Working with battle.lgp

[Mirenheart]

Okay, I want to extract the battle model data on the MP (the first bad guy in the game), so I can try to work with him, but I don't know what program would be proper to extract it with, nor what file it is. one list I found says it's aq, but there's more letters than that! Also, how do i open the file with programs like PCreator?

Thankyee

[The Seer of Shadows]

This doesn't go in Tech Support, I don't think.  But anyway...

battle.lgp is where all the battle models are.  It can be extracted with several different programs.  Highwind is the one I've always used, but there are others.  This page has the complete list.

(Apparently, Aali's LGP/UnLGP program is all the rage at the moment, but the download link isn't working for me...)

Also, I believe you've encountered this before.  The two letters you see in the list correspond to the first two letters of the file.  In other words, every file in the battle.lgp that has "aq" as its first two letters belongs to the MP.  For example...


"aqaa" is the Skeleton File, which includes all the "bones" of the model as well where the different parts are attached.

I'm not too clear on what "aqab" is... I think it has to do with animations.

Any files between "aqac" and "aqal" are Texture Files (although the MP probably doesn't have any).

All files between "aqam" and "aqcz" are Part Files - each file is an individual part of the MP.  For example, "aqam" is its chest, "aqan" is its head, etc.

"aqda" is the Animation File, which dictates how the bones are arranged when the MP is doing different things.


The number one tool for editing most of these things is Kimera.  The file you should open if you want to edit the MP is "aqaa" - opening that allows you to view the entire model and his animations.

I don't know much about PCreator, however, so sorry...

[nikfrozty]

I've seen a thread before that shows how to work with pcreator. I think it was a written tutorial done by squeeble. Search for it and hope you find it. Good luck.

[Mirenheart]

Alright, I got Kimera. And i extracted all the aq files into a floder for easy access. But I need to know, how do I add new textures? I tried adding a random picture just for the heck of it, and nothing. Is there a video tutorial of how to use it possible?

I can probably do some texturing later on, I just need to know how to add the texture to the model.

[The Seer of Shadows]

To get a texture to work, you will have to convert it to a .tex file and rename it to anything between "aqac" and "aqal".

After that, open "aqaa" in Kimera, double-click the part of the MP you want to add the texture to, and a new window will come up viewing just the part you have selected on its own.  There are several things you can do in that window - adding textures (or "groups") is one of them.

Textures only show up clearly if they are added to a model (or a part of a model) that is completely white.  How to add a texture only to a specific part of a model, I do not know.  I know nothing about textures themselves as I've only worked with them once before and failed miserably

[Mirenheart]

Alright, I'm trying to convert some files to .tex with biturn, but absolutely nothing will convert. Not a single picture on the entire computer will convert. Is there maybe a better or more user friendly program that I can try? Or maybe a way to make it quit saying that everything is unsupported?

[sl1982]

Bitturn will not convert back into a format that FF7 will use. Try Img2tex.

[nfitc1]

Got to this before it went necro.

Anyone know the format of the aa files? I don't understand the structure.

[obesebear]

Mirex documented it somewhere... as did Alhexx I think.   Mirex has it hosted on his site too I think.

[nfitc1]

Thanks. That helped. The DA stuff is on the wiki at least.