A krHACKen from Assembler Games... just activated the installation screen for the DCFFVII Multiplayer. O____O
Not sure how he did it. Not sure if it actually brings us closer to playing the online mode.
- Video Upload
0:45 - 4:05 for PlayOnline Viewer. 4:05 - 8:43 for the installation screen.
I created an album from the YouTube video, including all the artwork and text that appear in the installation screen.
Words can't properly express the level of hype I'm feeling right now. All we had before now were a few photographs of the installation screen from the beta testers. Now we have...what I assume to be everything from the installation screen...in a high quality recording. There is so much artwork in here that we have never seen before!
I have compiled the first version of a "full" DCFFVII Multiplayer image gallery. It primarily focuses on collecting all the available snapshots, so minus video recordings.
The result of hundreds of hours of scouring the web and researching Dirge of Cerberus.
Anyway, back to krHACKen's work... Here is the screen when the installation is 100% complete.
Like I reported in the other thread, krHACKen ripped the installation screen artwork from the game disc. Download it here. See the three unused pieces below.
PS2 model SCPH-50000 purchased! The item does have a few ugly scratches and stains, but it was the cheaper option while still including a few games in the package.
What this means is that in a few weeks I will have a Japanese PS2 with a compatible BB Unit. I will own the tech that the PlayOnline option for Dirge of Cerberus demanded. Here's hoping that every component functions properly.
The PS2 Online Gaming forum has been down for a few weeks now. At least there is the occasional archived page, but it's sad that I can't find info on any resurrection planned for the site. Since the fan-made servers for resurrected PS2 online games are not hosted on the site, as far as I'm aware, the servers are still up but the community has obviously lost a home. The community for Resident Evil Outbreak at least still has their own forum.
A talk about how online functionality is restored to games, with general focus on the Metal Gear Solid game they resurrected. A bit difficult to grasp for the novice (like me), but they don't delve into deep technical stuff or deep programming.
Veteran member Suzaku just shared his collection of DCFFVII Multiplayer media and IT IS GLORIOUS! Thank you so much Suzaku!
What new stuff does his documentation sport?
- New screenshots
Most of the screenshots are familiar, but a select few are new. The no doubt greatest treasure is this compilation of Argento's early appearance.
A total of six new angles from which we can see Argento's helmeted design.
- Old screenshots in higher resolution
The Japanese site dcff7.info stopped existing early in 2007, but was a central haven for participants of the Multiplayer. Most of the info and images from there have been lost. Of what I scavenged, some images only existed in their thumbnail-sized forms. Suzaku thankfully have these images in their full, true size!
Officer-South variation of Scene 3
Event Viewer for Online Mode cutscenes when only the first four cutscenes were available. Here the player is yet to shoot the Memory Capsule for unlocking the fourth cutscene.
- Old screenshots in their CORRECT resolution
Grimoire Valentine has done precious work when he has compiled FFVII stuff both on his YouTube channel and on FFVIIExcavation. However, he has a habit of needlessly editing the content. The majority of his Multiplayer screenshots have been stretched to fit a preset ratio, thus making the screenshots more fuzzy than they originally were.
Suzaku has a folder with 301 screenshots, which include the majority of images found on FFVIIExcavation BUT IN THEIR ORIGINAL RESOLUTION! The pictures are so crisp and clear! None of that fuzziness anymore!
- Japanese Transcriptions
The images in the aforementioned folder come from an as-of-yet unidentified Japanese source, either a blog or a guide. These images had captions and Suzaku has preserved the Japanese captions for fifty of these images! The captions will especially help aid in our confidence of which NPC was which and what they did.
There is also a partial transcription of what Officer-South says in Scene 3. In present day we only have the Officer-East version of the scene available to us. If we compare both officers, maybe we'll spot a difference in tone? Or maybe they'll turn up to say exactly the same thing. Either way, having the transcription is amazing.
Plenty of lines were never transcribed and are represented by "XXXXXXXXXXX".
Dead Site 1: "rokoran.com" never saved any Multiplayer content. Only basic Single Player content was saved.
Dead Site 2: This particular link was never archived. The site "oebit.jp" appears to have been a home for artists to make sketches and chat. I suspect the dead link led to a chat comment that was relevant to Dirge of Cerberus, but with the thousands of links under oebit.jp there is no reasonable way for me to find that comment among the sea of unrelated content.
Dead Site 3: This page was never archived either. Any content related to the Multiplayer is long gone.
Suzaku just reported that he found the link that used to lead to the gallery with 301 screenshots. Problem is that even in archived versions of this page, very little will be displayed.
For a few frames, I am shown this:
The flash-based intro happens, then this window pops up.
Can't mark the text so I can't google translate it. I click OK, the window disappears and then a whole lot of nothing happens.
Suzaku spoke about the possibility of recovering some text from the site (like the screenshot captions) by scouring the code of the page. Edit: Looks like at least some image captions can be retrieving by "Inspecting" (Ctrl+Shift+I) some archived links.
The URL for this image gallery is "webryalbum". The URL for daijinn's blog also contains "webry". I wonder if this implies that the screenshot gallery was uploaded by daijinn, aka as Pierce in the Multiplayer gameplay recordings.
NOTE: Suzaku agrees with my assessment about daijinn/Pierce.
Edit: In fact Suzaku pointed out the page source itself reads out the author of the image gallery.
I have never been able to make any sense out of this screenshot. It is the only one of its kind, where the floor is covered with a symbol like this. The metallic floor pattern looks like the stairway corridor in the "Huge Facility" map. In the Extra Missions, this is the map where you get chased by THE UNDEAD.
Is this (Fire) Bomb pattern endemic to a particular mission set in the Huge Facility? Or is it just an extremely impressive photoshop job and if so what does it represent? I can only guess.
Now that we have daijinn's screenshot gallery in true size, how many unique screenshots still remain in FFVIIExcavation's collection? 48. The sources for all other screenshots have been identified.
Most of the remaining 48 pictures on FFVIIExcavation look like they come from daijinn, just not from the huge image gallery uploaded by daijinn around the end of the online mode's lifetime. I reckon these screenshots originate from her blog, but so little of this blog has been archived that we can't confirm this theory.
To be a little less accusatory against Grimoire, I observed that the increased width of daijinn's screenshots in Grimoire's collection may not be because of intentional stretching, but because the original flash-based image gallery stretched the images. The person who then saved these images appear to have been using desktop dumps, thus copying the stretch. Meanwhile, Suzaku got the images in their correct resolution by simply ripping the images straight from the page.
The annoying part is that I will have to re-upload dozens of images to my "Service Timeline & Version History" article page, now that I have the screenshots in their proper resolution.
- To my surprise I managed to find a dozen more DCFFVII online mode screenshots. The screenshots in and of themselves weren't that special, but it was neat to find player Rinoan's Geocities page (see the "Golden Pie" at the bottom of the page, formed from DoC gold). In the page dedicated to Dirge, Rinoan talks about the Unit she joined near the end of the game's lifetime: "Rabid KOs". They had 11 wins and 48 losses. The Unit name thusly fit their own defeat rather than the defeat of their opponents.
Rinoan goes over the different playstyles of all the Unit members. I recognize the names Muimui, Vanpaia, Sill and Rutgar/Rutger. If I rewatched the gameplay videos I'd probably recognize more of the names on this list. In this video you straight away see Rinoan and Muimui together.
In the tabs you will see that the "Additional Manual" is also included, which existed as a guide to the new content which naturally did not exist in the physical manual. The first tab google translates the September 3 version of the manual, while the "Add-Manual-Comparisons" tab compares in detail every archived version of the manual.
In total, we have five distinct stages of the Additional Manual archived.
I also have a document with all the DCFFVII PlayOnline reports from 2005 (most of which we only have thanks to the dcff7.seesaa.net blog) but I am yet to upload that.
While there are plenty of issues left with the page (primarily Google translations that need to be replaced with human translations) the "Service Timeline & Version History" feature has at last reached a stage where I don't mind if people read the whole thing.
The article may be a mess but there is no other place where you can get both of a summary of the DCFFVII Multiplayer's timeline and a comprehensive look at the 2006 era. At some point a detailed look at how the game changed during beta testing (2005 era) will be added.
Transcription request: Medal name and description for this medal icon which only appeared in the Beta version. Translation not strictly necessary.
The image above is from a collection of 27 images uploaded by (I think) Team_2ch. These are the highest quality images we have of the β Version, hands down. The snapshots show us the names and descriptions for all the six medals seen above.
It was only just now that I noticed the images were uploaded on the early morning of September 24. The beta testing phase had only started two days prior! Already by this time had they collected six medals. The highest number of medals I've seen from the β Version is seven.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised though. From what I gather, it was Team_2ch that created those beta version recordings which can no longer be found online. These videos, just like the high quality images, popped up on September 24.
EDIT: Holy moly I can't believe it took me this long to notice! Look at the MP bar in the beta screenshot.
At roughly 4/5ths of max MP, a border is marked out. Just like with Vincent's MP bar in the original Japanese release, except there the border is marked at half your max MP. In the Single Player, this marks when Vincent can transform into Galian Beast (or when Turk Vincent can enter Limit Break Mode).
Does this mean that players of the beta version could perform a limit break at the expenditure of MP when they had more than 4/5ths of max MP? Or does it mean something entirely different? Boy what an exciting observation!
The other variation I've found is where the border is marked at 3/4ths of max MP.
I am not finding a pattern based on soldier suits being worn. Screenshots that seem to show the border at one half of max MP are of too low resolution to be trusted.
Thanks JBedford! This confirms that the beta-exclusive medal icon is just the early version of this medal of the same name:
Their descriptions are not identical, but the general jist of "dominating a mode" is there. The medal names are identical.
I had not saved that conversation. Thanks for linking it! There is some really great stuff in here about the beta version that I have not seen anywhere else. I recognize the "Topix" character from the
Typically when I come across Japanese chat convos about the DCFFVII online mode they are mostly filled with garbage. The above chat is great though. Chances are if you link me to more chats like it, they will be new to me.
Confirmation that Power Kit and Speed Kit were present during beta testing! I unlocked so many quest items from the Dirge of Cerberus disc and I wasn't sure if any of them were actually used at one point.
I also got an SC Frame Kit at 200 TBT perfect win
The explanatory note is written only as an item for tune-up
DGC Soar is said to be a tune item for hand gun
Is it still for a broken hand gun?
Some medals carried over to the 2006 version, some did not.
Those last 12 items on the list confuse me. Since you can't become a Turk, and since (from my impression) you could not advance beyond the Trooper Class, those Turks/Drone/Scout/Trooper/Commander/General/Tsviet medals must be awards from having defeated those categories of enemies. Please correct me.
I have long considered Argento to be a Tsviet of color, and sometimes referred to her as "Argento the Silver" but now I realize that none of the preserved material ever calls her "Argento the Silver".
Argento's name is italian for silver. Then we have the name for Scene 3 of the online mode cutscenes: 無色と銀色 [The Transparent and the Silver] which could be viewed as a title that places Argento and Shelke on the same level.
Yet when Officer-East and Usher talk exposition about the Tsviets of color, Argento is never mentioned. Maybe it's because she hasn't been assigned "Threat Level SSS".
Then there is the final scene, where Weiss and Rosso talk about normal humans being unable to reach "our level" of strength, while Argento is standing there alongside them.
In conclusion I can't quite pin down what Argento is. Is she a Tsviet of Color, or just a normal Tsviet who has gained the respect of those with "epithets of color"? Her namesake certainly puts her in the grey (or should I say, "silver" ) area for me.
The fact that my computer was given more RAM (is that how you say it? "more RAM"?) about a month ago must be the cause to why Dirge of Cerberus runs more smoothly on the PCSX2 now.
The game is still virtually unplayable, but with this extra RAM the game's framerate likes to hover more often in the 30fps area than around 20fps. Even when the game runs at 30fps, the slowness is "more smooth" if that makes any sense.
Whenever I get a new computer I'm going to make sure it's a beast of a machine so that emulation problems like low framerate can be compensated for as much as possible.
Decided to upload the online mode staff roll despite the recording not being perfect.
The extra RAM wasn't enough to solve the issue of the staff roll slowing down. For some reason the PCSX2 recorder decides to record a shitton of frames from 3:14 - 3:42, while the music goes on at normal pace. This makes the staff roll fall behind, and the music ends before the staff roll does.
I have long considered Argento to be a Tsviet of color, and sometimes referred to her as "Argento the Silver" but now I realize that none of the preserved material ever calls her "Argento the Silver".
Argento's name is italian for silver. Then we have the name for Scene 3 of the online mode cutscenes: 無色と銀色 [The Transparent and the Silver] which could be viewed as a title that places Argento and Shelke on the same level.
I've also seen Japanese websites (e.g. Wikipedia and fans) refer to her as 銀色のアルジェント (Argento the Silver), though I'll acknowledge that alone isn't proof.
When Officer-East says "Sieger, P.S.!" what is he actually saying?
In the Single Player, soldiers say "Sieger Weiss" which is translated as "Hail Weiss". Is this "Sieger" (or "TSWUIGAA" as it sounds like in Japanese) based on the German word which can mean winner/victor/champion/master? Or is it a Japanese word that actually means "hail" or something entirely different?
Is the P.S. in "Sieger, P.S.! short for "President Shinra"? Hail President Shinra?
"ズィ" is used for transliterations of the sound "zi".* It's not a native Japanese sound: I haven't heard the audio, but that would explain how it ends up at "tswui".
*Heck, I'm not even sure I've come across ズィ it in a real situation before! ("Zi" usually becomes ジ [ji] as in Zidane's Japanese name).
When our bad guys are at the point of performing random, Nazi-esque experiments on people just to see what happens while their officers wear Nazi-esque uniforms and the troops shout "Sieger!" (ズィーガー -- the German word for "victor," and etymology of the Nazi's "Sieg heil!" salute (as if the point wasn't already driven home) -- then trying to introduce strict logic into the equation becomes a waste of time. Especially when we're discussing fictional villains who simply need to be presented as callous and loathsome to be effective in their roles.
(To clarify what I'm referring to, the Deepground salute translated as "Hail Weiss!" was "Saiger! Weiss!" in the Japanese text and audio. You can see Azul and several DG SOLDIERs say it at the 13:00-minute mark in this video.)
Learned the hard way now to make sure first that a seller uses eBay's global shipping. The seller did not use this and because they shipped from a country outside of the European Union, I had to pay an extra shipping fine. Quite a large one. In the end I would have ended up with better deals had I bought the "PlayStation 2" BB Pack which comes with the SCPH-50000 PS2 and BB Unit together.
On the topic of this console tech, I recently listened to a moving story by HappyConsoleGamer about his addiction to Final Fantasy XI.
At 3:41 - 4:32 he shows you the setup to play FFXI on the PS2, which is the same setup that you would have needed to play the online mode of Dirge of Cerberus.
I have long considered Argento to be a Tsviet of color, and sometimes referred to her as "Argento the Silver" but now I realize that none of the preserved material ever calls her "Argento the Silver".
Argento's name is italian for silver. Then we have the name for Scene 3 of the online mode cutscenes: 無色と銀色 [The Transparent and the Silver] which could be viewed as a title that places Argento and Shelke on the same level.
Yet when Officer-East and Usher talk exposition about the Tsviets of color, Argento is never mentioned. Maybe it's because she hasn't been assigned "Threat Level SSS".
Then there is the final scene, where Weiss and Rosso talk about normal humans being unable to reach "our level" of strength, while Argento is standing there alongside them.
In conclusion I can't quite pin down what Argento is. Is she a Tsviet of Color, or just a normal Tsviet who has gained the respect of those with "epithets of color"? Her namesake certainly puts her in the grey (or should I say, "silver" ) area for me.
Maybe a semi honorary Tsviet kept around because she's useful, somewhat like Shelke (who's 'Transparent' rather than a colour, but the SND stuff is too useful to throw away, even though Azul's opinion is 'it makes me sick to think of you as a member of the Tsviets') In Argento's case the skill woul be Weapon crafting. But I dunno.
Argento (NPC). In the beginning of the online there was no mask with a mask and so it was a woman again. In the neighborhood called "Silver", she will be Tsviet of «colored».
So it definitely looks like the NPCs of Deepground would have referred to Argento as being a "colored" Tsviet.
What bothers me in general about the Tsviets is that I don't know if all of them were powered by Genesis's genes. The definition from the Omega Report is...
Soldiers branded with epithets of color…
These are the hellspawn of “G”.
...so does that mean Shelke did not receive the genes of Genesis? It is talked about in the online mode how Shelke is "different" because she is not assigned a color, but that she is in fact "Shelke the Transparent" (direct translation "colorless"). So does this mean that Shelke does not technically belong to the "hellspawn" of G? For that matter, I'm not clear on how much of the colored Tsviets' powers come from their connection with Genesis.
Vague and complicated aspects of FFVII lore aside, here are the scans I just made of all the pages in the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition that are relevant to the online mode. Note that each scan is multiple megabytes in size due to their ridiculously high resolution.
(i have the midnight black scph-5000)
) area for me.
-- the German word for "victor," and etymology of the Nazi's "Sieg heil!" salute (as if the point wasn't already driven home) -- then trying to introduce strict logic into the equation becomes a waste of time. Especially when we're discussing fictional villains who simply need to be presented as callous and loathsome to be effective in their roles.
