Messages

201

General Discussion / Idea for the remake

« on: 2002-05-17 08:32:08 »

The High-Rez models are the same as the rest, using vertex-coloring and all that.

Like the others, the only textures used are for the eyes / mouth

202

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Go forth my Child, and bring me the head of Professor Hojo

« on: 2002-05-16 18:51:12 »

I like ominous and cryptic thread names.  

I'm talking about a few of the messed up .p files, one of the more noticable ones being Hojo's head...Field and Battle.  Offhand, others (that I've been able to figure out what they're *supposed* to be.  There are a few whacky ones in char.lgp that have me stumped) are the Pinball machine, and the Warning Board - type enemies.

I know it's been mentioned that some models don't display correctly in the various tools, but I haven't found anything about what the problems may be.

...so, any of the more well versed fellows want to chip in what they know?

Lacking any other info, I'm thinking it *might* be related to the same problem in the HRC files that was error'ing the models with more than 9 .p files lined to any given joint.  In case no one caught that the first time I mentioned it, i'll recap;

also have a theory on why certain files don't work correctly, and why modified/created files seem to have problems being integrated into the actual game.

I'll start off with the easiest example I can think of:
Try viewing Heri2_st in Ifalna. Unless I've got some kind of unique set of errors, it shouldn't work for anyone else, either.

Open up it's HRC file in Notepad (bzhf.hrc)

Look at the Body-Root bone, and notice it's got 12(!) RSDs linked to it, and thus has a number 12 in front of the string. Replace that 12 with a single digit (It doesn't seem to matter at all; I used an 8, based off heri_st). Save it, append it, link it, and all the work needed to replace the original file with this new one, and *now* try and view it in Ifalna.

...And now it works. I used the same method on the Chocobo Wagon, and if there are any other models with more than 9 RSDs linked to a single bone, this method will probably work.

Now I'm moving into a field I'll probably have trouble explaining correctly, but here goes:
Somewhere, I think one or more of the programs are having difficulty translating the base ten system into hexidecimal. Using the above example...Instead of properly reading the correct number for the body-root bone (twelve), It's reading it as a One, and then interpeting the Two as a seperate character.

I'm not sure how widespread this problem might be, or even if I'm anywhere close to being on the right track...but if I am, then a *lot* of the translation / conversion problems you guys have might be due to the same basic problem: Reading any integer over 9 as two seperate numbers.

The reason I bring this up, is because it seems that the .p files that are showing up screwy have a large number of polys/verts in them....so it might be reading some double-digit number as two seperate ones as well?

203

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Damn You FF7! Damn you all to hell!!

« on: 2002-05-16 06:38:29 »

Well, the reason Ultima wasn't working for me was because I was in 24 bit mode....When I switched to 16, it worked.  I figured it's an easy enough thing to test before you go through anything *too* drastic.

204

General Discussion / Leviathan

« on: 2002-05-15 09:45:18 »

::thumbs up::

Suggestions for Next update:
1> Tweaking the user animation saving a bit.  If you click on User 1 or 2, and then to 3, instead of the default animation, you'll see the user 1 o 2 pose.  But...Something's not quite righ there, because I spent quite a bit of time working on a pose, saving it, and all that....but when I selected something else, and then returned to it.....it was gone.

2> A way to load an existing pose you've worked on into a 'blank' slot?  Useful, so you can start on a new pose using a custom one as the base, instead of having to rework it from the default position first.  Also, for the various sprites that are essentially identical, with minor differences in the modeling/colors, but identical skeletons (MPs, Woves, etc)

3>A seperate method of movement control?  It's just a bit awkward having to remember if the sliders being displayed are for a joint you were working on, or the rotational controls.  Perhaps a "Z" position control, so you can make use of more of the screen.  (quite a bit of the models 'dangle' further below the axis than rise above it, and all that.)

Just a thought.

205

General Discussion / Idea for the remake

« on: 2002-05-15 09:21:51 »

As I recall, something along the lines of Taunts already exist in the game's framework.

The most noticable of which being;
GIMME DONUT  >
That's right folks, Lard Q. Palmer.  
Indeed, perhaps the most disturbing part of FF7 is when that plump little man does a one-eighty yaw...

...and proceedes to slap at his ass.

Aside from inspiring sheer terror and nausea in the player, I've found no discernable effect of this little dance.

There are other "event" cues of various types, such as Rufus' fight, and others....but that disturbing encounter takes the cake.

206

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Damn You FF7! Damn you all to hell!!

« on: 2002-05-15 09:14:46 »

Dumb question, but do you have your monitor set for 16 or 24 bit colors, or something else?

I was having problems with FF7, the utils, and a bunch of other programs as well using the 24 bit settings...but when I downset it to 16 bit, they'll work.

207

General Discussion / Idea for the remake

« on: 2002-05-13 17:12:29 »

I think everyone's done that.  I've got that beat, though.

"Yes Sir, Captain Jim Kirk!"
 

208

General Discussion / Erm. By popular Request

« on: 2002-05-12 08:42:27 »

IE 5.5

I tried upgrading to 6.0 a while back, but downgraded again in a vain attempt to get some better performance from ye olde cinderblock.  Ah, well.

At least Shawn Applegate can entertain us.

...It's Hammer time?

209

General Discussion / Idea for the remake

« on: 2002-05-12 01:02:47 »

Uh.  Sounds just like her victory dance.

Cid> ::flips off Diamond WEAPON::

Aeris> ::does the Macarena::

Cloud>::blank stare:: oooo.....shiny

Tifa> [CENSORED]

Barret> Ah pity da foo who gives me that jibba jabba! ::jabs finger at opponent::

Cait Sith>  ::dual moonings::

Vincent>::robocop imitation::

210

General Discussion / Erm. By popular Request

« on: 2002-05-12 00:52:26 »

I have time to kill, and that's been the only (albiet rhetorical) request I've gotten.  :\

Maybe this will cheer you up?


also, reformatted your current icon as a gif.  It just doesn't look that great against a black background, but I *could* fix that if it was really wanted.

211

General Discussion / Erm. By popular Request

« on: 2002-05-11 07:25:06 »

Don't look at me.  I just work here.

Anyway;


I think that's good enough for now.

212

General Discussion / Leviathan

« on: 2002-05-10 18:32:59 »

Uh.  I think you uploaded the wrong files, 'cuz there's nothing new, and the "about" button still says v0.1      

213

General Discussion / Erm. By popular Request

« on: 2002-05-10 17:53:49 »

At least I'm not bored enough to fiddle with the battle sprite.   :wicked:

....yet

214

General Discussion / Erm. By popular Request

« on: 2002-05-10 07:54:39 »

Hm ... Tifa in Bikini ?

Quote:
Originally spoken by Regina (Dino Crisis)
"That's a great idea!"

Hey, if you do this, that could bring us a lot of fans and new members!

- Alhexx

Well, it turned out to be a bit more involved than I first thought, but since there was such a demand for it....


I'll probably fix it up some more tomorrow.

215

General Discussion / "I like Guns." - Alan Thompson

« on: 2002-05-09 20:21:45 »

Actually, it wouldn't be that hard.  Easier than most of that stuff. ::ponders::

How have you made this?

I've been posting just about everything of note I've been fiddling with over in the Tech Forum, so you might want check over there....

I'll summarize here anyways;
Different methods for different stuff.  For the individual .p files, like the Guns are just edited in Ultima.  MMG-6628 is butchered from Barret's Assault Gun.  HMR-2890 is from Vincent's Shotgun.  SDR-650 is from the Sniper CR.  Since there's no way to create a .p file from scratch, I figured I'd work with what's already there, and as I said in another thread, there are Scaled down versions of all the character's weapons, sans Red and Tifa, in Magic.lgp, which I think are used in conjunction with the "throw" command*.  Fortunately, they seem to have been scaled down to the point of looking rather decent when used with the Field sprites

Some of the character sprites I've done (mostly the earlier ones, before I got Ultima working) are just reorganizations of the existing .p files in Char.lgp via HRC file editing.
ex; "wrong wagon injun"
That started out as a project to make the B1beta and Wagon viewable in Ifalna, which brought up what I think is a big oversight regarding the conversion process' you use that I don't think anyone's really looked into.  Then I added two bones, one for each hut, and one for the PC's spinal cannon, and swiveled them into the proper positions in Ifalna.

And pretty much the point I'm at now combines the two above methods;  Edited HRCs pointing to edited .p files.  It's not always perfect, but given enough fiddle time I can probably get just about anything I wanted created.  Aside from the Q-Cart, I don't add any bones to the HRC files, so they'll still work with the existing animations.  
"

It's awkward and sometimes frustrating (Ultima loves throwing Runtime Error 9 or something at me, for example), but I'm not aware of any other options.  I've put off a couple of projects for now, in hopes that some new release of the various programs will make some of the more tedious tasks a bit easier (Shameless plug: Request/Suggestions thread)




*side note:  That means it's probably feasible to tweak the Throw command to something more like FF6; cheaper disposable shurikens and the like.  Not sure about the actual coding aspect of it, but it should be rather easy to at least replace/create new projectiles for the command.

{edit; Until I have something new to upload, i'll just plug the Rumble.  It's a rather large GIF file, but no one's complained yet. ...Doth Thou Quarrel, Sir?
Also; ShinRa, Inc. New Employee Informational Video
w00+.  99 posts.  +1 = LvL ^.  gg, ez $$.  ^O^ }

216

Archive / New forums!

« on: 2002-05-09 19:37:20 »

I had the same problem.  When Qhimm switched boards, it seems to have reset that.  But yeah, just readjust it in your profile controls

217

Archive / User levels

« on: 2002-05-09 19:28:51 »

You can fiddle with Alpha channel stuff in GIF formats.  In addition to Animation and all that.

I never used Netscape much, but I don't remember it ever having problems with Gifs.

218

General Discussion / "I like Guns." - Alan Thompson

« on: 2002-05-09 09:01:11 »

ShinRa Munitions HMR-2980 "Deathwalker" Heavy Machine Rifle™

ShinRa Munitions SDR-650 "Lindstradt" Modular/Multi-round Long Rifle™

ShinRa Munitions MMG-6628 "Street Sweeper" 11mm Assault Gun™


Also, Cars with the random A*M cannon mounted on the hood.


Tomorrow:   Baseball bat weilding Moogles?  Cats with spinal-mounted Proud Clod cannons?  Tifa in a bikini?  RoboCop-ified President ShinRa?

...haven't decided yet.  Probably just more guns.

219

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Is there a program that lets me export ff7 3d models?

« on: 2002-05-09 07:39:16 »

To the Leviathan - I was thinking about export option, but then somebody noticed that it is illegal. But surely there are ways, just search harder.

...Then again, anything short of leaving the unopened box sitting on a shelf to collect dust can be construed as illegal if someone hires a Lawyer that'll spend enough time finding an excuse.

God bless the USA.  -.-

Don't mind me.  Someone painted the curb next to my car last night, and ticketed me for it.  Thus;  >:[email protected]

220

General Discussion / what the remake scene so far :)

« on: 2002-05-09 07:30:50 »

*koff*skillster'spage*/koff*
http://www.sajidakhtar.plus.com/

221

Archive / User levels

« on: 2002-05-09 07:15:44 »

Actually, It's in a PNG format, that only Netscape 6 currently supports natively with the Alpha channel. If you were to look at my avatar with NS6, you'll see the image transparent, lookig near-perfect, like it'd been rendered for that background.

Uh.  Dumb question, but why not just convert it to GIF format then?  I haven't run into PNGs before, don't mind me.

222

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Is there a program that lets me export ff7 3d models?

« on: 2002-05-07 00:42:10 »

I've been doing all my work using Ultima itself.  I've been able to get quite a bit done with it, I think.  Then again, I haven't seen anything to compare my work to, either.

I'll upload some of the recent stuff I've done later one.  No one seems too interested in it anyways.

And I'll humbly plug my thread on suggestions for the programs that're out...
http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=1296

223

General Discussion / Ok first off im new, Im having problems with FF8 PC

« on: 2002-05-05 22:04:52 »

[eubonics ramble]
man, wutchyu talkin' bout g-dawg???  dat shit be'z da no-diggity I shit y'all not foo'z.  werd to yo motha, yo and a can o spam
[/eubonics ramble]

224

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Field Sprite Extraneous vertices

« on: 2002-05-05 00:24:34 »

For quite a few of the Field Sprite's Head models, there are a number of duplicated vertices that appear to be totally unused, and that Ultima doesn't recognize them correctly.  Example:  duab.p from Char.lgp  Vertices 110-121 are not linked to any polygons, are colored at the maximum values (255-255-255), and if you attempt to do a Color patch, or add a new vertex, Ultima doesn't seem to realize they exist.  When you attempt to create a new Vertex, it will try and create Vertex 110...And if you hit "Okay" to apply it, Crash.  Obviously because there already *is* a 110 Vertex.  Looking through the other vertecies, it appears that each of those vertexes are duplicated from the ones making up the Face.  When I altered another head with similar additional Vertecies, Since there was no way to add new Vertices, I tried altering the seemingly unused ones for what I needed, but now it crashes Ifalna if I try and view it on a model.

Do these vertices have something to do with the Textures?

225

General Discussion / Let say about "Kingdom Heart"

« on: 2002-05-03 07:03:18 »

Ohh... Sephiroth's "Solar System" VS Ryo's "Hadoken"!  

*cough*supernova*/cough*

Cid/Barret's application of the Powell Doctrine  @_@

pretty explosions....