Messages

26

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: [FF7 PC] Full source code reversing project?

« on: 2016-07-24 08:50:23 »

Not interested in unity for rendering triangles and pictures...
The closest to what we want is OGRE and SDL, ff7 needs a renderer, nothing more.  And using modern formats is not in any way easy because you have to manually convert the data to the "modern" formats which is not fast/enjoyable either.  The amount of LUA you would need for the field scripts in the game exceeds the amount of C code that makes the game run. 
For an example nmkin_1 which is a simple field compared to many many others is 1867 lines.
nivgate which is a Nibelheim gate field is 2874 lines and its still a non complex field.
I don't even want to think about the mayor's minigame in Midgar Tower how big it would be...

Lets say on average the each field has 1500 lines of code which is generous.  Multiply that by 700, and you got 1,050,000 lines.  Not counting savemap scripts, battle scripts, battle AI scripts and world map scripts.  Lets face it people, including myself have tried to convert the games data to alternative formats like LUA for use with new engines and have failed many times.  Lets try something different and target the engine this time.

Not implying anywhere that unity is not good, its great for making games and physics simulation but not suitable with that we can do here.

27

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: [FF7 PC] Full source code reversing project?

« on: 2016-07-23 16:17:34 »

Building a house out of toothpicks isn't a great idea. If you are willing to spend THAT kind of time, you'd be better off just recreating that game in some engine and recreating the assets in modern formats. Don't even both trying to convert scripts, rewrite them yourself

Please don't say such things! Its far worse to recreate the game in a different engine and use modern formats.  First of all, there is no advantage in using modern formats to store the games data.  You gain nothing and give yourself a nightmare worth of converting.  Also please don't just throw around the just "rewrite them yourself",  I have attempted to do that with the Midgar Conversion Project: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15744.0 AND with Finishing Touch: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=16211.0 both times I realized it is utterly impossible to rewrite or convert the scripts since it takes about 5 days to a week to convert a field working 2-3 hours a day.  Given there are only around 50 weeks in a year and there are over 700 fields ehh I wouldn't bother.
The fastest solution to get the game working is to re-create the engine that was used to run the game in the first place so you only have to worry about the engine and not the data.  Early versions of Q-Gears accomplished this and progress was going smooth until suddenly the code was rewritten.
What ergonomy_joe is doing is great and is the proper way to do it because fighting with the engine is a winnable battle, fighting with the data is overwhelming and a certain loss.

I want  to find out how he does it and try to do it myself.  How does he get the games ASM?  How do you split the games code into files that you can compare?  Then once I recompile it with the compiler used to make the game what do I compare?

28

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: [FF7-PC98] Tom's Installer Console Version

« on: 2016-07-22 13:32:19 »

Yes after more than a year the Console Installer 1st preview EXE is available!
http://www.mediafire.com/download/pdrhmid197fqth5/CInst0001.zip

If you are on 64 bits run START64.BAT.  If not either run the regular START.BAT or double click TEST0001.EXE
For full screen [ALT] + [Enter]

Yes I know there is not much to do in the installer but its a test of command line graphical apps.

29

Q-Gears / Re: Q-Gears Custom Story (Community Project, everyone can participate!)

« on: 2016-07-21 15:00:31 »

Updated the main post with a collection of all available assets to the project!  So newcomers know how much already has been done instead of a simple post with just text, eww!  We all like shiny images.

30

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: [FF7 PC] Full source code reversing project?

« on: 2016-07-21 13:14:49 »

If you have code that compiles, even if you don't know how any of the variables work, just by having compilable code you can add in bits of code that change the variables and see how the game responds and name them appropriately, ex comment out a function, see what breaks etc etc.

Also, the way he is going it is great, I would like to learn how he does it.

31

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: [FF7 PC] Full source code reversing project?

« on: 2016-07-19 13:16:49 »

Auto decompilers simply do not work. This will result in a horrible mess that is unlikely to compile, if it does it will probably just crash. The real work done here is in understanding and documenting the internal game structures, not just the function and var names.

The gears document has a lot of stuff in it but with an auto decompiler maybe you can put together working stuff together with what you know from the gears doc.  I think thats how ergonomy_joe has been doing it.  Still, very interesting project and hope to see more!

32

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2016-07-19 13:00:05 »

Can't really reproduce the issue, it works for me?  Maybe your graphics card is not supported, try selecting Software Rendering mode.

33

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2016-07-04 14:10:39 »

I just tested the link, it works!

34

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: [FF7 PC] Full source code reversing project?

« on: 2016-07-04 13:51:40 »

Any update on what ergonomy_joe has done?  I have not seen anything on his blog for a while

35

Q-Gears / Re: Q-Gears Custom Story (Community Project, everyone can participate!)

« on: 2016-05-26 12:43:51 »

Any modeler wanting to help with the project is more than welcome to contribute models

36

Q-Gears / Re: Q-Gears Custom Story (Community Project, everyone can participate!)

« on: 2016-05-10 13:36:34 »

The part of the game where Aeris is a child takes place in some "research laboratory" afaik from the text ingame so it has to look future-laboratory ish.
Correct me if i am wrong tho

37

Q-Gears / Re: Q-Gears Custom Story (Community Project, everyone can participate!)

« on: 2016-05-08 10:34:18 »

Updated elevator scene!

38

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: [FF7 PC] Full source code reversing project?

« on: 2016-05-01 14:41:07 »

You think the company that did the port still has the source somewhere on some forgotten disc?

39

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: [FF7 PC] Full source code reversing project?

« on: 2016-05-01 06:52:00 »

Any update on what ergonomy_joe is doing, from what I can see on his blog, he has most of the game working except the battle3d module!  Congrats

As to what I have been doing, is trying to figure out a bit battle stuff and reversing the battle3d module

40

Q-Gears / Re: Q-Gears Custom Story (Community Project, everyone can participate!)

« on: 2016-04-30 22:19:29 »

The "very evil company" in this story will be EPC for now until someone can come up with a better name...
Here is the logo I just made for it: (Theoretically it is a metallic plate that can be attached to objects)

The logo will kinda be on every item/thing in the game made by them, like the shinra in ff7

Whoa! Almost forgot to mention what EPC means, you probably are wondering by now...
Its pretty generic haha, Electric Power Company!

41

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2016-04-26 14:51:31 »

Turns out the Installer Coordinator system is kinda buggy and bloated, it will be removed in next version and switched to the old version with background exit check.

42

Q-Gears / Re: Q-gears Custom Story Project

« on: 2016-04-25 21:25:22 »

Demo fields #1 (I know this is High Resolution, but it will be re rendered in low res for the actual field)

Here is an elevator scene that will be used somewhere in the story...

(This render is slightly older and is missing the control circuits and some pulleys for the doors.)

The story as of now is Aeris' childhood themed but not directly related, just themed that way.  Like all the names are different but remind of you of the characters from the game in a way but not exact.

Hopefully this will be a joint community project and everyone is welcome to participate in it, like recommend changes to the storyline, character model creation, field backgrounds or code changes!

43

Q-Gears / Re: Q-gears Custom Story Project

« on: 2016-04-25 21:00:14 »

This project will start, with some friends we have made up a beginning to the rough story and started designing some levels...
The game will be in ff7 quality graphics for field backgrounds and NPCs as its faster to design the low quality fields because you don't have to pay attention to details as much.
The game will run on the latest version of Q-Gears and will hopefully motivate people to contribute to the qgears engine.
(And of course I will be posting pictures shortly)

44

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2016-03-14 13:32:26 »

Run FF7Config.exe *before* you run FF7.exe and make sure you set a sound driver and make sure ALL settings are set, don't leave any selection boxes empty!
Also, don't install *any* mods before you get the original game working.

45

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2016-02-24 19:15:11 »

This is to install the game from a CD, this does not have anything to do with Steam.

46

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2016-02-21 16:03:50 »

I don't think that error is part of my installer?
Yes, install to default folder means don't change anything when it asks you for folder.  Not even disk or anything.

47

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2016-02-01 17:31:57 »

As much as I would like it, installing to a non default directory is not supported currently...

Like I have tried everything and it still messes up when installing to non default...

48

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2016-01-05 09:10:56 »

Adding a config.ini which will let you have preconfigured options and if you set AUTOSETUP=TRUE then the whole install will be automatic and no options will be asked for. If you don't understand, you won't have to click any buttons, it will just use whatever you have told it to use in config.ini

49

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2015-12-16 19:26:39 »

Does it not let you select a directory outside of Program Files or does it fail when you select one?
(This has been an issue forever... but I thought I fixed with the switch to IC)

50

FF7 Tools / Re: [FF7PC-98] Installer Remake - Tom's Installer [Works on Windows 10!] (1.4.2)

« on: 2015-12-15 19:04:10 »

Are you still having issues, have you tried re installing it?