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31
Submissions / Lucca and Nadia - My first drawings
« on: May 22, 2008, 10:03:27 pm »
I used part of the recent interim of Chrono Cross model extraction as an opportunity to take an initial step into drawing. Below are the first sketches I think are at least somewhat worthy of public consumption. When I'm a little more experienced with line art I'll hopefully come back and color these.
Comments welcome.
Comments welcome.
32
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 18, 2008, 11:19:28 pm »
That is only one of the UV issues I was referring to. For examples of some of the others, see the attached images. There seem to be four underlying issues, possibly related:
(1) Model files such as Serge's that have black space at the bottom of the corresponding texture have UV data that extend into the black space. That's what is causing the black spots near Serge's wrists.
(2) Some of the UV coordinates appear to be off by one pixel. This is what causes the line down Serge's back and Flea's face.
(3) Once in a while I find a face with UV coordinates applied to the wrong vertices. This has the effect of making the texture of that face appear rotated from what it ought to be.
(4) Blender is unable to handle transparency in texture data. This is what causes the black in Glenn's bangs.
Not sure yet how to fix these things.
[attachment deleted by admin]
(1) Model files such as Serge's that have black space at the bottom of the corresponding texture have UV data that extend into the black space. That's what is causing the black spots near Serge's wrists.
(2) Some of the UV coordinates appear to be off by one pixel. This is what causes the line down Serge's back and Flea's face.
(3) Once in a while I find a face with UV coordinates applied to the wrong vertices. This has the effect of making the texture of that face appear rotated from what it ought to be.
(4) Blender is unable to handle transparency in texture data. This is what causes the black in Glenn's bangs.
Not sure yet how to fix these things.
[attachment deleted by admin]
33
Chrono / Gameplay Casual Discussion / Re: Play! Symphony to Record Prague Concert for CD
« on: May 17, 2008, 10:24:22 am »
Looks like it's a CD with a bonus DVD of the Prague concert. Can't tell whether Chrono is represented...my guess is that if we can find evidence that it was performed in Prague, then odds are good it will be on the CD. Appears that it will generally cost $40 and be available around July 1. It's in preorder now, and if you preorder by the end of May you save $5.
Anyone going to preorder?
Anyone going to preorder?
34
General Discussion / Re: A complete list of the most GM compatable game soundfonts made?
« on: May 16, 2008, 09:06:26 am »
Ahem. Wouldn't you really be nerdy if you knew immediately that the GM stood for General MIDI, as I did?
As to the original query, I would say your best bet is to load a generic GM soundfont underneath the FF soundfonts, so as to fill in the missing instruments. Generic GM soundfonts are plentiful, and some of them are not completely terrible. For those, Google is your friend.
As to the original query, I would say your best bet is to load a generic GM soundfont underneath the FF soundfonts, so as to fill in the missing instruments. Generic GM soundfonts are plentiful, and some of them are not completely terrible. For those, Google is your friend.
35
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 16, 2008, 12:45:39 am »
I was wondering if anyone was going to mention the possibility of an exporter. I don't think it would be too hard to do, although there is the matter of fully determining what the unknown data represents. It would certainly be a separate script from the importer, and unfortunately not quite as simple as switching lines of code around.
But yes, definitely finish the importer first.
But yes, definitely finish the importer first.
36
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 15, 2008, 01:29:44 pm »
Blender can handle animations (although I am largely unfamiliar with that aspect, so there would be some learning there), so in principle I don't see why we couldn't do animations.
I expect that the final results of this endeavor will be a set of .blend files (Blender's native format), one for each model, plus screenshot images for the encyclopedia. I could probably provide a few other 3D file formats if desired. Since Blender is free, anyone who wants will be able to download it and the .blend files and use them as they see fit. (The screenshots I've been posting really don't compare to seeing the models in glorious 3D.)
Once the importer is working 100% I will write another script to batch convert all of the model files to whatever 3D file formats we decide on. These scripts will also be freely available.
I expect that the final results of this endeavor will be a set of .blend files (Blender's native format), one for each model, plus screenshot images for the encyclopedia. I could probably provide a few other 3D file formats if desired. Since Blender is free, anyone who wants will be able to download it and the .blend files and use them as they see fit. (The screenshots I've been posting really don't compare to seeing the models in glorious 3D.)
Once the importer is working 100% I will write another script to batch convert all of the model files to whatever 3D file formats we decide on. These scripts will also be freely available.
37
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 15, 2008, 12:19:47 am »
It works! This is a HUGE milestone, because every battle model file that I have renders perfectly. That means Serge, Kid, Guile, Glenn, Dark Serge, Ozzie, Flea, and Slash. For now I've only provided Guile and Glenn as evidence.
There's a small bit of work to do with the UV data yet, but my script confirms that the structures of Sections 1 and 2 as we've listed them are accurate. I've attached version 0.3.0 of my script for archival.
BTW, the rotation order is XYZ after all.
[attachment deleted by admin]
38
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 14, 2008, 09:43:58 pm »
In the meantime, I think I've fixed some of the problems with the models. Click attachments and enjoy.
[attachment deleted by admin]
[attachment deleted by admin]
39
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 14, 2008, 05:22:37 pm »
Excellent.
Are you still zeroing out the rotation data in Section 2? If not, I wouldn't mind seeing a screenshot of that with no animations applied. If the result looks like what my script produces when I ignore those Section 2 rotations, then I will know that I am on the right track.
Are you still zeroing out the rotation data in Section 2? If not, I wouldn't mind seeing a screenshot of that with no animations applied. If the result looks like what my script produces when I ignore those Section 2 rotations, then I will know that I am on the right track.
40
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 13, 2008, 11:57:54 pm »
One thing you might try is zeroing out all of the Section 2 rotation data and seeing what happens. (Hopefully that doesn't result in crashing the game.)
41
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 13, 2008, 09:06:22 pm »
I had reached the same conclusion about the Section 2 data in the last few weeks I think.
Hopefully I'll have some time to add the new knowledge to my script soon. I don't really expect it to improve the results I'm seeing with the current version, as I think it's the Section 2 data that really needs a second look.
Hopefully I'll have some time to add the new knowledge to my script soon. I don't really expect it to improve the results I'm seeing with the current version, as I think it's the Section 2 data that really needs a second look.
42
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 11, 2008, 12:28:42 pm »
My understanding is that it's closer to this:
Of course, I don't have that part of my import script working 100% yet, so the above should be taken with at least two grains of salt.
PJ PJ PJ PJ XR XR YR YR - ZR ZR XC XC YC YC ZC ZC
BI BI BI BI
Where...
PJ = Index of parent joint (-1 if no parent)
XR = X rotation (range: -4096 to 4095, where 4096 = 360 degrees)
YR = Y rotation (range: -4096 to 4095, where 4096 = 360 degrees)
ZR = Z rotation (range: -4096 to 4095, where 4096 = 360 degrees)
XC = X coordinate in 3D space relative to parent joint
YC = Y coordinate in 3D space relative to parent joint
ZC = Z coordinate in 3D space relative to parent joint
BI = Current bone index (-1 if current joint and parent joint do not form a bone)
Of course, I don't have that part of my import script working 100% yet, so the above should be taken with at least two grains of salt.
43
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: May 10, 2008, 10:19:04 am »
That's because Section 1-1 actually has the repeating structure
{unidentified data}
8-byte vertex groups
16-byte vertex groups
The length of each segment of unidentified data can be determined by reading the first four bytes. If the value is 1, the length is 24 (including the first four bytes); if the value is greater than 1, the length is 24 + 4*value.
In Serge's model file there are two repeats of that structure, with offsets
0x0020-0x003f Unknown
0x0040-0x008b 8-byte vertex groups - 301 vertices
0x008c-0x028b 16-byte vertex groups - 210 vertices
0x028c-0x02ab Unknown
0x02ac-0x02b7 8-byte vertex groups - 5 vertices
0x02b8-0x0357 16-byte vertex groups - 43 vertices
No idea what the unknown sections represent.
{unidentified data}
8-byte vertex groups
16-byte vertex groups
The length of each segment of unidentified data can be determined by reading the first four bytes. If the value is 1, the length is 24 (including the first four bytes); if the value is greater than 1, the length is 24 + 4*value.
In Serge's model file there are two repeats of that structure, with offsets
0x0020-0x003f Unknown
0x0040-0x008b 8-byte vertex groups - 301 vertices
0x008c-0x028b 16-byte vertex groups - 210 vertices
0x028c-0x02ab Unknown
0x02ac-0x02b7 8-byte vertex groups - 5 vertices
0x02b8-0x0357 16-byte vertex groups - 43 vertices
No idea what the unknown sections represent.
44
General Discussion / Re: Anyone else upgrading today?
« on: April 24, 2008, 03:58:22 pm »
Ubuntu/Kubuntu has become the distro I recommend to almost anyone who asks me about Linux. I'll be upgrading this evening. Haven't decided whether to pick KDE 3 or 4, and I might end up installing both.
45
Chrono Cross Modification / Re: CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD
« on: April 23, 2008, 01:57:16 pm »
I can't say for sure until I mess around with it, but as near as I can tell the way I was doing it was X-Y-Z order, so it's something different anyway.
I may also try to play around with those rotations in debug mode too.
I may also try to play around with those rotations in debug mode too.