Need help on starting up.

[Soma_Lancelot]

Hi guys, I'm a new member here.

I've been learning 3D with 3DSMax for quite a while so I want to start trying my hand on modding Final Fantasy VII (I own the original game) during holidays.

What I plan to do is to fully-texture the field models and battle models.
Do you have recommendations of which tools I'll need for it?

Thank you.

[picklejar]

Would suggest moving this discussion to the Graphical Mods forum:
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?board=24.0

[Covarr]

Would suggest moving this discussion to the Graphical Mods forum:
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?board=24.0

Good idea. Done. ~Covarr

[KnifeTheSky77]

The wiki would be a good place to start. I also recommend picking up a solid regiment of meditation, as using kimera will be an ultimate test of your patience.

There is a guide floating around here somewhere...

[Kaldarasha]

 Ha, ha, hands of him he is my victim! 

KnifeTheSky77 is right, Kimera is a little kind of a stress test when it comes to editing models. Download the latest version and use that exe (https://mega.nz/#!3QdQ2QLa) It's a bit more stable when it comes to large files.

What you need are:
Kimera - for editing the models
pCreator - to convert 3ds files to p files
Bitrun - does the opposite converts p files to 3ds
imag2tex or iros textools - converts an image (the first for bmp and the second png) to a tex file or vise versa

All the tools are easy to use but there is no real tutorial for them which could make the start a bit rough. I recommend to look at APZ thread to see how a textured model could look like. After you have made familiar with the file structure I absolutely recommend to create some kind of a base model (we need a universal UV layout. Maybe APZ could help with that...) from were you (probably we) can work out all the models. Except for the main characters the hair could placed as a separate mesh on the head. And please use eye balls I have gotten an idea to make all models blink (eye closing) correctly.