Author Topic: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]  (Read 488132 times)

Micky

  • *
  • Posts: 300
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #200 on: 2014-12-12 12:18:53 »
Those animations rely on the field script being able to modify the palette in real-time (changing the actual colors in the palette, not just switching between different palettes). Obviously that cannot work with your upscaled images since there is no palette to speak of. In theory it would be possible to create upscaled images that use the original palettes but that would kind-of defeat the point not to mention be difficult to implement and since there's no hardware from this millenium that supports paletted textures it would run incredibly slow even if you could make it work.

I have been thinking long and hard on this one, I figure the best bet would be to somehow analyze the field script to figure out what effect it is trying to accomplish and implement it with a shader. That is unfortunately only slightly more feasible than the above "solution".
Yeah, palettes are dropped, but current GPUs have crazy fill rates and shader performance compared to a few years ago.

What about this:
- bind two textures, one is a I8 texture with the palletised tiles, one is a 256x256 RGBA texture with the palettes. Pass the current palette index as a shader variable or vertex stream.
- set up both samplers to point sample.
- first load the colour index from the first texture, then look up the colour from the second texture with u=colour index, v=palette index, making sure you sample from pixel centres.

Disadvantage:
- You don't get bilinear interpolation, though you can implement that manually in the shader as well. That would mean 8 texture loads instead of 2, but then again, GPUs are much faster nowadays.

For upscaled RGB images it gets complicated. If you have only lighting, and not colour-cycling, you could try to do tone mapping:
- With a matrix, assuming you only have brightness or slight colour tone changes, you need a matrix Ax=b , with x being the old palette and b being the new palette. Then solve for A for example with a least squares fit ( http://eigen.tuxfamily.org/dox-devel/group__LeastSquares.html ). In your shader you can multiply your texture colour by this matrix to get a similar effect as the palette change.
- With a 3D texture, which is more powerful. Basically, for every r,g,b of the old palette you store the r,g,b value of the new palette. As the PSX is only RGBA5551 you should be able to get away with a 32x32x32 cube. It will be a bit tricky to fill in all the colours that are not in the palette, though. Maybe you could use a kD-tree or octree to quickly look up the nearest colours and blend between them, or write a shader to build the 3d texture in a render-to-texture pass. At runtime you would bind both the RGB texture and the 3D texture, and the shader would look up the final colour by using the input colour as u,v,w of a texture lookup into the 3D texture.

« Last Edit: 2014-12-12 12:29:32 by Micky »

BahamutSIN

  • *
  • Posts: 64
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #201 on: 2014-12-25 18:52:20 »
Hey guys, can I ask where exactly do I put my 'movies' folder now? I have the 1998 FF7 and the movies are still read from the disc even after applying the custom driver. How do I change that? I remember the days when changing registry of MoviePath did just that but I can't find it anymore...I tried putting it in the mods folder but the game/driver just ignores it...Every other mod works great so far, just stuck on 'movies'. Help?

Edit: Nevermind, found a solution.
« Last Edit: 2014-12-25 21:44:46 by BahamutSIN »

Aavock

  • *
  • Posts: 304
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #202 on: 2014-12-27 17:26:29 »
Browsing the Qhimm forums I've seen several threads about the black bar bottom screen but currently there is no solution for it so my question is how complex would it be to edit the Y axis of the fields screen in order to center it? This tweak would definitely be a must-have for Aali's custom driver.

Centered fields screen actually works that way in Final Fantasy VIII PC and it looks more natural and makes the bottom black bar less noticeable and distracting. Here's what I mean:


Salk

  • *
  • Posts: 611
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #203 on: 2014-12-30 17:00:10 »
To me it's equally noticeable and distracting.

DLPB_

  • Banned
  • *
  • Posts: 11006
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #204 on: 2014-12-30 22:13:09 »
It's better centred and I would have thought it easy to do that.

Aavock

  • *
  • Posts: 304
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #205 on: 2014-12-31 14:57:15 »
Great news, will you add this feature in the next "The Reunion" release?

LeonhartGR

  • *
  • Posts: 2577
  • ~Whatever...~ Enjoy life!
    • View Profile
    • LeonhartGR Productions
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #206 on: 2014-12-31 21:47:37 »
Nice feature! Looking forward to it!

jaskamakkara

  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #207 on: 2015-01-05 11:36:38 »
Hi guys!  During my travels across the internet finding tools for running FF8 I have of course found these lovely custom drivers, but I also found something called FF8 Launcher.  Now, I have noticed that people say that FF8 Launcher is obsolete and we can all just use Aali's drivers, but I was wondering if the 8-bit paletted texture fix is included in Aali's drivers, or is it something we no longer need?

Thanks in advance for helping me with this confusing issue :-)

Cheers!

Hellbringer616

  • *
  • Posts: 1913
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #208 on: 2015-01-08 02:00:33 »
Hey Aali, I'm not sure how useful this is to you (if at all) for replacing textures in FF8. But would the opcodes used for that in the GTE of the PS1 be of use to you? Since it's a emulated PS1 gpu as i recall that serves as the engine for ff8

jaskamakkara

  • *
  • Posts: 2
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #209 on: 2015-01-09 04:13:28 »
I have also noticed my controller no longer works properly with the v8 drivers.  I must now map it onto the keyboard whereas with the v7 drivers it worked natively (this is in FF8 btw).

FYI I am using only the official 1.2 patch, v8 custom drivers, and the RaW mod.
« Last Edit: 2015-01-09 04:15:28 by jaskamakkara »

Mayo Master

  • *
  • Posts: 650
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #210 on: 2015-01-11 16:28:09 »
Well... as forecast by yarLson, it turns out that I'm currently facing the issue of the dynamic alpha textures - as a matter of fact I was trying to finalize the very example this problem: eals_1, outside Aerith's house, with the waterfall animation.
I see that the last posts on the issue dates back from July, does anyone have any update on the subject? Thanks.

kage52124

  • *
  • Posts: 9
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #211 on: 2015-02-21 22:38:11 »
Hey all,

I've tried my best to figure this out, and I'm out of ideas.

I can't run Aali's OpenGL driver without having disabled UAC first for FF7.  I know you may be thinking that I didn't change the permissions on the folder, but I have, and have allowed full control to all subfiles and directories.  I'm only installing FF7 to it's own folder on the root of my drive (D:\FF7).

BTW, I am running Win7 64 bit.

Here are the steps I've taken:
1) Install FF7 (1998 version) as a maximum install to D:\FF7
2) Download ff7_opengl-0.8.1b.zip and ff7102zx.zip, pulling up the properties for each of these files and choosing to "Unblock" them.
3) Changing the security settings for the FF7 folder to Full Control for Users by changing the advanced settings for the folder and applying the permissions to all subfiles and subfolders.
4) Extract first the 1.02 update and overwriting the old executables, then Aali's OpenGl drivers.
5) Running FF7Config.exe first and setting my sounds settings.  I notice here that Direct3D is NOT a graphics option when UAC is on, which is weird to me.  I know Aali's driver ignores this, but the fact it isn't there tells me something isn't right.
6) Running the registry edit.
7) Change my window settings to: 1024x768, fullscreen = no, inside ff7_opengl.cfg, so I can tell easily if it's working right or not.
7) Run the game.

When I follow these steps in this order, with UAC still on, I still get a full screen where the video won't play.  When I turn off UAC and reboot, then try running the game, the FF7Config.exe will run in it's place, allowing me to change settings for the first time (or so it would seem), and then successfully run the game with the settings I've set in Aali's config file.

As I said, I'm out of ideas.  I was able to run this game, but I wanted to try Reunion and had to do a clean install since I had already installed Team Avalanche's Menu Overhaul.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

Ninja edit: Running ff7.exe as administrator works correctly with Aali's driver, but running it normally does not.  Just found this out.
« Last Edit: 2015-02-21 22:40:49 by kage52124 »

paul

  • *
  • Posts: 179
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #212 on: 2015-02-22 15:11:42 »
Yeah I think the fact that you have to run FF7 as admin needs to be documented better, took me a while to figure that out too.

kage52124

  • *
  • Posts: 9
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #213 on: 2015-02-22 17:10:52 »
You shouldn't have to run FF7 as admin.

My prior problem is fixed, and I don't know how exactly.

I was having another problem for the last 2 days: I couldn't go into standby, which was really bizarre.  The monitor would go black, turn off, then turn back on again, and the Event Viewer reported no Suspend or Wake events for the last 2 days.  Those two days ago, I installed two things: a wireless HP printer, and a driver for a new cellphone (LG Optimus F6).  I decided to do a System Restore to go back to before 2 days ago, and now both my standby/suspend function works again and so does Aali's FF7 OpenGL driver without needing to run it as admin.

I'm pretty sure it was the LG driver as I uninstalled the printer without any success.  I have no idea why this driver would cause these various, seemingly unrelated problems, but I suppose I can't argue with the results.

For paul above me, I recommend following the instructions here: http://game-compatibility.wikia.com/wiki/Install_FF7_on_Windows, but only in regards to "Step 4: Changing FF7 Security Settings", so you can change the permissions of all subfiles and subdirectories so Aali's driver can work.

Template

  • *
  • Posts: 862
  • Life is a series of cats.
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #214 on: 2015-02-27 17:43:20 »
Hello everyone. All the new completed work looks stunning. Thanks so much to Aali and Dan and Tifa and Kaldarasha and all the people who have worked so hard on all of these mods.

I think it's included in bootleg, so if you have a copy of the field textures after an installation that should be fine. I'm not sure what the tools called though. Since the errors don't seem as sensitive, and only show once per error they aren't as distracting, so it's not as big of a deal.

Concerning the Popup error messages:
Has anyone been able to find the tool from Bootleg that removes them? Sorry if this has been specifically addressed elsewhere, I've been searching for a while and this was the best I could locate. <3

cmh175

  • *
  • Posts: 862
    • View Profile
    • Chris Hendrickson's Artstation
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #215 on: 2015-03-12 13:16:04 »
Hello everyone. All the new completed work looks stunning. Thanks so much to Aali and Dan and Tifa and Kaldarasha and all the people who have worked so hard on all of these mods.

Concerning the Popup error messages:
Has anyone been able to find the tool from Bootleg that removes them? Sorry if this has been specifically addressed elsewhere, I've been searching for a while and this was the best I could locate. <3

Hey man long time no see. I've been looking into this off and on too, still haven't seen anything about removing the popups yet. It's odd it was removed from the driver since the popups are only really helpful for modders troubleshooting new work.

EQ2Alyza

  • 7th Heaven Crew
  • Global moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 3191
  • Dilly-Dally Shilly-Shally
    • View Profile
    • EQ2Alyza - YouTube Channel
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #216 on: 2015-03-12 18:55:58 »
I don't find the permanent popups useful at all, at least not for the reason given. If it's an option, modders who know how to debug can turn them on/off themselves. The popups are one of most frequent (and annoying) questions that gets asked by users who just want to play the game.

DLPB_

  • Banned
  • *
  • Posts: 11006
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #217 on: 2015-03-12 19:54:10 »
I don't find the permanent popups useful at all, at least not for the reason given. If it's an option, modders who know how to debug can turn them on/off themselves. The popups are one of most frequent (and annoying) questions that gets asked by users who just want to play the game.

Agreed.  What is worse is, the errors I receive, Aali already knows about. When doing a walkthrough, you do not want silly popups arriving.

Kaldarasha

  • *
  • Posts: 2449
  • Prince of Model Editing
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #218 on: 2015-03-13 07:23:40 »
I assume Aali has implemented it to force moders to fix there stuff. But with the tools we have it's not a simple correction also are some problems caused by the limitation of the driver.
By the way is it possible to add animated textures support? Maybe we can simply put the script for light layers into an animated texture.

Fischkopf

  • *
  • Posts: 217
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #219 on: 2015-03-30 11:19:21 »
Are there currently any features planned, regarding Normal Mapping, Parallax Mapping, Specular Mapping or even Tesselation? It occurred to me, as I have recently seen the new D3D11 renderer for the game Gothic 2. It's made by just one guy and looks really spectacular.

I think the 3D stuff in the game would benefit from that a lot.^^

Kaldarasha

  • *
  • Posts: 2449
  • Prince of Model Editing
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #220 on: 2015-03-31 12:32:16 »
Are there currently any features planned, regarding Normal Mapping, Parallax Mapping, Specular Mapping or even Tesselation? It occurred to me, as I have recently seen the new D3D11 renderer for the game Gothic 2. It's made by just one guy and looks really spectacular.

I think the 3D stuff in the game would benefit from that a lot.^^

I think the problem is that the FF7 PC engine mimics the PSX architecture to well and doesn't follow ordinary PC logic. Anyway I would be happy to use Wight painted models (after that normal -, parallax- and specular mapping).

anime

  • *
  • Posts: 3
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #221 on: 2015-04-16 22:25:38 »
am new to this and i was wondering if  anyone can help me download ff7 or ff8 or both pls  i dont know where to download the games or whats the first step so if anyone can help me and walk me though it that be grate thank u very much  :)

Covarr

  • Covarr-Let
  • Administrator
  • *
  • Posts: 3940
  • Just Covarr. No "n".
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #222 on: 2015-04-17 01:00:58 »
am new to this and i was wondering if  anyone can help me download ff7 or ff8 or both pls  i dont know where to download the games or whats the first step so if anyone can help me and walk me though it that be grate thank u very much  :)
Buy them on Steam:

anime

  • *
  • Posts: 3
    • View Profile
Re: Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v0.8.1b]
« Reply #223 on: 2015-04-18 17:30:23 »
can someone tell me where to download final fantasy7 i dont know where to get it?

Tekkie.X

  • *
  • Posts: 896
  • Formerly known as DragonNinja
    • View Profile