Author Topic: Is it possible?? (Read 7913 times)

nikfrozty · « **on:** 2010-05-29 12:14:19 »

I know I must be dreaming but is it possible to make the menu in the game like the ones in the video?? I know we can't edit the window as far as I know but can it be edited like with the text and the hp bars instead of the text saying how many hp one character have?? Here's a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKVKLPB8llo

DarkFang · « **Reply #1 on:** 2010-05-29 12:38:51 »

I saw this a few weeks ago. My answer is probably not, but I might be wrong.

Kranmer · « **Reply #2 on:** 2010-05-29 13:03:09 »

yes this was posted awhile ago here
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8915.msg133774#msg133774
and at the moment i dont think its possible but something like that may be possible in the future,
Its already possible to change some stuff in the menu (i mean in game menu and NOT the in battle menu like that video shows) but i am not sure exactly how much stuff can currently be messed around with (sizes of windows and positions of the windows and stuff is fairly easy to change, and custom text+font can be put in)
The question i would like to ask is, What parts can be changed to look like that ? And which parts can't be changed right now.

Gemini · « **Reply #3 on:** 2010-05-29 13:15:27 »

It's certainly doable, but it'd need a lot of work for just injecting all the fancy stuff.

nikfrozty · « **Reply #4 on:** 2010-05-29 13:36:50 »

Quote from: kranmer on 2010-05-29 13:03:09

yes this was posted awhile ago here
http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=8915.msg133774#msg133774
and at the moment i dont think its possible but something like that may be possible in the future,
Its already possible to change some stuff in the menu (i mean in game menu and NOT the in battle menu like that video shows) but i am not sure exactly how much stuff can currently be messed around with (sizes of windows and positions of the windows and stuff is fairly easy to change, and custom text+font can be put in)
The question i would like to ask is, What parts can be changed to look like that ? And which parts can't be changed right now.

The parts that I think can't be changed right now is the color of the borders. It will stay white unlike the video it is colored black. And the limit bars to look like in the video I don't think it can be changed so that's why I said I was dreaming. Damn I wished they made a remake.

sl1982 · « **Reply #5 on:** 2010-05-29 15:38:44 »

Some could be done. Most cannot at this point. The text would be doable, limit bars are a possiblility if they are attached to a 3d plane (which i think they may be). The main thing that cannot be done is the background. The background is generated by the game and is not an image.

Jaitsu · « **Reply #6 on:** 2010-05-29 15:41:15 »

Quote from: sl1982 on 2010-05-29 15:38:44

Some could be done. Most cannot at this point. The text would be doable, limit bars are a possiblility if they are attached to a 3d plane (which i think they may be). The main thing that cannot be done is the background. The background is generated by the game and is not an image.

well, if only we could at least make it see-through like from Aali's driver for the battle image, we'd be able to match it a little (talking about the menu, for stuff like items and etc.)

sl1982 · « **Reply #7 on:** 2010-05-29 15:42:55 »

If it were see through it would be black. The menu's dont have anything behind them

Jaitsu · « **Reply #8 on:** 2010-05-29 15:43:40 »

Quote from: sl1982 on 2010-05-29 15:42:55

If it were see through it would be black. The menu's dont have anything behind them

... hmmmm...... well, im outta ideas

nikfrozty · « **Reply #9 on:** 2010-05-29 15:45:08 »

Quote from: sl1982 on 2010-05-29 15:42:55

If it were see through it would be black. The menu's dont have anything behind them

Hmm.. I don't know much about menu's but can a picture be exchanged with the black background?? Something like the ff7 logo and the menu window will be transparent and there we will see the logo.

sl1982 · « **Reply #10 on:** 2010-05-29 15:46:08 »

Ask aali. He would have to add a hack to his driver to allow you to do any of this.

DarkFang · « **Reply #11 on:** 2010-05-29 15:47:20 »

Quote from: sl1982 on 2010-05-29 15:42:55

If it were see through it would be black. The menu's dont have anything behind them

Is it possible when you bring up the menu, the game takes a screenshot of where you are right now and puts it behind the menu? So if the menu is transparent you still see Cloud and wherever you were at when you paused it. You get what I'm saying?

nikfrozty · « **Reply #12 on:** 2010-05-29 15:48:16 »

Well I'm asking too much from him. First the animated pngs and now these. But I'll try asking him after some time.

Kranmer · « **Reply #13 on:** 2010-05-29 20:04:00 »

Quote from: nikfrozty on 2010-05-29 13:36:50

The parts that I think can't be changed right now is the color of the borders. It will stay white unlike the video it is colored black. And the limit bars to look like in the video I don't think it can be changed so that's why I said I was dreaming. Damn I wished they made a remake.

It should be possible to change the borders of the main menu, infact i already have removed them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY8K94IhNwE
in that video i have removed the borders (apart from the magic page where i screwed up slightly and left the corners)
i also at one point remove the blue background so people can see what happens (it screws up a few small things as you will see in the video).
i also warp the text to make it look different (it isnt a custom font it is the original just warped)
and i also change the colour of the text (yellow isnt the only colour but i like the yellow so its the only one shown in the vid).

also i appologize for the mouse moving around while the video is playing but i was editing it all in real time and what you see is me actually clicking on other windows but i was only recording the one window.

nikfrozty · « **Reply #14 on:** 2010-05-29 20:10:56 »

Quote from: kranmer on 2010-05-29 20:04:00

Quote from: nikfrozty on 2010-05-29 13:36:50
The parts that I think can't be changed right now is the color of the borders. It will stay white unlike the video it is colored black. And the limit bars to look like in the video I don't think it can be changed so that's why I said I was dreaming. Damn I wished they made a remake.

It should be possible to change the borders of the main menu, infact i already have removed them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY8K94IhNwE
in that video i have removed the borders (apart from the magic page where i screwed up slightly and left the corners)
i also at one point remove the blue background so people can see what happens (it screws up a few small things as you will see in the video).
i also warp the text to make it look different (it isnt a custom font it is the original just warped)
and i also change the colour of the text (yellow isnt the only colour but i like the yellow so its the only one shown in the vid).

also i appologize for the mouse moving around while the video is playing but i was editing it all in real time and what you see is me actually clicking on other windows but i was only recording the one window.

Wow man its the first time I've seen this vid. How'd you do it?? What did you edit and what lgp and files you edited for the windows?? Did you make the borders transparent cause that's all I can think of to make it invisible and make the back portion still visible. Nice Job.

Kranmer · « **Reply #15 on:** 2010-05-29 20:20:45 »

the reason you haven't seen the video before is because i only just made it and uploaded it.
and i did it by hacking the EXE, i found the values for doing this by accident while i was helping seifer with his project on how to move stuff around in the main menu and on the battle menu. So these arn't really textures as such (like sl1982 said its generated by the game).
And all i did was remove the borders by NOP'ing the values, i can mess with the borders to make them look different as well (like i can just make them straight lines) but i haven't fully experimented with this yet, this is just a early test to show its possible to mess with these things.

nikfrozty · « **Reply #16 on:** 2010-05-29 20:42:06 »

You must be lucky to just stumble on it. Well I can't wait on what you can learn more. Eventually this will lead to make menu better that I can keep editing my materia just to see it.

sl1982 · « **Reply #17 on:** 2010-05-29 21:23:24 »

Quote from: kranmer on 2010-05-29 20:20:45

the reason you haven't seen the video before is because i only just made it and uploaded it.
and i did it by hacking the EXE, i found the values for doing this by accident while i was helping seifer with his project on how to move stuff around in the main menu and on the battle menu. So these arn't really textures as such (like sl1982 said its generated by the game).
And all i did was remove the borders by NOP'ing the values, i can mess with the borders to make them look different as well (like i can just make them straight lines) but i haven't fully experimented with this yet, this is just a early test to show its possible to mess with these things.

Wrong sort of, the borders are textures. Its the blue inside that that isnt. I can show you exactly where the borders are located in the textures as i have redone them for avalanche. BTW i removed the part of those textures to get the same effect you did.

Kranmer · « **Reply #18 on:** 2010-05-29 22:13:37 »

ah ok thanks for correcting me on that sl1982, i thought it might have been the same as the blue screen but it appears i was wrong, what i was editing must have been just the way it is shown on screen rather then the model (also the method i was using only affected the menu and not any of the other borders in the game).

Bosola · « **Reply #19 on:** 2010-05-30 02:04:33 »

Semi-transparent menus would be difficult to implement, and be a bad idea besides (visibility issue). The menu is not laid over the field screen, but an entirely different engine module. Crafting a driver to do the work of creating backgrounds is already a significant issue, and would likely instead be solved by (difficult) executable editing. But adding in a 'on the spot' screenshot generator, with alpha processing? That's just beyond the scope of what's reasonably doable.

Give it up. It's a complete non-starter.

nikfrozty · « **Reply #20 on:** 2010-05-30 06:21:45 »

If what you said is true. Then I do believe it is impossible to do it now. But there's a possibility right??

Gemini · « **Reply #21 on:** 2010-05-30 06:39:16 »

Get your hands dirty with assembly and code injection, and the answer will magically become "yes". Otherwise you're pretty much screwed and all you'll obtain are crappy side effects, like those missing textured borders. And yup, it is very possible to also achieve a background picture effect by capturing what's on screen a frame before the menu is opened, which is basically what the game does when a random encounter takes place.

nikfrozty · « **Reply #22 on:** 2010-05-30 06:46:10 »

If it was possible to take a screenshot of the game to make it as the background for the menu I think that it will be saved in the cache folder and everytime you open the menu it will save up many pictures. But I don't mind it if it enables me to make a very good looking menu. But wouldn't that make the game laggy??

Gemini · « **Reply #23 on:** 2010-05-30 06:50:55 »

I'm not talking about a screenshot, but a screen capture that goes directly in VRAM (dma VRAM->VRAM copy, the fastest thing you can possibly get) which takes an instant to execute and stays there as long as it's necessary. It could be done even on the Playstation version with zero lag.

Bosola · « **Reply #24 on:** 2010-05-30 13:54:19 »

Quote from: Gemini on 2010-05-30 06:39:16

Get your hands dirty with assembly and code injection, and the answer will magically become "yes". Otherwise you're pretty much screwed and all you'll obtain are crappy side effects, like those missing textured borders. And yup, it is very possible to also achieve a background picture effect by capturing what's on screen a frame before the menu is opened, which is basically what the game does when a random encounter takes place.

Good point. I'd forgotten about that function.

Still, it's a matter of working on the assembly. True, anything becomes possible on that level, in the same way it's possible to write a completely new game with Palmer as protagonist and a truck for a limit break (I've been petitioning Square for this for years). I don't really think it's worth the effort anyway - transparent menus are busy, and you need a clear screen. Pretty much the same reason I'd never use transparency on a focused window (on my desktop).