[WIP/FF8]FF8 field backgrounds enhancement

[Shunsq]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this forum, my name is Shunsq. I'm working on FF8 backgrounds for several monthes. As i started doing HD renders of FF8, i wanted to integrate them into the game. It is not a easy trick but thanks to some great tools like Translhextion, Deling, mimsAll,Pupu,Unmass or FF8 archiver, and also many hours of reflexion and "programming" i've succeeded in doing what i wanted.

My program is a excel sheet that ease creation of field .MAP and converts 3-bytes palettes to 2-bytes palettes. I use GIMP to generate 3-bytes palettes from each background layers. In a hexeditor i combine all the palettes and export the hexdump to my program.The converted 2-bytes palette, after text treatment, is then pasted into the field .MIM file. The entire process is a bit long to explain so i will do it on several posts. The bghoke_1 background i show below is 544x416 pixels, whereas the original was 320x240 pixels. I did the animations for the curtain(10 frames) and the door(5 frames). There is 4 layers, each one matching  "caracteristic" planes ( 1 for the foreground behind Kadowaki, 1 for the middle plane in front of Kadowaki, 1 for the right wall masking the character when he exits the field, and 1 for the background). Within the excel sheet i can see if i use all the space available on the .MIM file. So the resolution of 544x416 is the maximum i can do on THIS background. If i hadn't any layers, nor animations the maximum multiple of 320x240 would be 752x564.

BGHOKE_1


Here is the link to download the bghoke_1 archive:
bghoke_1

To use it you need the Deling program:http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=13050.0
1-FIRST OF ALL, copy the field .fi/.fl/.fs that you have in your game folder and put it in a new folder . It is REALLY IMPORTANT if you want to go back to the original state.
2-Decompress the ZIP
3-Open field.fs( the one located in your game installation folder, NOT the back up copy) with Deling. Clic on the import/export section, located at the top right corner.Then go to fre/field/mapdata/bg. There you have the list of fi/fl/fs archives for each field file.
4-Scroll down to the 3 archives (fi/fl/fs) concerning bghoke_1. Select them then clic on the "replace" button located in the upper toolbar. Search for the new bghoke_1 archives you've just downloaded. Once it's done, go back to the field viewer and search for bghoke_1. Normally you will see the thumbnail and all the top right sections are filled ( Texts, Scripts,3D models,Walkmesh, and so on....).

Now you can restart your game to test the Infirmary level. To test it quickly use Hyne save editor and select the bghoke_1 level.

[EQ2Alyza]

Interesting. I'll be keeping my eyes on this one. Your preview image isn't displaying for me.

[Shard]

Very impressive. I can't wait to see more!

[LeonhartGR]

Amazing! Looking forward to see more!!!

[Shunsq]

Thank you for your excitement!
I updated my first message with a link to download the bghoke_1 modded archives. You need whether Deling or FF8 archive commander to replace it in the game. You can use Hyne save editor to get directly to the infirmary level.

[Shunsq]

BGROAD_4
Here is the bgroad_4 field. The original was 640x224, the new one is 928x320.
As for the bghoke_1, here are the archives: bgroad_4

[KaidenJames]

Man, that looks great! Awesome job!

[Mcindus]

I love this.  Great job!

[Kaldarasha]

Just wanted to update you all on my current progress. I've been able to resize a field file to 4x and get it working in-game. All of the animations and lighting effects seem to work. I've been working rather feverishly on this, more than I should readily admit.

My previous hash algorithm caused a lot of lag every time a texture was loaded since it was searching the entire hash. The new hash technique I'm working on should produce much more reliable hashing that is hundreds of times faster (17 iterations to find the texture vs 6256 iterations per texture). This represents the difference between an algorithm that searches linearly through a large data set and one that searches with a binary search algorithm. It should eliminate that lag altogether.

This method should work on all field backgrounds once I get polished, but also has the ability to work for all other texture-like files in the game including character/monster sprites, battle scenes, cards, menus, etc. In order to get it to work for those other texture types, I need to have directories full of those images extracted from the game files. I can see that mystfyre's deling works to view most of those files, but extracting the textures from them is something I haven't tried. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Stay tuned for a release within the next couple of weeks! (this will not include a resize pack, that is the next project)

[Shunsq]

Thank you Kaldarasha, it is great that Omzy succeded in resizing the fields. Actually my new backgrounds are limited in size due to the .MIM maximum size of 1664x256 pixels. If i could only change either the height or the width i could do HD backgrounds. The trick is to optimize this available space to upscale the background.
I look forward to seeing Omzy's progress on the matter!