[FF8R-PC/Steam] FF8 Remastered (Lunatic Pandora) Mods Progress

[Sebanisu]

The zzz limits us. It's one of the reasons Maki started the project. People wanted to go over the size limit. And it slowed down testing mods to have to jump through another hoop. Though I coulda improved my tool. Maki was working on this so it's be kinda like wasted effort.

 

[rartart]

The zzz limits us. It's one of the reasons Maki started the project. People wanted to go over the size limit. And it slowed down testing mods to have to jump through another hoop. Though I coulda improved my tool. Maki was working on this so it's be kinda like wasted effort.

nah , no wasted effort , the point is that there are people like me who prefer to permanently mod the archives and people who prefer a temporary way of activate the modded textures , also the limit of the size for the archives is already solved right ? with all the modded textures you all created the archive is already running correctly despite the fact that is bigger , also it is possible that this version of final fantasy 8 is programmed in a similar way to the pc version of final fantasy 12 ? because even final fantasy 12 the zodiac age would have problems with the modification of the size of the archives , but the problem is prevented if you change the registered size of the file archive that you are modifying

 

[Gensoul]

Pretty sure I can make it look HD using copy and pasting, with some digital painting here and there.

They are mostly using the same uniform, right? Still a lot of detail work after pasting to clean up the edges and re-drawing the hair and face for any that don't have an upgraded 3D model somewhere to copy -- if we don't want a garden of clones, that is.

Of course anything would look better than the jaggy smear-monsters we have right now. How many backgrounds have those baked-in models?

 

[CYRU5]

They are mostly using the same uniform, right? Still a lot of detail work after pasting to clean up the edges and re-drawing the hair and face for any that don't have an upgraded 3D model somewhere to copy -- if we don't want a garden of clones, that is.

Of course anything would look better than the jaggy smear-monsters we have right now. How many backgrounds have those baked-in models?

LOL, remember this scene at the battle of gardens?

WAY too much pixels on that one haha

 

[Mcindus]

Updated main post with some progress!

 

[ZL325]

In case anyone hasn't seen it yet, Maki released the tool here:

https://www.ff7catalog.com/threads/13601/

Once you're done releasing the HD backgrounds Mcindus, I wonder if I can have a go at the pixelated characters:

Pretty sure I can make it look HD using copy and pasting, with some digital painting here and there.

Wouldn't it be easier to just take the new model the game makes use of, rip it, then and have it pose similar to the pixelated character? If ripping the model isn't possible then finding areas with the like character and trying to get decent images to then superimpose with any needed edits.

 

[Devina]

There is no XNALara for FF8's HD models as far as I know, so no, ripping models isn't feasible.
If for some reason we're desperate for a certain model in a certain position, I can give it a try.

And that's what I meant by copy-and-pasting, with some digital touching. For example, I would copy and paste that girl sitting by the pixelated mess, then edit the hair.

I'm glad that Mcindus' porting process is going smoothly.
Once the mod is out, we should all band together to test that the mod fully works, and find instances of all baked characters, and possibly instances where we can grab HD characters. For example, I remember there's a blurry Cid in front of the school directory board. Maybe we'll screencap a pic of Cid at Edea's orphanage, and use it in the school.

 

[Mcindus]

There is no XNALara for FF8's HD models as far as I know, so no, ripping models isn't feasible.
If for some reason we're desperate for a certain model in a certain position, I can give it a try.

And that's what I meant by copy-and-pasting, with some digital touching. For example, I would copy and paste that girl sitting by the pixelated mess, then edit the hair.

I'm glad that Mcindus' porting process is going smoothly.
Once the mod is out, we should all band together to test that the mod fully works, and find instances of all baked characters, and possibly instances where we can grab HD characters. For example, I remember there's a blurry Cid in front of the school directory board. Maybe we'll screencap a pic of Cid at Edea's orphanage, and use it in the school.

I believe Noesis can rip the models from the game. We just can't re-import them.  So, you can use Noesis, pose the character, and then cut/paste it into the scene in Photoshop or GIMP. Not difficult at all, really... just not sure if Noesis works with the new models, and this is just time consuming.  You would have to extract the field with pupu or deling and then make the edits, and use PuPu (newest release fix by maki) to re-swizzle the files properly for injection into the game.

Oh.. and here's this because I thought of the same thing about 2 months ago - hes' just a cutout from the other scene.
File (with Transparency):
https://mega.nz/#!bpBkga5a!sUMFaQpIcCEN5uafB5tQiP1KvUI5GPP-eEyIjxfj4Ag
Preview:

 

[LeonhartGR]

I'm really hyped about Devina's work! Looking forward to any updates!

 

[Gensoul]

You should randomly add a tiny version of him to a few of the backgrounds, hidden in some out of the way place, like an Easter Egg hunt. 8-D

 

[Mcindus]

You should randomly add a tiny version of him to a few of the backgrounds, hidden in some out of the way place, like an Easter Egg hunt. 8-D

Haha that would be hilarious. Like the toy soldier mission from ff7 kinda

Oh... here's 'THE' fix for projectangelwing gp ai using the Remaster - live and working:

 

[Gensoul]

Very nice work! He fits right in with the updated models. Now THAT looks like the remaster I've been waiting to play.


Old version for comparison:

 

[Devina]

The quality difference in the backgrounds is amazing, do you have a rough idea when you can release the background mod? I was also thinking, asides from baked-characters, we can also fix things like low-res text, flags, maps, etc. For example, I tried replacing the map here (I half-assed it a bit, but just wanted to show what it could look like)

 

[Gensoul]

That looks great, Devina. It's amazing what AI can do, creating crisp details out of vague blurs, but some hand-drawn touch-ups for signs and words would sure be appreciated! It really does help add immersion.

I'm planning on a playthrough when the first version is released. I'll try to remember to note down any uglier bits I come across.

 

[Lunareste]

Is it possible to make completely new scenes using Maki's mod?

 

[Caster]

Are we going to be able to pick and choose what mods to install with this?

 

[Pittstone]

Hello, i have installed Lunatic Pandora in the install folder. When i start FF8_Ultra_Launcher it says "FF8_Launcher.EXE does not exist."  After changed the name of my "FFVIII_Launcher.exe" to "FF8_Launcher.EXE", game starts but without the new textures.

 

[Pittstone]

I have Edited the Settings.ini in "HL_files" folder and startet now. But with this Errors:

Errors(11):
Line 2 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 3 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 4 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 5 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 6 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 7 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 8 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 9 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 10 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 11 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 12 (FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
==================================================

Damage.dll was loaded successfully.
Hard.dll was loaded successfully.
HP.dll was loaded successfully.
Magic.dll was loaded successfully.
Publish.dll was loaded successfully.


Textures are not loading.

 

[Pittstone]

After change to "1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt"   the Errors again:

Delayed for 5000ms...

=============================================
1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt

Changed: 0
Replaced: 0
Permissions: 0

Errors(12):
Line 2 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 3 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 4 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 5 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 6 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 7 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 8 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 9 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 10 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 11 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 12 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
Line 13 (1_FF8_UVInject_EN.txt): Could not write to memory.
==================================================

Damage.dll was loaded successfully.
Hard.dll was loaded successfully.
HP.dll was loaded successfully.
Magic.dll was loaded successfully.
Publish.dll was loaded successfully.


I have select compatiblity to Admin for "FFVIII.exe" "FFVIII_LAUNCHER.exe" and "FFVIII_Ultra_Launcher.exe" too.

 

[Mcindus]

Hello, i have installed Lunatic Pandora in the install folder. When i start FF8_Ultra_Launcher it says "FF8_Launcher.EXE does not exist."  After changed the name of my "FFVIII_Launcher.exe" to "FF8_Launcher.EXE", game starts but without the new textures.

If you're trying to run it on the Remastered version of the game, it will not load.  Interesting to see that HextLaunch is trying to load other things, though. Hm.  The Hext will not work due to how the Remastered version of the game is written (variable mem addresses).  The LP Installer you have is meant for the 2013 version of the game only.