Messages

126

General Discussion / New Game Engine for FF7

« on: 2003-08-20 18:50:18 »

Yes the project exists (although it's solely for the FF7 Remake.)

There's a little more info (and some screenshots) here: http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=2163

127

General Discussion / Al-Bhed Language

« on: 2003-08-20 01:57:17 »

http://www.ninjalane.com/leet.aspx

128

Archive / Modifying the ff8 engine???

« on: 2003-08-20 00:16:16 »

I think there's been a misunderstanding. The Remake Project is for FF7, not 8. Sorry, but we don't know of anybody who is working on a FF8 Remake.
For awhile halkun wanted to port its 3D models to Quake 3 and make an FF8 movie with them, but that project has been cancelled.

As for the FF7 Remake, it's doing ok. You're welcome to apply for some sort of position (talk to The SaiNt), but I kind of doubt we'd easily accept somebody who didn't even bother to finish the game.

129

Troubleshooting / FF7 rendering idea

« on: 2003-08-20 00:08:15 »

...exactly what I was thinking. FF7 can run in OpenGL, but it's very broken. It's certainly not the default--nor really worth it.

http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=2156

130

Archive / Improving FFVII Resolution?

« on: 2003-08-19 19:04:19 »

Methinks that you'd need to look for checksum routines, in that case.

Quite likely. Which is something I hate doing. =P

With what? Ultima?

Actually, I was thinking someone could do most of it with a hex editor and mirex's .P doc. doha.hrc is in essence just a single .P file, which means the only real changes that need to be made to match different hands is vertex coloration on a case-by-case basis. Of course LPG tools, along with the Techdoc's HRC dumps would be the tool of for the actual find/replacing.
Yeah, Ultima probably would work, though. If Mirex finishes his .ASE importer, Biturn might, too.

We'd have to re-do a few animations too, such as the running animations. Imagine the run that cloud does with his field model used with the battle model.

I'm not talking about doing a battle->field model replacement--just taking a higher detail field model and letting it have a bunch of kids. Of course, the kids are cannibals who eat their ancestors, but apparently that's just survival of the fittest. =D
Besides, since we've already deciphered the battle animation format (although converting to field animation would be another unbelievable headache) we *have* access to animations of battle Cloud running. Practically every melee attack involves him running up swiping, and then running backwards to his spot (if I was a lazy Square programmer in charge of the battle engine, I would have just made the animations playable in reverse...which, chances are, they did)

It's going to be hell to do anyways.

Which is why someone would *really* have to want to do this.

131

Archive / Improving FFVII Resolution?

« on: 2003-08-19 03:52:06 »

Actually, what you're talking about is pretty much cake compared to the type of stuff normally being attempted around here.

FF7PC's current font sets are in cr_us.lgp (in .TEX format.) It's a fairly small file, and *is* put on the hard drive with the Standard Install. There are two sets, one for the full screen modes, and the other for quarterscreen.

Which of course means, in theory, all you have to do is extract them as .BMPs with LGP Tools; scale them appropriately in a graphics prog; convert back to .TEX with TexTool; reinsert your replacements, make an LGP patch; and distribute.

...if only it were that simple. From my experience, you're going to run into trouble, though, changing the size. FF7 doesn't like it when you modify the size (or palette, as Ficedula correctly points out in TexTool's readme.) This leads me to believe that the size definitions are stored/called elsewhere, but I'm not sure how or where.
My guess is that this is where another DirectX layer *might* be helpful. Obviously, keep in mind, I'm quite a buffoon when it comes to knowing about how texture rendering can work--this is merely theorycraft.

Assuming you could get around this one problem, keep in mind you also will have to repeat this process with FF7's other textures (various splash screens--i.e. "Game Over"--, field model eyes, portraits, menu images--including battle slot reels--, not to mention all the various textures used in 6 minigames and the World Map, and magic.lgp) I can't remember if battle.lgp has any textures, but I'm assuming it does. Not all of these files are copied to the hard drive with a Standard Install.

All in all, it's still worth doing, and not *too* much work for someone who doesn't mind it. To be honest, I've already done some of it. =D

Backgrounds, as already stated, you pretty much have to wait on because we need to get rid of the black dots and other display problems.

Assuming that that font set actually does exist in a useful state

IIRC, it doesn't. Although if it does, it seems unlikely you'd see it until after the whole Remake is finished.

Anyway, I think a smarter option is to just do an effects filter of some kind. It works for emulation, and it can work for us. All we have to is either:
1) Find someone with the know-how who is willing to program one for FF7PC.
or
2) Do it ourselves. (DirectX layer time again?) This makes the most sense to me, because the source for 2xsai (which was based off of the discontinued Eagle library), both of which are used in various SNES emulators (like ZSNES) is GNU and freely available. In case you're wondering, it's C, but compiled as C++.

it wont make the blocky backrounds or skinnyelbows/hugeblockhands go away.

If I may, I'd like to direct you to \char.lgp\doga.hrc:

It's Tifa's hand, in higher detail. If somebody *really* wanted to, they could use it to create a hand model template. Then, they'd just have to replace every field skeleton's hands with their new model (which would involves lots of find/replace as well as modifying copies to match coloration and other defining characteristics of different model's hands.)

132

General Discussion / My resignation

« on: 2003-08-18 02:32:30 »

Jari Huttunen was a giant amongst us--that probably sounds trite, but I think it fairly/honestly applies. I guess all I can add is that I hope at some future date a certain respected member of these forums takes advantage of the open door. Hopefully Terence Ferguson still lurks, and maybe dagsverre will poke his head back in once in awhile. ...but it still won't be the same.

133

General Discussion / How long have you been here?

« on: 2003-08-18 02:23:51 »

due to all the smelling errors...

:wicked:

134

General Discussion / My resignation

« on: 2003-08-16 03:51:44 »

I *could* see this coming (you've been uncomfortably predictable about this Jari...) =/ I don't have time for a proper reply, (I'll make a "better" one tomorrow), but one thing jumped out at me.

I also wish my profile to be deleted.

Whatever happens, I'd rather his account not be deleted. Instantly removing 1000+ posts from the board is bound to be disruptive, and make many old threads somewhat useless in spots where Jari contributed.

135

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Blocking Port TCP 139

« on: 2003-08-13 03:38:35 »

According to this, Windows NT *can* also use TCP 139 for:
-Directory Replication
-File Sharing
-Logon Sequence
-Pass Through Validation
-Performance Monitor
-Printing
-Registry Editor
-Server Manager
-Trusts
-User Manager
-WinNT Diagnostics
-WinNT Secure Channel

The most adventurous thing to do is probably just to try disabling the port and see if it causes problems. Chances are, it'll work (if memory serves, some firewalls will even disable 139 automatically--I don't remember the port being that important.) But, if the network printer doesn't work anymore (or whatever), then, yeah, reenable the port and come up with something else.

136

Archive / Speed Problem in Motobike and chocobo races in FF7 Solved

« on: 2003-08-12 21:55:03 »

...this is quickly degenerating into a troll situation.

I'll assume you *really* don't know, just this once.

ho w can I put images up on here which are on my computer and not on the net

You can't. To show us a picture, you *have* to put it somewhere on the net.

-Srethron

137

Archive / Improving FFVII Resolution?

« on: 2003-08-11 01:27:01 »

FF7.exe has to call either CreateWindowEx or ChangeDisplaySettings (or any related function) to switch to fullscreen mode. The width and height is given as a parameter there. So I'm trying around to intercept that function call and change the resolution ...

That *almost* sounds like Ficedula's patch that switches FF7 to windowed mode (although I can't get Cetra to work...or Cosmo for that matter, so I can't test it.)

It's not. The problem you ran into, was one of off-screen drawing.

Nice to know it's f1x0rd. Thanks for the info.
-Srethron

138

Archive / Improving FFVII Resolution?

« on: 2003-08-06 19:19:52 »

Not worth it in the long run.

...except for making the in-game screenshots I take look better so I can  impress my FF7PSX friends.

I agree with the rendered backgrounds, but think of the battle scenes, where everything happens in a real 3d area.

I haven't worked much with the battle scenes, but the way I understand them is that just about every one is just a simple 3D cube with textures slapped on the walls that make the environment *look* more 3D (even though it's not, just the walls are.)
My point? Just a nitpick, really, I guess: I'd think Higher-res would help the battle models, but not the scenes themselves.

and a mini-game slowdown patch... The game needs to be able to run before you can improve the quality of the graphics or music.

Well, in theory, improving the resolution would probably slow the game down somewhat.

I have a feeling that Eidos would have released this with at least 800x600 resolution if they could have without a lot of extra work.

I doubt it. Eidos was just the publisher and didn't really do any of the actual porting. The team of Square programmers who ported it (who were not the original FF7 team) cared very little about there project and were given a very small amount of time to get it working. They actually considered modifying the battle models because they were too "high-res" (a high-level machine back then was a Pentium 200.)

- You should be able to get the backgrounds to stretch with filters so they don't look so blocky.

I agree...Getting somebody who can write an Eagle filter or whatever would probably be the best way to solve the background problem on FF7PC as well.
More cons with FF7PSX:
- The notoriously bad translation is actually worse than FF7PC's because the PC translators cleaned things up a little bit. On the PSX, you're back to Aeris saying, "This guy are sick."
- More limited saves.
- It's not as easy to edit the game.
- For me, at least, every emulator I've tried doesn't display FF7's menus (makes battles very hard.) Of course, that was over a year ago. =P Hopefully that's not a problem anymore.
-Srethron

139

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / How the LZS compression works?

« on: 2003-08-05 22:35:10 »

bspbsp: Well, the idea was that you (theoretically) could reverse the decompression info given back into the Haruhiko compression scheme. As far as I can tell, enough info for that is in Ficedula's doc. You just have to reverse engineer something that was already reverse engineered. =P

I don't know what else to tell you. As a last resort you can try this.
-Srethron

140

Archive / ff7 help again

« on: 2003-08-05 21:57:02 »

In theory, it should work. However, it will only work if the movie that you have renamed is longer than the one that is being replaced. If it's shorter, it'll just stop with a black screen again. At least that's what I remember.

Sounds plausible, anyway.

Sephiroth_98: If you still want to go forward with this, I guess I would suggest trying it again, renaming a copy of gold4.avi (since it's longer and spoiler free) to meteosky.avi, or...if you want to try and match the length of the original movie pretty closely (17 seconds), gold7.avi (19 seconds, from disc 1.)
-Srethron

141

Archive / ff7 help again

« on: 2003-08-05 04:12:27 »

I've never tried what I'm about to suggest, and I'm too lazy to test it myself, however, it seems like it might work.
Only try this if what's already been suggested doesn't work.

- Do step 3 in Eidos's faq.
- In the directory where you've copied the movies to your hard drive,
1) Remove meteosky.avi.
2) Make a copy of one of the videos that you *know* works.
3) Rename it to meteosky.avi.

If it works, what happens is fairly obvious: your replacement movie will play instead and the game won't hang.
-Srethron

142

Archive / FF7 issues on win98se AND 2kSP4 - I just can't win!

« on: 2003-08-05 04:02:43 »

Thanks for the info. I can remember reading about it back when it was Freedom Ridge around a year ago, but I thought it had been cancelled. It does look interesting, although it is a bit disappointing that there's no turn-based option. All in all it sounds good, although the interface looks a little weird to me.

the next Xcom.....

I guess, technically, Laser Squad Nemesis is the next X-COM, but it's been changed substantially as well. It's pseudo-real time; you pretty much have to subscribe to keep playing (since the free options are pretty thin); and it's play by email.

Right now I'm still content to just go back to the original every now and then. I have a copy of Interceptor I need to try sometime, too.
I guess Alliance was the game I was really rooting for--after it got nixed, the series pretty much died.
-Srethron

143

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / psx file format docs

« on: 2003-08-05 03:36:36 »

Here's the .SEQ info I have, but I'm making no claims about its reliability:

SEQ is the PlayStation sequence data format.

Code: [Select]

Format:
 ____________________________  Byte count
| ID (SEQp)                  4
 ____________________________
| Version                    4
 ____________________________
| Resolution of quarter note 2
 ____________________________
| Tempo                      3
 ____________________________
| Rhythm                     2
 ____________________________
| Score data                 Any
 ____________________________
| End of SEQ                 3
 ____________________________


I probably won't be much further help if you have any questions regarding the above, but, if you do, I'll give them a stab.

I have similar .TMD info, but it would make for an *extremely* long post. If you really need it, let me know.
-Srethron

144

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / How the LZS compression works?

« on: 2003-08-05 02:16:20 »

Ficedula's LZS Compression Description

FiceLZS (Ficedula's command-line app that compresses/decompresses LZS)
-Srethron

145

General Discussion / Is it possible to enter DEBUG ROOM in the PC ver. (FFVII)?

« on: 2003-08-03 04:19:27 »

The patch I mensioned changes the ability of Buster Sword. The "Buster Sword" itself has six material holes (no growth). Attack is 99, and Attack % is 255

IIRC, you *can* do this with certain FF7 save editors on your own (although maybe my memory's mixed up.) I know that I either once did it or downloaded an edited save that had it. It's mostly just for gimmick value, though, since it still looks like the Buster Sword (even though it has the sound and stats of the Masamune.) I know some save editors let you put the Masamune in your inventory; it shows up as a gun for Vincent, although you can't equip it on him in the Equip menu...
-Srethron

146

Archive / FF7 issues on win98se AND 2kSP4 - I just can't win!

« on: 2003-08-02 03:28:30 »

Nemesis Destiny: Hey, nice to hear. =)

8) Ran Defrag on the drive. Good thing it was time for work - defragging takes forever on this old beast.

It takes forever on every Win98 machine with X.XGB of space I've seen so far. Doesn't mean much, really, probably just a low RPM issue.

I don't really, like that game...it was a let down, when I bought it. I liked the first one...and the second was the same as the first.... But I just couldn't get into protecting a single city....and have my whole squad die because the building colapses on them.

I haven't finished Alliance yet either. It's extraordinarily micromanagement intensive (on a macro level), but I still have a measurable amount of fun with it. The main thing that annoys me is that, if you destroy a building (trying to, say, to eradicate the Cult of Sirius), it just rebuilds itself. I guess you can't criticize it for lack of options, though; on the whole there're too many.
Still, being able to pay real-time *or* turn-based, not mention watching city interests start to use the advanced equipment I was selling off for profit were pleasant surprise. I still prefer the first, but Alliance isn't *that* bad.
-Srethron

147

Troubleshooting / VIII -> 3DSMax 4?

« on: 2003-08-02 03:15:47 »

Halkun might...but because he currently has no internet access, you can't really contact him that easily.
-Srethron

148

Archive / FF7 issues on win98se AND 2kSP4 - I just can't win!

« on: 2003-07-23 00:14:23 »

Both systems have a Full install performed on them and are attempting to run in D3D hardware rendering mode, however the problems still occur under software rendering mode.

Just to clarify, you've tried *every* software mode? And are backgrounds the only ones that get corrupted, or do other textures as well? I guess I'm interested in quarterscreen in particular, because that uses a partially different texture set.

(flevel.lgp) was cross-linked with not one, but TWO other files on my hard drive.

I'm not smart enough to know how that could happen (bad partition? spyware?), but that gives me an idea...

I would be inclined to agree, except it was screwing up (it used to crash immediately after leaving the first screen) even when I first started this little experiment, with DX6.  Then, I upgraded to DX7.0a, and it allowed a little progress (wouldn't crash until I got to Aeris' house), but the graphics were glitchy in some areas.  The whole time I was using ASUS driver 6.31c.  I got more and more functionality back the more I played with driver versions and newer DirectX versions.

The little cash-register in my head that talks to me randomly is making little "chu-ching" noises...which means this probably won't work. But it's still worth suggesting. A long time ago my Win98 machine started having problems with FF7 (sound issues and the Cosmo Canyon bug where you can't get past Bugenhagen's planetarium) when I upgrade to DirectX 6. An upgrade to DirectX 7 made things worse. Eventually I ended up downgrading to 5 again which was a pain, but the problems went away. Ironically, now that same machine has DirectX 8.1 and still works fine, though. =/
Just in case, you might find this worth a try on your legacy machine: uninstall, downgrade to DX5, do a partial install, and try it in software without applying the TNT patch.

This way, (DX5, software mode, and unpatched ff7.exe) you are getting as close to FF7PC's native environment as you can.
The partial install is just as important because that will leave flevel.lgp off your hard drive entirely (it'll access the copy on your game discs.) Yeah, it makes scene loadtimes a lot worse (even on fast machines), but it might just do the trick ending your cross-linking problem.
-Srethron

149

Archive / FF7 issues on win98se AND 2kSP4 - I just can't win!

« on: 2003-07-22 02:14:12 »

I probably can't help that much, seeing as I'm not near as "tech-articulate" as someone like Threesixty or Jari, but I'm going to go ahead and take a gander at this because my 2 FF7 setups are very similar to your own. (P3 w/ Win2k, SP2 and P3 w/ Win98SE)

the game crashes a lot and randomly corrupts certain background graphics

I need a little more info. Is this on a full or partial FF7 install? Are you running the game in accelerated mode; and if so is your ff7.exe Riva TNT patched; and have you tried just software mode?

Works great in Win95 Compatibility mode,

On my win2k machine, both Win95 and Win98 Compatability modes run the game just fine...is this not the case with yours? If you haven't, at least give Win98 Compatibility a shot. It seems far too easy, but, hey, maybe it'll solve your controller problem. I once tested my Win98 machine with my Wingman Rumblepad, connected to a 1->4 port USB addon. That worked fine, but I've never tried to see if that worked in win2k with software compatibility.

Best of luck to you,
-Srethron

150

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Questions about the SoundFont RAM on AWE32 and AWE64!

« on: 2001-09-18 09:06:00 »

Isn't this thread better suited for Game Tweaking?

And, just so I can pretend I'm not ignoring your question,   I personally have no idea. That doesn't mean anything, though, as I'm hardly knowledgeable in such areas.