Qhimm.com Forums
Final Fantasy 7 => Troubleshooting => Topic started by: NERV Agent on 2016-03-01 08:52:09
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A long time ago I used to do some game hacking, but stopped when more serious IRL circumstances happened.
Because of this prolonged hiatus, I've forgotten a lot and must re-learn!
I intend on doing some minor projects just to re-orient myself with all this. I probably won't release any of this, as this is for my own re-education.
My first project is to edit the title screen of Final Fantasy VII for the PSX. Where is the title screen data stored? I wanna see if I can scrawl stuff on it like "NERV AGENT WAS HERE!" I also want to mess around with that Buster Sword graphic at the "NEW GAME / Continue?" screen.
Also, is that Final Fantasy VII logo that appears after the title screen (with the "blue flames" cinematic between the two) a still graphic or part of an FMV?
I am going to assume these are ".TIM" files somewhere on the CD(s)?
I also found this on the CD(s)
FINALFANTASY7/STARTUP/SCEAP.LZS
Could this be it? I tried using qt-lzs 1.2 and LZSCompress/DECompress v0.9.6 to decompress SCEAP.LZS, but all I got was a weird 600 KB file. I opened that weird file in a hex editor, and it was mostly 0s with some data in the middle.
Where is this title screen data?
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I have been looking in to this.
Sceap is the Sony Computer Entertainment Presents text. Someone has created an extractor for the file here on qhimm. Do a search. :)
I can't find the game over, credits, or disk change pictures.
Places I can't check (but may be the correct place):
Field.bin (not sure what this is - it's in field folder)
Title.bin (can't see this is likely given it's in battle folder)
SCUS_941.63 (or other id)- This is main executable and I guess it's possible it's in here?
It's a mystery.
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'K, I opened the files you mentioned in Tile Molester using these settings:
View -> Codec -> 4 bpp linear, reverse order
View -> Mode -> 2-Dimensional
Image -> Canvas size… -> Columns: 32 Rows: 32
These are the same settings used to view textures in the PSX version of Tomb Raider II. I dunno if it can apply here, but I am assuming so.
I scrolled through and found nothing that coherently resembles that title screen.
But then again, those files are likely to be compressed, so it would make sense that I would see a garbled mess.
However, I found the Buster Sword graphic at the "NEW GAME / Continue?" screen in the "MENU" folder using PSicture. Am I getting closer?
UPDATE:
I used Time Molester again to open "Field.bin", "Title.bin", and "SCUS_941.63" using the default canvas size, and the settings:
View -> Codec -> 8bpp linear
View -> Mode -> 2-Dimensional
These settings can be used to view textures in the PSX version of Tomb Raider I. But I still see an incoherent mess.
Then I opened the files again with the settings mentioned above, but changed the codec to 16bpp ABGR. These settings can be used to find CLUT data for textures in the PSX version of Tomb Raider II. Anyway, I still see a mess, but in "SCUS_941.63", there seems to be something that kinda sorta remotely resembles CLUT data when you scroll down.
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I'm new to hacking FF7, but I can't help but notice all the ".MNU" files in the "MENU" folder where I found the opening sword graphic.
How do I view these files?
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Not sure, but I recall they are menu code and not images.
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Yeah, I tried using MNU-TIMjector (and ran "64-bit_Compat.bat", too) to open each ".MNU" file that comes up in that folder. I didn't see the title screen anywhere.
I find it hard to believe that after almost 2 decades, no one (except those who made the game) knows where the title screen is stored.
Shaggy: "Gee gang, this sure sounds like a groovy mystery!" :mrgreen:
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I know I am bumping this up, but I've ran into some stuff.
I was looking through the FF7Tools (http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1050/) README and found this:
Examples
for 'binlz' files are MOVIE/OPENING.BIN (opening credits) and
MOVIE/STAFF*.BIN (end credits).
Then I searched Google for "Final Fantasy VII opening.bin" and one of the results had this:
* The opening credits which play over the Prelude theme on the title
screen. These are stored as TIM images in the file MOVIE/OPENING.BIN
which can be extracted with 'unbinlz' and 'tim2png'.
https://github.com/cebix/ff7tools
So I used FF7Tools. "unbingz" wouldn't work, giving me "IOError: Not a gzipped file".
But "unbinlz" worked, giving me a bunch of ".data" files instead of ".TIM" files.
How do I view these ".data" files? I think I'm getting closer.
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Those require python so I can't test...
But can you send me the files it extracted?
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Sure thing! Can you gimme an e-mail address?
I can't send PMs on this board, but I'm hoping I can receive them (I'm gonna assume you don't want your e-mail posted for everyone to see).
I'm also in the chat room right now, if you want to tell me your e-mail address there.
Also, I used TimViewer and it couldn't open the files. :|
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Aight, I've sent the e-mail.
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Congrats. This is 'em. You can use psicture or winripper or other tim extractor to view / extract.
Drag files to psicture window.
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Hahaha! Thanks!
[Play in separate tab or window for dramatic effect.] (https://youtu.be/XF2CGv7yzOc)
Now my next hurdle is editing and re-inserting.
How do I turn my ".bmp" files back to ".data" files?
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:P I have no clue. Maybe ask Green_Goblin? He works with psx editing. Get PM working. or see my Reunion main post for a link to his psx project.
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Who is the admin that I should e-mail about sending PMs?
I'm not a spambot, nor am I an advanced artificial intelligence that can outsmart the Turing test in a scheme to spam the boards.
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Hmm wait, I recall there is a minimum number of posts. Perhaps it's 10 :) I always thought 5 was a better limit. Don't worry, one of the mods will see this, I'm sure :)