Author Topic: New Project: Bombing Mission!  (Read 524865 times)

Timu Sumisu

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #950 on: 2011-03-28 15:09:37 »
well mesh deformation is kool, but you can do it without  - look at the idle animations in battle.

Kudistos Megistos

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #951 on: 2011-03-28 16:45:48 »
Hey, wasn't the point to enhance the assets we've been given, rather than adding new things because we think it would be cool? That's a good reason not have have breathign but to keep blinking.

Here's another, more convincing reason: breathing isn't kawaii; blinking is. Hell, breathing in video games, unless it's done very well, usually looks creepy.

Tekkie.X

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #952 on: 2011-03-28 17:49:05 »
Just some slight but noticeable movement when idle is all that'd be needed, no need for mesh deformation.

They're just lifeless blinking mannequins otherwise.

Timber

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #953 on: 2011-03-29 01:06:17 »
I agree that having idle animation would be nice, but probably a bit too hard / time consuming.

Also, if you guys can't get his blinking working, I for one wouldn't really care :P
I mean, I didn't even know Cloud could blink until that bridge in Corel, it's barely noticeable.

Hell, breathing in video games, unless it's done very well, usually looks creepy.

It looks fine in FFIX.
I think being completely motionless is FAR more creepy!
« Last Edit: 2011-03-29 01:11:19 by Timber »

obesebear

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #954 on: 2011-03-29 15:41:22 »
Still messing around with it trying to figure out why Cloud's blinking isn't working.  Should hopefully be able to figure it out before today is over.  I'm also curious where his "eye closed" texture is, finding that could theoretically fix this instantly, without need for double heads and all that.  Unfortunately no luck checking the File Reconstruction page.

I also noticed color 0 is transparent in game.  Also, with the size of these textures, we definitely need to make sure we use aabd.tex for all 5 (or however many models) of cloud to help keep the lgp as small as possible.

sl1982

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #955 on: 2011-03-29 15:59:12 »
Look in field.lgp, there is a bunch of eye textures in there.

obesebear

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #956 on: 2011-03-29 16:04:26 »
Yeah I'm in the char.lgp (I think that's what you mean), but all I'm finding are Eyes Open and Mouths, it's clear it's loading an alternate texture because when I turn his left eye into a giant red rectangle the Eyes Closed texture still flashes showing his eyebrow and a parentheses (eye closed).  Yet I have no idea where that texture is coming from... exe maybe?

Tried using google to search the forums about blinking, but nothing technical really popped up.  I do have one more idea I'm about ready to try out, but first lunch.

sl1982

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #957 on: 2011-03-29 16:06:32 »
Look in field.lgp

obesebear

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #958 on: 2011-03-29 16:30:55 »
Ahhh.. flevel it is.  Now to make some experiments.

sl1982

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #959 on: 2011-03-29 16:34:03 »
Er... thats what i meant. I always call it field since that is what the modpath uses.

yarLson

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #960 on: 2011-03-29 16:58:32 »
yeah I've been fiddling with the flevel a bunch and all the eyes closed textures for the main characters are in there

BlitzNCS

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #961 on: 2011-03-29 17:17:56 »
I'm also curious where his "eye closed" texture is, finding that could theoretically fix this instantly

I included one in the archive, it's either AABB1.tex or AABB.tex, unless you meant the originals or something. it's nowhere near a releaseworthy texture though, just something as a temporary measure.

obesebear

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #962 on: 2011-03-29 17:20:52 »
Well replacing the flevel files won't work, If both are replaced with the eyes closed texture you can still see the head flash.  It's not as noticeable, but noticeable enough to detract from gameplay.  If you just repleace c_eye2 it does the same.  Replacing just c_eye2r causes the blinking everyone is used to where the whole head disappears.

My best guess is this has something to do with the load time, so I guess our only option is to use the double head method.  I'll either edit or post back once it's working

sl1982

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #963 on: 2011-03-29 17:22:01 »
Also take a look at the soles of his feet. They look transparent.

obesebear

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #964 on: 2011-03-29 17:55:08 »
I can't find any way around the blinking.  The part added to bone will always be slightly larger than than the original model.  This means even if you reassign the open eyes texture to this new part it won't blink.  AABA is the only one that will blink.   I've tried more than a few work arounds and it seems the only way to make the blinking look right is to resize the head on the Y axis to be 99 instead of 100. 

Now this does mean his head will shrink ever so slightly in one direction, but I couldn't notice it except on the back of his head...staring very close up and with Cloud facing left.  Also, I'm sure NCS knows how to fix the transparency issue using Image2Tex, so that's no problem.

However, I would suggest looking into the c_eye2.tex file replacement.   This will eliminate the need for a second head on many models (saving file size), I'm just not sure exactly why the head still blinks slightly using this method...  the switch should be instantaneous. If the texture were smaller size it could possibly remedy the blink, but I'm not positive.  Test it yourselves and let me know what you think.  I'll be checking the smaller texture size to see if that helps.


EDIT
And another discovery,  after saving the head change to 99, reopen the model and change it to 101 on the y axis.  It will now be the same size as the open eyes model, but won't flicker during blinking.

EDIT2
Nope, reducing file size didn't work.  I went from 12mb to 768kb on the textures and it still flashes.  So the above solution is the only way to make blinking work correctly that I can find.  No need for me to upload the changed model since NCS hasn't quite finished everything and the solution is a very quick fix.
« Last Edit: 2011-03-29 18:15:27 by obesebear »

sl1982

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #965 on: 2011-03-29 18:22:46 »
Excellent work!

sl1982

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #966 on: 2011-04-01 16:07:25 »
Working on updating the main page, mostly complete. Anything that says available is up for grabs!

BlitzNCS

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #967 on: 2011-04-01 16:13:32 »
Very nicely done SL - however, Wedge's crotch is missing, which makes me very sad indeed :(

Timu Sumisu

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #968 on: 2011-04-01 16:14:17 »
yea i was wonderin bout the missing "lip" of the pants

sl1982

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #969 on: 2011-04-01 16:27:40 »
Well i took it from the repo, perhaps the model is messed up?

BlitzNCS

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #970 on: 2011-04-01 17:36:04 »
Nah, the crotch is missing on your original model too - I've got the one from the repo working fine in my game. Definately a glitch on your end.

sl1982

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #971 on: 2011-04-01 17:55:14 »
Odd. Ill look into it

Cyberman

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #972 on: 2011-04-02 15:39:05 »
Odd. Ill look into it
Now if you were a salesman you would have said "that's the crotchless version it costs extra".

I can't find any way around the blinking.  The part added to bone will always be slightly larger than than the original model.  This means even if you reassign the open eyes texture to this new part it won't blink.  AABA is the only one that will blink.   I've tried more than a few work arounds and it seems the only way to make the blinking look right is to resize the head on the Y axis to be 99 instead of 100. 

Now this does mean his head will shrink ever so slightly in one direction, but I couldn't notice it except on the back of his head...staring very close up and with Cloud facing left.  Also, I'm sure NCS knows how to fix the transparency issue using Image2Tex, so that's no problem.

However, I would suggest looking into the c_eye2.tex file replacement.   This will eliminate the need for a second head on many models (saving file size), I'm just not sure exactly why the head still blinks slightly using this method...  the switch should be instantaneous. If the texture were smaller size it could possibly remedy the blink, but I'm not positive.  Test it yourselves and let me know what you think.  I'll be checking the smaller texture size to see if that helps.


EDIT
And another discovery,  after saving the head change to 99, reopen the model and change it to 101 on the y axis.  It will now be the same size as the open eyes model, but won't flicker during blinking.

EDIT2
Nope, reducing file size didn't work.  I went from 12mb to 768kb on the textures and it still flashes.  So the above solution is the only way to make blinking work correctly that I can find.  No need for me to upload the changed model since NCS hasn't quite finished everything and the solution is a very quick fix.
You might want to consult the QGears information on FF7 and the wiki?
The blinking is an animated texture if I remember correctly.
The flicker is because of the distance the eye plane and blinking plane are. The blinking texture is over the eye data. In the battle model you have no blinking but in the field models you do. The problem has to do with the PSX hardware being PIXEL dependent. So if you offset the blinking plane an exact fixed distance from the eye plane it won't flash (this is actually inter-modulation of the distances between the eye plane which is white and the blink plane). Basically you need to offset the face so the eye plane doesn't intersect.

If you think about how FF7 is structured only one set of bones and data can be manipulated to make the blink work for all characters with minimal code. That is what I suspect they did. I would do the same. Remember these guys didn't just have a financial budget but a time budget. So they had to make it work not necessarily in the BEST method (as they didn't know what the best method was at the time). I realized all this when I was wondered why when I tried to render field models they had no eyes (LOL) but white spots instead. It was a moment of ... DUH. Anyhow sounds like ye olde occlusion issue.

Anyhow I believe you need to create a fixed offset from the original plane in one direction (the direction perpendicular to the face) to prevent the blinking and eye plane from colliding. The original FF7 data is likely exactly 1 or 2 pixels different in the perpendicular plane to accomplish this.  I've done this by accident in several game mods I've done too (except I mixed the surface of the eye and eye lid, looked hilarious to see an eye poking out suddenly during a blink). If you already know all the above ... woops? Didn't mean to blather then.

Cyb

BloodShot

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #973 on: 2011-04-02 18:39:54 »
Working on updating the main page, mostly complete. Anything that says available is up for grabs!

Damnit! For a second I thought you meant for everyone  ::)

I got so excited for a moment  :-[

sl1982

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Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!
« Reply #974 on: 2011-04-02 19:03:55 »
I meant to work on. Things that were reserved in the past are now available as it has been almost a year with no discernable progress.