Dr. Famicom
Talks Out Of His Ass
Hello. all! I haven't been around in a long while, but a few lil emulation-related things have picking at my brain lately, so naturally I came here for answers.
Originally, this was merely a query about finding some english documentation for a PSX sound ripping utility (Xaex), which as you might have guessed, isn't in english (which, as you might have guessed, is my naitive tounge). Then It occured to me how few tools there seem to be for extracting various forms of data from console game images to a format readable by a personal computer or Mac. The tecniques and technology certainly exsist - we do have emulators, after all! I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't be interested, at least for a moment, in isolating and veiwing 3D models from Nintendo 64 games, or dumping all the sound effects from some arcade-exclusive capcom game into wav format. And yet, there are few, if any, applications available to do so.
With so much source code available, it seems like more C++ programmers with nothing better to do would, in a sudden and terrible pang of boredom, easily whip up a graphics extractor for any random system in a mere matter of minutes. But they aren't! To be fair, there are are indeed tools out there, even built into emus. PSXMc is amazing, and I never would have gotten all the dashboards from Twisted Metal without it. Visual Boy Advance has those wonderful sprite and background veiwers, and that is one of the reasons it's on top. But PSXMc can't find the intro backdrops in Strider II, and a better GBA sprite veiwer would allow one to see the entire visual contents of a rom all at once, maybe even without playing it.
I hope my plea doesn't sound to parallel those that demand the next release of X emulator play their favorite game, I just want to know why emu authors are so negligent about what I assure you are sorely craved apps. They certainly can't be hard to make, as I'm willing to bet that some emulators were born as or furthered by such tools. And if you think that no one is interested, by gum, tou couldn't be more wrong! Fan games need sprites, incomplete (or non-existant) game OST's need additional music, and those with a curious spirit or too much free time on their hands need something to fart around with.
To sum this all up ("Why couldn't he START by summing it up?," you might say)all I really want is an answer to this;
Why don't emulator programmers seem to be interested in making emulator resource exporting software?
Originally, this was merely a query about finding some english documentation for a PSX sound ripping utility (Xaex), which as you might have guessed, isn't in english (which, as you might have guessed, is my naitive tounge). Then It occured to me how few tools there seem to be for extracting various forms of data from console game images to a format readable by a personal computer or Mac. The tecniques and technology certainly exsist - we do have emulators, after all! I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't be interested, at least for a moment, in isolating and veiwing 3D models from Nintendo 64 games, or dumping all the sound effects from some arcade-exclusive capcom game into wav format. And yet, there are few, if any, applications available to do so.
With so much source code available, it seems like more C++ programmers with nothing better to do would, in a sudden and terrible pang of boredom, easily whip up a graphics extractor for any random system in a mere matter of minutes. But they aren't! To be fair, there are are indeed tools out there, even built into emus. PSXMc is amazing, and I never would have gotten all the dashboards from Twisted Metal without it. Visual Boy Advance has those wonderful sprite and background veiwers, and that is one of the reasons it's on top. But PSXMc can't find the intro backdrops in Strider II, and a better GBA sprite veiwer would allow one to see the entire visual contents of a rom all at once, maybe even without playing it.
I hope my plea doesn't sound to parallel those that demand the next release of X emulator play their favorite game, I just want to know why emu authors are so negligent about what I assure you are sorely craved apps. They certainly can't be hard to make, as I'm willing to bet that some emulators were born as or furthered by such tools. And if you think that no one is interested, by gum, tou couldn't be more wrong! Fan games need sprites, incomplete (or non-existant) game OST's need additional music, and those with a curious spirit or too much free time on their hands need something to fart around with.
To sum this all up ("Why couldn't he START by summing it up?," you might say)all I really want is an answer to this;
Why don't emulator programmers seem to be interested in making emulator resource exporting software?
