Messages

226

Completely Unrelated / Re: R.I.P. Robin Williams!

« on: 2014-08-13 19:27:11 »

It's too bad he's gone. It's a shame bipolarity and other depressive conditions cause great people to think their life isn't worth living. He will be missed.

227

Completely Unrelated / Re: Hex editing and pointers!

« on: 2014-08-10 20:38:58 »

Ahhh, I looked into your project page. I didn't know some of the text is hard-coded into the game. It looks like you have it figured out now. It looks good so far, but it's all Greek to me

228

Completely Unrelated / Re: Hex editing and pointers!

« on: 2014-08-10 04:43:00 »

Well, the basics of hex editing and pointers is pretty simple. I can give a 3 sentence tutorial, but actually doing it (ie finding the parts of an exe to change) is way more difficult.

Every exe of compiled code is a list of CPU functions (called opcodes) and parameters (and also a bunch of static data, usually at the top of a file). The CPU functions themselves all have numbers, and they're the same on all processors of the same type (here we're talking about the intel x8086 architecture). The parameters are numbers representing a location in memory or a location in the exe (or sometimes literal values).

What you want to do is use something like Cheat Engine to watch the program as it's running to find the pointers you want to change.

I know you're modifying fonts, but why do you think you need hex editing to do that? What's wrong with just changing the font files?

229

Completely Unrelated / Re: Enjoy n64 emulation?

« on: 2014-08-07 21:11:54 »

He wants $6000 ?

That's about two months' wages for a programmer. I'm surprised it's that low. A lot of kickstarter and indiegogo campaigns have an unreal fundraiser goal given the scope of their projects.

230

Completely Unrelated / Re: The tripple a we all hate EA - A rant

« on: 2014-08-06 19:47:40 »

They also re-release the same game engines with different names for full price each year (most notable with the sports games, but they do this with their other engines as well).

I don't even remember the last EA game I bought. They haven't made anything that interested me recently. A lot of big companies unfortunately are following in their footsteps. The gaming industry needs another crash, but the market is way too big for a crash to actually happen, so we'll just keep seeing more of the same garbage games piling up, covering up the small gems some indie companies are coming up with.

231

FF7Voice / Re: Thoughts about reviving the project

« on: 2014-08-05 23:19:19 »

Thanks for the update on your program Ficedula. We're just waiting for DLPB to release the newer version of his translation/reunion.

232

FF7Voice / Re: Thoughts about reviving the project

« on: 2014-08-04 04:15:55 »

Aussieroth and I have already talked about the project, and we're going to go ahead and do it. We have very similar mindsets about how we want a FF7 voiceover project to turn out. We're currently coming up with a list of lines/scenes people can read for auditions. With any luck, auditions will be open sometime this week.

233

FF8 Tools / Re: [FF8PC/PSX] Field editor - Deling (0.8b)

« on: 2014-08-03 04:14:01 »

{Squall} gets replaced by whatever the player chose as Squall's name at the beginning of the game. The same is true for Rinoa, Griever, and Angelo.

234

FF7Voice / Re: Thoughts about reviving the project

« on: 2014-08-01 19:06:08 »

Very well then! What's the first task?

When ficedula enables his xml export feature, we'll need to go through the script and weed out the dialogue that won't be voiced ("Item Received" and things like that). We should put in some placeholder sounds and play through some of the game's areas just to make sure Ultrasound works in every case.

I've written up most of the audition threads. I just need to find some good lines that allow the actors to show off their skills. When the threads are posted, I'll make a new thread here, and you can share the links with your cast and any other people you think might be interested.

235

FF7Voice / Re: Thoughts about reviving the project

« on: 2014-08-01 06:08:22 »

One thing I would be keen to see is the new re-translated script

You can download DLPB's translation now and check it out. It's buried in one of these forums somewhere. I'm going to have to get it as well sometime soon.

236

FF7Voice / Re: Thoughts about reviving the project

« on: 2014-07-31 23:56:17 »

I think you might need 10 posts before you can PM people.

The FF8 project is just a few threads down. As you can see, the main cast is done.

We can probably do the FF7 project a little differently. I am purposefully avoiding voicing some of FF8's dialogue because the game has a built in limit to how many sound effects it can play, and it's all being done out of the game engine. This won't be the case for FF7 since we're using an external tool. I think we should make periodic sets of dialogue files. One for the main plot, and other packages for miscellaneous lines of dialogue (side quest stuff). People can download whatever optional dialogue sets they want to have.

237

FF7Voice / Re: Thoughts about reviving the project

« on: 2014-07-31 22:30:33 »

Hey Aussieroth!

I was planning on starting the casting for this project, but the past several weeks have been hectic for my FF8 voice project, so I wasn't able to begin it. Now that the main cast is figured out and settling in, I'll have time to write up the audition threads for this one.

I was going to ask if other directors/VO managers would be willing to help, but since you're already here I guess I'll ask you. I probably won't have the time to do everything required to get the FF7 project finished in a reasonable amount of time, but if I teamed up with someone like you, I think it would go much more smoothly. If you're interested, shoot me a PM and we'll talk about it in more detail. Meanwhile, I'll be writing up the audition threads.

I was also going to ask ficedula if he could release whatever script he uses to generate those XML files. I'm going to eventually modify DLPB's translation a little (to standardize how multiple-choice dialogues behave) and we're going to use that for the lines.

238

FF7Voice / Re: Thoughts about reviving the project

« on: 2014-07-27 14:33:49 »

Square won't come after anyone for this. They'd barely have a case to begin with. We're not modifying the game, and most of the dialogue we're voicing over isn't even theirs.

239

FF7Voice / Re: FF7 Voices - assessing interest

« on: 2014-07-25 17:57:19 »

It would be better for the community as a whole if we pooled our resources. I have a lot of very talented actors working on FF8 right now and I haven't even finished the cast list. Some of them have expressed interest in doing voices for FF7 as well. Have your friends and his cast audition when the project goes up, which will probably be sometime in the next 2 or 3 weeks.

240

Gameplay / Re: [FF8] View/edit/adding battlefields/encounters

« on: 2014-07-18 19:01:22 »

It is possible to edit battle scenes, but there aren't any tools for it yet.

The RAT and MRT files belong to the fields, they only control how often which battles happen. They have nothing to do with the encounters themselves. The battle scenes (IIRC) are all in the X and DAT files. Right now, Ifrit can just edit individual monsters. The battle scene formats are almost positively in the X files.

241

FF8 Tools / Re: [0.7b] Deling - a FF8 field editor

« on: 2014-07-15 22:12:30 »

No, I meant if you add a particular file to a field that doesn't have one, does the file list (FL) for that field get updated to include it? (I think it already did this for MSDs)

Is there a specific structure needed for the directory import?

Also, when can we expect this new version to be available? I'm really excited to get my hands on it

242

FF8 Tools / Re: [0.7b] Deling - a FF8 field editor

« on: 2014-07-14 22:10:32 »

Here is the changelog:

• When a file is missing in a field, you can edit it anyway, it will be automatically added

Does it also add it to the file list? I'm assuming yes, but just want to make sure.

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FF7Voice / Re: FF7 Voices - assessing interest

« on: 2014-07-12 19:44:57 »

Actually, she just moved, so something probably happened during the move that prevented her from being available the past 2 weeks. She knew what she was getting into, she manages the FFVIIIVoice fandubs.

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FF7Voice / Re: FF7 Voices - assessing interest

« on: 2014-07-11 19:09:55 »

FWIW, the file structure is easily changed, although I'm not sure what alternative structure would make things easier. If there is some way it can be improved though, I certainly can.

It's fine as it is. Someone will have to go through and remove the lines that aren't really dialogue (ITEM RECEIVED!)

the actual dialogue in the voices files is purely for reference, now, the new version I'm working on doesn't rely on the dialogue text to trigger the audio playback.

That's what I assumed, but an export of the dialogue along with the file names is very helpful.

245

FF7Voice / Re: Thoughts about reviving the project

« on: 2014-07-11 18:48:42 »

I ran into that in FF8. It seems to be done both ways in equal amounts. I just changed the scripts so the choice is always spoken as a separate box. We could have someone do that for FF7.

246

FF7Voice / Re: FF7 Voices - assessing interest

« on: 2014-07-11 18:36:28 »

The actors will be recording everything on their end, so they'll be using whatever equipment they have. We'll have to mention that their auditions have to be used with the same mic they intend to do the actual part with, or have them tell us they're willing to buy a good microphone if they get a part.

The person who was supposed to be doing that stuff for the FF8 project has apparently vanished from the face of the planet. I'm going to be pretty busy this weekend picking up the slack, but next week we can get things started.

I guess the consensus is that we'll use DLPB's translation? @Ficedula: You can generate the same XML files using DLPB's mod instead of the vanilla text, right?

247

FF7Voice / Re: FF7 Voices - assessing interest

« on: 2014-07-09 22:17:39 »

Worst case scenario: You could wait until next year when the FF8 project is done, then I can do it all 

248

FF7Voice / Re: FF7 Voices - assessing interest

« on: 2014-07-09 15:19:32 »

Thanks. Since you're already running the FF8 project, perhaps you can clarify for us exactly what management jobs we need somebody to step up and do?

Basically, that person will have to prepare all the dialogue they want recorded (including how they should be named or organized), keep track of the cast's email/skype, and schedule recording sessions for individual actors and myself (you don't record them together, it's way too hard to coordinate, and it's also a colossal waste of time).

They will also have to do most of the casting process, though I can help with that a little, depending on how much spare time I have.

I can do any audio editing and file naming on my end before I send the files to whoever's collecting them, so they don't need any audio skills. They just have to love spreadsheets.

249

FF7Voice / Re: FF7 Voices - assessing interest

« on: 2014-07-08 15:35:11 »

I can do the directing, as long as someone else does the management (the casting, getting a list of lines,  etc). I'd also be willing to help out in some of the management, perhaps coming up with audition lines and maintaining the audition forum threads and stuff like that.

250

FF7Voice / Re: FF7 Voices - assessing interest

« on: 2014-07-07 21:02:56 »

Without opening my mouth up too big...

I'd be willing to assist anyone who wants to do the main casting/management. I'm already pretty deep in the FF8 VO project and I don't know if I'd have the time or the sanity to lead both projects at once.

My voice isn't very versatile, but I have a nice mic and I'm a pretty good actor (did a bunch of theater when I was in college, plus an independent movie). Maybe I'll audition for something small.