Introduction to the Companion DLL

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Mr.Curious

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gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 12, 2020 13:14:39 GMT 10 HisBoyfriend, DeⓧiaZ, and 16 more like this

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Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 12, 2020 13:14:39 GMT 10

Introduction to the Companion DLL

It should be noted that there is a more updated version of this tutorial and all those in this thread which can be seen HERE.
A full list of updated tutorials in Google Doc format can be seen HERE.

So there has been a small uptick in the amount of interest in stage modding in the last few months, and in particular, a lot of questions coming from the community about how to use Raz0r's Companion DLL. Since I helped develop/implement/test many of the features of this DLL I am essentially now the only person who can explain how to use many of the features, so I feel that it is my responsibility to share the knowledge I have in Raz0r's leave of absence.

In this thread I will create several tutorials about the functions of the DLL. In this initial post I will describe the needed files for using the DLL:

REQUIREMENTS
1 - You will need a legitimate copy of the game that launches through Steam. There is no way to use with a pirated version of the game
2 - You will need a copy of the public version of the DLL that can be downloaded HERE (you may need to create a NexusMods account to download anything).
3 - You will need a copy of the BIO4.exe 1.0.6 version of the game which can be downloaded HERE this already has the 4gb patch applied so there is no need to patch it. If you are going to use your own version of the exe it must be version 1.0.6 and should be patched with the 4gb patch for all functionality to be usable.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
Download the DLL files from the link above and place the files dinput8.cfg and dinput8.dll in your Bin32 folder of the Resident Evil 4 directory.
Place the FILES folder in the Resident Evil 4 directory (same directory as BIO4, Bin32).
* Note about conflict with RE4Tweaks DLL*
With the development of another amazing project, the RE4 Tweaks provides a DLL that uses the same name as the Companion DLL. If you use RE4 Tweaks you will notice both mods use the same "dinput8" name. In this case, for them to work together, rename RE4 Tweaks's files to either "winmm" or "xinput1_3". If you have crashes with the inventory while using both DLL's, be sure to set RaiseInventoryAlloc = False in the RE4 Tweaks .ini file.

OVERVIEW OF FUNCTIONS
How does this work?
It works by overriding existing files in memory - files are loaded for each room independently. This means that you cannot load files if a particular room doesn't have them. If you wish to load textures/room files for all rooms place them into MAIN folder. Override files in MAIN by placing files with the same names into named room folders.

What can this .dll do?
- Load movies with sizes up to 500 MB;
- Fix wrong aspect ration when playing movies;
- Swap dropped items;
- Swap enemies;
- Load textures/files;
- Allocate more RAM for certain stuff(stage files, textures, enemies etc);
- ss_pzzl.dat file can be up to 32MBs in size;
- 32MBs of memory for player .udas and up to 16MBs for weapon .udas, 8MBs for vertex data,
allowing to have around 55k polygons for player model and more than just 255 vertex bone/weight entries;
- Player/Enemy models do not disappear when a certain poly limit has been reached;
- Enemy table has been increased in size to hold more than 4 .udas entries;
- Less limits when combining enemies. Incompatible enemies can be spawned with 01 flag
(village ganados + zealots or army ganados). Other enemies don't seem to have issues when
combined with one of the aforementioned types. TotalPolygonsOnScreenFix is used to enable/disable it;
- Gray screen overlay fix is also included;
- Hookshot is included;
- Zip line is included;
- Press F8 when in-game to see coordinates/stage name/fps overlay. Also works with RE4 2007 1.1.0 European version;
- Press F1 when in-game to remove the grain filter;
- Load modded files without having to rename .lfs to something else(non-lfs files have priority over lfs files)

DINPUT8.CFG
TotalPolygonsOnScreenFix - show more polygons on screen, people with slow machines should set this to false;
LoadStageFilesTexturesItemsConfigs - side-load stage files from STAGE folder as well as .cfg files(itemsswap,itemdrop,effects.conf);
LoadESLFiles - side-load .esl files from EM folder;
LoadEVDFiles - side-load EVD files;
LoadTexturesFor120 - side-load textures for r120. Loading textures for this room is buggy and unreliable;
VIDEO_RESOLUTION - override video res to prevent it from stretching it. Leave as is;
ResetOrder - resets the order of how .esl files are loaded;
SkipEndScreen - skips the chapter end screen;
Adjust_FPS_To_Speed_Ratio - for machines that cannot sustain solid 60 FPS all the time this option dials it back to 30 FPS, then back to 60;
SkipRadio - skip radio cutscenes. Skipping the very first radio call after the r120 cutscene will freeze the game(not the one in the cabin or any other call)
FlameThrower - converts TMP to flamethrower. Needs a proper model/anims - same as RE5 Boss Jill Dual-wielding mod.
No_Ashley - disables Ashley for a specific stage, e.g.: r310 = true

HOOKSHOT folder:
Nothing interesting about it, just animations, models, textures and tpl files.
Can be disabled by moving it out of FILES and completely restarting the game.

ZIPLINE folder:
Loads animations, textures and models for it. Create a config(according to the stage you want, let's say r400.conf).

PHYSICS.CFG
This files is used to swap physics of the characters, similar to what's available in the Ultimate Trainer(note: this option is disabled in the trainer when this dll is used).

STAGE folder
MAIN folder - MAIN folder is a master folder - files in this folder are loaded for all rooms.
Create a named room folder insde this MAIN folder (let's say r101) to override any file(s) in MAIN.

AMMO folder:
Allows to load different icons for inventory items. The folders should start with item_ and id of the item in hex should be appended, e.g.
itm_1a, itm_4, itm_20 etc. config.cfg is used to specify the properties of the icon - how many cells it takes up, as well as adjusting it's position.
.bin and .tpl files should be named as 000.bin and 000.tpl.

EVD folder
MAIN folder - MAIN folder is a master folder - files in this folder are loaded for all rooms.
Create a named room folder (let's say r101) to override any file(s) in MAIN.

WPN_AMMO:
Allows to limit max ammo for any gun. Create a file wpn_XX.cfg where XX is an ID of a gun in hex.

File naming:
STAGE files should be named in this style:
0000.LIT, 0001.LIT, 0000.CAM, 0000.SMD, 0001.SMD - up to 000F (16 files of each type, except .SND - only single file).

Textures:
Place any .pack file(s) into TEXTURES folder. (i don’t think pack.yz2 files work)

Additionally, HD and SD folders can be created to load HD or SD textures depending on the option selected in the game.
It should look like the following: FILES\STAGE\r100\TEXTURES\DEADBEEF.pack.
TEXTURES folder in MAIN and named room folders follow same rules as other files.
You texture packages should be named exactly as in .TPL files.

Important Note about side-chaining pack files:

For unknown reasons, the Companion DLL will not sidechain certain pack files that use certain names. For example, the game will hang if we try to side-chain any of the enemy pack files (000000xx.pack). Feel free to experiment what works, but it should be noted that certain names just don’t work. Also VERY IMPORTANT:

WHEN SIDE-CHAINGING CUSTOM PACK FILES THE COMPANION DLL WILL CAUSE MEMORY LEAKS

For unknown reasons the Companion DLL causes a memory leak when using custom side-chained .pack files. I have created a short video explaining the phenomenon and how to fix it HERE.

Loading:
Files can be loaded and unloaded almost on-the-fly - copy/delete files and restart if in-game.
Textures are truly loaded on-the-fly - copy a .pack file into TEXTURES folder and it'll be instantly loaded.
To remove a specific texture .pack file move or delete it from TEXTURES folder and restart if in-game.

Configs for STAGE folder:
enemy_swap.ini - allows to swap enemies;This option swaps Enemy with Replace_with Count times (count is how many enemies will be replaced before the group is discarded).Setting outfit, health, replace_outfit_with, replace_health_with values to 0xFF makes it apply changes to any enemy with a matching ID.
evd2video.cfg - play video instead of EVD events or play movies when at certain position;
effects.conf - effects, right now only rain works;
itemdrop.cfg - adds more items that enemies can drop;
itemswap.cfg - swap items that enemies drop;
events.cfg - AEV events - Allows you to have up to 10 lock AEV events in every room(when doors need a certain key to unlock them). Item id and event index should be the same as in .AEV files.

EM files:
Master file - r0000.esl is loaded for all rooms. Named esl files are loaded for a particular stage.
Chapter .esl files:
VillageDay.esl
VillageNight.esl
CastleBeginning.esl
CastleMainHall.esl
CastleDragonRoom.esl
CastleBelowPit.esl
IslandBeginning.esl
IslandAfterTruck.esl
SWBeginning.esl
SWChiefsHouse.esl
SWCastleMaze.esl
SWCastleTunnel.esl
SWCastleOutside.esl

For example, VillageDay.esl is loaded for the following rooms:
r100,
r101,
r103,
r106,
r104,
r107,
r105,
r102,
r108,
r109,
r10a,
r10b

ESL_MODE folder:
.esl files enabled in esl.conf are loaded instead of the original .esl files.
ESLX corresponds to .esl file number.
.esl files in this format "r400.esl" should be placed into ESLX folder and enabled in esl.conf.

There will be more in depth tutorials that follow this first thread, but are not ready at this moment. Please be patient until those reserved threads are populated with the tutorials.

Happy Modding!

Last Edit: Mar 30, 2023 7:52:19 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

Mr.Curious

✫Advanced Coder✫

gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 12, 2020 13:14:52 GMT 10 HisBoyfriend, DeⓧiaZ, and 4 more like this

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Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 12, 2020 13:14:52 GMT 10

Companion DLL
events.cfg Tutorial

So what is the events.cfg file? Simply put this file allows us to put locks onto certain AEV events that would not be locked otherwise. What you can do essentially is to change the event sequence so that the player is required to provide an object to unlock the event. The most common usage of this feature is locking a doorway to another room that is loaded, but I experimented and found it was possible to lock some other types of AEV events (but not all). One example of this is how I locked typewriters so that it required an object to save first.

To accomplish this we must know first how to edit the AEV file using Son of Persia's 2018 Toolset. Once we know how to edit these files the process is fairly straightforward.

INSTRUCTIONS ON CREATING A LOCK ON AEV EVENT

Step 1 - Observe the AEV entry we want to lock, taking notes of its Index. We should be working in 3ds Max here and have all our AEV obj file exported into a scene as we are going to need to create a new entry with a new triggerzone. If you aren't using a 3d application, its ok, there's more info below in step 2.

Step 2 - Create a new Type 11 entry in our AEV .txt file (making sure to change the index to one higher than the last entry) and make sure that the triggerzone .obj file for this entry is the exact same dimensions as the entry we want to lock. We can do this by simply duplicating the polyhedron in 3ds Max (then renaming it one higher than the last) to make sure that the dimensions are an exact match. If you are not using a 3d software program to create triggerzones simply make sure that the triggerzone boundary values in the AEV .txt file are exactly the same for both entries.

Step 3 - create a .txt file and name it events.cfg. and place it in the right directory. For example if we are working in room r101 the directory structure should be: \Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\r101\events.cfg (we will come back to this file in the steps to come. For now we are just creating the directory and having the file there ready to edit later). Make sure that the file properties of this file are set to allow full control : read & write in the permissions tab of the file properties dialogue box.

Step 4 - Next we look at our AEV file. To lock something we obviously need an event that is lockable. In this example we are going to lock a Type 8 Typewriter (this kind of lock will also work on other events including Type 1 doorway events and Type 10 fixed ladder events). So make sure your AEV file has a lockable event (like a doorway or typewriter), AND INCLUDES a Type 11 event to lock it:

# Event 12
# Type Writer

ID = 0x1
TriggerZoneHeightBoundary1 = 3429.295166
TriggerZoneHeightBoundary2 = 4585.013672
UnknownValue = 0.000000
TriggerZoneCorner0_X = 7548.398438
TriggerZoneCorner0_Y = 6012.588867
TriggerZoneCorner1_X = 9060.578125
TriggerZoneCorner1_Y = 6015.547363
TriggerZoneCorner2_X = 9060.578125
TriggerZoneCorner2_Y = 4515.547363
TriggerZoneCorner3_X = 7548.398438
TriggerZoneCorner3_Y = 4512.588867
Offset[52] = 0x3
Type = 0x8
Index = 0xD
Offset[55] = 0x1
Offset[56] = 0x2
Offset[57] = 0x1
Offset[68..71] = 0x2
Offset[72] = 0x0
Offset[73] = 0x2D
Offset[74] = 0x0
Offset[75] = 0x0
# Type Writer Event Parameters
Offset[92..93] = 0x0
Offset[94..95] = 0x0
Offset[96..99] = 0x0
Offset[100..103] = 0x0
Offset[104..107] = 0x0
Offset[108..111] = 0x0
Offset[112..115] = 0x0
Offset[116..119] = 0x0
Offset[120..123] = 0x0
Offset[124..127] = 0x0
Offset[128..131] = 0x0
Offset[132..135] = 0x0
Offset[136..139] = 0x0
Offset[140..143] = 0x0
Offset[144..147] = 0x0
Offset[148..151] = 0x0
Offset[152..155] = 0x0

# Event 13
# Item Dependent Events (Locked Doors, Puzzles, etc...)
# lock for typewriter

ID = 0x1
TriggerZoneHeightBoundary1 = 3429.295166
TriggerZoneHeightBoundary2 = 4585.013672
UnknownValue = 0.000000
TriggerZoneCorner0_X = 7548.398438
TriggerZoneCorner0_Y = 6012.588867
TriggerZoneCorner1_X = 9060.578125
TriggerZoneCorner1_Y = 6015.547363
TriggerZoneCorner2_X = 9060.578125
TriggerZoneCorner2_Y = 4515.547363
TriggerZoneCorner3_X = 7548.398438
TriggerZoneCorner3_Y = 4512.588867
Offset[52] = 0x3
Type = 0x11
Index = 0xE
Offset[55] = 0x1
Offset[56] = 0x1
Offset[57] = 0x1
Offset[68..71] = 0x2
Offset[72] = 0x0
Offset[73] = 0x2D
Offset[74] = 0x10
Offset[75] = 0x0
# Item Dependent Event Parameters
NeededItemNumber = 0xA3
Offset[94..95] = 0x0
Offset[96..99] = 0x0
Offset[100..103] = 0x0
Offset[104..107] = 0x0
Offset[108..111] = 0x0
Offset[112..115] = 0x0
Offset[116..119] = 0x0
Offset[120..123] = 0x0
Offset[124..127] = 0x0
Offset[128..131] = 0x0
Offset[132..135] = 0x0
Offset[136..139] = 0x0
Offset[140..143] = 0x0
Offset[144..147] = 0x0
Offset[148..151] = 0x0
Offset[152..155] = 0x0

Step 5 - After our AEV file has been updated to include the lockable event and its accompanying type 11 event (with exact same triggerzone dimensions & coordinates) its time to go back then edit the events.cfg file to match our AEV as follows:

event_lock0 (this is the index for the events.cfg file. You can add more than one locking event in the same events.cfg file see example below).
{
    ItemID 0xA3 (item ID that is required to unlock the event, and must match the NeededItemNumber value in the Type 11 AEV entry).
    Message 0x05 (this corresponds to the message in the MDT file when the AEV event is locked).
    Sound 0x0A (this is the sound file that is played from the room .xwb file when the AEV event is locked).
    Unknown0 0xFF
    Unknown1 0x00
    EventIndex 0x0D (this is the index of the AEV event that we want to lock, NOT THE Type 11 that we added).
    event_unlock
    {
        ItemID 0xA3 (item ID that is required to unlock the event, and must match the NeededItemNumber value in the Type 11 AEV entry)
        Sound 0x0B (this is the sound file that is played from the room xwb file when the AEV event is unlcoked).
        Message 0x06 (this corresponds to the message in the MDT file when the AEV event is unlocked).
        LockEventIndex 0x0D (this is the index of the AEV event that we want to lock, NOT THE TYPE 11 that locks it).
        Unlocked false (this tells the game that the event has not already been unlocked yet. See 'save.extend' section below).
    }
}
* a note about formatting in the events.cfg file*
It should be noted that the spacing between the '}' symbols are important and can make this not work. Be sure to preserve the spacing that is provided in the 'events.cfg.example' file included in the DLL companion download.

* a note about the save.extend file*
For the game to remember which events have been unlocked and which ones remain locked, an external file is created called save.extend located in \Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\. This file works in tandem with the savegame.sav file. This file can be deleted but it will reset the state of the locks which would presumably be set to locked by default.

FINAL NOTES
This setup will lock the AEV event 12 and require the player to provide the item A3 to unlock the event. Once the event is unlocked, it should remain unlocked while the game is open. If the game is saved after the event has been unlocked this state of being unlocked is then saved in a file that is generated called 'save.extend' which will be created in the Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES directory.

If we want the event to require a key each time the event is opened then we must set the Unlocked true value to FALSE. I am not completely sure about this to be honest as I haven't tested this in a very long time. It might not work, and if it doesn't another method might be to set the events.cfg file permissions to be disabled so that the file can not be written to. Again, I am not sure about this so you will have to ask Raz0r or experiment yourself.

Happy Modding!

Last Edit: Jun 19, 2021 3:46:01 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

Mr.Curious

✫Advanced Coder✫

gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 12, 2020 13:15:05 GMT 10 DeⓧiaZ, seda, and 3 more like this

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Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 12, 2020 13:15:05 GMT 10

Companion DLL

Side-Chaining Tutorial

This next part of the Companion DLL tutorial series will focus on our ability to side-chain files into memory. This feature is a must for any savy modder who wants to stage mod. This feature is great for:

1 - testing individual files in other rooms
2 - creating smaller distribution packages (why send a whole .udas file when you are only modding the AEV for example)?
3 - loading files without having to repack (good for files that are constantly being rewritten during testing)
4 - Using master texture packs for frequently loaded items (like a master ITM file or master cutscene model)

WHAT IS SIDE-CHAINING?
Side-chaining is the ability to load files into memory without having to use the .exe to do this for us. There are often limitations as to how certain files are called on by the game .exe , and this often limits our ability to load files without tremendous work or obstacles. With the ability to side-chain files, we are gifted the ability to 'overwrite' whats loaded into memory with the files we want, without having to repack beforehand. This also lets us load files for every single room, which can be a very handy feature if we have repeating models or textures that would otherwise need to be repacked into many other files.

HOW DO I SIDE-CHAIN FILES?
The way Raz0r designed the feature allows us to simply place a file in folder after renaming it and it is automatically loaded when a room is loaded, or even loads with every single room. We do this by putting files & folders into the FILES\STAGE\ directory. Here's a breakdown of how it works:

\Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\MAIN\: any files placed in this directory will be loaded in EVERY SINGLE ROOM.
\Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\MAIN\TEXTURES\: any .pack or .pack.yz2 files placed in this directory will be loaded in EVERY SINGLE ROOM.
\Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\r101\: any files placed in this directory will be loaded when r101 is loaded. (you can use this for almost any room number with the exception of some of the beta and leftover rooms).

EXAMPLES OF USE:
One example of loading a texture & file for every room that I decided was worth it was creating a master ITM file that contained all the items, treasures, weapons etc so that instead of having to repack the ITM files for EVERY SINGLE ROOM (which involves editing all the ITM models and their corresponding pack files), I have one ITM file that includes all items which use one texture .pack file. To do this I had to:

1 - edit all the ITM models so that they pointed to my custom texture .pack file. I named this 55ABCDEF.pack.
2 - repacked my master ITM and renamed it 0000.ITM
3 - placed the 0000.ITM file in the \Resident Evil 4\FILES mine\STAGE\MAIN\ directory
4 - created the 55ABCDEF.pack file with all the needed files for the models in the master ITM.
5 - placed the 55ABCDEF.pack file in the \Resident Evil 4\FILES mine\STAGE\MAIN\TEXTURES\ directory

...and that was it! Now anytime an ITM file is loaded from the UDAS it is overwritten by the DLL because I places an ITM file in the MAIN directory which loads this TIM file for every single room. MAGICAL !

Other examples of use are much simpler. Here is an example of how we can play around with side-chaining:

1 - load up your game and go to room r101.
2 - Using the UDAS tool, unpack the udas file for room r103
3 - copy the r103_04.SMD to: \Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\r101 (you will probably have to create a folder named r101)
4 - rename r103_04.SMD to 0000.SMD
5 - copy the r103_01.SAT to: \Resident Evil 4\FILES \STAGE\r101\
6 - rename r103_01.SAT to 0000.SAT
7 - navigate to \Resident Evil 4\BIO4\ImagepackHD\ and copy the 44000103.pack file to \Resident Evil 4\FILES \STAGE\r101\TEXTURES\ (you will probably have to create a folder named TEXTURES) DONT USE LFS version.

Load up the room and see now that you are walking around in r101 but you are looking at the room file for r103!
You'll probably notice a few things look weird, like maybe there are ETM models in the wrong place, and the lighting is wrong. Well, that's because the game is still using the ETM and LIT file from the r101.udas file, but not the SMD or SAT. If we want the other files to be loaded too, we have to copy and rename them using the method shown above.

It is possible to load more than one file of the same type (I havent done this but Raz0r's documentation says it is possible). If we are to use more than one of the same type the nsaming convention is as follows: example: 0000.SMD, 0001.SMD, 0002.SMD etc. Please see main documentation included in the Companion DLL for more details on this.

8 - try some other files too, like the SMX, ETM, LIT, EFF etc. It is possible to sidechain all of the files so that the room will look exactlythe same as the original, but keep in mind there are other files like the ESL that aren't included in this so your enemies will need to be moved with other methods.

You may notice that while trying to port over the EFF from one room to another that things dont look right. This is because not all effects are available in all rooms. An example of this is rain. Even though most effects do port over there are some that will not port over, like lightning as well.

OTHER EXAMPLES OF USE:
What are some other ways that side-chaining can be useful?

1 - When editing a room and for some reason we are getting unknown crashes, sometimes the best way to isolate the problem file is to simply load up the original room and then start side-chaining our edited files one-by-one until the crash happens again. Once we have isolated the problem file we can start to look at it for what went wrong.

2 - Quick lighting. While it is not really recommended to swap out LIT files without really knowing what the file is doing, sometimes side-chaining LIT files is a good way to get a preview of what a room might look like under different lighting scenarios. The reason to avoid side-chain LIT files without real investigation of the LIT file is that the LIT files are most often tied in with CAM files and things can get weird when CAM events are triggered. Feel free to experiment, as side-chaining is a non-destructive way to quickly look at different lighting scenarios.

3 - Want no collision quickly? (your Ultimate trainer isnt working lets say).. Simply place any SAT file in the FILES directory you need, rename it to 0000.SAT and open it up in a HEX editor. Replace all bytes with 00 and save. You now have no collision data when the room next loads. This goes for any file actually. If we want to simply 'turn off' something, like the lights, or the effects, all we need to do is null the file with 00 and then side-chain it. This is a quick 'on-off' switch which is handy sometimes when editing files. This can also be useful when trying to determine if an effect is actually in the EFF or is issued by the .exe (the water fountain in r20b is an example of this kind of effect).

There are many uses of the side-chaining feature that are most helpful when editing stages. This feature is also used in other directories that we will explore in the tutorials that follow. Imagine a way to load 1 model for all cutscene models. Yes, this is now possible my friends. I worked hard with Raz0r to implement this feature using side-chaining so that finally we could easily create one model and use it for all cutscenes, as before this we have to edit EVERY SINGLE EVD FILE (and their corresponding pack files) that the model appeared in. Using side-chaining we developed a way to make it a lot easier.

Quicktip & Need to know:

Need to know:
If you are side-chaining files and place them in the FILES\MAIN folder please be aware that this means that the memory is being used for this for all rooms. Its important to consider that not everyone has fast computers with lots of ram or great GPUs or SSDs so try to avoid using huge amounts of large files in the MAIN folder if you are making mods for distribution. Feel free to test teh limits of this if you think you may have too many large files in these directories.

TEXTURE pack file names all need to be:
8 digits long (example 55ABCDEF, DEADBEEF, 12345678, 1A23BABE etc)
can include numbers 0-9 and letters A, B, C, D, E, F or combinations of letters and numbers)

Quicktip:
If you are creating a huge project and want to minimize your file size impact when it comes time for distribution, consider nulling your ITM files to simply 00 00 00 00 and save if you are using a master ITM file. This will help loading times and also make your file sizes smaller.

Happy Modding!

Last Edit: Aug 12, 2020 16:53:19 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

Mr.Curious

✫Advanced Coder✫

gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 12, 2020 13:15:16 GMT 10 DeⓧiaZ, seda, and 1 more like this

Quote

Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 12, 2020 13:15:16 GMT 10

Companion DLL

AMMO & WPN_AMMO Tutorial

There have been a few users interested in learning how the AMMO & WPN_AMMO systems work, so I will take some time now to explainthese 2 separate features:

AMMO
What does the AMMO feature do?
Simply put, this feature of the DLL allows us to use custom inventory models for the weapons we see in the inventory case by side-chaining the files into memory. While it is possible to already edit inventory models without the DLL, there are limitations such as not being able to change the allotted grid size for models, and of course the issue with the pistol/shotgun ammunition models that share a common .bin file.

How do we edit these inventory models and use them?
Just like editing any other model, we have to import our models into a 3d editing program like 3dsMax, Blender, or MilkShape and apply textures. You will need to have an understanding of how BIN & TPL files work before doing this. Files will need to be exported as SMD with proper bone mappings, along with a OBJ to create our required MTL file, and then converted to BIN & TPL files.

Textures should point to the 3b000001.pack file that is used by the ss_pzzl.dat file, but could work with any pack file that is loaded with every room (a custom pack file for this could be created and placed in the MAIN\TEXTURES\ directory too).

Once the BIN & TPL files have been created they need to be placed in their own folder and named properly according to their ID. For example if we are editing pistol ammo:

1 - the files for the pistol ammo must be placed in: \steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\AMMO\itm_4
2 - a config.cfg file must be present in this directory and edited as follows:

[PROPERTIES]
CellsX = 2
CellsY = 1
SizeX = 0.5
SizeY = 0.0
(I am not sure what the difference between 'Cells' & 'Size' are, but feel free to experiment to see what results you get.

3 - The BIN & TPL files should all be named 000.tpl and 000.bin respectively.

There was never a naming convention guide provided to me by Raz0r, so we will have to assume that he created his naming convention using IDs based on the original model names in the ss_pzzl.dat file, but I know some of these IDs dont match anything I know of. For example, the Rocket Launcher is itm_17 which I have no reference to any game reference to this number.

I did create a few lists of files that are associated with various inventory models which can be viewed HERE. For convenience I have included the eng\ss_pzzl.dat list here:

Here is a list of weapons and items that are in the \Resident Evil 4\BIO4\SS\eng\ss_pzzl.dat file
These are the BIN files for models seen in the inventory case. Files in this list refer to 3b000001.pack texture file.

SPOILER: Click to show

{SS_PZZL.DAT model list}
000 - Magnum ammo
002 - Grenade
006 - Matilda
010 - First Aid Spray
012 - Herb Pant
016 - Egg
024 - Plaga Sample
032 - Bowgun
034 - Arrows
036 - Herb Vial
066 - Punisher?
068 - Scope (Mine Thrower)
070 - handgun
074 - Red9
078 - Blacktail
082 - Broken Butterfly
084 - Killer7
088 - Shotgun (many morph files)
090 - Striker
092 - Riffle
094 - Rifle (semi-auto)
096 - TMP
104 - Chicago Typewrter (straight clip)
106 - Rocket Launcher
108 - Mine Thrower
110 - Hand Cannon
112 - knife
124 - Custom TMP
126 - Silencer
130 - P.R.L. 412
132 - Stock (Red9)
134 - Stock (TMP)
136 - Scope (Rifle)
138 - Scope (semi-auto rifle)
140 - Ammo box 2
142 - Shotgun (Ada's)
164 - Krauser's Bow
166 - Chicago Typewrter (cylindrical clip)
228 - Arrows
298 - Black Bass 1
302 - Black Bass 2
340 - Scope (Mine Thrower) 2
394 - Infrared Scope
296 - Riot Gun
402 - Attache Case (smallest)
403 - Attache Case
404 - Attache Case
405 - Attache Case (largest)

WPN_AMMO
What does the WPN_AMMO feature do?
Simply put, this allows us to configure the maximum amount of rounds to allow a weapon to hold before the player must reload.

How do I use this feature?
To use this feature all we need to do is create a .cfg file with the ID of the weapon whose capacity values we wish to modify.
For example lets look at the config file for the Broken Butterfly named wpn_29.cfg:

[ITEM]
Ammo = 2

This restricts the amount of rounds allowed in this weapon to 2 before the player must reload.

Again, there was never a naming convention guide provided to me by Raz0r for this feature, so we will have to assume that he created his naming convention using IDs based on the original model names in the ss_pzzl.dat file, but I know some of these IDs dont match anything I know of.

If someone wants to make a comprehensive list of these IDs and the ones used for the AMMO feature, you can send it to me in PM and I will edit this post to include that list to help others.

Happy MOdding!

Last Edit: Aug 15, 2020 7:23:02 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

Mr.Curious

✫Advanced Coder✫

gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 12, 2020 13:15:26 GMT 10 DeⓧiaZ, seda, and 1 more like this

Quote

Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 12, 2020 13:15:26 GMT 10

Companion DLL
EVD Tutorial

So this tutorial in the series deals with the ability to use 'master' files for the EVD models that are scattered throughout the game EVD files. EVD files are much like the UDAS files, which are containers for a variety of other files, except EVD files are used only for cutscenes. EVD files contain BIN model files for player, enemy, weapon, and sometimes stage files as well as other files like animations, cam files, lit files etc. There are often several separate EVD files all loaded together for the same room, which contain all the info for one part of a sequence of shots, or sometimes separate shots altogether.

What this DLL does for us with EVD files
With Raz0r's DLL we have the ability to side-chain master files into game memory (To understand how side-chaining works, please read the tutorial above about 'Side-Chaining'). This functionality is limited to (as far as I know), to BIN,TPL and .pack files. While we can use this in a variety of ways with the different folder within the FILES directory, the EVD method was developed as a way to create a master repository for EVD BIN models, so that if custom models were made, they would not have to be repacked into all of the separate EVD files.

It should be noted that while side-chaining models for EVD files, we are not side-chaining the entire EVD file, but rather side-chaining individual files from within the EVD. That is to say, the vanilla EVD file is still going to load, but we now have the ability to load custom models 'on top' of the models that are already loaded to provide the opportunity for customization.

EVD file types
The EVD files that are loaded vary on which costume we have selected at the start of a new game:
a10bs00.evd - Files containing the prefix 'a' will be loaded when have selected the Mafia costume cutscene file.
r10bs00.evd - Files containing the prefix 'r' will be loaded when have selected the Normal costume cutscene file.

Getting Started
So to get started, lets look at the directory structure. Within the FILES folder that we use with the DLL there is a directory named EVD. If one is not present, simply create one. Your path should look something like this:
Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\EVD

Inside this EVD directory there will be several sub directories (again, if they are not present, simply create them):
    Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\EVD\MAIN:
    This directory will contain two important config files:
    case_lookup.txt
    lookup.txt
(I will explain more about these files later.) There are also subdirectories within the MAIN directory:

Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\EVD\MAIN\FILES:
    This directory is where we place our custom BIN & TPL files. This can include player, enemy weapon models etc. Example:
    ev0001.bin
    ev0001.tpl
    ev0002.bin
    ev0002.tpl... etc

        Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\EVD\MAIN\FOLDERS
         This directory can contain a variety of subfolders, and to be honest, I am not sure how this part works. I think this provides a secondary method of side-chaining files. My guess is that we we can use this directory as a way to override what is in the FILES folder for individual rooms. For example, I think if we had a custom master file for Luis that was being loaded from the FILES directory, but wanted to use a different model for a particular room, this might be a way to achieve that (NOT SURE THOUGH).Since I have not used it I will not cover how to use this directory. That being said, there is a short description in Raz0r's notes that I have included at the end of this tutorial

CREATING CUSTOM MODELS
If you are not already versed in how to create custom models for the game, please be sure to the RE4UHD BIN Tool Tutorial HERE.
Also please read the Side-Chaining Tutorial above in this thread.

Once we have a solid understanding of how to create custom models with a custom TPL, and understand how side-chaining works, we have a choice to make about textures. If we are creating a master EVD model for Leon for example, we will need a master .pack file that contains the textures for the custom model. When creating a custom BIN model, the accompanying TPL file can point to any .pack file we want if we decide to side-chain it. The name of this side-chained .pack file can contain a combination of any number and capital letters A through F. For example:

55ABCDEF.pack
12345678.pack
DEADBEEF.pack

While our .pack files can be placed in the Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\MAIN\TEXTURES directory to be loaded with every single room, I would advise against it for the single reason that we do not need to load these textures for every single room. A better method is to use the .pack file for our custom EVD models only when needed, so that is to say, to place our custom .pack files in the room folders of FILES\STAGE\rxxx that the EVD file is used in. For example:

If our master Leon EVD BIN model points to 12345678.pack, and we want it to load up for the cutscene in r204, then we can side-chain the the 12345678.pack file by placing it in this directory:

\Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\r204\TEXTURES
What this does is loads the texture .pack file only when the room r204 is loaded. We copy and place the .pack file in the same way for any other rooms that load an EVD file that calls on the master file(s).

OVERVIEW OF FILES (example)
So here is a short review the steps we have to go through for the custom model and texture files:
1 - create custom model and pack file containing the textures, making sure that the TPL points to our custom .pack file.
2 - place the newly created BIN & TPL files in: Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\EVD\MAIN\FILES
3 - place the custom .pack file in the room folder(s) within: Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\rxxx

the next part after creating our custom models and textures is to configure the case lookup and lookup files.

Configuration Files
As pointed out above, there are two configuration files that assist with side-chaining the custom models. There are:

case_lookup.txt:
This config file simply tells the engine to swap out certain files by name. A simple config looks like this:

CASE_LOOKUP

{
entry "ev0001.bin"
entry "ev0001.tpl"
entry "ev0002.bin"
entry "ev0002.tpl"
}

These entries simply tell the engine that whenever ev0001.bin, ev0002.bin. ev0001.tpl, ev0002.tpl are loaded, to load the the custom version we have place in Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\EVD\MAIN\FILES instead of the one inside the EVD file that is loaded with the game.
NOTE - I noticed that I was able to side-chain files successfully without even having to have entries for them in this file or the lookup.txt file, so I am not sure we even need this. Feel free to experiment!

lookup.txt
While normally we would assume that there would always be a consistency of file naming for the various instances of the model TPL files this is not always the case. There are certain EVD files that have oddly named TPL files for their accompanying BIN models. For example, in the r203 EVD file, we see in event/model/ev0000/ev0001_r203s00.tpl which is the tpl file for what would normally be named ev0001.tpl. In this scenario we need to tell the engine to use the correct TPL file with the lookup.txt file. Here is an example of a config:

LOOKUP

{
"event/model/ev0000/ev0001_r203s00.tpl" "event/model/ev0000/ev0001.tpl"
"event/model/ev0000/ev0002_r203_s00.tpl" "event/model/ev0000/ev0002.tpl"
"event/model/ev0000/ev0002_r120_s01.tpl" "event/model/ev0000/ev0002.tpl"
}

In the above example we can see that the config file is simply telling the engine to load our custom TPL files instead of the vanilla ones. If there are instances during gameplay where we see that the right textures are not loading for our model (or part of the model, like the head), then it is best to unpack the EVD file and observe if there are any of these oddly named TPL files present, and then to create an entry in the lookup.txt file.

And for a little more clarity I have found Raz0r's original instructions which I will paste below:

Put the contents of .EVD files into MAIN or rXXX folders. Let's say FILES\EVD\MAIN or FILES\EVD\r100.

FILES - drop only files here

FOLDERS - drop folders here

Example of the content of the file:

CASE_LOOKUP

{
entry "ev0001.bin"
entry "ev0001.tpl"
entry "ev0002.bin"
entry "ev0002.tpl"
}

This will replace files that have ev0001.bin, ev0001.tpl, ev0002.bin, ev0002.tpl in their name(e.g. ev0001_r213.tpl will be replaced with ev0001.tpl and so on)

lookup.txt: replace or redirect files

Example of the content of the file:

LOOKUP

{
"event/model/ev0000/ev0001_r203s00.tpl" "event/model/ev0000/ev0001.tpl"
"event/model/ev0000/ev0002_r203_s00.tpl" "event/model/ev0000/ev0002.tpl"
}

This table allows you to redirect files and folders that are being loaded by the game to something else.

In this case event/model/ev0000/ev0002_r203_s00.tpl will be redirected to event/model/ev0000/ev0002.tpl and the game will load ev0002.tpl instead of ev0002_r203_s00.tpl.

LOADING MOVIES IN PLACE OF CUTSCENES (SWAPPING)

Another feature the DLL has that helps us with EVD files is the evd2video.cfg file. Placing this file in any of the Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\rxxx folders will instruct the game to load a video file instead of a cutscene file for that room; simply put this swaps out any EVD file for a custom movie. This feature allows us to create custom content in digital format that will load when vanilla cutscenes are supposed to be loaded. I have created a full tutorial on how to create SFD movies HERE.

The formatting for the file is quite simple. Here is an example:

EVD
{
    r30cs00 elev2.sfd
}

This above configuration swaps out loading of the vanilla r30cs00.evd file and replaces loading it with a file called elev2.sfd.
More than one entry can be placed in the config file, but please be aware of formatting with the spacing:

EVD
{
    r30cs00 elev2.sfd
    r30cs01 hello.sfd
    r30cs02 food.sfd
}

The actual content for the movies must be placed in:
Resident Evil 4\BIO4\movie\EVD_MOVIES

If this directory is not present, simply create it. All files must be in .sfd format. If you don't have any custom .sfd files you can always copy one of the originals from the movie folder to test that the feature is working.

It should be noted that after one of these movies is played that some sounds will be silenced until the room is reloaded, in particular, all environmental sounds will be muted afterwards. I believe this was implemented so that we would not hear these sounds while our custom content was played.

This concludes the EVD section of this tutorial.

Happy Modding! 1-2021

Last Edit: Jul 10, 2022 3:52:23 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

Mr.Curious

✫Advanced Coder✫

gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 12, 2020 13:15:41 GMT 10 DeⓧiaZ, Mr.Curious, and 2 more like this

Quote

Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 12, 2020 13:15:41 GMT 10

Linking sounds & cameras to locked AEV events

Please note a newer version of this tutorial in Google Docs is available for viewing and download HERE. (updated 3-29-2023)

This next section will deal with how to link sounds & cameras to locked events. Using the events.cfg file we are able to lock certain AEV events, and within this .cfg file we are also able to link sounds & cameras to locked events. Here is a breakdown of the events.cfg file:

event_lock0
    {
    ItemID 0xA7
    Message 0x07 (this is the message in the .MDT file that is shown when we first interact with the event)
    Sound 0x03 (This is the ID of the sound that is played when we first interact with the event)
    Unknown0 0xFF (This is the CAM ID)
    Unknown1 0x00
    EventIndex 0x1F
    event_unlock
    {
        ItemID 0xA7
        Sound 0x0B (This is the ID of the sound that is played when the event has been unlocked)
        Message 0x03 (this is the message in the .MDT file that is shown when the event has been unlocked)
        LockEventIndex 0x1F
        Unlocked false
        }
}

Understanding the sound files
So to understand how the sounds are linked we need to understand where the sounds come from. Each room has a .xwb file assigned to it that is located in:
\Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\BIO4\snd\room\stx where x is the stage we are in.
For example, if we are editing sounds in r212 we would see the path as:
\Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\BIO4\snd\room\st2
and the file that contains the sounds would be r212.xwb

This .xwb file contains all the wav files used by the room, which would include sounds for things like cranks, cabinets opening, and some environmental sounds like lightning, or a fire that is burning. While these files are numbered in linear order, their IDs do not always match their file name. What are ID's? These are simply ID's in the accompanying .xsb file that are used to link events in the game.

Finding our desired sounds
So if we want to assign a sound, or link a sound to an AEV event that is locked with the events.cfg file, we first need to find out which sound we want, that sound's file name, and then that sound's ID. One way to do this is to simply change the ID in the events.cfg file, and then test in-game, but since there are 255 possible values for the ID, it would take a very long time to test each time, as we need to change the byte, trigger the event, and then reload the room. To go through all the sound IDs we would need to do this 255 times, as the IDs for the sounds aren't in linear order. For example your sound IDs could be something like this:

01 - fire sound
02- crank sound
03- nothing
04- nothing
05- nothing
06- nothing
07- nothing
08- lock sound
09- nothing
0A- button sound.....

So to make this process easier a friend of mine wrote a CE script that allows us to cycle through all of the available sounds in the rxxx.xwb file by replacing the handgun sound with the .xwb sound. Each time we pull the trigger for the handgun, a new sound plays, or is replaced with silence if the ID isn't used. With the script we cycle through each sound by pressing the \ on the keyboard to advance to the next available sound ID.

The script also has the ability to kill all BGM music which is handy, because there is no other way to do this without closing the game and loading a blank bio4bgm.file

This script will only work using the default handgun while in game. Use the \ key each time you want to progress the 'Sound' ID but be careful while pressing the \ key as sometimes it jumps two steps if you hold the key down too long.

Once you know what sound you want for your event, place that value in the events.cfg file in either of the lines with ‘Sound’. The first entry for sound is when we first interact with the event, the second entry is for when the event is unlocked

If we want to use a custom sound this is possible, but we need to understand how repacking sound files work. Alternatively, we can simply replace one of the existing sounds. We would need to cycle through the sounds using the CE script, taking notes of what sounds we hear. Once we locate the sound ID for a replacement sound using the CE script, we can add it to the events.cfg and then after that we can edit the .wav file in the .xwb. A full explanation of how .xwb and .xsb files work can be read in the RE4UHD Sound Tutorial HERE.

Linking CAM entries to AEV events
The same principles apply when linking a cam entry to an AEV, however we will not need to use the CE script as that is only designed for sound. Fortunately the CAM IDs are in linear order, and are usually less than 20 in number, so finding which CAM entry we wish to use is as simple as changing the byte in the events.cfg file, reloading the room, and triggering the event. It should be noted that I have only tested this with Type6 CAM events which are short cinematic shots with the camera moving from two or more points. For more detailed information on CAM files and their various types, please see my CAM tutorial HERE.

Automatic CAM and MESSAGE events
I have also discovered a way to trigger cam shots and messages without actually having to unlock the event. That is to say, I have discovered a way to make messages and cam shots happen automatically when entering a triggerzone. For this setup we can simply use a Type0 AEV event (I am sure a Type2 event would work just as well, or even perhaps other events). What's important is that we are using an event that is automatically triggered once we enter the event's triggerzone. Once the event is triggered, the other parameters are handled by the events.cfg file that is linked to the AEV event. Here is an example for a camera shot that is automatically triggered when we enter the triggerzone of the AEV event:

# Event 20
# General Purpose

ID = 0x1
TriggerZoneHeightBoundary1 = 2076.125000
TriggerZoneHeightBoundary2 = 3162.792725
UnknownValue = 750.000000
TriggerZoneCorner0_X = 76933.023438
TriggerZoneCorner0_Y = -10032.158203
TriggerZoneCorner1_X = 81266.742188
TriggerZoneCorner1_Y = -10055.333984
TriggerZoneCorner2_X = 81298.062500
TriggerZoneCorner2_Y = -15024.693359
TriggerZoneCorner3_X = 77041.632813
TriggerZoneCorner3_Y = -15178.099609
Offset[52] = 0x3
Type = 0x0
Index = 0x14
Offset[55] = 0x0
Offset[56] = 0x81 (this makes it automatically trigger without a prompt)
Offset[57] = 0x1
Offset[68..71] = 0x0
Offset[72] = 0x0
Offset[73] = 0x2D
Offset[74] = 0x0
Offset[75] = 0x0
# General Purpose Event Parameters
Offset[92..93] = 0xEA60
Offset[94..95] = 0x8B3
Offset[96..99] = 0x0
Offset[100..103] = 0x0
Offset[104..107] = 0x0
Offset[108..111] = 0x0
Offset[112..115] = 0x0
Offset[116..119] = 0x0
Offset[120..123] = 0x0
Offset[124..127] = 0x0
Offset[128..131] = 0x0
Offset[132..135] = 0x0
Offset[136..139] = 0x0
Offset[140..143] = 0x0
Offset[144..147] = 0x0
Offset[148..151] = 0x0
Offset[152..155] = 0x0

Here is the corresponding events.cfg entry that links to the above AEV event:

event_lock0
{
    ItemID 0x99
    Message 0x01 (this is the Message ID in the .MDT file)
    Sound 0x0D
    Unknown0 0x04 (this is the CAM ID)
    Unknown1 0x00
    EventIndex 0x14
    event_unlock
{
        ItemID 0x99
        Sound 0x0B
        Message 0x07
        LockEventIndex 0x14
        Unlocked false
}

What is interesting about this discovery is that we are not trying to lock anything with a Type11 event. We are simply using the events.cfg file to link to the automatically triggered AEV event. There is no need to use an extra event to link the event, and therefore there is no need for a secondary triggerzone. This setup also allows us to trigger sounds as well (using the method described above). So we can use both the CAM and the sounds with these examples.

It should be noted that a message will also appear, which can interfere with a smooth CAM shot if we don't want text appearing on the screen. To avoid this we need to assign the Message 0x07 ID's to an MDT entry that is intentionally edited to be blank. This will allow for linking a cam event without the message. If we want only to link a message and not a CAM shot, then simply keep the Unknown0 0x04 as Unknown0 0xFF. For more info about editing messages in the .MDT file, please see my tutorial HERE

Happy Modding!

Last Edit: Mar 30, 2023 7:22:45 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

Mr.Curious

✫Advanced Coder✫

gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 12, 2020 13:15:52 GMT 10 DeⓧiaZ likes this

Quote

Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 12, 2020 13:15:52 GMT 10

Companion DLL - Playing Custom Movies

In this tutorial I will explain how we can use the Companion DLL along with a easy to use config file that will allow us to trigger a movie playing anywhere in the game. Also, users can now learn how to create their own custom SFD movie files in my recently created tutorial which can be found HERE or the most recent version on Google Docs HERE.

How are Movies Played in the Game?
Normally when we see cutscenes in this game, we are seeing events that are generated by an EVD file, which consists of models, lighting and animations that create a cutscene in real time. There are however a couple of examples where we see pre-rendered movies playing, which are saved as SFD files. One example of this is the very start of the game where Leon is riding in the car with the policemen. Another example of this is when we are in the tunnels where the Verdugo is stalking us. Another example is that all of the cutscenes in Separate Ways are all pre-rendered movies, which are all SFD files.

The way that these SFD files are triggered in game is almost always via AEV event (other times via hardcoded scripts, like when a task is complete). This tutorial will show us how to trigger SFD movies anywhere we wish. Before moving forward I should mention that I have recently created a tutorial on how to create custom SFD files.

Creating a Movie Trigger Event
The Companion DLL allows us to use a config file to create a set of coordinates with a radius to trigger an SFD movie file to play in the game. Once we have our SFD movie compiled we will place it in the following directory:

\Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\BIO4\movie\EVD_MOVIES
(If 'EVD_MOVIES' directory does not exist, simply create this folder.

(for the following example our movie file name will be named final_video_name.sfd

Now that the movie is in the right directory, we need to create another file, which is a .cfg file. We can create this by simply creating a new .txt file and renaming the extension to .cfg. The file will need to be named evd2video.cfg which will be placed in the following directory:

\Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\FILES\STAGE\rxxx
(where rxxx is use the name of the room we wish to play the movie in, for example r119).

Now that the evd2video.cfg file is in the right directory lets have a look at how to edit the parameters:

MOVIES

{
final_video_name.sfd
    {
        X 4839.859 (the X, Z, Y values determine the position of the TriggerZone that activates the movie to play)
        Z 3819.872
        Y -9027.089 (this value is inverted from 3ds Max, but true to Raz0r's Trainer coordinates)
        r 1500 ;active radius (this value determines the radius (active size) of the TriggerZone)
        ZOfst 100 ;offset for Z coord (this value determines the height boundaty of the TriggerZone)
        played false
    }
}
*It should be noted that the spacing between the brackets here is important*

While I haven't tested if playing multiple movies in the same room is possible, I would assume it is. I presume we would simply need to create a second entry in the evd2video.cfg file.

Special Notes about Side Effects
It should be noted that after our movie has finished playing there is an unintended consequence; any ambient sounds (like environmental sounds), or music that may have been playing prior to the movie playing will now be extinguished. I believe that when Raz0r made this feature for the Companion DLL he forgot that these sounds needed to be turned back on, so we are left without ambient sound after our movies play. A slight workaround for this problem is that users May read trigger their music using the FSE file.

Troubleshooting Problems
If for whatever reason your movie does not seem to play when you enter the designated TriggerZone, there are a few things we can do:

1 - check to see if the issue is with the actual file itself. If an SFD movie is incorrectly rendered, there may be issues with the game trying to play it. One way to check if this is the issue is to copy the file:
\Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\BIO4\movie\opening_pal.sfd and place it in:

\Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4\BIO4\movie\EVD_MOVIES
and then edit the evd2video.cfg file to have this file name in it. This ensures that a working movie file is what we are dealing with.

2 - If the above does not resolve the issue of the movie not playing, the next thing would be to ensure our coordinates are solid. A common error is that the Y value is inverted , so simply try to invert that value and see if that works.

3 - Another tricky thing to get right sometimes is the ZOfst 100 value. Try changing this by increments of 100 to see if that helps resolve the issue.

This concludes this tutorial.

Happy Modding!

Last Edit: Mar 29, 2023 19:29:50 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

Mr.Curious ✫Advanced Coder✫ gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix Posts: 2,995	Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 12, 2020 13:16:05 GMT 10 DeⓧiaZ likes this Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 12, 2020 13:16:05 GMT 10 reserved 7

kTeo

dale home

Posts: 288

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 15, 2020 2:43:47 GMT 10

Quote

Post by kTeo on Aug 15, 2020 2:43:47 GMT 10

first of all, thanks for the public tutorials!

but you may not know, but the public release got unfinished functions and some stuff does not work.

. AMMO folder - doesn't work at all
. EM folder - additional esl entries (new esl for each room, for example) overwrites future esl files. i tried back in the days to explore this and after some stages the enemies would stop loading.
. WPN_AMMO folder - i still have no idea what this does but nothing actually changed in my tests, so i assume this is also not working.
. events.cfg - the public version can't memorize a unlocked AEV event and it will always lock again in the next checkpoint.
. increased enemy table - this one is not working either. but it prevents from crashing by spawning only one of them and only spawning the next one after a checkpoint if the first is killed. changing TotalPolygonsOnScreenFix does not fix this.
. Adjust_FPS_To_Speed_Ratio - enabling this option also enables a lot other bugs. TMP reloading sound being looped; Hand grenades not working when facing lots of enemies and/or objects (it keeps bouncing and never explodes); game freezes when quitting the attache case menu when you have lots of enemies and/or objects in your camera (maybe because of the fast switching between 60 and 30fps); and maybe some more that i haven't noticed.
. itemswap.cfg - this file does not exist in the public version. i tried to use this file from arrange mod once for some tests and it didn't worked.

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Mr.Curious

✫Advanced Coder✫

gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 15, 2020 3:55:31 GMT 10

Quote

Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 15, 2020 3:55:31 GMT 10

Aug 14, 2020 18:54:44 GMT 10 ZebraXS said:

Dear Mr.curious, thank you for all things you did for us,you are my hero!Have you ever find about the matrix of re4hd?I want to put a rect on the enemies, know i have realized the xyz as well as HP of them,but what should i do?

Thanks for the kind words. I do not know what matrix you speak of or what a rect is though

Mr.Curious

✫Advanced Coder✫

gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 15, 2020 4:12:04 GMT 10

Quote

Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 15, 2020 4:12:04 GMT 10

I have decided the best way for me to address your post is to simply reply line by line with my replies in another color.

Aug 15, 2020 2:43:47 GMT 10 kTeo said:

first of all, thanks for the public tutorials!

but you may not know, but the public release got unfinished functions and some stuff does not work.

. AMMO folder - doesn't work at all (Yes it does. I tested with the public version of the dll)

. EM folder - additional esl entries (new esl for each room, for example) overwrites future esl files. i tried back in the days to explore this and after some stages the enemies would stop loading. (I dont use ESL mode, but can confirm that loading a custom ESL file with room name works. Yes it will overide any enemy entries for the room that has a custom ESL file. That was the point of creating this feature).

. WPN_AMMO folder - i still have no idea what this does but nothing actually changed in my tests, so i assume this is also not working. Just because you dont understand something doesn't mean it does not work. This feature sets limits on clip size. For example, in my Resdient Evil Remix mod I used this feature to restrict the amount of ammo in the Broken Butterfly to be only 2 rounds.

. events.cfg - the public version can't memorize a unlocked AEV event and it will always lock again in the next checkpoint. (not true. I have been using the public version all this week with no issues. Please read the events.cfg tutorial section about the .cfg file permissions file and the save.extend part)

. increased enemy table - this one is not working either. but it prevents from crashing by spawning only one of them and only spawning the next one after a checkpoint if the first is killed. changing TotalPolygonsOnScreenFix does not fix this. If you are reffering to how some enemies remain incompatible, I can not attest to this by not knowing which emxx.udas files you are trying to load simultaniously. I can say that I have had great success with being able to combine many different Ganado types from various stages. This being said your milage may vary with bosses and other enemy types.

. Adjust_FPS_To_Speed_Ratio - enabling this option also enables a lot other bugs. TMP reloading sound being looped; Hand grenades not working when facing lots of enemies and/or objects (it keeps bouncing and never explodes); game freezes when quitting the attache case menu when you have lots of enemies and/or objects in your camera (maybe because of the fast switching between 60 and 30fps); and maybe some more that i haven't noticed. Strange, I have never had any issues with this. I have always left this on.

. itemswap.cfg - this file does not exist in the public version. i tried to use this file from arrange mod once for some tests and it didn't worked. I havent fully tested this feature as the project I am working on does not use enemy drops at all. I will do some research into this though.

I suggest in the future if you are going to be testing things and drawing up conclusions that you at least test with a new install of the game without any other mods installed. I also recommend that you have a half decent CPU and GPU if you are going to be loading up tonnes of enemies in the same room.

Happy MOdding!

Last Edit: Aug 15, 2020 4:18:26 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

scoovyhd

Posts: 214

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 15, 2020 5:19:05 GMT 10

Quote

Post by scoovyhd on Aug 15, 2020 5:19:05 GMT 10

Aug 15, 2020 2:43:47 GMT 10 kTeo said:

"events.cfg - the public version can't memorize a unlocked AEV event and it will always lock again in the next checkpoint." This did never happend too me it Always memorized when i retry load or enter a new area it never reset for me

"itemswap.cfg - this file does not exist in the public version. i tried to use this file from arrange mod once for some tests and it didn't worked." this file works perfectly for me i can swap any item like money too weapons and much more what i did with this was make so every herb PTAS ammo and grenade type does not drop so you get no items at all the aura is still there but i changed every drop too not pickupable items wich means when you pick it up it just dissapear's

"WPN_AMMO folder - i still have no idea what this does but nothing actually changed in my tests, so i assume this is also not working." yeah the same happens too me just doesnt work same goes for the AMMO folder

I download this dll from Nexusmods from raz0r's post

Mr.Curious

✫Advanced Coder✫

gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix

Posts: 2,995

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 15, 2020 6:09:35 GMT 10

Quote

Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 15, 2020 6:09:35 GMT 10

scoovyhd - im interested in what you've done here:

"i can swap any item like money too weapons and much more what i did with this was make so every herb PTAS ammo and grenade type does not drop so you get no items at all the aura is still there but i changed every drop too not pickupable items wich means when you pick it up it just dissapear's"

I'm interested in making a 'no loot drop' scenario with my mod, and while the function of this works perfectly well with Raz0r's trainer, I would like to accomplish this with the DLL in case people have issues with the trainer.

One way to do this I learned was to set all ammo drops to Magnum ammo as this item can not be dropped apperntly (I have not tested this though). I would like to try your method with the itemswap.cfg file, but I would like to eliminate the aura completely. Is this possible with the config or does it have to be set in the ITA file?

As for the issues with AMMO & WPN_AMMO, I have created a tutorial in this thread (see previous posts)

Happy Modding!

Last Edit: Aug 15, 2020 7:24:13 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

scoovyhd

Posts: 214

Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 15, 2020 6:29:30 GMT 10 Mr.Curious likes this

Quote

Post by scoovyhd on Aug 15, 2020 6:29:30 GMT 10

Aug 15, 2020 6:09:35 GMT 10 Mr.Curious said:

scoovyhd - im interested in what you've done here:

"i can swap any item like money too weapons and much more what i did with this was make so every herb PTAS ammo and grenade type does not drop so you get no items at all the aura is still there but i changed every drop too not pickupable items wich means when you pick it up it just dissapear's"

I'm interested in making a 'no loot drop' scenario with my mod, and while the function of this works perfectly well with Raz0r's trainer, I would like to accomplish this with the DLL in case people have issues with the trainer.

One way to do this I learned was to set all ammo drops to Magnum ammo as this item can not be dropped apperntly (I have not tested this though). I would like to try your method with the itemswap.cfg file, but I would like to eliminate the aura completely. Is this possible with the config or does it have to be set in the ITA file?

As for the issues with AMMO & WPN_AMMO, I will be making a tutorial on this next for you all today.

Happy Modding!

oh the itemchange stuff for the enemies is all done by the CFG file nothing else it was super easy if you want too i can send you the file if you make every drop a no loot drop if we just make the blue aura invisible it would be done

here is a preview of the cfg file text

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 120

SwapID 127

Quantity 1

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 121

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 4

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 6

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 18

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 20

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 7

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 2

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 1

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 14

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 26

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

HAmmo_Eggs

{

ID 0

SwapID 127

Quantity 3

}

this is the item i use 127 Attache Case XL wich you obviously cant pick up and wont work i dont use the hex numbers for this file

ok update here is the config file i use and changed mega.nz/file/Be4WmK7C#dRbEw38vMFEGH1t2RLWq_siTgdfAW2njI9pb3KwakqM there is also a non Hex itemlist wich i use for itemswap drop etc

Last Edit: Aug 15, 2020 6:52:14 GMT 10 by scoovyhd

Mr.Curious ✫Advanced Coder✫ gridning hard working on a fan game - Resident Evil Remix Posts: 2,995	Introduction to the Companion DLL Aug 15, 2020 6:58:46 GMT 10 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Mr.Curious on Aug 15, 2020 6:58:46 GMT 10 REserved
	Last Edit: Mar 7, 2022 5:06:48 GMT 10 by Mr.Curious

Shoutbox

WELCOME TO RE MODDING. Please use [u-rl][/url] (remove the - in the first tag) tags at the start/end of links.

ranez274: Make mod residen evil 4 ultra impossible hahaha Nov 3, 2024 2:23:00 GMT 10

xxxxx: why *ERROR Line 231: Function 'ParseJson' does not have permission to execute functions inside DLLs. Nov 4, 2024 3:27:45 GMT 10

munisai: guh Nov 9, 2024 21:33:12 GMT 10

moodyman184: Resident Evil 2 Remake Ultimate Trainer - Bullet Time. Anyone know how to use this? Nov 12, 2024 11:30:42 GMT 10

phoenix208: how can i got this mod yo Nov 13, 2024 0:07:32 GMT 10

colinarpg1: existe algún mod que me deje hacer los combos cuerpo a cuerpo sin ayuda de la IA Nov 14, 2024 13:04:44 GMT 10

sadit79: sir can this work using winlator? Nov 15, 2024 16:42:41 GMT 10

Cᴏɴᴅ3ᴍɴᴇᴅ24: yes Nov 17, 2024 1:34:40 GMT 10

XionicXeroJethroteX: Hey guys just wondering if anyone here got the original (sheva clubbin' cutscene head) evfpl13.arc file for RE5? was being dumb and didn't backup my file before doing some modifications. Would really appreciate if you'd be able to send it to me. Nov 17, 2024 6:30:09 GMT 10

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Cᴏɴᴅ3ᴍɴᴇᴅ24: XionicXeroJethroteX got ya Nov 18, 2024 13:41:58 GMT 10

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ryhanzfx: I just want to say awesome mod but recently i lost a copy of the mod and need to redownload and it is corrupted, but i have solutions Nov 20, 2024 12:21:09 GMT 10

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