A simple question about FFIX...

[Satoh]

After a little browsing, then a large amount of search abuse, I discovered an old user named Zande, seemed to have cracked the FFIX model format.

I was FLOORED... But after my exhausting search was over I only found files that *seem* to be viewers for battle map data... no real eplicit words about character, weapon, enemy etc. models... While it seemed like a few people were trying to ask, "Can we view [X type] of model?" no one seemed to be giving a straight 'yes' or 'no'...

I have been trying for a few years now to find a way to either A. view them that I may copy them tediously by hand or B. more better-ly that I can simply rip them... as I know little to nothin about decoding filetypes, and only very slightly more about making windows apps... (though absolutely nothing about 3D viewing... ) I'm stuck with whatever I can find on the interwebs...

Believe me for about a month I tried making screenshots of every feesable angle of the char's but all I managed to get good enough resources on were hands and feet..(being the simplest shapes on the models...) and got nowhere trying to reproduce the tex's...

So I call out to you, oh gods of modding, ripping, and decoding... Please answer my heaviest of questions, and if you feel I am so worthy, bestow the gift of a viewer or converter. I would be more than willing to help you all if I knew answers to your own queries.

I beg of you...

EDIT: apologies if this is in the wrong section... it seemed the most likely to me...

 

[FaustWolf]

Here's a list of recent topics that may interest you just in case you haven't seen them already:

https://www.ff7catalog.com/threads/3192/
https://www.ff7catalog.com/threads/4607/
https://www.ff7catalog.com/threads/4346/
https://www.ff7catalog.com/threads/4503/

Also try running a search on Zidane2, since both he and Zande are the current FF9 model viewing experts to my knowledge. I haven't kept up on the latest FF9 developments lately, so I'd be very interested in seeing where progress currently is on viewing those models. Has the animation format been decoded yet, for example?

X-Dina, let us know where your hacking abilities currently stand. If you've never seen the sheer, utter beauty of a Squaresoft model texture, I will have to introduce you to IsoBuster and PSicture -- the very first tools any young hacker should be introduced to, IMHO. They're free to boot.

 

[Satoh]

Ah! Thank you much! I had seen one or two of those topics earlier, but at least two of them were new to me. I had no idea how recent some of those posts were... I assumed they were dead topics, but it looks like some of them are still fresh... almost ripe for picking XD;

Unfortunitely... my hacking skills are limited to about the range of occasionally getting a cheat device to do something new... (usually glitches of a very odd nature...)

The closest thing I ever did to try viewing the models to date is.... I attempted to use PEC and ePSXe to find the memory address that holds the current active map character...I looked for a solid month... playing the same scenes over and over... I never got it to work... but I never considered the fact that not all characters may be playable on some maps... until about 5 seconds ago...

Still, aside from blindly doing greater than less than operations in a cheat device... I'm about as useless at hacking as they come... As for the sheer beauty of Square's textures, I can certainly say that FFIX has waaaaaayyyy too low resolution to look anywhere near as good as it can... In ePSXe with a hirez video plugin it's gorgeous...

Just in case it isn't apparent, I understand almost nothing about file structure... to me I can't wrap my mind around the idea of compression... if it's all binary data, and it at some point needs to all be present to work properly.... then how do you make it smaller without ripping it a new one...?

I'd love to learn the process of reverse engineering files... especially so I might be able to one day write my own viewers... but for now it all just seems like gibberish...

I'm a graphics fanatic, with a very small amount of c# knowledge... and no knowledge of 3D programming... maybe I lack focus...


On a different note, someone said (Cyberman I think) that the filetypes for field and battle models/animations were "the same"... it was in the map viewer topic... so... I'm confused as to whether I might be able to view characters in the map viewer... (though it seems unlikely...) Or he was simply making a point about those models minus the maps...

I suppose what I should ask at this point is, "Where do I need to start?" so that maybe I'll be helpful or at least less hlepless in the future...

 

[FaustWolf]

I, too, am a graphics fanatic without programming capability (seems you have more than I if you know a thing or two about C#).

My own lack of hacking experience relative to such gurus as halkun and Cyb leaves me somewhat myopic in directing you on where to start, but I'd have to recommend first ripping a FFIX game image with IsoBuster. The process I link to here from the Chrono Compendium should be equally applicable to FFIX, since I used it to view FFIX textures at one point I think. Free 600+MB of space on your hard drive, download IsoBuster, and pop the first disc into your CD drive to rip the game image in 2048 byte/sector format so that you have a perfect copy of the disc on your hard drive. Note that FFIX is actually somewhat kinder to the novice hacker than Chrono Cross because you could simply copy&paste the FF9.img file from the CD to your hard drive -- and in fact, I suspect this is the very file that some of the dumping tools laying around in this forum act on.

Whichever process you decide on (IsoBuster will give you the executable, or SLUS file, FF9.img and the .STR movie files in their assembled order as they appear on the game CD, whereas FF9.img will give you the meat of the game data only), search for PSicture and use it to scan the game image. I suspect all textures in FF9 are classic .TIM files, which means PSicture will allow you to view all of them. I believe this is the case with FF8 at least.

I would also recommend that you download Cygnus Hex Editor - Free Edition, which has the most powerful search features I've seen on a free hex editor. Arguably it is inferior to Hex Workshop, but I feel that all my own hacking needs are more than met by Cygnus.

Zidane2 provides some documentation on the FF9 model format in this thread. I'm unsure how complete the documentation on FF9 models is at the moment, but I am certainly interested on completing that knowledge at some point in the near future. However, my attention is primarily focused on Chrono Cross models at the moment; come to think of it, X-Dina, you may benefit extraordinarily from the knowledge halkun and Cyb already shared during the Chrono Cross Model Project. See everything from top to bottom here, and you can learn as I did:
http://www.chronocompendium.com/Forums/index.php/topic,4770.0.html

 

[Satoh]

Thanks a lot, I'm sure it'll be interesting to take a look at Chrono Cross as well... Like FFIX CC is one of my favorite games... (wouldn't mind having the models to it too)

and... I only know about one or two things in c#... nothing really useful... I can make a calculator that can do simple addition and such... I made a level up calculator for .hack IMOQ once... (unfinished...I should really finish it...)

Either way... guess it's time I 'learn to swim' so to speak.

EDIT: I just went through all 42 pages of your CC decyphering stuff... you've got some beautiful stuff coming along.