FF8 Triple Triad HD (New release! ~ Tripod)

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Mcindus

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Triple Triad HD is now called Tripod and has been released!

Find it HERE!
(link will be broken until Tripod is approved by a moderator)
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Old Card Set:
Old Cards

New Card Set Comparison:
New Cards

----------ADDED 6/10/14---------

New Background:
HD Background

New Game Mat:
HD Game Mat

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Here is a link to preview the whole set:
Triple Triad Master Preview

Please help! I've already done all the work on the art side... and I REALLY hope I don't have to split this up into 56 different palettes like the original TIM is setup...
 
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I know we aren't supposed to double-post unless we have extra information about what we're doing, but in the process of editing my original post, I had too many different topics to touch on, so here's an update... I hope I'm not breaking any rules.


So far, I've figured out how to import resized .tims into the .exe but don't know how to edit the .exe for the proper byte size of the new .tims and the program keeps crashing.  I believe I have to either do that, or I have to turn the TIM file into an LZS file first... and -then- inject that into the .exe -- but I can't seem to find the file names to replace.

Today I am going to dive into DLPB's Tools and dig around in ff8.exe, but I don't know what I'm doing...  If only I had some -real- programming experience, I could make a fancy DLL or patcher.  Any and all help is greatly appreciated :)

With these mods, FF8 really feels like a shiny new experience and smashes the Steam version to pieces:

- Aali's most recent Graphics Driver
- New UI and Game Menu (SeeD v2.0)
- Modified Soundtrack (Roses and Wine)
- HP cap fix/Harder difficulty (FF8Launcher without dx_hook)

I feel like Triple Triad HD would provide an extra dimension to the game, and maybe even create enough buzz to cause some stir for FF8 modding.

If only we could get Magochocobo's new character models into the game...
 
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Just need to promote the mods we have and hope for the attraction of programmers  8)
 
It's not really a lack of programmers stopping us from putting better character models/textures into FF8. It has a lot more to do with the fact that we don't fully understand FF8's model format.
 
It's not really a lack of programmers stopping us from putting better character models/textures into FF8. It has a lot more to do with the fact that we don't fully understand FF8's model format.
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This isn't really supposed to get hijacked by the models/textures, but I really don't mind if it helps us mod ff8!
That being said, I would really love to help with figuring out the model format -- but with all of the information on ff8 being so scattered on the forums, it's hard to find all the info we need...

That, and the fact that Qhimm seems to no longer exist -- and I'm pretty sure he was the only one that knew how to do it.

I'm going to post something about the moderators making a FF8 only section... it would really help clear up some confusion and create a place where we don't have to dig 10 pages down in 5 seperate topics for the right information.
 
Fan fact: http://rankass.com/stat/qhimm.com :)

Just need to promote the mods we have and hope for the attraction of programmers  8)
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I did my best on steam forums after FFVIII was released. We achieved some graphical and music modifications but nothing about dealing with the programming issues for replacing the models. :/
 
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I'm going to post something about the moderators making a FF8 only section... it would really help clear up some confusion and create a place where we don't have to dig 10 pages down in 5 seperate topics for the right information.
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Yeah, is there a way I could help with that? The FF8 mod scene isn't as big as VII, and we pretty much have to sift through hella pages to find a specific topic.
 
Yeah, is there a way I could help with that? The FF8 mod scene isn't as big as VII, and we pretty much have to sift through hella pages to find a specific topic.
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Send a list of any FF8 pages you come across to me in a pm.  I'm going to try to compile a master list over the next couple of weeks.


edit:

Here's the list!

FF8 Forum Posts
 
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Let's carry that on here.

What is the graphic you are trying to change?
 
The goal is to replace the Triple Triad cards texture by a higher resolution one. The entire card set is a single *.tex located in the main .exe and its original size is 1792x256px. Mcindus already tried the import feature using TIMviewer but even re-importing the upscaled set, the game will keep the original axis.

This subject has already been discussed in this thread.

I think it would be easier to look after this issue using an external texture as a test (like the character's avatars) before the Triple Triad .exe embedded one in order to understand how the game reads them and where to look for.
 
Let's carry that on here.

What is the graphic you are trying to change?
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Yes, brilliant idea.

I'm trying to replace the file that starts at 7A9B10 with an upscaled version.  I'm still not even really sure if it's a .TEX file or a .TIM file (pretty sure it's a .TIM) -- and could even possibly be a .LZS, but I have no way of telling because I'm a newb.

I used TimViewer to scan the raw .exe for images and it pulled up a lot of images, but the first five files were the images for Triple Triad that I wanted -- located at positions 796A90 (big text/icons), 7A96B0 (small text), 7A9B10 (entire card set as one file), 820B30 (playing grid/mat), and 84AB44 (background).  I'm pretty sure they're Tim files because TimViewer had no problem recognizing them and all of their palettes.
The file I wanted to upscale turned out to be at 7A9B10 - so with TimViewer, I extracted it as a TIM - converted it to a .BMP, threw it in photoshop and completely re-did all of the cards in that file with much higher resolution versions (see above photos for comparison) and then converted it back into a TIM file. It even opens up in TimViewer like a charm... so none of this seems to be my problem.

TimViewer has an option to then re-insert the new TIM file that I've made, but every time I try it causes the .exe to crash.  Most likely this is due to the .exe expecting a 1792x256 (449kb) image, and finding a 7168x1024 (7mb) file instead...lol.  I guess I shouldn't smash things into .exe's that don't belong there.  I was hoping I might be able to find some hex that lets me modify the memory of the .exe to accept a bigger file... or something.

[ EDIT: LOL so I scanned the file again and the size needed for the new TIM makes the current sector need to grow from 487,456 bytes to 7,344,128 -- currently, it's over-writing parts of the .exe and causing my crash. ]

[ EDIT 2: After reading some posts in the Archive, I've run across something interesting.  Would there be a way for me to put this TIM at the end of the .exe and then have DLPB Tools redirect the .exe to that TIM file instead of the original?]

Also - as a side note that 5way points out, even if the game could see my new file, it would be looking for images in the wrong pixel locations and I would most likely just get 1/4 of an image in each card in-game, as he did when he attempted an upscale in this post.

Sorry if it's a lot, but I like to be thorough.
 
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I extracted it as a TIM - converted it to a .BMP, threw it in photoshop and completely re-did all of the cards in that file with much higher resolution versions
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Not that important at this point but the card texture uses transparency (blue/red background depending if the card is yours or not) did you manage to get transparent background converting the upscaled file to *.tim ?
 
Show me the pictures you are changing also.

[ EDIT 2: After reading some posts in the Archive, I've run across something interesting.  Would there be a way for me to put this TIM at the end of the .exe and then have DLPB Tools redirect the .exe to that TIM file instead of the original?]
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I would not attempt that.  Changing exe size will mean future mods that require the correct size exe will fail.  But if there is no other way, yes it could be done, but how... I dunno.  Aali would :P
 
Show me the pictures you are changing also.

I would not attempt that.  Changing exe size will mean future mods that require the correct size exe will fail.  But if there is no other way, yes it could be done, but how... I dunno.  Aali would :P
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Here are the pics:

Original

HD Replacement

It's a shame that these cards look so good in the game menu (with SeeD v2.0) but so BAD in the actual game.
But I guess I shouldn't be messing with the .exe size...   sigh.

I guess the only way to get these in the game is with Aali's help at the moment... and I doubt he has the time....
I bet Qhimm could do it.  lol.  Too bad they're both busy.
 
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Any chance to re import upscaled icon, avatars and font textures from the menu.fs ? I already made my research and the icon.sp1 and sysfnt.tdw are definitely not the place to look and as far as I know the UV coordinates data is not part of the *.tex header.
 
Any chance to re import upscaled icon, avatars and font textures from the menu.fs ? I already made my research and the icon.sp1 and sysfnt.tdw are definitely not the place to look and as far as I know the UV coordinates data is not part of the *.tex header.
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Hey... I was just thinking to myself...  If you can look inside FF8Config.exe, it might have the information that you are looking for - because when you select 'use Hi-Res textures and fonts' in the FF8Config.exe, it re-directs to the .tex files in the hires folder - as well as pointing to new pixel (UV?) locations.  The same is probably true for the steam FF8 launcher - so maybe you should dig around in there?

Stop hijacking my thread to talk to DLPB  :mrgreen:
 
Well, it is part of the issue if you later get to insert the upscaled cards texture, right ? :roll:

You can't select either lowres or hires anymore in the 2013 version (but the files and data still there), the hires is now a default option and yes, the main *.exe is probably the answer for all our needs.
 
FF8PC emulates the playstation GPU for most parts of the game. Thats bad news for several reasons but just to name a few it means the game has limited memory available for textures, doesn't use relative UV coordinates and does not readily accept textures in any other size or format than it was designed to. I don't think you'll have much luck, unfortunately.
 
That's sad to hear, that FF8 PC is largely a two-bit PS1 emulator. Is the FF8 Steam release any better? If so, which version of the game would be most viable to release such a mod for?
Either way, if the Triple Triad HD cards truly look better than the originals, you could always downscale them to PS1-size and replace the game's original cards with the low-res HD copies. It wouldn't look MUCH better, but it should be an improvement.
 
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