Due to how busy I am, I have temporarily limited support to just my Discord Server. Therefore, if you need support from me, join the Discord Server and submit your support request under the "🚨︱support-and-remaster-suggestions" forum. I will, or someone, will try to help you whenever possible.
Isn't possible to install this mod without Nova? Like install it using something similar to this mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy13/mods/24?tab=description with the Installer 4k FMV for Packed files?
Yes, you will need Nova to install this mod. And this also includes the Better Quality Audio for Cutscenes, so you do not need to install that along with this.
It's because this version has differently named bin files, so Nova Chrysalia can't unpack them and the mod can't be installed. This leading to this.
Now, I presume you can use the "ww" (worldwide) depot, force Japanese texts in Nova Chrysalia and everything will work fine, but that version isn't easily purchaseable in Japan and I'm not sure if Nova Chrysalia can also be made to work on "unofficially procured versions".
This brings me to my previous post, where I asked about the actual modded movie files. I used ffxiiitool to directly unpack the movie bins, put in your files and repack them. Previously this worked with this mod https://www.nexusmods.com/lightningreturnsfinalfantasy13/mods/3 (the Cutscene Installer Old (Japanese) version). The bik files from that mod could be directly repacked to bins and then they work fine on the Japanese version.
Unfortunately your bik files (which I took from the ncmp) didn't work when repacked to bins. The game would start and stay on a black screen, the intro movie not playing.
Maybe it's cause Nova Chrysalia is needed to make the game run Bink 2 movies?
Anyway, this is mostly to share info. "Fixing" this would require a Nova Chrysalia update to recognize the Japan depot, I guess.
I'll see if the mod author of that mod that you have linked, can help in this regard.
It might be due to the Japan version of the game having different file structure to the WW release of the game. But I am not too sure as I do not have the Japan version of LR. I will keep you updated if anything comes by. Thanks for informing me meanwhile.
Just to note, the game by default uses the exact same Bink 2, as I have used to re-encode the FMVs to Bink. The compressor may be newer.
I see about the Bink versions. Hmm, it's weird. Perhaps the compressor thing is the reason then?
About the Japanese movie bin files, seeing the ffxiiitool logs, they each unpack to paths like "movie/../../../movie{2.3}". And the bik files have the same filenames as yours.
When repacking your mod files, ffxiiitool gave me no errors (and I already did the process fine on the other mod's files), but just to be double sure, I'll try again, just to eliminate the possibility of user error on my part.
So, I was reminded about the whole 2GB file size limit for the bin files. With this mod, that 2GB file size limit is quickly exceeded, hence the reason why they would not work when the movie files have been repacked.
Furthermore, I am not sure if you have realised this, but the file names are slightly different to the WW depot. In the WW depot, all the files (.bin) has "v" and "_v" appended to the filenames to help people and the devs themselves to distinguish which files are US [English] and which are JP [Japanese]. I do not know if this plays a part with the issue.
Right now, there is no real solution to this issue unfortunately. If I knew how to program in C++, C# or what not, comfortably, I would have been more than happy to create a tool to fix this. I have been told Nova Chrysalia tool could have easily fix this, but to the respect of the author, they had their own things going on in their life. Nova Chrysalia only really works with the WW depot of the game. I would have suggested you to rename the files accordingly, but then the extraction process would fail as the filelist file, would fail to recognise the entire game's library of bin files, due to the file name mismatching to what is in the filelist (yes I know it sounds mouthful, but yeah).
The only good news is that few devs from Nova Chrysalia's Modding Discord Server are working on a newer version of NC. Hopefully, this will resolve this issue. There is no ETA for when this would be released, but I will keep in mind to inform you whether if the new version would resolve this issue.
Hi, I downloaded the JP file and the ncmp includes roughly 900 MB of WAV files in folders called: Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII Bink Lossless Audio Tracks [JP] Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII Bink Lossless Audio Tracks [Non-Region Specific] Are these actually played by the game directly from those folders? Or just leftovers from before you put them into the game's movie bik files? There are also some xmp files, which appear to be metadata from the video format conversion.
In other words, do the weiss_data/movie bik files have the better PS3 audio embedded in?
Oops they are left over files, I was not aware that I decided to copy over the entire folder instead of the FMVs. But yes, the bink files contain the better PS3 audio.
16 comments
Due to how busy I am, I have temporarily limited support to just my Discord Server. Therefore, if you need support from me, join the Discord Server and submit your support request under the "🚨︱support-and-remaster-suggestions" forum. I will, or someone, will
try to help you whenever possible.
Honestly, I thought de-block and de-noise process on the cutscenes, gave a placebo effect.
Thanks for the update and the Japanese info.
Unfortunately the mod can't be used on the version of the game that's purchaseable in Japan.
https://steamdb.info/app/345350/depots/
Depot 345351
It's because this version has differently named bin files, so Nova Chrysalia can't unpack them and the mod can't be installed.
This leading to this.
Now, I presume you can use the "ww" (worldwide) depot, force Japanese texts in Nova Chrysalia and everything will work fine,
but that version isn't easily purchaseable in Japan and I'm not sure if Nova Chrysalia can also be made to work on "unofficially procured versions".
This brings me to my previous post, where I asked about the actual modded movie files.
I used ffxiiitool to directly unpack the movie bins, put in your files and repack them.
Previously this worked with this mod https://www.nexusmods.com/lightningreturnsfinalfantasy13/mods/3 (the Cutscene Installer Old (Japanese) version).
The bik files from that mod could be directly repacked to bins and then they work fine on the Japanese version.
Unfortunately your bik files (which I took from the ncmp) didn't work when repacked to bins.
The game would start and stay on a black screen, the intro movie not playing.
Maybe it's cause Nova Chrysalia is needed to make the game run Bink 2 movies?
Anyway, this is mostly to share info. "Fixing" this would require a Nova Chrysalia update to recognize the Japan depot, I guess.
I'll see if the mod author of that mod that you have linked, can help in this regard.
It might be due to the Japan version of the game having different file structure to the WW release of the game. But I am not too sure as I do not have the Japan version of LR. I will keep you updated if anything comes by. Thanks for informing me meanwhile.
Just to note, the game by default uses the exact same Bink 2, as I have used to re-encode the FMVs to Bink. The compressor may be newer.
I see about the Bink versions.
Hmm, it's weird. Perhaps the compressor thing is the reason then?
About the Japanese movie bin files, seeing the ffxiiitool logs,
they each unpack to paths like "movie/../../../movie{2.3}".
And the bik files have the same filenames as yours.
When repacking your mod files, ffxiiitool gave me no errors (and I already did the process fine on the other mod's files),
but just to be double sure, I'll try again, just to eliminate the possibility of user error on my part.
Furthermore, I am not sure if you have realised this, but the file names are slightly different to the WW depot. In the WW depot, all the files (.bin) has "v" and "_v" appended to the filenames to help people and the devs themselves to distinguish which files are US [English] and which are JP [Japanese]. I do not know if this plays a part with the issue.
Right now, there is no real solution to this issue unfortunately. If I knew how to program in C++, C# or what not, comfortably, I would have been more than happy to create a tool to fix this. I have been told Nova Chrysalia tool could have easily fix this, but to the respect of the author, they had their own things going on in their life. Nova Chrysalia only really works with the WW depot of the game. I would have suggested you to rename the files accordingly, but then the extraction process would fail as the filelist file, would fail to recognise the entire game's library of bin files, due to the file name mismatching to what is in the filelist (yes I know it sounds mouthful, but yeah).
The only good news is that few devs from Nova Chrysalia's Modding Discord Server are working on a newer version of NC. Hopefully, this will resolve this issue. There is no ETA for when this would be released, but I will keep in mind to inform you whether if the new version would resolve this issue.
Thank you for confirming.
Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII Bink Lossless Audio Tracks [JP]
Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII Bink Lossless Audio Tracks [Non-Region Specific]
Are these actually played by the game directly from those folders?
Or just leftovers from before you put them into the game's movie bik files?
There are also some xmp files, which appear to be metadata from the video format conversion.
In other words, do the weiss_data/movie bik files have the better PS3 audio embedded in?
I’ll update this ASAP.