Messages

76

Releases / Replacement FMVs for FFVII

« on: 2009-05-04 15:35:25 »

That's not possible, since FF7 can only use the smaller resolution videos. Anything higher either shows nothing or only shows you a portion of the video. No way around that other than code modification. They also must be in 16-bit color instead of 32. Because the original clips these movies here came from are so detailed, when they are converted for use in game they actually look worse than the ones that came with FF7 as they were designed specifically to deal with the limitation.

Also, frame count on videos isn't set in stone. There's a simple opcode you can edit in Meteor to allow the movies to play for as many frames as you need it to. Thus, you can accomplish smoother animation or allow changes in the length of the movie altogether.

77

Completely Unrelated / Re: Favourite/most memorable 3 Monsters and WHY!

« on: 2009-04-18 00:03:43 »

Final Fantasy series:

1. Zeromus from Final Fantasy IV. The intro sequence to the battle was awesome, and the background flying along, the music, everything made the battle come together and feel truly epic, even if Zeromus himself was a sudden turn in the road and uninteresting as a character.

2. Tonberry from Final Fantasy VII. Funny, yet frustrating at the same time.

3. Cactuar, primarily the form in Final Fantasy X. It's just the way it moves around, then runs after slapping you in the face with 1000 needles. Very comical.


I also feel the need to add my all time favorites from other games as they're above any FF monster in my opinion.

1. Grendel from Skies of Arcadia. What an epic feel that battle had, like many other of the fights aboard the airship, but this one really stood out to me.

2. The Bishop from Ys: The Oath in Felghana. Seriously one of the coolest looking characters in any game yet kicking his ass was very satisfying.

3. Slime from the Dragon Quest series. Just cause.

 

78

Troubleshooting / Re: Save States+Other ways to jump ahead?

« on: 2009-03-20 13:55:00 »

As I'm doing a lot of dialog work for my revision project, I find myself playing through certain scenes over and over and over hammering out bugs. Eventually the best system I could come up with is using a save game collection and editing the saves I want with JENOVA so the party has 99 save crystals, letting me save closer to the edits.

79

General Discussion / Re: FF7 with ENB Series???

« on: 2009-03-17 23:40:50 »

We've established it's the PC version, I conceded that in my last post. I still don't rule out the possibility it's real. If this is for everyone else's sake, great. But nobody's going to convince me, sorry. There are simply too many ways to run FF7 on a PC that it's highly likely one method can use ENB Series and the guy took a screenshot just because he found it interesting in a novel sort of way.

But as Otokoshi said, it's not worth arguing about.

By the way Otokoshi, if you ever get the urge to make more improved videos like you did a couple years back, and you find the frame limiter is hurting you let me know. I've found out how to change that in Meteor so you can make movies as long as you like, or even add in up to two completely new videos.

80

Archive / Re: High Resolution Backgrounds - New Spin on an Old Idea?

« on: 2009-03-17 02:14:42 »

There are trains that cloud has to jump in and move them. They are 3D objects. The other trains are just background image.

I suggest use meteor and open that field file to see how they do it.

I'm already at that point, actually. I already know HOW to do it. I just don't have the resources needed to insert into the game. Need willing modelers. I've got some discussions going on at other forums as well seeing if anyone is interested.

I'm going to see if I can't get people willing to model the first reactor mission and make an "advertising demo" of sorts out of it to draw in more people to the project if it picks up. I've still got to sort out the index issue, but I don't see that being as big a deal as some of the other indexes the game uses thankfully.

81

Archive / Re: High Resolution Backgrounds - New Spin on an Old Idea?

« on: 2009-03-16 13:04:28 »

You mean to enhance the PC version.

Dude, the PC version fails. LOL (sorry, i had to)

Yeah, no doubt that's why so many people are modding it.

Go make sh*t for Q-Gears, then. That's not what this topic is discussing. Hard to make stuff for something that isn't even finished, isn't it? Exactly. There's a good reason that after all these years and countless topics on the matter, there's still not a SINGLE release for higher resolution backgrounds. This may be the only way.

Also, the PSX version is fickle as all hell. Just ask ff7rules, he has to fight with it constantly. It's even more limited than the PC version when it comes to models.

Good luck to you. 



Clearly there's no interest in this here, so I guess enjoy all the new character models coming out over top pixelated backgrounds. If anybody gets serious and realizes I'm not joking when I say this could be the only way, feel free to use the idea.

82

Archive / Re: High Resolution Backgrounds - New Spin on an Old Idea?

« on: 2009-03-16 03:25:49 »

Added an Edit2 on my first post, hopefully that clears up what I'm talking about here.

83

Archive / Re: High Resolution Backgrounds - New Spin on an Old Idea?

« on: 2009-03-16 02:56:22 »

I'm not sure what you mean... you want to make a grid of 3D objects on the field with the tops textures to appear one dimensional?

I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here. I don't know how much the game is going to be able to handle, which is why I need a test object to replace something - anything - in the field. Then, we'll need to look into how 3d objects are indexed by FF7 and if there's room to add. If there's not room to add, room needs to be made. I know the files themselves are held in char.lgp, but what I don't know is how the game assigns each object a number. The kernel? ff7.exe itself?

Once that info is down it might become more clear as to whether there's a more efficient way than placing huge 3D objects in the field to hide the 2D or not.

84

Archive / Re: High Resolution Backgrounds - New Spin on an Old Idea?

« on: 2009-03-15 21:14:37 »

Thanks, but keep in mind I still need just a huge 3d object to test out. Faceted maybe. Doesn't need to be too complex or even textured.
Also, the implementation of these is a bit different. They don't need to be prerendered and turned into 2D, the idea is that they stay 3D and are then placed into the game's field files via Meteor as an object with no collision and correct layers. This will likely require two separate 3D overlays for each level - basically one for Cloud to walk on, and one that will cover him up.

It's definitely a lot of work, make no mistake. A team would be required. I'm just interested in making sure it's 100% possible right now, and if it is and a team is assembled, I'd be more than happy to fiddle with the game and get them in it.

If this DOES work, this opens up Final Fantasy VII to a completely new level of detail. You could pretty much go for as much as you wanted. You wouldn't be able to render shadows or bloom lighting, but you wouldn't need to because the stages never move really. They could be semi-transparent items attached where appropriate on the "master object". Also, ridiculously high detail objects like apzcloud's work would fit in like a champ.

But before hopes get too high, I really could use just a big flat block. 

85

General Discussion / Re: FF7 with ENB Series???

« on: 2009-03-14 21:09:54 »

I see that. But at the expense of sounding foolish, I still wouldn't assume that's fake. I've seen some very impressive feats performed on old engines. ENB Series CAN be made to work with older DX versions, it just takes custom driver writing/injections since the author himself doesn't support them. Again, there's no solid proof that's fake, that's all I'm saying.

Also, look a little closer. Barret and the guard both have shadows as well. ENB can cast them, but it doesn't always look pretty. That could either be a fake, or it could just so happen that in that scene it looks good. The next it could look like total sh*t.'
How do we know the person who took that didn't use something like Wine and some crafty ENB Series adaptation to get that to work?

Even if it were fake, it's definitely possible.

And yes, it certainly does work with ePSXe.

86

Archive / High Resolution Backgrounds - New Spin on an Old Idea?

« on: 2009-03-14 21:04:35 »

I was playing around in Meteor working on my rewrite project, and after play testing over and over to make sure scenes work as intended, I simply couldn't help but notice how ugly the backgrounds keep getting with age. Especially compared to NPC-RP models with the high res patch going. It's very unsightly.
But as most of us know, the engine simply can't handle anything superior.

However, the high resolution project DOES make 3D objects look nice and crisp.

And I've seen how 3D objects are placed in the game using Meteor, so the thought hit me: Why not place gigantic 3D objects on the field using Meteor to completely sit on top of the backgrounds and replace them?
So I just now ran a search on Qhimm and came across this thread:

http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=4301.0

Similar idea of using 3D backgrounds, however the implementation like I'm thinking wasn't suggested. Synergy Blades, when he was still around, created some AWESOME 3D backgrounds which would have been perfect to test this with. I'll link to the thread when I find it.
If (I'll elaborate on the "if" soon) the idea works, this would completely smoothen out the backgrounds. Obviously it would require some SERIOUS manpower to remake all the backgrounds in full 3D, but for now we'll keep it theoretical.

Right now, I only see two reasons why this wouldn't work:

- Severe lagging. But honestly, I think would handle it without crashing, and handle it fairly efficiently.
- 3D model database limitations. I don't know anything about how the 3D models for the field files are stored and indexed. They've got indexes to call them, but surely if nothing else this can be expanded. Might be tedious, but the result would be worth it.

So what I'm going to try to do is find a large render, could be anything, and see what happens when I attempt to flood a field file with it and use it as the "background". At the very least I can replace an existing file (to my knowledge) and test.

EDIT
Would anybody with some knowledge of FF7 models be willing to make just a big red block or something and upload it in a usable format? Make it mostly flat. I've found I can add new 3D objects, but I don't know any that are large enough to use as is, and I don't know anything about modeling.

EDIT2
I don't think I came across too clear with the idea. This idea completely ignores the 2d backgrounds already present in the game.  The idea is to cover them up entirely with a textured 3D background instead. The order of layers will go like this:

<--------- 3D Layer 2 - Always hides NPCs, party members, items, anything on lower layers ----------------->

<----- NPC/Item/Materia/Walking/Etc. Layer - This is "ground level" upon which all visible objects rest--->

<------ 3D Layer 1 - The bottom 3D layer upon which all other 3D objects rest. Hides background ------>

<---- 2D Background Layer - NEVER SEEN IN GAME, hidden by all other layers ---------------->

Hopefully this clears things up. The point is to completely eliminate the enigma that is the 2D background tiling and instead just hide the ugly things with a better looking, higher resolution 3D object. Obviously this makes the SainT's High-Res patch a requisite (to get the best results), but it'd be well worth the much, much improved visuals. Forget all about the 2D background, that's the whole point of this new idea.
These 3D layers can then be placed as objects in the game with no collision, meaning the walls and everything else are still defined by the walk mesh. The two 3D layers are needed because Cloud stands on one, and the other needs to hide HIM when he passed under it.
Basically all you would be doing is making a bunch of different models, like houses, signs, junk - then giving it all a floor and making it one single, large object to be placed in game.

More clear?

87

General Discussion / Re: FF7 with ENB Series???

« on: 2009-03-14 19:41:47 »

@Deniz: Where's your proof it IS fake?  Because I can boot up ePSXe with a DX9 plugin and ENB Series and recreate that same scene right now, as well as the rest of the game. Or, I can run a Bleemcasted FF7 through NullDC and make it happen that way as well. It's not magic. But as you can see, it's pretty pointless because it's ugly, and there are glitches.

Did you talk to the person who took that and confirm he photoshopped it? Of course you didn't. Because if you did, he would have told you the exact same thing I did. Way to assume.

EDIT - For the people who DON'T jump on bandwagons, I'll put up a ready to go version of ePSXe that'll play FF7 with Bloom. No BIOs, though. You might need to tweak a few settings to get it to work on your system, too.

And... here it is. Maybe sure to read the ABOUT THIS BUNDLE text file in the folder. Again, no BIOs or anything else that can't be distributed. 
http://www.sendspace.com/file/513efc

88

General Discussion / Re: FF7 with ENB Series???

« on: 2009-03-14 01:25:34 »

I guarantee you guys that isn't fake.

89

Archive / Re: [WIP] Final Fantasy VII - Revised (Working Title) UPDATED 2/1

« on: 2009-03-13 10:27:54 »

Quick update, after some time spent working on a few Morrowind translation projects I'm back to cracking on this again. At the moment I'm just inserting more and more dialog, so nothing special to show off in screenshots.

90

Completely Unrelated / Re: FFVII Ultima Edition Illegal?

« on: 2009-03-03 17:13:45 »

"Ultima Edition" is merely a proper "full install" of the game with a patched 1.02 .exe to include game fixes and no-cd. If you download the 1.02 exe update, patch it with the chocobo and mini-game fixes, you should be running fine. Just so I don't step on any toes, I won't include a how-to but I think any FFVII PC player should be converting their exe to a no-cd when finished as well, as the game's price just keeps rising and rising, and time passing inherently increases the risk of cumulating damage to the game disks. At the very least rip your disks and put them all onto a single DVD with a virtual drive program, or even copy onto separate CDs if need be.

91

Q-Gears / Re: The purpose of Q-Gears

« on: 2009-03-03 17:07:42 »

It's called ePSXe.

Just joking, but seriously;
OK, but why would I want an engine that plays all those games when I've already got an emulator that does it? I didn't make this topic as a point and laugh, "haha you're wasting time!" type of thing, I genuinely do not see the point as it is. My same arguments pretty much apply to any playstation game, why should the player choose your engine over existing methods of playing these games? What makes Q-Gears so great?

I've read up just now on how you're converting existing assets for use in Q-Gears, will these be in an easy to modify format?

Should Q-Gears be considered more of a developer resource than a Square game playing engine, that others can use to make their own games through learning the script? A Square game enhancer? When you start working on Q-Gears, what do you envision when it is finished?

I also have to give you props after reading your livejournal and your insistence on sticking with the program no matter what "anyone" says about it, regardless of purpose.

92

Completely Unrelated / Re: Who here loves their Dreamcast?!

« on: 2009-03-02 23:28:44 »

Awesome device controlled by a foolish company. I loved the Dreamcast. It was the first system that really made an impact in console emulation and I know I burnt a ton of CDs so I could play emulators and whatnot on there. I remember playing FF7 on there even using Bleemcast. Fun stuff. Soul Calibur took half my life away though, so much that even today, I can play the original and still smash pretty much anyone even being years out of practice. After having played all the titles, I still find the original (barring Soul Edge) to play the fastest - think the difference between Street Fighter II and Marvel vs. Capcom.
Bar none it had the most innovative titles. For the longest time I hated the PS2 (even though I owned one as well) solely because of it's fanboys who wouldn't even give the Dreamcast a chance. ESPECIALLY after it died and they'd play it and be like "Hey this is kinda cool!" 

The Dreamcast also gains the most improvement out of any 3D system when played on a PC emulator, hands down. NullDC + ENB Series + Soul Calibur = epic win.

We can all thank Sega for being morons and letting such a cool thing die out.

93

Q-Gears / The purpose of Q-Gears

« on: 2009-03-02 21:57:47 »

There's no way to ask these questions without sounding like an asshole, so I apologize before hand. I just want to know if your FAQ still stands. If Q-Gears is intended to ONLY be an engine alike FF7 which just happens to also be able to import FF7 data but not insert anything else to modify the FF7 playing experience. To me, this leaves the program with a dual purpose - to play FF7 in it's original form on a PC or to play programs based on Q-Gear's proprietary script.
If I'm missing something, please let me know. I would assume the majority of downloads when this is finished will be people clamoring to play FF7 on their PC. But if there are no improvements, how long is it going to be before the following two arguments are made?:

1. Emulators do it better. The backgrounds can be smoothened out, game play made higher resolution, and while it may seem a bit more arcane than a ready-to-go program, I honestly can envision most people discovering emulation afterwards and ignoring the program while trying to get their emulator to work.

2. PC version has the mods. The people who don't care about the mods will use the emulated PSX version while pretty much everyone who DOES care will be using the PC version.

The FAQ seems to convey the idea that Q-Gears players will get to enjoy vanilla Final Fantasy VII on their computers, as it was originally made for the PSX. I'm an active member of romhacking.net and when this idea was posted there, the topic TANKED. It's not exactly an interesting concept. Anything Q-Gear is going to run on, so will ePSXe. Sure, I can't make my own games on ePSXe, but I'm on a computer. I can make one using any assortment of programs. What's so special about Q-Gears?
I do not ask that question rhetorically or with intent to insult your efforts. I honestly would like to know the benefits of Q-Gears. The FAQ doesn't exactly generate interest. A lot of people get excited until they see the part about no mod support and no extra features. Even if you were to mod the PSX iso, you're still limited to the same music, backgrounds, and some other limitations - the exact same thing as you get with Final Fantasy VII on PC with FF7Music.
"It will be a superior and more accurate transition" is cool, in a niche sort of way knowing you've got a perfect version of Final Fantasy VII. The problem is, you've got a perfect version of a decade and a half old game. In some cases this is cool - like with Ultima Exult as that game just failed hard on Windows NT. But I can already play FF7 on Windows NT with nothing taken or added if I want to. The means are different, but the end is the same.

If you guys really don't care about any of this and this is simply a "let's see if we can do this" effort, I applaud you. If this is intended as something huge and all it does is recreate the FF7 Engine, I can't see it picking up much steam. If you guys have changed directions and are going to add support for enhancing the game, then you need to let people hear about it because right now there's absolutely no buzz and for sure that would create some.
I'm not trying to change any minds, but I'll explain my rationale for saying that: If you were to take Final Fantasy VII on the PC and give it high res background like Synergy Blades rendered awhile back, that would mean incredibly high-res characters would fit into the game nicely. Also, I noticed mention of DirectX 9 in here. That would make your program compatible with the ENB Series, which would mean if YOU guys didn't enhance the lighting or anything, then that would. That in turn would mean an almost brand new looking game. How many people on here have wanted to contribute to FF7 only to be shot down by it's severe limitations your program could potentially eliminate? It would be a swarm.
Again, only explaining my rationale for saying mod capability would generate buzz, and if you don't care, I again applaud your insistence on nothing but accuracy.

I've tried to ask these questions with as much respect as possible, and I'm not asking you guys to change a thing. I just want clarification on your purpose, your goals, and what you are expecting to happen when this project is completed. Forgive any oversights I may have made in this, I've read as much as there is available on your project without being actively involved.

Regards.

P.S. - I've read about others asking this some time ago, and just to make it clear, I fully understand that functionality comes first. I get that. This topic and the questions herein concern the project AFTER functionality has been achieved. And I also understand the desire to say "We don't think that far ahead" but it should be apparent already - you either want to enhance or you don't.

94

Archive / Re: [WIP] Final Fantasy VII - Revised (Working Title) UPDATED 2/1

« on: 2009-02-10 22:49:42 »

I'm still hashing out how I want to balance the mechanics of the game. I want to keep things as true to the original as possible, so I'm looking at as many non-intrusive ways as possible to accomplish this. Eventually, I will want to get into balance and difficulty. Materia, for example, I find way too cheap. I know "you can find materia everywhere" in the FF7 universe, but I find it hard to believe you can purchase the ability to light guards on fire for like 400 gil...

95

Archive / Re: [WIP] Final Fantasy VII - Revised (Working Title) UPDATED 2/1

« on: 2009-02-10 22:34:02 »

So far this looks Great ! can you do this for the PSX too?

The playstation version has some differences in formatting that make some of the changes I plan on doing beyond my skills. However, as I understand it the Expert Version hack also listed here in Game Tweaking will have some dialog cleaned up and offers a good alternative to this project.

I haven't had as much time to work on this as I'd like. Things will speed up soon though.  Currently I'm doing some work on Bizarro and Safer Sephiroth, making the battles just a tinge more epic. I've added a solution to the cheapness of spamming Knights of Round on Safer Sephiroth that doesn't involve nerfing the summon - a multi-hit counterattack of his own if you use it against him. 

96

Troubleshooting / Re: A new question for Cosmo editor by Ficedula

« on: 2009-02-08 22:38:11 »

No problem, I like seeing more people getting to know Meteor. My knowledge is your knowledge.

97

Troubleshooting / Re: A new question for Cosmo editor by Ficedula

« on: 2009-02-08 21:43:50 »

There's an easier way in the 21st century!  When you are done editing your field file in Meteor, just drag and drop the file onto LZS.exe and it will automatically compress it (in XP anyways). Then reinsert the file and save the lgp.

And it's all preference, but Highwind replaces field files as well. I have no idea if it's better or worse than Emerald. It's what I started using, so it's what I stick with.

To make new dialog in Meteor, you pretty much only need to know a couple opcodes, and if you want entirely new boxes with new dialog, you'll need to click on the dialog tab and add it.
Anyways, the script you add should look sort of like this:

WINDOW (0,50,50,20,20)
MESSAGE (0,2E) <--- 2E is the dialog ID you want.

Just open up a script and look through it until you see a MESSAGE opcode with the dialog ID that comes right before you want to add your new dialog.
To get the exact WINDOW coordinates, you can just copy the opcodes that call dialog by the character you want. That way it makes the same window as the rest of their dialog. Then just point the next MESSAGE opcode to your dialog. Also, don't forget that Meteor's code is [New Box] instead of {New Page}.

98

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: FF7 Movie ID List?

« on: 2009-02-08 21:37:30 »

That's fine, for what I'm messing with right now two should be enough. I'm just now getting competent with the appropriate opcodes needed to play movies (and play them correctly) anyhow so I don't want to get too far over my head with ideas. I'm already frustrated with so many things while doing my revision project I'm about to explode.

99

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: FF7 Movie ID List?

« on: 2009-02-08 12:11:50 »

Thanks for the speedy reply dziugo. On the other hand - DAMN. I was actually hoping it would be possible to ADD new movies in using those blank slots which could then be called in the field script, but as your tables seem to suggest, there in fact are not spare slots...  I SUPPOSE one could take advantage of the disk swapping to use an ID not used on a particular disk and somehow make a copy of that disk with a new movie on it that uses the same filename as would be on the previous disk?

Not that the idea is worth doing, I'm only talking hypothetically.  Now I gotta go listen to some Hawthorne Heights and slit my wrists out of depression. Haha.

EDIT -
And this is why you don't try to come up with ideas when you are sleep deprived. Obviously if I want to include a couple new movies I merely name them "fship2n.avi" and "moriya.avi"... That took me all of 5 seconds to figure out after I got some sleep.

100

Scripting and Reverse Engineering / FF7 Movie ID List?

« on: 2009-02-08 10:04:26 »

http://wiki.qhimm.com/FF7/Field/Script/Opcodes/F8_PMVIE

Does anybody know where this table is located? Are the two empty IDs needed for anything in particular?