[PC] Field background editor - Palmer (0.8b)

[Kranmer]

well i had a go resizing and adding a filter and i had the same problem as seifertemp (to be expected) then i tried a few idea's and i managed to get a somwhat alright result here

i 200% sized the image and added a blur filter and a noise filter and it seems to look alright (proberly over blured slightly but it is only a test to see what can and cant be done)

 

[Kudistos Megistos]

It's nice to see that it worked 

It's much better than the normal background, but you're right about there being a bit too much blur; it'll be a shame if it's not possible to sharped the image at all.  :|

 

[Borde]

Congratulations for your excelent work Aali. I still remember the summer tried doing something like this. And failed miserably (as some may remember).

The way I see this, the only way of filetring the backgrounds correctly (without all those green, black, red, etc artifacts) would be filtering the whole image (with all layers applied). Of course, this is problematic. I'd say there are 3 cases regarding the backgrounds:
-Standard static backrounds. Applying the filter directly should suffice.
-Animated backgrounds. You should filter the whole background with every frame of the animation applied. Then save the animated tiles where they belong.
-I think there are some backgrounds that had sliding layers. That would be more troublesome. This would need not only a good filtering, but also a good deal of patience cutting off manually the edges of the layers.

 

[halkun]

We should be doing fractal scales and photoshop touchups. I'm wikking to try that. DO they make a fractal plugin for Gimp?

 

[Hellbringer616]

We should be doing fractal scales and photoshop touchups. I'm wikking to try that. DO they make a fractal plugin for Gimp?

Not from them directly. But i'm not sure if someone open sourced something similar.

 

[Aali]

Here's a little something I whipped up last night;

Now, don't expect Palmer to get support for FF8 overnight, I'm still not sure I can even do that in a reasonable amount of time.
This is just a proof of concept, it BARELY works, sometimes

 

[Makubex (Mendelevium)]

Now I cannot wait for that! If you can get it to support FF8...
you will make me, and probably many people very happy!

 

[obesebear]

Well now I'm expecting some FFIX lovin'

 

[Hellbringer616]

Don't think thats possible haha, Unless someone were to rewrite everything for a PC version haha

 

[Arsirus UK]

I`m not having any joy importing the files back.
I click on import and nothing happens any ideas??

 

[Aali]

Hmm, seems like I didn't add an error message for when it can't open the file.
You should not any have underscores or periods in the filename, apart from whatever is added by palmer when you do the export, that will mess up the import. (When doing the import, palmer doesn't actually open the file you choose, instead its filename is used as a template to find all the layers and because of this it will cut off the filename at the first underscore)
Also make sure your PNGs are 24- or 32-bit, no other formats are supported.

 

[Arsirus UK]

Whats the best program to get it to 32bit Photoshop will only do 16??

 

[Fleet Command]

^ Photoshop is one of the only programs (and one of the best) that supports 32-bit.

EDIT: Oh, and by the way, usually the only thing that you should do in Photoshop to get 24- or 32-bit PNGs is not doing anything specific.

 

[Colly]

Now, don't expect Palmer to get support for FF8 overnight, I'm still not sure I can even do that in a reasonable amount of time.
This is just a proof of concept, it BARELY works, sometimes

Now I cannot wait for that! If you can get it to support FF8...
you will make me, and probably many people very happy!

If somebody wants edit backgrounds in FF8, there is a way, if you use programs created by Kruci.
See here:
https://www.ff7catalog.com/threads/5565/

...in the seventh section It works:

Kruci's program converts MIM -> BMPs (and BMPs -> MIM), these BMPs you can edit in Photoshop/GIMP/whatever.

 

[Fleet Command]

Thanks for letting us know... but if I were you, I'd keep a gun close just in case.  :-D

 

[Colly]

Thanks for letting us know... but if I were you, I'd keep a gun close just in case.  :-D

If somebody shoot me, who will create program to convert translations (and backgrounds ) from PC to PSX? :-D :wink:

 

[Millenia]

Man you're such a one man army Aali  :-D

 

[Makubex (Mendelevium)]

Now, don't expect Palmer to get support for FF8 overnight, I'm still not sure I can even do that in a reasonable amount of time.
This is just a proof of concept, it BARELY works, sometimes

Now I cannot wait for that! If you can get it to support FF8...
you will make me, and probably many people very happy!

If somebody wants edit backgrounds in FF8, there is a way, if you use programs created by Kruci.
See here:
https://www.ff7catalog.com/threads/5565/


...in the seventh section It works:

Kruci's program converts MIM -> BMPs (and BMPs -> MIM), these BMPs you can edit in Photoshop/GIMP/whatever.

I know this is going to sound really lame... but, i can't figure out how to get the Tim. plug in
into my photo shop....
-.-

It is
Adobe CS4 Photo Shop Portable..

 

[Makubex (Mendelevium)]

Alright.
I tried to use Palmer..
and When i opened it up..
all i got was a black screen,,
and yes i know i have to right click to get the sub menus.. but they don't show up..
and when they do they are just black boxes...

i clicked it randomly and the load file thing popped up

here is a screenie

the sub menu is the black box off to the bottom right of palmer.

*edit*
OMG
I am sorry... i forgot i posted here..
sorry for the double post..
-.-

i have been doing this a lot lately..
sorry.

 

[Fleet Command]

I'm stuck at Step 7 of Aali's instructions:

7. Put the png files from step 6 in the "textures" directory (from the OpenGL driver install)

I extracted flevel.lgp into "G:\temp" folder. I modified a field background -- size and resolution still remains the same. Then, I saved the field file into "G:\temp\new" folder and got field file plus the .PNG files I'm supposed to get. But now I don't understand, what does "the "textures" directory (from the OpenGL driver install)" mean? Which OpenGL driver? Which "textures" folder.

Please help. Thanks in advance.

Note that I'm targeting a vanilla Final Fantasy VII without no modification.

ADDENDUM: Reopened the modified field file in Palmer and, oh my, it looks exactly like the original background. What happened to my changes? It looked correctly changed when I saved it!