Clone 5: Well, it looks like I may not need your list after all. Still, if I do end up using *any* part of it, I'll make sure to credit you. Hmm, I seem to be missing something. How do you link .HRCs?
The SaiNt: Thanks for the info. You could be right about battle.lgp, however, why are there so many files? Is each battle file only a piece of the full model (like the .P files)? Where are the backgrounds and other location info kept if the battle files only have 3D model data? Also, I checked a couple battle files, and it appears that they are not compressed.
Perhaps, if the backgrounds aren't in the individual battle files, they're stored in one of the .BIN or .DAT files (scene.bin, perhaps?). Same with character info. By character info, I mean AI, abilities and attacks, perhaps a reference or two to its battle 3D model--that type of thing (not the actual 3D models). All the info for the 11 characters (the main characters + Young Cloud and Sephiroth) is in one of the .BIN or .DAT files so it doesn't have to be in each individual battle file.
Info for enemies and bosses could be in the battle files, and, if The SaiNt is right, the 3D data for *all* battle 3D models would be in the battle files. If so, I doubt that any other info besides 3D data (and maybe animations) would be in the battle files.
So where would it be? Well, we know that the game chooses which group of enemies the player will face a few steps before the actual battle. I think this could mean several things:
1. Enemy and Boss data are kept in the battle files, but only one formation per file. To illustrate my thinking, let's take the first scene of FF7. At first you can't encounter enemies there, but once you've fought the two MPs, and left to the next scene, if you go back the random battles will be (IIRC): (1) 2 MPs, (2) Guard Hound, (3) Guard Hound and MP. Now, suppose that the game has one battle file for the 2 MPs, another for the Guard Hound, and another for the Guard Hound and MP. If this is true, the game just randomly chooses from an appropriate group of battle files to decide who you fight next.
2. If #1 isn't true, then all of the enemy info for an area might be kept in a single battle file, all the data for various enemies, formations, and backgrounds. Each battle file would have a list of all the enemies found in it (with all of them starting out labeled as "inactive" via a flag or switch).
This would mean that when the game decides which formation you'll encounter in the next battle, it sets a switch or a flag inside the battle file that "activates" the appropriate enemies (or, it just removes their inactive status). The battle file's list of enemies is then reset after the battle is over.
3. If #s 1 and 2 aren't true, Enemy and Boss data might all be kept in one of the .DAT or .BIN files. That would mean that the battle files just know which enemies (and how many) to load (flags/switches again).
4. Same theory as #3, except it's not the battle files that load the enemies. Instead, the game engine does it.
I don't know much about the .DAT format, but audio.dat is like an archive that contains all of the sounds, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did something similar for enemy data.
We have 5 .DAT files to choose from:
enemy012.dat
enemy331.dat
kage.dat
mark.dat
Stage57.dat
Most of these files are pretty small. The two smallest (mark and kage) are LZS compressed, but still itsy-bitsy when decompressed.
My first thought about enemy012 and enemy331 was that they were the Emerald and Ruby WEAPONS. I thought this because I knew they'd been added to American and European versions of the game, so the programmers probably just tacked on the data for the two enemies without bothering to put them with the rest of the enemy data. There are a couple problems with this, though. First, one is more than 20 times bigger than the other--I'd expect their size to be similar. Secondly, it would probably have been just as easy for the programmers to put the data of Emerald and Ruby with the rest of the monster/boss info. After thinking it over, I've discarded this idea in favor of another.
I think enemy012 has all (or most) of the info for the bosses, and enemy331 has all the normal enemy info. Why? Well, first, the numbers (012 and 331) got me thinking. I know there's more than 12 boss fights, but for some (i.e. the Turks, Jenova) you fight them multiple times throughout FF7. The only things that change are their stats/abilities/AI. As far as 331, that sounds about right for the number of enemies in FF7. Doing some quick math, the Official Strategy Guide lists 264 enemies (including bosses) in it's bestiary, and it is missing a number of enemies, including ones found only in the battle arena, various other enemies that it forgot, and Ruby and Emerald WEAPONS (and possibly Ultima, too) who might not be considered Bosses by the game (normal battle music plays when you fight them).
If this hunch of mine is correct, it means that enemy012 holds data for 12 enemies (probably bosses) and enemy331 holds data for 331 enemies (the rest). Another possibility is that the two files hold the formations, not individual data. There are probably 331+ different formations throughout the game.
What about mark and kage? Perhaps my original way of thinking about Emerald and Ruby *could* be right, and it's actually these two files instead. They *are* both small and roughly the same size.
Stage57.dat could be the backgrounds. Like all the rest, just a guess.
What do you guys think? Perhaps The SaiNt knows something more about this from his .EXE research? I really am not sure about this, but I thought I'd share where my analysis has taken me. Hey, hopefully it's enough to at least get you guys thinking. 
[This message has been edited by Srethron Askvelhtnod (edited March 03, 2001).]
