Author Topic: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?  (Read 79762 times)

frivol

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Hi there, since the pre-rendered backgrounds from the PC version of Final Fantasy 7 are of a very low res, I wonder if it is possible to use the pre-rendered backgrounds from the psx version to replace them.

Thnx in advance and sorry my english.

xLostWingx

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I think someone proposed this at least once in the past. I think the consensus was that the increase in quality wouldn't necessarily be worth the work.  But i'm sure an industious modder will do it eventually.

**Also, this is not the write area to post this in.  Should put it in general or tech-discussion

frivol

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Oh I see, I had no idea that it could be that hard, I thought it was maybe a common replacement since they are basically the same backgrounds with different resolutions, so maybe the engine in the PC version is limited to only display backgrounds in a certain lower resolution (?)... well I do not know what I´m talking about anyway hehe just thinking, but I would like to know if someone have even gotten any success doing this or at least tried it hard.

P.S.: omg yes my bad! I did not have in mind the area where I was writing this thread. Sorry about that!! Pls moderators move this thread to the right area when you have the chance.

Gemini

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Both versions share the same identical background images, so a replacement would make absolutely no difference. No idea where you got the idea that the PSX build used a higher resolution for backgrounds.

frivol

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Well I have played both versions of this game and I can say that there are obvious differences between the resolution of the pre-rendered backgrounds from both versions, also the music and fmvs sux in pc version, and that´s why there are patchs such as the Aali´s one which let you set the game to a higher res among other things, but wait, most ppl know about this isn´t it? you just need to google it and you will find several threads about this topic, also in this forum.

For any reason the PC version res is much lower and since I got both version of the game and I have already the music patch and higher quality fmvs, I´m now interested in that replacement to get higher quality pre-rendered backgrounds aswell, that´s why I really want to know if that is possible cos I have no clue and I do not know where is allocated the background data in pc version, neither how it works.
« Last Edit: 2011-02-22 13:51:21 by frivol »

nfitc1

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Well I have played both versions of this game and I can say that there are obvious differences between the resolution of the pre-rendered backgrounds from both versions...

Because the images are exactly the same, but PSX runs at 320x240 and the PC is typically run at 640x480. That makes the images twice as stretched out and they will look bad. There's not much anyone can do but re-make the backgrounds.

frivol

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Hmm I see, so nothing to do then... Well thnx anyway for letting me know guys :)

DLPB_

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using genuine fractals with  few edits on top would give pretty good results.  It can be made to work with the originals to increase the size but the will to do that is not there.

People are instead attempting to remake every background from scratch, can that be done?  I dunno if it will be.  I would much rather someone use fractals on the backgrounds and update the game in 3 months than wait 4 years for a 25% finished abandoned mod.

sl1982

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Feel free to give it a go, I personally was unimpressed with what fractals could do. Either way I only had a trial version of it so I wouldnt be able to do it anyways.

DLPB_

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Unfortunately, I am bogged down with 2 projects...  retranslation will take a very long time...

If I wasn't doing that I certainly would :P

GlitterBerri

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Your English is practically perfect, no need to apologize. =)

xLostWingx

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So the backgrounds contained in the game's files are all we have to work with?  Just as there is character artwork sketches etc. I wonder if there is a treasure chest somewhere that contains the background drawings/paintings (whatever the medium may be).  Most likely not...but completely remaking the backgrounds from scratch sounds out of the question.
« Last Edit: 2011-02-24 01:46:24 by xLostWingx »

frivol

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Hehe thnx GlitterBerri I try always my best.

Oh I like what DLPB said, that sounds great. It would be nice to do some image editing on these backgrounds, and if someone want to teach me how to uncompress them I would try to improve them in photoshop (this is part of my work in my normal life) whenever I get some free time, Idk how hard it could be anyways, but I could give it a try.
« Last Edit: 2011-02-23 22:06:19 by frivol »

sl1982

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The program palmer will convert the background to png's of layers.

frivol

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Wow thnx, I did not know that!!

frivol

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Opps :( it seems the link is broken, may someone upload "Palmer" for me pls??

Timber

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Here is Palmer 0.4b: http://85.24.185.102/share/palmer-0.4b.zip

I personally was unimpressed with what fractals could do.

Better than the stretching the game does though, surely?

DLPB_

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Here is Palmer 0.4b: http://85.24.185.102/share/palmer-0.4b.zip

I personally was unimpressed with what fractals could do.

Better than the stretching the game does though, surely?

Yes miles better.  Better than normal resizing by any software too.  It just needs a bit of an edit with things like light.  Also if you are using fractals or any resizer, you have to make sure to resize the whole picture first and then cut it up.

You cannot cut pieces up and use fractals on them.  It has to be cut later or you will have problems.

I will give it a go soon with the first background.

frivol

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Here is Palmer 0.4b: http://85.24.185.102/share/palmer-0.4b.zip

Thank you so much for uploading it!!! I´m gonna try this out now!

frivol

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It seems there is really nothing to do with backgrounds, or at least not too much for now, or maybe I´m doing something wrong, but I´ve been trying hard to improve the train station background (md1stin) and no luck in game. First thing I noticed was that the resizer plugin from photoshop will cause a not matching background with those ugly green lines. Another problem was that after I import back the edited pngs (without resizing them) in Palmer, and after saving and re packing the flevel lgp file, and ofc after I copy the new png files which palmer creates after saving the field file, in the textures folder (in this case 5 png files, from "md1stin_00_00" to "md1stin_04_00"), all I get in game is an error while loading an unexisting png file called "md1stin_04_12", so idk what else I can do to get my edited backgrounds working in game...  :-\

Did anyone have any success doing this before?

sl1982

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I have successfully put modified field files back in game. It is not easy to do and requires a lot of work with layer masks.

Aali

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If by error you mean the info line from show_missing_textures, that is intentional. It shows you that FF7 was trying to use palette 12 first, but the driver defaulted to palette 0 instead. Although field backgrounds have many palettes they never use the same part of any texture with different palettes so having a separate texture for each palette is not necessary.

frivol

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Oh I see, wait I'm not sure if I understood correctly what you said, so should I rename the textures in this case? Also you said "the driver defaulted to palette 0 instead" I do not understand this part.

P.S.: sorry my newbie questions and also I wanted to thank you for your awesome work!!

Aali

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"md1stin_04_12" is refering to palette 12 of the texture "md1stin_04", but since that file doesn't exist the driver loads "md1stin_04_00" in its place. With field backgrounds this is a Good Thing (tm) and you don't have to do anything to rectify the situation.

DLPB_

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As I said you cannot just resize the image.  You need to use layer masks in PS and you should not use adobe resizer.  If this task is to be done, Genuine Fractals is the only option.