Making an Open Source FF7 Engine

[bulk_4me]

@Alhexx: No, a Trainer for Windows 98 may not work on NT 'cuz a faulty/lazy implementation by the developer.

@L. Spiro: Ok.. Seriosuly I am far from new to Online Game Hacking, that shouldn't suggest I consider myself as "uber l33t" or sumthin', but I find the whole concept way to vulnerable. Anyway keep the good work hopefully we will see online FF7 battles.. and a couple of "h4x" for it.

 

[Cyberman]

@Alhexx: No, a Trainer for Windows 98 may not work on NT 'cuz a faulty/lazy implementation by the developer.

@L. Spiro: Ok.. Seriosuly I am far from new to Online Game Hacking, that shouldn't suggest I consider myself as "uber l33t" or sumthin', but I find the whole concept way to vulnerable. Anyway keep the good work hopefully we will see online FF7 battles.. and a couple of "h4x" for it.

I think what Spiro was saying is that if the game is isoserver IE isolated to the server. The client is merely a something that performs the motions given by the server.  Thus the only information that's pertinent to the game is on the server.  Of course if the server looses the character it's gone.. forever

Cyb

 

[Akari]

Back to the FFVII engine. Why not to start making it like separate moduls and then compound it like it was when the original game was developed.

Right now I trying to get job of game programmer, so it will be great expierience to me.

L. Spiro, I can help you a little bit. Just tell what and where.

 

[L. Spiro]

I appreciate the offer but this is my project; as far as all coding is concerned, I just want to do it all.
I started this engine years ago and I didn’t have a great coding style back then.
Some things could be rewritten, modularized, optimized, etc., but it has to fall on me to do it.

I have the whole plan for the project in my head and it helps me to keep track of every tiny detail if I myself perform every tiny detail.

However, the greatest help you or anyone can be to me is to work out the battle animation file format.
I myself am giving it another go (or will be soon) and I can share what we have already uncovered about it.

I can even use the game RAM to get the final rotation values for each animation, so all you would have to do is look at the file and figure out how it went from the bits in the file to the float values in RAM.

I have actually taken the rotations from the RAM of the game and put them together to make my own raw rotation that my game could load.  It works.  My models will move correctly as long as I can translate the animations from their source files to the final float-value rotations.

Once animations are loaded I will make a demo which just runs through random animations on the battle field.

From there I can actually begin to create structured battle sequences and possibly get some client/server action going.


Another thing to do, if you don’t want to work on the battle animations, is finish the field file formats.
The images drawn in the fields are not finished.  Although mostly complete, there are obvious flaws in many of them.
Of course my engine will need to load them all correctly (and I will make sure there aren’t scanlines in my engine).

Of course if the server looses the character it's gone.. forever

*shrug* That’s just how it goes.  It’s the same for any game really.
I mean your save file can be edited on your end, so the server should NEVER ask your client for stat information.  Players will just have to trust the server to keep everything.  Of course that means a server owner who hates someone can delete his or her character too, just to be mean, but I suspect those servers won’t be too popular.


L. Spiro


P. S.: bulk_4me, there will be a few types of hacks that could be made for it.  My game uses your own resource files for everything.  If you modify those, they will show on your screen when you play (but no one else’s).
I plan to add alternative costumes and things of that nature.
You could unlock them on your own by changing your model files, but it’s really no big deal.  No one else will see your changes, and it doesn’t give you any advantage over someone else.

 

[Alhexx]

However, the greatest help you or anyone can be to me is to work out the battle animation file format.

I'm writing my exams in 4 weeks, so I don't have the time to take care of it now. But since now I'm reading a book about computer animation, I think I will give it a try after my exams.

 - Alhexx

 

[mirex]

However, the greatest help you or anyone can be to me is to work out the battle animation file format.
I myself am giving it another go (or will be soon) and I can share what we have already uncovered about it.

Hard thing to do man, I already tried long time ago, when Phareon's info came out. Its bit information .. i think it was 12 bits for a float ? And it does not work afterwards on next frame ... but it works on some next frames ... so i think either a) its somehow bit-aligned and i missed that b) those next frames are delta values, and some of the frames are not. c) maybe those are deltas or not, but some bones (which haven't moved) are left out from the frame data d) homm i had one idea but ... it just flew out of my mind.

I can give you information from Biturn, which can read at least some of the frames if you want.

Another thing to do, if you don’t want to work on the battle animations, is finish the field file formats.
The images drawn in the fields are not finished. Although mostly complete, there are obvious flaws in many of them.

What's missing on field file formats ? You mean field 3d models or something else ?

 

[L. Spiro]

i think it was 12 bits for a float ? And it does not work afterwards on next frame

Err, didn’t you remember it was I who provided more information about those files?
Remember, I redid the header structure, including number of frames in the information, and also the special byte that details how many bits per float.
0 = 12 bits, 2 = 10 bits, and 4 = 8 bits per float.

After that follows the position offset, then the rotations.
Then yes, there are some frames where the second animation from is decoded also.  I don’t know why yet because I haven’t studied any animation sets where this is actually the case.

c) maybe those are deltas or not, but some bones (which haven't moved) are left out from the frame data

I have confirmed that they are definitely deltas.  I have figured out the offset information for the second frame, which is delta information.  After that, I can change certain bits and cause his arm to move too much in a direction or something like this.  Everything points to offset data mixed with flags that determine which frames are left out and how many deltas there are.
I just can’t find the exact system.

I am hoping if bulk_4me gets the windowed patch up again I can use it to debug Final Fantasy VII and actually follow, step-by-step, the routine that decodes the battle animation file format.

What's missing on field file formats ? You mean field 3d models or something else ?

I am talking about the background files.  The 2-D animated backgrounds for every area where you can walk, aside from the main map.
To the best of my knowledge, LGP Tools has the most recent decoder for these files, but even with it you can see plenty of disfigured areas.

Then there is the walk mesh, which Micky (?) decoded, but I haven’t put any of that information to use yet.
I really need to back up that topic so it doesn’t get lost…


L. Spiro

 

[Cyberman]

Well
L. Spiro has a nice long diatrab on his working on the animation format.
Anyhow it appears to be some sort of nifty bit packed scheme.
12 10 8 bit angles (initial) then shifting to dx dy dz and the change in angle for each bone.
unfortunately with bit pack schemes like that it's never obvious how they work.  If it were people would have had the animation format decoded by now

Probably what would be helpful is a set of decoded (IE results) values (preferably integers) to work from a singular animation.

Cyb

 

[bulk_4me]

I am hoping if bulk_4me gets the windowed patch up again I can use it to debug Final Fantasy VII and actually follow, step-by-step, the routine that decodes the battle animation file format.

I'll but I am rewriting the whole thing.. stupid Sony discs. :lol:

 

[mirex]

Err, didn’t you remember it was I who provided more information about those files?

Eh sorry, I forgot about that I was using the specs from Phareon. But now I remember something that you were saying something about this ... now when I see the thread I remember ... sorry

Then there is the walk mesh, which Micky (?) decoded, but I haven’t put any of that information to use yet.

iirc it was 'Kero' who posted the screenshots of walkmesh

 

[L. Spiro]

I have compiled some information regarding Cloud’s first 5 animations (in rtda).
I can compile more but I have to sleep.


NOTE: THE .RAR and .ZIP ARCHIVES CONTAIN THE SAME FILES.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO DOWNLOAD THEM BOTH.
Cloud.rar
Cloud.zip


What this is:
Cloud’s first 5 animations in 3 files each and in 4 versions.
Each animation has a .bin file.  This is the raw data extracted from rtda.
This is the animation as it appears inside the files.  Every animation BEGINS on 0x11 (because the header is 0x11 bytes!).
Each animation begins with 6 bytes of offset information (3 shorts) followed by the root rotation (almost always 0 0 0).
Consult my “nice, long, hard, throbbing, ‘diatrab’” here for more format information.

Each .bin file has a .txt file (.bin.txt).  This is the above file, only translated into bits and hexadecimal.
I have put a break in these files where the second frame begins (and so begins the mostly non-decoded data).

Finally, each animation has a .txt version.  This is the final list of rotations for each frame/bone.  The goal is to take what is in the .bin files and turn them into what is in the .txt files.
The .txt files have two versions of the animation information.
A series of raw floats and then the same floats listed in frame/bone structure.  Offset information has been added also.  I wrote a script to do all of this.


Hopefully this will be enough to get some people interested in it.

I am thinking it is best to start with very simple animations though.
I want to get the animation information for the helicopter during the Rufus fight.  It is surely very simple and it would be very easy to see any patterns in that animation, but getting it is the hard part since I lost my files that had a save at every save point (hard drive crash).

Also, I would recommend this program specifically for the converter:
Memory Hacking Software
I am not sporting my own software here; that will come another day.
But in this case it really does have the most useful converting tool.
Just run it and press Alt-T/C, or go to Tools/Converter.
It shows things in both big and little Endean which makes it especially useful for hacking Final Fantasy® VII.
As well it shows many data types at once, which helps to recognize between data stored as floats or longs.


L. Spiro

 

[bulk_4me]

FF7w Mirror:

http://aaronserv.dyndns.org/!!stuff/qhimm/FF7w.zip

Thanx to Aaron

 

[MaTiAz]

anti-cheat stuff........

Wouldn't those anti-cheat measures be pretty CPU/Memory intensive, since all the "hard work" is done by the server?

 

[L. Spiro]

Not at all.
The anti-cheat by design simply means giving less information to the client and having the server keep track of your stats (which is only logical).


This won’t be at all process-intensive on the client end, and it won’t be packet-intensive on the server end.
Your stats change after every battle and when you change your equipment or use an item.
These are the times when the server will send your stats (and only the stats that have changed) to your client.
This could mean about 16 bytes of data (assuming a 10-byte header) sent when you give yourself a Potion, or up to 60 (spread out in chunks which your client will receive when you are looking at the items/gold you gained) after a battle.
60 is a rough guess, but I think that number should mostly stay down near 20 or so for an average after-battle gain (Gil + 2 or 3 items = [10-byte header + 2-byte specific header + Gil amount (4) + 2-byte specific header + item amount(s) (3 bytes per item)] = 10 + 2 + 4 + 2 + 6 (2 items) = 22.


As for the client, it is currently running at over 1,000 frames-per-second on my AMD 2.8 GHZ computer with a Radeon 9700.
I sent it to a friend some time ago who has a lower-end computer but he was also getting over 1,000.
You must understand that the models, textures, etc., were all designed for low-end machines (so low even a PlayStation® can handle it).
To completely remake the engine for modern machines leaves plenty of room for adding fancy effects or any type of mathematical computation.

I only plan to add a little; I don’t want to ruin the spice of the original game.  It isn’t the same unless the polygons are jagged.

While your client will have a huge frame rate, the server will also have room to spare.

The server has nothing to do but verify.
When formulating packets, it has nothing to do but add something to your current stat and then create a packet and send it to the client.
Client overwrites the old value with the new value, thus if you change your Gil in the client to 99999, when you get a packet that tells you your Gil is 10, your client will now have 10 for Gil.
When running a battle, it only needs to work about 2 or 3 times per second (when something attacks something else).

The anti-cheat measures aren’t active devices, running constantly to verify the client is clean.
It simply involves limiting information the client gets and never asking questions when it comes to stats.


L. Spiro

 

[rmco2003]

What about botting? If PVP is involved in this online rendition then players can use bots to increase their stats tenfold overnight like in Gunbound. That game has anti-cheat design but it still doesn't know when bots are running and when they're not.

 

[L. Spiro]

Bots are hard to detect and they were a problem in one of my previous games (a game my company is remaking now for Nintendo DS).

But actually there is one simple method that is a bit awkward, but works.
It’s essentially the same method forums use to control bot spamming.

After 1 or 2 hours of straight gaming, the server can send a message to the client which causes the client to display a graphical picture, which contains text.  The user would then need to type the text he or she see in the image before he or she is allowed to continue gaming on the server.
The person could just be AFK, so he or she won’t be kicked for not answering at all, but while the server is waiting for an answer, the player will not be able to move or fight in any battles.

The correct answer will not be sent to the client at all, so no hooks, RAM hacks, or packet sniffers will be able to find out the answer.
The server can generate the image and store the correct answer itself.
Then send only the image.
Client is ordered to display it (which can be ignored but it won't work since the server won’t let you battle until you answer the question).
When you type the text, it will send what you typed to the server.
The server will verify it and if it is correct, it will release the lock, allow you to continue, and order the client to stop showing you the picture.


It seems awkward to have to do this, but it isn’t unreasonable, and it will fix the bot problem.
It would only occur after a player has been playing for 2 hours (or so), which is pushing the limit of human endurance anyway.


But anyway, making a bot for this type of game is risky business.
Unless you put a lot of effort into the bot, it will just get you killed.
At least in medium+ battles.  Maybe it can fight MP’s all night but who is going to gain a level from that…


L. Spiro

 

[Qhimm]

Actually, real players might get more than a little miffed being constantly asked to verify their species like that. Also, the standard captcha's are starting to be cracked anyway, if we look at current anti-spamming measures.

 

[bulk_4me]

Bots are hard to detect and they were a problem in one of my previous games (a game my company is remaking now for Nintendo DS).

Which game?

 

[rmco2003]

You could always code for it to detect if keys are being pressed at regular intervals for more than 40+ minutes, I doubt human players can keep up constantly pressing a key at exactly the same time difference for that long, so it might be something to look in to rather than having to verify yourself all the time. Is this an official remake with official Nintendo devkits or are you using homebrew devkits for it?

 

[L. Spiro]

Actually, real players might get more than a little miffed being constantly asked to verify their species like that.

Yes, this is what I want to avoid, but at when it comes time I will just have to weigh the two sides.
If I can find a good lengthy time period that won’t bother too many people but at the same time won’t give bots as much time as they need to be useful, that would be best.

Also, the standard captcha's are starting to be cracked anyway, if we look at current anti-spamming measures.

Well nothing is ever going to be 100%.  I just have to deal with the 99% of script kiddies who are not skilled enough to get past these checks.  Eliminating them is worth it.

Which game?

It was a personal project of mine a long time ago.
An online fighting game where each player selects his or her moves in secret, then the bot (mIRC bot) would take their moves and deal damage, then let them both attack again.
Had a lot of magic and customization of your character and became quite popular for being just a text-based IRC battle bot.
The battle style is like Pokémon in terms of both players select their moves (secretly) and then attack.
The rest of the game and battle mechanics are really their own styles.
I borrowed some things I liked from some good games and mixed in some new things of my own to make sure the battles are very interesting and strategic.  This is important, since “just attack until you win” is dull and pointless.  I want magic and strategic combinations of spells to decide the winner, with pure stats being more of a minor factor, but still enough factor that a player 10 levels higher than you will almost always win, unless he is a moron or TRYING to lose.
Each spell needs more value besides just “deal more damage than a regular attack would”.  Spells need to actually do things to somehow change the state of the character.
So, it is actually pretty fun and most of the people who played the original are very excited about it.
Several of them have decided this game is the only reason they will buy a Nintendo DS.

You could always code for it to detect if keys are being pressed at regular intervals for more than 40+ minutes, I doubt human players can keep up constantly pressing a key at exactly the same time difference for that long, so it might be something to look in to rather than having to verify yourself all the time.

When you make a bot, you don’t necessarily have to put keypresses on timers that repeat.
You can hook in-game functions to find out when things are happening and then only hit keys in reply to those events.
Especially during battle, where the bot would have to wait for its turn to attack.

Is this an official remake with official Nintendo devkits or are you using homebrew devkits for it?

It is an official remake that, when completed, you should be able to go to the store and buy.  We are using official devkits.


L. Spiro