How does it work?

[RPGillespie]

Alright, I'm wondering how... like, ff7's text is stored in flevel, so I'm making a program that will decompress it and make it so I change the text. I need to mass change the text, but the individual levels are encrypted, correct? So do you need some sort of equation or somthing to decrypt it? How does thaat work? I'm not very good w/ this stuff, I've tried changing around simple SNES roms but I couldn't even do that...  I tried looking at cosmo's source, but Delphi is being gay to me, so I'm writing the prog in C++. Any suggestions?

RPGillespie

[mirex]

Any suggestions?

Yes, look around the forums. I think that there is already a tool that can change all texts in the game. There is also a document gears.pdf by Halkun(TM:) which describes ff7 data. (anyone has it mirrored somewhere ?)

[James Pond]

Yeah, Wasn't It Ficedula that made the text-ed tool?

[Alhexx]

I think this topic belongs to the tech fourms...

 - Alhexx

[Sukaeto]

Read the Delphi Code, write something in C++, if you're that adamant about the language.

If you can't read the Delphi source, you've got no business trying to write this program in the first place.

God.  I'm so sick of n00bs who think that C++ and Java are the only 2 langauges worth writing in, and will not [CANNOT] write in any other langauge because they don't understand BASIC programming skills.  Jesus Christ.  I don't know Delphi, but I guarantee you I could look at that source code and understand what's going on.  It's called being a Computer Scientist, and not a trained n00b.  Go take a class on compiler design or something.

Yes.  I know I'm being an insulting asshole . . . but guess what?  I'm in a shitty mood right now.  A shitty mood that I WASN'T in until I came to this board just to see more spam than the day before . . .

[Alhexx]

Sukaeto: Calm down a bit.

RPGillespie: Noone will take a look at the source for you and tell what to do.
So you will have to do this on your own if you're really interested. Otherwise you'd better quit that project...

 - Alhexx

[RPGillespie]

The problem is I can't physically read the source. I need some kind of DELPHI reader or something... I don't know. Delphi is a weird language, and unless I illegally download one, I don't think there are any open-soure compilers for Delphi. Dev-C++ is free, and thats why I'm using it. The only languages I know are VB Java and C++. And their source is in the form of txts. Sukaeto, I'm sorry I offended you, but please be sensible. Why waste time learning a whole new programming language when you already know one? And yes I know of practically every FF7 text editor in existence, but unfortunatly, none are as efficient as I would like.

 Ficedula's cosmo requires you to physically edit every word b/c his search and replace tool is broken. My first idea was to try and fix it, but I can't seem to get a delphi compiler that is free and works (as I previously stated). Mv32 had a sweet editor called Sapphire, but when it came to read in from the txts, his program used up my memory like poop through a goose.

So, anyways, how hard do you think it would be to fix fice's S&R tool? Much easier than writing a whole new prog I presume. Still, why delphi? I've never heard of that language b/f until I came here...

RPGillespie

P.S.

RPGillespie: noone will look at the source and tell you what to do...

What if I paid like $50? Would anyone do it for money? If you taught me how to do it I would pay... (If you had paypal)

[Synergy Blades]

I think Sukaeto's point was those that know what they're doing don't need to go and learn the ins and outs of Delphi, they can understand the language syntax just by examination. You too can examine the source, I don't know what you mean by implying that the Cosmo source is not "in the form of txts" - just download the source to Cosmo and open it in a text editor. If you can't garner the knowledge you're after from a thorough reading of the Cosmo source maybe you ought to think about giving your project a miss.

[RPGillespie]

I know thats what sukaeto meant, and I can see whats going on by the syntax. What I'm trying to say is I CAN"T READ THE SOURCE. I've opened it with text-editors, hex-editors, etc. and all it is is gibberish! Doesn't that happen to you or is my comp screwed up?

[edit] Oops, my bad.. Theres two of each file
Ex: cosmosearch.pas and cosmosearch.dfm. I was opening the wrong one, sorry   .

[Alhexx]

Okay, the other "cosmo" topic has been deleted.

 - Alhexx

[Sukaeto]

Why waste time learning a whole new programming language when you already know one?

I can think of several reasons.  For starters, some langauges are more well suited for certain tasks than others.  Also (as you can see here), there will be situations where you're forced to use a certain langauge.  When you understand the concepts of writing good code, rather than just remembering the syntax of one language, you'll be able to make the transition to a new language with very little downtime (< 2 hours).  You really should look into that book I posted in the other topic (or one similar to it).

I wasn't intending to call you a Java n00b, or otherwise insult your intelligence for posting this topic.  I was, as I stated before, pissed about all the spam floating around; and this topic set me off on something else I don't like:  n00bs who think they know how to program because they've memorized some C++/Java/etc syntax.  KNOWING a langauge, and knowing how to program are to vastly different things.  (Again, I'm not saying you're one of those n00bs.  In fact, you aren't if you can read and UNDERSTAND the book I mentioned above.)

[RPGillespie]

I know I'm by far not even close to being an elite programmer. You do however learn by doing projects and stuff, and right now I'm trying to brush up on c++ b/c I'm taking AP comp science next year, and I want to get ahead. I assume Delphi is a language more suited for writing applications? Anyway, I still have a lot to learn so please bear wih my somewhat newbish questions...

RPGillespie

P.S. I'll look for that book next time I go to the library   .

[Sukaeto]

I assume Delphi is a language more suited for writing applications?

Actually, I think it's just that its more well suited to Fice's tastes.

For some examples, though:  Fortran is good for complex math, Ada is good for mission critical applications, C is good for producing fast binaries, Lisp is good for dealing with very large integers.

For most things, you'll be able to use C/C++, but it's a good idea to understand where other languages may be more useful.

---edit---

For what it's worth, I can open that Delphi source in vi . . .

[Cyberman]

Delphi is suitable for RAD - Rapid Application Developement.

C/C++ general purpose language good for a lot of things from embeded systems to compilors.

Sometimes you have to use a language that is appropriate for the application. An example would be PERL, Practical Extraction and Report Language.  It's quite good for processing text.

Cyb