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Final Fantasy 7 => Other Mods => Releases => Topic started by: DLPB_ on 2014-07-27 15:56:09
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THIS IS NOW PART OF THE REUNION.
Download HERE (https://mega.co.nz/#!I5lGRRhA!3kdpoGvPjnLNsoJgqhircfXgecCgEEwrWI3Kkwb--G4)
This mod will restore the battle system to how the PSX version operated. That means that the camera is 2x smoother, the menu 4x smoother, but the animations are unchanged (their frames are quadrupled, just like the PSX game).
The menu and camera were broken by the decision to make the PC frame rate 15 (most noticeable when viewing Cait/Tifa/Battle Arena slots). This mod is a basic fix that can be installed easily using HextLaunch.
1. Download DLPB_Tools, which contains HextLaunch HERE (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=13574.0)
2. Place HextLaunch.exe into FF7's root folder, if it isn't there. Name it what you like.
3. Run HextLaunch. It will create the correct folders and settings file.
4. Go into HL_Files, which has now been created, and change settings.ini to read the following:
1998
[HextLaunch]
File=ff7.exe
Process=
Window=
LoadHext=1
InjectDLL=1
NoInput=1
Delay=3000
Steam
[HextLaunch]
File=ff7_launcher.exe
Process=ff7_en.exe
Window=
LoadHext=1
InjectDLL=1
NoInput=1
Delay=3000
5. Place the downloaded text file from the top of this post into HL_Files\Hext_in
6. Run HextLaunch.
If you know what you're doing, you can also use this to edit the exe directly.
Issues
1. Because this mod uses the pause var to quadruple animation frames, the pause function will not work with this mod. I will be adding that function back very soon.
2. Very minor graphical glitch at start of the very first battle. Unknown cause.
3. Possible issues with camera. Please note any.
4. Battle arena intro to battle will skip (probably needs the same fix that normal battles do)
If you find any other problems, please let me know.
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Did you get textures operating correctly? I've been very busy this weekend unfortunately. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to get back to work on my side of things
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Just gave this a whirl, it's good to see the PS1's smooth battle menus on PC.
A couple of issues, though; this is from the 1998 version:
-) The texture used for gun-related attacks, like machine-guns and Rufus' shotgun, is now invisible (though I'm guessing from Bear's post that this is a known issue).
-) Slow causes targets to visually 'freeze' but they behave as normal. However, if a spell is used the Slowed actor's Idle will start playing before freezing again. It's back to normal when Slow is removed. Also, in some instances the actor under Slow will use their normal speed Idle after an attack is made.
-) Tifa's reels are difficult to read because of the way they move; it's similar to how they behave on emulators.
-) This is related to the disabled Pause so it'll likely be gone from later releases but it's still quite interesting. Pause has retained a lot of it's functions, including toggling the music and even the ATB Gauges. But enemy attacks that are queued will still be performed and damage calculations are still processed (though it appears they aren't updated visually until 'unpausing'). Counter-attacks also still work. It's a little similar to the Sneak-Attack Revive trick that SuperAcro found.
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When the camera moves the models animations looks a bit screwed up.
I can't also access the item menu in the main menu. The game will crash if I try to access it.
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I have no idea why slow would be corrupt, but it seems it is. The disappearing thing is probably related to the bullshit pause bug (does it do it on a normal installation when you pause?)
The pause function is not entirely removed, I know that :) It will still pause the menu and stop turns.
Tifa's reels are probably correct... same as they were on PSX.
The item menu is perfectly accessible so that must be some other issue.
Can you upload a video of the model animations?
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I used a previous saved FF7.exe and I haven't the problem to access the item menu. The only change, which the exe had I have used before, are done by the reunion, but I need to verify this first to be sure. Maybe I had installed something else. :-\
I will see if I can bring the video capture tool to work of the razor game booster. At the moment it looks like that the pauses for the camera and the pauses for the animation aren't in sync (or maybe they need to be async?).
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The pauses are definitely in sync. It's possible that the game just doesn't like having the pause used in this fashion.
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The disappearing thing is probably related to the bullsh*t pause bug (does it do it on a normal installation when you pause?)
Not sure what you mean; something disappears? Everything remained visible when using this mod as far as I could see, with the exception of the machine-gun textures but that was happening whether I paused or not (machine-gun textures are visible when the game is run normally).
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I mean test this with an unmodded game. Go to that place and use pause. This bug may exist in the original game.
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I am fighting Rufus and his shot gun is visible. Are you sure you are running this mod without any other conflicting mods, like Obesebear's version?
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This is the best I could record:
https://mega.co.nz/#!7JMDzSSC!6swtAjwPC4osuZnbwdpVV0irNE4YeTcRXTri5Qo5W2o
You will also see the problem Sega Chief has mentioned. The exe is clean and untouched.
It's hard to describe but the game stutters more with the PSX 60 FPS mode on. I recorded the battle without the mode as well for a better reference.
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There is literally no way to tell if that's down to my mod, or just the crappy ff7 limiter that doesn't reach 60fps. Fraps would report the correct frame rate for you and then you'd know. Even then, it's not perfect. The only way to be sure this isn't the limiter is to record with fraps or dxtory. Set game to run at 120fps and record at 60. Let fraps do the limiting. Also, turn off vsync in Aalis driver options. I know it's a pain but that's the only way so far... play wise, or record wise.
Also... what on earth is going on with your battle window? Why is the bottom part black?
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As I said that's my backup ff7.exe, but now I wonder why I can see the battle menu properly.... :o
Next test, now with the 1.02 ff7.exe. ::)
Edit:
It isn't better, it still has these stutter effect.
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I am fighting Rufus and his shot gun is visible. Are you sure you are running this mod without any other conflicting mods, like Obesebear's version?
The gun effect is working fine with the original. I've got Aali's driver installed (0.8, not the latest one) but that's pretty much it. As for the stutter, I think I know what Kalderasha is describing.
I generally use Fraps for recording FF7 vids, so I had a try at recording and turned on both Aali's overlay and Fraps' overlay for FPS. Without recording, it runs at 57fps in-battle, and goes at about 51 while recording (no menu overhauls, etc). Could upload the footage as an unlisted YT vid if you're interested in seeing it? I showed a few of the animations like Barrier, limits, etc. during it; some seemed a little too sluggish and there's a little of that stutter effect too.
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The fps issue is not related to this mod. It will happen with Obesebear's also. The problem is the ff7 limiter itself is broken. The only way to record (or even play) properly is to set the fps to 120 (or some more than 60 at any rate), as I said above, and record at 60. With fraps/dxtory doing the limiting. That way you can at least test that this issue is to do with the limiter. Turn off vsync in Aali's driver.
To make fps 120, change line in battlefps file in Hext_in
from
{Frame limiter = 60fps
7C0B00 = 00 00 00 00 00 00 4E 40
to
7C0B00 = 00 00 00 00 00 00 5E 40
The limiter is something that needs serious attention. I've been saying this for over 4 years. Dziugo was in the process of repairing/rewriting it... but then disappeared.
Also, Aali's driver seems to have some issue with vsync. I can't get near 60fps with it on.
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I just tested that, it runs at 120fps in-battle without recording (gave me a fright when I turned Fraps off) and steady 60fps when recording. But I'm starting to think I misunderstood what was meant by stuttering; the battle is smooth, there's just this kind of flicker to some of the animations is what I maybe meant to say (it might just be that the animations aren't interpolated yet, it looks very similar to how old 60fps games like Ehrgeiz used to have this flicker in their graphics). But the gun animation still isn't visible, unfortunately.
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Weird... well I wasn't looking for gun animation. Best guess, it doesn't show up when game is paused (which is what this mod uses to slow graphics down).
I guess this mod is gonna have to stay a quick fix until Obesebear's mod adds interpolation, and NFITC works out how to sort all the magic counters and what not.
:)
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They're all just minor issues, nothing serious; it's great to have a smooth interface like the PS1 again (one thing I missed from it).
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This is only meant as a temporary thing anyway... at least it will do for now 8-) I'm looking forward to full 60fps though. The issue is going to be that frame limiter...
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Is it possible to make the battle to 30 FPS? The way I see it is that the pause of the camera does influence the pauses of the animations and vise versa. But it would be good to have some more opinions. I don't think I'm the only one who see this stutter or jitter effect. :|
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The fps issue is not related to this mod. It will happen with Obesebear's also. The problem is the ff7 limiter itself is broken. The only way to record (or even play) properly is to set the fps to 120 (or some more than 60 at any rate), as I said above, and record at 60. With fraps/dxtory doing the limiting. That way you can at least test that this issue is to do with the limiter. Turn off vsync in Aali's driver.
To make fps 120, change line in battlefps file in Hext_in
from
{Frame limiter = 60fps
7C0B00 = 00 00 00 00 00 00 4E 40
to
7C0B00 = 00 00 00 00 00 00 5E 40
The limiter is something that needs serious attention. I've been saying this for over 4 years. Dziugo was in the process of repairing/rewriting it... but then disappeared.
Also, Aali's driver seems to have some issue with vsync. I can't get near 60fps with it on.
Shouldn't it be possible to unlimited (or set the limit very high) the timer and then use another tiny tool to limit the timer as needed?
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You'd need some tool that can do the limiting... I dunno how to create such a tool.
As for this project, I'm gonna see if I can sort the pause issue another way, and use NFITC camera fixes to compliment it. If not, this project stays as it is and can be used as a temporary measure... which is really all it is designed to do anyway... a quick and easy fix for people who don't want the full 60fps install.
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Also, seems in a rather bone headed move, I've used the same memory addresses that part of the Reunion uses. I will have to amend. Don't use this mod with Reunion for now haha. ;D
How that hasn't crashed the battle is beyond me. A miracle.
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link down dude mind reuploading it been wanting to try this since it only effects the camera and battle menus
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I'm fixing a few things with it, then I will :)
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So the menu runs at 60, camera at 30, and models at 15 right? Do your magic effects also display at their correct speed?
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Everything works 100% as it should, apart from slight glitches in camera... of course, my mod is just quadrupling main frames when it comes to animation. So it's not as nice as interpolation :)
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Download link updated. This is 1.0. There are still certain animations that fail because pause is broken in original game. (Like Rufus on the helicopter disappears when pause is set to in). I won't be fixing everything, I don't think. We'll see what happens.
This version should fix the issues caused by me sharing memory area with Reunion.
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I have to say this is far better then the other 60fps mod
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I have to say this is far better then the other 60fps mod
That's only because the other is not finished, and takes a ton more work to do. The other mod will be better than this one when done because the camera will be flawless, certain objects won't be flashing (although I may be able to fix that for this mod), and the animations will be truly 60fps due to interpolation.
This mod is for the meantime, or for people who don't want to mod too many files.
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Isn't it possible to reduce the animation speed through the game engine itself? You can reduce the animation speed in field with a command. It is used in the Wall Market Boutique (mkt_s1), to play an animation of Cloud slower. Can't this be used for the battle animation as well?
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The battle engine is completely different to field. And there is no easy way to reduce the speed of the battle frames apart from the way I've done it.
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Yeah I know that the game handles 3D different from the 2D/3D fields, but I hoped it could be useful in a way. :|
There is still this camera 'stuttering' (the cam moves cleaner with the default 15 fps), which makes the animation weird to look at.
Have you tried to let the battle run at 30FPS? It would still be an improvement.
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The camera is supposed to run smoother, it does in PSX. The stutter.... i have no idea what causes it. It may even happen in psx.
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There is a major bug with this, because I forgot the game timer code depended on pause var also.
To fix, add this to the Hext file:
{Sort game timer pause
40ABB1 = 8A 0D 70 0E DC 00
Otherwise, the battle timer will run 4x slower, and there is a 3 in 4 chance that at the end of battle, your main game timer will be frozen.
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Well, since the other 60fps mod looks dead in the water, we will have to settle for second best. I will look at this more tomorrow, add the pause function back, and if NFITC is willing to help, I am sure 60fps camera can be added too?
The main models and animations would still be 15fps (duped frames like PSX), but the camera would be 60 along with the menu.
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cool cant wait
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Why is this mod called PSX style?
On PSX battles run at high speed of 15 fps :)
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They don't. The PSX runs at 60fps. The frames are quadrupled for effects/animations, but are 60 for menu, and 30 for camera. This means the slots and menu are not broken in PSX.
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Are you saying that elements being on screen simultaneously are having variable fps? How is this supposed to work? FRAPS reports the refresh rate of my window/app whatever so if it is at 15 how is anything supposed to refresh more frequently, I don't understand a word??
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The PSX operates at 60fps all over for FF7. Anything that becomes 15/30 unique frames is simply being duplicated to fit in with the 60. The menu in battle for PSX uses the full 60, the animations do not. PSX works fundamentally different to PC regardless. The Coaster and Snowboard minigames are also 60fps.
Have a look at my video here, and you will see>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67MvmmgaRjw&list=UUXvDNLQWLBrn8qlJu_TQ5pg
Notice the slots for PSX have 8 frames between each item (and in that time Ruby Weapon only moves twice).
On PC, the slots have 2 frames between each item, and Ruby Weapon moves in both of those frames.
This mod corrects the behaviour and the menu, camera, and battle animations work as they do in PSX.
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Okay I understand what is happening in your video, still I am a little confused about unique frames.
If I get it right the game operates at 60fps all the time, so FRAPS is simply reporting incorrectly?
Duplicating frames means I have like 15 or 30 different images per second and they are just displayed twice or 4 times as much as usual right? How can this help being smoother?
For example Slots, you did have 2 frames on PC and 8 on PSX. Where do those 8 come from? If I just quadruple the existing frames it should not look different actually.
Maybe I should just ask why FRAPS is telling me that during battle there are 15fps. For me that means that the window is refreshing 15 times a second so whatever happens PSX internally does not matter as it can not be smoother than 15fps. How does displaying the same frame twice or 4 times change the way it looks?
I think if you just tell me that FRAPS lies and the window always refreshes at 60fps despite what it says I understood you ;)
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In PSX, the menu works at 60fps because the whole battle is 60fps. Therefore it is smoother and the slots allow for 8 unique item locations. This also means that the slots are easier and better to select. in PC you are getting 2 unique item locations meaning it is harder and broken.
The PSX menu is also smoother in general because of this. The moving coin background for example.
There will be no notable difference between PSX and PC in regards to model animations or effect animations. The Camera will be 2x better in PSX because that too operates at 30fps (i.e. it has 30 unique movements per second).
Use fraps on PSX game (using emulator pSX) and you will see it likely reports 60. And on PC it will report 15.
The truth is, ff7 really does work at 60fps, and by making it 15 in battle, the porting team broke the menu and camera.
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Ok, thanks for your patience ;)
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So which one is better to use right now? I realize you said the other will infact be superior in the end, but it's still a WiP right? If I just want non-jerky combat, this is it?
Hum, so I tried this, everything as you said. Went into game, first battle, FPS counter says it is 58FPS locked for some reason, not 60...but it's still jerky.
It looks exactly the same as 15FPS. The Camera. Also, music no longer plays, and SFX disappear sometimes. I know this doesn't change the animations, like the other intends to do, but I thought the camera, which is my main issue, would be alot smoother, but it's exactly the same, despite showing 58FPS VS 15.
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It says 58 because of some sort of bug to ff7 pc with its frame limiter. I don't know the cause and someone else was working on a fix but disappeared. Last I heard, Aali was also looking into it.
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Hmm I see, does that explain why it doesn't seem any smoother? It's quite odd. Also lack of music / SFX disappearing?
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The animations and models will not be any different to original PC. It's the MENU (look at Cait's slots) and camera that will be smoother. This mod restores how it looked for the PSX. I.e, no buggy menu.
The other mod was attempting a true 60fps for animations etc.
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Mm, yes, but my issue is the camera is not smoother, and music & sfx disappear.
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The cam has an issue at moment. The music issue can't be related.
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Does this mod work with Tifa's Final Heaven (7H)?
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Try going into Workshop -> Settings and having HextLaunch in the "Also Launch:" box. I never tried it myself.
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Works nearly perfectly together, but sometimes the FF7.exe is executed two times.
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Also, I'd wait until R02 (I am tired of saying that), because it will also have this mod as an optional, and it will be corrected more. At the moment there are several issues.
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Are the issues severe enough to prevent gameplay, or are they relatively "minor"?
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Choice dialogs are completely broken. Pretty major.
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Awwwwwwwww.
Thanks for the info.
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I have updated this project, please see first post for v 1.1.
I did want this to be part of Reunion R02, but it will have to wait for a little while. In the meantime, let me update you where this mod is at:
Very little has been changed since last time- mainly updates to stop it conflicting with the upcoming Reunion R02. This mod was going to serve as a temporary solution until NFITC1 and Obesebear's mod was complete, but it now looks like that mod will never be finished due to the enormous effort that would be needed altering assembly. For that reason, this mod is back in a more permanent fashion.
However, my assembly skills are not up there with the best. NFITC1, Aali and Dziugo (sadly AWOL), or someone else, may be able to solve the following issue I have:
In order to get the Knights of the Round Summons to stop flickering, I have created a rather sloppy workaround. See the download. Unfortunately, it seems that other models in the game suffer from this issue (the issue exists because I am using the pause variable, and in the original game (including PSX), there is a bug with models disappearing when pause is used).
At the moment, the only way I can stop these models disappearing is to add their function to the list of exceptions, the same as Knights of Round (which needed 13 function exceptions, one for each knight... sigh).
Surely there is a better way than this? Anyone?
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To chime in on the one NFITC1 and I were doing, my part is finished. Even if more work pops up that I would be capable of, I simply no longer have the time. I don't have the knowledge necessary to fix the action scripts nor the summons (nor interpolate textures if possible). The finale of the project is left to NFITC1 or anyone else with good programming knowledge to finish what we started.
It's a shame too. We were on such a good roll at the end, and so nearly finished.
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Editing the function that does the pausing might be easier than making a reception for hundreds of functions-but I can't dig around in there to know for sure either
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Editing the function that does the pausing might be easier than making a reception for hundreds of functions-but I can't dig around in there to know for sure either
That's what I'm doing in this mod, but it has its own problem. And it can't be used with Obesebear's as far as I am aware, or NFITC1 would have used the method. Different problems.
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The reason I've been silent lately is because my laptop has been faulty for a long time and making any sort of reversing just painful. Long story short I finally got it fixed and had a chance to reexamine this.
Summons actually occupy the space in memory dedicated to battle actor 3. This is the battle actor that can hold global scripts. So summons are actually just actors with one animation. This means that it's animated like any other model and has an animation script associated with it. Usually this is just "do your animation and get out". For the Knights, however, they are 13 different models that are being swapped out over and over so their script is a little more complicated than that. This is also why you never see two at the same time and why they conveniently fly off camera after they're done. They just disappear and the next one just appears.
Anyway. The pause method is, sadly, doomed to fail because they are not rendered by the same process that renders the rest of the actors. Summons are this weird hybrid of 3D animation and actor so they are drawn differently. Like all 3D animations, they get drawn by the 3D Render handler per frame. Limiting the invocation of this, however, causes them to flicker.
"Why does this happen to summons and not other 3D renders", you ask? Because 3D animation renders are not invalidated every frame. Actors are. There is some function, somewhere, that causes the render engine to consider all actors' renders old at the end of every frame so they don't ghost (like Kimera's "Overlap last frame ghost" option).
"Why the flicker?" Because when paused, the 3D effect render engine pauses, which stops the invalidation of 3D effects, but the actor invalidation engine continues. I'm sure there was a reason for this to happen in the first place, but it's causing problems with this.
"What's the solution?" Quite simply: prevent the actor invalidation routine from invalidating actor 3 and force the 3D render invalidator to invalidate actor 3. Problem solved? I dunno. I can't find either.
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Thanks for that! And until (if ever) a way of doing that appears, my pause method will have to just use the crappy hack I've made (which does the job at least).
Why don't the other Summons all use actor 3?
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Why don't the other Summons all use actor 3?
They do. I thought that's what I messaged you about.
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They do. I thought that's what I messaged you about.
Then why don't they flicker? Last I remember, some of the summon models don't flicker at all with my mod?
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Then why don't they flicker? Last I remember, some of the summon models don't flicker at all with my mod?
Well I only tested with a few summons with mine. Chocobo/Mog, Bahamut Zero, Phoenix, Alexander. They all flickered under my influence. I haven't seen what your mod does, TBH.
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Well I only tested with a few summons with mine. Chocobo/Mog, Bahamut Zero, Phoenix, Alexander. They all flickered under my influence. I haven't seen what your mod does, TBH.
If you get the chance, check it out and see what I actually do. I'#d like to know why my method works too. :P
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1. Because this mod uses the pause var to quadruple animation frames, the pause function will not work with this mod. I will be adding that function back very soon.
Stupid question since it's still on the first post, But is this issue fixed with 1.1? I don't pause often, But if i need to pause for a phone call, i'd rather not die haha.
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THIS IS NOW PART OF THE REUNION.