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Scripting and Reverse Engineering / Re: PC Battle Animations?
« on: 2007-04-18 23:06:48 »
Well I'm not really sure, but it does not seem that the document that L. Spiro wrote is on the Wiki. Someone should really put it up there before it's taken off his memoryhacking site, and so it's easier to find. I guess it's not a problem since it's still on his site.
Here is the original thread: Battle Animation Format
and the document:
DOC format
PDF format
Here is the original thread: Battle Animation Format
and the document:
DOC format
PDF format
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General Discussion / Re: KH2 Model
« on: 2007-03-23 23:18:37 »
I sent you the corrected link so hopefully that works now. Specifically the transparent offset is 0x44 (or 68 bytes) and the values range from 0-4. The texture flag is set at 0x08, and typically 0 is off and 14 is on. Also if there is an array of textures in the rsd file 0x10 sets what texture the group will use. These are the important offsets anyway since the other data in the material chunk does not seem to do anything useful.
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General Discussion / Re: KH2 Model
« on: 2007-03-23 18:00:56 »what exactly is a command prompt then?Now that's a funny question
, but I think Microsoft should be able to help you out.By the way, now that I see you here, do you know if transparent groups work for field models?Thanks Borde, and yes they should work in both the field and battle models. It also seems to depend on what material is applied to that group. Textures seem to blend differently than when just using the vertex colors so some of the options may be different. I'm not really sure why they would not be working, I guess just try all the different options (0-4) to see if it changes.
For example:
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General Discussion / Re: KH2 Model
« on: 2007-03-22 02:43:56 »
If anyone wanted to know what the Aeris model from KH2 looks like in FF7 here are some pictures:
Aeris - Front
Aeris - Back
Aeris - Hallway
I separated all the parts to fit Aeris's existing hierarchy; however I did not rotate the geometry to fit her existing animations. Instead, I tweaked her standing animation so that it would fit the ripped model without having to rotate anything which makes it fit together correctly. I turned the lighting off for the model because after optimizing the ripped geometry the normals did not average well, and if they were the texture information would not work.
Also FF7 can only black-key geometry and does not support an alpha texture some of the edges may look black. I had to combine the alpha channel and the texture which does not works the best since those pixels that are close to black would still be opaque. Here is a rendered image of Aeris so you can see what it looks like with better lighting and with an alpha channel.
Aeris - Front
Aeris - Back
Aeris - Hallway
I separated all the parts to fit Aeris's existing hierarchy; however I did not rotate the geometry to fit her existing animations. Instead, I tweaked her standing animation so that it would fit the ripped model without having to rotate anything which makes it fit together correctly. I turned the lighting off for the model because after optimizing the ripped geometry the normals did not average well, and if they were the texture information would not work.
Also FF7 can only black-key geometry and does not support an alpha texture some of the edges may look black. I had to combine the alpha channel and the texture which does not works the best since those pixels that are close to black would still be opaque. Here is a rendered image of Aeris so you can see what it looks like with better lighting and with an alpha channel.
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FF7 Tools / Re: Beta PCreator v0.85b
« on: 2006-09-18 17:52:09 »
I made some minor updates to address the problems with texturing battle models that andrewmarsh13 was having. The texture id now just uses a inputbox, this allows you to select any Id you need. Also if you are adding textures to a battle model you need to change the amount of textures the hierarchy is using. To do this select Open Battle HRC... under the file menu and enter the total amount of textures used in the inputbox.
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Archive / Re: New Sword Model (And I need a little help)
« on: 2006-09-18 17:39:24 »
I fixed a few things and now it should be able to texture battle models without having to fix the id's outside the program.
PCreator v0.85b
I'll explain how to texture your Powerblade according to cloud's file names.
First of all we need to put the number of textures that the whole model will use into the hierarchy (rtaa) file. We have two for cloud's head his eye and mouth (rtac, rtad), then the textures that the power blade uses: rtae - Handle.bmp, rtaf - Base.bmp, rtag - Blade.bmp, rtah - Materia.bmp. In total we have six so first set it to a battle model then go to Open Battle HRC... under the file menu. Open cloud's hierarchy (rtaa) file and set the number of battle textures to 6.
Then add the model groups in a logical order and then load all the texture files. After that you need to set the texture ID for each group.
Handle = 2 (the Handle starts at 2 because cloud's eyes and mouth are using Id's 0 and 1)
Base = 3
Blade = 4
Materia = 5
Select Texture File(s) under the Options menu so it writes all the texture files, then save the model over the buster sword (rtck). Rename the textures to the following:
Handle = rtae
Base = rtaf
Blade = rtag
Materia = rtah
Then just put all the changed files in the battle.lgp, make sure to put in rtaa because it was changed from having 2 textures to 6.
PCreator v0.85b
I'll explain how to texture your Powerblade according to cloud's file names.
First of all we need to put the number of textures that the whole model will use into the hierarchy (rtaa) file. We have two for cloud's head his eye and mouth (rtac, rtad), then the textures that the power blade uses: rtae - Handle.bmp, rtaf - Base.bmp, rtag - Blade.bmp, rtah - Materia.bmp. In total we have six so first set it to a battle model then go to Open Battle HRC... under the file menu. Open cloud's hierarchy (rtaa) file and set the number of battle textures to 6.
Then add the model groups in a logical order and then load all the texture files. After that you need to set the texture ID for each group.
Handle = 2 (the Handle starts at 2 because cloud's eyes and mouth are using Id's 0 and 1)
Base = 3
Blade = 4
Materia = 5
Select Texture File(s) under the Options menu so it writes all the texture files, then save the model over the buster sword (rtck). Rename the textures to the following:
Handle = rtae
Base = rtaf
Blade = rtag
Materia = rtah
Then just put all the changed files in the battle.lgp, make sure to put in rtaa because it was changed from having 2 textures to 6.
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Troubleshooting / Re: Skeleton not working properly
« on: 2006-09-18 16:46:00 »
Do you have cloud's animation file (rtda) in the same directory as the hierarchy and the rest of his model parts?
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Archive / Re: New Sword Model (And I need a little help)
« on: 2006-09-18 02:35:28 »Yeah, I'm using Pcreator to make the modelsSorry I was talking to Aaron for that first part...
and so you don't lose hope..
I had to fix some things manually but I should have my program fixed soon.
For your model that replaces cloud how many textures are used?
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Archive / Re: New Sword Model (And I need a little help)
« on: 2006-09-17 17:15:22 »Presently we do not have a way to get custom-made models into the game. All of the customizations/patches you see around here still only use models from the game.hey what about PCreator? It's not the best but it can certainly make custom .p files.
um yeah I think the problem has to do with the texture ID (if a models is textured and it cannot find the texture because the ID is wrong it will not render anything), however with battle models the ID pertains to the whole model not just the rsd file like with the field models.
With the way my programs has it now it limits the battle models to only a few textures since the texture index is absolute, and this will need to be fixed. I did most texture testing with field models (just because it's easier) so allow me to get reacquainted with the battle models. I'll get back to you about that as soon as I can fix it. In the meantime if you want I can put one of your swords in and you can use it as an example.
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FF7 Tools / Re: Beta PCreator v0.85
« on: 2006-09-06 16:37:04 »
Sorry 1,500 miles later and I'm finally back to a computer with Internet. 
Isn't "smoothing groups" just a way to manage the generation of vertex normals from face normals? So the vertices that belong to the same group share the same normal so the lighting changes smoothly between them. This way you can make an edge hard or soft if needed.
The field supports vertex normals however the battle doesn't support any normals at all, so either way a model shouldn't look to faceted..
PCreator does calculate its own vertex normals but it doesn't always do the best depending on the geometry. If needed I can put the normals in manually from the original file format.
If I recall correctly, FF7 does not have smoothing groups. Is this true? Would kind of suck importing a high poly model into FF7, just to find it is very blocky regardless.
Isn't "smoothing groups" just a way to manage the generation of vertex normals from face normals? So the vertices that belong to the same group share the same normal so the lighting changes smoothly between them. This way you can make an edge hard or soft if needed.
The field supports vertex normals however the battle doesn't support any normals at all, so either way a model shouldn't look to faceted..
PCreator does calculate its own vertex normals but it doesn't always do the best depending on the geometry. If needed I can put the normals in manually from the original file format.
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FF7 Tools / Re: Beta PCreator v0.85
« on: 2006-09-01 19:55:30 »The model is 15000 tris by the way.
The models I ported form TES4 were rather massive, like 20,000 - 30,000 polys. So I at least know that my program and FF7 can handle it. Yeah I'm not really sure how many textures each model can have either. What texture mapping method did you use? The texture files in FF7 only can have 256 colors so this also limits the quality of the texture but still is a lot better than using vertex colors.
Some pictures of the glass and daedric armor from TES4 are in this thread.
I have some free time right now so I wouldn't mind giving it a go if no one else wants to anyway.
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FF7 Tools / Re: Beta PCreator v0.85
« on: 2006-09-01 01:35:45 »Anyway how does this program work anyway? It seems you can port models in, but what are its limitations? Do you have to use the skeleton structure of the original mesh? Skin modifier isn't supported if I recall, I would need to chop up my Cloud model into different body parts, and then scale it to fit the bones?
Well the main "limitation" is FF7's animation format, all it can do is rotate each bone. So all the models that make up the skeleton need to be separate. Each bone can be any length and can usually have 4 models attached to it (really depending on the animation file I guess..) so that isn't a problem but still. For the field models you can make your own .hrc (hierarchy) and .rsd (resource data) files since they are just text anyway so they are not to difficult. However the battle formats are a bit different you would need a hex editor to change the length of the bones.
Here are some good documents written by mirex, alhexx and ficedula that help explain the FF7 file formats.
http://mirex.mypage.sk/index.php?selected=2
http://www.alhexx.com/documents/index.html
http://www.sylphds.net/f2k3/php/docs.php
BTW your AC Cloud model is quite good it would be great to see it in FF7!
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FF7 Tools / [FF7] Model creator/importer - PCreator (v0.85b) (missing)
« on: 2006-08-21 23:56:38 »
Beta PCreator v0.85b
Well here is a beta version, I spent the past couple weeks adding a few thing I thought were necessary...
PCreator is able to create 3d models for Final Fantasy® VII PC from 3d Studio (.3ds) files. PCreator supports both battle and field models, up to four separate meshes grouped as one file, and can be textured. Now it also can write the texture format used in FFVII (.tex) using 256 color bitmaps.
A few but useful 3d editing functions are included as well. It can scale, move and rotate (90°) each individual mesh or all groups at once.
I also quickly put together a website to help explain how PCreator works along with some simple tutorials like grouping and other concepts, anybody who wishes to write there own tutorial I will add it to the site.
PCreator is full of bugs and still needs a lot of work, please email or pm me with any bugs or suggestions that you may have.
Thanks and Enjoy, Reunion
Well here is a beta version, I spent the past couple weeks adding a few thing I thought were necessary...
PCreator is able to create 3d models for Final Fantasy® VII PC from 3d Studio (.3ds) files. PCreator supports both battle and field models, up to four separate meshes grouped as one file, and can be textured. Now it also can write the texture format used in FFVII (.tex) using 256 color bitmaps.
A few but useful 3d editing functions are included as well. It can scale, move and rotate (90°) each individual mesh or all groups at once.
I also quickly put together a website to help explain how PCreator works along with some simple tutorials like grouping and other concepts, anybody who wishes to write there own tutorial I will add it to the site.
PCreator is full of bugs and still needs a lot of work, please email or pm me with any bugs or suggestions that you may have.
Thanks and Enjoy, Reunion
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Archive / Re: And now wearing glass armor..
« on: 2006-07-27 21:27:00 »
The weapon models are all separate files and each group in each model can use a different texture, so its the same as any other model in the PC version. For example clouds model files are from rtam to rtbi then the weapon files come right after that, rtck to rtcz.
The battle file naming system seems to put a limit on the amount of textures you can use, they start at ??ac and then the models files start at ??am, so that gives you 10 textures ??ac to ??al. For the field I don't think there is a limit although I'm not really sure, either way 10 should be enough for anything.
As far as putting a texture on a weapon model it's just the same as any other model...
The battle file naming system seems to put a limit on the amount of textures you can use, they start at ??ac and then the models files start at ??am, so that gives you 10 textures ??ac to ??al. For the field I don't think there is a limit although I'm not really sure, either way 10 should be enough for anything.
As far as putting a texture on a weapon model it's just the same as any other model...
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Archive / Re: And now wearing glass armor..
« on: 2006-07-27 00:45:48 »
Yeah it does the files are generally the same after all.
Both the battle and the field script can change this value.. in battles think of summoning and other magics, for the field the times when
cloud goes crazy..
Both the battle and the field script can change this value.. in battles think of summoning and other magics, for the field the times when
cloud goes crazy..
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Archive / Re: And now wearing glass armor..
« on: 2006-07-27 00:13:50 »
In the material chunk(hundrets), offset 0x44 sets the level of opacity for each group.
0 - transparent
1 - Translucent 75%
2 - Translucent 50%
3 - Translucent 25%
4 - Opaque (default)
The sword is made of two groups the first being the handle is set to 4 so it is opaque, the second groups is the blade and it is set to 3.
I should also mention that the model is grouped as much as possible, it uses only 9 .p files including the sword. If it wasn't grouped it would use 21 .p files and that would be ugly... good thing for grouping!
0 - transparent
1 - Translucent 75%
2 - Translucent 50%
3 - Translucent 25%
4 - Opaque (default)
The sword is made of two groups the first being the handle is set to 4 so it is opaque, the second groups is the blade and it is set to 3.
I should also mention that the model is grouped as much as possible, it uses only 9 .p files including the sword. If it wasn't grouped it would use 21 .p files and that would be ugly... good thing for grouping!
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Archive / Re: And now wearing glass armor..
« on: 2006-07-26 19:53:57 »
hmm I wonder if this can inspire someone to make a editor for the field animations, with custom models we are really going to need one!
If not then try these...
Glass Armor 1
Glass Armor 2
btw: I should be able to release my program this weekend, just a few handling bugs and I should probably write a tutorial for it...
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Archive / Re: Cloud wearing Daedric armor
« on: 2006-07-17 01:47:22 »
sorry I'm rather busy with my summer job, I only have a few hours in the evening to work on it..
I'm almost done with the the group support, It can take 4 separate 3ds files and write them as one .p file all with separate textures (or the same..) Here's a picture, the helmet is one file the first two groups are the eyes so the blink like they should. There is some problem with lighting with more than group that's why the lighting is off in the picture.. but I'm sure its a simple fix.
Hey Reunion, if you are programming it under C++ you could use lib3ds. It will make all the job when dealng with 3ds files.Well its in vb but I rewrote it and it seems to be much better. It has not crashed yet but it doesn't load grouped 3ds files it just load the first group it finds.
I'm almost done with the the group support, It can take 4 separate 3ds files and write them as one .p file all with separate textures (or the same..) Here's a picture, the helmet is one file the first two groups are the eyes so the blink like they should. There is some problem with lighting with more than group that's why the lighting is off in the picture.. but I'm sure its a simple fix.
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Archive / Re: Cloud wearing Daedric armor
« on: 2006-07-08 16:19:11 »
Well I'm not really sure yet, I have a few thing I need to add first. The main thing I want to do is add support for groups because this allows you to combine two or more objects and you can still put a separate texture on each model. Also there are some rendering options that groups allow you do do such as transparency..
I am also having trouble with my 3ds loading code, if anybody has a good method it would take care of some major bugs anyway..
Thanks for your help
I am also having trouble with my 3ds loading code, if anybody has a good method it would take care of some major bugs anyway..
Thanks for your help
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Archive / Re: Cloud wearing Daedric armor
« on: 2006-07-05 23:17:57 »Quote from: ice_cold513
2 things
1 any lag
2 giving that ff7 is old do you think that the engine take more hi res models?
Well there is no lag on my computer anyway, I'm sure it would on some a much slower computer. The geometry of the model is the same as in Oblivion but the texture files had to be reduced to 256 color, plus ff7 does not use bump maps, normal maps and extremely glossy lighting. So the geometry can be as complex as it wants however the texture quality doesn't really get any better than what you see.
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Archive / Re: Cloud wearing Daedric armor
« on: 2006-07-04 23:18:05 »
Hey Borde thanks, Yes the models are fully textured using the UV cords form the TES4 files. The UV cords are placed directly below the vertices and normals in the .p file. The vertex and polygon chunks are simply colored white because they are not rendered since the models have textures applied to them.
If you want I can give you my .p file writing code, my prog does not edit .p files or the colors for that matter, so both would be useful.
If you want I can give you my .p file writing code, my prog does not edit .p files or the colors for that matter, so both would be useful.
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Archive / And now wearing glass armor..
« on: 2006-07-04 22:02:55 »
Hello everyone!
The past couple weeks I have been working with the .nif model format from TES4: Oblivion. I started to make a viewer program and got bored with that until I realized that they were textured by the amount of vertices, which means that they can be converted into .p models with their texture!
I am currently working on a project that converts 3d studio models into .p files for FF7. It is going well for how little I know about programming... Here's a picture of my prog viewing the Daedric Cuirass model. I have not really done anything with adding groups to each model groups yet but that shouldn't be to hard. As of now the prog can write .p files with or without lighting or a texture. It can also transform, scale, and rotate the model. However I am having a little trouble with the rotating functions it seems to eat the model while rotating...
I replaced cloud with the Daedric armor from TES4 just to see what it would look like. I am going to assume it's the largest model the FF7 engine has ever encountered with 25,545 vertices and 24,978 polygons! I had to bend a few things to get it to fit clouds skeleton so some textures are a little screwed up.
Anyway here are some pictures, I made him huge so you can see him better...
Daedric1
Daedric2
Daedric3
Daedric4
The past couple weeks I have been working with the .nif model format from TES4: Oblivion. I started to make a viewer program and got bored with that until I realized that they were textured by the amount of vertices, which means that they can be converted into .p models with their texture!
I am currently working on a project that converts 3d studio models into .p files for FF7. It is going well for how little I know about programming... Here's a picture of my prog viewing the Daedric Cuirass model. I have not really done anything with adding groups to each model groups yet but that shouldn't be to hard. As of now the prog can write .p files with or without lighting or a texture. It can also transform, scale, and rotate the model. However I am having a little trouble with the rotating functions it seems to eat the model while rotating...
I replaced cloud with the Daedric armor from TES4 just to see what it would look like. I am going to assume it's the largest model the FF7 engine has ever encountered with 25,545 vertices and 24,978 polygons! I had to bend a few things to get it to fit clouds skeleton so some textures are a little screwed up.
Anyway here are some pictures, I made him huge so you can see him better...
Daedric1
Daedric2
Daedric3
Daedric4
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Troubleshooting / New objects in the FF7 field
« on: 2005-11-08 19:36:24 »
I cannot... but a while ago I came close to it but I don't understand most of the script in section one so my efforts were fruitless.
The best I can do is tell section three to load an additional model.
Then all that would have to be done is to tell the script in the first section to display the model..
All I can do to the section one script is to rotate the models loaded by section three and change there location.
sorry but then I gave up...
All I am able to do is explain section 3 which I call the HRC Loader.
http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=4358
The best I can do is tell section three to load an additional model.
Then all that would have to be done is to tell the script in the first section to display the model..
All I can do to the section one script is to rotate the models loaded by section three and change there location.
sorry but then I gave up...
All I am able to do is explain section 3 which I call the HRC Loader.
http://forums.qhimm.com/viewtopic.php?t=4358