[Poll] PSO DC with improved graphics

Cast your votes, let's make this happen!

Maybe someone could tell me how to do this, and I'll swap the textures myself from the disc?
What tools do I need? What should I look for?

You need the Photoshop PVR plugin from the Dreamcast Katana SDK, a copy of PSOX or PSOBB to get the textures to convert, and Schthack's VMT to do the file swaps inside the PVM archives. If the PVM files are inside BML files, you're on your own for finding something that can edit those. I wouldn't recommend ihTerra/Kra's tools, as his GSL editor likes to cause BSOD.

When I open your EP disk, the online stuff that appears is this:



Where are the games textures?

Maybe you should look at the skins and see which files the creator wanted you to replace.

Aleron Ives wrote:Maybe you should look at the skins and see which files the creator wanted you to replace.

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean. The textures I wan't to replace are not displayed on the disc...

Look at ihTerra/Kra's download links and see which files he changed. If they aren't visible on the disc, they're inside archives. He might have already replaced the files inside the archives and released new archives, but if he only updated the individual files, he expects the people who want to install the skins to update the archives themselves. It's likely that he didn't convert the textures into the correct formats for use on the DC, meaning they would have to be converted again for the game to not crash. PSO PC is much more forgiving than the DC is when changing files.

pso dc doesn't have the video ram for it. Pso pc, anything that's assigned as a prs file has a static extraction buffer and will crash if you use anything much larger.

Your poll is irreverent to the outcome.

Lee wrote:pso dc doesn't have the video ram for it. Pso pc, anything that's assigned as a prs file has a static extraction buffer and will crash if you use anything much larger.

Your poll is irreverent to the outcome.

Still, the NPCs could be replaced...

well they should be nj's which are largely similar but not identical to psopc nj format, some support additional crap for dx on bb if i remember right in some of the flags. I guess if you didn't have to convert the models, and just converted the skins to exact right formats (dc especially needs this), and they don't end up being larger then existing ones then yeah there's a possibility they could work on dc. Psopc prob won't be half as much trouble.

Let's take the nurse as an example.

The nurse model and the textures are in : bm_n_nurse_i_body.bml

Inside this file there are 2 files:
- n_nurse_i_body.nj (contains the model)
- n_nurse_i_body.prs (contains the textures)

They both files are compressed in PRS.

When you replace one of these files, you need to modify the header which is in the bml. There is only one header shared by the 2 files. Datas to update of the header :
- size of the compressed model file
- size of the uncompressed model file
- size of the compressed texture file
- size of the uncompressed texture file

The problem is... where the hell is this bm_n_nurse_i_body.bml file on IVES disc?

It's in GSL_CITY.GSL. I warned you to expect files to be inside other archives.

Aleron Ives wrote:It's in GSL_CITY.GSL. I warned you to expect files to be inside other archives.

What do you exactly mean by archives and how can I open them? I can't find that GSL_CITY.GSL either inside your disk.

Treamcaster wrote:Let's take the nurse as an example.

The nurse model and the textures are in : bm_n_nurse_i_body.bml

Inside this file there are 2 files:
- n_nurse_i_body.nj (contains the model)
- n_nurse_i_body.prs (contains the textures)

They both files are compressed in PRS.

When you replace one of these files, you need to modify the header which is in the bml. There is only one header shared by the 2 files. Datas to update of the header :
- size of the compressed model file
- size of the uncompressed model file
- size of the compressed texture file
- size of the uncompressed texture file

The problem is... where the hell is this bm_n_nurse_i_body.bml file on IVES disc?

- n_nurse_i_body.nj (contains the model) // model geo from blueburst can differ in use. Therefore probably needs editing
- n_nurse_i_body.prs (contains the textures) // Textures will be bb xvm format and will need conversion to correct pvm format.

Bml format is different between bb and v2 it's 32bit swaped if i remember right, just to add to the fun. Oh and you'll need a program to edit or rebuild the gsl archive.

How are your programming skills?

Oh and just because this is so obvious it really didn't need to be said. Have you tried looking for pso stuff in the folder called PSO?

Lee wrote:Bml format is different between bb and v2 it's 32bit swaped if i remember right, just to add to the fun. Oh and you'll need a program to edit or rebuild the gsl archive.

You know, Kra has already converted those BB textures to v2, so assuming the dc model/ textures don't differ much from the pc version, they'll probably fit fine.

Lee wrote:How are your programming skills?

No programming skills...

Aleron Ives wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archive_file

I know what an archive is, the problem is that I can't seem to be able to open any of the files on the disk with any archive manager such as 7zip.

Lee wrote:Oh and just because this is so obvious it really didn't need to be said. Have you tried looking for pso stuff in the folder called PSO?

That folder only contains adx/ sfd files which can't be opened with an archive manager...

kra didn't convert anything, he's not actually capable of it. He just used vmt or the paint shop pvr plugin. Converting textures is one thing, models are something else, especially. if the format differs by even the slightest margin

as for nothing being in the pso folder;


will you please stop wasting every-ones time and actually look.

I don't think you're using ives EP disk, are you?

will you please stop wasting every-ones time and actually look.

I don't want to waste anybody elses time with something I am not capable of doing. Feel free to close the topic if you wish

no i'm using my own pal disc.

Lee wrote:no i'm using my own pal disc.

So you're not using the same disk as I am.

Are those screenshots comparing GC/BB skins to the DC/PC versions?

Or are those ss's of you succeeding in your endeavors? =O

Aoko wrote:Are those screenshots comparing GC/BB skins to the DC/PC versions?

On the left you can see BB NPC ported chars to psopc, by Kra, while on the right it's just the regular DC NPCs.
Since nobody really seems interested at all on this, DC probably will never get these improved textures, its a shame though...

Any news on this? Lee can you swap the NPC chars or not? Thanks.