Vanillaware Ripping Project

[rufaswan]

Hey guys! How are you all doing?

Special thanks to @Cloud2333, when debugging some errors from Unicorn Overlord, we end up discovered a lot more. For a start, remember Mix-and-Match update (https://www.vg-resource.com/thread-38430...#pid667163)? Vanillaware have added a bitflag to switch between required texture. There are no need to seoerate weapons into multiple textures anymore.

And most importantly, Vanillaware also added colorize. So now, there are also no need for multiple textures for multiple colors. In fact, you can freely pair any color you want. Red hat + Green dress + Blue shoes + Cyan gloves...

So this is "Customize" update!



Quad Player is updated to v0.5:
* Added Colorize Menu, for user selected custom colors.
* Added Keyframe Attributes, to turn ON/OFF of a group of keyframe layers.

Also added Quad Keyframe Debugger. Originally planned for Quad Player for Desktop, but gives up when designing the Animation table. You can use this to turn ON/OFF any layers you want for discovering what certain data in the game file means.

Here are some samples for you guys to play around
https://www.mediafire.com/file/849adj9yf...00.7z/file

Have fun!
- Rufas

[havoc]

First, thank you mate for what you have accomplished here. Truly impressive.

I am playing Unicorn Overlord (what an incredible game) in an emulator and I want to mod it to somehow get rid of the battle outcome UI, where you can see the result of the battle beforehand.

I am guessing that what I need to do is to get to the GUI file and change the whole sprite's alpha to 0, or tint it black or whatever... I will try out stuff when I get there. Right now I have accomplished to unpack the CPK, and then I've used your psxtool to convert "Interface_Battle_00.mbs" into "Interface_Battle_00.mbs.v55", and then into "Interface_Battle_00.mbs.v55.prediv.quad".

However I'm not understanding the last step to turn this prediv quads into the final asset. Can I ask you to steer me in the right direction?

Also, knowing what I want to do, am I heading in the right direction?

Thanks a lot!

[rufaswan]

I am playing Unicorn Overlord (what an incredible game) in an emulator and I want to mod it to somehow get rid of the battle outcome UI, where you can see the result of the battle beforehand.

I am guessing that what I need to do is to get to the GUI file and change the whole sprite's alpha to 0, or tint it black or whatever... I will try out stuff when I get there.

Hi @havoc! There are many ways to mod these modern games nowadays. You don't even need to edit those original game files at all. For one, modern emulators have texture replacement feature, you can make a texture pack to replace these GUI textures with dummies instead. Try ask around the emulator forum to learn how to do that.

https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index...ndo_Switch

Or, since modern games can also be updated, you can make a patch instead. @Cloud2333 is making these Green Background patch to help discovering things on Unicorn Overlord. It is just simply mounting an external cpk with the emulator.

https://github.com/rufaswan/Web2D_Games/issues/12

I do not know the exact steps or tools to do these things. Again, try ask around the emulator forum to learn how to do that.

Right now I have accomplished to unpack the CPK, and then I've used your psxtool to convert "Interface_Battle_00.mbs" into "Interface_Battle_00.mbs.v55", and then into "Interface_Battle_00.mbs.v55.prediv.quad".

However I'm not understanding the last step to turn this prediv quads into the final asset. Can I ask you to steer me in the right direction?

Also, knowing what I want to do, am I heading in the right direction?

The last step is to turn those texture UV from 0.0 ... 1.0 back to 2D image px unit. Load the .PNG then the .PREDIV.QUAD, you'll get the normal .QUAD file that can be opened with QUAD PLAYER.

Code:

php  psxtools/quad_prediv.php  0.png  1.png  2.png  .prediv.quad

Hope it helps!
- Rufas

[havoc]

Hey Rufaswan, thanks a lot for your leads! Looks like I am out of luck and what I wanted to do is slightly out of reach. Bummer  

I will keep trying to mod the textures, see if I get somewhere. Regarding that, I am sorry but I didn't understand your quad script explanation - I don't get what the 0.png, 1.png ... are. I don't know what images I need to input here. Should these be blank images? How many? Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I've given it some thought so I guess others would be stuck there too.

Thanks again

[rufaswan]

Hey Rufaswan, thanks a lot for your leads! Looks like I am out of luck and what I wanted to do is slightly out of reach. Bummer  

I will keep trying to mod the textures, see if I get somewhere. Regarding that, I am sorry but I didn't understand your quad script explanation - I don't get what the 0.png, 1.png ... are. I don't know what images I need to input here. Should these be blank images? How many? Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I've given it some thought so I guess others would be stuck there too.

Thanks again

There is a whole section about those PNG on the tutorial. Look at the section *before* the MBP/MBS.
- Rufas

[redemon]

hi Rufaswan, thanks for the sample Unicorn Overlord sprites! I'm trying to extract more character sprites but I'm not sure to do it using your tutorial. I have the game's .NSP file, how do you extract the .FTX files from that?

[redemon]

Nevermind, I went down a rabbit hole and eventually figured it out.

[Quina]

Thank you for your tutorials.
I managed to extract Unicorn Overlord assets from ftx > nvt > png.
Now I need to repack them back png> nvt > ftx.. any idea how?

Hi! Unfortunately I do not have anything to import them back. My focus is only on ripping stuff out, not on putting them back in.
You may need to make a new tool for it yourself.
Good luck!
- Rufas
P.S. Just remembered, if you are using emulator and it has texture replacement feature, you can use that instead. No need to repack.

Hi rufaswan. I have the same question of Valarant, I wish to translate 13th sentinel aegis rim on switch. Yes I can ftx > nvt > png and after that I used img_png2clut.php to convert edited png font back to clut. But I received Font.0.nvt.png.rgba , its rgba extension not clut extension. 
So how can I convert that rgba back to ftx, please? It is just 1 more script to help us translate the games, so I really wish you can make it. Thank you very much. And of course I can donate you.

[rufaswan]

Hi rufaswan. I have the same question of Valarant, I wish to translate 13th sentinel aegis rim on switch. Yes I can ftx > nvt > png and after that I used img_png2clut.php to convert edited png font back to clut. But I received Font.0.nvt.png.rgba , its rgba extension not clut extension. 
So how can I convert that rgba back to ftx, please? It is just 1 more script to help us translate the games, so I really wish you can make it. Thank you very much. And of course I can donate you.

There are 3 more steps actually.
1. Compress the PNG back with BC4/7 texture compression, then
2. Swizzle the data with Switch's Tegra X1 algorithm.
3. Pack everything back to NVT (Switch Texture format), then into FTX (Vanillaware file format).

Currently, I am researching for a breakthrough for Quad Player v0.6. I have no time or interest on making modding tools.

Sorry, you will have to find someone else. I can't help you on this.
- Rufas

[Quina]

Hi rufaswan. I have the same question of Valarant, I wish to translate 13th sentinel aegis rim on switch. Yes I can ftx > nvt > png and after that I used img_png2clut.php to convert edited png font back to clut. But I received Font.0.nvt.png.rgba , its rgba extension not clut extension. 
So how can I convert that rgba back to ftx, please? It is just 1 more script to help us translate the games, so I really wish you can make it. Thank you very much. And of course I can donate you.

There are 3 more steps actually.
1. Compress the PNG back with BC4/7 texture compression, then
2. Swizzle the data with Switch's Tegra X1 algorithm.
3. Pack everything back to NVT (Switch Texture format), then into FTX (Vanillaware file format).

Currently, I am researching for a breakthrough for Quad Player v0.6. I have no time or interest on making modding tools.

Sorry, you will have to find someone else. I can't help you on this.
- Rufas

Please check inbox. Thank you.