Export and Import QFG5 Backgrounds with qfg5pano

[GMFattay]

Qfg5pano is a command-line program that imports and exports panorama backgrounds to and from Quest for Glory 5. An exported background can be modified in image editing software and imported back into the game.

The community may be particularly interested in the unused WIP backgrounds found in some of the game's files. Some of the backgrounds also make nice desktop wallpapers

Example of exported background:


Details and Download Links here: http://qfgmods.net/index.php?title=Qfg5pano

[Collector]

Nice. Is this your work?

[GMFattay]

Yeah. I'm usually a web programmer so it took a bit of research and learning to write the program.

I'll be looking into extracting the region data (RGD files) for the backgrounds at some point and also the look and touch data.

The program is open source and can be freely extended by others ( background viewer GUI?). There are a few other programs on qfgmods.net for extracting and importing things like the meshes and skins from the game.

[Tawmis]

This is pretty freaking amazing.

[Collector]

C# is my preference, so I will have a look when I get time.

[GMFattay]

Awesome, thanks for the comments guys - it would be awesome to get some help from other programmers =]

Another element of the backgrounds I forgot to mention is the animation overlays (GRA files). I have yet to investigate these aswell.

[GMFattay]

C# is my preference, so I will have a look when I get time.

Cool as, just let me know if you need any pointers as my code comments are quite sporadic

[Chixdiggit]

I'm not super familiar with the fifth Quest for Glory game but am I right in that there is no true 3d besides the characters, that the backgrounds are all prerendered? If so, what is the method for 360 degree (or whatever, 270) viewing? I remember being a teen when the demo for this came out, and trying to stitch the backgrounds together with screen grabs, and finding that there was a perspective misalignment when looking left to right, so I always assumed there was a sort of 3d going on.

I do have a memory falling in a net-hole and reading of somebody, somewhere making a 3d extraction tool. But that's probably a faulty memory and I am thinking of this same topic.

Thanks guys.

[Rath Darkblade]

Chixdiggit! Is that really you? The last time I "saw" you was at Hans Halfwitten's Halfwittenberg Door! (Now defunct, alas). How the hell are you?

[Tawmis]

Chixdiggit! Is that really you? The last time I "saw" you was at Hans Halfwitten's Halfwittenberg Door! (Now defunct, alas). How the hell are you?

It's the same person - they emailed me directly to ask if I can create an account for them since Forum Registration is currently disabled.

[adeyke]

Unlike many games with a pre-rendered background, QfG5 had a moving camera. The simplest way to simulate this would just be by zooming and panning the background, but I'm not sure if QfG5 did something more complex than that. If there's even a small difference in the zoom level, you won't be able to fit separate screenshots together (and even if you scale them to fit, the lossy nature of this could still leave the seam noticeable).

Also, while the graphics themselves are pre-rendered, there must be some sort of information about what 3D space an image represents. The 2D games do this by having each background image be accompanied by a control screen defining the walkable areas and a priority screen defining what parts of the image are foreground and what parts are background. QfG5 seems to go beyond this, though, with projectiles able to bounce off of or stick into various parts of the background. I'm not sure how they did this, but it wouldn't surprise me if the game actually did have rudimentary 3D models of the scenes that weren't displayed but were used to define these sorts of collisions.

[Collector]

Might be worth it to ask Cory about it.