DKC Atlas Forum

[Cyclone]

Thanks.

[Simion32]

Update: DKC Resource Editor v0.0.4.0

DOWNLOAD: *please check the releases sub-forums*

New Features:
-You can open the ROM via dialog-box.
-A new Sprite Viewer mode.
-The Graphics Extractor is broken.

I think I've stalled enough on releasing this version, so I'm just going to release it as-is for now. Also, please note that the pallet database is not yet completed; a few sprites may have incorrect colors, and some will be missing their secondary pallets.

[Cyclone]

Hey that was fun scrolling through the sprite animations. thanks for posting.

On a side note i'm not sure I like the window changing size when you open the viewer.

[Qyzbud]

Great update, Simion! The Sprite Viewer is awesome, and I've posted a news item on the Atlas home page to help spread the word.

A few concerns: I think this release may be unnecessarily CPU intensive, as my laptop seemed to overheat/crash after running the program for a few minutes. Looks like it's maxing out CPU usage as soon as the ROM is loaded...

Also, I believe it would feel more natural/intuitive if the sprites were scrolled through using the 'down' arrow rather than 'up'. It's the most common way to go through a list... What do you think? This applies to skipping from level to level in the Level Builder, too.

[Simion32]

A few concerns: I think this release may be unnecessarily CPU intensive, as my laptop seemed to overheat/crash after running the program for a few minutes. Looks like it's maxing out CPU usage as soon as the ROM is loaded...

Does DELTA exhibit this same behavior? I'll try making the Resource Editor less processor-intensive; but there's not much I can do about DELTA since it must render all the time (60FPS).

Also, I believe it would feel more natural/intuitive if the sprites were scrolled through using the 'down' arrow rather than 'up'. It's the most common way to go through a list... What do you think? This applies to skipping from level to level in the Level Builder, too.

I really just made controls in a rather logical method... I was thinking something along the lines of "press up to go to the next sprite, because its offset digit is greater"... Whatever works best will do.

I'm going to try to get the extractor fixed as soon as possible (will be version 0.0.4.1), just wanted to release this now so everyone can have a look at the sprite viewer mode. Cyclone; I'll remove the window animation... thanks for the input, as always.

What's wrong with the extractor? It's mostly how the program gets the locations of data within the DKC ROM. There are a few portions of the Resource Editor that extract data incorrectly or do something weird (for example Slipslide Ride gets extracted using the Jungles tileset, for some reason).

DELTA has a newer version of some of the extraction code, which is based more on using the ROM to find data rather than an INI file full of offsets. I'm going to take most of the extractor code from DELTA, because it is better organized and is also much faster than the previous method used in the DKCRE.

[Qyzbud]

I think this release may be unnecessarily CPU intensive, it's maxing out CPU usage as soon as the ROM is loaded...

Does DELTA exhibit this same behavior?

I hadn't noticed before, but yeah it does, actually. I can certainly understand why the DELTA engine would need all that CPU power, but I'd imagine you could probably make the DKCRE less processor intensive. What exactly is it using all of that CPU power for when just displaying a single, static sprite?

Also, I believe it would feel more natural/intuitive if the sprites were scrolled through using the 'down' arrow rather than 'up'.

I was thinking something along the lines of "press up to go to the next sprite, because its offset digit is greater"...

Ah, well that does make sense... but I can't help but feel it's a little counter-intuitive. Perhaps we should see what others think.

i'm not sure I like the window changing size

I'll remove the window animation...

I just thought I'd say; I liked the window animation. Haha.

[Simion32]

What exactly is it using all of that CPU power for when just displaying a single, static sprite?

My thoughts exactly... I'll just make it only update the window if you have switched a sprite (or something else happens onscreen).

But does DELTA make your laptop crash? I'm sure you would have told me about it by now, if it did do something like that... If it does, then it can't really be helped... it's going to run better on desktop computers, I suppose, so long as you don't have anything running in the background (even little things like services can interrupt the engine... I've disabled all that I could except my anti-virus).

Perhaps we should see what others think.

Agreed. Does anyone else have an opinion on how the controls should be set up?

I just thought I'd say; I liked the window animation. Haha.

Well then... I'll just make that a separate option rather than remove it completely. I thought it would be good for some visual effect of some sort, it's not absolutely critical.

EDIT: So far, I've fixed the PNG tile extraction. It has multi-pallete capabilities now, and this will also be reflected in DELTA's next update as well.
EDIT2: I found out how get rid of that really ugly Windows 98 theme that both programs have been stuck using. Hello, XP Themes!

[Cyclone]

I agree with Qyz about scrolling through the sprite animations using the down arrow key. Makes more sense that way. Things are usually ordered top to bottom, left to right... but I understand how as a programmer your brain can think backwards sometimes. That actually happened to me before lol.

As for the window changing size, I just thought it was a bit slow. It also makes the window flicker a bit. But if you can't decide just keep it animated. I think two options for something like that is unnecessary.

Obviously you got more stuff to do but are you going to add the name of each sprite in the viewer?

Some other things...

- Frame number display for each sprite. ex. if DK's walking animation has 30frames then something like. "DK Walking: Frame 1/30"
- There's a lot of extra room in the window so what about adding a 2x or 3x view?

Everything else looks/works great keep it up.

[Qyzbud]

Good suggestions, Cyclone. I second them!

The window size animated smoothly and flicker-free for me, but it's absolutely unessential, especially during these beta builds. Best to keep things simple during early development stages I've always thought.

But does DELTA make your laptop crash?

Well no, it hasn't done so yet. I think the DKCRE-related crash was just because my (ageing) laptop overheated as a result of the maxed-out CPU usage. I mostly used DELTA on another (desktop) computer, but when I did use it on my laptop, it worked just fine. I think it's just an overheating issue, not a program crash per se.

Sounds like you have a good idea for a fix (and those edits to your previous post are good news indeed), can't wait to try out the next release.

[Simion32]

Update: DKC Resource Editor v0.0.4.1

DOWNLOAD: *please check the releases sub-forums*

New Features:
-The massive Extraction Options Dialog makes its debut in this version!
-The Graphics Extractor is now fixed. You can extract everything from before, except for the Archetypical Bonuses and a few raw-data options.
-Level Terrains of water levels & Slipslide Ride are currently broken because the ROM itself provides strange incorrect data for level size/dimensions.
-Modified the display routines to only update the screen when some change has occurred, rather than continuously.
-The remainder of the program now uses your XP Theme for buttons/checkboxes/etc.
-You can now extract Sprite Animations, in all of their pallets. (WARNING: This takes about 15MB to do and is very slow (2700+ sprites with some in multiple colors). Make sure you've got patience and enough space left on your disk.)

My, that dialog was a pain to make (mostly because of the vast amount of check-boxes), but it was very well worth coding! Now you can generate any single level terrain on-command, and if you don't need the Tiles saved to disk, they won't have to be. This makes the preparation-extraction for extracting Level PNGs much faster if that's the only thing you're doing.

I've got to find a way to make the sprite extraction faster, because it will be a normal part of using DELTA soon.

[BlueTronic]

I found a bunch of unsused sprites in the sprite viewer! So far, I've found:

A spinning grey square
A Krocktopus waving his tentacles back and forth
Alternate smoke sprites
A skinny Oil Drum

EDIT:
DK sitting down
DK leaning back when swinging on a rope
DK/Diddy turning around when on a rope
A few extra death sprites for Diddy
Diddy rolling up into a ball (when he comes out of a barrel cannon)
Diddy lifting a barrel
Diddy pulling his hands away from an Animal Buddy
Diddy getting down to crawl
Diddy high-fiving DK with both hands
Diddy's hat falls off, he feels his head, and notices his hat on the ground
Sparkles from a Halfway Barrel

I'll try to get some pictures, and give the sprite number you can find them at.

[Simion32]

I found a bunch of unsused sprites in the sprite viewer!

Stairs -> What? probably a bonus entrance sprite. They all have incorrect palletes.
A spinning grey square -> Used in the intro sequence. This has an incorrect pallete.
Walking stick by itself -> That's Lightning

Most others have been posted already, no need to have pictures. (EDITED)

[Cyclone]

Everything works great in the new version and the sprite extraction went fast on my end.. Took me awhile to realize the extractor paused when I switched to internet explorer. The extractor lost 'focus', anyway to prevent this?

[Simion32]

Took me awhile to realize the extractor paused when I switched to internet explorer. The extractor lost 'focus', anyway to prevent this?

I noticed this too; I'm not sure how to prevent this, because it's Windows that stops its processing while you have some other window open (Windows thinks that DKCRE isn't doing anything so it gives CPU time to whatever else you have open instead). It doesn't pause, it just gets really slow compared to when it's in-focus.

[BlueTronic]

Stairs -> What? probably a bonus entrance sprite. They all have incorrect palletes.

Oh, wait. I'ts the stairs from the factory levels, it just has an incorrect pallette. Why do so many sprites have glitchy palletes?

A spinning grey square -> Used in the intro sequence. This has an incorrect pallete.

Where is used in the intro sequence?

Walking stick by itself -> That's Lightning

It's not the lightning sprite, it's the walking stick, but I just remembered it is in the game: it's used to animate Cranky's walking stick falling away in the intro.

I edited some more sprites into my other post.

[Simion32]

Why do so many sprites have glitchy palletes?

Because I couldn't find the pallets for those sprites in the ROM or forgot to put them in the database. That's what the DKC.INI is, I had to manually put together a database of the sprites and which pallets they use. It's near impossible to do it any other way because of the way objects/sprites are stored/referenced.

What? where?

It's a piece of the phonograph box that flies away once the boombox lands, you'll miss it if you're not looking for it.

EDIT: I think higher program priority might fix the out-of-focus problem.

[BlueTronic]

Because I couldn't find the pallets for those sprites in the ROM or forgot to put them in the database. That's what the DKC.INI is, I had to manually put together a database of the sprites and which pallets they use. It's near impossible to do it any other way because of the way objects/sprites are stored/referenced.

So how will you find the palletes?

It's a piece of the phonograph box that flies away once the boombox lands, you'll miss it if you're not looking for it.

I see it now.

You can't even see it until it passes by the red beam thing. You couldn't even see it in the snapshot. I had to lower the contrast.

What a great way to save space.

[Simion32]

So how will you find the pallets?

I usually find them by doing this:

1. Make save state while the sprite is onscreen.
2. Use VSNES to look at the pallet the sprite is using, and put these on notepad or something.
3. Convert the RGB colors that VSNES gives into the SNES 15-bit BGR format.
4. Search the string of colors (each color is 2 bytes) using the XVI32 hex editor (translhextion's search function is unreliable).
5. Write down what address the pallet is stored at.
6. In the database, pair the sprite digit with the pallet offset.

Alternatively, I can look at DMA transfers in the SNES9x Debugger to see if any of those are a pallet (usually a transfer of 15 bytes).

However, things like the Stop/Go and On/Off barrels are calculated dynamically, so they aren't stored in the same colors they show up as. And some sprites use the pallet colors that come from level pallets (bonus entrances commonly do this).

EDIT: I just realized that I left a ton of unused entries for level data in the DKC.INI for this version.

[Kiddy14]

Does the change palette option works?

By the way, I also think the window resize should be faster, or maybe both axis should resize at the same time.

[Simion32]

Does the change palette option works?

Yeah, it does, but only on sprites that I have added their alternate colors to the database. Kremlings/Krash, Krusha, DK, Diddy, Tires and Zinger all have mulit-color entries done.

If in doubt, just remember that the database is incomplete and therefore some things may be missing or wrong. By the way, you don't need to press the shift key for any of the controls! Just wanted to make that clear.

[Kiddy14]

Oh yes, I found it now!
I couldn't make it work before because I was pressing <>, I need to press ,; and .: in my keyboard because mine is set in Español (México)
Anyway, the extractor worked great for me; it had a 100% CPU usage, but the memory was ok, and I don't know if it was new code, but the PNG creation was faster than in previous versions (it only took about 3 minutes, in previous versions it would be about 5 or 6 minutes).

[Simion32]

Special Progress Update: DKC2 De-Compressor

Hey everyone! As a little Christmas gift, I've begun working on DKC2 in the hopes of being able to map its terrains. I already have the decompression code complete, but I haven't gotten anything extracted yet (I finished it late last night at 2:00 in the morning). Although nothing has been extracted as of this post, you can expect there to be some major progress over the next few days (hopefully).

Thanks for LokiNova for inspiring me to take a break from the usual development to code the decompressor (just so you know, I didn't use LokiNova's code, I built my own. I'm referring to THIS TOPIC, for those whom have no clue what I'm on about).

[Raccoon Sam]

Superb! Waiting eagerly for results.

[Simion32]

My decompression code turned out to be more buggy than I expected, but it I got it fixed about an hour before this post (didn't have time to do much Thursday for various reasons).

Bramble Blast has 5 compressed items which it loads when you go to the level. Here's a trace of those items...

$BB/8D9F BB TYX A:5B05 X:5B05 Y:00E1 P:envmxdIzc
$BB/8D9F BB TYX A:A94D X:A94D Y:00EA P:eNvmxdIzc
$BB/8D9F BB TYX A:FDBA X:FDBA Y:00DD P:eNvmxdIzc
$BB/8D9F BB TYX A:B6F0 X:B6F0 Y:00EA P:eNvmxdIzc
$BB/8D9F BB TYX A:0000 X:0000 Y:00F8 P:envmxdIZc

when each decompression is done, this roughly equates to...

Offset Size Description
0x215B05 - 0x4D80 - 8x8 Graphics
0x2AA94D - 0x0EF0 - Unknown Data
0x1DFDBA - 0x0800 - Unknown Data
0x2AB6F0 - 0x1FE0 - Unknown Data
0x380000 - 0x0800 - Unknown Data

The very first bit of data is $4D80 bytes long, this is the Brambles 8x8 Graphics.
Here's a sample of the GFX from Tile Molester, just for the heck of it:

The first 256 tiles of the bramble graphics, using pallet 6.

BrambleGFXSample.PNG (10.19 KiB) Viewed 255790 times

However, I haven't yet figured out what the other four pieces of data are for. If one of these is not the level layout data, then the whereabouts of said data is currently unknown to me. Of course, I would guess that DKC2 might use a radically different format for its data (aside from the compression).

[Simion32]

Somehow, I missed this stuff when tracing previously... it seems to use some different parameters for the decompression routine.

$BB/8D91 85 38 STA $38 [$00:0038] A:1000 X:B767 Y:00E4 P:envmxdIzC
$BB/8D91 85 38 STA $38 [$00:0038] A:3700 X:65F8 Y:00E6 P:envmxdIzC

Offset Size Description
0x24B767 - 0xBA00 - Level Data (It's absolutely too large to be anything else anyway...)
0x2665F8 - 0x37E0 - Tileset Data (most likely)

The level data for Bramble Blast is $BA00 bytes long, and is dumped to $7F:1000 at first for some reason, then it's moved down to $7F:0000 (big waste of processor time I think!) where it stays for the remainder of the level. This threw me off for a while because I didn't realize that it was being put further into memory and then being moved back.

You can actively edit this data while the game is running, obviously, but you must move around to get changes to show up because tiles are only refreshed once they move offscreen and onscreen again.

By the looks of the data, it has same format as DKC's tilemap data, with a few exceptions... namely that Bramble Blast is about $48 tiles wide, quite unlike the normal $40 of tall levels in DKC. I haven't fully investigated it, but I assume there's some sort of table with level dimensions somewhere. Not all 'tall' levels in DKC2 have the same width OR height, or so it seems.
Previous Edits:

Spoiler!

EDIT: Hey, I've nearly got the tiles extracting correctly... something is "Bramble Scrambling" them, need to find out why.
EDIT2: The pallet for the tiles is screwed up somehow... some colors are correct, others aren't. Will get this fixed as soon as possible.

EDIT 3: The memory dump that I was originally comparing the decompression to is actually incorrect. So the decompression code is bugged, please stand by...
EDIT 4: Gah! It was simply caused by a leftover from when I cleaned up the decompressor code to make it more readable and compact. Fixed, let's hope this goes well...

EDIT 5: (a few minutes after edit #4 and before bump)
Arr, mateys!! Look at the buried treasure ye all will soon be enjoyin' for yerselves...

This is tile 0002 from the Brambles tileset.

0002.PNG (888 Bytes) Viewed 255634 times

You can expect to see an entire Level Terrain PNG very soon. DKC2 is now truly part of the DKCRE, and I will be adding its levels to the Extraction Options Dialog as soon as possible.

[Qyzbud]

YES!!

That's great news - the DKC Atlas mapping project thanks you, and so do DKC fans everywhere! I'm looking forward to these exciting new developments with bated breath. Not too sure where that expression came from, but that's rather irrelevant. Keep up the good work, you coding machine.

[Simion32]

Bramble Blast Level Terrain PNG
[96 tiles wide, 88 tiles tall]

Finally, we get DKC2 terrains!

Now it's just matter of finding the locations of the level data, tile sets, pallets, etc so that levels can be extracted using DKCRE.

By the way, the entire level data is actually taller than this; just below Bramble Blast is Bramble Scramble and Screech's Sprint is below that. The whole thing is actually 248 tiles in height.

[Raccoon Sam]

I am stunned. Very awesome work..!
You better document this well, though. I can't run DKCRE just now but would love screw around. :>

[Cyclone]

Yea, I'm impressed too. You figured this out very quick(I guess you need more competition to speed things up).
Looking foreward to seeing your next update. Thumbs up.(need a smiley icon for that)...

[Simion32]

Some more progress, I've now got some functions which can automatically grab the offsets of the 8x8 Graphics, Tileset, and Level Data for any given level. So with a bit of tweaks I can probably pull any level on demand, but I still have to modify code in order to do this. It's not completely automatic yet.

EDIT2: Gah, Wasp Hives extract incorrect graphics. Perhaps they use a different table for data offsets or something...

Now all that needs to be done (that I can think of at the moment) is:
1. Document the pallet offsets from all levels (and/or possibly make an auto-grab function for them... not sure if it's possible yet... DMA transfers are hard to trace...)
2. Auto-grab the level mode/dimensions (level mode grabbing needs to be done for DKC...)
3. Apply the level dimensions to levels in their terrain PNGs; since multiple levels are packed into one "level set", they must be separated for the Level Terrains.
4. Add DKC2 to the Extraction Options Dialog
5. Some optimizations and additions to DKCRE's base code (such as, the ROM is still open after it loads the ROM; rather - it should open the ROM, feed that into a buffer, and close the ROM file)
6. This tool desperately needs CRC32 checking, especially when you're going to be dealing with more than one game...
7. Fix the extraction for Archetypical Bonus Levels and Backgrounds from DKC
8. Some other misc. things
EDIT: Once any one thing on this list is done, I'll edit in a message here to signify its completion:
→ CRC32 Checking added! (01/02/09 4:10PM)

Glimmer's Galleon uses some really weird effect where the pallet is the INVERSE of the actual displayed colors... it must have something to do with the darkness effect. In fact, the normal pallet is DMA'd to CGRAM first, and then it does another DMA which applies the inverted pallet (which has 'mossier' terrain when viewed in-game).

Ship Levels are $50 tiles wide, and the main data is $D4 tiles tall. Glimmer's Galleon is $45 tiles tall and is the first in the level stack-up. Haven't checked any other archetypes yet, as I've mostly been working with tall levels.

[Tonberry2k]

Hey, I don't know if you noticed, but K. Rool's running animation seems to be missing from the sprite viewer.

EDIT: For DKC, that is. Hope I didn't bump too old of a topic. Love what you're doing. I'm a spriter, so I'm really appreciating it. Can't wait to see the DKC 2 and 3 versions... and maybe some great fangames down the road.

[edevore]

Hey, Simion -- (Simion32)
I noticed a while back (when version 0.0.4.0 0.0.4.1 was released) that the extraction creates single transparent graphics instead of animated multi frame transparent graphic sprites... Why is that, Will the be support for multi frame extraction for single multi frame sprites as a transparent editable png just like now but the same graphics in order and animated?

I hope I was clear enough for you..


If Not Check Spoiler.

Spoiler!

Your Current PNG : [ANI 1] + [ANI 2] + [ANI 3] = "Single, Single, Single,"
My PNG Idea : [ANI 1 + ANI 2 + ANI 3 = "Animation"]
Key: ANI = Single Frame Png Sprite.

Edit: The Version Was Not Correct.

[Simion32]

Extraction of sprites based on animation will be available in a later version, possibly to extract them to "sprite sheets".

However, APNG support is not likely (as not many things support it anyway). GIF's are probably more viable, I'll look into that (and APNG if possible). But be aware that animated image creation is not as likely to become a feature as most other things (because of the general difficulty of finding a way to work with animated image data).

[edevore]

Animated Gif's Are fine if they can use some special type of color so when they are imported into most game engines like game maker it does not work well such as transparent white backs. I have a lot of problems with white and black transp gif's with gm and some other prog's.. if I dont use a color like lime or fuschia it will not work correctly.

[Simion32]

Hey everyone... you know how the Temples from DKC have numbers as placeholders for animated tiles?

Wasp hives' animated tiles use actual graphics in their tile sets.
Volcanic levels, however...

It looks like Rare shifted the concept of placeholders into overdrive for the Volcanoes!

Volcanic-AnimationPlaceholders.PNG (16.56 KiB) Viewed 255379 times

These kind of things make me wonder how they were able to organize all these fancy graphical effects, let alone an entire game.

By the way, yesterday I just got done restructuring DKC's extraction routines so that they work using RAM rather than direct file access. This should result in a net speed increase. I have refitted most of the functions to work using std::vector<char> for data, so all that must be done to get DKC2 into the program is to document some offsets (mostly GFX and Pallet offsets). (Some automatically retrieved data may not be reliable, such as Wasp Hives which gives an incorrect offset for GFX.)

Another small note; CRC32 checking has been added... if you have an incorrect ROM, you will be notified by a "CRC32 Check Failure" pop-up. DKCRE will no longer accept anything that's not v1.0 (of DKC or DKC2), so glitches due to inputting an incorrect ROM will no longer be possible.

DKC2 extraction is just around the corner.

[Raccoon Sam]

Superb! Absolutely smashing!
Your awesomeness is getting typical so I'm running out of compliments.
But yeah, you know, good job as usual

[Tonberry2k]

Ooh I'm excited.

[Cyclone]

Superb! Absolutely smashing!
Your awesomeness is getting typical so I'm running out of compliments.
But yeah, you know, good job as usual

same here!

[Simion32]

Extraction Options Dialogs: Preview
Alright then, here's the newly constructed extraction dialogs (the DKC3 dialog doesn't exist yet obviously). I had to separate each game into a separate dialog due to the limit of 256 controls (checkboxes, buttons, etc...) per window. Also, note that some of the grayed-out options in the main dialog will indeed be available; I just haven't enabled them as of yet.

Spoiler!

I was able to make each game's dialog the same size, while still being organized.

ExtractionDialogs.png (26.08 KiB) Viewed 255213 times

If there's anything you want to suggest on these dialogs, go ahead and post. Even spelling mistakes must be eradicated...

There's only one painstakingly repetitive part left; I need to add in the routines that control the check boxes. After that, I can code what will cycle through DKC2 mapping. Almost there!

[edevore]

I have a question, Simion32..
What are all those check-boxes after every bonus level's check-box?

Image Aligned Text Unlike Spoiler (Original Text Layout)

Aligned _Image.jpg (20.91 KiB) Viewed 255149 times

Spoiler!

Like this:
________________________________________________________________________
|<<< between here and here >>>|
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
[ ] Kongo Jungle: | [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] N/A [ ] [ ] |
[ ] Monkey Mines: | [ ] [ ] N/A [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] |
[ ] Vine Valley: | [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] N/A |
[ ] Gorilla Glacier: | [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] N/A [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] |
And so on........... | _______________________________________________________________________ |

[Simion32]

Image Aligned Text Unlike Spoiler (Original Text Layout)

Hey, use these tags [pre] and [/pre] instead of posting an image... It's much easier.

What are all those check-boxes after every bonus level's check-box?

Those unlabeled check-boxes are for selecting individual bonus levels, whereas the checkboxes to the left with the world name can be used to select or unselect all bonuses from that world at once.

N/A means that the level doesn't have any bonuses (which never happened in DKC2). Any unused bonus levels will be extractable by archetype, which are just below the Bonus Levels grid.

They are grouped by level; the first two check-boxes to the right of Kongo Jungle are for Jungle Hijinxs, the next two are for Ropey Rampage, etc. Perhaps I should add in something to make this a bit more clear...

[Raccoon Sam]

I dunno, it looks pretty clear and conceivable to me.
Maybe hover-on display tags that help you know what's going on?

[edevore]

Thanks, Simion..
I think I now understand what you are saying, I have no more questions for the GUI at the moment..

I have two questions though:
Is progress going well?
Is there going to be a newer version soon?

[Simion32]

Is progress going well?

Well, I haven't had much time to work on it over the last few days due to heavy amounts of schoolwork, but I do have the majority of the check boxes in the DKC2 dialog working.

It should be relatively simple to get DKC's done because I can mostly copy+paste from DKC2's dialog code.

And I luckily have 2 snow days (today and tomorrow ) so I'll have a decent amount of time to work on the dialogs.

Is there going to be a newer version soon?

Once the dialogs are fully functional, there are a few trivial bits of code I may need to add. After those bits of code are added in; the DKCRE will be ready for an update. The only major thing barring an update at the moment is these massive dialogs and their underlying code.

[edevore]

And I luckily have 2 snow days (today and tomorrow)

Too bad, if you have to make up those days, And its not that bad here in our school zone.. we never really have any canceled days and we have rare delays even if the roads are bad.
I just wished we had more delays when I was in school, But I was glad that we did not have any snow makeup days the past four years of high school because after the last days we did nothing at all for makeup's, and delays we did not have to make up that was good .

[Raccoon Sam]

Here in Finland there is no rule nor regulation that one should stay out of school regardless of snow level or temperature.
Currsee you Americaaaa :fistshake:

Heh, just kidding. Awesome job though.

[Simion32]

Well today has been rather exciting... I now have all three dialogs working. The Level Terrain dialogs for DKC and DKC2 can now remember which check boxes you've selected, in the case you have to go back and make modifications.

I took a slightly different approach to the construction of the dialogs that should make it easier to add DKC3 once I get that far. Rather than completely solid-state code, it controls the dialog based on each checkbox's parent/children (this is for the grouped items).

There is still quite a bit left to do before the update, though. The old extraction code for DKC cycles through levels in a way that contradicts the setup of the new dialogs, and DKC2 doesn't have any loop-through code yet. There are a few other tweaks that need to be done to make the extractor fit the dialog structure as well.

Perhaps I can get the update ready today if I work fast (and don't run into other time-consuming activities).

Spoiler!

As for snow days, I have today and tomorrow off as well. I'm glad that I won't be having to make up those days at the end of the year...

[edevore]

That's great Simion, I have not much to say other than great job!
Will the program also have extraction for the other things such as music and sound effects?

Spoiler!

@simion32: That's good that you dont have to make up those days.

[Simion32]

Will the program also have extraction for the other things such as music and sound effects?

Not yet, but I do want to add those features later. Music/sound is much more complicated than graphics, I'll need solid knowledge of the data format before even thinking about adding sound extraction.

[edevore]

Ok Simion, I did see somewhere info about the SPC format and how it is constructed but I don't remember where it was.. If you want me to I can try and find that data?