I am making this post for documentation purposes, in case this information can be useful for someone out there.
I've made some progress in analyzing the hand cursors, and discovered a few oddities.
However, first I need to get out of the way the issue of compression before proceeding.
Making seemingly simple changes to the ".TIM" file results in a larger "WINDOW.BIN" after compression (which is bad).
I couldn't figure out how to properly resize the CD image, but came up with a rudimentary MacGyver solution.
If my understanding is correct, the compression in FF7 works by "compacting" redundant data. So if there is a chunk of data that is pretty much a repetitive sequence, it can be "compacted".
Here is the US tile map, ripped with Tim2View with CLUT [02/16] loaded:
Here is the Japanese tile map, ripped with Tim2View with CLUT [02/16] loaded:
Notice how there are graphics in the US version that are not present in the Japanese version? And where the additional graphics in the US version are present, chunks of "gray blocks" are in the same place in the Japanese version instead. With the idea of redundant data being "compacted", I figure I can just "gray out" graphics in the US version that are not in the Japanese version. If Japanese gamers can play the game without these additional graphics, why can't we?
Here is the US tile map with the "grayed out" areas, ripped with Tim2View with CLUT [02/16] loaded:
After compressing into a new "WINDOW.BIN", the result is a smaller "WINDOW.BIN" which gives me some room to make edits.
I made a ".IPS" file that creates these blanks to save time for future work
here.And with that out of the way, here is the US tile map with the exact locations of the hand cursors marked, ripped with Tim2View with CLUT [02/16] loaded:
You can get my copy of this ".TIM"
here, although I haven't tested this recently "cleaned up" version in game yet.
While analyzing these hand cursors, I noticed some strange things.
The field cursor seems normal.
The menu cursors are weird.
First off, I noticed that the cursors are not fully rendered all the time. For example, the hand cursor "pointing right" is 24 x 16 pixels, but at the opening "NEW GAME / Continue?" screen it is rendered as 21 x 16. But elsewhere in the game the full 24 x 16 pixels is rendered in the game, and sometimes it is rendered in a completely different resolution. The "jail cell bars" you see in that cursor mark columns of pixels that are omitted at the opening "NEW GAME / Continue?" screen, when I first noticed this oddity.
The next set of oddities are confusing and can be problematic for anyone who wants to completely change the graphics on this tile map.
The CLUT data observed in programs like Tim2View and Tile Molester are inconsistent with what is rendered.
In the hand cursors that are pointing left and right near the top right corner, I have replaced the transparency with blue. However, when this is rendered in game the blue color doesn't appear, but a transparent red tint in its place instead.
Here is a screenshot using an older ".TIM" I made (this one is "messy" so please excuse other messed up menu stuff) while analyzing this:
A similar discrepancy is present with the "red X" hand cursor.
Here is the US tile map with the exact locations of the hand cursors marked, ripped with Tim2View with CLUT [08/16] loaded:
I have replaced the transparency with gray, but when this is rendered in game it comes out as black. Here is a screenshot using the same ".TIM" from the gameplay screenshot from before:
I guess my next mission is to experiment with the CLUT.
Show Posts
