DKCRE General Discussion Topic

Comparable to Lunar Magic of Super Mario World lore, and a more hacker-oriented tool, this program will give ROM hackers an advanced and powerful visual interface to hacking DKC.

Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » January 30th, 2009, 10:12 am

edevore wrote:Ok Simion, I did see somewhere info about the SPC format and how it is constructed but I don't remember where it was.. If you want me to I can try and find that data?
I think I seen something about it before too, but I forgot where it was.

The main problem is that an SPC is a "save state of the Sound Processor", if you will. This means it will be more difficult to reproduce... of course, all that likely needs to be done is to find the program that's loaded into the processor, and find how to apply that into and SPC file.

Sound effects should be more simple to figure out, as there are several programs floating around that extract SFX from SNES games... however, these are the base effects, not the combinations of sounds that you hear in-game. I think it's BRR format or something.

Anyway, no need to do that right now, as I don't plan on adding sound extraction right away.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » January 30th, 2009, 10:18 am

Okay then, I will keep searching on it and when the time comes, and if I have anything good I will share it with you..
It's time to stop bothering you Simion, so you can get on your project -- Nah! Kidding, I always bother people.. It's in my nature to do so!

Edit February 1st 2009: Simion, Is there an update soon?

Edit 2: Great that this program may be updated in the next 1-3 days -- I can't wait!
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » February 1st, 2009, 6:49 pm

Regarding Delays... I'll say that there have been a lot of "exceptions to the rule" that I had to deal with in DKC's extraction, which has caused a delay. It was mostly caused by the need for an organized structure of levels which listed the bonuses and extra room(s) per level, and a few other things. All of the tall levels (Coral Capers, Slipslide Ride, etc...) gave incorrect dimensions (these dimensions being from the ROM data), so I had to add in several exceptions to 'force' those levels to be mapped correctly.

However, all of the intended extraction features for DKC in this version are now working, as of this post. DKC2 Tilesets can be generated, but it's a bit jumbled at the moment. Now I must get DKC2's loop-through code done - another (albeit smaller) delay is incoming, because I must manually document level dimensions. Extraction of an entire level-stack is possible, but DKCRE will need some dimensions in order to crop the PNG's correctly.

*EDITS* The update will probably be within the next 1-3 days, depending on the time I have available.
-----------------------------------------
The only major difference of DKC's extraction between this version and the last, is that Mine Cart Carnage can use both layers (selected by default). I have also added in some parameters to re-size levels that don't take up the whole height/width so that the irrelevant area isn't shown.

All bonuses are now extractable as well, even though it inevitably generates some duplicates. The reason it's structured this way is to separate the levels when I add in "object layer" and "banana layer" overlays (those won't be in the upcoming version, probably the one after). Also...

Weird Finding: The Castle graphics are uncompressed! While everything else is compressed, the GFX for castle levels hasn't been tampered with. I wonder why Rare decided to do this? Perhaps it's for the same reason that DKC's Gangplank GFX were not compressed, and there was going to be a K. Rool battle at Stronghold Showdown? If so, the only thing I haven't figured out is why Stronghold Showdown is so empty... of course it has the 'cimematic' where K. Rool takes DK off to his Flying Krock, but it seems as if something is missing... :?
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Raccoon Sam » February 1st, 2009, 10:43 pm

Sounds great!
Also, about the castle gfx; maybe it's just a rare coincidence where raw graphics are a better choice than compressed? Sounds far-fetched, but I've seen it a few times before. Metroid Zero Mission's title screen is compressed with LZ77 and the compressed file is actually bigger than the raw graphics.
I dunno, maybe that's too unlikely.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » February 2nd, 2009, 3:34 am

February 06, 2009: How is the progress, Simion.. Are you almost ready to release an update soon?
Spoiler!
Do you think the Super Nintendo developers used some compressed and uncompressed combo's to total the amount of data (such as the exact total of a 4mb snes rom, for example.) that the rom's flash cart uses for the snes. (maybe the rom has to total 4mb for the 4mb flash cart.) This is the best that I can think of.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » February 25th, 2009, 8:16 am

I am truly sorry that DKCRE v0.0.5.0 is not yet available. :(

The week before last I had to repair someone's computer, which took almost a whole week... it was infected with about 56 viruses (according to Kasperksy Internet Security 2009). Not only was it overrun with viruses, but the ATI graphics card had overheating problems. I had to replace it with a crappy ATI card that my old computer had previously. It was almost fixed, then I ended up accidentally frying the hard drive in an external enclosure which ultimately resulted in going to Best Buy to get a new HDD. Then I had to reinstall widows and all the software again. Took another day to find the drivers for the hardware, since DELL was too stupid to provide a disk w/drivers on it.

Luckily I got paid for it (I generally assumed I was doing it for free). 8-)

I wanted to have the DKCRE release done last weekend, but had run into some nasty Segmentation Fault errors which I can't seem to find the cause of. I do know it has something to do with the DKC2 extraction, as it happened just after adding level naming and a bunch of exception stuff to the code (the naming system isn't much at all).

If no other major events intervene, I guess a release may be on/near next weekend. :|
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Doctor Phileas Fragg » March 20th, 2009, 4:54 pm

I'm really excited about this next release. I want to see if there are any unused animations in this game as with the first. OOH! OOOH! I bet one is Dixie balancing on a ledge! I doubt they made that up for the GBA port!

I think we're all excited about the next release. Don't think we've lost interest, Simon, we all really appreciate your hard work!
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 12th, 2009, 3:50 pm

Update: DKC Resource Editor v0.0.5.0

DOWNLOAD: *please check the releases sub-forums*

New Features:
-Nearly all DKC2 Levels and Bonus Levels are now available for Level Terrain mapping.
-DKC2 Tilesets can now be generated along with the DKC ones.
-CRC32 checking has been added. You can no longer open any hacks or non-v1.0 ROMs.

-The extraction now uses a new multi-dialog interface which debuts in this version.
-Cabins and the K.Rool battles cannot be rendered, because they use a different method.
-Tall levels from DKC have been fixed by forcing their level dimensions to be correct.
-Mine Cart Carnage can now be rendered with both layers in its Level Terrain (this is default).

-For some reason the hit-box display in the sprite viewer was broken. It has been fixed.
-I have added a dialog to the Sprite Viewer to notify that you need not press the SHIFT keys.

-You will be notified if the ROM fails the CRC32 check, and given relevant checksum information.
-ROMs are now loaded into vector<char> buffers instead of accessing the files directly. This results in a massive speed increase.
-The ROM opening system has been slightly revamped, with separate options in the File menu.

-Window animation has been removed, since it makes the program somewhat slower.
-Most of the code relevant to DKC resources has been converted to work with vector<char> for greater efficiency and speed.
-Now has some rather-strangely-behaving progress bars to let you know the progress of data extraction.


After much delay, you all now have access to DKC2 mapping, with all except Cabin & K.Rool rooms available! :mrgreen:

The progress bars I added don't seem to do much, but that's because the actual operations that put together Level Terrains are very fast - it's saving the images to the HDD that's slow. I want to revamp these progress bars, because they were sort of rushed. They sometimes include items you're not extracting, thus the odd behavior.

Any suggestions, comments, etc?
Qyz: just a reminder, this should be posted on the Atlas news RSS thread...
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Kiddy14 » April 13th, 2009, 8:05 am

I'll try using your Snes9x Geiger's Debugger method to de-header the ROM =P
Anyway, DKC2 worked well :D

Spoiler!
I think my DKC ROM has a header or something, because the extractor says:
Could not identify this ROM file as
"Donkey Kong Country (U) (V1.0) [!].smc"

This file's CRC32:0xABFFBEDD
Correct CRC32:0xC946DCA0

You will not be able to use DKC related features without a ROM image

Yet my file is a (U) (V1.0) [!]
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Cosmicman » April 13th, 2009, 8:24 am

The extractor worked flawless on my vista computer, no complaints.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Doctor Phileas Fragg » April 13th, 2009, 12:26 pm

Oops, I was a bit mistaken here, this release is all about tile sets. I'm still excited to have all the Brambles to play with though, for sure.

Hit boxes too! I thought it was weird that they were listed but absent.

As far as comments go, I still can't find K. Rool's running animation, or Diddy's turning animation.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » April 13th, 2009, 1:01 pm

Hey Simion, I have tested this program and it works for me fine, Great Job!

I did have a really (,really, really) tuff time locating the proper rom to extract, It took me hours to get it though - but I am fine now. I was wondering on how much progress the sprites extraction is going?
When the program is done I am using it for my own game core built from scratch, I hope you're fine with this... While doing this for personal use I will give credit to you for all resources I used in the game - only if you want credit though.

Thank you for this great tool it will save me alot of time and work plus I am not an expert at hacking like this, The DKC Resource Editor will make my fan game dreams come true- The Donkey Kong Country 1, 2 and 3 games were and are always the best game I have played when I was a child and still are, Old games like this I never get tired of playing and building my own version from the origional game type is really my dream that I would love to start and finish and come true.

Again good work, and I wish you the best of luck!
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 13th, 2009, 4:56 pm

You're welcome edevore! Cosmicman, cool that it still has ZERO problems with vista - you can be one of the 'vista testers' I guess. Thanks for the good news everyone, it's great that there aren't any weird errors to deal with this time! :D

Kiddy14 wrote:Could not identify this ROM file as
"Donkey Kong Country (U) (V1.0) [!].smc"

This file's CRC32:0xABFFBEDD
Correct CRC32:0xC946DCA0

You will not be able to use DKC related features without a ROM image
It does account for headers, but this is assuming the header in the ROM is 512 bytes. Anything else will likely not work. You must have gotten a really strange ROM. The header could have been bigger than 512 bytes, that could have 'confused' DKCRE somewhat. :roll:

As a side note, a non-header v1.0 of DKC, DKC2, or DKC3 should always be exactly 4,194,304 bytes. If it's not, you have an incorrect ROM.

edevore wrote:When the program is done I am using it for my own game core built from scratch, I hope you're fine with this... While doing this for personal use I will give credit to you for all resources I used in the game - only if you want credit though.
If by which you mean using the DKC sprites/backgrounds/media/etc that DKCRE extracts, I don't mind, but I would like some credit to at least say that the resources were extracted by the tool.

edevore wrote:Thank you for this great tool (...) building my own version from the origional game type is really my dream that I would love to start and finish and come true.
Go ahead and follow your dreams... it's the same thing that has motivated me to work on such involved projects as the DKCLB and DKCRE... hopefully my tools can help you reach your goals as well! And don't forget, that DKCLB will be able to handle constructing an entire "DKC4" game, so when DKCLB is done you could (if you want to anyway) convert your game to DKCLB format...

Doctor Phileas Fragg wrote:Oops, I was a bit mistaken here, this release is all about tile sets.
I'm sure that I'll soon be able to hack out a Sprite Modifier for DKC2... there is already some Object Modifier information which Raccoon Sam and I dug out a while ago for DKC2/3.

Doctor Phileas Fragg wrote:Hit boxes too! I thought it was weird that they were listed but absent.
Evidently the ? key that activated the Hitboxes worked, but I added some underlying code that was checking for an activated extraction parameter. However, the Sprite Viewer didn't activate this parameter (the viewer and extraction use the same function), so hitboxes never got displayed in v0.0.4.1. Basically a small oversight on my part... :roll:

Doctor Phileas Fragg wrote:As far as comments go, I still can't find K. Rool's running animation, or Diddy's turning animation.
I'm willing to bet that it's those seven missing frames in between K.Rool's animations... from what I remember these 7, will crash the program. I haven't found out why, but that may well be the missing animation for K.Rool. As for the Diddy sprites, I have no clue where they might be.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » April 13th, 2009, 6:49 pm

Thanks, Simion
When I said something about credit thats what I ment for the credit to go to the tool you made.
The DKCLE would be a nice idea but I don't want to edit the game, I want to program it myself...
Your tool is ment to play on pc's as an app and not online where all my friends and family are using the network for online games thats why I want mine to be programmed in Java which the applet can be played in a browser.
most people are afraid to download applications because of the fact that there are virus makers on the net including application signers to make apps look like an official download.
I will still use your program but my dream is to program it myself and not have it already done where I move and change objects/settings. After I build my own DKC or fail to build it I will defenly check yours out.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 13th, 2009, 8:57 pm

edevore wrote:I want mine to be programmed in Java which the applet can be played in a browser.
Whoa, very ambitious idea. I'll be sure to provide game physics details so that you can get it right, if you do manage to get that far. I think Qyz plans on having this info put up on the Atlas, so everyone will be able to see the intricate details of DKC's physics system.
edevore wrote:most people are afraid to download applications because of the fact that there are virus makers on the net including application signers to make apps look like an official download.
Hrmm... I hate to say this, but that's an irrelevant argument. When you play online games, they are still downloaded to your computer (even if they are in RAM) and whatever is in the online "game" or Java application will still be executed regardless. An online Java app could easily be faked, just as a download-able program could be. :ugeek:
Spoiler!
You should only be afraid if you don't have a good anti-virus; and know what to look for so that you know a site is trying to make you download a virus... so-called 'codecs' that are 'required' to play audio/video are a common culprit, I've found. This is especially true if the site pops up a message saying you need the codec. If that does happen, immediately click your start bar, CTRL+ALT+DEL, and terminate your browser... there's no other way to get out of it that I know of.
edevore wrote:I will still use your program but my dream is to program it myself and not have it already done where I move and change objects/settings.
Ahh, I see. Starting from the beginning like I did, eh? Although, you have all the info I and other Atlas members have made available, with more info being unearthed gradually, so it shouldn't be overwhelmingly difficult. I however don't have much experience with Java, so I can't help you there.

From what I gather, you want to make an online Java DKC that can't be modified and can save your game via the browser, and you can come back and play whenever while you're online. Am I understanding your concept clearly?
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Raccoon Sam » April 14th, 2009, 4:52 am

I'm gonna go ahead and say that Java is not the best choice. If your top priority is that it needs to be browser-ready, then go for Flash.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » April 14th, 2009, 7:54 am

Really! I have no comment...
Simion the information will be great to have, thanks.
Simion I only know that java has a point to map feature such an object to save not sure though.
I am not great at java but I know some people that made game engine makers that exports as java format so thats what I am using to do dkc series.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Tonberry2k » April 14th, 2009, 9:34 am

Just to clarify, this doesn't have a DKC2 sprite viewer yet, just maps, right? Either way, AWESOME. You're doing great!
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Cosmicman » April 14th, 2009, 9:45 am

So far all the extractors including the level builder have worked exceptional with great speed even if I'm using other programs at the same time and I have a decent vista computer so I don't have much to say other than the programs are working great.
Another question I usually make every six months or so : What's the whole project completion percent ? I'm guessing with DKC 2 on the boat now you should be close to 50% ? At least an estimate.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Kiddy14 » April 14th, 2009, 9:58 am

I've found out the why of the error =P
Anyway, I was able to open the ROM, and the sprite viewer worked great! :D Though I haven't tested extraction till I get to my laptop (it's Vista so it's faster)
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 14th, 2009, 10:04 am

Good... I'm aiming for speed, reliability, accuracy, and ability to push limits. DKCLB is not your average DKC fan-'game'! ;)

Cosmicman wrote:What's the whole project completion percent ? I'm guessing with DKC 2 on the boat now you should be close to 50% ? At least an estimate.
Well, the DKCRE could be considered about ~30% done in terms of extraction features. The DELTA Game Engine is about 16% done, since I'm just now getting into replicating DKC's physics, and I have yet to fully design the level file handler because of this. DELTA/DKCLB has quite a bit to go, but DKCRE is moving along a bit faster.

Out of all projects combined, I'd say somewhere in the 20-25% range.
Kiddy14 wrote:I've found out the why of the error =P
What happened, could you please explain why...?
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Kiddy14 » April 14th, 2009, 10:22 am

I was accidentally using a ROM I edited with DKedit =P silly me! XD
Littly on-topic, will you be using DKC2 and DKC3's physics with Dixie and Kiddy? Or the same DKC physics (you can say the three games' engines are different).
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » April 14th, 2009, 10:28 am

Simion, I have a problem... From what I remember in Donkey Kong Country 2's Ice levels, They are glossy, sparkle and are transparent but you're extracted ones are not -- I wonder why?
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 14th, 2009, 10:54 am

edevore wrote:From what I remember in Donkey Kong Country 2's Ice levels, They are glossy, sparkle and are transparent but you're extracted ones are not
The transparency effects are a dynamic combination of multiple layers.

It's impossible to extract them with transparency without having access to the backgrounds used, and also the HDMA effect that makes the ice "blur" the background that's showing through it. Take a good look at Black Ice Battle and switch the different layers on/off with the 1,2, and 3 keys and you'll see what I mean:
DKC2TransDem1.PNG
DKC2TransDem1.PNG (45.33 KiB) Viewed 198391 times

The "Transparency" on BG3 is actually a darkened version of the background image, which also uses HDMA effects to get that "sparkle" effect. It applies the HDMA effect to this darkened image and then combines its color with the ice-terrain layer. As far as I'm aware, I sould be able to add this to Level Terrain Mapping, but the Tile Sets CANNOT be extracted with these effects in place.

Kiddy14 wrote:will you be using DKC2 and DKC3's physics with Dixie and Kiddy?
You'll be able to choose which physics to use.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » April 14th, 2009, 11:00 am

Edit: Thanks Simion, I did not relize that, Thank you for the emulator save data.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Cody » April 14th, 2009, 2:16 pm

I know I don't get around to posting often, but Simion, your program is lovely! I'm having a blast extracting DKC2 terrains with it; it's awesome to see how large each level truly is.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 14th, 2009, 2:32 pm

DKC2 Black Ice Battle: Shadow Cubes [Hack]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXNwgwPJHhw&fmt=18

This is what happens when the terrain is all-black.... you can clearly see Layer 3 because the terrain doesn't provide any color. All this talk about Ice terrain inspired me to make this video.

Note: If you extract EVERYTHING that DKCRE can extract so far, you will have used around 111 MB! :ugeek:
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby diddykong » April 14th, 2009, 2:42 pm

Simion32 wrote:DKC2 Black Ice Battle: Shadow Cubes [Hack]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXNwgwPJHhw&fmt=18

This is what happens when the terrain is all-black.... you can clearly see Layer 3 because the terrain doesn't provide any color. All this talk about Ice terrain inspired me to make this video.

Note: If you extract EVERYTHING that DKCRE can extract so far, you will have used around 111 MB! :ugeek:


Out of 112 MB? We wish :D.

That ice thing is really cool I, got first view and comment.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Qyzbud » April 14th, 2009, 11:14 pm

Hey, this is great news, Simion. I will certainly add mention of your recent breakthroughs on the Atlas news feed. I would have already done so, but I only just noticed the update... I'll download and try out this latest version when I get a chance - it's gonna be a great help for the DKC2 maps I'm piecing together, that's for sure! :D
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Tonberry2k » April 15th, 2009, 4:08 am

So obviously stages are able to be dumped, but what about the backgrounds of stages? For example, the jungle, or sand in the ocean, or sunset sky, etc? Will those ever be included?
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 15th, 2009, 7:09 am

Yes, the backgrounds will eventually be added. Hopefully by the next version.

The next thing I'm going to work on is DKC's physics and object system, for DELTA. My aim is to at least have Donkey Kong fully and accurately playable on every DKC level archetype.

Actually, I'm thinking that if the physics of each game are similar, I may just combine them into one single physics "setting" for custom DKCLB levels. There's a small chance that the gravity for Kongs and how fast they fall is only related to their respective 'weight'; in that case this will be easy to implement.

DKCRE might get an objects-related update during this physics R&D, but I will probably wait until the next major feature(s), whatever that turns out to be, is done.

Qyzbud wrote:I would have already done so, but I only just noticed the update
I did think about PM'ing you about the update to let you know in advance, but I figured you would find out eventually. ;)
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Qyzbud » April 15th, 2009, 7:20 am

Yeah, you know I'm keenly following your DKC projects... I was just a little slow off the mark this time. :P I've now added a news report to the RSS feed/Atlas home page, which I dated to reflect the release date of the DKCRE's update.

As others have mentioned, this update works marvellously. Having a quick look through the extracted terrains, it appears the Windy Well terrain is a bit messed up toward the top of the level... but that's probably just how it was designed. I don't have time to check with my camera codes at the moment, but I'm pretty sure you'd have it right. Rare can be a bit sloppy with the unseen areas, eh? :lol:

One other thing I ought to point out is that the Data Extraction Complete message box needs a quick spell check:
The operations you selected have been performed.


Otherwise, great update! This tool is gonna make my DKC2 mapping a whole lot easier. :D
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Cody » April 15th, 2009, 9:06 am

Edit: Ooops, never mind :P
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » April 15th, 2009, 9:17 am

Simion, That Ice BG3 layer is going to be really hard for me I have no Idea on how to achieve the same effect, do you think that I can take the BG 1,3 then use BG2+bg1(So Confused on how to do this and what layers do what!) as an alpha of 18-25% using a mask to hide the excess layer of BG3... Oh its going to go very badly and may even do away with it (oh well I will eventually figure it out on my own).


What I am asking, do you have any layer ideas that I can do to give it the transparent look without this so called "HDMA effects" thing which I'm not even sure how it works!

If I can take the bg-background layer and copy it with an alpha and cut the not shown area using some mask then I may be able to use the camera to move the BG around a little such as the BG3 layer.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 15th, 2009, 10:38 am

edevore wrote:alpha of 18-25%
This effect, however it seems, doesn't really use alpha. The SNES can't handle alpha color, remember? All it's really doing is adding layers together.

The operation itself is called "additive blending". Like you add together the RGB color of the pixels. Say you have RGB color #1F2E3C and you add #121212... you end up with #31404E. This is a combination of both colors, and it will look like the first color is showing through the one in front of it. In the case of DKC2, the color you added would be the Background Layer 3.

You can still do the basic transparency without the HDMA effects, but it won't look like you're looking through ice, just a see-through image. Not as spiffy as with HDMA, but you can do it without HDMA if you want.

See here for a simplified demonstration I cooked up that describes the graphical process and also explains what the HDMA effect is:
Image
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Krow111 » April 15th, 2009, 10:45 am

This is cool! How come the Sprite Viewer isn't available for DKC2 yet?
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » April 15th, 2009, 11:18 am

No I was wondering if I added alpha to this level will it work?


EDIT:
Here is a picture that I have worked on as an example and I am asking if it looks ok or if it needs alot more work...?
test.gif
Test 0001
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 15th, 2009, 11:59 am

Hmm... Looks OK. Good enough if you're not going for extreme accuracy.

And, If you have a really large picture to post you might want to upload it somewhere else. That GIF alone is bigger than the guide picture I posted! :shock:
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » April 15th, 2009, 12:11 pm

And again its going to be a challenge, I am not 100% sure on what effects to apply to this and how to apply the alpha glow and sparkle effect but it might work... Also I dont have the orgional bg for that level so I had to copy the same section several times then merge and flatten the bg while moving it in the animation, The bg ani is too fast for me to slow down and takes too long to make it smooth and loop over, though.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Doctor Phileas Fragg » April 15th, 2009, 2:48 pm

How will the tile tables work once they're implemented? I'm going nuts trying to decipher these brambles.

Also, I'm terribly interested in the physics of the game.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 15th, 2009, 10:13 pm

Doctor Phileas Fragg wrote:How will the tile tables work once they're implemented? I'm going nuts trying to decipher these brambles.
In the Level Builder I plan on implementing a sort of feature that allows you to draw lines to represent the "structure" of brambles (or whatever kind of level you're making). Then you can press a button to construct the terrain, and make fine adjustments if needed. The "lines" will be stored in the level file along with your fine-adjustments, this should save some space. Or, if you want, it can be saved using the basic tile grid mode where your "lines" are stored but not used by DELTA.
Doctor Phileas Fragg wrote:Also, I'm terribly interested in the physics of the game.
If I remember correctly I might at least have some object position data lying around. You'll have to wait for DKC2's physics, but I'll get there eventually.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Qyzbud » April 15th, 2009, 10:21 pm

Simion, something for you to fix; the red/green lights in Target Terror and the signs above the Kackle gates in Haunted Hall seem to have palette problems...

I've been going through the DKCRE's terrain extractions one by one to compare them with my own terrain mappings, and I have noticed that many (most?) of the extracted terrains for DKC2 contain a bit more terrain than what I have been able to reveal, even with the use of my camera codes. In most cases, this is just a few extra tiles in one direction, which is nice for expanding the view a little... but take a look at the DKCRE's extraction of the Topsail Trouble terrain - the top of it shows some 400+ pixels higher than can ever be seen in gameplay! My camera codes can only reveal a little over half of that extra scenery... perhaps Rare set some 'absolute viewing limits', so not only will the view never get that far during normal gameplay, but it can't be forced to show the terrain beyond those specified limits, either - even if more terrain data is there.

Are you pretty much 100% positive of these level dimensions? What's your take on the presence of this 'extra' terrain?
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 15th, 2009, 10:37 pm

I was aware of the pallet problems that the roller coaster levels have. They have some code which overwrites a single set of 16 colors after loading the normal ones, to save space presumably. I just never implemented something to account for these slight pallet variations.

Qyzbud wrote:but take a look at the DKCRE's extraction of the Topsail Trouble terrain - the top of it shows some 400+ pixels higher than can ever be seen in gameplay! My camera codes can only reveal a little over half of that extra scenery... perhaps Rare set some 'absolute viewing limits', so not only will the view never get that far during normal gameplay, but it can't be forced to show the terrain beyond those specified limits, either - even if more terrain data is there.

Are you pretty much 100% positive of these level dimensions? What's your take on the presence of this 'extra' terrain?
If I remember correctly, trying to modify the camera limits past the bottom of the level in Bramble Blast will result in you seeing the top of the level rather than the top of Bramble Scramble. I'm sure that there is some sort of limit based on the way the levels are displayed.

I'm pretty much certain these extra pieces of terrain are indeed correct. Would you like to see a full topsails extraction (all topsail levels as they are stored in-game)?

All of the levels of a type are stored in the same compressed block of data... if you decompress that and divide the number of uncompressed bytes by 2, you instantly have the total number of tiles in the level "stack". All that must be done afterward is to know the level's width (with topsails this is 0x18 tiles - or 3 screens) and arrange them in rows/columns to get the entire block of level layouts.

I doubt rare would have thrown in these extra areas without a purpose; perhaps they miscalculated slightly before imposing the 'level limits'.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Gnawzooka » April 15th, 2009, 10:51 pm

Simion32 wrote:
Doctor Phileas Fragg wrote:How will the tile tables work once they're implemented? I'm going nuts trying to decipher these brambles.
In the Level Builder I plan on implementing a sort of feature that allows you to draw lines to represent the "structure" of brambles (or whatever kind of level you're making). Then you can press a button to construct the terrain, and make fine adjustments if needed.

Whoa, that sounds great, even better than I was expecting. It also sounds very ambitious though... hope it works out.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby edevore » April 16th, 2009, 9:50 am

I have been messing with that ice thing for more than 14 hours and cant seem to get what I want, Simion do you think that somehow an effect option can be added to "RE" and be able to add the effect which allows anyone to use alpha such as BG1 = 10% +BG2= 24% or some sort of what I am asking -- I know you're busy but the way it is going it isn't working out the way I have expected, Any Ideas Simion other than alpha or HDMA effects?
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Doctor Phileas Fragg » April 16th, 2009, 3:02 pm

The tile planting interface in DELTA sounds like it'll be awesome!


...But actually, I was asking about the Tile Table extraction option for DKCRE...
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby asmodeus » April 17th, 2009, 2:07 am

Well, I don't know if anybody else has got the problem *I|m too layz to read the complete thread), but what's about using the keys "?", "<" and ">"? I have got a German layout and "<" is on one key with ">", and I have to press shift for "?". I found out that I can use the "?" by pressing the German "-" key, but what's about "<" and ">"?
See keyboard layouts here:
English
German
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Simion32 » April 17th, 2009, 8:48 am

Well, I didn't expect to have any problems with other languages... perhaps I should devise a more universal key layout. :P

It looks like the "," (comma) and "." (period/full stop) keys would be the equivalent since the operations are based on the key itself rather than the SHIFT counterpart. I wanted the keys to actually make some sense, so I didn't use any letter keys or key-combination... but I never took into account non-american keyboards.

I propose these solutions:
-Toggle Hitbox can be switched to a letter key such as H so that it's not placed on a key that could be different on any keyboard.
-Change Pallete could be mapped to the F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 and F6 keys. That would definitely make changing pallets a bit easier.

A question, does your keyboard have the "Menu" key (the one with this symbol on it)? If it doesn't, that may be a problem in DELTA, as I have assigned that key to toggling view of the application's Menu-Bar. I know of one keyboard at my school that doesn't have that key OR Windows Logo keys... how odd. :roll:

Doctor Phileas Fragg wrote:actually, I was asking about the Tile Table extraction option for DKCRE...
Well, I've held off on doing it for a while, since it's a pretty pointless feature (it's just there for convenience really). All they will be are HTML tables, sort of like grids, which arrange the tiles into viewable web pages. This may only be useful if you end up hacking DKC by hand or need a tile reference for some reason.
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Re: DKC Resource Editor

Postby Kiddy14 » April 17th, 2009, 9:54 am

I also have that same problem. At first I thought the program wasn't working right but I took in account regional settings, and so went online to see the American layout :roll: Then I realized it was the physical keys I had to press...
Spoiler!
German
Image
Latin American Spanish
Image
Arabic
Image

In the images linked above, the keyboards have the Menu key. Also, I think you also have to take on consideration with keyboards using an alphabet other than Latin, like the Arabic one. I'd go with all using Function keys...
By the way, why do mini-Diddy and mini-Donkey still have the wrong palettes in the Sprite Viewer?
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