[FF7PC] ChaOS -Character Overhaul Seven

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As I come to understand the latest release more, I see how absolutely essential the 7thWrapper modmanager is to the overall mod package Kaldarasha has made here.

The reworked flevel.lgp make the models bigger and the functions of the wrapper allows the game to replace models in certain scenes; like the Young Cloud version from the big Kalm flashback has black clothes and a different pauldron (the armor on one shoulder thing) both in field and in the battle scenes where Sephiroth is in your party. These things are not possible without using the wrapper. Also, good lord it's easy to turn the mod on or off or change the "config" settings. It's brilliant. We're already running ff7 through other apps if we're using ff7music, and the wrapper can point to ff7music which points to ff7. No prob.

Here's the corrected English Reworked Flevel. It needs to be encoded with uLGP or something similar. This flevel is not compatible with Aeris Revival at this time.
 
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Ok very cool. I like those changes. How much bigger are the models though? I assume the Cloud with equipped buster sword is aaaa.hrc still right, and the one for the flash back is one of the extra ones like aaab.hrc?

By the way sorry I keep asking this but I don't understand  how there's somethings you cant do without the model manger. Other than having to launch the game through the 7thwrapper isn't it just basically a new way to add new models to the game? It actually sounds like it works similarly to bootlegs direct folder. I like that it has preview pictures when you make changes to cloud, like swapping out the swords and stuff which is good for newbies, but I just as easily did that with kimera. I actually prefer that control it gives me, like I used most of the new animations but swapped cloud running for the one Bloodshot did. It's a great new application that some may prefer, but I'm not so sure it'll be able to fully replace bootleg. Does the 7th wrapper recognize the mod file with all the background pngs? It maybe a good idea to have a complete unwrapped download for those who prefer to lgp their files.
 
It is like the direct folder, except that you can easily turn mods on/off without having to copy/move files around, and also certain files can be changed based on variables in the game - e.g. what location you are in, the game time, plot progress, love points, etc. Or provide a number of files and swap between them randomly, so you have 2 or 3 models for a particular enemy, and the mod manager cycles between them randomly.

For any of that to work of course the mod author has to add support for it into their mod :)  But I think that just being able to try a mod out without editing any files (and having to restore from backups if you don't like it, or want to use a new version) is also useful :)
 
Being able to randomly load different models for a particular enemy model sounds pretty cool, do we really have extra models like that though? The changes based on variables in the game sounds cool, but is also very confusing. Isn't that sort of thing just handled by the flevel? An easier way to test and or turn models on and off is a good idea for beginners but the direct folder does the same thing. I'm not trashing the idea of a new mod like this, hell bootleg probably started out the same way, I'm just trying to understand what the actual difference is. As for a character mod project, making this solely dependent on a new model manager that doesn't incorporate the other improvements doesn't seem like a good idea. I'll play with the 7th wrapper to provide feedback since this can become a helpful application, but I also don't want to be dependent on it. Otherwise if I'm to be honest I'd just copy the files from the wrapper to my lgp files so I can use them with the improved mods from bootleg.
 
The idea isn't that the end user would configure all these variables - it's that the mod author would. So they can (e.g.) create a mod which displays a different model for Cloud for before/after he falls into the Lifestream (or after Aeris's death, or....). You might be able to change the field model in the flevel, if you edited every location he can visit, but you can't change the world map or the battle model that way. If you let the wrapper handle it, then you can change those things, and also you can change the field model without editing every flevel file (which is a problem if you want to install it at the same time as another mod that also wants to change flevel!).

There's also no reason it won't work with mods installed manually. Obviously if you install a mod through bootleg that actually changes the LGP files, you can't deactivate that mod with the mod manager, but the mod manager will still work.
 
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You might be able to change the field model in the flevel, if you edited every location he can visit, but you can't change the world map or the battle model that way.
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This is why there's 2 Cloud battle models rtaa AND siaa. 1 is for the whole game, and 1 is for the last battle, iirc. The model we're used to seeing now is actually based off the "final" Cloud, and people started just packing the same model for both.
7thWrapper can do this without needing the 2 models in the lgp with different sets of filenames. Ex. You make a mod where ALL Cloud's models have an emo haircut, but ONLY after Aeris dies.

I'm going to wait for further changes in Kaldarasha's Reworked flevel before I do the Spanish, French, and Italian translations, but if any of you want to do that now, it's easy with Luksy's ToughScript tool, just dump the text from your game with the language you're going to use. Swap in Kaldarasha's flevel from the UM-ModelOverhaul package, and then encode your text back into the flevel.
 
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Hey so I tested the flevel you sent me at the Temple of the Ancients, or at least when you go into the room with the Temple puzzle, and up to when you leave Zacks village. It seems fine, as in it didn't crash or anything. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary though, so what ever else was supposed to happen didn't.

I'm not willing to spoil it, but I want to point out that this scene is really awesome the way he set it up in the Reworked flevel. Someone unfamiliar and epic makes an appearance.
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Who ever's supposed to make a guest appearance missed their cue. Is this missing from the unwrapped download?


The funeral scene looks good. Aeris's model without the ribbon and her eyes closed works, and Vincent doesn't inappropriately dance ballet through her funeral. Everything looks good. I don't know what you meant about the models being taller, but either way they looked good. I did notice though that when they're inspecting the temple puzzle Red XIII's head will go through Aeris, and during the funeral scene when Vincent walks over to Aeris he actually steps into her. Is this caused by the models new size?

~I tried the wrapper and it does work well. It worked how I expected though, it launches the 2012 re-release and plays through that. Otherwise the only other exe that works is bootloader. FF7.exe asks for game disks, and ff7_en.exe says to use the ff7_launcher which is the 2012 exe. It doesn't use Ozmys backgrounds or the remastered sound. So 7thwrapper is a success, but it met the limitations I was worried about with the 2012 re-release. If it's able to use the files in the ff7 game mods folder this would work really well.
 
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~I tried the wrapper and it does work well. It worked how I expected though, it launches the 2012 re-release and plays through that. Otherwise the only other exe that works is bootloader. FF7.exe asks for game disks, and ff7_en.exe says to use the ff7_launcher which is the 2012 exe. It doesn't use Ozmys backgrounds or the remastered sound. So 7thwrapper is a success, but it met the limitations I was worried about with the 2012 re-release. If it's able to use the files in the ff7 game mods folder this would work really well.
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Look at the screeenshots in this post. 7thwrapper runs off ff7.exe just fine, and it won't run right at all off the ff7launcher. If you are having your ff7.exe ask you for game disks, give it a game disk... You have an .iso named ff7disc1 already in the MountDisc folder that comes with bootleg. The reason it's asking you for a disc is because Kranmer's new-to-old patch sets up registry keys that expect your data drive to be D:\ Use regedit to change the ff7 data drive to wherever you mount your iso. Then it won't bother you about that anymore. Honestly, there are some things that GameConverter does better for the rerelease, though I don't understand why. There are some sound errors I don't get building off GC.

At any rate, yes, the special visitor I mentioned won't appear if 7thWrapper is not set up correctly. It happens at the altar.
 
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Ah ok that fixed the ff7.exe. I never used that exe before. Otherwise I set up the 7thwrapper following your post so it works properly outside the re-release now. It doesn't use anything from the ff7/mods/bootleg folder though, or at least for me. I'm interested in the possibilities this application presents, but the game is nearly unplayable for me without the other mods. I already have issues with the backgrounds since I play on a tv instead of a monitor I guess, the original ones are just unusable. Unless the new events are made available outside of the wrapper I'll just wait until it's able to use the mod file to check all that out. Other wise so far the new flevel swaps models fine and corrects most of the known errors. I'll test Clouds flash back later at Kalm to see if it swaps in his younger model, and I'll check the flash back with Zack to see if how it handled swapping the swords with Cloud. I'll also check the issue with the Shinra HQ elevator from the other thread.
 
It doesn't use anything from the ff7/mods/bootleg folder though, or at least for me. I'm interested in the possibilities this application presents, but the game is nearly unplayable for me without the other mods.
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It's supposed to use your mod folder; Omzy's backgrounds, everything works fine. You sure your mod path is correct?
 
Use regedit to change the ff7 data drive to wherever you mount your iso. Then it won't bother you about that anymore.
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I tried mounting it as the D drive using bootloader, for some reason it keeps going to F automatically. I'm not sure how to change that in the registry, and I'm a little iffy playing with that. Do we have clear directions on that anywhere?
 
I use UltraISO to mount it. If you have drive d available then u dont need to worry about the registry
 
Oh ok I'll try that with an actual iso mounting app. I don't see an iso in the mount disk file though. There's two .bat files and a .vhd, I'm not really familiar with either of these formats.

~Never mind, common sense kicked in and told me .vhd means virtual hard drive. I'm used to iso's, haven't actually seen that yet. I'll mount it using virtual clone drive and try that. I found the problem I had with the mod file so if 7th wrapper does work with that then that'll be pretty awesome. My main concern was still incorporating none lgp mods into the game so otherwise everything sounds good to me. I'm really interested to see what can be done with this application. Being able to change models based on the point in the game and other variables sound really cool. 


By the way is there a difference between the wrapped/unwrapped animation and base models? I installed the bootleg base models which were made from all the other base mods. For the animations I fixed Barrets idle and used another one for Clouds running in the field and world. The problem is if I need the wrapped options for this mod to be complete it'll overwrite the things I wanted to keep. Can I leave these unchecked or will it leave out something important Kaldarasha added?
 
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By the way is there a difference between the wrapped/unwrapped animation and base models? I installed the bootleg base models which were made from all the other base mods. For the animations I fixed Barrets idle and used another one for Clouds running in the field and world. The problem is if I need the wrapped options for this mod to be complete it'll overwrite the things I wanted to keep. Can I leave these unchecked or will it leave out something important Kaldarasha added?
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The 7thWrapper has a simple hierarchic system:
Create in the Wrapped folder a new one and in that new folder you create another one called char.lgp. In this you can place your animation. Open the 7thWrapper and make sure your mod is on top of all the others. Your mod will 'overwrite' the same files which will loaded after it.
 
Oh ok cool thanks, that's simple enough. Would using the base mods in the lgp file work for your mod though? I've gotten used to the bootleg base models. I figured anything that would be essential to changes you were adding would be in the unshaded iro.

Also I was wondering what the extent of that set up was. So I can do the char and battle lgp files that way, but would it do the same if I made files for any of the mini games or even the flevel?
 
As soon as I saw the save point from FFX I turned off the base field models with the config option, I left the game (minigame) models and world models from the base set checked :P . It's there for people that have not used bootleg mostly. This is possibly the best illustration of how badass 7thwrapper is. You click a checkbox............ all changed. Mind blown.
 
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Indeed, that is awesome. Saves me about ten minutes of work swapping models. Ok cool thanks, just wanted to make sure I wasn't leaving out anything necessary. Have to agree, this is a real turning point for ff7.
 
I've double checked and the Base Model set includes more than just stuff from bootleg, I noticed it changed the shinra guard field model in the opening scene, so Kaldarasha's models are actually in the base field set as well.
nope, musta run without the wrapper before posting this.
 
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I saw those in the unshaded file too though. I think some of them may have been transferred over to the base models. When you run 7thwrap with base models unchecked are the guards the original vanilla?

If that's the case is it possible to reorganize it so the base models are solidly just the original npcs and stuff, like what you'd get from a bootleg install, and put everything that's new into the unshaded option? Not only would that allow you to pick your own base model option in bootleg but it would also organize these better so you know what each option is and what it does.
 
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