| RELEASE: Terra Stripe Beta |
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Forum Index - SMW Hacking - General SMW Hacking Help - ASM & Related Topics - RELEASE: Terra Stripe Beta |
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| Posted on 2009-06-21 04:29:28 PM |
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ATTENTION: This is a beta version and the ability to save to a ROM hasn't been implemented. Therefore, using this tool requires you to manually insert hex data into the ROM and changing pointers. If you don't know how to do that, a tutorial will be provided. If you can't understand it, DON'T PM ME QUESTIONS ABOUT IT! The tool in its current state is intended for semi-advanced hackers and above.
And now that THAT's out of the way, I'll actually introduce the program.
Terra Stripe is a stripe image editor. An easier, but slightly less accurate way to say it would be "It's a Layer 3 editor". It allows you to open all stripe images containing Layer 3 data as well as editing and exporting them to external files. Again, no, it doesn't save to the ROM on its own. The file exported is the raw stripe data, no RATS tags or anything. Also, at this point, the program makes no attempt to compress the data, but space isn't really much of an issue in most hacks.
The things that can be loaded in this program include all Layer 3 images that can be used in levels (tide, windows, fog, fish, etc.) as well as the images one can load using $12 (title screen, overworld border, the Layer 3 parts of the enemy names and various other images of slightly less importance). It can also load from SNES addresses in case there's some image not found in the two regular pointer tables.
Anyway. Maybe I should post the actual download link. You can find it HERE. It requires the .NET framework version 3.5. Apparently, WINE's support for 3.5 is crappy, so sorry in advance, Linux users.
And now, a brief tutorial for what to do with the images exported by the program. If you have any questions regarding this, go ask someone else.
1) Insert the image data into a free area of the ROM.
2) Add a RATS tag to avoid LM and other tools overwriting it.
3) Change the pointer of the image you want to replace to point at the start of the image data.
The pointer tables work as follows:
Level images:
Pointers start at 29200 (PC address). There are three 3-byte pointers for all 15 tilesets, like so:
[Tileset 0, Image 1] [Tileset 0, Image 2] [Tileset 0, Image 3] [Tileset 1, Image 1] ...etc...
The order is the same as in Lunar Magic, i.e. images 1 and 2 are tides (except in tileset 1 where image 2 is the smasher) and image 3 is what LM calls the tileset specific one.
Images loaded through $12:
Pointers start at 06D0 (PC address). There are 86 3-byte pointers, one for each image. The pointers are in the same order as in the middle drop down menu in the "Load Image" window of my program.
For ASM hackers, the stripe images can also be used with the dynamic VRAM uploading feature. ASM is also needed to change the behavior of the Layer 3 images. The method given above only changes what it looks like.
Feel free to ask questions, as long as they're not about how you use the files exported by the program.
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| Posted on 2009-06-21 04:33:52 PM |
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Also, I've already shown this twice on IRC, but still...
(woo, post 900)
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| Posted on 2009-06-22 08:03:18 AM |
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I tested it - it works like a charm. The file that is outputted, doesn't seem to show any errors, and of course, the file ends in $FF, like it's supposed to do.
This tool will prove to be pretty handy for many of us - now you can simply use this tool to export Layer 3 backgrounds to an external file. All you need to do is, like you said, put it in your ROM and (re)point to it.
I'll be sure to use this in the future. Even though RLE is not used to compress the bytes (like you told), it's still very handy. Much better than coding in hex. Well done.
P.S. These files are outputted in .stim files. XD
Ersanio must see this.
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| Last edited on 2009-06-22 08:04:51 AM by Roy. |
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| Posted on 2009-06-22 08:26:13 AM |
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Dear Smallhacker:
1) all .stim output has been up to my auto-stim and for this i said AWESOME AWESOME.
2) who someone submit something
In all seriousness, this tool rocks. Will you release the source? (/me hopes he will)
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| Posted on 2009-06-22 07:48:41 PM |
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Cool. I can see that being pretty useful. I already have an idea or two about what to use it for.... If nothing else, it should be nice for occasions when both layers 1 and 2 are taken up by foreground stuff, so there can't be any sort of background unless it's on layer 3.
I have to ask, though: Is there any way to ExAnimate the images? This would be great for falling rain, for example, but not if the rain is frozen in place. (I won't bother asking you about changing the behavior of the images; I'll ask someone else.)
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| Posted on 2009-06-22 08:40:48 PM |
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Originally posted by imameliaI have to ask, though: Is there any way to ExAnimate the images? This would be great for falling rain, for example, but not if the rain is frozen in place. (I won't bother asking you about changing the behavior of the images; I'll ask someone else.)
There are three major ways to do that:
1) ExAnimate the tiles and not the actual image. ExAnimating Layer 3 tiles should be possible using LM's undocumented VRAM upload feature
2) Upload a new stripe image each frame
3) Upload a new tilemap (raw, not stripe) each frame using LM's undocumented VRAM upload feature
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| Posted on 2009-06-22 09:41:56 PM |
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In the near future, will this be able to load and use other GFX files as well? It's troublesome being restricted to so few GFX Files for Layer 3.
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| Posted on 2009-06-23 12:51:06 AM |
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Originally posted by LioIn the near future, will this be able to load and use other GFX files as well? It's troublesome being restricted to so few GFX Files for Layer 3.
Maybe the layer 3 exgfx patch will help?
(No, I won't make a patch to allow eight gfx files for layer 3, that sounds like a waste of time)
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| Posted on 2009-06-29 11:07:45 PM |
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Hey will this support layer 1 and 2 like the ones used in the castle cutscenes?
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| Posted on 2009-06-30 06:11:08 AM |
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I do have plans to support layer 1 and 2, but don't expect it too soon. There are other features I prioritize more.
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| Posted on 2009-06-30 11:49:09 AM |
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Originally posted by SmallhackerThere are other features I prioritize more.
Like Linux Support??? 
Don't hurt me
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| Posted on 2009-07-01 10:55:14 AM |
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The development version has been using .NET 2.0 since a day or two after releasing the beta, so the next release (which will most likely be version 1.0) should work better in Wine.
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| Posted on 2009-07-01 11:04:35 AM |
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Yay! I hate using windows.
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| Posted on 2009-07-01 11:10:07 AM |
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This tool =
*shot*
Really, this tool seems to be the answer to all our layer 3 needs. I'm glad it's here!
Originally posted by ErsanioWill you release the source? (/me hopes he will)
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| Posted on 2009-07-04 11:01:38 AM |
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I'm having trouble with this tool May someone plz help? When I edit a Layer 3 image then export it, I get a STIM file. But I don't know what to do with it. Do I use some kind of tool to put inside the rom. How do I insert the image data into a free area of the rom? I don't quite understand the whole process Well, sort of. It's the whole STIM file thing that really gets me baffled:/
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| Posted on 2012-04-05 12:30:32 PM |
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Please get this finished, this seems SO cool!
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| Posted on 2012-04-05 12:38:12 PM |
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Please don't bump three year old threads.
Oh, and this one was released at least two years ago. Look a little closer in the tool section.
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