Sands of Destruction: Unrippable?

[Nandoman89]

Hello, long-time visitor to TSR, first time poster...this seemed like the most appropriate place to post this.

I was going to try ripping some of the battle sprites from the game Sands of Destruction. I've only ever ripped sprites from GBA games before, via the Visualboy Advance emulator, so I intended to do the same sort of thing with a DS emulator as I'm unfamiliar with the other tools and techniques normally used to rip sprites (sorry, I usually just edit sprites, I'm a n00b at ripping). However, after trying in a few emulators...it doesn't seem possible, at least by this method. It seems that with the exception of the top screen items, and some of the text, EVERYTHING is on a single layer...sprites, backgrounds, menus...pic related. I can't even use the tedious method of erasing the background from the sprites manually in Paint because even the damage counters are on the same layer, so if an attack animation makes contact the sprite is pretty much covered up by numbers and worthless...

I know this isn't an emulator support forum but this seemed like a better place to ask since it's sprite-related...am I doing something wrong? Is there another tool or method I can use to get the sprites out of the game besides an emulator? I've googled around a lot before posting and I can't seem to find any concrete answers or instructions, mostly it seems people are using the layer disable method (which doesn't seem to work with this particular game) or are mentioning obscure tools I can't actually find, or find instructions on how to use. Would anyone be willing to help me find some answers?

[Davy Jones]

Hey Davias,

I noticed that you were looking for help with ripping from Black Sigil, so I thought I'd send you a PM.

As far as ripping from DS games in general goes, tools such as consoleTool and tahaxan work well (both do the same job). From there all you have to do is drag and drop/ open the ds rom into the program and start searching for the correct files.

.NANR (animation), .NCER (cell, usually for sprites), .NCBR(graphics, usually sprites), .NGCR (graphics, usually backgrounds), .NCLR (palette), .NCSR (screen, usually for backgrounds) are preferred to find as they all correspond directly to the sprites, but some games have the graphics compressed into other types of files such as .bin, .dat, .arc or .narc (to name a few).

When it comes to .bin, .dat, .arc, etc Barubary and Dazz might be better to PM (as they have a lot more knowledge of this kind of stuff than me ), but one tool to look at is GenericBUnpacker.

.NANR, .NCER, etc. (all of the file types mentioned above) can then be opened in OilOfVitriol and the sprites will show up there.

Most (if not all) of the programs that I mentioned should be in Barubary's ripping thread (might have to search if it isn't on the first page), but if it isn't there Barubary should have it (or I could send it to you).

Anyways, I currently don't have the rom of the game, but I'll try and get it soon to help with ripping. If searching through the game's files doesn't work, then playing through the game might be your best bet. (I'm pretty sure there is another way through using TileGGD, but I'm absolutely horrible when it comes to working with that ).

Also, DeSuME is another good emulator as far as the DS goes. It's free and comes with an OAM/ Map viewer to get the sprites/ maps by themselves.

If you haven't already done so, I suggest PMing Barubary for help as he is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to DS ripping.

Hope it works out with the game! And I might give it a shot if there's room for one more ripper for the game.

Use DSLazy to extract your rom first.

Also helpful:
http://new.spriters-resource.com/communi...#pid141202

[Dazz]

I believe Sands of Destruction is easily readble using Oil of Vitriol, DSLazy, and that sort of method.

If you need any help, have a chat with me on AIM or something at some point.

[FaustWolf]

Hey Nandoman89 (or anyone else interested in this), let me know over PM if you need pointers on palette application and technical stuff. As Dazz said, everything's right out in the open and a ripping project with TiledGGD or a similar utility appears perfectly doable here.

I have a huge interest in Sands of Destruction but little time, especially for organizing sheets neatly. I'd love to collab with someone. Please disregard if this is already well under way.

[Dazz]

I would be happy enough to try and get some stuff together for you, but I don't know any names.

[FaustWolf]

Good point, I'll see what I can do there. I should get a spreadsheet of needed properties together so someone can tear right through.

The biggest problem will be that some frames have to be pieced together from little 8x8 subtiles -- I think the game does this for non-standard dimensions. They're arranged logically enough but it'll still be a big time sink.