Messages

51

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.2 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-28 19:59:30 »

I don't mean to sound rude with this, but I added a statement above the downloads section that states:

*Please DO NOT post any direct links to files, always link to this forum thread. Especially, do not make any links to adfly or any other ad site

My reasons for this are as follows:
1) I don't believe (ethically) that anyone should be profiting in any way off of game mods unless they require donations to stay in operation
2) If people want to download these files, I prefer that they come to the forum to do so. This allows them to see the other projects on the forum and potentially become interested and also provides them a place to find support for these mods
3) I shorten my URLs now using Google URL shortener because it provides interesting analytics on the number of clicks and countries that people click from and I'd like to keep track of those things

@Kaldarasha
I'm currently testing for the memory fragmentation theory and it seems to be it. The game quickly builds up on RAM usage but when I run my optimization tool it's memory usage drops back too ~7mb, so as a workaround I think one could suggest running a RAM optimization tool like RAMRush alongside the game. RAMRush has a keyboard shortcut (ctrl alt o) so you can launch the optimization from inside the game, but that's just the first Ram optimization tool I found so there might be better tools around.

EDIT: =/ guess what hapened when the game's commited RAM reached about 1600mb.

@sunz
You can just deactivate the overlay (and Square's synchronization thing too) by right-clicking the game on your Steam Library and going to Properties. And using SAM won't solve the problem. If somebody sends you a chat message or one of your steam groups posts anything your game will crash.

@Omzy, @Kaldarasha
Now, into something new: one really curious thing happened, until a few hours ago the overlay was working alright, but now it loads the first few layers (the first few boxes and the name of the first person on my friend's list), and then the game crashes. It's the same installation that I was running before, so what changed? Well, some hours ago I was "working" from home so my Steam was set to Offline and thus wasn't loading my friends list. I've set it back to Offline now and the overlay works fine.

Thanks for this Alexios--it is really helpful. So you're saying that to avoid all steam overlay issues, you can deactivate the overlay in your Steam Library. This should be considered the permanent fix unless another way is discovered down the road. Please let me know if this works for you guys.
I will also look into memory management and caching local areas. I did build a cache in the current release that stores up to the last 100 textures and since each texture is a couple of megs at least, you might expect memory to get up to 300MB, however 1600MB should definitely not happen so I will need to assess that. I think caching menus/battle/world map textures is a great idea Kaldarasha.
*Remember, if you are seeing weird unpredictable things like random textures popping in where they shouldn't, that is a hashing error and that is my next priority.

52

Releases / Re: [REL] Project Eden - (dramatically improved backgrounds for FFVIII!)

« on: 2014-06-28 19:48:18 »

I don't mean to sound rude with this, but I added a statement above the downloads section that states:

*Please DO NOT post any direct links to files, always link to this forum thread. Especially, do not make any links to adfly or any other ad site

My reasons for this are as follows:
1) I don't believe (ethically) that anyone should be profiting in any way off of game mods unless they require donations to stay in operation
2) If people want to download these files, I prefer that they come to the forum to do so. This allows them to see the other projects on the forum and potentially become interested and also provides them a place to find support for these mods
3) I shorten my URLs now using Google URL shortener because it provides interesting analytics on the number of clicks and countries that people click from and I'd like to keep track of those things

53

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.2 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-27 22:50:32 »

Thanks for all the bug reports--I expected some of these issues to arise based on the way Tonberry works.

1. Steam overlay/achievements issues:
Steam's overlays use the same technique of directx interception that Tonberry uses, meaning that any time steam interrupts the game with an achievement or anything else, unexpected behavior will occur. I am not sure yet how to fix this. If anyone knows how to bypass achievements or syncs, chime in. Save files could potentially be modified as well, but I don't know much about that.

2. Memory issues/management:
I'll look into them, but I may need some help from someone experienced in C++. If anyone (maybe Kaldarasha?) would like to help make suggestions/edits for my code, I'd love to have the help. I can send the source files to interested individuals. I've tried to keep it relatively condensed and its not all that many lines.

3. Hash errors/stutter during summons or world map:
My next priority. I plan on rewriting the hash algorithms so this kind of thing happens less. I still have yet to discover why some summons lag.

4. Other issues:
Please keep reporting them--I think all issues mentioned so far fall into the categories above.

I have a lot going on IRL for the next month, so updates will not be as quick as they have been, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to be working hard on it. Over time, with community help, we should be able to resolve all of these things! 

54

Releases / Re: [REL] Project Eden - (dramatically improved backgrounds for FFVIII!)

« on: 2014-06-26 19:40:46 »

"An unknown exception has occured"....is the error message...yes do have the latest Tonberry, latest hashmaps, and im unable to update my graphics drivers because of no support for the Mobility Radeon HD 3470 - 256 mb. But i do have Directx9. Did uninstall and reinstall VC++ And im not a noob at modding, applying patches etc either. Could it really be that my Graphics Card is too weak for the upscaled Textures? It's not just this mod, but as soon as i installed Tonberry, nothing works anymore. But thanks for your help anyway, really appreciate it.

It is possible. The new textures are 4x but what that really means is 16x the number of pixels. Since each normal-sized texture is loaded once by the game so that it can be hashed, that means that loading textures requires 17x processing power compared to the original. I expect to see some trouble on older machines, unfortunately, but that doesn't mean it is definitely the problem you're having. Keep in mind, there still may be crashes that I'm not aware of after playing for a while or at certain junctures in the game, and someone has already brought up potential crashes when the game syncs with SE servers. There may also be a problem with the way you put the files in your directories.

55

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.2 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-26 19:21:16 »

There's a guy on the steam forums that says his game is crashing whenever it tries to sync with SE servers and the trophy icon doesn't seem to show.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/39150/discussions/0/540744936068432979/

FYI - He didn't give any more info.

Sounds like he's crashing every time he gets an achievement. Not sure if there's a way to bypass/turn off syncing/ or if disconnecting from the net would help, if anyone has any other theories, I'm all ears.

56

Releases / Re: [REL] Project Eden - (dramatically improved pre-rendered backgrounds for ff8!)

« on: 2014-06-25 22:05:31 »

The east side of Balamb Garden is getting the black borders around the water animations.

Also - just noticed that the elevator on the first floor in balamb isn't being rendered properly... we're floating when we come down the tube into 1F.

Thanks for pointing those out. I think as testing goes on further, it will help to have glitches in a consistent format so I can fix entire lists of textures quickly instead of trying to hunt down what exactly is wrong where. If you don't mind the extra work, please document glitches in this format when you find them, and try to keep a running list in each new thread posted so we can see all of them in one spot. I'll go ahead and start it.

[Name of field file from PuPu/Deling] : [problem with Tonberry or Project Eden?] : [description of problem]

For example, the two that were mentioned:
bghall_3 or bghall3a: Project Eden glitch : black borders around water
bghall_4 or bghall4a : Project Eden glitch : wrong elevator layers

One with Tonberry hashing errors:
bcsaka_1 or bcsaka1a : Tonberry hashing error : flag animation is old texture

One with both Project Eden and Tonberry errors:
bgroad_4 : Tonberry hashing error: bushes on bottom are old texture
bgroad_4 : Project Eden glitch : white border around tree leaves

Running List (alphabetical, re-post this quote if you are adding to the list):

Tonberry Hash Errors:
bcsaka_1 or bcsaka1a : Tonberry hashing error : flag animation is old texture
bgroad_4 : Tonberry hashing error: bushes on bottom are old texture

Project Eden Glitches:
bghall_3 or bghall3a: Project Eden glitch : black borders around water
bghall_4 or bghall4a : Project Eden glitch : wrong elevator layers
bgroad_4 : Project Eden glitch : white border around tree leaves

Also, can someone move this post to releases please, or PM me with who I should ask. 

57

Releases / Re: [REL] Project Eden - (dramatically improved pre-rendered backgrounds for ff8!)

« on: 2014-06-25 03:32:58 »

Main post updated with release. Keep in mind this is a beta release, so expect to see bugs, especially since I'm releasing this and Tonberry at the same time. If you find fields that don't look right, please document them. Try to find the name of the field file by using PuPu or Deling. If there is a texture that has parts that look like the old version and not resized, that is a hashing error (Tonberry)--document it as such. If, however, there is a problem with the way the layers overlap, that is a Project Eden script error, document it as such. Let me know if you guys have problems with the download, I'll try to get a torrent going soon. Happy testing 

58

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.2 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-25 02:01:27 »

Yes that sounds like hashing errors. The hash algorithm needs some work, Ill try to work on it soon.

59

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.2 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-24 03:52:07 »

Anyone else having issues downloading?

Sorry about that, should be working now.

60

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.2 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-24 01:01:08 »

Is there no way to do this with OGL? i only ask because of your statement about FF9 and pSX having a DX9/D3D renderer Both emulators (ePSXe, PCSX-r) and both plugins i use (Petes OLG2, GPUBladesoft) are OGL :/ i suppose i could try pSX, but if it can't raise internal resolution of the 3d models, i find it almost pointless (GPUBladesoft i use for 2d games )

There may be a way to do it with OGL, but I'm not going to look into FF9 for a long time, so I'll do that research in the future to see what the pros and cons are.

In other news, Mcindus has done some more work on Tripod and I've updated the main post with Tonberry v1.2 to add support for his new version. I've also added the following features I mentioned before: support for non-256x256 textures, support for non-4x replacement textures, and support for character and object sprites. I've also decided that instead of releasing an extra debug version, I'll just include debugging in the main releases. You just have to rename the 'debug0' folder to 'debug' and it will work--you can read the main post for more instructions on debugging.

61

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.1 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-21 00:34:49 »

I assume since the d3d9.dll gets replaced, this won't work in combination with "sweetfx" and its FXAA filtering which requires you to overwrite the original d3d9.dll file with the one that comes with sweetfx to take effect in the first place? Sorry for my noob question, was just wondering.

FF8 seems to crash and burn whenever i take a screenshot through the steam screenshot hotkey while Tonberry's active - it has a texture glitch whenever you hit F12 and hard crashes.

These are related questions, I think. Yes, this mod will not work in conjunction with any mod that also replaces d3d9.dll or also intercepts directx calls in another way. Interestingly, steam's method of generating an overlay on top of the game for checking friends lists or opening other steam things which may include screenshots as well also uses this same interception technique, so unfortunately, I have to break it (you can still use Fraps for screenshots). These are the limitations of this approach to external texture support, but its a tradeoff we have to make if we want better textures. In the future, however, it is possible to combine user-made d3d9 dll's into single combo versions since I will provide my source files when this project is finished.

Edit: I've added support for non-256x256 textures, support for non-4x replacement textures (just for you 5way ), and support for character and object sprites that will be in the next release. This support was built into the DLL but I have not done the hashing for anything else yet--will wait for modders to help with that.

62

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] PuPu v2.1 - FF8 Field Importer/Exporter

« on: 2014-06-20 01:51:45 »

New version released, v2.1, see main post for download. This version corrected some of the bad memory leaks introduced in v2.0, but there are still memory leaks that I haven't figured out yet. If you're doing a bunch of files and you get the error "Missing import files...", the memory leak has become too bad to continue, so restart PuPu. I've tested it using multiple runs, however, and it works well enough to convert all files without too much hardship.

63

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.1 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-18 01:05:30 »

My reasoning on FF9 is that one of the popular emulators (pSX) uses directx 9, which should be all that I need to use my interceptor. I'd have to rewrite portions for each game, since each game sends its images to memory in a slightly different way, but I'll have to put FF7 and 9 on the backburner, big test coming up in a month.

64

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.1 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-17 17:17:04 »

Will it be possible for you to make a similar tool for the FF7 rerelease?
I only ask this once because I personally have no interest to play the rerelease with is it's buggy directx9 renderer, but other people may like to have an external texture support.

I don't see any reason it wouldn't work, but its not something I plan on doing right now. If I don't end up doing it, someone could probably modify my source for it in the future. I do intend on fixing FF9's graphics in the future though, despite the fact that it was never released on PC.

65

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.1 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-17 03:36:01 »

Omzy, would it be too much to ask for a alternate version of Tonberry that reads 2x upscaled textures instead of 4x the original size ?

At the moment, since we are in debug phase and all, I'm not going to mess with the DLLs much unless there's something gamebreaking. I don't think it will be that difficult, however, to support 2x in the future, especially since I plan on posting the source once I'm confident everything works.

Update:
If you're experiencing crashing after playing for a while, it may be due to my inattention to garbage collection to free up unused resources--its on my priority list.

66

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.1 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-17 02:09:03 »

For those playtesting and trying to build support for other texture types, I just uploaded a debug version--see the main post for instructions.

67

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] PuPu v2.0 - FF8 Field Importer/Exporter

« on: 2014-06-17 00:13:41 »

Haha, Leonhart at it again

need help i tried extract field fs using garden but it always say no data files found

I'm not sure, can someone else chime in on this? I haven't used it in ages, I use the same set of files I extracted years ago.

68

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.1 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-16 13:41:45 »

There's no reason I can think of for that, my dlls only try to set the texture and if they fail to the default texture is used.  Are you using any other mods?

69

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.1 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-16 04:20:26 »

It seems that the background images don't load 100% of the time...

That just means theres a small hashing problem (missing line in hash1map.csv). Which ones aren't loading? I'll probably release a debug version tomorrow or so that allows dumping textures so you guys can find the problematic ones easier.

70

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.0 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-15 19:23:10 »

Ozmy[sic=p] the left texture of squall its different because its from the field model and my textures are for the battle models, I done a texture for the squall field model too. (the balle models have 2 textures and more  poligonal details)

Sorry bout that, didn't realize, so that should make it easier if they are already formatted properly.

Also, I've released hashmap_v1.1.rar above, which adds support for Mcindus' cards! Check out his release when it comes out.

Edit: After realizing the original release was compiled in Debug mode, I've recompiled it with Release mode and almost all of the trigger lag is gone, zlib.dll and ann.dll are no longer required, and the DLLs are a fraction of the size. Doh =p See main post for Tonberry_v1.1.rar

71

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.0 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-15 15:27:27 »

Wish I could change my avatar to that now

72

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.0 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-15 11:45:02 »

Omg Leonhart what the hell is that lol

73

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.0 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-14 20:22:03 »

Thanks for the props guys! I have been thinking about this project ever since I made PuPu a couple years back.

So you need the textures and the palette index for each one? I can do something i think.

Yes, the textures properly named in folders is basically it. I may release a debug version of the DLL that allows people to dump the textures straight from memory instead of decoding all these file formats, which should speed things up suppport wise.

74

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.0 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-13 18:23:03 »

I read about the black lines/borders somewhere, but now I can't find it again. Anything I can do about them?

This occurs because the fractal method doesn't deal with edges well. If part of the texture has an edge that is next to blackness, the edge warps very slightly if you look closely. That's why it becomes so labor intensive and difficult without automation. You have to combine each sub-texture together to make all the different permutations of the fullscreen image and then slice each subtexture back out of the resized versions. I am running out of time because I have a big exam next month, so I'm going to try to start and finish Project Eden by the end of next week. An optimistic deadline, I know 

Edit:

Awesome, Steam FF8 support! Can we use this tool to port Magochocobo's Character model retextures into the game?

Yes, but only once support is added. There are a couple problems with that right now, as you'll see in these images:

The left is the original and the right 2 are from Magochocobo. Notice that his mapping is very different than what's in the game's memory. These textures will need to be remapped to the appropriate sections to match the picture on the left. Also note that the size of the left image is 128x128. A 4x resize would be 512x512, not 1024x1024 like most other textures. This will also need to be changed. If all that is fixed and after support has been built in there's no reason it wouldn't work.

75

FF8 Tools / Re: [REL] Tonberry v1.0 - External Texture Support for FF8

« on: 2014-06-13 12:40:49 »

The hashmap link is sending to a PuPu download. Is this correct?

Oops, fixed!