The difference between FF7 PSX & FF7PC file systems

[The SaiNt]

With some free time, I decided to take out my FF7 PSX CD's to have a look.

This was what I've collected so far.

code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FF7 PSX Directories      |FF7 PC Directories (equivalents)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
BATTLE            |BATTLE
ENEMY1            |BATTLE
ENEMY2            |BATTLE
ENEMY3            |BATTLE
ENEMY4            |BATTLE
ENEMY5            |BATTLE
ENEMY6            |BATTLE
FIELD            |FIELD
INIT            |KERNEL
MAGIC            |BATTLE
MENU            |MENU
MINI            |MINIGAME
MINT            |CD
MOVIE            |MOVIE (if you copy your video's here)
SOUND            |SOUND
STAGE1            |BATTLE
STAGE2            |BATTLE
WORLD            |WM
STARTUP            |FF7 Root Directory

[/quote]
Here are the contents for the directories:-

BATTLE Directory

code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name      |File Size(in K)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
BATINI.X   |5.56
BATRES.X   |3.52
BATTLE.X   |127
BROM.X      |1.11
CO.BIN      |5.56
SCENE.BIN   |264
TITLE.BIN   |12.5

[/quote]
Notice how the CO.BIN & SCENE.BIN appear in the BATTLE directory of FF7 PC too?
Just in case your wondering, the files are exactly the same size as the PC one's too
Boy are those people who ported FF7 lazy!

***********************************************************************

ENEMY1 Directory

code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Name      |File Size(in K)   |Uncompressed Size
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENEMY000.LZS   |515 bytes      |???
ENEMY001.LZS   |515 bytes      |You're welcome to help me fill
ENEMY002.LZS   |515 bytes      |in this section if you want
ENEMY003.LZS   |515 bytes      |(hint)
ENEMY004.LZS   |515 bytes      |
ENEMY005.LZS   |515 bytes      |
ENEMY006.LZS   |515 bytes       |
ENEMY007.LZS   |515 bytes      |
ENEMY008.LZS   |515 bytes      |
ENEMY009.LZS   |515 bytes      |
ENEMY010.LZS   |72.4         |
ENEMY011.LZS   |97.6         |
ENEMY012.LZS   |4.5         |
ENEMY013.LZS   |49.4         |
ENEMY014.LZS   |26.4         |
ENEMY015.LZS   |18.8         |
ENEMY016.LZS   |22.4         |
ENEMY017.LZS   |19.9         |
ENEMY018.LZS   |11.1         |
ENEMY019.LZS   |25.9         |
ENEMY020.LZS   |7.19         |
ENEMY021.LZS   |29.2         |
ENEMY022.LZS   |62.2         |
ENEMY023.LZS   |15.9         |
ENEMY024.LZS   |5.15         |
ENEMY025.LZS   |18.3         |
ENEMY026.LZS   |9.29         |
ENEMY027.LZS   |10.1         |
ENEMY028.LZS   |13.9         |
ENEMY029.LZS   |12.4         |
ENEMY030.LZS   |27.5         |
ENEMY031.LZS   |19.5         |
ENEMY032.LZS   |6.26         |
ENEMY033.LZS   |58.1         |
ENEMY034.LZS   |28         |
ENEMY035.LZS   |16.4         |
ENEMY036.LZS   |16.4         |
ENEMY037.LZS   |66.8         |
ENEMY038.LZS   |21.9         |
ENEMY039.LZS   |14.4         |
ENEMY040.LZS   |26.9         |
ENEMY041.LZS   |16.5         |   
ENEMY042.LZS   |11.9         |
ENEMY043.LZS   |18.3         |
ENEMY044.LZS   |4.89         |
ENEMY045.LZS   |36.9         |
ENEMY046.LZS   |18.3         |
ENEMY047.LZS   |17.9         |
ENEMY048.LZS   |25.5         |
ENEMY049.LZS   |515 bytes      |
ENEMY050.LZS   |30.4         |
ENEMY051.LZS   |7.12         |
ENEMY052.LZS   |8         |
ENEMY053.LZS   |18         |
ENEMY054.LZS   |848 bytes      |
ENEMY055.LZS   |15.5         |
ENEMY056.LZS   |19.9         |
ENEMY057.LZS   |16.3         |
ENEMY058.LZS   |19.8         |
ENEMY059.LZS   |14.9         |

[/quote]
The same goes on for every ENEMY Directory : ENEMY2, ENEMY2, etc
The files ENEMY0NN.LZS go up to ENEMY369.LZS
You're welcome to help me fill in this section if you want (hint)
The only exception is ENEMY6
which has a few special files which I will list down:-

ENEMY6 Directory
----------------
Name      
----------------
BARRETT.LZS   
BARRETT2.LZS
BARRETT3.LZS
BARRETT4.LZS
CHAOS.LZS
CID.LZS
CLOUD.LZS
DEATHGIG.LZS
EARITH.LZS
GALL.LZS
HELLMASK.LZS
HICLOUD.LZS
KETCY.LZS
RED13.LZS
SEFIROS.LZS
TIFA.LZS
VINCENT.LZS
VINCENT2.LZS
VINCENT3.LZS
YUFI.LZS
SEFIROS.LZS
SEFFECT.LZS
OVER2.AU
FAN2.AU

My guess here is that all the ENEMY files are in BATTLE.LGP and are grouped in the same order as the enemy files.
The only exception is SEFFECT.LZS which seems to be the equivalent of SEFFECT1.TEX, SEFFECT2.TEX & SEFFECT3.TEX in the BATTLE directory of the PC version.

***********************************************************************
FIELD Directory

Here there are all the files that exist in FLEVEL.LGP for the PC version.
The only difference is that they exist in 3 seperate files .BSX .DAT & .MIM
BTW, Winzip can open the .MIM files. In the .MIM compressed files, you will find a file called 0001.txt
Open the text and you will get lots of unreadable stuff(not text!)

There are some exception's here of files not included in FLEVEL.LGP on the PC version(at least I don't remember)

Name
4SBWY_1
4SBWY_2
4SBWY_22
4SBWY_3
4SBWY_4
4SBWY_5
4SBWY_6
5MIN1_1
5MIN1_2
5TOWER
7MIN1

These files come in the same order of .BSX .DAT & .MIM too

Just a side note for those who don't know
the files that start with Z like ZZ3
are secret areas.

***********************************************************************
INIT Directory

This directory seems to be the equivalent of the KERNEL directory for the PC version

It only has 3 files:-
KERNEL.BIN
WINDOW.BIN
YAMADA.BIN

All 3 of the files with the exception of YAMADA.BIN are of the same size as the PC versions.
For those of you who are curious, YAMADA.BIN is not the same as KERNEL2.BIN and I have no idea what the PC version has that can equal this.

***********************************************************************
MAGIC Directory

This directory seems to be the equivalent of MAGIC.LGP in the BATTLE Directory.

There are a few LZS files in here to:-
VAHA0_1.LZS
VAHA0_2.LZS
VAHA0_3.LZS
VAHA0_4.LZS
VAHA0_5.LZS
VAHA2_1.LZS
VAHA2_2.LZS
TIFATIFA.LZS
ALEX1.LZS
KNIGHT1.LZS up to KNIGHT9.LZS
KUJATA1.LZS
LASSBOSS.LZS
ODIN1.LZS
TUPON1.LZS
VAHAMUT1.LZS

Notice how the PSX files are names in such an easy way to recognise?

***********************************************************************
MENU Directory

All the files here are exactly the same as the files in the PC files in the MENU_US.LGP file in the MENU directory for PC.
The only exceptions are several .MNU files here which obviously are menu files.

I believe the .MNU files have been integrated into kernel2.bin and the FF7.EXE file for PC

***********************************************************************
MINI Directory

All files here are organized nicely in the PC version in proper LGP files as seperate minigames

***********************************************************************
MINT Directory

I believe this is the equivalent to the PC version's  CD Directory
Only 2 files here:-
diskinfo.cnf
movie_id.bin

***********************************************************************
MOVIE Directory

Self-explanatory

***********************************************************************
SOUND Directory

Same as PC. Only difference is the PC compressed everything into AUDIO.FMT

***********************************************************************
STAGE1 & STAGE2 Directories

This directories contain Stage00.LZS up to Stage89.LZS
They also contain the files CAMDAT0.LZS , CAMDAT1.LZS & CAMDAT2.BIN

So, my guess here is again that the PC version has all these files in BATTLE directory with STAGENN.LZS kept in the BATTLE.LGP file.
The extra STAGE file in battle directory for the PC version could either be a last minute addition or a file they forgot to remove.
Upon decompression, CAMDATX.LZS is a direct duplicate of the PC version or vice-versa.

***********************************************************************
STARTUP Directory

This is the directory for the PSX CD to boot.
Nothing to do with FF7

***********************************************************************
WORLD Directory

Equal to the WM directory on the PC.
It contains all the files the PC.
It has extra files though
FIELD.TBL
WORLD.BIN
a number of .EV files
a number of .BSZ files
a number of .TXZ files

Mind me if this guide gets worse and worse on the way but I am terribly sleepy now. I just lost one hour of sleep doing this.
Sleeeeep.
I need to sleep now.
See you guys tomorrow.

[The Skillster]

VERY comprihensive guide to ff7PSX.
could someone decompress those *.lzs and find out if the contents look simliar to those in the battle.lgp

[tulkk]

I've checked the .LZS files months ago... they contain the battle models and enemys in .DEC files there are also unlicenced japanese viewers for the models (only the battle ones) but they can handle textures and everything...

But i can't seem to export or view the field characters with textures.. infact the only way i can view 'em at all is with fice's LGP viewer...

[halkun]

I have a lzs decompressor, but it's only half built. Takes an LZS file as input and spits out output in the form of text unsigned char numbers (128,246,23,2,34,200)

It's
 http://www.execpc.com/~halkun/unlzs.zip" TARGET=_blank>here

-halkun

[halkun]

quoted:
---------------------
Notice how the CO.BIN & SCENE.BIN appear in
the BATTLE directory of FF7 PC too?
Just in case your wondering, the files are
exactly the same size as the PC one's too
Boy are those people who ported FF7 lazy!
----------------------

They are the same file. I've actully replaced it and it still worked.

keep in mind that some minot tweaks had to be done in the PC version in order to do the higher rez. Also the TIZ formats are LZx compressed tims. I would relly like to get a decompressor for that file format....I suck at compresion.

-halkun

[tulkk]

Yo... there is a Lzs decompresser... ficedula made one   it's pretty neat   dl it from his homepage...

[halkun]

addundum to the addundum:

The .ev files in the world dir stands for elevation. The world map is made up of a huge triangle matrix with all the points evenly spased apart. The only varible is the hights of each triangle vertex. You can take the ev data and, i beleave, turn it into a greyscale hightmap. I used to have a wireframe picture of thw world map "unskinned" but am currently missing it. bummer.

-halkun

[ficedula]

The LZS decompressor I wrote decompresses the PC FF7/8 files. That said, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that Square used the same compression format as on the PSX. If somebody can confirm this, please tell me.

[The SaiNt]

Fice, they do use the same LZS format since I was able to decompress some of the .LZS files from the PSX CD.

[ficedula]

Thanks

[tulkk]

yeah... heh, i "exctracted" some psx lzs files using fice's tool awile ago.. the characters battle models are stored in separate .lzs files and they contains the mesh data and textures in a file called .dec

[Qhimm]

Note: These days, most of the data files in Square PSX games are uncompressed. Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross, FF9; there are almost no compressed files on any of the CDs.

[Sephiroth 3D]

Is there a way to read the data of the .EV maps off the PSX disc? Cause if I could get that info and make an elevation map, I should be able to replicate the world map for FF7 in almost any major 3D software, such as Lightwave or 3DSMax.

It would also give the 3D artists something to play with while we figure out a lot more about how the game works.

Sephiroth 3D

"One who seeks knowledge from another person, doesn't learn half as much as the one who seeks knowledge for himself." - Vincent Valentine, The Sephiroth Chronicals, Book 1: Resurrection

[email protected]  
 http://www.sephiroth3d.com" TARGET=_blank>Sephiroth 3D's Final Fantasy  
 http://members.tripod.com/~EmperorTim/index.html" TARGET=_blank>Sephiroth's 3D Lair  
 http://members.tripod.com/~Sephiroth3D/index.html" TARGET=_blank>Sephiroth 3D's Promised Land

[The SaiNt]

The PSX field files are divided into 3 files:-
The .DAT files
The .BSX files
The .MIM files

The PC field files are all lumped into one file which we refer to as the "field" files
Note that both the PSX and PC versions are compressed in LZS format.

The .DAT files
--------------
It appears that the .DAT files contain the TEXT information that are exactly the same as the PSX version. There are some differences too because there were some corrections / alterations in the game text during conversion. The .DAT files also seem to contain the same info in the first few lines of each field file. The first few lines seem to be an initialization statement for all objects / char's / lighting effects that appear in the screen.

The .MIM files
--------------
These files are known to be the background pictures for the field files. When I ran a compare between the PSX MIM files with the field file, no matches were found thus I presume the MIM files are stored differently on both the PC and PSX versions.

The .BSX files
--------------
Currently, I have no idea what this files are for.
They also are not in the same format as the PC field files.
In the PC field files, there are references to the .HRC files and .A files
My guess here is that the BSX files are supposed to do the same thing as this section of the field files. But since the way the field figures are stored in the PC is different, this section of the field files are different from the .BSX files.

If you run a search for the keyword HRC in the PC "field" files, you will come across something like this in nearly every file

main_cloudup.char

I believe this defines the character cloud from char.lgp to be the main character in this field file. The field file name usually precedes this statement. After this statement, the string "somefilename.HRC512" and some "nonsense" characters that i can type out will always appear and don't ask me why, ok? This "nonsense" characters will repeat themselves exactly right after the defining of each character in the field file. After the "nonsense" characters, you will see a definition of the .A files that should be attached to this HRC file. Another thing to note is that the .A files aren't solely .A files as defined by the field files. The .A files are actually a combination of 3 different files;.ANM, .AKI & .TOR files. After this the whole process is repeated with the next definition of the next character.

It's getting late again and I need to sleep!
Get back to you guys tomorrow!
Tell me what you think!

[The Skillster]

ive said this b4 and fice can qoute me on this as he repeated it a while back:
after the initial block ONE in the field file, there is a list of ALLOWED characters on screen and sprites (eg: if cloud tifa cid r there that means ONLY THEY CAN LEAD THE PARTY IN THAT FEILD LEVEL)also sprites such as warning lights smoke etc r also difined in those few lines, also maybe non playable characters (townsfolk) might be difined there. rememeber u cant just have anyone lead your party (unless u hack it of course) cos then the game will crash, and this is why. cos the lead character is always stated in the field files

[ficedula]

Essentially correct. The 'model cache' or whatever it is at the start of section 1 doesn't just list characters who can lead the party; you'll see Barret (or ballet as the Japanese call him) referenced in the early game files (maybe in the later ones too, I just said early since those are the ones I've been working on lately). In Wutai, for example, you'll see the turks listed too, so NPC's are included.

[Srethron Askvelhtnod]

The SaiNt:
re: Battle files -Hey, this reminds me of my speculations in the .HRC file thread. 369 Enemy files, eh? That's pretty close to 343 (331+012). I'd bet a lot that the PC translators put all of those files in enemy012.dat and enemy331.dat (just like what they did with the sounds, basically). Can one of you better equipped people check it out? I'm rather sure that all of those .LZS files are just archived inside them (probably in an identical fashion to how the sounds are stored in audio.dat).
re: YAMADA.BIN -Just a guess, but doesn't that sound an awful lot like Yamaha? Coincidence? I don't know Japanese, so I'm not sure. Probably just coincidence, though. Still thought I should throw that out.
re: Magic files -I may need to check this (to confirm) if I get time, but IIRC, those .LZS files pretty much match the names of the .Pxx files in magic.lgp.
re: Stage files -Guessing time again. Maybe stage57.dat was a file the PC translators were having problems with, so they pulled it out to have a closer look. IIRC, the *only* files in battle.lgp are battle files. Maybe the stageXX.dat files are all in one of the .BINs? Maybe one of the other .BINs or .DATs? I'm guessing that the stage files are the battle backgrounds/scenes or something, with each one containing so many backgrounds/scenes (they are .DAT files, after all, and, IIRC, there's a lot more than 87 different battle backgrounds/scenes).
re: World files -IIRC, field.tbl and world.bin are both inside world_us.lgp.
re: .BSX files -Just a guess, but couldn't the .BSX files be the script? If so, it would make sense that they make reference to .HRC and .A files, heck, they'd have to. A good deal of the script is telling the character models when and how to move, right?
re: .ANM files -There's 1 (yes, only 1) .ANM file in FF7PC (in magic.lgp). Does anyone
know of something (or how to) read those files?

Halkun: Thanks for the info on .EV files. Do you have any knowledge on the format? Is it one of those Square specific formats?

Sephiroth 3D: I don't know about .EV, but I did find a file that converts .TMD files to Lightwave compatible. I don't have Lightwave (hey, know where I can get a free copy or anything?  ), but I figured this would probably be right up your alley. You can find it at  http://www.emuholic.com/tools/playstation.htm" TARGET=_blank>this page , it's called TMD2LWO. IIRC, there's only 2 .TMD files in FF7PC, (and they're in DATA/MINIGAME/snowboard-us.lgp), but, hey, it's *something* to do, right?  

[The Skillster]

the mini games where very close to straight rips out of the PSX games... even still has TIM style files in there....

[Srethron Askvelhtnod]

Actually, the only .LGP I know of that has .TIMs is condor.lgp (there are 2). I wouldn't be surprised if the minigames are practically copies, though.

Edit: I almost forgot. re: MIM files -Aren't FF8's 3D models in .MIM format? Does anyone know if these FF7 .MIMs are the same as the FF8 ones?

[This message has been edited by Srethron Askvelhtnod (edited April 05, 2001).]

[The Skillster]

i would highly doubt it or qhimm would have decoded it by now (remember he did the ff7 ones and didnt finish the ff8 ones)

[Srethron Askvelhtnod]

No, I don’t remember. Remind me.   I didn’t know Qhimm worked on the FF7 PSX .MIMs. (IIRC, there’s no .MIMs in FF7, except for these ones in the field files we’ve just learned about from The SaiNt). I thought Qhimm had only started on the FF8 .MIMs, and that was to help out Halkun. Then we got the picture of the mangled Squall head and then nothing more.

[The Skillster]

uh, oh yeah   he didnt work on ff7 psx, but someone else did, remember that ff7 3d viewer? i assume that mim are not 3d models for ff7, why? cos they r all either in the feild or battle directories (well in lgps for pc) i think maybe its the 3d cache?

[The SaiNt]

Hehe, Strethon I made a reply but in the wrong forum. Please read my reply in Tech Issues  

[halkun]

The MIMs are the Backgrounds. I used the MIM viewer for other than it's intended purpose however. With the FF8 mim viewer you can see data patterens in files.

The characters are actully in charater.one file each field.

[Srethron Askvelhtnod]

The Skillster: Sure, I remember the PSX model viewer. Only one problem: They view .DEC files (the PSX enemy models)-not .MIMs.
Secondly, we *know* that the .MIMs in FF7 aren't the character models. Lets review:
Field Models.
PC: .HRC and all related extensions
PSX: I don't know.
Battle.
PC: Unknown. 90% chance they are the "battle" files.
PSX: .DEC files

Now, for the one we really want to know...
Field Backgrounds.
PSX: .MIM files
PC: Probably the .MIM-type part of the field files

Hypothesis: If the .MIM backgrounds in FF7 are the same format as the .MIM character models in FF8, we could be in business. Just decode it for one game and you have it for both. Then background editing becomes that much easier.

The SaiNt: Heh. I already replied in Tech Issues.

Halkun: Thanks for the info. I'm a bit confused by your last sentence. Could you elaborate a bit for me?

EDIT: Do my eyes deceive me? Was this post number 1400?!!

[This message has been edited by Srethron Askvelhtnod (edited April 06, 2001).]