Author Topic: [FF8PC-2000] Project SeeD - FF8 GUI overhaul (2.0)  (Read 182737 times)

LeonhartGR

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #150 on: 2014-01-02 11:43:21 »
Amazing improvement! Thank you! I noticed that the high resolution pngs Gf_big00_00, Gf_big01_00 are placed inside a hires folder in the original game's structure.
« Last Edit: 2014-01-02 12:05:06 by LeonhartGR »

Mcindus

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #151 on: 2014-01-03 07:49:56 »
I'm working on massive SeeD updates and was hoping I could get sl1982 to re-release SeeD with my new updates included!
**edited, contacted - thanks again, Alyza**

I know the Steam version came out, but it's officially POOP without SeeD, so I refuse to use it.
« Last Edit: 2014-01-03 08:38:06 by Mcindus »

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #152 on: 2014-01-03 08:04:20 »
He is the admin that registered you manually. I think you can send PM's after 5 posts, so try again.

kabooz

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #153 on: 2014-01-04 11:31:35 »
WoW, especially the cards look fantastic if I find the time I'll implement your upgrades for the german version around monday (otherwise next WE)

that is if you don't mind that I use it

EDIT:
I did a quick test to see if I even need to do anything to the files, and no they work marvelously and look fantastic (the magita_00.png is not perfect but it works better than vanilla res IMHO)

could not test all GF cause I don't have a save with all of em right now though
« Last Edit: 2014-01-04 11:51:11 by kabooz »

Mcindus

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #154 on: 2014-01-04 21:40:16 »
Thanks, kabooz!

Of course you can use these in the German version!
Same goes for anyone with any other translation in mind -- These files are all artwork oriented, so they are compatible with all versions of SeeD, I believe.
As far as magita_00 is concerned -- i'm going to try a few variations and see what I can come up with... the problem I see with ff8 is that the textures seem to tile very close together, so avoiding repetition is tough.
« Last Edit: 2014-01-05 11:02:14 by Mcindus »

Mcindus

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #155 on: 2014-01-05 11:01:00 »
So, I was going to add these edits to my SeeD art post, but I think they should have their own dedicated post.  It made my original post too bloated anyway.

I have fixed some glaring issues that I've found with SeeD:
The most noticeable problem is that in the English version dream text (white text on transparent background) its barely visible unless set against a dark background, so i've modified the white text to have a more obvious drop-shadow.  Hope this makes this beautiful text easier to see!

--------------------

Removed the outdated links - new SeeD version release SOON!
« Last Edit: 2014-02-12 01:16:24 by Mcindus »

sl1982

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #156 on: 2014-01-09 00:09:04 »
Didnt realize the link was gone on the main page. Reuploaded for easy finding.

Albeoris

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #157 on: 2014-01-20 09:08:56 »
Thank you very much! The next version will have a new map of the world?

sl1982

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #158 on: 2014-01-20 18:37:34 »
The world map cannot be changed unfortunately. Also I have no time to continue this project so it will be up to others to keep it alive.

Mcindus

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #159 on: 2014-01-20 21:52:46 »
Thank you very much! The next version will have a new map of the world?

The world map cannot be changed unfortunately. Also I have no time to continue this project so it will be up to others to keep it alive.

I'm almost done with the in-menu card sets, and then I'm pretty sure I'm finished!  I would like someone to test everything out and get back to me about any issues with text alignment, etc. 

In the future, I will be working on a version of SeeD that encompasses all possible menu/icon combinations (half-transparent 8-bit hands while making a selection, missing color palettes, etc.) and may even have an updated font of my own to select from!

Thanks to sl1982 for making it all possible :)

dkma841

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #160 on: 2014-01-20 23:15:12 »
.
« Last Edit: 2021-10-28 17:08:28 by dkma841 »

LeonhartGR

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #161 on: 2014-01-21 01:33:26 »
Unfortunately not... if I'm not mistaken it needs Aali's driver to load external textures...

SilverSpades

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #162 on: 2014-01-26 05:20:19 »
Well looks like I found a strange solution on the same day I was having this problem. O.O If someone is having this black menu prob just go to your registry, H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >> SOFTWARE >> Squaresoft, Inc >> FINAL FANTASY VIII >> 1.00 and where is says "Graphics" there should be like "0x10100001". Just change the last 2 numbers to 21 so it'll be like "0x10100021" and the menu prob will be fixed. ^^
I found it by comparing my actual registry with my last installation's registry.

Don't take this the wrong way but I LOVE YOU. It seemed I had your same black box problem and this fix worked for me as well. Thank you for posting this!

Kompass63

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #163 on: 2014-01-26 06:15:32 »
It is not a good idea in the registry to change values ​​if you do not know what you do.
Instead, you can use FF8Config.exe.
The value that was modified above, is the same as "Use High Res Fonts" in the graphics tab.

SilverSpades

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #164 on: 2014-01-26 16:44:30 »
It is not a good idea in the registry to change values ​​if you do not know what you do.
Instead, you can use FF8Config.exe.
The value that was modified above, is the same as "Use High Res Fonts" in the graphics tab.

I've been trying to get the mods to work for hours on end before I tried this. I had high-res fonts checked, tried everything else before using this method. Something must be wrong between changing the registry and the graphic driver. Either way this was kinda last resort-ish, if it screwed up the game I'd do everything from scratch; I figured if he had a similar problem and found a solution, maybe that same would would work for me. Turns out (luckily) it did.

Mirrorman95

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #165 on: 2014-01-26 21:30:40 »
I noticed that many of the icons in iconfl03_02.png and some of the other images are still heavily pixelated. Why did the authors upscale those icons with nearest filtering when they could have gone with linear or xBRZ?

Kompass63

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #166 on: 2014-01-26 22:22:41 »
... I had high-res fonts checked, tried everything else before using this method. Something must be wrong between changing the registry and the graphic driver.
The problem with the registry is that the OS (Win7 / 8 ) under different circumstances some keys redirects to various locations.
A role is played by using a 32bit OS or 64bit OS, UAC turned on or off, start the Program with admin rights or not, set a compatibility mode or not ...

In general, all programs involved should have the same settings.
When you start "FF7Config.exe" with admin rights should also get "FF7.exe" Admin rights.
When you start FF8.exe in compatibility mode for XP, you should have started earlier also FF8Config.exe in same way.

On my PC, no such adjustments are necessary, the OS directs all relevant key automatically in the same fashion for all participating programs around.
Win7 x64Bit, UAC on (default), no admin rights and no compatibility mode.

Aavock

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #167 on: 2014-01-26 22:35:54 »
I've also noticed it Mirrorman, those textures were not upscaled properly and it also explains why the "hi res" font files were done from scratch using a new unfaithful font with no shadows.

I was thinking about redrawing those textures manually pixel perfect using the low res icon.tex as a basis, sadly I've changed my mind since I realized that the english version is the only one that use these upscaled icon textures. If someone can figure it out how to edit the french ff8.exe to make the game read them I will gladly contribute on that project for both english and french version.

Kompass63

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #168 on: 2014-01-26 23:58:33 »
I was thinking about redrawing those textures manually pixel perfect using the low res icon.tex as a basis, sadly I've changed my mind since I realized that the english version is the only one that use these upscaled icon textures. If someone can figure it out how to edit the french ff8.exe to make the game read them I will gladly contribute on that project for both english and french version.
I suspect you just need to change the path in the mods folder from
...\data\eng\menu
to
...\data\fra\menu

There is also a German version, but I can not find the post atm...

Aavock

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #169 on: 2014-01-27 00:36:30 »
I'm using the 2013 PC version; inside the main .exe there's a path to the default low res icon.tex (...\data\fre\menu\) but nothing about the 4 hi res files for french, german, italian and spanish versions. After importing these files in the menu.fs is it possible to edit the ff8.exe to make the game read them?

Mcindus

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #170 on: 2014-01-27 03:17:13 »
I noticed that many of the icons in iconfl03_02.png and some of the other images are still heavily pixelated. Why did the authors upscale those icons with nearest filtering when they could have gone with linear or xBRZ?

Those icons and whatnot actually don't seem to be used anywhere in the english version of the game, so they weren't upscaled.  I'm going to re-create a version with everything upscaled (just in case) and include all of the special characters in the new version as well, but don't expect a release of that for a few months.  Currently, I'm finishing the cards so that sl1982 can release an updated version of SeeD with all of my current updates.

The thing I really want to do is update Triple Triad, but I have no idea how to inject the new art into the .exe

Kompass63

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #171 on: 2014-01-27 04:46:42 »
I'm using the 2013 PC version; inside the main .exe there's a path to the default low res icon.tex (...\data\fre\menu\) but nothing about the 4 hi res files for french, german, italian and spanish versions. After importing these files in the menu.fs is it possible to edit the ff8.exe to make the game read them?
Unfortunately I have no idea whether the 2013 version works with Aalis driver.
Unfortunately I have also no idea with what tool you can integrate graphics directly into the .fs files.

Aalis driver with the 2000 version is able to integrate png images in the game.
In the ff8_opengl.cfg you specifies the path where the images are (eg "mod_path = SeeD-eng").
In the directory [gamedir]\mods a corresponding subfolder (eg "SeeD-eng") is created, which then contains the images or other subfolders with images (eg "[gamedir]\mods\SeeD-eng\data\eng\menu\hires")
For the hi-res graphics, there is a subfolder "hires".

However, I fear that the tools are not in a position, subfolders to integrate into the menu.fs, but I do not know.
If it is possible, I would hope that you are doing one menu.fs for each of the four languages.

If you unzip the file "Project SeeD v1.0c.7z" with WinRar, you get the name out everything of the pictures.
The images for Triple Triad have names of "mc00_00" to "mc09_00".
« Last Edit: 2014-01-27 04:52:16 by Kompass63 »

Mcindus

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #172 on: 2014-01-27 21:34:24 »
Unfortunately I have no idea whether the 2013 version works with Aalis driver.
Unfortunately I have also no idea with what tool you can integrate graphics directly into the .fs files.

If you unzip the file "Project SeeD v1.0c.7z" with WinRar, you get the name out everything of the pictures.
The images for Triple Triad have names of "mc00_00" to "mc09_00".

2013 is not supported by Aali's driver.
You can modify .fs files with some of the tools provided in the FF8 Mods section, but from what I understand, repacking the files properly back into the .fs file can get buggy and some of the programs don't always work correctly when they compile.

The mc00_00 - mc09_00 are actually not for triple triad.  they are only the in-menu cards.  I have since found  the triple triad TIMs embedded in the ff8.exe and am working on upscaling them, but I have no idea how to re-insert them... even with Aali's driver.

Aavock

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #173 on: 2014-01-28 14:54:32 »
You can import or rename files in the menu.fs using Deling. Importing upscaled textures was already done here, thing is the game read them as the original 256x256px file size. The icon.tex tables can be found in data\eng\menu\icon.sp1 (which are the same for both english or french so this is not the place to look at). I guess it can be found in the main *.exe.



Now, is it possible to make 4 icon files work with non-english version ? Also, let's forget about importing 512x512px or 1024x1024px files... is it possible to make the game reads 9 (3x3) 256x256px textures instead of the original 4 (2x2) ? If yes, I'll work on the graphics.

K43SJ

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Re: [REL/FF8] Project SeeD (FF8 GUI overhaul)
« Reply #174 on: 2014-02-04 08:48:21 »
So, I was going to add these edits to my SeeD art post, but I think they should have their own dedicated post.  It made my original post too bloated anyway.

I have fixed some glaring issues that I've found with SeeD:
The most noticeable problem is that in the English version dream text (white text on transparent background) its barely visible unless set against a dark background, so i've modified the white text to have a more obvious drop-shadow.  Hope this makes this beautiful text easier to see!

Files above the line are for the English version ONLY!
(Files go in data/eng/menu/hires)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ha9y3yq48z04ddv/sysfld00_07.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xn63nsw50dk3o1u/sysfld01_07.png

ALSO! The green text was missing half of it's characters, so I created the missing file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u2bsshpaeizs94w/sysfld00_04.png
_____________________________________________________

***Other minor improvements*** (compatible with all translations?)

Timer/Card Menu numbers 8 and 9 made to be a consistent font:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1hjs9aqp6h40u99/iconfl01_02.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l3zcdmtrxzgvmnd/iconfl01_023.png (not sure if this one is needed)

Timer/Card Menu number text re-alignment (for the number 1)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iphuznavia2ythm/iconfl00_02.png

Letter "A" in Card Menu changed to be the same font as numbers:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ouuuvbhdtyzw1tt/iconfl03_02.png

Enjoy!

I'm almost done with the in-menu card sets, and then I'm pretty sure I'm finished!  I would like someone to test everything out and get back to me about any issues with text alignment, etc. 

In the future, I will be working on a version of SeeD that encompasses all possible menu/icon combinations (half-transparent 8-bit hands while making a selection, missing color palettes, etc.) and may even have an updated font of my own to select from!

Thanks to sl1982 for making it all possible :)

Can you share more image for me, i love that pictures, i was used that pictures in Project SeeD
« Last Edit: 2014-02-04 08:56:23 by K43SJ »