FFV7 tweak. To replace in-game model with battle model?

[McBAIN]

Hiya. I'm new to this forum, so don't flame me if i talk/ask about something that has been discussed a hundred times. thanks.

Anyways, i've been bugged by this idea from quite some time. The battle models are "hq", but the in-game (where you walk around with in the world) models are so ugly. If you could just..... somehow edit the battle models into the in-game models, you'd have FF8-like graphics. (decent characters in-game)

There'd be only "hq" models for the main characters ofcourse, (and some others, shinra soldiers, te bosses that you see ingame, such as the sea monster from junion) and all the other world-characters would still look butt-ugly. Still, the characters which you see the most will be much more detailed than those 10 polygon figures.

Ofcourse, once we editted the models, we can burn it as an iso and play the game.

I've looked around and googled some, but can't find a good psx model edittor. I don't have the PC version for FF7 so i can't play around with ficedula's tools either.


I've taken a look at this forum, but i can't seem to find any topic regarding this matter. Would it be possible? Have other people talked/discussed about this? Has it already been done? If so, probably only for the PC version since it looks easier to manipulate?

Answers will be greatly appreciated.

Greetz, McBAIN

[Almighty_gir]

i think it would be possible to change the world map models, ie. edit them, but im fairly sure that you couldnt use the battle models, not only are they a different scale, but have different skeletons and animations...so i guess you could try, just be ready for a lot of hard work.

[Srethron Askvelhtnod]

I've looked around and googled some, but can't find a good psx model edittor.

AFAIK, that's because there aren't any. =/

I've taken a look at this forum, but i can't seem to find any topic regarding this matter. Would it be possible? Have other people talked/discussed about this? Has it already been done? If so, probably only for the PC version since it looks easier to manipulate?

Most anything of this nature is theoretically possible. It doesn't mean it's worth doing or will happen, though. If you were going to do it, a PC mod would be much easier since there are already crude editors/means of converting. Still, you're looking at an insane amount of work.

You're also looking at problems of proportion... The field locations are all scaled to fit the little hobbit-sized super deformed characters. If you somehow stick in the more accurately proportioned battle models, they're going to look like giants (sort of like Gandalf in Bag End.) There's ways around that, of course, but all of it just adds up to being too much work.

[Alhexx]

Well, I don't see any problems. Since Ultima is now able to build a .p file from scratch, you could import the model, scale it and export it. You would simply have to change all the .p files and textures, but you could leave the skeletons and animations as they are...
I'll give it a try!

 - Alhexx

[Srethron Askvelhtnod]

Well, good luck. I'm certainly not going to stand in the way of anyone who wants to try. =D

[EmperorSteele]

I think the biggest problems would be redefining/remaping the animations ans skeletons.

By deafault, the "Chibis" are posed standing normal, with their hands by their sides.  I -think- the battle models are posed in their battle positions by default.  And also, they have very few, if any, common animations.

Your BEST be would be to edit the chibi models themselves instead of doing a full replacement.  At least, in my only semi-educated opinion.

[Alhexx]

Well, the skeletons and animations are stored in single files. I'm simply thinking of replacing the model file itself, leaving the original field skeletons and animations.

Bad news: I'm going back to the army for two weeks now, so there will be results in two weeks. I hope you don't mind that I'll "resurrect" this topic then.

 - Alhexx

[McBAIN]

Well, i just managed to get a PC version, and i'm about to start looking for ways to edit it.

Like it's been said before, i hope that i will only have to re-assign the skeletons, or convert them in any way. If they use skeletons, then all i would have to do is replace the model, and scale it down. If there are 2 different models (chibi and battle) then i can most certainly make a short (chibi/world) one, and leave the battle one.

I'll post any progress once i get to know more!

[Almighty_gir]

wrong, if you just replace the modeland scale it down ( not possible cos the battle models are all posed in battle poses, and therefor would need re-positioning), but you would also need to re-skin the skeleton and weight the verticies again. timely....