Post by LeigiBoy on Jan 31, 2014 9:07:22 GMT 10
OK I'm going to explain how i make the custom images for the mercs in my mods this can also apply to most of the images of the game.
First i have to say thanks to Wizard for his tutorial about how to change the tittle screen.
We are going to need
SS folder (if you don't know how to extract it search in the forum)
Game Graphic Studio (GGS from now on)
Photoshop/Paint pro shop/Whatever you use to edit images
the image you want to put in the game
1- Check the SS folder where you will find some .DAT files
ada_c01.DAT
to
ada_c04.dat Another order Chapter ends screen backgrounds
ada_rep.dat Ada's reports backgrounds
ada_res.dat Another order result screen, 2 different Chicago T. unlocking screen
ada_ttl.DAT Another order title screen background
chap01.dat
to
chap07.dat History mode Chapter ends screen backgrounds
id22c.dat Shooting alley resources
id51f.dat Cut scenes gallery
id333.dat History disclaimer
id400.dat Mercs screen info (start mission, end mission, score etc)
omk_pzzl.dat some ammunition textures (don't know what is used for)
omk_r0.dat mercs result screen resources (don't know what is used for)
omk_r1.dat mercs result screen resources (This is the one that works)
omk_s0.dat prl 412 unlocking screen
omk_t0.dat mercs main screen/character select screen resources(background, main screen parts when you unlock a character etc)
omk_t1.dat mercs main screen/character select screen resources(character's shots and portraits main screen parts when you are in the main screen) + Assignment Ada main screen
option.dat text from the options screen and some game message (mission failed, loading etc)
result.dat history mode result screen, + Matilda & rocket launcher unlocking screen, hand cannon unlocking screen
ss_cap.dat bottle caps thumbnails
ss_cmmn.dat Inventory screen messages and background
ss_file.dat no fucking idea
ss_item.dat key items and treasures thumbnails
ss_map.dat map messages?(not sure)
ss_pzzl.dat various Items textures (doesn't know what is used for)
ss_shop.dat items and treasures thumbnails and backgrounds for the buhonero
ss_term.dat don't know GGS cant open it
title.dat tile screen resources and some left overs that look like they are from some Tokyo game show demo
2- In this example i going to work with the some mercs images so we are going to use omk_t1.DAT. Open omk_t1.DAT in GGS, Check the PS2 option in the Interlace bar and select the item nє 18 (Leon img) and now click on the save icon, and save the image as .PNG. Don't close GGS
3-Open you img in Photoshop/Paint pro shop/Whatever you use to edit images.
It should look like this
The important is that you can see the transparency
4-Open the image you want to put in the game
OK, what we do here depends of the image that you want to edit
If the image you want to edit has a transparency (like the Leon one i using right now)
now is when you cut the part you wanna use (for better result you should work with big images)
OK now we have our clean image
Now is when we re size the img if its necessary, the size of the original img(the Leon one) is
256*128 pixels so you want to make your img to be a little more small than that.
Now that we have the image ready we rotate it 90є to the left and then we flip it vertically
(mine was already done, but don't forget this last step or you image will be mirrored in game)
5-Now take the Leon image and delete it (with the eraser tool)
now we go to our our image and copy it and paste it over the Leon one
Now here is a secret the way we have being editing the img we never touch the palette of the
original this way your image will blend better in game and don't stand out so much.
But the thing is you have to try different images with different palettes to get a better looking image. Check this out
now the problem with doing this is that not always work like you can see in the image above. In this case you will have to take your image and Convert it to indexed color (This process is different in every program, google is your friend), then save the palette.
Now we go to the original image(Leon) and load the palette that we just save. And now is step five all over again: take the Leon image and delete it (with the eraser tool) now we go to our our image and copy it and paste it over the Leon one.
now the image should look alright if don't try changing the options when you are converting it to indexed color and try again till you are satisfied
Like i say before working with the original palette not always work but when it does you get better looking result
6- Now we have the image ready we just save it just like that(don't "save as") now we go back again to GGS and hit the Open button and open our edited image.
OK now if your image have transparency now is time to test it: press F9
it should look like this
now click on you image and drag it and drop it over the image that you want to edit(in this case over Leon)
if it doesn't work probably is because your .DAT file is a "read only" file to fix this make right click over the file go to properties and uncheck "read only" apply then try again
There you just did it now the final step (don't close GGS)
7- test the game. If every thing work out well you should have something like this
8-possible problems
a common issue: transparency fails
to fix this go to step 6 just before drag and drop the image, here select the dropper tool from the right tool bar and click on the background(the part that it is supposed to be transparent) then move the 3 scroll bars below the dropper tool all to the left.
If you did it right the background of your image should turn black now drag and drop the image and test the game again.
Notes
-always make sure to check the correct option in the interlace bar when you are working on GGS. Some image like the backgrounds work on PS2 and the other like portraits thumbnails and texts only work in BRG+I
-always make sure to uncheck "read only" on the .DAT files properties from the SS folder
-I'm aware that just rezise the image and use the "change color depth" option of GGS is a much more simple way to do this. But using the original files as base we ensure better results
hope it helps and please tell me if you don't understand something. It's been a while since the last time that i wrote this much in english so probably i made some mistakes. :>
--------------
Just re posting it from the old forum, i fix the missing image
First i have to say thanks to Wizard for his tutorial about how to change the tittle screen.
We are going to need
SS folder (if you don't know how to extract it search in the forum)
Game Graphic Studio (GGS from now on)
Photoshop/Paint pro shop/Whatever you use to edit images
the image you want to put in the game
1- Check the SS folder where you will find some .DAT files
ada_c01.DAT
to
ada_c04.dat Another order Chapter ends screen backgrounds
ada_rep.dat Ada's reports backgrounds
ada_res.dat Another order result screen, 2 different Chicago T. unlocking screen
ada_ttl.DAT Another order title screen background
chap01.dat
to
chap07.dat History mode Chapter ends screen backgrounds
id22c.dat Shooting alley resources
id51f.dat Cut scenes gallery
id333.dat History disclaimer
id400.dat Mercs screen info (start mission, end mission, score etc)
omk_pzzl.dat some ammunition textures (don't know what is used for)
omk_r0.dat mercs result screen resources (don't know what is used for)
omk_r1.dat mercs result screen resources (This is the one that works)
omk_s0.dat prl 412 unlocking screen
omk_t0.dat mercs main screen/character select screen resources(background, main screen parts when you unlock a character etc)
omk_t1.dat mercs main screen/character select screen resources(character's shots and portraits main screen parts when you are in the main screen) + Assignment Ada main screen
option.dat text from the options screen and some game message (mission failed, loading etc)
result.dat history mode result screen, + Matilda & rocket launcher unlocking screen, hand cannon unlocking screen
ss_cap.dat bottle caps thumbnails
ss_cmmn.dat Inventory screen messages and background
ss_file.dat no fucking idea
ss_item.dat key items and treasures thumbnails
ss_map.dat map messages?(not sure)
ss_pzzl.dat various Items textures (doesn't know what is used for)
ss_shop.dat items and treasures thumbnails and backgrounds for the buhonero
ss_term.dat don't know GGS cant open it
title.dat tile screen resources and some left overs that look like they are from some Tokyo game show demo
2- In this example i going to work with the some mercs images so we are going to use omk_t1.DAT. Open omk_t1.DAT in GGS, Check the PS2 option in the Interlace bar and select the item nє 18 (Leon img) and now click on the save icon, and save the image as .PNG. Don't close GGS
3-Open you img in Photoshop/Paint pro shop/Whatever you use to edit images.
It should look like this
The important is that you can see the transparency
4-Open the image you want to put in the game
OK, what we do here depends of the image that you want to edit
If the image you want to edit has a transparency (like the Leon one i using right now)
now is when you cut the part you wanna use (for better result you should work with big images)
OK now we have our clean image
Now is when we re size the img if its necessary, the size of the original img(the Leon one) is
256*128 pixels so you want to make your img to be a little more small than that.
Now that we have the image ready we rotate it 90є to the left and then we flip it vertically
(mine was already done, but don't forget this last step or you image will be mirrored in game)
5-Now take the Leon image and delete it (with the eraser tool)
now we go to our our image and copy it and paste it over the Leon one
Now here is a secret the way we have being editing the img we never touch the palette of the
original this way your image will blend better in game and don't stand out so much.
But the thing is you have to try different images with different palettes to get a better looking image. Check this out
now the problem with doing this is that not always work like you can see in the image above. In this case you will have to take your image and Convert it to indexed color (This process is different in every program, google is your friend), then save the palette.
Now we go to the original image(Leon) and load the palette that we just save. And now is step five all over again: take the Leon image and delete it (with the eraser tool) now we go to our our image and copy it and paste it over the Leon one.
now the image should look alright if don't try changing the options when you are converting it to indexed color and try again till you are satisfied
Like i say before working with the original palette not always work but when it does you get better looking result
6- Now we have the image ready we just save it just like that(don't "save as") now we go back again to GGS and hit the Open button and open our edited image.
OK now if your image have transparency now is time to test it: press F9
it should look like this
now click on you image and drag it and drop it over the image that you want to edit(in this case over Leon)
if it doesn't work probably is because your .DAT file is a "read only" file to fix this make right click over the file go to properties and uncheck "read only" apply then try again
There you just did it now the final step (don't close GGS)
7- test the game. If every thing work out well you should have something like this
8-possible problems
a common issue: transparency fails
to fix this go to step 6 just before drag and drop the image, here select the dropper tool from the right tool bar and click on the background(the part that it is supposed to be transparent) then move the 3 scroll bars below the dropper tool all to the left.
If you did it right the background of your image should turn black now drag and drop the image and test the game again.
Notes
-always make sure to check the correct option in the interlace bar when you are working on GGS. Some image like the backgrounds work on PS2 and the other like portraits thumbnails and texts only work in BRG+I
-always make sure to uncheck "read only" on the .DAT files properties from the SS folder
-I'm aware that just rezise the image and use the "change color depth" option of GGS is a much more simple way to do this. But using the original files as base we ensure better results
hope it helps and please tell me if you don't understand something. It's been a while since the last time that i wrote this much in english so probably i made some mistakes. :>
--------------
Just re posting it from the old forum, i fix the missing image