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Final Fantasy 7 => FF7 Tools => Topic started by: DLPB_ on 2013-07-11 06:39:37

Title: [PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (3.0)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-07-11 06:39:37
Download HERE (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kUThaGRuE1iDQ5Yb1IJP7rliPEdKHlLJ/view?usp=sharing).

This program will only work with the English 1.02 executable or the Steam English executable. When using The Reunion (R06 and above), you can use this tool to aid you even with non-English languages.

In order to complete my own retranslation project I've had to create BoxFF7.  This tool will tell you the X and Y positions of the dialogue boxes and allow you to move their positions in real-time; this means you can correct the box positions as you play the game. BoxFF7 will also allow you to change the dialogue itself, and it can autosize the boxes at the click of a button.

How to use

1. Open FF7.
2. Play the game (preferably at a resolution of 960*720 or 1280*960) with BoxFF7 running nearby.
3. Move the boxes to where you want them to go.
   You can use the mouse to drag and drop, or use the arrow keys, for fine tuning.
   When using the mouse, BoxFF7 will ensure that the boxes stay within the correct borders.
   When using the arrow keys, you are permitted to move the boxes to the outer edge.

It is recommended that you disable any field centring mod before using this program to ensure the correct coordinates are being reported.

Key short-cuts

F1: Centre Horizontally.
F2. Centre vertically
F5: Autosize box (you can also double click on a box)
F9: Open current map text file (inside the "FF7_Text" folder).
Ctrl-T: Place box top centre.
Ctrl-B: Place box bottom centre.
Ctrl-L: Place box left centre.
Ctrl-R: Place box right centre.

Special text markers

{MAX} Characters will be spaced equally.  To end, use another {MAX}.
{FLASH} Text will flash. To end, use another {FLASH}.
{RAINBOW} Text will have rainbow colours.  To end, use another {RAINBOW}.

Colours: {WHITE}, {GRAY}, {RED}, {BLUE}, {PURPLE}, {YELLOW}, {GREEN}, {CYAN}

{CHOICE} Use in places where there are choices.

The Reunion joypad default tags: {U}, {D}, {L}, {R}, {X}, {C}, {T}, {S}, {L1}, {R1}, {L2}, {R2}, {SEL}, {STA}
These can be changed in the UTF8 external font character file (found in the Font folder).

Editing

The box X, Y, Height, and Width values are displayed on the main form caption.

By right clicking on a box in the main window, the X and Y coordinates will be saved to the clipboard in touphscript format (#xy 126 22, for example).  If you have a "ff7_text" folder in the same place as BoxFF7, any touphscript text file inside it will be automatically edited with this information, saving you the need to copy and paste.  Please note, when this is in operation, the boxes will flash 3 colours:

Green: Change was made
Yellow: Change has already been made before, and has been added again.
Red: Change was not made (usually because text does not match).

Latest Changes (3.0)
27-June-2019

Title: Re: FF7box [WIP]
Post by: Template on 2013-07-11 06:43:54
Mind blown. Sincere amazement.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-07-12 01:07:51
Done.  It isn't much, but it will at least make the job easier.  It was surprisingly difficult to code considering how small the job is.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: EQ2Alyza on 2013-07-12 02:18:45
Should I suggest this for those who install Bootleg without your ReTranslation project? It's a Bootleg error, but none-the-less, doing so causes the misaligned boxes for timers/counters (e.g. Shinra Mansion Safe). I believe it's being patched in the next Bootleg release, but that's has an unknown release date.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-07-12 11:11:10
Yeah I suggest you do.  That translation project release just isn't fit for purpose.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-07-12 22:15:22
I am going to have to have a really long think about this...  See the there are 554 dialogue maps in game. And the largest map has 170+ boxes.  Thats a monumental task having to position them all properly. FF8 had same issue.,  FF9 the boxes are linked to the model and follow the model about, even changing position so they dont go in the way of the model.  FF7 is just a flat basic X Y position.

Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-07-15 12:04:11
Nope be here til next year if I do it this way... it's still the best option so far, but I think a better one would be this interface with automatic editing of the touphscript text files.  I don't know how well I can make that work.  But I am gonna try.  If I do this right, double clicking on a box in game won't just tell you the new X Y, it will actually edit the ts files for you.  So you'd still need to go through game manually of course, but it would at least make it easier.


FF9 had a better idea... the boxes are linked to the models.  They move with the models and the bubble starts at the models mouth area. They obviously got sick of manual placements.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2013-07-17 01:57:37
Quote
FF9 had a better idea... the boxes are linked to the models.  They move with the models and the bubble starts at the models mouth area. They obviously got sick of manual placements.

The best thing I could imangine, would be a tool, which capture the text boxes and show its own one.
The tool need the ability to connect a box to the middle of the chest-head bone of a model. However determing, which box belongs to which model needs to be done manuly.
Maybe it would be a good idea to make an unshown model indication at the beginning
of a dialog like:
Quote
#AAAA#R#
Cloud
"..."
[R/L = upper right/left from the model; r/l = lower right/left from the model]


I don't know if it's possible to make such a tool, but at last it's an idea.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-07-17 19:23:09
I'll have an update to this program soon.  I've managed to make it auto edit the touphscript files for you (i.e. add the x y when you click on a box in realtime). So that stops any need for copy paste.  Next I am going to create a small personal tool that will traverse all ts text files and auto place the "obtained" boxes.  Like "Obtained Potion!"

to do that, all that is needed is to add up the length of each of the chars in Obtained Potion!  which gives you the correct width of the box, then do Box_X= 160-(BoxWidth/2).  Y is just 8.  This way a lot of the needless donkey work will be done for me.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-07-30 13:26:01
BoxFF7 1.0 is released. There are probably a few small bugs to iron out, but this is essentially finished. The app will automatically detect if Menu Overhaul or original game is being used and adjust as needed.  The application now supports autosizing of dialogue boxes, and changing of text in real-time.  The purpose of this app is on the fly editing (to see if your box looks good).  It does not edit the actual files.  If you have a "field" folder in the same place as BoxFF7 with touphscript text files inside it, it will detect them and add the new X Y positions (press right click on a box in the app).  This app supports world map box and text changing too.  At the moment, you need to have left a village onto the world map for the app to know that you are on the world map.  I will be fixing this shortly.

I will create a youtube video to make this all easier.  See first post for download link, and more information.

This app will only be useful to people who need to edit box positions.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: Template on 2013-07-30 13:38:28
Man... that is really amazingly ingenious. So someone could translate the game into say, Dutch, on the fly, while doing a playthrough and setting correct box sizes all along??
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-07-30 13:42:38
Yeah, pretty much, assuming the characters are supported. Of course, it still requires a lot of manual work... I mean you'd need to continually copy and paste the text once you were happy with it, but at least you'd know it looked good and is correct!  I've had to throw the kitchen sink and everything in it to get this working...  :P  I thought it was going to be my easiest program, but it ended up a nightmare!
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-08-01 03:34:19
A few more bugs fixed, and ability to open text files added. I will be silently updating this program from now on, so check post 1.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: Kaldarasha on 2013-08-01 12:54:04
I honestly wish I would had this tool earlier. It had saved me hundreds of hours of editing and testing. This is a really great program.
To everyone, who's planing to translate or simply rework the text, BoxFF7 IS a must have.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 [REL]
Post by: Template on 2013-08-01 18:15:33
Yes, when I saw the recent changes to this tool I thought of the German reworked Kaldarasha has done and felt guilty. I'm sure Dan woulda saved a lot of time if he had started with this before the retranslation, but he had to go through the process to learn this tool was needed. groundbreaking work is backbreaking, and too often thankless.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.2
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-08-06 00:05:04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcBGEY8AbnU  Tutorial... very quickly shoved together. Hope it helps. I've added a few annotations to it.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.3
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-08-07 23:39:32
BoxFF7 1.3 is ready.  touphScript text files with {OK}flag, or tabs, were not being updated properly. Fixed.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.4
Post by: DLPB_ on 2013-11-30 19:10:47
1.4 released.  Fixed a few bugs and added Menu Overhaul joypad tags for when the Reunion is released.  It was a bitch adding this too but I eventually programmed a very neat way of doing it.

If someone updates the font image to include xbox, I will also add xbox tags.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.4
Post by: foubou on 2014-04-01 12:38:39
This is amazing tool man, thanks a lot ! :)
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.4
Post by: DLPB_ on 2014-04-01 18:53:41
There is a bug or two in this, but fixed for next release.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.4
Post by: foubou on 2014-04-07 23:36:50
How do I save my changes ?

I tried your program in the cutscene of Guernica when you meet the Turks.
I placed all dialog boxes where I wanted them to be placed.I also right clicked on each of them and they beacame green.

I did that with and without TS files but when I launched the game (and only the game), there was no changes.

Thanks all for help and answers.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.4
Post by: DLPB_ on 2014-04-08 00:12:22
Boxff7 only edits the text files.  You need to run an encode on those files using touphscript to edit the game.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.4
Post by: foubou on 2014-04-08 09:44:49
Ah yeah it works ! I was doing wrong with TouphScript I chose "d" instead of "e".

In your next release, can you please add a "toolbar" like in Loveless ? I mean, a button for yellow, a button for white,...
I'm asking but don't know really if it's easy or hard to do but considering all tools you made so far, I don't think this little add-on will be very diificult for you.  :wink:
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.4
Post by: LeonhartGR on 2014-04-16 13:23:28
Thank you for your amazing work! Is there something similar for VIII? Any plans to make one in the future?
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.4
Post by: DLPB_ on 2014-04-16 20:21:01
No plans for 8 at all... don't love the game enough to invest uber time.  But the principle would be almost identical.
Title: Re: BoxFF7 1.5
Post by: DLPB_ on 2014-06-28 22:25:49
BoxFF7 1.5 is released (see first post).  A few bug fixes.  Hopefully I caught them all.

Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: foubou on 2014-07-18 03:47:03
Great job as always :)
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: Yoshivoodoo on 2014-09-25 05:59:10
Hey guys.
 I have a quick question. Well, Quick to ask but maybe not to answer? The download only has BoxFF1.5 in it. Is that all that's supposed to some with it?
The program just brings up a black window and nothing else, and the tutorial doesn't say where to get the rest of the items needed.

Thanks for helping a noob out =)
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2014-09-25 09:12:56
Look at the first post.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: Yoshivoodoo on 2014-09-25 09:49:11
Thanks for the quick reply.
 Unless I'm completely blind, there is nothing on the first post about where to get the other parts of the mod that I need. I had assumed it was toughScript, but after downloading and installing (I got the link from your youtube tutorial), there is nothing in there like the folders you have in the tutorial.

Is there something I'm missing?

Thanks in advance
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2014-09-25 17:55:38
There is no other part.  The tool is used to give you window coordinates and to change ts files directly if need be.  That's all it does.  It's a tool to aid in window placement, as seen by the video tutorial on page 1.

I code in Borland Delphi which is why there are no useless and stupid bloat packages or other external files required.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: cloudiar on 2014-10-19 12:50:23
Hello  ;)

DLPB your utility is fantastic, I apreciate  coordenate player in all moment and finally expand many options, better work friend!

Are you thinking about add the location info of the coordinates to the world map?

I have small question, you know many memory coordinates to create this utility..know where I can find location "Cosmo canyon" and "Zolom death" scene? I need move this locations, want move these coordinates via "hex", possible?

Thanks in advanced!
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2014-10-19 13:38:37
edit
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: cloudiar on 2014-10-19 18:05:39
Forgive me, do not ask properly, decide to create topic and I think now better, you can answer here, thank you friend :)

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15648.0
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2015-02-26 00:52:20
I have updated this program slightly to work with Reunion R03 onwards.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: Mirrorman95 on 2015-02-27 13:09:39
I can't download this program. My ISP has cash4files listed "as a phishing site and has been blocked."
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2015-02-27 14:16:02
That's a bit ridiculous really.  I'll send you a direct link later.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: Mirrorman95 on 2015-03-09 18:14:24
Thank you for sending me the link today. As it turns out, I had a version of BoxFF7 already, but it was the one from December without the newest Reunion updates. Strangely enough, the older zip file was a kilobyte larger.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: Caledor on 2015-05-17 21:56:33
Could you please update the download link? The linkbucks one has expired.

EDIT: Solved. Thanks DLPB!
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2015-05-17 22:51:11
It's been removed but I forgot to add the direct link here.

Check in 5 mins.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: Albeoris on 2015-09-26 19:49:05
Hi there!
Can you share your sources? I wanna write a similar program for FF8/9.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2015-09-27 00:56:06
Hi there!
Can you share your sources? I wanna write a similar program for FF8/9.

I will add it soon, but it was written with Borland Delphi 7. 
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (1.5)
Post by: Albeoris on 2015-09-27 10:26:49
I will add it soon, but it was written with Borland Delphi 7. 
Excellent! I look forward to! It's not a problem. :) Thank you.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (2.0)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2015-09-30 03:46:53
2.0 released with source (the source code is a mess for various reasons so don't ask me about it :P )

Fixes:

 - Will work only with the original game, or Reunion R03e (final version of Menu Overhaul to be released very soon) and above.
 - Adds window placement information to text files that contain love hearts
 - Adds window placement information to the first entry of text files
 - No longer automatically adds "{CHOICE}" or tabs to display text
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (2.0)
Post by: Albeoris on 2015-09-30 07:48:51
2.0 released with source (the source code is a mess for various reasons so don't ask me about it :P )

Fixes:

 - Will work only with the original game, or Reunion R03e (final version of Menu Overhaul to be released very soon) and above.
 - Adds window placement information to text files that contain love hearts
 - Adds window placement information to the first entry of text files
 - No longer automatically adds "{CHOICE}" or tabs to display text

Thank you very much!
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (2.0)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2015-12-11 13:43:47
Updated.  Final fix so it's compatible with R04.

ts files can be changed if inside a "text" folder.
Title: Re: [FF7PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (2.0)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2016-10-02 01:07:27
Updated.  Forgot to update version number - so be it :P

For Reunion R05c and above, the font character '1' has been corrected. This updates the width value in BoxFF7. Another character was also wrong and has been corrected.
Title: Re: [PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (2.0)
Post by: Mooneyes on 2019-03-27 22:31:06
Any way to make this work on the French version?
When I launch the game, BoxxFF7 detects it was launched but I got a black screen.
My game is the 98's French version and is unmodded. Also, tutorial link is dead. :P
Title: Re: [PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (2.0)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2019-03-28 13:06:24
Nope.  Other than editing source code.  I suggest waiting for R06 - which will finally sort this language barrier issue once and for all.
Title: Re: [PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (2.0)
Post by: Mooneyes on 2019-03-28 14:17:53
Okay!
Any idea of when it will be released? :D
Title: Re: [PC] Position/resize textboxes - BoxFF7 (2.0)
Post by: DLPB_ on 2019-06-11 00:02:10
I've added UTF8 support because that will make things easier for people intending to translate to their own language using R06.

There are a total of 224 free spaces - and I've made it so each character code can be mapped to a new UTF8 char.  I've also allowed for custom tags.

We're fast approaching the release day and I'm sorting out left over issues and updating my tools.