Texture Pack support Round II! Fight!

Monday, 09 April 2007

Texture Pack support Round II! Fight!

Written by Jabo

Last updated Tuesday, 10 April 2007

Before we start with the best part of this blog series, if you haven’t read the first part I suggest going back a few posts and doing that, its kind of a prerequisite.

Now that our textures are baked … er dumped, we have made a replacement for a texture and we want to test it out in a game, we take the replacement texture of the same name and place it in the textures-load folder underneath the PJ installation folder. This is a simple, yet effective way to start testing new images, no fuss just – moving files. 32-bit RGBA PNG files are supported … as well as the preferred format of DXT compressed textures since they are significantly smaller and load fast.

To make a bunch of textures into a pack you simply put them into a zip file, with a file in the root called 'pack.xml'. As you can guess PJ supports the ability to load textures from a zip file, so you don't have to extract hundreds of images as well. Below is an example pack.xml from a mario kart texture pack.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<pack>
<supported>
   <rdb>C3B6DE9D-65D2DE76-C:50</rdb>
   <rdb>2577C7D4-D18FAAAE-C:50</rdb>
   <rdb>6BFF4758-E5FF5D5E-C:4A</rdb>
   <rdb>C9C3A987-5810344C-C:4A</rdb>
   <rdb>3E5055B6-2E92DA52-C:45</rdb>
</supported>
<author>Kerber2k</author>
<version>1.2</version>
<description>Mario Kart Pack</description>
</pack>

This complete package defines what games it applies to, as well as who created it. For a user who downloaded this zip file to their desktop -- they can either right click in the rom browser and select "Install Pack" from the menu or manually move the ZIP file into the textures-load folder.

Good stuff

This next part is cool, and one aspect I’m particularly happy with. To use the texture pack right click on the game you want to play and click “select texture pack” as shown above.

Picker

This dialog will show you all the available texture packs available for the game that you selected as well as the one currently in use for that particular game. The nice part about this is you can have multiple packs installed for multiple games at once.

So in closing, this is one feature people have wanted the PJ core team to have for a while, I know it took a long time but I think it was well worth the wait

Comments (37) >>

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written by Mal, April 10, 2007

Hey, you should make it for .RAR also, that's what most texture packs are saved as, I've never come across any .ZIPS yet. Just a suggestion.

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written by CoinCollector, April 10, 2007

Mmmhmm, it was WELL worth the wait. Finally, I don't have to use Rice's plugin if I want texture replacement!

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written by Smiff, April 10, 2007

the texture pack picker (there's a mouthful) might be the place to put an uninstall button (with confirmation) too? just something that came up on our forum recently

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written by rhY, April 10, 2007

Sounds good. Can't wait to try this out with some texture packs! GJ!

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written by Charles, April 11, 2007

is it possible to put hi-res textures into the game, maybe to make the games *prettier* or do they have to have the same geometry in memory as the original textures?

How about 2D on-screen overlays? For instance, I have been playing tetrisphere lately, and while I can crank the resolution to make the playfield look great, the overlays like the points tally, timer, etc. are all blocky, and even worse, made muddy by the 2xSai smoothing I have turned on. (I'm not using project64.) Anyway, if you could clarify a little, I'd really appreciate it, and if it is the case that hi-res textures DO work, and the overlays CAN be replaced, I think you guys just found a new best friend.

Regards,
Charles

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written by Smiff, April 11, 2007

Charles, yes absolutely they can be a higher resolution. with DXT they can be a *much* higher resolution without performance suffering too much. we used to have a limit of power of 2 textures (like 16x16 or 64x8, but up to 512 or way higher than the N64) but i think anything divisible by about 4? is allowed now. (jabo?) it will be mapped to the same space as the original.

yes 2d stuff can be retextured also

we might get some screenshots out to show off some of this, it can look great but takes a lot of work in a paint application.

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written by Chesso, April 11, 2007

Hi smiffy, it would be great to see some shots at some point, so people can see exactly what can be done with this.

Regards
Chesso

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written by carl, April 11, 2007

Is DirectX9 supported in Project64 1.7 ?

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written by mudlord, April 11, 2007

Yes, DX9 based plugins are supported. However, Jabo's plugin still uses DX8

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written by Jabo, April 11, 2007

I really do want to put up screenshots of some packs in action, but the current situation is dicey at best, some authors have released packs for the beta program unofficially and I dont want to start posting screenshots without a more official release so to speak -- even worse some of the packs I've manually put together as getting the original authors on board at this stage has proven difficult. But I'll take the suggestion and maybe put up a few in due time.

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written by TomatoShadow, April 12, 2007

Oh, that's for the free version? I was wondering! Now that will be helpful for a bunch of people!

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written by Friend, April 13, 2007

Nice Thank u verymach

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written by anonx, April 14, 2007

when the Jabo's plugin will support DX9 ?

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written by mudlord, April 25, 2007

I don't think it will ever support DX9. DX8 already supports what Jabo needs for emulation, so I think him porting his code to DX9 won't make much of a difference. Besides, the only real benefits for DX9 are multiple render targets, builtin support for HDR, and custom HLSL pixel shaders (for cel shading and other post-processing graphics filters). And those things aren't really needed or important for emulation, when Jabo can do hardware framebuffer emulation already via DirectX8, plus other things....So basically, I don't see the point of him changing, unless cel shading is considered important for emulation lol smilies/grin.gif

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written by sasss, May 08, 2007

please enter no code:vf4/lo entar serale loclization english work la porcrid e emulation dx9,snes

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written by Hariainm, May 08, 2007

Project64 v1.6 (the free version) supports this texture pack without any 3rd plugin (just with the jabo plugin) or I need the v1.7?

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written by mudlord, May 09, 2007

PJ64 1.7 is needed for the new texture pack support. PJ64 1.6 will refuse to load the 1.7 beta's plugins, so beta 1.7 is needed.

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written by jorge, May 11, 2007

i want codes for the legend of zelda majoras mask

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written by mudlord, May 15, 2007

i want codes for the legend of zelda majoras mask

The codes for Majora's Mask are built into the
"Project64.cht" file...

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written by reddiwhipped, May 19, 2007

I think this texture replacement is a wonderful idea, as it can really breath new life into games that were decent to play, but perhaps lacking in the texture department. Quest 64 immediately comes to mind. It would be nice if there was a gathering place where some of us could contribute and corroborate in order to prevent mass chaos with random texture packs being released with inconsistent/partial replacements. Also, rather than having everyone extract the old textures on their own, it would be fantastic if some technically inclined volunteers could do this so that the more artistically inclined can have easier access to them for comparison purposes. I just wish that there was a way to specifically identify a texture on the screen by name so that it would be easier to see the orientation and use of it so that some more creative changes can be made, rather than just an increased resolution copy of the original.

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written by non4life, May 21, 2007

Quote
I really do want to put up screenshots of some packs in action, but the current situation is dicey at best, some authors have released packs for the beta program unofficially and I dont want to start posting screenshots without a more official release so to speak -- even worse some of the packs I've manually put together as getting the original authors on board at this stage has proven difficult. But I'll take the suggestion and maybe put up a few in due time.
Quote

well i have a vid of this really broken game i might wanna MSN you it Superpuyobros@hotmail.co.uk

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written by KaliKOt, May 29, 2007

Well if you know the n64 community these days especially the WWF No Mercy community, they use Rice's plugin which is now never updated since a few years ago.

Will the textures made for Rice plugin also be compatible with this new feature? If so, do the images need to be renamed or will they work even without renaming. If the community would need to rename all their textures that would totally suck.

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written by non4life, June 08, 2007

im trying to get it in my plugins part but why is it not allowing it?

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written by lucas, July 25, 2007

eu quero o jogo de nitendo 64
smilies/cheesy.gif

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written by lucas, July 25, 2007

smilies/grin.gif

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written by jesus, August 02, 2007

camo descargo zelda

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written by ghfghfb, August 16, 2007

fgdgdf smilies/angry.gif

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written by hb diubh, August 25, 2007

vjcjcjcjc

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written by pedro, September 01, 2007

como descargo mario 64

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written by ....., September 01, 2007

kiero pero no me se en program pa el pjs 64 smilies/undecided.gif

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written by BluryBlue, December 04, 2007

smilies/undecided.gif

I'm confused. What do you do exactly with the xml file? What do you type in it to make it compatible with my game (Zelda: Ocarina of Time)?

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written by Complete Noob, December 10, 2007

Complete Noob here who failed programming like no other. Anyways, I get the xml file for the most part, with the proper rdb and whatnot, and I can even install the texture pack. However, when I go to select one, the only texture pack option available is None, and not the texture pack I installed earlier. I certainly believe it has to do with where I'm placing the xml file, but I'm not 100% certain. Could someone explain what this root file is supposed to be and where it goes? Halp please? Thanks.

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written by MAURO O., January 30, 2008

smilies/angry.gif