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06-01-24 07:22 PM |
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| Main - Posts by smkdan |
| smkdan |
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 Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 101/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Since I don't want to hijack the image thread I'd like to continue posting stuff about it here.
Heian: I haven't touched that site in quite a while, but I got some physics data up there now. http://smkdan.eludevisibility.org/fzero.html#Physics As for BG GFX, I know the layout it works in but I don't want to implement anything until I have some sort of integrated tilemap editor. You want to edit things at the 2x2 level? There are currently 2368 combinations of them, so even working through the existing set seems kind of strenuous. I think panel editing will be necessary, but it would be quite awkward dealing with the format it's laid out in. I noticed that some panels are fairly modular, but some are part of a more complex layout. I borrowed some more...inspiration from LM with this single panel selector. The interface can move selected chunks of panels, but this works in similar fashion to the 'Add X window'. 
This looks like you can just slap it down in any straightway that lines up, but then there's all these panels that are not so modular. 
Those odd strips in fire field show that I still have to get the 7F:4000 mine maps in there. I think I should make some simple layouts that fit eachother well so people wouldn't have to fish around for panels that fit what they're after. I will have 'import from file / other tracks' for most of the data for convenience. The palette editor is just about done, you can edit most / all of the palettes there are to edit in the game, including shock palettes, menus and the title: 
I'll post stuff as it comes along. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 102/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Thanks for the comments.
BH89: The levels consist of a 32x16 tilemap each referencing 256x256 panels for a 8192x4096 track. The smallest unit of a panel is a 2x2 metatile, but perhaps these tiles will be editable too. One of odd things about this is that rows are shared quite alot which means if you edit one row, you'll end up modifying every panel that references that row. I haven't looked at f-zero on the spc end, only the routine which selects the music to play. Heian: Editing the panels will be fairly tricky, since if you want it to not modify any other panel like I said above you need to copy the data by creating new row data (consisting of references to the 2x2 tiles) and then sticking it into some panel slot (of which panels contain 16 of these new, unique rows). I could implement these 2x2 cells on a per track basis, didn't think much of it then. The patch actually disregards the original data of the ROM, since it assumes that all modifications done to the ROM were done within the editor. It opens what it expects to be a fresh, unmodified ROM (the patch contains the default data). Also, mines were easier than I thought to get in there. One issue is that the mine panels can't be duplicated easily since each panel with mines on it is unique. It needs to be unique since the row data is written when the mine blows up, and when you have the same panels referencing the same rows the explosions on track will be duplicated....  |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 103/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Heian: There aren't 2368 rows, there are 2368 2x2 tile layouts. If I put track specific support in there then it would allow 2368 unique tiles per track. I might not have been clear, but there is unique data per track as far as panels and rows are concerned. Each track has a unique set of 256 panels of which about 150 of these can be composed of completely unique rows (not sharing, that is).
The animation on track is done with the palette entirely. The 'Edit cycling' radio button makes sets of 8 colors flash to represent whether they are cycled or not. You just click an 8 color set to toggle cycling. I have custom track names, but the game's font is missing letters... 
Omega45889: I'm writing this in C# targetting .NET 2.0. I haven't been using it for long enough for source to be of benefit to anyone. It would actually do more harm to people if they dared use it as a learning resource. deespence2929: The BS F-Zero games are a really low priority at the moment, I don't know if i'll ever get around to it. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 104/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Death Wind uses the least with the last panel at 47. White Land 1+2's last panel 179, and it uses almost all of the row data...It really varies.
I added some function to the interface. Right click held drags a series of panels and left click lays down the selected region. I think it works decently. Here's a quick test I made with it. Presenting death wind junior:  |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 105/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Thanks Racoon Sam.
The minimap is a 32x64 2bpp image which I've accomodated for in the ROM, but still have to manage in the editor (there's alot to go). The dot itself is taken from the player position on track / 128, so there's nothing strange happening there (8192, 4096 /128 = 64, 32). |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 106/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
AI editing will come soon enough. I'm working on a viewer ATM. It will have a series of points connected by lines, since that would be very easy to manage in C#. I plan to have X Y coords being able to be input manually or being able to plot it with the mouse. I'll have something to show you soon.
As the the panel matching, that would be pretty tricky, since there are many different cut-off points for the barriers. Some have half, quarter etc. protruding. White Land 2 has some pretty modular panels, but it would still be nice to have cusotmiseable ones nonetheless. The (distant) advantage of not having ready made panels is the customising I suppose. You can tailor a panel to fit what you please, even though it would take a fair bit of effort to do so. E: 
Here's an entire track with it switched on. http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/2586/wholesc1.png E2: Branches are pretty odd now that I look at them in the editor, but this attempt seemed to work best.  |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 107/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
I wish there wasn't just the points I had to factor in. A bunch of rival specific stuff has to get in there too. At the current rate though, you won't have false negative 'reverse' signals and broken collision.
Gridlines between each panel, so that we can see from afar where the borders of each panel are. sure, no problem implementing that. A number in the corner of each panel on the big map so we don't have to fish around in the panel selector to find the panel we were looking for. The panel selector is there in case the panel you want is not already on screen. Holding / releasing rightclick will select a region of panels, then left clicking will paste the selected panels where the cursor is. If I want to copy a single panel already on screen, i just right click in and left click it where I want it to be pasted at. Since you're on a Mac, I'm not sure how the program that virtualizes Windows simulates right clicks, but I'm guessing something as essential as that should be trivial to do on it? A 0.125x zoom view so that you can take in the entire track on a normal-sized screen before you start editing. Done, though the results aren't as pretty as the others. Trying to shoehorn 8192x4096 into 1024x512 with DrawImage (no magic overloads to fix that by the looks of it) looks kind of icky. 
When you select a track map, have a sample screen of the course in action (starting line, maybe?) so that we can see what our new palettes look like without having to load the game and actually race on the track with each iteration. I plan on having preview screens for the tileset / backgrounds etc. Simulating the track select would not be as easy because of the SNES features it makes use of. I already planned to have the Track -> Cup -> 1, 2, 3 selections to be replaced with the name they have in game. i.e. Track->Knight->1. MUTE CITY 1. Editing course names is no challenge, since I modified that part of the game to read from plain ASCII. The game's sprite font doesn't seem expandable, atleast that's how I remember it. Try opening a state in VSNES and go to the font and you'll see there's really no room at all for it. It makes it seem so tacky, but it can't be helped all that much. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 108/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
That method works easily for any power of two.
AND #$01: 0-1 AND #$03: 0-3 AND #$07: 0-7 AND #$0F: 0-15 AND #$1F: 0-31 AND #$3F: 0-63 AND #$7F: 0-127 |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 109/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Thanks alot for that Mattrizzle. I'll implement it sometime, but before I do that I have to insert an extra patch like said above. It shouldn't be difficult I think. If I remember right it just adds 16 to access the tile on the next row.
Updated my private copy: The current track name editing is as seen here. Also seen is that optional grid suggested and dynamic menu items, I tried to make it thick and contrast-ish. 
Heian: You have a point with the panel numbers. I'll just place an ID string in the top left of each. Color cycling is there for any graphic that access the first 128 colors. I had it set to the first 128 since no one would realistically want to cycle sprites at 60FPS... 'Require focus click' will be an option when I get to implementing it. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 110/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Yeah Mattrizzle gave us a few extra characters, so whatever people think should go there I'll make arrangements for. The records screen is such a low priority at the moment, but I WILL get to it sometime. I'll have a sprite tileset import that will contain the non-track tiles, so that will include fonts, exploding GFX, that PIT thing and whatever else is there. I'll just X out the resereved areas and export / import to edit in Tile Molester / YY-CHR.
Nitpick away, it's one of the primary reasons I made this thread. I'll keep the thick borders but have options to use 1 pixel lines, since there's no need to scrap a different option when you're not forced to use it. The majority of panels are only used once which means more motivation to create a panel composer. It will be split into 2x2 macro tile editor (points to mode7 tiles), row data editor (points to 2x2 macro tiles), and panel editor (points to rows). Export / Import will be there to allow sharing of modular panels. Also, didn't catch a bug with palette cycling and I added an export to image feature. A (track name).png will pop up in your .exe folder when you save. It's a full size 8192x4096 image which you'd then (presumably) resize / edit in your image editing program of choice. It's much nicer then using the resize code in my program.  |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 111/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
With exception of the font there's nothing really suited for the track names, unless I'm missing something. Yeah I forgot the period and '?', I'll get those in there. When I get to mapping Mattrizzle's new font layout I'll make extra arrangements. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 112/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
I tried the spreadsheet but it excel tells me something about a bogus formula. Seems that I might not have this HEX2DEC function. I got the thin option of borders and panel IDs in there, the panel selector also displays the count of panels currently on the map for a given panel.
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/3133/bigppn4.png http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/469/pidji2.png Also, in Red Canyon those panels are used. Try going to that area and toggling panel ideas / checking count in panel selector. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 113/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Thanks for the link. Had a few other spread sheets with formulas that got the #NAME? issue. The overwhelming amount of '1's really calls for a panel editor before any serious modifications occur...
I noticed that three digit issue in 0.125, it's using a more modest font size now. I also made a few course hacks, mostly in white land 1/2. The majority of panels in WL2 actually are aligned together...Still missing a few handy ones but. That span of that course makes me think about how the original courses didn't really push the limits they had with a 32x16 panel track. Another plan is to let the physics define speed limits beyond 478km/h (the original game wouldn't act as expected if you did that), so that straightways like that are less boring to cross and the brakes actually have use... The second new feature is the last 'core' piece of the interface, which would be drag and drop. The green box is just there to show where it (obivously) came from. If you left click + drag over a selected region it's moved and what was originally under is (for now) replaced with panel 0's.  |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 114/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
We do have access to 256 panels, those panel selector slots above what seems to be used are perfectly valid entries, they just don't contain any valid data (yet). I don't undersyand what you said about RAM, but there is enough room for 256 unique panels, and enough room for 2304 rows (16 of these per panel). This is per track ofcourse. Unused panels and rows are pretty distinct in the editor, just a big block of barriers. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 115/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Raccoon Sam: I presonally wouldn't even bother using the PC without a mouse. Too tedious for me. I don't plan on getting advanced keyboard support for now. I mean, if anything I'd get actual clipboard working before I think of doing keyboard controls.
Heian: Composing 2x2 macro tiles would just be picking from the track's 256 tile tileset and clicking on a macro tile's tile. Making rows would just be picking from these 2x2 macro tiles and clicking on a rows. Making panels.... At any rate it's trivial, maybe time consuming though. I'll finish it tomorrow probably, here's what it looks like ATM. It's...
Highlighted is one of 16 rows... EDIT: Forgot alignment issues...I assumed rowpointers would be aligned to 16bytes, but the 71BE (little endian) is clearly not. If rows overlap that would be another layer of awkwardness to work around. Well, if new panels are made they wouldn't have such issues I suppose. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 116/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
You mention that graphics are compressed, but what would happen in the case that the graphics can't fit in their original space? Or any other variable length data? SMRPG is already 32MBit so I don't think it's easy to just tack on extra ROM with the SA-1. Are you making use of the bankswitching for extra space, or are there large voids of free space avaliable for you? |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 117/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
The mess you see here is the current verison of the panel editor. It doesn't actually modify anything, but it does read and react accordingly. Clicking a row on the composed panel shows the row with the right displacement (thanks to alignment issues). It was clearly automated when they were creating the game, since everything is all over the place and so many of these overlap. New stuff created (if someone had the patience) wouldn't need to pack things so tightly together. Heian: That's how it works. 'Cells' are made of 8x8 tiles, rows are made of cells and panels are made of rows. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 118/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
The editor shouldn't touch GP / Practice line ups. That's actually the patch, since I keep changing the lineups between runs...If you use an unpatched ROM, you'll get the lineups from the patch. If you use a pre patched ROM, you'll get the new lineups. I know about the horrible flaws in the results screen / saved times, but it is such a low priority right now for me. It happens when the wrong times are loaded / saved from SRAM due to modified indexes for some tracks. Use a fresh ROM for the newer versions, it should patch the ROM with the 'right' starting positions.
I'll eventually put in import/export to make it more practical in regards to new patches. It will stay mostly constant for now though. Your edit: When a ROM is patched, it restores track specific stuff. Palettes, tracks etc. for what is currently supported. It doesn't work with fonts, and I don't see them becoming track specific. The patch in the exe is applied and it contains the data entirely from the original. If it has already been patched, it is not modified regardless of different patches. I'll get it to refuse editing if the patch of the edited ROM does not match the patch of the editor. AI editing will definitely be part of the app, thought the extent I'm not too sure about. Plotting new paths is a given, intelligence of rival cars... Also, I here's something I made out of whiteland 2. No custom panels, most of them just fit. Except for the backgrounds of each panel... http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2124/testzu6.png |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 119/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
The patch works on my headered ROM. The reason my notes work for headered ROMs is that headers are just dead weight and confusion when it comes to making the notes. Since headers seem to be the standard for ROM dumps, the patch demands headered ROMs. |
| smkdan |
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Ninji Level: 36 Posts: 120/238 EXP: 289496 Next: 18614 Since: 05-26-07 Last post: 4099 days Last view: 4048 days |
Heian: The maximum speed issue is because in the acceleration tables the car will eventually reach a '00' which will stop the car accelerating despite the actual top speed. If this isn't 00 however, the car will 'overflow' from it's own acceleration table and into another car's / garbage. This is one of those things I'll be relocating the data for.
I don't know what you mean by deacceleration during turn. In that patch the cars seem to hold 478 in hard cornering without issue. Also, the panel editor is almost done. I'll have something soon. |
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