[WIP/ALPHA REL]Battle Interface Reconstruction

[Kudistos Megistos]

I'd very much like to see the battle interface left intact and just moved to the bottom. If you release this, can you release multiple versions, some with transparency, some without, and some with all the features left and some with various features removed?

Yeah this is a good idea, i will make a first patch with the original layout (like in the picture above), and then make a second one with some of the idea's that have been posted here to try and make a different layout,
do you think i should leave the battle menu where it is to save any trouble that may be caused by moving it or do you think i should try lowering that as well ? the reason i ask is that it will proably take a lot of work to make the command window since if i move one will all the other windows work and will they look out of place and will they glitch (plus it would take a long time to find the values for every single thing in the command window)

Hmmm, you do know that by leaving the interface intact that I meant leaving the blue background intact and not making it transparent, right?

And as for the command window, well, I didn't think about that. It would obviously be a problem, since it goes lower than the battle interface; would it be possible to move the battle interface so that the bottom of the command window touches the bottom of the screen, leaving a barely noticeable amount of black space beneath the normal battle interface/window/whatever you call it?

 

[Armorvil]

Since you said you weren't going to try and edit the gauges yourself Kranmer, I thought "hey, why wouldn't I try and edit them ?"
So, I extracted the tex files in menu_us.lgp, converted them to .bmp thanks to img2tex, and started putting numbers in the different bars. So I'd find out which bars were the ones to edit.

I got this :

Don't you guys notice something funny ? Hint : it's not the weird colors. I bet the weird colors appeared because I didn't use the right palette to write my numbers on the bars, so it should easily be fixed. No, the funny thing is, the game now uses a second Barrier gauge for both the TIME and LIMIT gauges ! The upper gauge on the right is the Time gauge, while the one just below it is the Limit one.

It's really weird, because I didn't edit anything else - I just wrote numbers on all the gauges in a flashy yellow. Anyways, now I know the Barrier gauges are found in btl_win_b_l.tex.

 

[sl1982]

Yeah, you could have just asked about the battle bars. I have redone most of the stuff in the menu_us.lgp. And yes they do use the same bars. And there are different bars for the limit and experience bars in the menu itself. If you are using the avalanche overhaul you can just edit the png's themselves. You should be able to find them in the textures\MenuArt folder.

 

[pyrozen]

Yeah, you could have just asked about the battle bars. I have redone most of the stuff in the menu_us.lgp. And yes they do use the same bars. And there are different bars for the limit and experience bars in the menu itself. If you are using the avalanche overhaul you can just edit the png's themselves. You should be able to find them in the textures\MenuArt folder.

yup, dont even waste your time messing with the TEX files, SL has already provided a much easier option for altering them

 

[Armorvil]

Oh, thanks for the info guys. I am guilty of not checking Team Avalanche's section too often, and I'm downloading the great overhaul as I type this.
Still, any idea why the normal Time and Limit bars were removed, and a second Barrier double-bar was added ?... ...It might look good with normal colors.

 

[sl1982]

I think it has to do with the 9999+hp patch

 

[Armorvil]

Ha, yes. On a side note, I just installed Team Avalanche's overhaul, and I can't believe I didn't install this awesomeness earlier  And I thought the menu looked good before... ...This is pure genius, and it will same me a lot of time in editing some stuff

 

[Kranmer]

Hmmm, you do know that by leaving the interface intact that I meant leaving the blue background intact and not making it transparent, right?

And as for the command window, well, I didn't think about that. It would obviously be a problem, since it goes lower than the battle interface; would it be possible to move the battle interface so that the bottom of the command window touches the bottom of the screen, leaving a barely noticeable amount of black space beneath the normal battle interface/window/whatever you call it?

Ah i had missunderstood but now i see what you mean, OK i will make 2 patches for version 1, one will have transparency and the second won't.
I am still working on the command window but i have managed to successfully move it down to the bottom of the screen (it was a pain since i had to move LIMIT,THROW,COIN separately to the rest of the text which meant I had to spend ages looking for those values), I just need to move the magic,summon,item,e-skill menu's down to the bottom now and fix DEFEND and CHANGE since they appear way to high and once that is done i should be able to move the help bar down to make it fit better.
Anyway here is what i have got done so far
None Transparent version for you

And here is the Transparent version for anyone interested, also i have now removed the blue from the top box (the one that lists what skill is being used) and from the help box to make them look a little neater, i am having trouble removing the borders around these so i have had to leave them in (for now at least)

also i am sorry the video quality is lower but i did these on my laptop which has less power so i can't record in 720p.

And also thanks for clearing that up sl1982, i have the TA patch installed in a few of my sandbox's and i have never really had a good look at the files.

For this project i am using a clean 1.02 (i do this to go for max compatibility) with Aali's Custom driver but i will look into adding support for any patch's that are not compatible (for example i tried the YAMP patch and it mostly works but the LIMIT and TIME bar end up in the same place, so i may need to make a separate patch for this)

 

[nikfrozty]

Nice work man!! I like the non transparent one better. Anyways you said you can't move the names of the characters to the right end right?? But can you move it to exchange places where the commands are chosen?? Like the FFX one.. The commands are on the left and the names are in the middle just next to the commands. I don't know about other people but it kind of looks proper in my eyes that way.

 

[Kudistos Megistos]

Ah, that's looking pretty good. As you said, some of the menus are in crazy positions, but if everything can be fixed, we'll be able to win back a lot of wasted space at the bottom of the screen.

 

[Nightmarish]

Something has to be done with the top and help boxes though.
The borders around it look odd and without borders it might look odd too. Got to see where the top & help box were in FFX (for example).

 

[Kranmer]

Ah, that's looking pretty good. As you said, some of the menus are in crazy positions, but if everything can be fixed, we'll be able to win back a lot of wasted space at the bottom of the screen.

well i think everything can be fixed (here is hoping) but it may take a while to fix it all up to look right but i am working on it, and after i get the menu's looking right i will then start work on tying to figure out the animation problem and the "Eye Opener" problem (neither of these are high priority since i can live with it but i would prefere not to), I just hope i can figure those out.

Nice work man!! I like the non transparent one better. Anyways you said you can't move the names of the characters to the right end right?? But can you move it to exchange places where the commands are chosen?? Like the FFX one.. The commands are on the left and the names are in the middle just next to the commands. I don't know about other people but it kind of looks proper in my eyes that way.

I doubt i can switch the battle menu with the names, I can probably move the battle menu to the far left (but this would cause problems with CHANGE since it would be off screen) but the character names are a bit of a pain (they don't appear to be on a roller like the limit menu's so its not as simple as just replacing 1 item on the menu with another) i will look further into the character names but the problem i have is that when the character names get to the value of 0x7F they are as far as they will go on the X-Axis, if you try to go above that number it loops back around and you end up with the names back on the left side of the screen.

Something has to be done with the top and help boxes though.
The borders around it look odd and without borders it might look odd too. Got to see where the top & help box were in FFX (for example).

I will have to have a look at the other games help boxes,
I could always just reposition them and not make them transparent so they don't look to odd, i would like to hear more opinion's on this matter.

 

[nikfrozty]

Now I must be stupid about thinking these but you know in FF8 when you're running from that machine monster in Squall's seed exam?? When in fight you can't actually defeat it but you have to run away from it. There's a clue or like a help box to on the highest part of the screen so if you do that in ff7 I think it will look good with no box and just words. Just a suggestion..
EDIT:I haven't actually tried defeating the machine thing so sorry for that. Thanks for the correction Kudistos. (not also in topic)

 

[Kudistos Megistos]

Now I must be stupd about thinking these but you know in FF8 when you're running from that machine monster in Squall's seed exam?? When in fight you can't actually defeat it but you have to run away from it. There's a clue or like a help box to on the highest part of the screen so if you do that in ff7 I think it will look good with no box and just words. Just a suggestion..

[not really on topic]It can be defeated[/not really on topic]

 

[Timber]

I can probably move the battle menu to the far left (but this would cause problems with CHANGE since it would be off screen)

Perhaps you could move the CHANGE and DEFEND boxes to be on top of the battle menu, instead of beside it.
I don't think it would look bad.

 

[Nightmarish]

Or make Change/defend appear in the same position as the battle menu, in the same window (or try to simulate the same window by making a new one exactly on the same spot) just like in FFX. Maybe have the change & defend in the same window, instead of one to the right and one to the left.


You can see here it here:

While we're at it, would it be possible to do an attack while having a limit break?
I mean, having the 2 commands separated; always having the attack comand active and have limit, for example, on the same window as Defend & change.

 

[jeffdamann]

I always use magic or d.blow or something when I dont wanna use my limit

 

[Armorvil]

I tried deleting some stuff, and here is the result :

I would also like to delete the HP and MP gauges, any idea where those are located ?

EDIT :

And here is what happens if you delete the borders in btlcl_00.png (thanks a lot to Team Avalanche, by the way) :

Now, with the transparent background Kranmer came up with, as well as with the removal of the HP and MP bars, I think I'd get the menu I'd like  

 

[Kranmer]

I have spent the morning working on the change and defend box, i have just fixed the them so now it looks better then it did (the picture below is the change box when you are at LIMIT)

now i am going to start work on the sub menu's (magic,summon,item,e-skill, i think these are the only ones that need doing but i am not sure, throw and coin my need doing as well) and see what i can come up with.

Perhaps you could move the CHANGE and DEFEND boxes to be on top of the battle menu, instead of beside it.
I don't think it would look bad.

I might be able to do something like this, i have already had a quick look and it appears i can move the change box over to the right and down so i don't see why i can't move it above, but the Help bar would probably get in the way of doing it with this method. Anyway i will look more into what can be done and what can't be done for the patch after i finish sorting the original battle interface.

Or make Change/defend appear in the same position as the battle menu, in the same window (or try to simulate the same window by making a new one exactly on the same spot) just like in FFX. Maybe have the change & defend in the same window, instead of one to the right and one to the left.


You can see here it here:

While we're at it, would it be possible to do an attack while having a limit break?
I mean, having the 2 commands separated; always having the attack comand active and have limit, for example, on the same window as Defend & change.

Well it may be possible to add a 4th line to the battle command window with things like change and defend on it but this would look messy when people only have a 1 line battle command menu since it would be very bare with just change and defend at the end, plus i would have to disable the original change and defend.
But it may be possible to put the change menu on the right in the same place as defend but the user will still have to press left to get to change on the right.
Hm as far as i know attack changes to limit as soon as the bar is full, i can make a separate command for limit (so the user can always use limit break, infact i have already done this on my trainer) but i don't know if its possible to make a always attack command (without disabling limit break).

I tried deleting some stuff, and here is the result :

I would also like to delete the HP and MP gauges, any idea where those are located ?

Looking nice Armorvil, maybe you should make your own battle interface patch.
I haven't seen the HP and MP gauges in any of the TEX files (they may be there but i haven't seen them) you may be better asking sl1982 if he knows (i have found ways of changing the colour and deleting them and changing their sizes but i don't know where the images are kept or if there is even any images)

 

[Armorvil]

Looking nice Armorvil, maybe you should make your own battle interface patch.

I'll think about it

I haven't seen the HP and MP gauges in any of the TEX files (they may be there but i haven't seen them) you may be better asking sl1982 if he knows (i have found ways of changing the colour and deleting them and changing their sizes but i don't know where the images are kept or if there is even any images)

Well, your method of deleting them should suit my needs just fine. On a side note, I edited my above post to show my battle interface without borders. It might be worth a look