[FF8PC-2000] Project SeeD - FF8 GUI overhaul (2.0)

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Unfortunately not... if I'm not mistaken it needs Aali's driver to load external textures...
 
Well looks like I found a strange solution on the same day I was having this problem. O.O If someone is having this black menu prob just go to your registry, H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >> SOFTWARE >> Squaresoft, Inc >> FINAL FANTASY VIII >> 1.00 and where is says "Graphics" there should be like "0x10100001". Just change the last 2 numbers to 21 so it'll be like "0x10100021" and the menu prob will be fixed. ^^
I found it by comparing my actual registry with my last installation's registry.
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Don't take this the wrong way but I LOVE YOU. It seemed I had your same black box problem and this fix worked for me as well. Thank you for posting this!
 
It is not a good idea in the registry to change values ​​if you do not know what you do.
Instead, you can use FF8Config.exe.
The value that was modified above, is the same as "Use High Res Fonts" in the graphics tab.
 
It is not a good idea in the registry to change values ​​if you do not know what you do.
Instead, you can use FF8Config.exe.
The value that was modified above, is the same as "Use High Res Fonts" in the graphics tab.
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I've been trying to get the mods to work for hours on end before I tried this. I had high-res fonts checked, tried everything else before using this method. Something must be wrong between changing the registry and the graphic driver. Either way this was kinda last resort-ish, if it screwed up the game I'd do everything from scratch; I figured if he had a similar problem and found a solution, maybe that same would would work for me. Turns out (luckily) it did.
 
I noticed that many of the icons in iconfl03_02.png and some of the other images are still heavily pixelated. Why did the authors upscale those icons with nearest filtering when they could have gone with linear or xBRZ?
 
... I had high-res fonts checked, tried everything else before using this method. Something must be wrong between changing the registry and the graphic driver.
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The problem with the registry is that the OS (Win7 / 8 ) under different circumstances some keys redirects to various locations.
A role is played by using a 32bit OS or 64bit OS, UAC turned on or off, start the Program with admin rights or not, set a compatibility mode or not ...

In general, all programs involved should have the same settings.
When you start "FF7Config.exe" with admin rights should also get "FF7.exe" Admin rights.
When you start FF8.exe in compatibility mode for XP, you should have started earlier also FF8Config.exe in same way.

On my PC, no such adjustments are necessary, the OS directs all relevant key automatically in the same fashion for all participating programs around.
Win7 x64Bit, UAC on (default), no admin rights and no compatibility mode.
 
I've also noticed it Mirrorman, those textures were not upscaled properly and it also explains why the "hi res" font files were done from scratch using a new unfaithful font with no shadows.

I was thinking about redrawing those textures manually pixel perfect using the low res icon.tex as a basis, sadly I've changed my mind since I realized that the english version is the only one that use these upscaled icon textures. If someone can figure it out how to edit the french ff8.exe to make the game read them I will gladly contribute on that project for both english and french version.
 
I was thinking about redrawing those textures manually pixel perfect using the low res icon.tex as a basis, sadly I've changed my mind since I realized that the english version is the only one that use these upscaled icon textures. If someone can figure it out how to edit the french ff8.exe to make the game read them I will gladly contribute on that project for both english and french version.
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I suspect you just need to change the path in the mods folder from
...\data\eng\menu
to
...\data\fra\menu

There is also a German version, but I can not find the post atm...
 
I'm using the 2013 PC version; inside the main .exe there's a path to the default low res icon.tex (...\data\fre\menu\) but nothing about the 4 hi res files for french, german, italian and spanish versions. After importing these files in the menu.fs is it possible to edit the ff8.exe to make the game read them?
 
I noticed that many of the icons in iconfl03_02.png and some of the other images are still heavily pixelated. Why did the authors upscale those icons with nearest filtering when they could have gone with linear or xBRZ?
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Those icons and whatnot actually don't seem to be used anywhere in the english version of the game, so they weren't upscaled.  I'm going to re-create a version with everything upscaled (just in case) and include all of the special characters in the new version as well, but don't expect a release of that for a few months.  Currently, I'm finishing the cards so that sl1982 can release an updated version of SeeD with all of my current updates.

The thing I really want to do is update Triple Triad, but I have no idea how to inject the new art into the .exe
 
I'm using the 2013 PC version; inside the main .exe there's a path to the default low res icon.tex (...\data\fre\menu\) but nothing about the 4 hi res files for french, german, italian and spanish versions. After importing these files in the menu.fs is it possible to edit the ff8.exe to make the game read them?
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Unfortunately I have no idea whether the 2013 version works with Aalis driver.
Unfortunately I have also no idea with what tool you can integrate graphics directly into the .fs files.

Aalis driver with the 2000 version is able to integrate png images in the game.
In the ff8_opengl.cfg you specifies the path where the images are (eg "mod_path = SeeD-eng").
In the directory [gamedir]\mods a corresponding subfolder (eg "SeeD-eng") is created, which then contains the images or other subfolders with images (eg "[gamedir]\mods\SeeD-eng\data\eng\menu\hires")
For the hi-res graphics, there is a subfolder "hires".

However, I fear that the tools are not in a position, subfolders to integrate into the menu.fs, but I do not know.
If it is possible, I would hope that you are doing one menu.fs for each of the four languages.

If you unzip the file "Project SeeD v1.0c.7z" with WinRar, you get the name out everything of the pictures.
The images for Triple Triad have names of "mc00_00" to "mc09_00".
 
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Unfortunately I have no idea whether the 2013 version works with Aalis driver.
Unfortunately I have also no idea with what tool you can integrate graphics directly into the .fs files.

If you unzip the file "Project SeeD v1.0c.7z" with WinRar, you get the name out everything of the pictures.
The images for Triple Triad have names of "mc00_00" to "mc09_00".
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2013 is not supported by Aali's driver.
You can modify .fs files with some of the tools provided in the FF8 Mods section, but from what I understand, repacking the files properly back into the .fs file can get buggy and some of the programs don't always work correctly when they compile.

The mc00_00 - mc09_00 are actually not for triple triad.  they are only the in-menu cards.  I have since found  the triple triad TIMs embedded in the ff8.exe and am working on upscaling them, but I have no idea how to re-insert them... even with Aali's driver.
 
You can import or rename files in the menu.fs using Deling. Importing upscaled textures was already done here, thing is the game read them as the original 256x256px file size. The icon.tex tables can be found in data\eng\menu\icon.sp1 (which are the same for both english or french so this is not the place to look at). I guess it can be found in the main *.exe.

1390923658-hiresicon.png


Now, is it possible to make 4 icon files work with non-english version ? Also, let's forget about importing 512x512px or 1024x1024px files... is it possible to make the game reads 9 (3x3) 256x256px textures instead of the original 4 (2x2) ? If yes, I'll work on the graphics.
 
So, I was going to add these edits to my SeeD art post, but I think they should have their own dedicated post.  It made my original post too bloated anyway.

I have fixed some glaring issues that I've found with SeeD:
The most noticeable problem is that in the English version dream text (white text on transparent background) its barely visible unless set against a dark background, so i've modified the white text to have a more obvious drop-shadow.  Hope this makes this beautiful text easier to see!

Files above the line are for the English version ONLY!
(Files go in data/eng/menu/hires)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ha9y3yq48z04ddv/sysfld00_07.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xn63nsw50dk3o1u/sysfld01_07.png

ALSO! The green text was missing half of it's characters, so I created the missing file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u2bsshpaeizs94w/sysfld00_04.png
_____________________________________________________

***Other minor improvements*** (compatible with all translations?)

Timer/Card Menu numbers 8 and 9 made to be a consistent font:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1hjs9aqp6h40u99/iconfl01_02.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l3zcdmtrxzgvmnd/iconfl01_023.png (not sure if this one is needed)

Timer/Card Menu number text re-alignment (for the number 1)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iphuznavia2ythm/iconfl00_02.png

Letter "A" in Card Menu changed to be the same font as numbers:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ouuuvbhdtyzw1tt/iconfl03_02.png

Enjoy!
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I'm almost done with the in-menu card sets, and then I'm pretty sure I'm finished!  I would like someone to test everything out and get back to me about any issues with text alignment, etc. 

In the future, I will be working on a version of SeeD that encompasses all possible menu/icon combinations (half-transparent 8-bit hands while making a selection, missing color palettes, etc.) and may even have an updated font of my own to select from!

Thanks to sl1982 for making it all possible :)
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Can you share more image for me, i love that pictures, i was used that pictures in Project SeeD
 
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hello, this is my first post on the forums, i must say thank you so much for making this mod, and now to the problem, does anyone have a problem with the new 1.0c version when i put it into a mods folder, my game crashes everytime after the eidos logo?
 
i've found the solution, for me seed is not working for aali's 0.8 series, only for 0.7 series
 
Hello everyone!

I've finished the new version of the SeeD project, and it's now up for download on the main page!

New additions include:

--Title Screen Re-created
--Menu Gradient Improved
--New GF portraits
--Portraits for Leonhart , Minimog, and Angelo added
--Weapons Monthly Improved
--Made a better Hi-Res magazine background texture
--New hi-res Pet Pals pics
--ALL MENU CARDS COMPLETE!!!

Improvements:

--Added drop-shadow to white text
--Fixed several alignment issues with main text
--Created missing Green text file
--Changed the timer and card menu numbers (8, 9, A) to be a consistent font
--Number re-alignment for cards in menu

All improvements/artwork/edits done by MCINDUS

Please test it and let me know what you think!
 
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To everyone out there - I made a booboo.  I forgot to put the folder path in the SeeD v2.0 folder.  The link will be updated soon, but until then, make sure you put everything into the following folder path:

edit*

FIXED
 
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