Beta version 6.1.1 beta10

[Rice]

This plugin is now rather out of date, and lacks the compatibility of newer versions of Rice Video, please visit http://adf.ly/HwZn9 for a more updated version of the plugin.

This topic will be left here for archiving purposes

I don't want to release it as an official version, but rather as a beta version, so you guys can try and see if it can solve the base texture replication problems which was encountered in Super Smash Brothers 64.

The new debugger version has also been uploaded to the official 6.1.0 thread.

To fix the problem I am talking about here for SSB 64, you need to redump the related textures. The plugin will dump the base textures, not the replicated and enlarged textures. Texture enhancement works should be done on these new dumpped base textures.

If you want to use the debugger DLL to dump the texture, you need to find the base texture files under your D:\. The image shown in the popup image viewer window is not the base texture, but the whole replicated and enlarged texture.

You still need to enable the option "Try to Use Smaller Textures (faster)" in order for the new hires textures to work. You must also disable the option "Alternative texture size calculation".

EDIT #1:

Fix the CI bmp dump/reload problem for texture scan lines not 32bit aligned​

EDIT #2:

Beta 3 fixes the mirror texture replication problem when using the "Use smaller textures" option for SSB64. it also supports for JPEG image format, and generates screen shot image files in JPEG instead of PNG. For hires project, JPEG files can be used only for *_rgb and *_a files, not for *_all or *_ci files. Paired *_rgb and *_a files must be both in same format (JPEG, PNG or BMP). To use the new beta, you need to copy the BMGlib.dll file to your emulator folder. Filename extensio for JPEG files is ".jpg", not ".jpeg".

Note:

When comparing to PNG, JPEG does not give better texture quality since it uses lossy compression. The intention to support JPEG format is to provide the 2nd option for large textures. Even JPEG files are smaller on disk (for large textures), such textures will take the same amount of memory after loaded. JPEG works better for screen shot feature then PNG. JPEG screen shot files are usually much smaller than PNG files, and we don't need a lossless screen shot anyway.​

EDIT #3:

Beta 4 fixes a stupid bug (misplacing a single line) which causes the mirror hires texture replication problem with opengl.​

EDIT #4:

Beta 5 adds the ability to load RGBA texture in PNG format for CI textures. Please see my following post for more details about how to use it.​

EDIT #5: Beta 6

Try to solve the mirrored texture replication problem again, and the minor texture dump bug reported for beta 5. The minor bug is actually a big one, especially for games using CI mirror texture but not using the "Using smaller texture" option.
Sorry for some of you. If you find some of your hires textures stop working after this beta, check the dumpped texture with the new plugin against the textures you created. The plugin need you to provide replicated textures, you may need to mirror-replicate your texture as the newly dumpped texture. (It should not be a big deal for you.)
This beta should also fix some weired problems that half dumpped texture is black, and problems with hires textures won't load because of the mirror/non-mirror texture size mismatch.
​

EDIT #6: Beta 7

Fix the hires texture problem with clamped textures as the bug reported by _pm_ for the link shield in SSB 64.
​

EDIT #7: beta 8

Try to solve the hires texture loading problem at mirroring and clamping situations (again).
Forget about the changes in beta 6. We are now back to use the base textures, not the mirror-replicated textures for the mirroring situation. This is for both CI and RGBA textures. Beta 5 was in this way for CI textures only.

The new beta 8 works in all situations as I tested.

Again, if your texture stop working after beta 8 but was working before it, try to dump it again and check your texture against the dumpped one. You may need to half your textures.

Please don't complain about the such changes. This is the reason why I call the release as a beta, which is supposed to change. And I am sure that each change is making the plugin to a better direction.​

To dump a perticular texture, it is much easier to use the debugger version. This is the reason why I am included the debugger version in the release.


EDIT: for beta 9

- Display initialization messages to tell the status of texture file searching progress
- Won't remember the texture dump option value anymore. This option will be disabled when the plugin is loaded. In order to use the texture dump feature, you have to manually turn it on every time after you restart the emulator. This prevents the texture dump option is accidentally left on.
- Fix the graphic tearing problem at Super Mario head (This is a general bug in many games) and related polygon depth bias problems.
- Textures are now dumpped into subfolders and texture dump will also check into the subfolders.
- Using sorted list to manage the texture info, and using binary search to speed up texture checking/loading process. This should speed up the game when texture dump is enabled, also speed up hires texture loading a little bit.
- Palette CRC calculation is only up to the maximum palette values really used by a texture. This will reduce the duplicated texture dump for different palette CRC values.
- Other extra checking to reduce duplicated texture dump
- For Mario Kart. You want to enable the option "Fast loading tiles". The new beta will give you much better texture dump for this game because of new implementation and extra check on texture size for this game. For most textures used by this game, you can have them dumped in complete textures instead of broken sub-textures.
​

Edit for beta 10

I don't know why beta 9 has the bug. C++ template didn't do the job as it should do. So I have to add extra check on the Sorted List search result to make sure it is valid.
And there was no problem with the DEBUG build.
Now beta 10 should be work as beta 9 should.

I really wish this beta is the final beta.​

Edit 03/26/2006

Source code is released.​

This plugin is now rather out of date, and lacks the compatibility of newer versions of Rice Video, please visit http://adf.ly/HwZn9 for a more updated version of the plugin.

This topic will be left here for archiving purposes

 

[Rice]

Screen shots to show how the new beta version works.

Shot #1: No texture replacement
Shot #2: With texture replacement (I just enlarged the orginal texture by 4 times, and added some dark lines)

 

[optimus$prime]

great!

so i have to redump the textures
but how does this work with your 6.1.1 debugger?

 

[_pm_]

Thanks Rice, I'll give it a try

EDIT #1: Great!! The textures are dumped correctly now. :bouncy:

The screenshots below show the modified textures (4X resized and with some numbers to identify them better).

However, there is one texture that seems to be ignored (second shot). Take a look at the RAR, it seems to be that one in PNG format, and it is also a replicated version of the "Number 5" texture. Considering that it has a different filename, I think you're working on something else, so I'm not going to ask about this. Just a comment. lain:

EDIT #2: Rice, sorry to bother again, but I didn't realize about this before

It seems that the beta fix adds a new bug with some textures which are replicated where they shouldn't. Please take a look at the third screenshot, at Mario's 'M' and Pikachu's face. Hope this helps. lain:

 

[Federelli]

Rice, could you make it so that CI textures are dumped to a CI folder, ALL textures to ALL, rgb to rbg, and alpha to alpha?
It takes about 30 mins to load the folder with over 10000 files.

Also, if the dump folder is filled with textures (and the dump feature is enabled), the game will take hours to load, it seems as if it's checking each file inside the dump folder, for X reason. Can anything be done?

 

[Rice]

Federelli

All the texture files in the dump folder need to be checked in order to prevent duplicated dumpping.

 

[cloudscapes]

Rice:
I thought that this would make a nice feature, an option (possibly a checkbox) for the texture dump to not dump a texture if it already exists in the hires folder. Would make post-dump-cleanup a lot easier. Just an idea.

Thanks so much for all your hard work!

 

[_pm_]

6.1.1beta3 comments

Thanks a lot, Rice!! :bouncy: It seems you've finally fixed all those annoying texture replications problems! :happy:

The screenshots below show some textures which have mirrored replications (the Bonus Stages are good for this). I took at texture at random and added a yellow square to make sure the plugin was loading it.

The first is from 6.1.0. The other screenshots were taken from 6.1.1beta3, one with the DirectX renderer and the other with OpenGL.

I posted screenshots for both renderers because I found a bug in the OpenGL renderer. Maybe you already know about it, but I wanted to inform anyways. (third screenshot)
EDIT: Fixed in beta4, thanks!

Also, thanks for adding JPEG support to your plugin. I'll give it a try later
Keep the good work

 

[spork9]

Im getting an error that makes it so that all the hires textures dont show up sometimes. Whars up with that?

 

[elitejavi]

well, i think the problem that _pm_ was talking is gone, here is the screenshot



seeya

 

[_pm_]

Rice, is there any difference in speed using JPEG RGB textures instead of PNGs? Maybe it was my imagination, but using JPEG textures seem to be a bit slower here. Just asking.
Thanks.

 

[Rice]

Yes, JPEG is slower than PNG, but I don't think such speed difference would affect the game speed because the textures are only decompressed once.

 

[Rice]

Changes in beta 5

Beta 5 adds the very demanded feature to replace color index textures with RGBA textures. This feature is aimed to ease the texture enhancement works on CI textures that the color palette does not change at all.

You can check this thread for more discussion about color indexed textures and about why it is difficult to manupulate them.

With beta 5, you can do for color indexed textures:
- like before, provide a color indexed BMP file which uses the same palette as the original texture.
- New, to provide a 32-bit PNG file with RGBA channels, to replace the original CI texture regardless the color palette.

The PNG filename must follow the following rule:
If the original CI texture file is named as:
"Mario Kart 64#36312DD2#2#1_ci.bmp"
Then the new PNG file must be named as:
"Mario Kart 64#36312DD2#2#1_allciByRGBA.png"
The new PNG filename is ended with "_allciByRGBA.png". It must be in 32-bit.​

- New, to provide a 32-bit PNG file with RGBA channels, to replace the original CI texture if the color palette table CRC value is equal to some value.

For example, the original CI texture filename is:
'Mario Kart 64#0B4A44B1#2#1_ci.bmp"
The new PNG filename must be in the format as:
"Mario Kart 64#0B4A44B1#2#1#CBF3D34E_ciByRGBA.png"
You can see that the filename contains the 2nd CRC value which is for the color palette table. You will find the similar filenames under the "texture_dump" folder.​

So there are two new ways to provide PNG RGBA texture to replace the original CI textures. The way with "_allciByRGBA.png" should be used if you are sure that the texture color palette never changes, and the other way could be used if you know that the color palette changes.
If both new PNG textures and CI textures are provided in the hires_texture folder for the same original texture, the PNG textures will be used first in the way they should be used..

Of course, no matter which way you go, the new texture size must meet the requirement as 2x or 4x of the original texture size.

There are also changes for texture dump.

You will find many new files for CI textures. CI textures are dumpped in the previous way, also dumpped in new files with color palette table CRC.

So you should not leave the texture dump option on if you don't need to, otherwise the plugin could become very slow.​

 

[optimus$prime]

Important!!!

how to convert/save a texture in 32bit png with photoshop8?

there is only 8bit and 24bit png


rice: very nice feature :happy:

 

[cloudscapes]

how to convert/save a texture in 32bit png with photoshop8?

there is only 8bit and 24bit png

Include an alpha channel in the channel toolbox. The extra 8 bits stands for 8-bit alpha.

 

[optimus$prime]

Include an alpha channel in the channel toolbox. The extra 8 bits stands for 8-bit alpha.

i created an alpha channel but when saving there is still 8 or 24bit

 

[bestbiz]

good

wow~
only test image.

 

[cloudscapes]

i created an alpha channel but when saving there is still 8 or 24bit

Are you using Save To Web, or Save As? You can save to PNG with both. As far as I can tell, you only get 8 and 24 bit in save to web.

I *think* you can save PNG alpha as simple layer transparency as well too, instead of a conventional alpha channel.

I've been using Photoshop for 12 years, but unfortunatelly have little PNG experience.

 

[Dejital]

Awesome! It works! arty:

The new plugin dumps plenty of them though, I had to make 4 identical pictures of this car named 4 different things to make it work, cause otherwise all it did was blink the image of the car when I only put 1. Does that mean we can also animate the karts? Since it kept blinking when I only had 1?

 

[Rice]

For the two new ways, were you using the way like "_allciByRGBA.png", or the other way?