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-------------- GFX.DLL 0.75 GFXPAK 0.53 SNDVIEW 0.38 ----------------------
GFXPAK is freeware SHPI-image rebuilder
SNDVIEW is freeware Electronic Art's music file converter
GFX.DLL is freeware Electronic Art's SHPI-image file viewer/replacer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
***************************************************************************
I am in no way responsible for possible damage caused by using this program
***************************************************************************
NOTES:
------
WNHLINFO.EXE (from NHLINFO_EXE.ZIP/NHLINFO_ALL.ZIP) is required if you want
to use new GFXVIEW replacement (NHLINFO_GFX.DLL)
Graphics and sound utilities can be freely distributed freely as long as
they are not modified and ripped pictures or images are not packaged with
the programs. Pictures/sounds ripped with SNDVIEW/GFXPAK/GFX.DLL are
copyrighted by their owner (In this case Electronic Arts) and so they must
not be distributed.
Credits
-------
TASsoft for 10FB-compression algorithm and other helpful information
Asatur V. Nazarian for PT information
Electronic Arts for NOT changing their image format every year/game!
GIF license requires this note:
The Graphics Interchange Format(c) is the Copyright property of
CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(sm) is a Service Mark property of
CompuServe Incorporated.
System Requirements:
--------------------
CPU: Any that can run Windows'95
RAM: 8MB or more
DISPLAY CARD: Any Windows compatible display card
OS: Windows'95/'98 or Windows NT 4.0/5.0
*********
*GFX.DLL*
*********
See NHLINFO.TXT for instructions
********
*GFXPAK*
********
GFXPAK can replace/extract data/image-files from Electronic Arts'
SHPI-image files and C0FB and BIGF pack files.
Works with NHL'95 and newer EA games.
Misc parameters:
----------------
-notrans
Use -notrans to disable automatic transparent color detection. Should be
only needed when replacing images which does not have any transparent
color.
-real
Enables real 10FB-compression instead of fake 10FB-compression. Real means
it really compresses data. Fake compression just make data look like
compressed and also "compressed" file was bigger than original! Compression
(real or fake) is required for some images because game expects them to be
compressed and crashes when it tries to decompress non-compressed images.
Note that if you decompress original file and then compress it again, it
is about 10% bigger than original. This maybe fixed in future version.
Starting parameters:
--------------------
** replace NHL'98/'99/2000 faces **
GFXPAK -face <game base dir> <face number> <face number> ...
for example: gfxpak -face e:\games\nhl98 1000 1001 1002
before running GFXPAK put into current directory your face image files
(BMP, GIF, JPG, PCX or PNG) with following names:
small face name must be S<number>.PNG (eg.S0001.BMP, S1000.GIF, etc..)
and image size must be 52*74 (98) 36*43 (99) 28*40 (2000) pixels.
large face name must be L(number>.PNG (eg.L0001.JPG, L1000.PCX, etc..)
and image size must be 176*250 (NHL'98/'99/2000) pixels.
game face name must be G<number>.PNG and size is 64*64 pixels.
After gfxpak exists you can delete all *.FSH files that gfxpak have
created. Also remember to keep enough free diskspace in nhl98 partition
(at least about 25 megs) Modified files are REQUIRED\FACES.VIV (NHL'98),
GAMEDATA\FACES99.VIV (NHL'99) PHOTOS\SPHOTO.VIV and PHOTOS\BPHOTO.VIV.
NHL 2000 -face only supports frontend face images, use NHL 2000's buildin
face importer for game faces.
Use NHLINFO to change player's face number. (PLAYERS/MISC or GOALIES/MISC
and FACE)
** replace images (new, easier way) **
GFXPAK -r(p) (-real) (-pal <palettefile>) <packfilepath>
<image file> <SHPI-name> <picture2> <SHPI2> etc...
see -c for more information and -p parameter for disk space requirements.
Generic -r parameter list:
gfxpak -rp <packfile\fsh-file> <imagefile.pcx/png> <SHPI-filename>
if fsh-file is not contained in packfile:
gfxpak -rp <fsh-file> <imagefile.pcx/png> <SHPI-filename>
Replacing multiple images:
gfxpak -rp <packfile\fsh-file> <img1> <SHPI1> <img2> <SHPI2> ...
** create SHPI file: (face creator uses this internally) **
GFXPAK -c(p) (-real) (-pal <palettefile>) <packfilepath> <new fsh-file>
<image file> <SHPI-name> <original SHPI-name> (only if pack file
does not already contain 'SHPI-name') <picture> <new SHPI-name> etc..
Use -c if original SHPI-file had palette type RGB6 or RGB8 or if -cp
produces garbage colors. Note that it is possible that colors are corrupt
in game even if GFX.DLL shows correct colors.
<image file> is considered data file if it does not end to BMP, GIF,
PCX or PNG.
-pal <palettefile> palettefile is GFX.DLL saved palette file. Usefull
if original SHPI-file does not contain palette (GFX.DLL shows '----'
-palette type)
Face creator uses this function as follows (small faces):
gfxpak -cp PHOTOS\SPHOTO.VIV\S000.FSH S<number>.FSH S<number>.PNG
s<number> s000
Old example SHPI file is required (I selected S000.FSH) because
not all SHPI-file data can be saved easily to exported images.
NOTE: You don't need this if you only want to create new face graphics,
only if you want to modify other graphics.
Generic -c parameter list:
gfxpak -cp <packfile\fsh-file> <fsh-file> <image.pcx/png> <SHPI-filename>
gfxpak -p <packfile> <fsh-file>
if fsh-file is not contained in packfile:
gfxpak -cp <fsh-file> <fsh-file> <imagefile.pcx/png> <SHPI-filename>
Replacing multiple files:
gfxpak -cp <packfile\fsh-file> <fsh-file> <img1> <SHPI1> <img2> <SHPI2> ..
gfxpak -p <packfile> <fsh-file>
or
gfxpak -cp <packfile\fsh-file> <fsh-file> <img1> <SHPI1>
gfxpak -cp <fsh-file> <fsh-file> <img2> <SHPI2>
...
gfxpak -p <packfile> <fsh-file>
Adding new images/data:
gfxpak -c(p) <fsh-file> <fsh-file> <new image/datafile> <SHPI1> <SHPI2> ..
SHPI1=new SHPI-name for added image/data
SHPI2=any old existing SHPI-name in fsh-file
** view pack file contents **
GFXPAK -list <pack file path>
** extract and decompress images from pack file **
GFXPAK -extract(bmp/gif/pcx) <pack file path> (<image1> <image2>...)
extracts images from pack file. -extract creates png images,
-extractbmp creates bmp images, -extractgif creates gif images and
-excractpcx create pcx images.
Extracts all images if no image names specified.
** extract and decompress data from pack file **
GFXPAK -unpack <pack file path> (<name1> <name2>...)
extracts data from pack file. Extracts all data files if no names
specified.
** decompress 10FB/30FB-compressed files **
GFXPAK -decompress <source file> <destination file>
** compress file with 10FB-algorithm **
GFXPAK -compress (-real) <source file> <destination file>
** update packfile with modified fsh-file (face creator uses this internally) **
GFXPAK -p(1) (-real) <pack file> <file1> <file2>...
-p1 compresses with 10fb-compression. (Don't compress if they are already
compressed!)
Now packfile <pack file> contains files <file1> and <file2>. Overwrites
automatically existing files. This is not needed for face creating.
NOTE: This option requires at least size of <pack file> bytes
free disk space!
How to replaces images
----------------------
1. *.fsh files have palette: (=can be seen correctly on GFX.DLL without
using P-key and palette files)
New method:
gfxpak -r <pack file\fsh-file> <image.pcx/png> <SHPI-filename>
Old method:
create modifed fsh file:
gfxpak -c <pack file\fsh-file> <fsh-file> <image.pcx/png> <SHPI-filename>
replace old fsh file in pack file with new modified file(s):
gfxpak -p <pack file> <fsh-file>
NOTE: Use -rp/-cp instead of -r/-c if original file had BGRA palette type
(Use GFX.DLL to check) -rp/-cp creates better palette but does usually
create garbage colors if used with RGB6 or RGB8 images)
2. without palette: (=GFX.DLL shows grayscale image without using P-key
and palette files)
New method:
gfxpak -r -pal <palette file> <pack file\fsh-file> <image> <SHPI>
Old method:
create modifed fsh file:
gfxpak -c -pal <palette file> <pack file\fsh-file> <fsh-file>
<imagefile.pcx/png> <SHPI-filename>
replace old fsh file in pack file with new modified file:
gfxpak -p <pack file> <fsh-file>
palette file=file that contains correct palette
(for example, !PAL-file from *.fsh files)
pack file=usually *.viv pack file
fsh-file=*.fsh file which contains graphics you want to change
imagefile=your new image
SHPI-filename=file you want to replace inside fsh-file
NHL'98 Examples
---------------
* = new easier method
how to replace NHLPA and NHL logos? (FEFLUFF\VFLUFF.VIV\INTRO.FSH)
*GFXPAK -rp FEFLUFF\VFLUFF.VIV\INTRO.FSH <newshield> IN01 <newlogo> IN02
GFXPAK -cp FEFLUFF\VFLUFF.VIV\INTRO.FSH INTRO.FSH
<new NHL shield image.png> IN01
<new NHLPA logo image.png> IN02
GFXPAK -p FEFLUFF\VFLUFF.VIV IN01 IN02
how to replace big NHL'98 logo? (GUI\BACKGROUND.VIV\BG63.FSH)
*GFXPAK -rp GUI\BACKGROUND.VIV\BG63.FSH left B63A middle B63B right BG63C
GFXPAK -cp GUI\BACKGROUND.VIV\BG63.FSH BG63.FSH
<left side image.png> B63A
<middle image.png> B63B
<right side image.png> B63C
GFXPAK -p GUI\BACKGROUND.VIV BG63.FSH
how to replace Stanley Cup picture?
*GFXPAK -rp FEFLUFF\VFLUFF.VIV\AWARDS.FSH <newimage.png> tr16
GFXPAK -cp FEFLUFF\VFLUFF.VIV\AWARDS.FSH AWARDS.FSH <new image.png> tr16
GFXPAK -p FEFLUFF\VFLUFF.VIV AWARDS.FSH
Remember to add your NHL'98 base directory to all directory names.
Notes/Hints:
------------
- If picture doesn't appear to work, use GFX.DLL to check that temporary
FSH file(s) are correct and/or updated pack-file was updated correctly
Contact me if GFXPAK corrupts pack-files or new SHPI files is incorrect.
- Also check that your image has exact same width and height as original.
- GFXPAK tries to match best colors if new image uses different palette
than original SHPI-image. But because GFXPAK only uses original image's
palette there may not be all colors you need. (=new SHPI have wrong colors)
- Use -rp/-cp parameter first and -r/-c if colors was incorrect in game
- Do not leave .FSH files in NHL'98 base directory.
- try to replace modified files from game CD with original files if you
have problems with GFXPAK (game crashing etc..).
****************************
SNDVIEW document starts here
****************************
SNDVIEW converts NHL'96/'97/'98/'99/2000, FIFA'98 and NBA Live '98
*.ASF/*.KSF files to WAV-format. Also files in NHL'98/'99/2000 DITTIES
and FESPEECH directory are supported.
Sound from most NHL'96-'99 videos can be also converted to WAV-format.
Also some support for converting wave sound files back to ASF format.
NOTE: Encoding is very slow and audio quality is not good as original.
Hopefully I can improve this. PBP speech is my next target and I hope to
implement PBP export/import support "soon"...
** AUDIO IMPORTING IS VERY EXPERIMENTAL AND UNSUPPORTED **
** DON'T COMPLAIN IF GAME CRASHES WITH REPLACED AUDIO **
Export (ASF->WAV)
-----------------
SNDVIEW <ASF file> [mode] [destination directory]
If SNDVIEW produces garbage sound or corrupt file messages, try to
force correct mode (SNDVIEW normally autodetects it but it does
not work with all files)
mode types:
1: '98 and '99 ASF, NHL 2000 videos
2: '97 and older
3: NHL'99 uncompressed videos
4/5: very old ASF format (Need for Speed)
6: NHL 2000 ASF
First WAV file is named 001.wav, next 002.wav etc.. (NHL'98/'99 DITTIES.VIV
contains 140 sounds, you need over 350Megs of free hard disk space if you
want to convert them because it is not yet possible to convert invidual
sounds) See below for unpacking NHL 2000 DITTIES.VIV
NHL'98/'99/2000 PBP speech can not be converted (yet?)
Export (BNK->WAV)
-----------------
SNDVIEW <BNK file>
BNK files usually contain many sound effect samples.
First WAV file is named 001.wav, next 002.wav etc..
It seems that many BNK files have wrong frequency (usually 13000 instead
of 22050) I am not sure if this is bug in SNDVIEW or some strange feature
in EA's sound encoder... When saving the wav-file SNDVIEW changes all
<22050 frequencies to 22050.
Import (WAV->EA audio)
----------------------
SNDVIEW -import <wave sound> <new asf file> <original asf file>
<wave sound> = normal 16-bit 1 or 2 channel WAV-file
<new asf file> = asf-file that SNDVIEW creates
<original asf file> = asf-file that you are going to replace, usually same
as <new asf file>
NOTE: If you abort conversion (for example by pressing CTRL+C) and
<new asf file>=<original asf-file> you must copy asf-file from CD
because it is only partially rewritten by SNDVIEW! It is best to
convert to temporary file and after conversion delete original and
rename temporary file to original file.
Examples
--------
All examples' paths are relative to your NHL hockey game directory path.
Example 1: (replace frontend musics)
------------------------------------
Replace MENU1.ASF (FEAUDIO directory NHL'99/2000) with MYMUSIC.WAV
SNDVIEW -import MYMUSIC.WAV MENU1.ASF MENU1.ASF
Example 2: (replace frontend speech)
------------------------------------
Replace COMAC.PAT (FESPEECH\FESPEECH.VIV NHL'99) with MYSOUND.WAV
First you must extract COMAC.PAT, you can use GFXPAK/GFX.DLL to extract
it (GFXPAK -unpack or GFX.DLL F-key) and then use SNDVIEW to convert
COMAC.PAT to WAV-format. You can also use SNDVIEW to extract COMAC.WAV
but you still need to use GFXPAK/GFX.DLL to extract COMAC.PAT because
SNDVIEW needs it during importing.
convert MYSOUND.WAV -> COMAC.PAT
SNDVIEW -import MYSOUND.WAV COMAC.PAT COMAC.PAT
replace old COMAC.PAT with new COMAC.PAT inside FESPEECH.VIV pack-file
GFXPAK -p FESPEECH.VIV COMAC.PAT
Example 3: (replace NHL'98/'99 ditties)
---------------------------------------
create temporary directory (tmp\ in this example)
Unpack DITTIES.VIV
SNDVIEW -unpack ditties\DITTIES.VIV required\DITTIES.IDX tmp\
In this example I replace 000.asf and 001.asf with NEW1.WAV and NEW2.WAV
cd tmp
SNDVIEW -import NEW1.WAV 000.ASF 000.ASF
SNDVIEW -import NEW2.WAV 001.ASF 001.ASF
cd..
create new DITTIES.VIV
SNDVIEW -pack tmp\ ditties\DITTIES.VIV required\DITTIES.IDX
Note that -pack and -unpack only works with DITTIES.VIV and DITTIES.IDX.
In future AUDRSPKE.BIG and AUDPBPE.BIG will (hopefully) be supported.
Example 4: (replace NHL 2000 ditties)
-------------------------------------
You need GFXPAK for unpacking/replacing NHL 2000 DITTIES.VIV
Unpack ditties somewhere (tmp\ in this example)
cd tmp
GFXPAK -unpack ..\ditties\DITTIES.VIV
Here we replace 1.ASF and 2.ASF with NEW1.WAV and NEW2.WAV
SNDVIEW -import NEW1.WAV 1.ASF 1.ASF
SNDVIEW -import NEW2.WAV 2.ASF 2.ASF
cd ..
Replace 1.ASF and 2.ASF inside DITTIES.VIV
GFXPAK -p ditties\DITTIES.VIV 1.ASF 2.ASF
Fix NHL2K.EXE
SNDVIEW -nhl2kdittyfix
NOTE: NHL 2000 will crash if you forget this step!
You can also copy new ditty ASF-files to USER\DITTIES\ where
NHL 2000 plays them randomly during play.
Example 5: (replace sound effects inside BNK files)
---------------------------------------------------
In this example we replace second and sixth sound in PCFRONT.BNK
(required\PCFRONT.BNK)
SNDVIEW -import NEW2.WAV PCFRONT.BNK PCFRONT.BNK 2
SNDVIEW -import NEW6.WAV PCFRONT.BNK PCFRONT.BNK 6
SOUND IMPORT NOTES:
-------------------
- structure and contents of "PT"-header in many sound files is not completely
known. This may cause problems if there is total size of sound file or
other data that needs updating depending on file/chunk size.
NEW: This should be fixed in 0.30
- import support is very limited. Only 2 channel *.ASF files and 1 channel
speech in FESPEECH.VIV are supported. Also 1 channel BNK files are now
supported.
- NHL'97 and earlier audio format is not supported (and probably never will),
only newer (NHL'98 and later EA games) are supported.
- do not try to replace 1 channel sound with 2 channel sound or vice versa.
- it is normal that 2 channel encoding is >10x slower than 1 channel
encoding (without some shortcuts, which unfortunately cause some loss of
quality, encoding speed would be >50x slower..) Yes, my encoder is really
stupid, it just tries every possible parameter value and then selects
which one produced best result...
NEW: NHL 2000 2 channel files are slightly different than older 2 channel
files. Encoding NHL 2000 2 channel files is only 2x slower than encoding
1 channel files!
- play by play speech is not yet supported
- did you note that I said "play by play speech is not yet supported"?
I hope you did... I really don't want to see questions like "how to
replace PBP names" !
- It seems (unfortunately) that PBP speech uses completely different
compression method than other music/speech files.
EA audio format technical information:
NHL'96/'97 and '98/'99 uses lossy algorithm that compresses 16-bit samples
to 4 bits. Algorithms in NHL'96/'97 and NHL'98/'99 are different.
It is some kind of improved adaptive delta compression algorithm.
NHL'96-'98 videos use same audio format as "normal" audio files. It is
just interleaved with video data. NHL'99 videos have uncompressed audio.
NHL 2000 1 channel files are identical to NHL'98/'99. 2 channel files are
slightly different. NHL'98/'99 had interleaved channels (12121212...) but
NHL 2000 have first channel and then second channel (11112222...)
And no, I am not going to make video converter!
******************************************************************************
Questions and answers:
----------------------
Q: how to unpack NHL'98 player faces?
A: wnhlinfo /gfx <nhl'98 directory>\photos
move cursor to BPHOTO.VIV (large images) or SPHOTO.VIV (small images)
DON'T PRESS RETURN! press SHIFT+S, wait for some time (GFX.DLL scans
all files) type destination directory. NOTE: Directory must be already
created. Wait some time. Use your favorite picture viewer to view all
player faces!
Q: Why some NHL'95 (other older games may also have same problem) images
have incorrect palette?
A: selected SHPI-file doesn't contain palette entry (!pal,!p101,etc..)
(NOTE: Most newer images contain palette in image file itself)
Q: How to view NHL'95 RINK.QFS palette correctly?
A: select RINKPAL.QFS, save !pal (F-key) to current directory with name
RINK.PAL (or anything that ends to .PAL). Press SHIFT+P to load palette
file(s). Select RINK.QFS and press 'P' until correct palette is in use.
Other images without palettes can also be viewed with correct palette
this way.
Q: How to view NHL'96 images with correct palette?
A: save ARENAART.VIV\_empty.fsh\!PAL to NHL'96 directory (name can be
for example NHL96.PAL) Again press SHIFT+P and use P-key to select
correct palette.
Q: How to view NHL'97 faces with correct palette?
A: save FACES\FACEPAL.FSH\!PAL to file with F-key to current directory
(Palette file's name can be for example NHL97FACE.PAL). SHIFT+P
and P should again view correct palette
Q: can I have compression/decompression/SHPI/Audio algorithms?
A: no, you can't!
Contact address:
----------------
email: nhlinfo@arabuusimiehet.com write in english or finnish only.
www: nhlinfo.arabuusimiehet.com