Author Topic: [FF7PC] [7H] Enhanced Stock UI (2.0)  (Read 169931 times)

Chrysalis

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[FF7PC] [7H] Enhanced Stock UI (2.0)
« on: 2019-07-24 19:20:57 »
Here is a public build of Enhanced Stock UI by me and EQ2Alyza

The idea behind this mod is I wanted a high resolution mod based on the stock UI in the game, that had no other functionality attached to it other than modernising the UI, and also not needing a custom executable, so to have least complexity in using it.

Before I started on this Mod I knew very little about modifying the UI in the game, and having been able to look at Menu Overhaul I was able to figure out how to create something I liked.

Tools used for creating this mod were.

Cheat Engine for live hext editing to adjust alignments
makoureactor for extracting texture files from game, and
Omega for converting those texture files to images
Gimp for editing the UI asset files, and upressing them.
I also used some images from the older MO mod such as the menu font.
7th heaven for packaging the mod.

The mod makes the following changes to the stock game.

4x resolution for UI assets.
Adjustable high res materia and inventory items.
New icons for the battle arena reel.
New UI assets for boxes and battle headers.
Additional rows in inventory screen and command menu's.
Many alignment improvements over stock game.
Choice between R03 menu overhaul dialog box style and stock dialog.
Full screen rendering for battle UI
999 hour support on game timer display.

New in 2.0

Additional Battle Themes optimised to be able to view the barrier bars without hiding the menu.
Additional Minimalist Battle Theme for fans of the old Menu Overhaul project.
Better support for transparent avatars, and further alignment improvements.

Thanks to the following people.

EQ2Alyza for helping develop the mod, her beta testing of a MO build kick started this.
Beta testers LordUrQuan, unab0mb, Strife98 and Tsunamix
DLPB and Kramner for the Menu Overhaul project.  As said above MO font assets are been used in this mod and a small part of the hext code is taken directly from MO.
Fewtch for the new logo and his Remake theme

Instructions
Spoiler: show
To install, download the User Interface mod from the qhimm catalog and activate it.
It is also available as standalone in the MOTR catalog, this build has newer less tested code/features.
Or download the iro, and then import the iro into 7th heaven.

Use "ff7.exe", dont use ff7_mo or ff7_bc exe files, this is very important.


download link

Enhanced Stock UI-rel2

download link legacy version - 28112019 update, no longer supported.

Old ESUI

In addition Fewtch has made a new theme for ESUI, based on the FF7 REMAKE.  This should be placed "above" ESUI in 7h load order.  Options are still to be configured in ESUI, but font, borders, and icons can be specified in the remake theme to override ESUI UI elements.

ESUI Remake Theme

Also I have now released a controller addon for ESUI, works with the theme as well, this is designed with modularity in mind, and I am hoping gameplay authors adopt this and add controller icons in their mod's.  I will assist if asked.  This is based on the vanilla game text/scripts.  Also is available in the MOTR catalog, and will very soon be an option in the qhimm catalog "User Interface" as well.

ESUI Controller Addon

FAQ - in progress
Spoiler: show

1 - How do I add the buttons to my gameplay (flevel) mod.

See this file here, open it in a unicode editor to see the symbols, they canbe injected into makou reactor.  I will post another method later.

Controller Characters

2 - I have seen a few posters on discord which seem to have took issue on a design decision regarding the barriers.  I will explain the decision made.

The UI I wanted was not to remove elements I considered important, people testing the mod prior to release agreed with me on this principle, the barriers especially on difficulty mods may be a tool that a player utilises, and been able to see the duration left on the barrier can be useful.
On the nbb theme where the barriers were moved to the far right, they have not increased UI pixel usage, as prior to moving them there the atb and time bars utilised that space, in addition the amount of space as a whole taken up by them is a tiny part of the UI, for a practical benefit, an older UI mod which was popular actually used up "more" room for its UI in that area.  The bar background boxes were kept as the bars didnt look right without a background to them, they had poor visibility.


Any donations are appreciated, donate link below.

Donate

Images below comparing stock to the mod so the difference can be seen.











Couple of images from the remake theme below

« Last Edit: 2021-07-15 08:35:59 by Chrysalis »

Covarr

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #1 on: 2019-07-25 04:10:19 »
The releases section is for actual releases. The thread can be moved back when there is a release.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #2 on: 2019-07-27 16:26:12 »
Small update. 2/3 Status windows completed.




KaidenJames

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #3 on: 2019-07-27 16:46:10 »
It's looking good. Keep up the hard work!

ProtoX

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #4 on: 2019-07-27 20:44:55 »
didn't grimmy and dlbp do this before they moved to the ffx/ff9 ui style?

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #5 on: 2019-07-28 02:59:40 »
Maybe, but if so, then that was before my time here.

I'm accustomed to the Bootleg process where it installs Avalanche GUI first, then Menu Overhaul on top. The FF9/FF10 styles no longer work because the switcher.dll for them broke after Aali Driver 0.8x released. If you've cracked open the UI and know anything about modding it, then you'd know that MO is fairly proprietary and doesn't play well with vanilla UI hex values. Because of that, it's quite a pain to fix for hext injection.

The whole reason we saw stat values drastically off when combining MO (ff7_mo.exe) with New Threat in the current 7H catalog is because NT is trying to apply to an altered exe when it was built for an unaltered exe. It's time to retire any exe/lgp altering mods and build everything for memory injection into a vanilla game.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #6 on: 2019-07-28 10:23:41 »
That's fine. I don't care about the credit for myself, but we'll make sure DLPB and Kranmer are credited. Sorry for not asking.

It's proven really tricky to get MO to work inside 7H using an unedited exe, so that's why I'd like to see it redone onto the old GUI.
« Last Edit: 2019-07-28 11:17:53 by EQ2Alyza »

Chrysalis

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #7 on: 2019-07-28 11:35:05 »
The reason I made this thread Covarr is I needed a url to put in the 7th heaven url section, but I appreciated you moved the thread instead of deleting it.  This thread is the intended support thread for the mod but it will be part of the new 7th heaven catalog for distribution.

Yeah DLPB you will be credited of course.  More then just a credit, this wouldnt have even been possible without your work.

Basically I made new fonts for the battle UI headers, I also made the new bar borders by myself based upon the thinnest bars.  But the font for the text and some UI enhancements were ported over from menu overhaul mod and that was never going to go uncredited, thanks for letting us finish it.
« Last Edit: 2019-07-28 11:58:45 by Chrysalis »

olearyf2525

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #8 on: 2019-07-31 07:14:37 »
Thanks Chrysalis, Alyza, and DLPB and Kranmer.

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #9 on: 2019-08-01 15:17:27 »
Status 3/3, Main Menu and Order complete.




Chrysalis

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #10 on: 2019-08-03 18:37:55 »
Was an issue with materia arrange order not been at stock behaviour, this is now fixed.

Also Magic menu pages have had alignment work completed on them.

Ashpey

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[FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #11 on: 2019-08-09 21:01:08 »
Hi all, and thanks for the work you have put into this game for the past years and even now ^^

I just wanted to ask if this UI will use psx icons for button prompts, like during the event at Junon the first time you get there. Playing that part with Pc button prompts like "Button 9" is like a guessing game.


Again, thanks for your work on this game, you're the ones who made the real Remaster ;)

KaidenJames

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #12 on: 2019-08-23 15:50:44 »
Any progress report on this? And will it be compatible with the Switch version? The last thing to mod in my Switch version is the UI. I'm hoping to use this fantastic work!

EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #13 on: 2019-08-24 02:15:02 »
Still in the works for PC version using 7H. I don’t own a Switch, so you’ll have to work that out on your own.

Axel Firestorm

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #14 on: 2019-09-06 13:10:08 »
Looks good, but will there be a non-7H version as well? And when you say no more .exe altering mods, what then becomes of tools like White Chocobo, which have to edit those files to change the shops, for instance? Or changing the text via TouphScript? If those things and others can no longer be done in that way, then how can those changes be made?

kekko1285

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #15 on: 2019-09-06 22:07:51 »
This really looks fantastic, keep up with the good work!! Thanks!

Chrysalis

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #16 on: 2019-09-14 21:30:02 »
Looks good, but will there be a non-7H version as well? And when you say no more .exe altering mods, what then becomes of tools like White Chocobo, which have to edit those files to change the shops, for instance? Or changing the text via TouphScript? If those things and others can no longer be done in that way, then how can those changes be made?

You can change the exe if you want, but having an altered exe is not a requirement for this mod.

A non 7h version means providing a bunch of separate files and telling the user how to install it, it would require a hext loader dll as well, its far more complicated to support in that format.

Axel Firestorm

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #17 on: 2019-09-16 19:06:04 »
Yeah, but it also makes it harder to launch the game directly from a shortcut that way, especially if you want to have the steam overlay functioning or you use a media manager like Launchbox or Kodi to navigate and start your games. Isn't it better to provide both options and let the user decide what he or she wants to do?

unab0mb

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #18 on: 2019-09-20 09:14:35 »
Been trolling the forums awhile, finally decided to register. Excited for this UI mod. I downloaded the early work from your other thread and using that instead of other menu mods. Noticed 2 things which may or may not be fixed already: It doesn't take into account the beacause mod and says things like "Fury" instead of "Anger" in some parts. I'll literally see both Fury and Anger (both translations) on screen at the same time in some screens. The other thing is the multiple incorrectly sized dialog screens, particularly ones where you have to select a choice with the finger cursor in a dialog. They don't seem to take into account the larger font.

I'm hoping this will be released prior to Catalog 3.0 as standalone? Hopes of ever seeing an updated/working 7H, Catalog 3.0, and R06 before I (or they) die are slim. Let me know if you would like any beta testing done and I'd be happy to help. Speaking of which, EQ2Alyza, don't release that MO update ya'll were messing with and removed the kernel bin files from in the other thread for Catalog 3.0; it's unstable AF and instant crashes the game without any "oops" or other errors in certain scenarios. Straight to desktop.

Chrysalis

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #19 on: 2019-09-23 11:07:08 »
You wont be waiting too long.

Fury is the native text for the game, this mod does no translation or text mods.
If you seeing Anger as well that suggests you have some part of beacause mod enabled somewhere.

unab0mb

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #20 on: 2019-10-07 16:39:27 »
Just an FYI to help where I can. My game crashes and I get the "oops" error with your mod in this scenario: Have Highwind, Tifa lead of party (unknown if it occurs w/ Cloud yet), catch a Chocobo. Once the World Map loads and you dismount, where you get to select whether you want to release the Chocobo or send it to the stables, game crashes. The menu does not pop up when it is supposed to. I've narrowed it down to this bit here in the 01-Base_12.txt file for hext edits:

{world map box height
768FEB = E8 4B A9 1A 00 90 90

This does not occur if I use the modded _bc.exe, only if I use the standard exe which of course, I intend to use this mod with so I'm not dependent on a modded exe anymore.

unab0mb

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #21 on: 2019-10-08 10:13:03 »
Discovered that the bug in previous post also affects the "world map"-type area in the Great Glacier. The area where Cloud puts markers as the wind blows and turns the camera to alter your direction. When that area first loads and Cloud has his dialog, the game crashes before the dialog box shows up. I'd assume then this affects all boxes that pop up on a world map type area.

Chrysalis

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Re: [FF7PC] Enhanced Stock UI
« Reply #22 on: 2019-10-14 21:03:46 »
Thanks for the report, in the latest version there is no crash but there was an issue to be fixed, when catching chocobo's which I made a fix for, if you come on to the qhimm discord, and want to do more testing you can contact me there.


EQ2Alyza

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Re: [FF7PC] [7H] Enhanced Stock UI (1.0)
« Reply #23 on: 2019-11-22 06:02:01 »
1.0 is now released. Enjoy!

unab0mb

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Re: [FF7PC] [7H] Enhanced Stock UI (1.0)
« Reply #24 on: 2019-11-22 07:09:14 »
Chrysalis/EQ2Alyza, this is absolutely hands down the best looking and coolest UI/MO out there.  It looks fantastic and works great. Congrats on the release! And thanks for the mention.