Final Fantasy Hacktics

First, let me be clear.  I'm in the process of designing my own project, and I was originally doing this for my own reference purposes, but after talking to some of the members in the chat, I realized that it could be a rather good tool for anyone else working on their own FFT project.  So.

I'm recording a short video clip of EVERY SINGLE ABILITY AND SPELL ANIMATION.

I originally started doing this at Mandalia Plains, and got about 15 done before a suggestion cropped up that I record inside of the Deep Dungeon.  Doing so silhouetted most spells (though I also need to compare to see if spells that have a lot of black need a different background to be best viewed, such as white).

The problem with the Deep Dungeon is primarily with larger area spells.  The heights with the terrain cause parts of the animation to be blocked from view.  So what I need is a completely flat map, with the blackness of the Deep Dungeon maps.  Several people have said it's possible, but they weren't exactly sure how to do it.

Because I've already had to start over twice, I've put the recording project on hold until someone can give me instructions on how to get the map setup as explained in the paragraph above.

For an example of what the end result will look like, go here:

http://www.ffhacktics.com/wiki/Robrain_dont_delete

Thanks for the help.

[edit: alternatively, if anyone knows how to make a map transparent, that would be the most ideal solution.  Currently we have all characters partaking in the recordings as transparent sprites, so a transparent map on a black / white background would be the perfect solution]

As Voldemort pointed out in the chat, this map was the flat one I referred to:

http://www.ffhacktics.com/maps.php?id=116

The new plan is to do 3 recordings of each spell.  One on an all black (like Deep Dungeon) map, one on an all white map, and the third on a neutral map.

The map chosen for all recordings is the "Arena", as stated above:

http://www.ffhacktics.com/maps.php?id=116

I can begin the neutral recordings just as soon as someone can tell me how to swap out some map for the Arena map.  Once someone lets us know how to do the gradient thing (black / white) I can do those recordings at that time.

You can destroy the map using the effect 1C5. I labeled it "End of the World" because of it's map destruction effect. Well, in reality it makes it transparent because the tile heights and types stay there. However it is possible that it turns everything? upside down. You'll have to test for this.

This is an interesting sounding project, and I can see how it could be of some use in the future if we ever figure out how effects are coded hmmm.

I will help you out. I think I should be able to make some adjustments to the Arena map to make it lit like a DD map no problem. I think this map will work fine as a neutral map as well, though I don't know what it looks like running in game. A completely white map wont be so easy, an probably not nearly as useful as the black and neutral colored maps. I will see what I can come up with.

How are you getting everything set up for recording, like choosing the map and characters with the correct skills?

Thus far for the videos I already captured, I originally started by just changing the effect tied to Throw Stone.  Refining the process to remove as many elements unrelated to the animation as possible, I chose Fire (a spell, so no flying stone animation) and made it so that it didn't deal damage (or any status or anything) so that no numbers or miscellaneous stuff pop up when the animation starts.

Characters are transparent.  I boot up the game, get into battle, cast Fire (non-charge added to that spell so it's instant), I have FRAPS set up for video capture, as soon as the lines for charging the spell disappear, I tap F9 to begin recording the animation roughly a second before it begins.  Let animation record, when it's done, tap F9 to stop recording.  Play the recorded video to make sure there were no errors, if it's good, exit the emulator, boot up Windows Movie Maker to convert it from uncompressed AVI (or DV-avi, or they might be the same thing) to a compressed video file (.wmv in this case, WMM default), delete the original uncompressed copy and then upload the wmv to Youtube.

Since the characters are transparent, and there are no miscellaneous things to block the animation (numbers, etc), the last variable is the terrain/map.  Once that's done, I'll be able to record.  A single animation takes me approximately 5-10 minutes total to record, convert, and upload.

I would recommend making a skill set that has like twenty spells that function just like the one you mentioned and just pause in between recording each one, and just have which effect is used incremented. Then you can finish recording all twentry, convert, adjust the skill set to use the next twenty effects and repeat. I would also recommend setting up the battle in fftpatcher to make things move quicker for you. I think after I figure out the black map thing I will also attack.out and test.evt for you so that you can just have a save file right before mandalia plains and it will just quickly load up with however you have the ENTD setup in FFTPatcher.

Okay I'm done. I have attached the bit of map that you need to insert to have the map be black, and the reworked Attack.out to make it so when you go to Mandalia plains it brings you straight to this new map, no music, no formation screen. So just insert these using CD program, set things up in FFTPatcher, and load up a save before Mandalia Plains and start recording.

Once you get this stuff working I will make the edits to the event script so that you don't have to see them talk. It will only take me a few minutes but I wanted to make sure you got this stuff working first.

Ask me if you have any questions and I will move this thread to the Projects section one you have things moving.

PS: Ignore the extensions, the forum wouldn't let me post them using the normal file names.

Robrain you still around to work on this project?

Robrain was going at it pretty hard and on chat 24/7 for the last week or so

it wouldn't surprise me if he's on a break of some sort

Just to give an update, I did temporary pause the project while I did some other things.  I realized while uploading the clips to Youtube that I hardly knew what I was doing with video media, so I stopped everything and researched/studied/learned.  I'm a lot more knowledgable now when it comes to video-related media.

I'm also slowly working on several other aspects of my own FFT Project, which I may start a "work in progress" thread for by the end of this month, depending on where it's at.

Just letting everyone know that I didn't bolt on this.

Good to hear Robrain. I'm looking forward to more of those videos.