[MOD RELEASE] FF9 Launcher Replacement + Cinna's Hammer Mod Manager

[spacefarergames]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=665484370

Progress Update- Intoducing Cinna's Hammer - The FF9 Mod Manager for FF9 Steam, Coming Tommorow Afternoon GMT

Cinna's Hammer is a Mod Manager for the mods compatible with Final Fantasy IX. The file format allows packing of modified CSharp.dlls and unity assets without breaking the terms of Square Enix's EULA for the game.

Cinna's Hammer's mods will be verified and uploaded by me to check complimance with the EULA and to prevent SE from shutting us down.

The first release of Cinna's Hammer will be released tommorow along with the launcher. In order to use Cinna's Hammer, you must have the launcher installed and play from the mod launcher in order for the patching to work.

PROGRESS UPDATE 15/04/2016 19:24 GMT
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This is everything I've been working on for the next version of FF9LR (Final Fantasy 9 Launcher Replacement)

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/280722393129617218/5E014874DE834A1B83B28B17AE7F6F0D8D56CC22/

Launcher will now support more resolution modes, properly scaling the screen to the resolution selected. Widescreen option added, which removes ratio bars completely along without cheap scaling techniques. Windowed mode will be an option again, in which case the normal resolution switch from Square Enix will be used (as scaling is not required)

Renderer Choice - Don't leave it down to Square Enix to decide what renderer to use. Direct3D9 is pretty much my choice of renderer because of how solid it is (OpenGL can produce errors such as the white noise on the world map that many have been complaining about, even textures going missing altogether). Now you can choose and fix your game for good.

Graphics Quality - This effects the texture filtering only, which is a built in Unity method. This WILL NOT magically make the backgrounds better.

Input- direct access to my XINPUT mod settings

-Audio - I'm working on a program similar to Ficedula's FF7Music which can play ogg or vgmstream music from a mod folder instead of the built in ones in the StreamingData folder.

-Mods- This is a UI for managing the mods I'm working on for when they come out. I'm still discovering how to unpack and repack unity asset files without affecting the integrity of the game.

-Logging - enables / disables more intensive game output logs.

Will release any updates as soon as they are ready.

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Widescreen / Stretch to Screen Mod for FINAL FANTASY IX (2016 STEAM RELEASE)
Compiled 14/04/2016 at 20:13 GMT
(C) Jake Jackson (patternjake @ steam)
Support Email: [e-mail]
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DOWNLOAD LINK
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=AB5014064C240947!24419&authkey=!AADGo-wH4p5KwwE&ithint=file%2czip

I'm uploading to other sites in the mean time.

What is this mod?
-----------------

This mod replaces the launcher and adds debug mode to Final Fantasy IX's Unity based
engine, allowing further modifications in memory.

This mod allows the game to stretch properly to widescreen displays and removes
the very annoying fixed aspect ratio borders Silicon Studio Thailand and the Square
Enix Honolulu team put in place.

How to install
---------------

Installation is simple.

1) Launch the game as you would usually, and from the options, set it to 800x600 and uncheck Windowed option. Click Play.

2) Now the game is running, quit the game.

3) From inside the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY IX
RENAME (DONT DELETE) the FF9_Launcher.exe to FF9_Launcher2.exe or whatever pleases you.

4) Copy all files included within this mod to where FF9_Launcher.exe used to be. Make sure to overwrite settings.ini and make sure settings.reg is included.

5) Start the game as you would usually from steam. You'll now see the new version of the launcher. At first, it looks almost indentical, with two tiny changes. 1, it will only let you select 800x600, and two, it won't let you allow windowed mode, this allows the stretching.

6) Click FIX SETTINGS to import the included registry.reg file, this makes double sure the game is set internally to 800x600 non windowed. Changing this in the settings.ini won't work on it's own, this is explained later.

7) Click the big old play button. The game will now launch in true stretched full screen mode, getting rid of those awful bars once and for all.

What it requires
----------------

It requires the Microsoft.Net Framework 4.5.1, which is already installed when you install
Final Fantasy IX from Steam.

It requires that you set your video driver's graphic settings to STRETCH, or an option
that does not preserve the aspect ratio when this mod launcher switches to 800x600, thus
allowing the game to stretch completely to the reset of your LCD, LED or TFT screen / monitor.

What it does not do
-------------------

It doesnt add actual widescreen mode, it just stretches the game to your display, removing
the forced aspect ratio.

Bugs
----

If the game is in windowed mode, you will see it's titlebar cutting off some of the display.
The most easiet way to fix is to click 'Fix Settings' within the mod launcher or apply the
included settings.reg file included, and then start the game again. Upon analyis of the game
Silicon Studio got really lazy and decided to include a settings.ini from thier (crap) launcher
and an actual registry entry that the FF9.exe (unity program) changes itself, making thier
launcher the worst thing ever.

So yes, make sure that the games resolution is set to 800x600 (NOT WINDOWED!) by applying the
settings.reg file by double clicking on it, or by using your renamed FF9_Launcher2.exe (the original game's one) and setting it there.

Future Updates
--------------
As far as I am aware Final Fantasy IX will recieve future updates, but I can almost gaurantee
that this mod will work for those updates. simply copy over the files once more with this mod and it *should* work. If not, i'll make sure to update the mod in the future.

I'm also working on a big texture update that doesn't involve ripping open Square's copyrighted work. For this, I'll be using Texmod, which I have already achieved some results from doing. By the way, don't bother using sweetfx or enbseries, as it breaks the game.

Any questions, please feel free to contact me ASAP.
Enjoy playing the game as we all wanted to. Lov J.

[solidap]

Do you have any screens of how it looks? Would it be pretty decent on a 40" 1080p TV?

[spacefarergames]

Originally posted by solidap:

Do you have any screens of how it looks? Would it be pretty decent on a 40" 1080p TV?

Uploading screenshot / capture from my macbook pro now.

[Plutoknight]

Works great! almost looks extacly like the un modded one. Kudos!

[spacefarergames]

Originally posted by Plutoknight:

Works great! almost looks extacly like the un modded one. Kudos!

You are most welcome! :)

[spacefarergames]

Guide link with screenshots
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=665484370

[Meownius13]

Thanks, mate!

[spacefarergames]

Originally posted by d1a3lo13:

Thanks, mate!

Your welcome. More mods on thier way :)

[Fli]

The colour is a bit off in 800x600 for me, but I guess that's the sacrifice you have to make.

[spacefarergames]

Originally posted by Roy Cropper:

The colour is a bit off in 800x600 for me, but I guess that's the sacrifice you have to make.

Do you have access to color / gamma control on your graphics driver? Try boosting a color profile while in that res to see if that helps. Good to meet a fellow corrie fan btw :)

[Fli]

Originally posted by patternjake:

Originally posted by Roy Cropper:

The colour is a bit off in 800x600 for me, but I guess that's the sacrifice you have to make.

Do you have access to color / gamma control on your graphics driver? Try boosting a color profile while in that res to see if that helps. Good to meet a fellow corrie fan btw :)

I'll give that a go! Thanks for the hard work. Can't wait to see new stuff you produce!

[RobertoD91]

Thank a lot! Great work!

An info: ff9 work in wine or vm?

[spacefarergames]

Originally posted by Roy Cropper:

Originally posted by patternjake:

Do you have access to color / gamma control on your graphics driver? Try boosting a color profile while in that res to see if that helps. Good to meet a fellow corrie fan btw :)

I'll give that a go! Thanks for the hard work. Can't wait to see new stuff you produce!

Your welcome. I have a list on my notes of the mod requests I've had already, so expect more shortly.

[spacefarergames]

Originally posted by RobertoD91:

Thank a lot! Great work!

An info: ff9 work in wine or vm?

Welcome mate. Nope, it won't run, as it depends on Microsoft.NET Framework 4.5.1 and Unity managed for windows. However, with some tweaking, I could link up the unity assets with a linux build of unity.. Waiting for the demand for a linux version to be higher as im focusing on windows mods right now.

However, I'm running it from Windows 10 from inside a Parrals Virtual Machine on a mac with DirectX10 enabled, runs flawlessly. I'm pretty sure a 3d accelerated VirtualBox machine will do the trick just nicely.

[Phi Zero]

Is there any way to replace the Xbox buttons with PS3/PS4 ones? I've been looking through the unityassets files but couldn't find anything. I'm assuming they're in the p0data files, but I have no idea how to replace stuff in there.

[solidap]

Originally posted by patternjake:

Guide link with screenshots
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=665484370

That doesn't look bad at all. Will check it out