Quick Modding/Hacking Answers Thread

Is that what you were asking?

Uhh... I think... What are my choices?
It's hot in here.

EDIT:

Fan on.
I have a sprite, but I need to know how to include it into a cutscene.

 

Well, you just replace an existing sprite in one of the "data\Npc\Npc*.pbm" files and the new sprite will appear in its place. You're familiar with the whole (C)Pixel deal?

 

Well, you just replace an existing sprite in one of the "data\Npc\Npc*.pbm" files and the new sprite will appear in its place. You're familiar with the whole (C)Pixel deal?

Yes. I grasp basic concepts extremely quickly.

 

How do I put Monster X into in a level? I set the level map properties for that particular boss fight. I have the coordinates right, but it's still not working. I've got no experience with bosses that require <BOA, but that shouldn't have anything to do with it, because even the stationary version isn't showing up. Is there some specific entity that needs to be placed somewhere?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

How do I put Monster X into in a level? I set the level map properties for that particular boss fight. I have the coordinates right, but it's still not working. I've got no experience with bosses that require <BOA, but that shouldn't have anything to do with it, because even the stationary version isn't showing up. Is there some specific entity that needs to be placed somewhere?
Any help would be appreciated.

I'm pretty sure there's an entity that you need to place to tell the game where you actually want the boss to go. You probably figured that out on your own though. Other than that I don't know.

 

Monster X is a "major boss fight" meaning that there is no entity that needs to be placed. IIRC, you need TWO <BOAs to make Monster X work; one to make the stationary one appear, and another to make it activate.

And Schilcote, did my previous post answer your question?

 

And Schilcote, did my previous post answer your question?

I think so. I'll have to try it and see if I can figure it out.

 

Thanks for your help, it's working great now.

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Slanted tiles that DO NOT display in front of the player: Is there any way to make them?

 

Thanks for your help, it's working great now.

...

Slanted tiles that DO NOT display in front of the player: Is there any way to make them?

No.

Or rather yes if you assembly hack it in (it wouldn't be too hard, maybe noxid will do it for you).

 

Ehh, I think I'll just do away with the slanted tiles in the map. Thanks anyway, for your help.

 

I have a question regarding modding where you change the MyChar.pbm to your own sprite sheet. I finally figured this out after removing the hex for the Pixel (C) copyright in the .EXE file using a standalone hex editor. I am using Sue's Workshop so I couldn't use Cave Editor to do this.

I then open the character sprite sheet that I made, as a .png, copy the image in paint, then open the MyChar.pbm and paste in my edited sprite sheet. If I change the actual .png to a .pbm, (instead of copy-paste from a .png) the file turns into a degraded black and white look, and doesn't retain color. (I am doing this conversion on a mac-based program, then transferring. Do you know of a .png to .PBM file converter for windows?)

The problem is original colors for the edited MyChar.pbm change when I run Doukutsu.EXE. For example I had brown hair on my character and it changes to yellow. My tans, and greens and reds all turn to grey colors. I'd post pics but I don't know the rules regarding them. My question is what is the range of colors that .PBM files support. How do you limit MS paint (in windows 7) to just these particular colors so the colors are not forced to change when the game is run?

I'm happy to finally have figured out how to implement my own char, nonetheless, but I'd like the color scheme to be accurate.

Thanks for all your help,

BackyardcainXY

 

Don't use your editing program to turn it into a pbm, because that particular piece of software (GIMP, I believe) does weird things to pbm files. Instead, make it a bmp and rename it to .pbm. That should solve your first problem.

The other thing is that you have to use indexed color mode. You can use whatever colors you want, but only 16 different ones. Then, when you're done drawing it, change the mode to indexed, 16 colors. Save it as a bmp, then, as I said earlier, rename it to .pbm by hand.

 

Most of the bitmaps in cave story use a 16-colour palette; if you use a less intelligent program like MS Paint, it'll either try to fit the new colors to the existing palette, or adopt a 'standard' palette which contains some hideous colors. One way around this is to save your bitmaps as 24-bit truecolor bitmaps and rename those to .pbm. If you can't or dont want to use 24-bit bitmaps then an alternative would be to download a smarter image editing program such as Paint.NET or GraphicsGale Free edition, that can do palette optimization for lower color depths.

png is a totally different format than bitmaps so it wouldn't do much good to rename those I'm afraid.

 

I have a question regarding modding where you change the MyChar.pbm to your own sprite sheet. I finally figured this out after removing the hex for the Pixel (C) copyright in the .EXE file using a standalone hex editor. I am using Sue's Workshop so I couldn't use Cave Editor to do this.

I then open the character sprite sheet that I made, as a .png, copy the image in paint, then open the MyChar.pbm and paste in my edited sprite sheet. If I change the actual .png to a .pbm, (instead of copy-paste from a .png) the file turns into a degraded black and white look, and doesn't retain color. (I am doing this conversion on a mac-based program, then transferring. Do you know of a .png to .PBM file converter for windows?)

The problem is original colors for the edited MyChar.pbm change when I run Doukutsu.EXE. For example I had brown hair on my character and it changes to yellow. My tans, and greens and reds all turn to grey colors. I'd post pics but I don't know the rules regarding them. My question is what is the range of colors that .PBM files support. How do you limit MS paint (in windows 7) to just these particular colors so the colors are not forced to change when the game is run?

I'm happy to finally have figured out how to implement my own char, nonetheless, but I'd like the color scheme to be accurate.

Thanks for all your help,

BackyardcainXY

Ugh... That's incredibly... inelegant. Brr.

Anyway, your problem is that MyChar.bmp (pbm=bmp) has a very small palette, it doesn't have all the colors of your image so when your program tries to paste it in is has to find the closest approximations that are in the palette. Since theres so few colors available, it'll have to change to totally different colors.

You need a fancier pixel art making program. I use the free edition of GraphicsGale. Then you just need to expand the palette, tell GraphicsGale your colors, and then copy and paste.

 

Instead of saving it as a .png, save it as a 24bit bitmap (.bmp), then change the file extension.

 

Instead of saving it as a .png, save it as a 24bit bitmap (.bmp), then change the file extension.

...
Or you could do that.

 

I believe we have too many cooks. And they may have spoiled the metaphorical broth.

Could you tell us what graphics program you're using, XY?

 

I believe we have too many cooks. And they may have spoiled the metaphorical broth.

Could you tell us what graphics program you're using, XY?

The spriting program I'm using is Pixen for Mac

 

Okay, can you use it to change the image mode between rgb and indexed?

 

I have a question too.

Why doesn't the second sprite set I use work?