Messages

226

FF7 Tools / Re: 7thWrapper

« on: 2013-07-12 13:14:21 »

OK, I have made some changes.

SEE OP for latest download links

Now it will replace non-LGP files (e.g. kernel2.bin - or any of the PNG files for use in Aali's driver). Also I have improved the GUI a bit so it's easier to turn mods on or off, or change the order. See:



It will list all the folders within the 'base mod location' you choose, and let you turn those mods on or off by (un)ticking the item, or change the priority for which mod takes effect by moving them up or down the list. Also you can save a particular configuration to use rather than have to go through ticking and reordering them each time (could take a long time with 50+ mods installed...)

For this to work, you need to have a mod folder set up in Aali's driver, point the launcher at it, but instead of placing mods in that folder, place it in the 'wrapped' folder you select in my launcher instead. That way it can control which files get used. Also I recommend turning off the compress textures (cache) option in Aali's driver, otherwise it will use the cached files instead of mods you have just chosen!

(Also you can put a file - mod.xml - in the folder for a mod to give more details about the mod, including a link to the website/forum page for that mod, see in the screenshot. This is optional, but maybe if people want to use this launcher, authors putting a mod description file in their download will make it easier for people to use?)

That sounds really exciting. I would advertise the heck out of this feature on YT if it were to come to fruition.

Imagine beach clothing for the Costa Del Sol area 

OR!!! Traditional Japanese clothing for the Wutai area 

Hm, I will try and do this then, should be good if it works

227

FF7 Tools / Re: 7thWrapper

« on: 2013-07-11 21:21:06 »

I would love a versatile one, that you can tell "RT** (that's Cloud's battle model) inside the battle LGP should use the one I specify" and then you can change a setting and then another model is used. Instead of Game Var, user input (that's merely my opinion).

That should be possible, just by using the multiple mod paths, right?

If you have two (or more) mods that both have all of Cloud's files, then by just adding/removing that folder from the list of active mods (or, changing the priority so the one you want to use comes first in the list), then you can control which mod takes priority and gets used.

Or did you mean something other than that?

228

FF7 Tools / Re: 7thWrapper

« on: 2013-07-11 20:37:06 »

Yes, I'm hoping that if I add the right features in, it will be useful to make a mod manager that does allow activating / deactivating mods without having to reinstall from scratch.

I'm testing code now that remaps non-LGP files now (e.g. kernel2.bin) which hopefully should make it useful for more mods.

I would like to use this for a different task. It would be cool if I could change some battle models depending on the game moment. I have done a young Cloud field model for the Niebelheim flashback, but there is no way I could use a different battle model.

I hadn't thought of that; but, I think it should be possible. Not sure how often it would be used, though? I suppose if it WAS possible people might think of a good use for it!

229

FF7 Tools / [PC] Mod manager - 7thHeaven (v1.54)

« on: 2013-07-11 18:12:17 »

LATEST VERSIONS
Iros - v1.52: https://mega.nz/#!aQdXiZYA!aJnVbQH5kWSi5sC6QMdgPmjKmhfUdsP-87R70j90ub4
ficedula - v1.54: http://www.ficedula.co.uk/7thHeaven/7H_1.54.zip

Hi all.

Long time lurker here. The idea about being able to (de)activate mods more easily appeals to me, right now I have nothing installed other than Aali's driver + FF7Music, the idea of basically reinstalling/patching every time I want to try a mod out seems awkward.

So I've written a wrapper program that will intercept reads to the LGP files by FF7, and selectively replace the data the game reads. An example might make it easy to understand...

I set up a folder containing files I want the game to use. The file structure looks like this:

Code: [Select]

C:\games\ff7\wrapped
                    |- mod1
                           |- menu_us.lgp (a folder named this - not an LGP file)
                                         |- cloud.tex
                                         |- earith.tex
                           |- char.lgp (again, a folder)
                                      |- aaba.p

When the game tries to read cloud.tex from menu_us.lgp my wrapper intercepts this, and redirects it to read from the file in my 'mod1\menu_us.lgp' folder instead. Same with the other files. The LGP files themselves remain UNALTERED - all I do to make the game use my new versions is drop them into the mod1 folder and run the game from my wrapper.

You can give the wrapper multiple file paths to check - your file structure might look like:

Code: [Select]

C:\games\ff7\wrapped
                    |- mod1
                           |- menu_us.lgp
                                         |- cloud.tex
                                         |- earith.tex
                           |- char.lgp
                                      |- aaba.p
                    |- mod2
                           |- menu_us.lgp
                                         |- cloud.tex
                                         |- earith.tex
                                         |- buster.tex

The wrapper will check the mod paths in the order they're specified in its configuration file. So in the above case, it'll use cloud.tex and earith.tex from mod1 (ignoring the versions in mod2, mod1 takes priority), but it'll use buster.tex from mod2 (since mod1 doesn't have that file) - and off course, any files not present in the mods, come from the original LGPs instead.

Especially if a number of different mods all change DIFFERENT files, this means they should co-exist quite happily - and even if two mods change the same files and don't work properly, changing which mods you run the game with is just a case of launching the wrapper again with a different set of paths

I understand Aali's driver can do something similar, but I think the ability to specify multiple source paths (and choose which takes priority) is a worthwhile addition?

Download link: https://mega.co.nz/#!xVohQJRY!aIyPJ0L65zXM2Da6_PXQrQvOfiIpRrek5eG_X_QPdTY

Anticipating some questions:

Q) How to use it?
A) Run the 7thWrapper.exe file. Tell it the locations of (1) your FF7 exe, (2) the 7thWrapperLib.dll, (3) the mod paths to search for files. You can edit the config file to avoid specifying these every time. You can also run it with a /LAUNCH command line option to make it run FF7 straight away then exit (could be useful for making a shortcut; or a front-end tools for easy mod selection?).

Q) Does it slow the game down?
A) Yes but maybe not much. It takes ~1 second longer to launch the game for me, and it then runs without any noticeable slowdown. HOWEVER - I haven't tried it with a mod that changes hundreds of files at once. If it does then I should be able to optimize the code, it's definitely not as fast as it could be yet. If anybody can suggest some good mods to test it with that change lots of files, perhaps I can try them and see how well it works (or you can try it and report back?).

Q) What does/doesn't it work with?
A) It SHOULD work with any file that comes from within an LGP. I've tried loading savegames, running around in the field, going into a battle, accessing menus, and that worked, so it SEEMS stable. Just not tested very much yet. It doesn't currently work to change non-LGP files; e.g. sound effects, kernel bins, or PNG files for Aali's driver. It could be made to work with these too: I just haven't done that yet, this is only a first release! It does work OK with Aali's driver, off course - you don't have to go back to running the game using the old renderer. FF7Music also works fine (that doesn't change game files anyway I think?).

I haven't yet figured out how to deal with mods that want to patch FF7.exe, that seems like it would be interesting to deal with.


Q) How to figure out if it's working?
A) It outputs debug information through OutputDebugString, so any tool (e.g. DbgView - or FF7Music?) that views that will let you see the logs of what is happening.

Q) It doesn't work!
A) Reply here and maybe we can figure it out? Only tested on my PC so far, so I expect there will be problems with it that I don't know about. Maybe lots of problems. It's only a first release!

(Mods: Posted this here because it seemed relevant to the thread, but split off or move it if you think this is in the wrong forum?)

Comments / suggestions for how to improve it welcome.

230

Announcements and site development / Re: New Users Can't Register

« on: 2013-07-11 17:58:07 »

Hi all,

Just registered today, and it seems that the captcha on the registration page is a bit broken - I couldn't view it at all (no image was displayed). Tried to refresh, and tried in a different browser, but didn't show up at all.

Luckily the audio 'listen to the letters' worked so I was able to complete the form, but it did seem like something wasn't working.