Messages

126

Troubleshooting / Re: FF7 Sound Cuts Out at No. 1 Reactor FMV (Windows Vista)

« on: 2008-12-20 08:44:54 »

That's actually a bit different then. What he's describing is, the sound doesn't play during that FMV, but immediately afterwards when Jessie blows a hole in the wall and they jump out, the sound comes back. That's important because if you try a fix for a problem that's not exactly like yours, you can mess everything up. Someone else might have a solution for you, I've never had the problem though.

127

Archive / Re: The red man

« on: 2008-12-11 16:26:08 »

I'm calling BS on the Test 0 rumor, I think someone made that up thinking nobody would be able to get their hands on the Japanese version of the game, especially back then with slow internet and less news abroad on games. It should be trivial to debunk that today by simply downloading the Japanese version ISO, editing a save game to that point, then going down there. I don't condone piracy, but considering most of us have the game legitimately I'd say a download for testing purposes here would be warranted. It'd also be nice to tear apart the rest of the game to see what other information comes up.

128

Archive / Re: The red man

« on: 2008-12-05 18:57:16 »

I hadn't even thought to open up that level. Is it just an opcode that keeps him from appearing? Does he have his own branch of scripts in Meteor?

129

Archive / Re: new chocobo

« on: 2008-12-01 20:07:42 »

You HAVE to post a video of the cars dancing out in the corral.   

130

Archive / Re: Cloud Strife FF7 PC Re-model: Crisis Core Secret Ending Style

« on: 2008-12-01 20:05:34 »

I wouldn't say that at all, I'm still looking forward to it and your drive to remodel is encouraging. Besides, there's nothing wrong with choices.

Regarding your other topic, have you seen the "FFVII-2" Ultima Weapon by TheTong? That's a really good render - true to the original and very, very attractive. I've been thinking of trying to recreate that myself as a foray into modelling for the game.

131

Archive / Re: Drawing upon our collective exerience: SAFE mod combinations for FFVII

« on: 2008-11-25 18:57:09 »

Yeah you can, fortunately. I've got the 9999 break through YAMP alongside the PRP. I've never had the upside down AVI problem, but there's the patch and failing that, somewhere in here are instructions for tweaking your codecs to improve the quality of the videos, which some people have reported also has the side effect of solving the upside down issue.

132

Releases / Re: [Release] Final Fantasy VII Phoenix Rejuvenation Project

« on: 2008-11-24 12:55:00 »

Has anyone else noticed that Aeris is missing her left hand after the first mission and Cloud meets her after the explosion? The scene where she asks if he wants to buy a flower.

Also, maybe we should work on a definitive list of bugs to help everyone, especially ice_cold, out.

Right now the only one I can think of is the materia bug. If anyone can confirm the Aeris hand problem let me know. Maybe we could make a temporary patch using older files as a fix until the next version comes out. Shouldn't be especially difficult.

133

Archive / Re: any weapon mods?

« on: 2008-11-24 00:59:45 »

I always hoped yongkykun would turn his model into an in-game version. I think it's the best buster sword anyone has ever made. Looks almost exactly like the Crisis Core/FF7 PS3 demo version. Unfortunately apzfreak had just released his so he decided not to out of respect.

134

Archive / Re: Drawing upon our collective exerience: SAFE mod combinations for FFVII

« on: 2008-11-21 22:06:19 »

I use a ton of mods with no consequence - to include:

NPC-RP/PRP
High-Res Mod
YAMP
FF7-Music
[someones]Kernel2.bin name spell and weapon name replacer

Probably forgetting a couple.

FF7Voice will also stack with all of the above perfectly fine as well when it comes out. I also use a completely modified flevel.lgp that continually changes as I progress through the game alongside FF7Voice, and that stacks just fine as well.
The only time you need to worry is when two mods alter the same file. Especially if one completely overwrites a file. This is why I like programs such as the earlier Reconstruction Project patch, which broke down the file and only changed specific files. Files that do complete replacements are what causes incompatibilities. So far, very few mods will conflict with each other. The biggest problem is dealing with FF7.exe because many mods run a CRC check on it. Obviously if you run a patch on it, the CRC is going to change. This is mostly to ensure patches meant for 1.02 will ONLY work with 1.02 but it causes a headache no less. Still, at least the patch will work as intended if/when it installs.

135

Archive / Re: Cloud Strife FF7 PC Re-model: Crisis Core Secret Ending Style

« on: 2008-11-21 01:52:00 »

If you truly want to help people, wouldn't it be better to release a tutorial written by yourself?
So that anyone who wants it so badly will be able to make it themselves instead of relying on others to do the work for them.

Let's take down FF7Music and add a tutorial for coding it in C++ instead, and let's take down the FF7PRP too and make a tutorial as well. Let's also forget about FF7Voice and tell people how to alter their voice so they can make their own voice over patches. YAMP, High-Res patch, and avatar patches need to go too. The patch that alters spell names should go as well because the names are content from other games.

My two pennies worth.  I meant ripping models from KH, NOT original creations.  If he wants to release them, he can.  if you want to take what I say the wrong way, I couldn't give a toss.
EDIT: And also, what's giving a guide to ripping models got to do with coding?  Jesus H.  Simple post and all of a sudden you have an army of one trying to make you look like a dumb ass.

Well you know what they say, it's not what you say, but how you say it. So yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who took that the wrong way. By your response you clearly "give a toss", but if I mistook your statement I apologize for that.
But in a lot of ways, this mod wouldn't be much different from the ones I mentioned, even considering the big KH ripping scare. Cause if you want to get REALLY technical, modifying the game at all is illegal. If they REALLY wanted to, they could come down on every project here. Even a program like FF7Music, which doesn't alter the game at all, well I'm pretty sure most people are playing it with FF7 PSFs they downloaded off the internet rather than ripping them by themselves.

136

General Discussion / Re: AVALANCHE

« on: 2008-11-20 06:06:55 »

I'm glad you haven't forgotten about it, that'd just be abysmal!
I spread the gospel about this to people on MSN and forums when it's timely  I just think it's such a cool project for being what I understand to be a one-man job.

If you're looking for simple suggestions, why not improve on Tifa's move set by adding/replacing some of her old specials with her Limit moves from the game? i.e. Beat Rush, Dolphin Blow, Final Heaven, etc. Many of the current moves are similar, and it would make the experience slightly more authentic.

To offset the new power, perhaps some of the enemies could have varied attacks - i.e. the guards at the beginning and their later counterparts have the ability to use their beam guns?

Instead of using swords, which should stay a feature of Cloud, how about a mesh of my older idea of updating gloves and the sword attacks? Some of Tifa's gloves in the game had claws on them. Maybe she could use these as a weapon type item instead.

Eh just some ideas to keep the discussion going.

137

Archive / Re: Cloud Strife FF7 PC Re-model: Crisis Core Secret Ending Style

« on: 2008-11-20 05:47:38 »

You ought to modify it just a little so his top spike stands a bit taller. Maybe not necessarily as high as in the original battle model, but close. Also if you're looking for nitpicking, his lower body, where the bottom half of his belt is, seems too small. His upperbody just suddenly expands outwards and looks strange. His suspenders seem a bit off as well.
Minor nitpicking  Looks really good, much better than anything I could ever pull off with my lack of 1337 skillz.

If you truly want to help people, wouldn't it be better to release a tutorial written by yourself?
So that anyone who wants it so badly will be able to make it themselves instead of relying on others to do the work for them.

Let's take down FF7Music and add a tutorial for coding it in C++ instead, and let's take down the FF7PRP too and make a tutorial as well. Let's also forget about FF7Voice and tell people how to alter their voice so they can make their own voice over patches. YAMP, High-Res patch, and avatar patches need to go too. The patch that alters spell names should go as well because the names are content from other games.

138

Troubleshooting / Re: FF7 Sound Cuts Out at No. 1 Reactor FMV (Windows Vista)

« on: 2008-11-14 19:21:51 »

This is a fairly known problem, wish I would have actually looked at this topic sooner. Chances are high that it's the fault of FF7Music. There should be an option in configuration that allows you to enable or disable volume ramping/fading. Basically in that scene the volume would slowly mute as the reactor begins to arc, then the explosion AVI occurs. Try turning this option off. The music will just suddenly stop as the reactor explodes, but you should have your sound effects in your movies.

This isn't necessarily the fault of FF7Music per se, I think it just has to do with soundcards and FF7Music being built around one with features not all cards have. But try the ramping option and see if that works.

139

General Discussion / Re: Favourite FF game in the series?

« on: 2008-11-11 21:11:15 »

Not at all, just bringing up the fanboy comment because I didn't want to come across as one. Well I'm not going to try to change your mind, it's simply how I feel. Not just about these two games, but a lot of other games in series as well.

140

General Discussion / Re: Favourite FF game in the series?

« on: 2008-11-11 17:02:39 »

The gap between VI and VII is much larger than the gap between VII and even XII. The difference is in VII, you had physical body language, facial expressions in timely situations, and cutscenes where you needed to show the most dramatic presentations. The only difference between VII and it's later counterparts here is the QUALITY of these things. VI didn't have the luxury of any of these, period. You had the head drop a pixel or two, and that's it. Didn't look convincing. When I say graphics, I'm not talking "Oh, shiny bloom lighting and 3D!" The emphasis here is that with superior graphics comes superior presentation.
In converse of my previous post, consider some of FFVII's scenes if they were forced to be in FFVI. Let's take your example of Sephiroth killing Aeris. You honestly think it would be the same? It would go like this:
Sephiroth's sprite just sort of drop down. His sword isn't impressive at all because you can barely make out what it is, and it's size it downplayed by it's 2D nature. Nor is his costume. Cloud's sprite just sits there like it's frozen, and Aeris, well we can barely tell she's praying because she's only got so many sprites. Nobody has a remarkable facial expression. So Sephiroth comes down, you see his sword twitch a couple times, and Aeris sort of collapses. Sephiroth never gets the evil look in his face, Aeris' eyes never light up, Cloud never looks overly concerned at all, and Sephiroth isn't able to slooowwwllllyyy pull the Masamune back out of Aeris' body. That scene is only dramatic as it is because the graphical technology allowed Square to actually show all of these minor details that made the scene. Were it not for them, well, I can't take anyone seriously who actually thinks my described version is just as dramatic because no, it's not. It'd be the equivalent of Cid jumping off the airship in FFIV. Did anybody honestly care? His sprite spun a couple times and you saw explosion sprites replace him. Not very dramatic at all.
And you can forget Aeris' build up too. None of that leaning from side to side looking at Cloud, no jumping for joy (at least not realistically), Cloud would look completely boring probably, and the buster sword would just be another "bronze sword" as far as significance goes. Nobody would care about the Masamune. Pretty much everything that made FFVII iconic besides maybe the music wouldn't be left intact if FFVII were made in place of FFVI. I love both games. I don't say this as a bitter FFVI fanboy. I'm just able to realize that's why FFVII succeeded where previous games failed.

141

General Discussion / Re: Favourite FF game in the series?

« on: 2008-11-11 07:06:54 »

"Graphics do not make games"

I've never been a fan of that saying. I can see you're not saying this, but I read a lot of people say "OH NOES IT HAS POOR GRAPHICS!!!" As an insult to someone saying a game has poor graphics. Graphics don't make the game, but they most certainly enhance it and can even destroy it if they're bad enough. I honestly believe that if Final Fantasy VII came out on the SNES and Final Fantasy VI came out on the PSX, Final Fantasy VI would be regarded as vastly, VASTLY superior. VII ran deep, but VI ran deeper. It just isn't displayed as much because of the limitation of sprites and no dramatic CGI cutscenes. To me, there's absolutely no question VI would have been freaking EPIC on the Playstation. (cue smartass comments about the SNES port here)
Can we imagine for a second the scene where Clyde (Shadow) leaves his friend behind to die instead of killing him as a CGI instead of just 2D sprites and some written dialog? Or imagine Kefka actually laughing and destroying people in 3D with absolutely no regard to their lives? How about Cyan watching his family and entire kingdom die slowly and painfully from poison in the water, only to have the pain dig deeper when he has to see them one last time taking the train to the afterlife. The Esper kingdom invasion where they're just hunted by power hungry soldiers? The only scenes in VII that can compare are the Nibelheim fire and Aeris burning. VI barrages you with these kinds of scenes, it just doesn't have the same impact because it's sprites. It's less realistic. We're separated from the drama more.

There's an argument here that's kind of moot, because the fact is VII has the chance to be presented more dramatically and is therefore regarded as superior (which even I might think), but there's still an argument none the less and that is that in the case of VI vs. VII, graphics most certainly made the game.

142

FF7Voice / Re: Need a Website Developed. Any Takers?

« on: 2008-11-09 21:03:38 »

All the forums I've helped set up have only cost about $10 for the domain per year, running PHP software on it and they've been much busier this will likely be so I don't see a problem there. A person could collect soda cans and set up a forum for a year.

The main issue is just getting someone who's willing to continually maintain the website should we choose to go for an actual website, which personally I don't see why we couldn't. Just my personal take on it.

143

FF7Voice / Re: This Just In - News As I Get It:

« on: 2008-11-09 09:40:01 »

jack.o.lantern and I have been discussing some ideas about this and we've come up with some great ideas that I think will mesh well with what has been suggested here so far.
For example, we've come to the conclusion that a website for the project may be necessary for several purposes including:

News Updates. Instead of mass emailing members of the team repeatedly, a website with a front page full of headlines I'm sure would be a relief to everyone. It would also be it's own form of instant communication. So long as you know the website, you're always kept in the loop on news.

Status. We'll be able to keep track of who's not caught up on their lines and WAIT so nobody falls behind. It's obviously a nightmare having more and more work piled on you, to the point you say screw it and quit. Again, it's instant communication as everyone can see it and know where we stand.

Script Repository. We could store scene scripts here available for all members of the team. This open sourcing of the script would also make it easier for anyone to add their input on anything that might need changed. In my case, working on restoring dummied areas of the game, you all would be able to see what I'm up to, keeping you in the loop as well. If you don't like what you see, just say something. If you want to dump some script, email it to the webmaster and he'll post it.

The website in itself would essentially be the "project coordinator" without the need for anyone to constantly send emails. So if anyone is a savvy webmaster, this is your calling.


Furthermore, the scene system would receive a revamp. It's unrealistic to continue working at the current pace. Both jack.o.lantern and myself feel work would progress just as quickly, if not faster, if actors were sent a small number of lines to complete in a given time period. We're talking, maybe ten. Something you could do in a single quick sitting. If this could be done at a rate of roughly every other day, this would be super painless and still speed along in all reality. If a voice actor got to feeling ambitious and wanted to do more, hey again, the script would be readily available for you to see on the website and you could go on ahead as far as you so wished. But the only mandatory thing would be the smaller chunks. I personally think it would make this enjoyable again.

Thoughts?

Edit: So that's it huh? 

144

Archive / Re: New cloud Model Being imported!

« on: 2008-11-09 08:21:17 »

Unfortunately I know squat about models else I'd help out when people have issues like this. Field script and dialog are my only two areas of proficiency so far in the game.

145

FF7Voice / This Just In - News As I Get It:

« on: 2008-11-02 21:49:38 »

Posting this because there's been so little communication within the team lately I felt it necessary. This is my response to Mesden's latest email:



To be honest, I've felt from day one there wasn't nearly enough prep time. I'd just barely settled in and began working on the script and all of a sudden "OK folks we're recording next week". That clusterf***ed everything for me, and I can't afford to crunch extra time on a hobby project when I'm personally struggling to pay bills at the moment. Some time to get far ahead on the script at my own pace, which was considerably faster before the recording started and put me behind schedule, would have probably solved the issue of me not getting scripts in.
This put all the voice actors on an annoying stop and go schedule, and the pressure put on made the project not fun anymore. This isn't anybody's job. It was fun at first, and if you hadn't noticed, things roll more quickly when it's done for fun.
 
Everything was started way too quickly and put on a corporate-like schedule. We started with an iffy sound editor, I was still trying to get a process going for dumping script and adding dummied sections, many voice-actors weren't sure of themselves and we just sort of "settled" for certain roles I felt, and we were told to make it work. This is a hobby project. You have to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. You can't just wear at your voice actors. For example, if we had the first 5 scenes COMPLETELY polished to a shine before hand and fed them to the voice actors, it would have played off their excitement and they would have finished almost all of them in far shorter time than we've progressed currently. Then they would have their unwind time while we got the next series of scenes ready. You can't just tell everyone to record their lines because there's nothing you have to make them listen except the fun of the project. Once that fun is gone, as had happened long ago now, they have absolutely no reason to listen to you.
 
Not enough ground work was laid before the project started. Not enough communication between you personally and your top people. That you didn't talk much with dziugo is a catastrophe. You, Marcis, Dziugo, and myself when I was more actively involved should have had regular communication. Marcis was telling me just the other day how discouraging the lack of communication was on him. We had no regular program to work off of either.
 
I guess the too long/didn't read version of this is, we started before we were ready. Trying to save time at the beginning resulted in us wasting enormous time in the end.


> Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 13:58:03 -0800
>
> I've tried you guys,
>
> This Project has come to the point where people just don't want to do it
> anymore. Revisions are being Requested not because you can do better,
> but because of technicalities which arose during the Recording, and
> people send these to me regardless, thinking that they will be accepted
> anyways when they know I'll just send the Recordings back.
>
> We've worked so hard and I want to continue, but everyone else is just
> ignoring my E-mails, and delaying everything to the point where nothing
> is getting done in such a large amount of time.
>
> I'm not sure what to do... I want to continue, but so many others
> don't... People have spent countless, exhausting hours working on this
> Project, I don't want to stop, but with so many people just ignoring it
> like this, what choice do we have? What does everyone else think? How do
> we get around this?
>
>
> [Mesden]


End of email. Bottom line is this guys: I think if we want to salvage what we've got, right now we need to completely grind to a halt for a minute and sort out how everything is going to work. Right now we're a ship ran by a blind and deaf crew and nobody knows where we're going. We need to refine what we've got right now, get a system going to process future scenes faster that everyone involved in the technical aspect is in on, and just stop with the revisions for a second because right now we're not ready for them and the current system has jaded the voice actors.
I know a lot of us are annoyed at Mesden's constant harping but he's extremely into this project and we should appreciate that dedication. In turn Mesden, if you're going to direct, you need to accept the responsibility of that mantle and keep in constant communication with your key teammates, respect your voice actors' schedules, and try your best to make everything as easy on them as possible to make it enjoyable. Some of us have very active lives, but even so, I think I can speak for most of the people on the team when I say we won't slack off and infact will work with enthusiasm IF the process is good and everyone is shown you yourself are also dedicated and not just shouting orders. And that dedication starts with communication and knowing what everyone is doing, first and foremost.

Thoughts?

146

General Discussion / Re: AVALANCHE

« on: 2008-10-20 10:19:35 »

Before this drops TOO far down, I gotta ask how this is going. I noticed you've updated to a 4th version with some new features. I must confess I'm tied up already too much to help out, and I can't make heads or tails of how to make mods for this haha. Anyone working on anything special?

Admittedly, I'm also trying to just shed more light on this. I still say this engine has enormous potential to turn into one HELL of an action/RPG based in the FF7 universe.

147

Q-Gears / Re: Reverse Engineers! Let me organize and wiki-ize your assorted documentation!

« on: 2008-10-20 10:16:27 »

After I've learned more I'll try to send over my notes on field script if that's something you'd be interested in. It's a bit more beginner-friendly than what's up now.

148

Archive / Re: FF7 PC Improved English dialogue - is anyone interested?

« on: 2008-10-20 09:50:57 »

I'll stick my pawprint of the "I'm interested" nature onto the list. There are bits of FF7 that I *still* don't fully understand, and I've been through the game a few times now. A BIG example of this is Cloud's dual-personality nature - To this day I don't ~fully~ get what's going on there.

A well-written change like this would be a very, very good addition to my next play-through.

If and when the FF7Voice project concludes, this will be made much more clear. If you'd REALLY just like the explanation now, I can give it to you. I'm a massive FF7 freak, I know the story inside and out. Only FF7 mind you. I'm not so into the spin-offs. 

149

FF7Voice / Re: To subtitle, or not to subtitle.

« on: 2008-10-20 09:42:45 »

I've been thinking about making some modular patches to go alongside this project. While learning Meteor, the Qhimm Wiki was insufficient, to say the least. I basically had to learn what the opcodes REALLY did by watching a scene play out, noting the sequence, and opening up the scene in Meteor to observe the opcodes responsible. So I did a lot of copy and paste with the opcodes and TONS of trial and error.
In the learning process I've been able to accomplish some fun things which don't quite fit within the scope of this project. Likely, I'll make compatible versions that can stack with this program first, then maybe add some of them later that can be used without it.

These things include the restoration of Biggs getting knocked down in the first reactor mission (play the PSX sampler demo to see it), the guards appearing after the first gate opens, the initial two guards in red you see yelling at you, LOTS of stuff. If I could freeze time, I'd love to write a more intuitive "how-to" guide for Meteor. It's honestly quite simple once you learn a few rules.

I've been meaning to get really crazy with it, doing completely new things like adding a new movie or two, adding materia, and as I've been trying to learn more about - adding a new character entirely into the database. My schedule is about as unstable as my whims, I'm afraid. So it doesn't get done as fast as I'd like it to.
Unfortunately, my home also has 56k. I do my uploading when I'm on my laptop and I'm on a faster connection. I'd love to post YouTube videos for you guys, but it's time consuming, time I'd rather spend doing more tweaking while the mood still strikes me, you know? But I love this game, and this site has really breathed new life into it. Eventually, you'll be seeing some of these things as my way of saying thanks.

150

Releases / Re: [Release] Final Fantasy VII Phoenix Rejuvenation Project

« on: 2008-10-18 00:12:08 »

It's the newer version, yes. It's got more models, some updated models, at the expense of some glitches.

The materia issue is a known one. Not sure what you mean by the soldier one.