Are these possible to do in FF7 PC?

[sicatrix]

Is it possible to make Vincent's transformations manually controlled?

And...



^
Is it possible to replace the name letter fonts in the battle interface with picture fonts or it's shared so bad idea or just plain can't be done?

[halkun]

Maybe if you ate some special characters and replaced them with blocks of graphics, yes. But the name selection screen would be... interesting.

[sicatrix]

So it can be done and the only draw back is screwing up the name selection screen?

[nikfrozty]

So it can be done and the only draw back is screwing up the name selection screen?

I think you can do that but you'll have to replace something in the battle screen. So if you put that it is in the place of the name part so you'll have to remove the name and add that picture. Although I am not sure. Very interesting idea indeed.

[sicatrix]

Well like what Halkun said and  something I learned customizing with Mugen.

Those letters/symbols are basically just graphics as well (the letter "C" shown is a picture of the letter "C" )
So all it takes is to replace that with a character portrait since the battle screen itself will align it to the location where the character name goes in the battle interface.  Anyone correct me if I'm wrong here.

That image I made had the eye portraits placed at the exact location of the names and have the same height, but I took a guess with the width though. So if it works it might look like that.

[nfitc1]

Well like what Halkun said and  something I learned customizing with Mugen.

Those letters/symbols are basically just graphics as well (the letter "C" shown is a picture of the letter "C" )
So all it takes is to replace that with a character portrait since the battle screen itself will align it to the location where the character name goes in the battle interface.  Anyone correct me if I'm wrong here.

That image I made had the eye portraits placed at the exact location of the names and have the same height, but I took a guess with the width though. So if it works it might look like that.

Two problems with that.

#1, you can't guarantee that the player will keep the original names. Replacing characters in the spots for those letters with images could be....odd

#2 Every time the game wanted the letter "C", we'd be treated to Cloud's eyes.

You have the right idea though. Replace some characters that aren't used (like the ones with accents above them) and re-write the menu to look at those "letters" instead of the characters' names. That might make it work right. The graphical size of the "letters" has a limit, though. I don't know what it is.

[sicatrix]

I just did a test and it works. Field text is safe because the battle ones use a different png file.

Huge ass problems though....

1.) A certain combination of symbols are required to form a complete portrait. So you have to name a character something like this "&^@#%".

2.) Tifa

            Have you forgotten your promise, &^@#%?

^
Biggest problem I encountered.Blehhh...

[sl1982]

You might want to see if you can use some of the unused symbols on the text sheets.

[sicatrix]

I just remembered that Cloud's name during the start of the game is "Ex-Soldier" before you can actually name him. 

re-write the menu to look at those "letters" instead of the characters' names.

So it's possible to show a different name during battle? What tools would I need to do this?

[sl1982]

I believe it is possible to change the default characters names in the exe somewhere. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge on the subject will chime in.

[Kudistos Megistos]

How many unused characters are there? Assuming we're taking about each letter in a character's name being changed to a bit of an image, you'd need 53 unused characters (62 if Sephiroth is included).

Also, assuming you got this to work, would it be possible to edit the .png for the field screen so that the unused characters that get used for these graphics would produce letters? I don't know anything about how the fonts work in FF7, so I'm making assumptions here...

I believe it is possible to change the default characters names in the exe somewhere. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge on the subject will chime in.

Wall Market is what's needed. The default names are in the kernel.bin

[sl1982]

Actually i do believe that there may be enough characters available. The game has a lot of weird symbols and characters with accents on them that shouldnt ever be used in the english version of the game.

[nfitc1]

Not for the PC. Initial name is stored directly in the executable.

I mean really re-write the menu code to look at a specific character combination to display instead of the name.

[Kudistos Megistos]

Wall Market is what's needed. The default names are in the kernel.bin

Not for the PC. Initial name is stored directly in the executable.

Really? But I just changed Cloud's initial name from Ex-SOLDIER to Cloud and then back again

Or is this a peculiarity of Cloud's name, since Ex-SOLDIER is used before we choose his name by the name select screen? I also see names at 0x5206B8 in the .exe, which must be what you're talking about...

God it's been a long time since I did this; I've forgotten everything

[nfitc1]

Wall Market is what's needed. The default names are in the kernel.bin

Not for the PC. Initial name is stored directly in the executable.

Really? But I just changed Cloud's initial name from Ex-SOLDIER to Cloud and then back again

Or is this a peculiarity of Cloud's name, since Ex-SOLDIER is used before we choose his name by the name select screen? I also see names at 0x5206B8 in the .exe, which must be what you're talking about...

God it's been a long time since I did this; I've forgotten everything

Whoops. You're right. It's not the initial names that are in the executable, it's the initial name selection screen name that is. Cloud's initial name is "Ex-Soldier", but there's a spot in the executable that the name selection screen looks at to get the initial name for choosing. Same thing with Aeris. Her initial name is labeled as "Aerith". If the game tried to reference her name before you name her that's what it would display. However, when the select name screen appears, "Aeris" is used. That string is in the executable.

Basically, "Initial Name" means very little in the PC version. I think the PSX version does something similar since Aeris is named "Aerith" in the KERNEL.BIN, but her name starts out as "Aeris" when you're allowed to choose a name.

[Kudistos Megistos]

Ah, now everything makes sense. It also explains why Aeris seems to get called Aerith when I've been messing around with save editing and the debug room.

However, I presume that the names in the .exe are still what he would have to change, in addition to Cloud and Sephiroth's initial names, right? If so, that will be a pain given the weird text system in FF7 that makes "Cloud" into "#LOUDÿ".

[nfitc1]

Ah, now everything makes sense. It also explains why Aeris seems to get called Aerith when I've been messing around with save editing and the debug room.

However, I presume that the names in the .exe are still what he would have to change, in addition to Cloud and Sephiroth's initial names, right? If so, that will be a pain given the weird text system in FF7 that makes "Cloud" into "#LOUDÿ".

That's correct.

[sicatrix]

Ah, now everything makes sense. It also explains why Aeris seems to get called Aerith when I've been messing around with save editing and the debug room.

However, I presume that the names in the .exe are still what he would have to change, in addition to Cloud and Sephiroth's initial names, right? If so, that will be a pain given the weird text system in FF7 that makes "Cloud" into "#LOUDÿ".

That's correct.

Dang...but it is possible, yes? What tools would I need to operate on the .exe?