Messages

1

Solved Problems / Re: How can I get a battle scene properly textured in game? (FF7)

« on: 2011-03-11 20:19:10 »

looking really great man. I really like the train tex your using. Did you make it from scratch?

Oh no yarLson I extracted this from my Crisis Core by using Rinoa Viewer/Extractor, but I´m a 3D modeller for games so it is not so hard for me to modify/edit some parts of the models in 3DsMax. I extracted the whole train station from Crisis Core and I made my own battle scene from it (I´m only using the train here). As you can see, since there are no lights in battle scenes, I also used a light map to simulate the light effects on the train. Also when you extract models from Crisis Core with Rinoa, most textures mess up, so I had to fix the ones I was using on my scene, and of course this is not the whole train, I removed all the polygons of the hidden side of the train (the inner parts too). In short what I´m doing is remaking, repositioning and removing parts from the original stage (from Crisis Core) in 3DsMax to make my own FF7 battle scene.

Hey, in the future when you're posting pics, please try to leave out any models that were ripped from other games.  Reason being there are people who will notice and begin relentlessly asking you and other members for them.  And you wouldn't believe how out of hand it can get.

Ok obesebear, sure thing, you are right, I´ll leave out these models in the next images I upload.

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Solved Problems / Re: How can I get a battle scene properly textured in game? (FF7)

« on: 2011-03-11 08:41:42 »

YAY! After reading what Roxas said about a possible bug with Kimera .95b (thank you Roxas!) I wanted to try changing the Texture ID into PCreator, and guess what, I got it!!


(I Know the train looks too small, dw it was just a test)


As Roxas said, Kimera was not properly saving the changes in the texture ID, so you have to use PCreator for this purpose. Now I will try to get my whole custom train station scene into the game, but it will probably have to wait for 1 or 2 days before I get some free time again.


Here a small and very quick tutorial on how to change the texture ID in PCreator:

1. Open your model into PCreator.

2. In the Options menu, select "Battle Model" and "Texture file(s)".

3. Now select the model from the dropdown menu, your model will turn red (that means it is selected now).

4. With your model selected, go to File menu and select "Import UV...", then import the UV of that model.

5. Go to View menu and select "UV coords", you will have to check "Flip Y" (do not forget this).

6. You have now to put a valid texture on your model (BMP 8 bits), so go to File menu and click on "Open Bitmap...", don´t worry if your texture looks terrible on your model.

7. Now go to the Edit menu and select "Texture ID", then write the number of the ID you want to assign to that model.

8. Finally go to File and click on "Save As..." to save the model as a FF7 part. Now you will have a P file with its Texture ID perfectly set.

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Solved Problems / Re: How can I get a battle scene properly textured in game? (FF7)

« on: 2011-03-10 20:09:36 »

would you mind telling me the mod path your using so I can give it a try as well. I haven't done any battle textures yet and I just want to play around with it for a bit so I can understand how its done.

I´m using the folder named "direct" which you see in your game folder.

Double click the object you're having trouble with and it will open up P Editor.  In there you can manually set which texture it uses.  I'm not positive but I think this is a feature that only .95 has.... haven't tried it in a while.

Yea obesebear I did that, and as you said, it can only be done in .95 version, but the problem comes in the game, for any reason game sets the Texture ID of the train as if it was zero, it looks perfect in Kimera, idk why this happens in game.

I have not done more attempts lately anyway (because of so much work), but I will keep trying hard soon.

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Solved Problems / Re: How can I get a battle scene properly textured in game? (FF7)

« on: 2011-03-09 16:30:03 »

Hey yarLson! Yea I´m not repacking lgp while I´m testing things, I´m using modpath to try these files. I´ll keep working on this till I get any answer and I´m gonna post any progress on it.

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Solved Problems / SOLVED: How can I get a battle scene properly textured in game? (FF7)

« on: 2011-03-09 07:02:48 »

Hi there. I´ve been trying to understand how the battle scenes have been textured in Final Fantasy 7, cos it seems it is not the same method that the battle character uses. So well, I have been doing some experiments with the first battle scene we see in game (opaa -  train station), and I ´ve seen that this scene uses 7 different textures (from opac to opai), and most of these textures are asigned to one single part of the scene, it has given me to understand that there must be pre-textured sub objects in that part. How can I do this in PCreator if I have different UVs to each of the sub-objects from that model?.

On the other hand, after some other testing I have replaced one of the parts of the battle scene for a custom train model  and also one of the 7 textures; since the train was not using its own texture in Kimera I changed its Texture ID to 1 (cos the texture of this train is opad), when I do that it looks perfectly textured in Kimera, but in game it seems like it keeps using the Texture ID 0 so it looks wrongly textured. Why is this happening?

This is how my battle scene test looks in Kimera:



And this is how it looks in game (wrongly textured):

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-08 22:31:54 »

Frivol I dunno why you are resizing to 2046 but an exact 4 times resize of 512 should be 2048, just a friendly fyi.

Thank you yarLson but I just checked the background and it is definitely 2048*2048. It was my bad anyway cos I wrote 2046*2046, going to edit the post right now.

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-08 08:43:21 »

2048*2048 px


Even when I loved the background yarLson edited, I was missing a bit more sharpen on it since there was a notable contrast between the HD character and the little bit blurry background image, and yea I know I said before I do not like how the Perfect Resize sharpener effect looks, but that does not means I do not like the sharpen effect itself, so I combined and used some other methods to make the sharpen effect look much better and natural and I think I got what I was really looking for. I also wanted this time to keep the colors and the general look as close as possible to the original.

This was my last attemp with this background and I personally love how it looks in game, but maybe some ppl prefer a softer background, in that case the one yarLson did will be perfect for you (I can´t see any pic so unfortunelly I can not evaluate sl1982 work , except when he upload the files, but by what ppl say, they look pretty good too).

P.D.: I followed most of the tips and steps yarLson and sl1982 said before, and I combined them with new methods to get the sharpest possible background, without losing the quality and the original concept, it still won´t look perfect but I love it and I hope you like it too.

Files: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MQO87YN2

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-07 20:25:52 »

Yea I have come to the same conclusion that you yarLson, sharpenning is not a good idea when you are working with ff7 backgrounds. I have to try what sl1982 said before, but maybe this other "method" will be useful for you in any other chance. Another way to skip the black lines is (I guess it is less accurate than the sl1982´s method) by duplicating the layers and then merging them again to the one you duplicated, this overlapping will cause the black lines are filled, but this is only another trick, however, again, I´m pretty sure the sl1982´s method will be much useful and pro for this cause, in fact, I´m gonna try it out right now, I ´have not released more edited backgrouds since the first attemp was a fail, but after my latest attemps I got almost the same results that you got (although yours look even better), and I wanted not release any other background till I get something much better, but yours is perfect for me so I guess I will wait for your releases and sl1982´s instead .

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-07 08:52:32 »

OMG I loved how it looks in game yarLson, this is the look that I was looking for!! it is perfect for me, but... there is a big problem*, since you did not cut the background into the different pieces that compose the original background, I can´t "see trhough" the metal bars when you go behind the train cars (or whatever is the name,  <-not native speaker), but I will definitely follow your tips the next time I go to edit a background cos IMHO this is the best background I,ve seen so far in game. I am grateful that someone is serious about starting a project to edite/resize the old backgrounds, because although I wanted to do so, I have not much free time to do it, however you can count on me to help as I can.

On the other hand, since it does not require much time to edit, I'm starting to resize the textures of the battle arenas, and I will also (probably) going to add little details on some of these soon.

*maybe I missed the part where you said that it is just a background to test and it was deliberate, in that case sorry and very nice work (it is too late here to read again  )

NOTE: BTW, After some attemps with more complex backgrounds I have come to the conclusion that we won´t be able to edit all backgrounds, but maybe I´m wrong (I hope so), an example, the Shin Ra lobby, I challenge you guys to successfully edit this background  , Honestly I was unable to do so, mainly because I could not figure out how to get some "see through" parts properly working. The name of this background is "blin1".

Once again, awesome work yarLson I LOVE it, keep it up!!

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-05 15:30:03 »

True sorry! Did not see the link

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-04 20:23:23 »

I can´t see any pic!!  May any of you upload the files so I can see them in game?

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-04 00:07:20 »

I´m using photoshop cs3 with plugins: Perfect Resize and Noise Ninja.

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-03 20:32:36 »

Frivol, not sure what drugs you are taking but that fractal one is perfect.  Aside from graphical issues that kranmer just showed me, like when you try to go into train theres a line there.

Haha well yea, maybe I'm a little paranoid, I guess I was expecting a better result but yea it is not that terrible after all, also I think the other backgrounds will look much better after some editing and resizing work on them.

Iwill keep you posted on the progress!

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-02 23:50:04 »

Hm, maybe imageshack.us was down when you tried to load? Well, since I can't seem to find a way to register with the host you're using, I'll try..... *googles*.... imgur.

Thank you Roxas I can see the pics now!! Yea definitely the one I edited looks too artificial.

Hi guys, sorry for the wait, I had a lot of work!  Well after a lot of attemps to do a good editing on the first background, I think the best choice is to use the original one (at least in this case), since this background looks much closer in game and it does not look too good, maybe if I do some minor editing on the original backaground (without resize) I can get a better result, but idk, I´m gonna try that now.

Here the old  background files anyway (with fractal resize and fractals sharpener only)

(pls tell me guys if it looks good for you cos I do not like it a bit tbh )

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VPJ0IMGC

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-01 14:45:52 »

Yeah guys I know the first one looks more realistic and the second one is too clean so it looks fake, but in game the first one looks terrible, even worse than the original pixelated one. The thing is that working on this background is not that easy since this background looks much closer in game and the sharpen effect looks very ugly when you zoom in the image that much. So I guess I´ll just set the fractals sharpener off and see how it looks in game otherwise it will looks terrible (i already tried it).

I´ll try that later when I get home from work, and I will upload it so you guys can choose between both versions.

Hm, gave it a try in-game:

I cant see the pics

Hope you don't mind my testing them, frivol.

No problem at all! 

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-03-01 02:05:31 »

This is the best I could do on this first background, it does not look perfect in game but (IMHO) still much better than the older one which was very pixelated.

I´ve mainly used the plugins "Perfect Resize" (Genuine Fractals) and  "NoiseNinja", a very good solution to removing noise and grain from images among other things to improve the background. So this is the final result:

No I meant upload the files so that I can use them in my game. 

Oh sure here they are DLPB:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U0HKV70M

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-02-28 09:04:27 »

Sure! This is how it looks when I collapse all layers, but I need to improve it since it was only a simple resizing with some other little editing to test all this.

(1024*1024 - I tried 2046*2046 but Palmer does not let me import it.)


(I would like to show an ingame picture when I do a better attempt with this resizing/editing thing, this one doesn´t like me so much).

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-02-28 07:02:14 »

YAY!! I finally got it working, Thank you so much Aali!! The problem was the path, I even did not notice that the "missing textures" msg was giving me the path itself, my bad lol!! 

Thank you again guys, I hope this thread help more ppl.

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-02-28 05:53:19 »

Thank you all very much for taking the time to respond and help me with this. After following most of the steps that sl1982 provided -which I combined with some other tricks-, I get now a perfectly resized and matching background, but I´m still getting the "missing textures" msg, and I´m unable to understand why it is missing (sorry that I´m so noob  ). To clarify this, I´ll put here the steps I´m following, with some images that will help me to explain my problem in a better way:

1- In Palmer I open "md1stin" file (train station, the first background we see in the game)

2- I hit on "Export PNG from layer" (still in palmer) and then I get 4 different PNG files (from "md1stin_0_00000000.png" to "md1stin_0_00000516.png")

3- Now the resizing/editing process in photoshop:



4- After a successful background resizing, I overwrite the old PNGs with the modified layers I got in Photoshop.

5- In Palmer again (I had not closed the program before), I hit on "Import PNG to layer" so I get my resized background sucessfully Imported.

6. Now, still in Palmer, I hit on "Save Field file", so I get 5 new different PNG files (from "md1stin_00_00.png" to "md1stin_04_00.png") and a field file ("md1stin") which will replace the old one.

7. I copy the field file ("md1stin") inside the folder "flevel" ("...\Final Fantasy VII\direct\flevel") and the new PNG files I got inside the "textures" folder ("...\Final Fantasy VII\textures").

8. Finally I run the game and I get the "missing textures" msg, and I noticed the game is loading the old background because I did put one big red text on it in one of my previous attempts. So I´m lost, I thought I was doing things right, but I guess I´m definitely doing something wrong.



Thnx again for all the help you are giving me! 

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-02-27 12:27:16 »

Aali but the background I edited is not being dispayed in the game, that´s one of the reasons why I was not understanding what you said, I even thought your driver was loading the old background instead the edited one (as a way to fix any problem related to backgrounds) althought I understand now that it makes not sense since there is a modified background file in the flevel lgp calling the new edited pngs allocated in the Textures folder, so I do not understand what is happening or what I´m doing wrong. What should I do to get my edited background working in game?

As I said you cannot just resize the image.  You need to use layer masks in PS and you should not use adobe resizer.  If this task is to be done, Genuine Fractals is the only option.

DLPB I tried with onOne Perfect Resizer (previously known by the name "Genuine Fractals"), so this is the same plugin you are talking about (which I have used for the last year and I love it) but I still get a not matching background with green lines, I have tried some different methods such us trying to convert all layers to a single smart object and resize them all together which seems to work,but actually don´t because you can not get back your layers properly resized. But a lot of people here is talking about layer masks and I´m not sure what you guys mean with that, I´m going to google it anyway, but still I will be gratefull if you tell me what you mean exactly with layer masks.

Thnx in advance!!

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-02-26 11:57:02 »

Oh I see, wait I'm not sure if I understood correctly what you said, so should I rename the textures in this case? Also you said "the driver defaulted to palette 0 instead" I do not understand this part.

P.S.: sorry my newbie questions and also I wanted to thank you for your awesome work!!

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-02-25 19:16:34 »

It seems there is really nothing to do with backgrounds, or at least not too much for now, or maybe I´m doing something wrong, but I´ve been trying hard to improve the train station background (md1stin) and no luck in game. First thing I noticed was that the resizer plugin from photoshop will cause a not matching background with those ugly green lines. Another problem was that after I import back the edited pngs (without resizing them) in Palmer, and after saving and re packing the flevel lgp file, and ofc after I copy the new png files which palmer creates after saving the field file, in the textures folder (in this case 5 png files, from "md1stin_00_00" to "md1stin_04_00"), all I get in game is an error while loading an unexisting png file called "md1stin_04_12", so idk what else I can do to get my edited backgrounds working in game... 

Did anyone have any success doing this before?

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-02-24 15:02:44 »

Here is Palmer 0.4b: http://85.24.185.102/share/palmer-0.4b.zip

Thank you so much for uploading it!!! I´m gonna try this out now!

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-02-24 02:49:57 »

Opps it seems the link is broken, may someone upload "Palmer" for me pls??

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General Discussion / Re: FF7 PSX pre-rendered backgrounds to replacing the ones of FF7 PC version?

« on: 2011-02-24 02:21:33 »

Wow thnx, I did not know that!!