Final Fantasy IV Graphics Update (SNES)

[Gedankenschild]

IMHO, I don't think that's a good idea. Not sure if it's just me, but I'd rather have updated graphics using updated versions of the same game than graphics from completely unrelated games. :/

Don't worry, as I said: It was just a test. I wanted to show that you can have a nice background, that is not just a repetition of the same tile over and over again.

@Granville:
I really appreciate the effort and your explanation. I'm gonna save these backgrounds and take a good look at them. We'll see what I can do...

(And I'm sure SunGodPortal was just pulling your leg...)

Source code for 8x8 vwf and 16x16 vwf Final Fantasy IV (SFC)

https://github.com/manz/ff4

Oh, wow! That came as a surprise. Are you still working on this one or is it an abandoned project? I checked the Terminus Traduction page, but FFIV isn't listed among the projects...

Just so everybody knows what we're talking about:

[KillerBob]

Whoa, someone's been working hard on it already!   That's awesome, kogami! Please tell us more about it.

[Midna]

The Final Fantasy VI font works better than I'd expect it to. It looks kind of weird without the drop-shadow, though.

[JCE3000GT]

It does look good for sure, I'm still on the fence.  . Having said this however I don't like the "drop" shadow though.  Still, just my opinion. 

[Gemini]

Drop shadows would be required only if text boxes get a gradient. Gradients are cool, but they need to be handled with care. :S

[Gedankenschild]

Drop shadows would be required only if text boxes get a gradient. Gradients are cool, but they need to be handled with care. :S

When you say "required", do you mean highly recommended in terms of readability or is there a technical reason?

[Gemini]

It's kinda necessary because the gradient may render part of the glyphs blend so badly with boxes they wouldn't be readable (same applies if you have no boxes at all or boxes with alpha). I remember having a test some time ago with a thick font, no shadow whatsoever. The result was quite bad, but a simple drop shadow fixed the blending issue.

[Bahamut ZERO]

It's kinda necessary because the gradient may render part of the glyphs blend so badly with boxes they wouldn't be readable (same applies if you have no boxes at all or boxes with alpha). I remember having a test some time ago with a thick font, no shadow whatsoever. The result was quite bad, but a simple drop shadow fixed the blending issue.

Oh wow. All this time I thought the shadowing on the font was just for more detail in general. 

Very informative!

[Panzer88]

this is looking great Gedankenschild! I also liked the WSC version but not much after, so this is a great combination!

[Spooniest]

Count me in as totally for this. It looks like it could be a real treat.

[Gedankenschild]

Thanks Panzer88 & Spooniest!

I wasn't in the mood for ASM work, so I've been working on location graphics lately - which is a bit more of a copy and paste job.



It uses the GBA palettes for now since those (and the tilesets) are easier to extract thanks to VBA...

[chillyfeez]

In general, that looks fantastic. I sped so much time staring at 3bpp ffiv tilesets that the difference really is dramatic for me.
A few tiles look a bit off, though. The shadows on the ground just to the right of the doorway in the two screens on the left hand side don't seem to come directly from the rock protrusion, and the rock wall in the top right has some rocks that look kind of like... Mouths?

[manz]

Hi there
allow me to complement these information:

Source code for 8x8 vwf and 16x16 vwf Final Fantasy IV (SFC)

https://github.com/manz/ff4

There is currently no 8x8 vwf code, but it would be lovely The 8x8 font is used to generate static graphics for words that don't fit the screen (LEVEL translation 'Niveau' is one of the examples that crosses my mind.

The dialog vwf is in fact a 8x16 because I didn't need characters wider than 8px.

Oh, wow! That came as a surprise. Are you still working on this one or is it an abandoned project? I checked the Terminus Traduction page, but FFIV isn't listed among the projects...

It's not really a Terminus project, i'm the only one working on this project ^^ (but not very active because i'm a bit tired of it).
I have a work in progress battle magic on two columns (on the branch dev/battle_items_two_columns) but i still have local changes.

If you have further questions I'll be glad to answer it.

[Vanya]

Thanks Panzer88 & Spooniest!

I wasn't in the mood for ASM work, so I've been working on location graphics lately - which is a bit more of a copy and paste job.



It uses the GBA palettes for now since those (and the tilesets) are easier to extract thanks to VBA...

Looking great! Can't wait to be able to see these graphics in action when completed. Keep it up.

[JCE3000GT]

This looks awesome! 

[Synnae]

Looking awesome!

I wish you good luck with the extraction of the WSC graphics.

[Gedankenschild]

In general, that looks fantastic. I sped so much time staring at 3bpp ffiv tilesets that the difference really is dramatic for me.
A few tiles look a bit off, though. The shadows on the ground just to the right of the doorway in the two screens on the left hand side don't seem to come directly from the rock protrusion, and the rock wall in the top right has some rocks that look kind of like... Mouths?

Oh, this is just phase one where I essentially paste both palettes and tiles over the original ones. The original doesn't have shadows at all. That's why things don't fit perfectly together yet.
The remade tilesets tend to use fewer tiles for mostly walls and such and instead invest more in shadows and additional walkable floor tiles.



Note how wall parts that were ALMOST identical before are now completely redundant. These will be turned into those additional shadow tiles etc. next.

Those rocks that look like mouths to you are really holes with candles. Animated graphics use their own loading code and are not part of the individual tilesets. Therefore these are still 3bpp and use the wrong palette. I wasn't in the mood to investigate them yet...

Hi there
allow me to complement these information:

There is currently no 8x8 vwf code, but it would be lovely The 8x8 font is used to generate static graphics for words that don't fit the screen (LEVEL translation 'Niveau' is one of the examples that crosses my mind.

The dialog vwf is in fact a 8x16 because I didn't need characters wider than 8px.

It's not really a Terminus project, i'm the only one working on this project ^^ (but not very active because i'm a bit tired of it).
I have a work in progress battle magic on two columns (on the branch dev/battle_items_two_columns) but i still have local changes.

If you have further questions I'll be glad to answer it.

Nice to make your acquaintance, ManZ!

I'm very interested in your project. I always wanted to look into the creation of a VWF. That requires more skill than what I'm currently doing however, so I've always been intent on saving it for last. I went back and rewrote graphics and palette loading code several times as my understanding of it increased.
If you decided to keep working on it that would of course be less work for me...

Otherwise I might indeed study your code at one point and take you up on your offer when questions arise.

[Rodimus Primal]

The updated graphics look great. I'm hoping that you make any font changes optional. I'm sure some would like compatibility with Namingway Edition.

[Gedankenschild]

The updated graphics look great. I'm hoping that you make any font changes optional. I'm sure some would like compatibility with Namingway Edition.

My goal with the graphics overhaul is to keep it as compatible with other hacks as possible. I didn't test it with Namingway Edition yet, but there shouldn't be a problem.
I'm keeping things separate, so people can put together what they like.

Now for an update:


I've moved on to the mountain tileset and I think it can be reproduced with only a few sacrifices...

[SunGodPortal]

I didn't like the new mountains at first, but the more I looked at them, the more I liked them. Something about the steps looks "off" though. Like the sense of depth/dimension isn't right. Like they are awkwardly slapped on top.