Azure Striker Gunvolt 1, 2 and Luminous Avenger IX Sprite Rips

[rufaswan]

Oh, so you are using the PC Steam version. I thought you are using emulator VRAM viewer tools or something. I wasn't following 3DS/Switch emulator news.

Searching around, I found it interesting Citra-emu (3DS emulator) report "Great" on running Gunvolt, while Yuzu (Switch emulator) can run it "Perfect". Never expect that.

https://citra-emu.org/game/azure-striker-gunvolt/
https://yuzu-emu.org/game/gunvolt-chroni...venger-ix/

Even more interestingly, the decompression algorithm is still haven't been figure out yet! With some dumb luck, I managed to figure it out. It is just good old Final Fantasy 7 type of compression. Those guys at ZenHax are overthinking it.

Here is the decompression code, at my GitHub repo:
https://github.com/rufaswan/Web2D_Games/...-irarc.php

I can confirm the code works for 4 games:
- Mighty Gunvolt
- Azure Striker Gunvolt
- Azure Striker Gunvolt 2
- Gunvolt Chronicles Luminous Avenger iX

The data for Mighty Gunvolt Burst is encrypted, so it doesn't work.

So yeah, in a way, I have nearly everything reassembled. This is Isola from Gunvolt Chronicles:


Data-wise, it is like Vanillaware, they are all in quads. If you find some pixels looks strange, then it is cause by rounding errors.

I attached some decoded texture and game data file to use with quad player from Vanillaware Ripping Project. Enjoy!
- Rufas

P.S. I am also researching looping for animations. Besides loop once and loop infinite, I suspect it can also loop to certain frame, like a BGM music loop. Let me know if you can identify these kind of stuff. Thanks!