Hacking VCFE Wip...

[HowardC]

You should actually read my wip and then you'd know the answer to that.

Regardless the status of the brlyt is that it never freezes anymore, but I still have that issue with the occasional cut-off text. I'm testing out two work-arounds atm, one of which should work.

 

[RadioShadow]

Ok, what should be the final version of the icon generator is up. I cleaned up the interface a lot, which was really needed.

I also added a little feature that I wanted for myself and hopefully you guys will enjoy as well. I added the ability to use an alternate set of templates for icon generation. I did this, because, quite frankly, the neogeo, nes, snes and n64 save icons look like something a nintendo fansite would make with the generic text that it fades into. I included new icons for said systems which I personally feel are at least an improvment. While you might argue with me on the nes and snes ones, there is no doubt in my mind that the neogeo and n64 alternate sets look 1000% better than the originals.

Anyway, enjoy and please let me know if you find any bugs. Barring any this will be the first of the tools to officially make it out of beta!

Nice feature. ^^

Would it be possible to have the 'Make' button below the 'Make Preview' button or make the 'Make and 'Make Preview' buttons smaller as the 'Make' button gets in the way of the source image.

 

[HowardC]

I can do that, but it won't really solve the issue with that. The thing is, I don't "squash" the image in the preview box to maintain optimal quality when generating the tpls. I could have the form resize automatically to accomidate the image, but really this still looks bad, especially when you are using 640x480 or higher images like I am when I generate the templates. The preview box there is really just so that when you load an image you know it's the right one. In all honesty I shouldn't even make it visible.

 

[Tichinde925]

Okay, before I go any further, I just want to make sure of a few things:

Packing brlyt/banner tpl/icon images into Banner.bin / Icon.bin, that uses IMD5.

Packing Banner/Icon/Sound into the 000.app uses IMET (Banner Info).

Do I need to use lz77 compression or is that optional? I dont really care about how much memory is used up.

 

[HowardC]

The forum is acting up so it's eating my posts....


Tichinde...... yes you are correct.

Do NOT use lz77 compression on the 0.app it WILL brick your wii!!! It's safe to use compression on the other files though, but no, it isn't required. Make sure you are using the newest version of the u8 tool, which will hopefully give you errors if you try to pack it wrong.

 

[dritz]

HowardC is there a way to input the name of the save file in neo geo game. Like the old way when you combined the tpl files you used a hex editor to change name of the header. But with the new Icon Generator it makes the complete banner.bin file, which is alot easier but couldn't figure out how to change the name.

 

[HowardC]

Yeah, my injector does this. Once I get the brlyt editor squared away it'll be time for us to work on it and I'll need help testing everything. But in general, it already supports neogeo and nes/fc saves right off the bat. As you said, the new generator creates a full file though (which is why I made the tpl editor, so people could view it) so a slight modification will be needed.

 

[HowardC]

SUCCESS!!!! (I think)


I finally figured out the pattern to the brlyt files. Apparently the "errors" I found weren't errors in original brlyts but rather a REALLY wierd clause. If the number of nulls after the text entry of a field is equal to 4 (and apparently ONLY 4) then those last two nulls are NOT considered part of the text string and thus the text length is adjusted accordingly and to find the start pos you simply count backwards from the end of the node as usual and add two. When lengthening strings you have to take this into account as well, namely you have to subtract two from the "text length" entry you write if necessary. I've installed and uninstalled about 2 dozen wads figuring this out and thus atm I'm waaay to tired to test and make sure it's working, BUT I've simply opened and re-saved every brlyt file I have (using the same text) and thus far EVERY brlyt comes out identical to the original.

So what I"m saying is if this didn't fix it then I'm totally stumped as the editor is generating "perfect" files at this pont.

I'll try it on a few wads tomorrow night and if all is well I'll release it!

 

[lolsjoel]

SUCCESS!!!! (I think)


I finally figured out the pattern to the brlyt files. Apparently the "errors" I found weren't errors in original brlyts but rather a REALLY wierd clause. If the number of nulls after the text entry of a field is equal to 4 (and apparently ONLY 4) then those last two nulls are NOT considered part of the text string and thus the text length is adjusted accordingly and to find the start pos you simply count backwards from the end of the node as usual and add two. When lengthening strings you have to take this into account as well, namely you have to subtract two from the "text length" entry you write if necessary. I've installed and uninstalled about 2 dozen wads figuring this out and thus atm I'm waaay to tired to test and make sure it's working, BUT I've simply opened and re-saved every brlyt file I have (using the same text) and thus far EVERY brlyt comes out identical to the original.

So what I"m saying is if this didn't fix it then I'm totally stumped as the editor is generating "perfect" files at this pont.

I'll try it on a few wads tomorrow night and if all is well I'll release it!

Sounds good, HC. I'll be sure to test thoroughly, too.

 

[HowardC]

Having a bit of insomnia this morning so I went ahead and tried to edit/lengthen the text on a random wad and it worked! This time no cut-offs, or other ill effects. Of course I only tested it on the one game, so you might want to try some more.

So I'm taking a break for the rest of the day/night on my stuff and allow you guys a little time to test.

Things you guys can test for me:

Logo Swap (Logo swap is NOT confirmed to work on logos of different dimensions).
Different Games
Color Swap (Color swap has been tested fairly thouroughly, but it doesn't hurt to test again after a lot of changes to the app.)

Please test them ONE AT A TIME because if you don't and run into an error there will be no way to determine which function is at fault.


Also I'll soon start work on the save injector/save text editor and I'd like a bit of info collected for you hex editors out there:

1. What are the maximum number of lines the save text can be? I think it's two.

2. What is the maximum length a line can be? There is a "practical" limit of 20 (any line longer than 20 is turncated with three dots added on the mouse-over section) but once you click on the save for more details the line can be much longer.

Probably the easiest way to determine the max length of a save line is to edit a sega rom. Because the sega roms have the save line store as plain text, it should be quite easy to add length to it.

Anyway thanks and enjoy!

 

[lolsjoel]

Sounds good, HC.

1. Max lines is, indeed, two.
2. For the second line of text in a save icon, I played around with a DKC2 01.app before. When starting the text at the same point as the original game did, I found I could get "You idiots! We've ALL got swords" to fit. I had typed a last ! at the end, but it was truncated. So that amounts to 32 characters - which is far from definitive, but at least it's something! I've never bothered trying to see how far the first line of text (the hover over game name text) could go as I always try to keep it small enough so that it doesn't get truncated with ... upon hover over.

Hope this response has some bit of use for you!

 

[HowardC]

No, that sounds about right. If you open up a neogeo banner.bin (the save icon) in a hex editor it has 8 lines to the tpl from where the text starts. That's 128 bytes when divided by two will give you 64. You say there's two lines, so that's two lines of 32.

The neogeo text is "wierd" though so I needed someone to confirm.

Thanks man.

Be sure to give the new brlyt editor a go as well when you get the chance.

 

[lolsjoel]

Well, I just tried your VC Brlyt Editor 6.0 for the first time with an NES game and it's a channel brick. The Wii froze when trying to load the channel. Odd.

EDIT: I just repacked the WAD with a HEX edited banner.brlyt and it worked fine. So the problem must lie somewhere with the Brlyt Editor. Damn. If you want, I could upload the two brlyt files for you. Maybe you could find the difference in them that caused the brick.

 

[RadioShadow]

Having a bit of insomnia this morning so I went ahead and tried to edit/lengthen the text on a random wad and it worked! This time no cut-offs, or other ill effects. Of course I only tested it on the one game, so you might want to try some more.

So I'm taking a break for the rest of the day/night on my stuff and allow you guys a little time to test.

Things you guys can test for me:

Logo Swap (Logo swap is NOT confirmed to work on logos of different dimensions).
Different Games
Color Swap (Color swap has been tested fairly thouroughly, but it doesn't hurt to test again after a lot of changes to the app.)

Please test them ONE AT A TIME because if you don't and run into an error there will be no way to determine which function is at fault.


Also I'll soon start work on the save injector/save text editor and I'd like a bit of info collected for you hex editors out there:

1. What are the maximum number of lines the save text can be? I think it's two.

2. What is the maximum length a line can be? There is a "practical" limit of 20 (any line longer than 20 is turncated with three dots added on the mouse-over section) but once you click on the save for more details the line can be much longer.

Probably the easiest way to determine the max length of a save line is to edit a sega rom. Because the sega roms have the save line store as plain text, it should be quite easy to add length to it.

Anyway thanks and enjoy!

Test Time!

For the Save Injector Question, it can be both. The SNES has a fixed number of letters to use both lines. The Mega Drive uses the first line for the 'Save Name' and the second line is the Consoles name (which one appears depends on what region is set in the config file in 05.app).

As for the length of the name, I say base it on the SNES fixed length. Let me go and have a look.


EDIT:

The SNES Wads official allows Save names to be 40 Characters long on both lines. The reason it is long is because the Japanese characters take up two bytes while the English only take up one so Nintendo have left enough space for 10 Japanese characters per line to be used (it will fit fine due to the Unicode Shift JIS Characters having a fixed width).

But depending on the length of the English letters will depend if 40 letters will fit.

As the above picture shows, using 40 M's letters on the first line and 40 o's on the second line, the text won't display right.

I say a decent size limit would be 20 English Characters per line. 10 if Japanese Characters are used.

 

[HowardC]

Well, I just tried your VC Brlyt Editor 6.0 for the first time with an NES game and it's a channel brick. The Wii froze when trying to load the channel. Odd.

EDIT: I just repacked the WAD with a HEX edited banner.brlyt and it worked fine. So the problem must lie somewhere with the Brlyt Editor. Damn. If you want, I could upload the two brlyt files for you. Maybe you could find the difference in them that caused the brick.

Yes do that please.

 

[RadioShadow]

This is what I know about the location of the Save Names in the wads:

SNES
- Located in the 01.app after the game ID (some require the 01.app to be uncompressed).
- Uses SHIFT JIS code to display the characters instead of UNICODE. This means ASCII letters use 1 byte while the Japanese letters use two bytes.
- All SNES Wads have the official space of 40 bytes for the first line and 40 bytes for the second line.

NES:
- Located in the 01.app. Located right after the Save Banner data.
- Uses UNICODE to display the letters. Same way as the name in the 01.app.
- Unfortunately for now, the amount of space is limited to how many letters an be used which depend on the default file game name. Need to look in on how to expand the name.
- Possible to use the second line by using the 00 0A byte (need to confirm).

N64:
- Each Language uses a separate file to display the save name. Similar to how Wii games save them as. They are located in the 05.app.
- Can use both lines.
- Uses UNICODE to display the letters.
- Need to look into layout of the save files.

Mega Drive/Genesis:
- Located in 05.app, in a folder called 'misc_ccf_zlid'.
- Contains all the save names for the 6 languages in a txt file called 'banner.cfg'. Only uses the first line.
- The second line is for the Consoles name. Depending on what country setting is set in the 'config' in the 05.app depends on what appears there:
jp = ??????
us = GENESIS
eu = MEGA DRIVE
Changing them however does change other settings as well (such as what language text to use). I'm seeing if there is a better way to decide which name to use without changing the country setting in the config file.

Master System:
- Same as Mega Drive/Genesis.
- On the second line, the word MASTER SYSTEM appears.

Turbo Graphix:
- Uses a similar format to the Mega Drive.
- Stored in a file called 'TITLE' (need to locate it).

NEO GEO:
- All I know is it's located in the Save Banner. Uses UNICODE last time I check. Unsure of location.

COMMODORE 64:
- Haven't got a wad so I can't help.

MSX:
- Same as Mega Drive/Genesis.
- On the second line, the word MSX appears.


That's all I know for now. I'll have a better look at the wads tomorrow.

As for the size limit per line:
- 20 English Characters.
- 20 Japanese Characters.

 

[lolsjoel]

OK, here's a link to the two banner.brlyt files. HEXbanner.brlyt is the one that works, HCbanner.brlyt is the one that doesn't work that was made by your VC Brlyt Editor 6.0.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mwmhzyyuyjm

Now, I've just noticed that you, at some point, released a TPL Editor FE. I've been trying to get it to work with transparencies, but I am not having any luck. I've made interlaced .png files with transparent backgrounds, but when loaded up into the TPLEFE, they show up as either black or white backgrounds. When saved with Use Transparencies checked, they load up in tplcon_v4.0_eng with that same black or white background, which certainly doesn't appear to be transparent. How should I make my files so that the transparency actually works?

 

[RadioShadow]

losejoel, for a transparent color, use this color:

Hue: 160
Sat: 0
Lum: 240

Red: 255
Green: 255
Blue: 255

That's the transparet color the SNES Logo uses in the icon.bin.


As for VCbrlyt6.0, the colour swapping is working fine. The tool however didn't swap any of the logos. I had to replace the MSX Logo in the SNES manually. I've let to test the rest.

Oh, and the MSX Mod template is awesome!

 

[RadioShadow]

Okay, I've just done some testing on the VCbrlyt6.0 using Super Mario World 00.app.

- Colour Scheme Replacing is working fine.
- Changing 1-2 Players to 1 Players displayed the 00.app fine.
- Changing the Year made the banner display the 00.app fine (I used the Set All Button).
- Changing the Console name worked (only shorted it to MSX, the long bar thing didn't change know, haven't tried extending the name let).

The problem I've been having is changing the name. Pressing the 'Set All' button when changing the name just freezes the wad you banner.bin file loads.

When just changing the English Title, the wad didn't freeze but the images became distorted. Strange since all I did was shorten the name to 'ALESTE'.

But when naming the English title 'Super Mario World 10', it displays fine. WTF! 0_0


EDIT: Now I'm getting mixed results. If you name each title for each region separately, it seems to be working fine. Providing the name is longer.

When I used the 'Set All' button this time, it made the images in the banner file fuzzy.


EDIT 2:
This is strange. When I removed 'SYSTEM' from the consoles name, the banner displayed fine. I wonder if there is a text size limit on how much text can appear on the screen?


EDIT 3: Something strange is going on with the names and I don't know what. It seems the tool is correctly shortening/extending the title name but sometimes the banner distorts the images and sometimes it doesn't. No idea why that is.

Well enough testing for today.

 

[HowardC]

Okay, I've just done some testing on the VCbrlyt6.0 using Super Mario World 00.app.

- Colour Scheme Replacing is working fine.
- Changing 1-2 Players to 1 Players displayed the 00.app fine.
- Changing the Year made the banner display the 00.app fine (I used the Set All Button).
- Changing the Console name worked (only shorted it to MSX, the long bar thing didn't change know, haven't tried extending the name let).

The problem I've been having is changing the name. Pressing the 'Set All' button when changing the name just freezes the wad you banner.bin file loads.

When just changing the English Title, the wad didn't freeze but the images became distorted. Strange since all I did was shorten the name to 'ALESTE'.

But when naming the English title 'Super Mario World 10', it displays fine. WTF! 0_0


EDIT: Now I'm getting mixed results. If you name each title for each region separately, it seems to be working fine. Providing the name is longer.

When I used the 'Set All' button this time, it made the images in the banner file fuzzy.


EDIT 2:
This is strange. When I removed 'SYSTEM' from the consoles name, the banner displayed fine. I wonder if there is a text size limit on how much text can appear on the screen?


EDIT 3: Something strange is going on with the names and I don't know what. It seems the tool is correctly shortening/extending the title name but sometimes the banner distorts the images and sometimes it doesn't. No idea why that is.

Well enough testing for today.

Welcome to my world.

Sorry, I'm not feeling well so I haven't been around to respond. (And probably won't be of much help for a while.) I can tell you this much, the things absolutely won't work on a manually edited brlyt. The app has to count the nulls at the end to properly calculate the text size and an official entry should never have more than 4 nulls at the end. That might be why loels' freezed on him (haven't checked them yet, sorry). The distortion appears to revolve around the incorrect text length calculation... from what I can tell, it got distored on me if there were 4 nulls at the end of the string and the text length didn't subtract two (to essentially make those nulls not a part of the text). Now I compensated for four nulls, but NOT for three.... I couldn't find an example with three nulls at the end so I didn't think they existed. You might want to whip out the hex editor and check for that.

Thanks for all the help btw.... I'm getting sick of all the wad installs required to test this stuff.