File splitting

[Lord_Skylark]

Like wiht FF8, FF9, Xenogears, etc for PS...and then if you make an image of a DVD PS2 game....the files aren't compressed, they are just all connected into one big file. Is there some sort of program that can go through a big file like that an split it up into all of the smaller files? I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to do, would it? Just search for each file's header and size and seperate it from the main file?

Just curious is anyone's done this or not.

Thanks,
~Sky

[Qhimm]

The problem is not the splitting; it is to find the file header data, which is usually stored differently for each game.

[DeadLajik]

This answer to this question and the post about the Final Fantasy 11 model viewer are in the file format.  To split up a file you really do need to know how the smaller files are layed out within the bigger file.  Usually the header will tell you how long the file is so you can extract the right amount of data and put it into a smaller file.  

The problem is that it is not a simple task to find the header and even when you do manage to find and decode it you have an even harder task of decoding the smaller files since they often use customized data formats (ie, they aren't your standard documented GIF/3DS/MP3/etc file).

Writing a tool to extract the contents of the large file and output it into small files is very simple with the proper information, but without the knowledge of how these files are layed out it can be a difficult task.

[Cyberman]

The problem is not the splitting; it is to find the file header data, which is usually stored differently for each game.

Ineed.. although this reminds me Qhimm have you deciphered the last section of the data in the FF8 models? I the skeleton data is unhelpful but at least it's decipherable! I can't make heads or tails of what you entitled 'vertex' groups et al.

Why do I ask? I have it such that I can scan an FF8 PSX disc and extract some of the model information that's all  Mostly textures vertices and the polygon information (which turned out to be easier than I thought .

Anyhow I have a program that can extract the model data or most of it, I just can't figure out the size of the blob of data at the end of the file darn it (format would be handy but I am looking at skeleton model information on the net to understand FF7's mess err format ).

Cyb

[Qhimm]

Well the skeleton data and the vertex group data are fairly straight-forward. Vertices are arranged into groups, and those groups are "connected" to skeletal nodes. Problem is that unless you know how the skeleton fits together (the angles between bones), the skeletal data is useless too (it only contains the length of the bones).

In a neighboring thread though I saw a FF8 battle model viewer. The format is very different from the normal models, but maybe I can use some of the info to figure out how the animation data is stored more precisely. (I can currently extract all the frame-by-frame data, but I still don't know how the data is to be interpreted)

[Cyberman]

Well the skeleton data and the vertex group data are fairly straight-forward. Vertices are arranged into groups, and those groups are "connected" to skeletal nodes. Problem is that unless you know how the skeleton fits together (the angles between bones), the skeletal data is useless too (it only contains the length of the bones).

In a neighboring thread though I saw a FF8 battle model viewer. The format is very different from the normal models, but maybe I can use some of the info to figure out how the animation data is stored more precisely. (I can currently extract all the frame-by-frame data, but I still don't know how the data is to be interpreted)

OK.. symantics
Those are the vertex groups (doh?).
And yes I concur I can't find any information in FF7 or FF8 on bone length or angle however that program is written in BCB (5 it looks like) I wonder if I could bother the author some hmmms

On the side I've discoved the battle model locations on the FF8 disc and I'm going to compare that data with the data included with the model viewer you mentioned.. I suspect they are identical.  Somehow that person was able to get the bones vertices group information etc. Hmmm

Cyb - a piece of the de puzzle at a time

[DeadLajik]

I only own the PSX verson of Final Fantasy 8, but could you post information on the location of this data (offsets, etc?)

I know the data is all stored in a single file like FF8DISC2.IMG or something similar (don't have the CD in the drive right now) but it would be interesting to look at it myself.

[Cyberman]

I only own the PSX verson of Final Fantasy 8, but could you post information on the location of this data (offsets, etc?)

I know the data is all stored in a single file like FF8DISC2.IMG or something similar (don't have the CD in the drive right now) but it would be interesting to look at it myself.

How about I give you a few hints how to find them.
[list=1]

• All models have TIM files for the textures, in general these are 128x128 8BPP textures some have 2 textures like that.
• ALL files in FF8 are aligned to 2K locations.
[/list:o]
So if you find a TIM file that is not aligned to it and looks like a texture, it's part of a model file. Just look for the 2K alignment position and that's the begining of the model. That simple believe it or not.

Cyb