New Field backgrounds/CG Cutscenes thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter BlitzNCS
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Guys, Bad news.
I was trying to get my OSX/windows thing working and well, I installed a bootloader onto my Windows partition, where I kept all my stuff.
Only problem is, Now I can't boot into that partition, and according to OSX, it's slightly corrupted. Anyone know of any way at all to recover stuff from a corrupted NTFS formatted harddrive from OSX? To be honest I'm willing to go the whole hog and install linux if someone knows a way it'll help.

I might be out of action for a good while because of this, and unless I can recover stuff, I've more than likely lost all the stuff I had on it, including all my contributions to this project (Not as if there was much anyway)
Click to expand...
Explain to me exactly what you have done.

Writing a bootloader to a partition, alone, should not 'corrupt' the drive. If the bootloader doesn't have an entry for the OS, it won't boot it, but writing a GRUB MENU.LST is pretty trivial...

First instinct would be to create a new partition in unused space, install GRUB to MBR, have the LST provide a Windows entry (via chainloader), and boot that way, but I'd prefer to know exactly what you've done before instructing you.

Tell me:
- which bootloader? GRUB? GRUB 2? LILO?
- where did you have it write its config files to?
- where's the bootloader? On the root of the Windows partition? On the MBR of the disk?
- why you didn't backup your work before making major modifications to your installation ; )
Click to expand...
...I Feel like a total Hermoor for formatting the partition before I got the chance to see this post. D'oh!
...Just because it's a small consolation, I'll answer the questions anyway  ;D

- It was PCEFI v9
- God only knows. I just clicked on the windows partition and let it install, thinking it might solve my problem. Actually, right before that, I did the same thing to the OSX partition, except it didn't ruin it. In fact, it did nothing.
- Same answer as before.
- Because I didn't think installing something onto a partition was enough to completely obliterate it. Actually, last time I backed up was while I was working on Junon, as it goes. I won't have a complete version of it, and it won't be anywhere near texture-ready, but it's not completely gone. I'd say it'll take me about a week to get everything back to how it was.
 
First things first: download RECUVA. Formatting will only wipe the boot record, and reinstalling will take up a block on the disk that might well miss your FF7 data. Using RECUVA might let you access and recover data that's still on the physical drive, as only low-level formatting actually 'wipes' data.

Now:

1. PC EFI is not a bootloader, as I recall - but I don't know a lot about it. I believe it's just a means of patching an OS X kernel so that it can boot on 'general' x86 machines with the aid of, say, GRUB (I've never followed hackintosh stuff at all, though). You needed to apply it, IIRC, to the OS X hfs partition only, and then install GRUB as a bootloader. There's your problem. Applying EFI to your NTFS partition might cause a LOT of issues, or might do nothing at all. Looks like the former...

2. ...That's about the limit of my understanding of EFI, and I'd put good money on the next poster coming in to prove me completely wrong....

3. It is. It's very easy to render a machine unbootable this way. Also, gain a copy of FreeDOS that you can use as a LiveCD. If you install a bootloader to the MBR, you can then use FDISK to repair it. Saved my ass countless times.

4. Use RECUVA as soon as possible. The longer you leave it, the greater the chance the 'defunct' data will be overwritten!


TRIVIA TIME:

Reformatting doesn't actually wipe out data. It just wipes and rebuilds the file table. You can think of a partition like a book. Rather than going through every page to find the info you need, you have a 'contents' page and an index that lets you quickly locate data. This contents page is like your file table. Reformatting rewrites the contents page, but doesn't change the rest of the book.

Reformatting, then, doesn't actually wipe data. The exception is 'low level formatting', which actively overwrites all parts of the disk with zeroes. However, if a particle has been at "one" for a long time, it will still have a 'trace' in its magnetic field - it won't have the exact same response as a 'natural' zero particle. It's therefore possible to take an "analogue" read of the disk, by changing the tolerance of the disk heads. This method will produce 'likely' sector images, which probably represent the disk sections prior to reformatting. These can then be combined and recombined, to create a likely pre-format disk image. This image can be searched for "sensitive" data: credit card info, bank details, or evidence of criminal activity. Thus, neither deleting, formatting or a single low-level reformat action can securely wipe data.

You can get around this another way, by using a 'data shredder', that repeatedly writes and overwrites with ones and zeros, in varying patterns. This can fully 'clean' the disk.

The truly paranoid, of course, simply keep their 'sensitive activities' to some secure flash-drive-booting linux distro, and use a proper proxy service for online activity, though government and law enforcement can often coerce proxy providers into handing over their (extant) records. And for good reason, too.
 
Last edited:
That was very educational, Bosola. Thank you for sharign that. I hope Neo can recover his data and his last saved version of Junon.
 
Holy crap!  You would have saved my life when I had a similar issues on my desktop's last partition.  What I did was delete my linux partition the wrong way from my windows partition.  Idiot me I realized after the fact that grub was my bootloader and linux my primary partition effectively locking my hard drive from any boot.
 
Just thought I'd check with you guys first before I go any further...



Keep or use column structure seen before? I want to use these but I don't want to deviate from keeping true to the original too much. As far as actual structuring goes it is more realistic to build things this way, otherwise they're quite easy to knock down...

Let me know so I can start working again!
 
I would suggest keeping to the originals, just for the sake of consistency. But it probably would not be a big deal if changed.
 
I will use these for now then, as they're quite easy to change. If push comes to shove, I could always have two different versions for people to choose between.
 
How about change those bottom two rows into one row of square blocks. The remainder can be how you have it.
This'll help it look less like a industrial brick wall.
 
Actually i think the temple is 4 row tall, look at the fast pic i made.

FF7TempleConcept.png


I think the floor is not at the same level as the cliff, which could make sense since the temple was carved into the rock.

And about the door, i think they just made it 2 * (half bricks) or (2/3 bricks) long, and padded/centered the other bricks.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the observations, Satan and Xeno. I'll take those into account. Have either of you got any/more work to show at all?

It'll be on hold over the weekend while I catch up with coursework, or I'll try to fit a few hours in if I can, then back to college on Monday. I've worked out how I'm gonna build the step pyramid. Like mentioned before it's a tricky design but it can be done. Thanks for the support - I'm new to modelling but I'm very eager to become a contributor to this project.
 
Can you redirect me to a topic that will show me how to insert a background. I decided to make an other background, the costa del sol is in stand by, but I almost finish the entrance of gold saucer. I need to test it in game to see if the camera is well placed and other things like that.
sorry for my english one more time  ;D

thank you and good job guys
 
Can you redirect me to a topic that will show me how to insert a background. I decided to make an other background, the costa del sol is in stand by, but I almost finish the entrance of gold saucer. I need to test it in game to see if the camera is well placed and other things like that.
sorry for my english one more time  ;D

thank you and good job guys
Click to expand...
I sadly can't point you to anything other then ali's program "palmer" (do a search and your find it)
but post some screens, we'd love to see your work
 
1. show screens, we want to see! :P
2. to know if a camera is well aligned, overlay the original. If all the key points, particularly on the floor, match up, it'll be good.
 
ok thank's for the informations.
I didn't show you because there is a lot of things to do (the lightning is ugly  ;D ) , I realy want to have the correct camera view before à correct the rest. I'll try to use an overlay like sumisu said.
But if you insist, here is a screen I made yesterday for my friends
http://www.monsterup.com/upload/127118202252.jpg
 
ok thank's for the informations.
I didn't show you because there is a lot of things to do (the lightning is ugly  ;D ) , I realy want to have the correct camera view before à correct the rest. I'll try to use an overlay like sumisu said.
But if you insist, here is a screen I made yesterday for my friends
http://www.monsterup.com/upload/127118202252.jpg
Click to expand...
Wow that is great work Harro!. Did you make those textures yourself? how did you get the pics on the floor made them yourself from scratch?
 
:) thanks, I'm working on a better version . oups I forgot to remove the GP dealer :-D
Mako: I searched for the original pics but they don't available on internet so I put  Fat chocobo from chocobo tales on DS, and two mog I found in google, and then I tried to make the same floor as the original. I made this on photoshop.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top