A few questions about ff7 modding

[leomorg]

First, let me apologise for any grammar mistakes I may commit on this post - english is not my native language, and I'm still getting used to it.

I recently decided to reinstall FFVII on my PC, and I'm deeply interesting on the modding scenery. I have a few ideas on my mind and I'm willing to concretize them. I've made a few personal mods for more recent game titles, and I'm familiarized with the general procedure, but I'm completely ignorant of the FFVII specific modding tools, and need some advice from more experienced FFVII modders first, and I thought that of all places, this is the best one to find them.

Let's go to the questions:

1 - What are the tools/procedures to extract FFVII textures/image files and pack them again to work in game?

2 - Same question above, mesh-related.

3 - It's possible to add alpha-channel support on the game meshes without messing with the engine?

4 - There is a way to replace FMV's? Like, putting the E3 2005 trailer to replace the original intro? It may sound silly, but I'm afraid I would run into serious codec-related issues if I try it without the proper knowledge.

Sorry if I posted on the wrong board or if I'm repeating already answered questions.

[leomorg]

Nevermind. A good research on the forums managed to answer most of my questions. God, sometimes old games are harder to mod than any new-gen one. I'd kill to have proper texture/lightning support on FF7 meshes (not really simpathetic with the idea of totally replace them), not to mention to have a quick and doable way to re-do those backgrounds. Those are in bad need of some serious work.

But what bothers me the most is the lack of textures on the main char models. I wonder if I can import them and add texes myself without crashing the game?