Author Topic: Using the high quality Cloud model in game? (Read 51860 times)

Dreakon · « **on:** 2004-04-16 22:14:34 »

I noticed the final battle model of Cloud with Leviathin and I was wondering is there any way to use it in game (outside of the final battle, you know, in normal battles)? If so, how?

Thanks.

Aaron · « **Reply #1 on:** 2004-04-16 22:40:43 »

What do you know?

Srethron Askvelhtnod · « **Reply #2 on:** 2004-04-16 22:42:49 »

Hiya.
Sort of. See this post: http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=2882

Edit: Raaargh. Aaron just beat me. =P

Dreakon · « **Reply #3 on:** 2004-04-16 22:48:07 »

Nice to see it's been done, but can someone give me at least a brief description on what I need and how to do it?

@ Aaron: EDIT: Whoops, didnt know that was a link, thanks

Srethron Askvelhtnod · « **Reply #4 on:** 2004-04-16 23:08:58 »

You need Alhexx's Battle File Database, a copy of Ficedula's LGP Tools, and a lot of patience. Basically you'll have to find the original Cloud's model data and the high-res Cloud's data. Then you swap them.

Dreakon · « **Reply #5 on:** 2004-04-16 23:20:28 »

So in the battle file database it says the hi-res cloud is si and the low res is rt. This LGP Tools is foreign to me. The file names have 4 letters. Do I extract everything that begins with rt and si, then replace them and import them (how do I import by the way?). Is that about it?

EDIT: After I do this I want to make a patch so I can give it to friends and they can use the high-res model. How do I do this?

Srethron Askvelhtnod · « **Reply #6 on:** 2004-04-16 23:57:11 »

You've got the general idea, anyway. Some of the files in those groups should be animations (all the ones that end in da). Chances are you want to leave those alone...

If you double click on a file in LGP Tools, it should give you the option of trying to view it. Try to view each non da file in the two groups as .P (3D data) and .TEX (textures). Take notes, especially because if LGP Tools finds a file it doesn't know what to do with, it'll probably page fault.
The reason for doing that is because the file names might not match. This is just something I'm pulling out of thin air (AKA as a Dilbert "assumption") but suppose sidd is part of high res Cloud's head. Now, if you just rename sidd to rtdd, it might turn out that rtdd was part low-res Cloud's arm...
You've got to figure out what each part is first.

So you want a list of each part for both models, and their names. Something like this:

Code: [Select]


Part:         High Res    Low Res
Head          sidd        rtsr
Head Texture  side        rtss
Left Shoulder sicf        rtmb

...etc. I made up those filenames. Just making a point.

Then you can start swapping. I recommend loading up the game and trying after every change you make, just to make sure.

Quote

how do I import by the way?

Click on the file you want to replace. Then hit the big "Replace" button in the upper right, which will bring up a dialogue. Browse to the file you want to replace it with. Voila! Isn't Ficedula cool?

Quote

After I do this I want to make a patch so I can give it to friends and they can use the high-res model. How do I do this?

Go to Tools > Patches > Create Patch. I recommend using the Pack Archive option in LGP Tools before this. To create the patch, you'll need an unaltered copy of the .lgp (from one of your game discs) for LGP Tools to compare it with.
I've sometimes had trouble getting it to create the patches in the past, so check the size of the patch (should be about as big as the files you import), and test it, before distributing. If you have problems, try changing the directory where LGP Tools saves the patch.

Dreakon · « **Reply #7 on:** 2004-04-17 00:37:03 »

Ok I got the replacing stuff to work. Now when I try and make a patch it says "Out of memory while expanding memory stream". I dunno what the hell this means cause I have more then enough RAM and normal memory on my PC. It's near the end of the process when it says this.

Should the battle.lgp that was modified have the same filename as the battle.lgp that isnt modified? Cause thats what I am doing right now...

Dreakon · « **Reply #8 on:** 2004-04-17 01:05:30 »

Sorry for the double post but I got it working! The (visual) patcher is very decieving considering that it says FF7 path when you need to select a folder when you really need to go to the folder that the file you need changed is in. But now that I figured that out it works. If you want the stand alone exe patcher post here, so I know people actually want it

EDIT: Okay I made a good readme for the patch and all should work well, plus I also have a 300 kb bmp file so you can see the difference close up in game. You can download the file here:

http://www.yourwebspace.com/cgi-bin/dreakon/cloudhires.zip

A screenshot comparing the 2 is here (beware 56k users):

http://www.yourwebspace.com/cgi-bin/dreakon/beforeandafter.bmp

Srethron Askvelhtnod · « **Reply #9 on:** 2004-04-17 01:52:04 »

Quote

Sorry for the double post

Next time, please just Edit your post if you've got something more to say.

Sure, I'll try it out (doesn't matter if it's just a patch or a self-executing.) Let's see how you did. =)

Edit: Looks cool. I'll try it out.

Edit 2: Seems to work. No obvious problems yet.

Dreakon · « **Reply #10 on:** 2004-04-17 02:20:50 »

Yeah, I didnt experience any problems either, and I hope no one does. I tried summoning, casting spells, using items and just normally attacking and there were no crashes or animation problems. I was also suprised at how well the hi-res model blended with all the low-res models surrounding it.

Srethron Askvelhtnod · « **Reply #11 on:** 2004-04-17 02:25:30 »

Well, part of it is probably that I'm running in software mode--their might be more marked difference with 3D acceleration. But part of it is also that the high res model isn't *that* much higher in quality, I guess.

I think we've avoided animation problems since the skeleton still has the same parts--just different data.

Dreakon · « **Reply #12 on:** 2004-04-17 02:35:30 »

The high res model is quite a bit better if viewed at different angles. What card do you have? If it's ATI then I know a trick to running in hardware mode regardless of 8-bit paletted textures.

Contra · « **Reply #13 on:** 2004-04-17 08:38:09 »

Well, it's nice to see that someone made the patch so I don't have to. ^^; Thanks a lot. Working like that with LGP tools can do a lot of stuff. Like... Want cloud to have Excalibur? Take it out of the magic.lgp, put it inot battle.lgp, point one of the referencea that way in the LGP and you're all set. As you all see in my other post, I gave cloud the Masamune, it might be possible to mix and match other weapons interestingly. I want to see how Sephy looks with the Buster Sword, or Apocalypse.

-Contra-

Or imagine... *grin* Tifa in Aeris' clothes or vice versa! Let's see who can mix and match the coolest character!!!

Dreakon · « **Reply #14 on:** 2004-04-17 10:16:25 »

Quote from: Contra

Or imagine... *grin* Tifa in Aeris' clothes or vice versa! Let's see who can mix and match the coolest character!!!

Lol, that'd be wierd. Any way to make your own weapons? Like model em outside the game and put them in as a replacement? Maybe like cooler looking final weapons and stuff...

ye-roon · « **Reply #15 on:** 2004-04-17 13:09:39 »

I'm getting:

Acces Violation at adress 00000000. Read of adress 00000000.

is that ok??

i'm kinda @ the point where i don't have cloud in my team zo can't check if it worked...

EmperorSteele · « **Reply #16 on:** 2004-04-17 15:31:13 »

No problems here, either =) Excellent work! ('ll probably swap Cloud's head, cuz i dont like the high-res one)

However, one Q: Do people need Ficedula's ff7 patch utility to make this work, or is the exe all you need? Cuz if it's the former, you may wanna put that in the readme.

Also, I'd like to host this on my website if you'd be so kind =)

Dreakon · « **Reply #17 on:** 2004-04-17 18:33:10 »

You can host it on the site if you want. I dont want to sound egotistical but be sure to say it was made by me assuming your adding it to a site (this is the first thing productive I have ever made

).

As for the Fic's patcher question, no you don't need it. All you need is the exe included in the zip file

EDIT: Of course you will need the LGP Tools for the head swapping thing you mentioned, I wonder how that'd look...

@ Ye Roon: Someone emailed me about that too, I have no idea why that could be happening. Do you have any patches installed? If so, what ones?

ye-roon · « **Reply #18 on:** 2004-04-17 18:55:09 »

i only have installed the chocobo patch and the upside down patch.

I am using the EU version of the game, cause well, i live in europe.. perhaps that is it?

Srethron Askvelhtnod · « **Reply #19 on:** 2004-04-17 18:56:37 »

Quote from: Dreakon

The high res model is quite a bit better if viewed at different angles. What card do you have? If it's ATI then I know a trick to running in hardware mode regardless of 8-bit paletted textures.

Yeah, well, there've been a billion tricks to getting hardware mode working on this forum. If it hasn't been said before, shoot, for the public good. =)
Thanks for the offer, but I just haven't ever really bothered with hardware mode. It seems to create more trouble than it's worth, and software works fine.

Quote

Any way to make your own weapons? Like model em outside the game and put them in as a replacement?

Yeah, but it's a bit complicated. biturn (by Mirex) and various tools by Alhexx can both convert .P files to various formats, so you can edit them in your 3D proggy of choice (as long as it supports Vertex Coloration.) Then you can use Alhexx's stuff and convert back to .P. Then replace, as before with LGP Tools.

Quote from: Contra

Or imagine... *grin* Tifa in Aeris' clothes or vice versa! Let's see who can mix and match the coolest character!!!

We could have a contest. Of course, just about everyone's entries would probably be pretty sad.

Quote from: ye-roon

I'm getting:

Acces Violation at adress 00000000. Read of adress 00000000.

is that ok??

That means it didn't work. I actually get the same problem (probably means I have my Ficelib files in the wrong /dir/ or some such), but there's a simple fix. In LGP Tools go to Tools > Patches > Patch Convertor. Then use the "Convert from Self Extractor to Patch" option. Then apply the non-executable patch and it should work.

Quote from: EmperorSteele

However, one Q: Do people need Ficedula's ff7 patch utility to make this work, or is the exe all you need? Cuz if it's the former, you may wanna put that in the readme.

All you need is the .exe, unless you're having ye-roon's problem. In that case you need LGP Tools as well. Regardless, you don't need Cetra, though.

Contra · « **Reply #20 on:** 2004-04-17 19:03:16 »

Quote from: Dreakon

Of course you will need the LGP Tools for the head swapping thing you mentioned, I wonder how that'd look...

Something like this.

Fuwahaha!

Dreakon · « **Reply #21 on:** 2004-04-17 19:09:44 »

Haha! Thats awesome! Switch Cids head for Barrets or Vincents for Red XIII's (freaky...).

ye-roon · « **Reply #22 on:** 2004-04-17 19:12:50 »

Quote from: Srethron Askvelhtnod

That means it didn't work. I actually get the same problem (probably means I have my Ficelib files in the wrong /dir/ or some such), but there's a simple fix. In LGP Tools go to Tools > Patches > Patch Convertor. Then use the "Convert from Self Extractor to Patch" option. Then apply the non-executable patch and it should work.

when u do that, do u get a message like: IT WORKED or not?

cause i dunno if it worked now :p

Srethron Askvelhtnod · « **Reply #23 on:** 2004-04-17 19:21:12 »

Well, first you check and see that it created the patch, obviously.

After that, to check if it applied the patch, left-click once on battle.lgp and see when it was last modified. If it was today, looks like the patch worked.

Dreakon · « **Reply #24 on:** 2004-04-17 19:26:25 »

I wouldn't doubt the idea that it was the patcher causing the problems. It was hard enough to make to begin with. I wonder why some people's worked and others didnt though. Bad download?

Also to see if it worked try looking at an unedited copy of battle.lgp (can be found on installation CD) and it should be about 59.4MB while the edited one should be around 59.7 MB. Thats another way to check if it worked.