CHRONO CROSS FILE EXPLORATION THREAD

[FaustWolf]

In light of the day's wondrous turn of events, I'm starting a new thread dedicated to our findings regarding the files that the Ramsus/Yazoo dumper has produced. I can't very well recap everything that happened, so if you're reading this for the first time, check out the posts that start here: http://www.chronocompendium.com/Forums/index.php/topic,4729.msg83034.html#msg83034

This thread shall be dedicated to the basic findings that flow out of Ramsus' wonderful work. I've attached a number of files to this thread:

1st: The Ramsus/Yazoo dumper, which is what Zeality, Luminaire85 and I have used successfully to dump ALL of Cross' files. It's a tool originally created by Yazoo of Terminus Traductions that Ramsus modified so that it works more efficiently (and at all, in my case). Beware though, Ramsus will be making continual improvements to this program to make it even better!

2nd: The rest of Yazoo's tools, written in C++ and compiled by Ramsus. The beauty of this is people don't have to compile themselves to check everything out since Ramsus has done that work for us. Inside you'll find all sorts of goodies including decompression utilities. To use them, run from the command line or (in my case, since I suck at command lines) simply drag the pertinent file over the .exe.

3rd: For completion, the original C++ scripts written by Yazoo. These are useful for the documentation they contain, but definitely use the .exes written by Ramsus for file exploration and experimentation. I can't get Yazoo's C++ scripts to compile for some reason.

4th: More tools I received from Sephiroth 1311 in Italy. I'm not sure what's in here just yet, but there may be new tools we can use. Remember though, if there are any new tools in here, they haven't been optimized by Ramsus.

5th: A datamap of the Cross CD I began yesterday in Excel format. This is mainly for Zeality's benefit, but anyone can take a look at it. This is on my next post. I've exhausted the limit

[FaustWolf]

As far as findings are concerned, I'd like to post this:

After doing some hex investigation, I can say exactly what happened with the ripped .STRs, and it bodes well for the rest of the files the Ramsus/Yazoo dumper created.

The .OUT files are just raw data the dumper snipped from the CD image - no extra headers added or anything. At least, this is the case with the video files (found in the "V" folder after dumping). As for why the PSX media players can't seem to play the files, your guess is as good as mine. I do know that PSXMediaPlayer (the proggie I used to rip .STRs) injects its own file header and some other data into the .STRs it rips from Cross, and perhaps the media players aren't recognizing the .STRs for lack of that header. But that doesn't explain how PSXMediaPlayer and other players are able to read the .STRs in the first place.

At least I can say confidently that the .OUTs are exactly what's on the CD. This will make datamapping very easy, as it's just a matter of finding each OUT file's hex signature in the iso. Maybe we'll be able to tell from the way the files are arranged what's model data, what's pre-rendered background data, etc.

[FaustWolf]

And if anyone is totally lost regarding anything that's happened with Cross exploration over the past few days, I can take questions over PM.

[Ramsus]

This program from the More Tools package seems to do a lot more, but it's interactive and the options are all in French, so you'll have to play with it. I'm not sure about the usage at all...

[Ramsus]

And here's the other program from that package, called ExtractVid.exe

[ZeaLitY]

Might those be an incarnation of the Chrono Cross Translation Tools (not to be confused with Chrono Cross Tools by Yazoo)? The CCTT have script-extracting BATs and one to extract videos.

Update: I tried playing them with PSXTulz, and they worked fine. The comments on Zophar.net about STR players suggest that some players are simply incompatible with certain STRs.

[FaustWolf]

Looks like "Yazoo's.rar" in the More Tools attachment is simply what Ramsus has compiled already.

I've never seen the stuff that's in 01_Programmes_CD1.rar, though. (More Tools attachment, yet again). Once I get some time on my hands, I'll definitely check out those tools Ramsus compiled from this archive. Thanks Ramsus!

[ZeaLitY]

Okay. I'll start the page tonight and move the update to tomorrow. Hopefully you'll have time to stop by tomorrow and check if the page is up to standard and date.

I edited my last post in this thread concerning the video files.

[Azure]

French?  If you ever need help with french I can do my best.

[Ramsus]

It's pretty straightforward, but my Korean language codepage settings butchered the accents.

Anyway, here's some descriptions (the parameters/arguments for each command are in parenthesis):

Dump_Init-> Initialisation des dumps      ()
Dump-> Dump de fichiers            (num?os des Rooms ?extraire)
Dump_Sup-> Suppression de fichiers         (num?os des Rooms dump?s)
Iso_Ouvre-> Ouverture de l'iso            ()
Iso_Ferme-> Fermeture de l'iso            ()
Dump_Ptr-> Dump des pointeurs de fichiers   ()
Dump_Entete-> Dump de l'entete de l'iso      ()
Script_Exec-> Execution de script            (nom du fichier)
Rein-> R?nsertion de fichiers         (num?os des Rooms)
Rein_Init-> Initialisation de la r?nsertion()
Rein_Ptr-> R?up des pointeurs   de fichiers   ()
Iso_Mode-> Mode d'ouverture de l'iso      (lecture|?riture)
Tim2Bmp-> Conversion TIM->BMP            (fichier)
Bmp2Tim-> Conversion BMP->TIM            (fichier)
Drp_D-> D?ompression   DRP   (dossier|fichiers)
Drp_C-> Compression   DRP   (dossier|fichiers)
Copie_I-> Copie   de   fichiers   entrants   (fichiers)
Copie_O-> Copie   de   fichiers   sortants   (fichiers)
Coord_Rein-> Dump   de   coordonn?s   graphiques   (dossier|fichier)
Coord_Dump-> R?nsertion   de   coordonn?s   (dossier|fichier)
Cpt_D-> D?ompression   CPT   (dossier|fichiers)
Cpt_C-> Compression   CPT   (dossier|fichiers)
Txt_Dump-> Extraction   de   textes   (dossier|fichier)
Txt_Rein-> R?nsertion   de   textes   (dossier|fichier)
Brut_Dump-> Extraction   de   donnees   brutes   (dossier|fichier)
Brut_Rein-> R?nsertion   de   donnees   brutes   (dossier|fichier)
Rooms_Dump-> Dump   des   Rooms   ()
Rooms_Copie_I-> Copie   entrante   des   Rooms   ()
Rooms_Cpt_D-> Extraction   des   Rooms   ()
Rooms_Lzss_D-> D?ompressions   Lzss   du   script   ()
Rooms_Extr-> Extraction   du   sc?ario   ()
Rooms_Infos-> Chargement   des   infos   des   Rooms   (fichier)
Part_Regroupe-> Regroupement   des   scripts   (fichier)
Part_Partage-> S?aration   des   scripts   (fichier)
Scenar_Dump-> Dump   d'un   texte   de   sc?ario   (dossier|fichier|table)
Scenar_Rein-> R?nsertion   d'un   "sc?ario"   (dossier|fichier|table)
Perso_Regroupe-> Regroupement   des   descriptions   ()
Accent_Regroupe-> Regroupement   des   accents   ()
Repart_Partage-> Partage   par   personnages   (fichier)
Repart_Regroupe-> Regroupement   du   script/persos   (fichier)
Repart_Infos-> Informations   de   r?artition   (fichier)
Rooms_Rescn-> Reinsertion   des   Rooms   ()
Rooms_Lzss_C-> Recompression   Lzss   des   Rooms   ()
Rooms_Cpt_C-> Recompression   Cpt   des   Rooms   ()
Script-> Ex?ution   d'un   script   (script)
Rooms_Copie_O-> Copie   sortante   des   Rooms   ()
Rooms_Rein-> R?nsertion   des   Rooms   ()
Repart_Retours-> Correction   des   retours   de   ligne   (fichier)
Accent_Partage-> R?nsertion   des   accents   ()
Rein_Ptr_M-> Modif   des   pointeurs   de   fichiers   ()
AutoA_Suppr-> Suppression   des   Accents   Auto   ()
AutoA_Ins-> Insertion   des   Accents   Auto   ()
Listing_Genere-> G??ation   des   listing   du   patch   (fichier)
Listing_Persos-> G??ation   des   listing   persos   ()
Lzss_D-> Compression   Lzss   (dossier|fichier)
Lzss_C-> D?ompression   Lzss   (dossier|fichier)
Perso_Partage->
Str_Insert-> Insertion   de   video   (numero   de   room)
Listing_Fichs-> G??ation   des   fichiers   patch   ()
Raw2Bmp-> Conversion   TIM   sans   palette   BMP   (room|fichier|palette|masque)


And don't blame me if they don't line up correctly... I didn't do it by hand.

[ZeaLitY]

I guess we could use a translation. Ramsus has looked at these utilities and it seems as if they're better, more complete versions of what Yazoo started. However, I'm having issues getting it to work or finding out if there really is a "Dump everything" thing like Yazoo's disc_main_dump or whatever.

[FaustWolf]

Question for Zeality, Luminaire85, and whoever else has dumped their Disc 1 by now:

How many files are you getting total? I end up with 5605 files altogether, and that's counting the .tbl file. Does that number seem quite low to anyone else? I mean, we regularly pulled 9000 or so .TIMs with PSicture and TIMViewer. Granted, that's without taking duplicate removal into consideration, but I assumed all duplicates were pulled from different sections of the CD image.

But I dunno; on the other hand, we've got enough data to fill an entire Disc 1 iso ripped the "new" way (meaning it ends up 600 or so MB, and is an exact copy of the physical CD). Weird. Well, in any case, mapping out where the files are on the CD will probably help us figure out what we've got and what we might not have. Thanks for setting that page up Zeality. I'll update it as I find snippets of time over the week.

EDIT: Though it's entirely possible lots of files are locked up into archives of some sort, I suppose. Like, if 5000 of the files the Ramsus/Yazoo dumper produced are .TIMs, then all the models, battle textures, and pre-rendered backgrounds could be compressed into .LZSs or other file containers.

[Luminaire85]

Looks like I get 5618 .out files plus the file.tbl file. The difference comes from the C:\disk1 folder I just found; it has another 14 .out files that all say "It's CDMAKE Dummy !". I seem to recall you mentioning those earlier today.

[ZeaLitY]

I've got 5618 too.

[FaustWolf]

Ah, the dummy files. I've got 'em again now, so we're all on the same page at 5618 files. Thanks guys!