the 8 and 9 seconds, the scene cuts to another but it shows Tifa still running (arm motion obvious) for a split second before she starts her falling animation.
Suggestion: When it cuts to the next scene, have the falling animation start right away. This would make the transition between scenes as fluid as possible.

fallpl: I can notice the transparent cloaking you gave to the running citizen. Is there anyway to eliminate it completely?

highwind0: Between the 8 and 9 seconds, the screen turns gray and flashes until the end.

highwindfly: Someone commented about the bubble blurs around Barret and Tifa. I can still notice them, but perhaps this is the best that can be done. I didn't read through the entire thread, so sorry if you've already addressed it.

ontrain: Give Cloud more time to prepare his setup before he jumps. You can hear a *thud* right around the start of the 3 second mark. In the original, this thud noise was exactly when Cloud landed on the train. Is there any way to have him crouched on one knee and leaning his arms forward onto the train? Standing straight up would seem difficult with the wind resistance.

Thanks for the feedback... The hiwind0 problem was a rendering glitch, thanks for pointing it out. Re-uploading now.

The dumcrush one actually isn't a mistake, she was supposed to be still running, but I guess it doesn't look that great, so I'll have another go at that bit, when I get five mins. The transparent citizen is one example of many where it's actually super obvious where the old chibi models used to be... I dunno if I'll ever get rid of them completely, but I'll keep trying to improve the result. The ontrain sound effect is a good catch, hadn't occured to me, I'll have another look at that one.. (maybe I'll just move the sound effect itself, lol).

EDIT: Re-uploaded with fixed hiwind0. (Ver 1.7b)

22

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-13 21:30:42 »

UPDATE (Ver 1.7)

dumcrush:
Minor improvement to Tifa's running animation (her upper-half is no longer rock solid)

hwindfly:
Made the cannon's wobble less extreme, more of a gentle movement.

Thanks for the feedback Hellbringer.

23

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-13 20:20:08 »

Some of the video descriptions say you cut out some of the frames. As much as I hate the low-poly field models, I'd rather have them in a few problem frames then have those frames removed altogether.

Ehh.. It was really just a case of cutting the work load, by trimming the sequences down a bit. I removed or shortened some parts, but kept everything that's necessary to tell the story, including all the various camera angles. I don't currently have any plan to put these missing bits back in, but you won't notice them missing, the game doesn't wait on black for the full lengthed video to end or anything like that... Yeah the Shin-Ra troops are missing from the Junon attack, but as they're such minor NPCs, it just seemed like a lot of extra work. Heideggar says "ATTACK!" then you see a bunch of ammunition fly from Junon to the Weapon, so the story still makes sense.

By the way, there's a video enhancement project called SVP, that can convert videos from 24 fps to 60 fps on the fly. Does it seem like a good idea, or would such high frame-rates be unrealistic for such an old game engine?

I haven't done much research into it, for now I'm converting the videos to the same resolution and framerate as the vanilla game, as others settings and codecs that I've tried wouldn't run.

24

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-13 19:11:03 »

Yes! Always wanted something like this, just annoys me when it shows those old Lego blocks in fmv's before lol thank you for this awesome mod!

Hey thanks

UPDATE (Ver 1.6c)

dumcrush:
Brightened up Cloud's face, added more fully animated clips to Tifa's falling.

hiwind0:
Tightened up the syncing between the background and Cloud.

hwindfly:
Couple of subtle touches, nothing major. (still a lot of work to make this one not suck )

monitor:
Made his hair less shiny.

ontrain:
Brightened up Cloud's face.

southmk:
Tried to blur out some of the more noticeable white outlines.

25

Releases / Re: [REL] No Chibis in FMVs

« on: 2014-05-12 20:20:39 »

Worked great.

Looks good so far, some criticism (constructive of course)

dumcrush
Tifa's fall looks so unfluid, even for a 15FPS (which i think was the frame rate of all the videos in FF7) video. clouds colors also seem a bit.. off, I know he has Mako sickness, but his face looks so, Off.

gold3:
Looks great to me!

hiwind0
He seems to rise and fall while the video just raises. Anyway to fix that? Otherwise looks great

hiwindfly
Seems there are bubbles around Barret and Tifa unlike in others, Understand if thats not correctable

monitor:
His hair is very very shiny, Anyway to correct just his hair?

ontrain:
His face is still too dark :/

southmk:
Minor white lines around the charaters, Otherwise it looks amazing!

Thanks for the feedback

Starting tomorrow I will go through these and see what I can do... Some will be easier than others to fix. The bubble effect on hiwindfly will be extremely hard to get rid of, it's really due to having to cover up the existing chibi models. It's not a problem whenever the camera is stationary because I can take one still image of the scene and carefully Photoshop it... Whenever the camera is moving but only for a short time, I've gone in and painted them out frame by frame (which creates a kind of flickery, blobby effect) while for longer, more complex shots I've used that bubble method... Either way it doesn't look too brilliant. :/