Custom graphics driver for FF7/FF8 [v.1-.7.6]

[twipley]

thanks for the quick and comprehensive replies to all of previous questions.

so, you've both told me that the fix for the minigames locks them at half of the refresh rate. but, some extra interrogations:
a) why not instead lock them at a fixed "30 fps," so that monitors of the future, potentially using another standard refresh rate (e.g. 70), would still make one able to play those minigames correctly? b) and furthermore, dziugo in his "minigames patch" HighwayAndSnowboardMinigamesFix.txt puts: snowboard_speed=40; highway_speed=30; rollercoaster_speed=25; battleswirl_speed=50; any idea as to why those are not all locked to the 30 fps you have chosen for all of those? has dziugo screwed up in mgp but not in yamp?

plus, as for the third question, alli has written that "the driver will only add black bars to preserve aspect if you turn on that option." any reason as to why black bars aren't added by default on widescreen monitors (or, systems using a 16:10 (or, more rarely, a 16:9) resolution as desktop default)?

thanks,
twipley

[Borde]

I'm not really sure about this, but I think a real cartoon filter cannot be implemented with a simple post-processing shader. I mean, usually cell-shaded graphics still retain all the detail of the texture, the only thing that's changed is the vertex color. Since post-processing filters only have acces to the final fragment color, there is no way you can tell what is texture and what is vertex color by then.
I guess you could embed this shader somehow on the main.vert and main.frag files, though.
It would also be helpful to see those images showing the real expected behavior of the shader.

By the way, great job Aali. I'm sure the new hi-resolution backgrounds support will make things bring us some great mods.

[Prince Lex]

Hey, here's a little video detailing what I mean.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6odte_ff7-cartoon-shader-epsxe-170_videogames

And another.

http://vodpod.com/watch/1876869-ff7epsxehigh-resoltution-ultimate-end

[Curlyoxide]

OK I'm updating from ff7_opengl-0.6.10b to ff7_opengl-0.7b driver and the 0.7 ff7_opengl.cfg is not working. Any options i set nothing changes. i set showfps = yes and nothing. use_shaders = yes nothing changes. the ff7_opengl.fgd is 298kb compared to 0.6.10b's ff7_opengl.fgd 3.30mb. It works fine when i revert back to 0.6.10b  Anyone having problems with the update? Am i a complete idiot and forgetting something? lol

[Terid__K]

I figured out why frame limiter wasn't working correctly for me (technically, it was). Even though I set my monitor to refresh at 60hz (I even used RefreshForce), it was refreshing at 75hz no matter what, thus making battle swirl and minigames to stay around 45fps.

I guess I'll never buy another Acer monitor again.

[seifertemp]

yeah aali, I have noticed that the credit screen isnt capped, runs at refresh rate rather than 30 fps (I think its supposed to be 30)

[Aali]

Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't do it, but how could I turn down the challenge?








It's far from playable, those are just the scenes where it looks almost right
Performance is truly atrocius, I get like 4 FPS in field, world map looks like crap and battle doesn't work at all.

[seifertemp]

It is a start 


Well done!

[Kudistos Megistos]

Aali, I love you!

Can't wait to see this working fully 

[obesebear]

Haha, what is this? Project number 5? 
Look, I'm as excited about this as the next guy, but be sure not to overwhelm yourself.

[Terid__K]

Yeah, I know I said I wouldn't do it, but how could I turn down the challenge?

I'm so glad I brought that up then. I think I love you.

On a more serious note, I'm not going to get my hopes up, but I apprectiate the effort. FF8 really needs something like this.

[Satoh]

Aali, your driver for FF8 has less compatibility issues than mine normal install does, so don't fret.

I can't even play mine with the normal drivers, I have to swap drivers right before each cutscene because they don't like NPC animation or something like that...

When it was just 7 I was only minorly interested... but now you've caught my attention... (BTW there's no chance on getting a model or texture grab feature in that is there XD?)

[Makubex (Mendelevium)]

Aali... I think i love you!


If this gets finished..

hahah
I am giddy just seeing it.
xD

[BlitzNCS]

Hell yeah!
Epic as always, Aali. perhaps this will fix the rendering problems as described here?

[Makubex (Mendelevium)]

If it does that... I think all my mod ideas are going to be a reality
... and that makes me happy.... just knowing FF8 will become a better game for everyone..
xD

hahah
(feels cheesey for saying that)

[Satoh]

Hell yeah!
Epic as always, Aali. perhaps this will fix the rendering problems as described here?

I see what's happening in that tread, the PC FF8 seems to be failing to load the hirez textures on the worldmap.

The world map uses 2 sets of textures, low and high, for long distance and short distance rendering. You can see it easily in a PSP port of PSX FF8, as soon as you enter the world map the low rez textures are preloaded, and a split second later they're updated to the hirez. I think that process is failing on the PC version.

Hope that helps.

[Jamers]

Yay, more modding love for FF8! 

[Covarr]

Wow, now I'm really excited. I just downloaded FF8 and--

J/K, I own the PC and PSX versions legit. It'll be fun to play in high res if you ever finish this driver.

[drfeelgud88]

i just recently bought ff8 (thanx ebay  ) and wow, i cant w8 for this to get finished (assuming it will) so i can test it!

[Aali]

If I can get it to skip movies it'll be ready for a first release.

[Makubex (Mendelevium)]

Just Curious..
what is wrong with the FMVs?

[drfeelgud88]

If I can get it to skip movies it'll be ready for a first release.

skip? how come?

[Aali]

As always, the movie player is tied into DirectX and doesn't use the driver.
Add to that the fact that they're using their own archive format and the BINK library and it will be a while before I can play them properly.

[yoshi314]

As always, the movie player is tied into DirectX and doesn't use the driver.
Add to that the fact that they're using their own archive format and the BINK library and it will be a while before I can play them properly.

also, remember that sometimes fmv serves as a background for some game scenes (train mission, battle at garden).

i doubt the gfx driver can order the video player dll around.

most likely the game always starts bink player dll with movie skipping disabled, with no distinction whether it's just a fmv or fmv + realtime graphics.

[RepeolRR]

I'm having trouble running FF7. I've installed the 1.02 patch, and then the new graphics driver. It loads to a black screen with sound and then stops. I am running a laptop with Vista 64 SP1, an Intel T9400, and a GeForce 9700 GT. I also applied the PRP patch and it still continues to do the same thing. I realize there are issues with the True Motion codec, but I thought that those were irrelevant once the new graphics driver was installed. Any suggestions?