Author Topic: Mega man PSX maps without backgrounds  (Read 8649 times)

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Offline verifiaman

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Mega man PSX maps without backgrounds
« on: October 15, 2015, 08:50:19 pm »
I'd more prefer an easy way I can do this myself, but can anyone help me with this? I can do some of the maps but ones like Sky lagoon and the Intro Stage for 8 are annoying because of the layers.

Offline Trop

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Re: Mega man PSX maps without backgrounds
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2015, 06:16:58 pm »
You'd need a PSX tool that can separate layers.  I know of none but X GOD mapped X4 without flaw so you could ask him.
Example:
https://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/PSX/MegaManX4-SkyLagoon-Area1.png

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Mega man PSX maps without backgrounds
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2015, 08:16:49 pm »
*Is* there such a tool? From what (little) research I've done, I wouldn't think so.

See, the Playstation doesn't have static layers like older consoles that can be toggled on and off. Instead, it apparently displays everything (except for a rather basic sprite mode) as 3D textures which, in the case of a 2D game, are simply rendered with no perspective so they appear "flat".

Whatever layers you can see (like a half-dozen distinct backgrounds, a sprite layer, a boss layer and a few transparencies while we're at it, why not?) are defined and handled by the game's engine. No emulator would be able to separate these layers since it would all be a bunch of separate tiles and textures to it. Your best bet would be to find a tool specifically designed to extract the layers of a given game or games using the same engine.

From what I remember from Zeric (Mega Man 8 ) and Revned (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night), they mapped their respective games by taking a lot of screenshots and removing the backgrounds using whatever methods worked best (color replacement for example), and using a tool like GLIntercept to capture all the individual tiles/textures loaded in memory in OpenGL I believe (it's been several years).

Unfortunately, mapping most modern 2D games runs into the same problems of having to separate layers by hand and thus taking a lot more time than desired, in addition to the risk of more imperfections cropping up (like removing too many pixels by accident, or completing partially visible tiles with similar yet wrong ones). The only real way around that is to be a master coder who can decipher a game's graphics and levels format and extract them directly, and that's easier said than done.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2015, 08:17:54 pm by TerraEsperZ »
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)

Offline verifiaman

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Re: Mega man PSX maps without backgrounds
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2015, 08:12:53 am »
Dang it. thanks for the info. guess i'll try tiled and MSpaint to remove the tiles then as best as i can.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Mega man PSX maps without backgrounds
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2015, 09:35:35 am »
Despite being one of the biggest MSPaint user when it come to mapping, I really suggest using something like Gimp (free) to remove backgrounds. It has a tool that lets you select and erase/replace every pixel of a given color which helps a lot when the background uses a different palette than the foreground and sprites.
Current project that are on hold because job burnout :
-Drill Dozer (GBA)
-Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis)
-Naya's Quest (PC)