The Reunion

[DLPB]

THE REUNION  is in progress

THE REUNION

The Reunion consists of 6 mods for Final Fantasy VII.  These mods are:

1. BEACAUSE (FINAL FANTASY VII RETRANSLATION PROJECT)
2. MENU OVERHAUL PROJECT
3. WEAPON (DIFFICULTY MOD)
4. ISCAR (REMOVE CAIT SITH)
5. MODEL OVERHAUL
6. MEMORY PATCHES

Donate HERE

In progress:
DLPB & Kranmer's Menu and Battle Interface Overhaul Project 

Read the Readme and FAQ at the bottom of this post.  

ALWAYS SEND ME YOUR APP LOG WHEN POSTING A PROBLEM.  If you are using a pirated game, don't bother asking for help.

M05c: Click here

This has been designed for use in the English game (the font set supports foreign languages though).  Do not use this installer on a normal foreign ff7.exe.  It will not work.
This mod is for 1998 version only.

Our hex documentation also comes with the installer.

History:

When I began the retranslation project I quickly realised that certain things needed to be altered on the menu to accommodate the new size of the items etc.  The magic ran into the red arrows (indicating All is applied).  I had no idea back then of hex editing or coding or assembly or anything.  Kranmer did and showed me the ropes, editing the red arrows to a new area.  Within only a few hours I understood enough to hex edit the game based on the values Kranmer documented.  We decided that Kranmer would locate all the values and code a few that were missing, and I would design and hex edit.  It quickly became a full project intended to correct the thousands of alignment issues that exist...  I can't quite believe they got away with releasing this game as it was.

After a while it became necessary for me to learn a degree of assembly, so that I could correct a few of the problems.  Aali also helped and even coded right alignment of character names in battle.   We finished 004 of the menu reconstruction and turned full effort to the battle menu which Kranmer had already started on his own months beforehand.  With new knowledge it was possible to redesign the battle interface.

Unfortunately, after finishing the normal menu, I became dissatisfied with the results due to the dorky old font and sought to create a new font.  After this was done, it became apparent that multiple things would then need changing yet again.  The normal menu has now been redesigned from scratch, and so has the battle interface.

All of this started because of the red arrows in the magic menu.

This is now the official thread for the new project, starting with release M001.  It is the successor of the Menu Reconstruction project and merges with the Re-translation project.

 Key features include:

- Completely redesigned battle interface in FF IX or FF X style.
- Thousands of menu alignment issues fixed
- Less textures needed
- Options for some graphics and fixes (like Covarr borders and Felix's tweaks)
- Options for some additional cheats
- Option for break 9999 limit
- New and totally different font
- Time limit cap of 99 hr 59 min 59 sec is now set to 999 hr 59 min 59 sec
- Animated barrier graphics
- Mini-game and script fixes
- More Items in menus
- Re-Translation Project
- New font from ground up, including foreign character support.

===========================
Before posting please check that your question has not already been answered.

FAQ:

---------------------------
Q.  It isn't even installing?
A.  Make sure you have administrator privilleges (right click- "run as admin" in later versions of Windows) and also make sure that YOUR ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE IS TURNED OFF.  The antivirus issue should be less of an issue since M05b but better to take precautions.
---------------------------
Q.  The graphics look really messed up, especially in battle
A.  Make sure you are using latest Custom Driver by Aali.  Make sure you installed this project last and did not install Team Avalanche Menu Overhaul.  Make sure your modpath in ff7_opengl.cfg reads "modpath=DK".  Make sure that you have cleared Cache folder in the modpath, and try "Compress Textures = no" in ff7_opengl.cfg.
---------------------------
Q.  The graphics are not updating when I change things in DK
A.  Make sure cache folder is cleared and that your modpath is set correctly.
---------------------------
Q.  Do I need to install Team Avalanche Menu Overhaul?
A.  No.  This installer comes with much of their work and uses a different modpath.
---------------------------
Q.  My other lovely updates like that World Map overhaul by FeliX are no longer working.
A.  Move the DK files and folders into your OLD modpath and change ff7_opengl.cfg back to the correct older modpath.
---------------------------
Q. This mod seems to be incompatible with one of my mods.
A.  Post detailed explanation on this thread.
---------------------------
Q. This mod seems to crash my game.
A.  Make sure that this problem is exclusive to this mod.  Then make sure you have the latest graphic drivers and Aalis latest driver. Make sure that DEP is disabled or an exception made to ff7.exe. If the game still crashes, post app log here and explanation. If you get the same error when not using this mod do NOT post a bug report here as it clearly has NOTHING to do with this project!
---------------------------
Q. The touphScript log mentions incorrect number of entries?
A.  You did not use a clean flevel originally.  If this is your second install of Menu Overhaul, place a clean flevel in BACKUP-dlpb and run installer again.
---------------------------
Q.  Graphics look rubbish... the font looks bad.
A.   Set fancy_transparency = on, in ff7_opengl.cfg
---------------------------
Q. The game borders look broken... choppy!
A. You have set your config properly when using fullscreen.
    You must set it to your screen resolution e.g.
    window_size_x = 1024
    window_size_y = 768
---------------------------
Q. What isn't compatible with this mod?
A.  Team Avalanche Menu Overhaul (main TA package is cool to use), Remix patcher, non 1.02 exe, other break 9999HP patchers (including Aali's driver version).   Everything else is.

Things NOT TO DO (The 8 deadly sins):

1. Do NOT install Team Avalanche menu overhaul or associated menu files.  This mod will not support it. If you have done, please reinstall our Menu Overhaul Project again.

2. Do NOT install ANY mod which changes the layout of the menu.

3. Do NOT install any break 9999HP patchers.  I have now taken into account the main patch and there should be no further issues.   Do NOT use aali's driver option for 9999 patch either.  Use the one that comes with this installer.

4.  Do NOT install this if you are using the older Menu Reconstruction 004.  Uninstall that first with the old installer, or use a fresh 1.02 FF7.exe

5.  Do NOT install anything from the Remix installer.. at all!  It has caused numerous problems and is grossly out of date.  If you have, and uninstalling it does not work, use a FRESH 1.02 FF7.exe. 

6.  Do NOT try to install Re-translation project with Aerith revival mod.

7.  Do NOT install this mod on a non English version of FF7.exe.

8.  Do NOT leave a bug report without first testing this project on a fresh 1.02 FF7.exe to verify the problem is specific to the Menu Overhaul Project.


Please note that I will ignore any posts which do not include whether you have tested that the bug exists only when this mod is installed on its own.

Credits:

DLPB: Hex editing/Design/Coding/Font/Invincibility/3-D Battler fix/
            Snowboard fix/Coaster fix/Installer       

Graphics- Placement on textures of nearly all graphics (Including cutting and modifications).
                Font (usfont_a and usfont_b types)
                Font (btl_win_d types)
                Font , Stars and Limit bar (btl_win_b types). I did anything not listed under Team Avalanche.
                btl_win_c_l_04.png
                New Death and target (btl_win_c_l_07.png)
                btl_win_c_h_01.png, btl_win_c_l_01.png (I modified the item/weapon graphics to-   
                be smaller and properly centred.  TA created the graphics.)
                Credit screen names (cr\name types)
                Magic/yubi_00.png,  cursor for Enemy Skill Roulette is taken from TA.
                Game over screen (disc\e_over types)
                500 years later (after_1_00.png)

Kranmer: Hex locating and documentation/No random battles/
                 Save anywhere/Installer


Sl1982 / Team Avalanche:
Graphics- coloa_00.png, colob_00.png
                btl_win_a_l_11.png
                btl_win_b_l_11.png
                btl_win_b_l_12.png
                Red arrows (btl_win_c_l_07.png).
                btl_win_c_h_01.png, btl_win_c_l_01.png
                btl_win_a_l_07.png.  DLPB modified the x.
                Slot and hands (btl_win_b_l_01.png)
                Slot, Weapon and item graphic (btl_win_a_l_01.png)
                Character Avatars
                flevel/hand_1_01.png
                flevel/hand_1_09.png
                world/midlmap_00.png
                world/midlmap2_00.png
                world/radar_00.png

FeliX Leonhart:
Graphics- Tweaked Font colour (using DLPB usfont_a and usfont_b types)
                Tweaked Font colour (using DLPB btl_win_d types)
                New materia and slot graphics, and tweaked font colour (btl_win_b types)
                Barrier icons (btl_win_a_l_07.png)
                Credits background (opback types)
                FF7 logo text (ff7logo_a_00.png, ff7logo_b_00.png, ff7logo_c_00.png)


Dziugo: 9999 Break HP Limit/Default Run/Gypt/Lucky Cait/Lucky Tifa/
              No dialogue boxes and lots of help he has given me with
              code to complete the Menu Overhaul Project!

Luksy: touphScript/minigame fixes/script fixes

Aali: Right alignment code/Disable mouse and coding consultant
BloodShot: Transparent Avatars (using TA scans)
Romeo:  Default Materia graphic (btl_win_b types)
Grimmy: Coloured menu icons (using TA graphics)
Philman: Coloured FF9 battle interface (using DLPB graphics)
Shademp: Clock minigame fix/script consultant
Kruci: Default Run (original code which Dziugo modified)
~eldi13: FF7 logo (ff7logo_*)
Renders Graphiques.fr: Squaresoft logo (ff7logo_c_00.png, ff7logo_d_00.png)
NCS: Buster Sword background (buster_00.png)
DLPB and Covarr: Borders (btl_win_c_h_00.png, btl_win_c_l_00.png)

[DLPB]

Progress report  OVERALL:
96/96


Progress Report BATTLE INTERFACE:

Completed: 21/21


Main options
Limit Menu
Magic Menu
Summon Menu
E.Skill Menu
Item Menu
Coin Menu
Manipulate Menu
Defend box
Change box
Magic Sub menu, HP
Magic Sub menu, MP
Magic Sub menu, Status
Tifa Limit Menu
Cait Sith Limit Menu
Help bar
Action Bar
Pause Box
FF9 Style Display
FF10 Style Display
"Are you worried about the other members" dialogue box


Progress Report NORMAL MENU:

Completed: 63/63

break 9999 Menus
Dialogue/Field (Cursor was way out)
New Game/Continue
Load menu "Select a save data file"
Load Main menu
Main Menu window including right side options
Item menu
Key Item menu
Magic Main menu
Magic Magic Submenu
Magic Magic Submenu Selection menu
Magic Summon Submenu
Magic Enemy-Skill Submenu
Materia Main menu
Materia Check menu
Materia Check Magic Submenu
materia Check Summon Submenu
Materia Check Enemy-Skill Submenu
Materia Swap menu
Equip Main menu
Status Main menu
Status menu 2
Status menu 3
Limit Main menu
Config Main menu
Config Window Colour Submenu
Config Sound Submenu
Config Controller Submenu
PHS Main Menu
PHS right Submenu
Save "Select a save" menu
Load Main Menu
Save Main menu
Quit Menu
Shop Sell Materia menu
Shop Sell Item submenu
Shop Sell Item Main menu
Shop Buy Item menu
Shop Buy Materia menu
Shop Buy Weapon menu
Shop Buy Weapon submenu
After Battle Menu 1
After Battle Menu 2
Name enter menu (Characters)
Name enter menu (Chocobo)
Battle Arena Menu

Loading Please Wait Dialogue Box
Load Progress Bar
Item Menu Order Box
Materia Arrange Box
Materia Arrange Discard Dialogue Box
Limit Menu Change Break Level Dialogue Box
Save Menu "Are you sure you want to save" Dialogue Box
Saving Please Wait Dialogue Box
Save Progress Bar
Item Buy Dialogue Box
Shop Main Menu
Shop Main Menu, Sell Submenu
Battle 1 "Was born" dialogue
Battle 1 "Materia level up" dialogue
Battle 1 "Level Up" dialogue
Battle 1 "Limit level" dialogue
Tutorial and other menu dialogue boxes

Progress Report OTHER:

Completed 12/12

Graphics
Font
Font Programming
Battle Interface additional programming
Battle Interface Transparency
Normal Menu programming (extra items in menus)
Time limit of 99 hrs abolished
PHS and Save anywhere
No Battles
Default Run
Installer
Credit Screen and intro graphics updated


Not modded (2):

Debug Menu
"Insert New Disc" graphics

[sl1982]

So does this include all the TA files that were not modified by you?

[DLPB]

The ones that include ANY Team avalanche graphics are:

coloa_00.png
colob_00.png
btl_win_a_l_11.png
btl_win_b_l_11.png
btl_win_b_l_12.png
btl_win_c_l_07.png
btl_win_c_h_01.png/ c_l
btl_win_a_l_07.png
btl_win_b_l_01.png
btl_win_a_l_01.png

Bare in mind I cleaned them up so h may be l and vice versa.

oh and buster_00.png  is that Blitz  guy's?  I forget his name.

Also, need your character avatar graphics too!

[Timber]

Looking at your new Summon and Item battle menus I am wondering, is it possibly to modify it so that there are 2 items per line?
Similar to how the Magic menu has 3 items per line.

Or maybe increase it to 4 lines, like the main battle menu.

Or both?

This would make navigation much easier, scrolling through a huge list of items, only being able to view 3 at a time, is pretty annoying.

[DLPB]

I was thinking about it, although I would not make the Summon menu 2 rows.  There are so few of them that I'd leave it at 1, make enemy skill 1 and make magic 2.  Space and small is preferred to huge windows.

[Armorvil]

^Agreed.

Also, after my idea about implementing the number of kills for each character, another one crossed my mind : in the materia menu, would it be possible to add a section that tells the total amount of AP you need to master a materia ?

A new small window could be implemented below the 'Ability list' or 'Equip effects'. And it could say something like : "Total AP needed to Master : 100,000". That way, you'd keep track of a materia's total AP, even if it's already mastered. It's important for a weapon like the Missing Score, so you can easily see which materia to put on the weapon to maximize its damage (currently, when a materia is mastered, its number of AP disappears... ...it makes me a sad panda). Beats using an outside source, and it would be very useful for difficulty mods that change the AP requirements, too.

Or, a simpler way, now that I think about it : just get rid of the "MASTER" that gets in the way of the AP total. That would be perfect ^^ (and I hope it's doable)

EDIT:

And same idea about the total number of battles fought. It would beat having to wait until the sleeping man decides to give you the information, when you're trying to obtain the Bolt Ring / the Mythril. I don't really care about the number of escapes though, but it could be useful for those who want to power-up Chocobuckle.

Not sure how feasible all this is ; I just thought I'd toss the ideas around. I just hate when games (especially RPGs) hide informations / mechanics from the player.

[Nightmarish]

FeliX has done wonders with his variant form of the colour and graphics here

http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/9620/882011040616251398.jpg

Wouldn't it be better if the materias were centered with the letters?

[Timber]

Wouldn't it be better if the materias were centered with the letters?

That pic is just to show Felix's graphics, the main menu hasn't been redone yet.

[FeliX Leonhart]

Yeah, I hope the materia will be centered^^

[fladimir_hokage]

very cool...but spanish fonts is release for next version??
Ç é á etc?

[Timber]

I was thinking about it, although I would not make the Summon menu 2 rows.  There are so few of them that I'd leave it at 1, make enemy skill 1 and make magic 2.  Space and small is preferred to huge windows.

Well yeah leaving summon at 1 row I can understand, but please please please please don't start reducing e.skill and magic etc.
Really need to pick function over fashion when it comes to UI navigation.

[Kemlin]

Seconding that opinion. I would not use the overhaul, good as it is, if functionality was crippled as such.

[DLPB]

FF9 and other games worked well with reduced lengths.  3 rows for magic is too much...  2 for enemy skill is also pretty much too much.  Summon and item have been 1 row to begin with )and (have you seen how many items there are in 1 row?)

Also, look at the progress report.  None of the menus have been done yet, so obviously nothing has been centred yet.

The way I see it is this :

Magic 2 rows
E.Skill 1 row
Summon 1 row
Item 2 rows (or possibly 1, it depends on length....I will have to look into this)

[Obesebear]

Very curious to see how you implement these row changes without affecting convenience.  Best of luck

[DLPB]

Well for starts there will be 4 rows and not 3   That's already an improvement.

[Obesebear]

Sneaky

[Kemlin]

FF9 and other games worked well with reduced lengths.  3 rows for magic is too much...  2 for enemy skill is also pretty much too much.  Summon and item have been 1 row to begin with )and (have you seen how many items there are in 1 row?)

Also, look at the progress report.  None of the menus have been done yet, so obviously nothing has been centred yet.

The way I see it is this :

Magic 2 rows
E.Skill 1 row
Summon 1 row
Item 2 rows (or possibly 1, it depends on length....I will have to look into this)

Final Fantasy IX, on the flip side of the coin, had far fewer skills and abilities per character. In Final Fantasy VII, there are 54 magic spells. There are 24 enemy skills. Scrolling through these lists with 2 or 1 rows, respectively, would be annoying and take more time. A second or two, yes, but that's more than enough to move this from a "must have mod" to one I will not use. Diminished functionality for the sake of making things look better is unacceptable in my book.

Increasing the number of item and summon rows, however, would be a positive improvement and I would like to ask you to do it if possible. I dislike, strongly, the fact that the item menu only uses one row.

[Nightmarish]

My vote goes for 2 columns for everything. At least for the stuff that used to have only one.
The rest can remain the same.

[DLPB]

Well I have decided on the following:

E.Skill 1 column
Summon 1 column
Item 1 column
Magic 2 or 3 columns

But the number of rows has been increased from 3 to 4, so:

Item, Summon are better than original, magic and e skill slightly worse, in terms of finding them.

[ABHA]

lets not forget that you can also move through the pages quickly with the "page up" and "page down" buttons so its not too horrible.
However I really wish you would at least do two rows for items (although, if it were up to me I'd do 3) since you have the ability to carry more items than pretty much anything else. Besides with your new improvements there is plenty of space for it.

[Nightmarish]

Now that i think about it, 4 columns for magic would be somewhat nice, since many magic materias have 4 spells associated.
Like:

Fire > Fire2 > Fire3 > Flare

Anyway, the mod is yours, so it's up to you 

[DLPB]

It simply isnt possible to do 2 rows for items because we are talking huge strings  The box would look crap.  That is why they kept it to 1 originally.  Trust me, this will work.

As for flare and fire, they are in order of type (flare is part of the forbidden magic).  To change it would be a big hassle for little reward.

This is a tradeoff between size of box and ease of use and without Aali I can't sort the columns anyway...  I can sort the rows.

[BloodShot]

On the topic of aesthetics, are you planning to ever make a version in the future with borders that are like the classic background/TA hires borders? It'd be kind of cool to have the new minimalist interface with the classic look of the game.

[sl1982]

lol