Shadow Play

[Timber]

I found the file that contains the battle shadows: kage.dat
I have no idea how to edit this kind of file, so far I have only been able to morph the shadows into weird and wonderful shapes.

Anyone who actually knows what they are doing wanna take a crack at making these battle shadows look less crap?

Pic:

[jeffdamann]

Good discovery Timber! How did you edit the file?

[nfitc1]

I've done a little research into this, but not much of it makes sense. The first part has something to do with the shape, but I can't  quite predict what it looks like or how it behaves. The second part seems to be colors, but they don't seem to affect the shadow at all.

かげ = Shadow

[Timber]

Good discovery Timber! How did you edit the file?

Just messed around in a hex editor.

I've done a little research into this, but not much of it makes sense. The first part has something to do with the shape, but I can't  quite predict what it looks like or how it behaves. The second part seems to be colors, but they don't seem to affect the shadow at all.

かげ = Shadow

Yeah I didn't manage to change the shadow effect at all either, just the shape.

[Jaitsu]

if anyone ever manages to figure out how to edit the shadows, they could always make like, aeris's shadow look like a demon or something, just as a joke

[sl1982]

if anyone ever manages to figure out how to edit the shadows, they could always make like, aeris's shadow look like a demon or something, just as a joke

Please keep non-relevant stuff to another forum. This is for serious discussion.

[obesebear]

Judging from your picture, it doesn't look like we can do too much with the shadows.  Not if all the models use the same one.

I do remember Aali mentioning something about trying to use real time lighting though... Nice discovery either way!  Keep us posted on anything else you manage to do with them.

[Nightmarish]

I'd keep the shadow remaking (at least for a closer shape to the model) to after the models are redone.
It will always be better than a circle.

[Jaitsu]

if anyone ever manages to figure out how to edit the shadows, they could always make like, aeris's shadow look like a demon or something, just as a joke

Please keep non-relevant stuff to another forum. This is for serious discussion.

whoa sorry man, no harm intended

[nfitc1]

From what I can tell, the first value is a number of vectors. The vectors are in [X,Y] dword (one word each) pairs. They're based on the center of the model and Y is easy to predict what it'll do (it adds that value to the character's Y center and points the vector there), but the X value is very peculiar. It can become a square or star shape with the right values. I'm not sure how changing one affects the others, but it's like it is a triangle list. It's divided into 8, then 6, then 8, then 6 vectors separated by 0s.

The second part seems to be colors, but changing them didn't seem to make a difference.
Someone feel free to check it out further.

[sl1982]

Has anyone looked into the kage.* files in the magic.lgp. There are .s .p and .hrc files in there. Maybe we should concentrate on these?

edit: these seem to be shadows for some special effects.

[jeffdamann]

I found the file that contains the battle shadows: kage.dat
I have no idea how to edit this kind of file, so far I have only been able to morph the shadows into weird and wonderful shapes.

Anyone who actually knows what they are doing wanna take a crack at making these battle shadows look less crap?

Pic:

I saw someone said that this may not be of much use since the models use the same shadow...
I whole-heartedly disagree, even in the pics posted the shadows look MUCH more natural to me than a GIANT shadowed circle around the player...(I mean come on, clouds shadow is that of a 1000 lb sumo wrestler with the sun in high noon position)

[Timber]

Oh I agree that with this as it is, you can't have different shadows for different characters, etc, would need some real lighting for that.

Actually what I really wanted was to change the transparency / colour a bit, so it's less obvious.
And perhaps a small tweak to the shape so that it isn't a perfect circle could be good too.

[jeffdamann]

Yeah I just hated that giant perfect circle...anything else would be a vast improvement.

[craziinova]

can't you just delete them? i think it would look tonnes better if they just weren't there

[Millenia]

I think the best way would be to remove these shadows and try to implement, say, an ambient occlusion pass through Aali's driver

[willis936]

an ambient occlusion pass through Aali's driver

o_o

[alloy]

That wont make a big difference on the models. They already have lighting baked into them.

Tho adding per pixel lighting to ff7 would be a really huge accomplishment

[jeffdamann]

I would really liek to see some more shots of the shadows getting modded, doesnt seem like anyone else is too interested.

[Tekkie.X]

For now, shrinking them by about 50% and making them lighter would do the trick.

[jeffdamann]

I also cast a vote for deforming them from a perfect circle.

[willis936]

Why though?  Not every battle model is humanoid and circle is the most universal.  Possibly adding some fading from the outside, reducing in size, and making lighter overall would give a nicer effect.

[jeffdamann]

Because humanoid or no, nothing on this earth leaves a shadow of a perfect circle, except for a perfect circle being hit from light from directly above. Therefore it seems like even a slight deformation on the circle would at least help convinciveness.

[sl1982]

I agree with willis on this. If we cannot make the shadows look accurate I see no point in having weird shaped blobs. Might as well get rid of the shadows altogether.

[jeffdamann]

well of course no wierd shaped blobs...maybe Ill toy with it to see if it can become better, but it seems that there may be far better solutions to the problem than we are currently grasping ATM.