Is it possible?

[Weezenhimer]

Hi.I have Abe's Exoddus and Paul's Cam Editor 0.6.1 (the one which can edit AE cams too,because they're detected as AO cams I think)and I have also a copy of the AE proto for the PSX (I burned it because I make a collection of rare games that are VERY hard to get).Question is,can I take the lvl files from the PSX disc and put them on my PC version of AE?
Sorry if I broke any rule.

[OANST]

When taking from one and not for the other must always ask one question. If not ask question then no making of Abe can or must be made template for Raiden. All lvl are lvl. Just so. Run according to yes if question you have asked. See how can be done?

[Varrok]

While I still find this joke funny (though it should have felt tired since a long time ago) it's unnecessary dickish, Weezenhimer explained himself clearly.

I don't really know the answer to the question. Can Paul's Editor edit AE cams now? I thought it was impossible, but my knowledge is probably outdated

[OANST]

I know it was clear. I don't really use it against people who can't properly describe what they want. I just like pulling it out in the mods and hacks section to confuse the hell out of people who don't go to the other parts of the forum. This is how I get my kicks.

[Varrok]

Oh, now I see how can be done.

[Weezenhimer]

Can Paul's Editor edit AE cams now?

It can.I used 0.6.1 along with a DDRAW hook (that Paul posted)and it worked,as I remember I had the copyright text shifted down to make place for a huge Intel logo
It was working without any problem.Harder on editors up to 0.6 and including 0.6.1 is to edit objects as they have Bytes unlike AO.(AO had those Bytes explained there,so it was easier to edit.)
I saw yesterday that kapteeni did rip cams from the PSX AE prototype(TL.LVL was the level,he had to rip them as the game would crash if you entered that level)but I don't know what to use to rip the cams.Neither Paul's Decoder or Paul's Editor can rip the cams.(the Decoder gets stuck around 22%)

[Phylum]

There's probably some slight difference in the format, and it's probably safe to assume that it won't work with that version of the decoder.

Are you sure Kapreeni got them from the same version? Maybe you should try contacting him privately.

[Weezenhimer]

He ripped the "Test Level" cams from the game disc.I even checked the disc and I can confirm that there's a TL.lvl file there.
Here's the video.Weird that there are some RuptureFarms cams hidden there.(even though one of them is weird)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUxWSt02e_c

[Weezenhimer]

I got hold of a late beta of AE.Now,it's in Russian,but I want to make it English.(I have a PAL copy of the final version)Where is the level audio stored?In the .OVL files or in the .LVL files?

[Chubfish]

I know that if you use the old file extractor from aaaages ago, you can extract files from the ps1 lvl files of oddysee/the demos etc. by renaming the files "r1.lvl", can't remember where it is but it's probably early on in the ".lvl files" thread.

The sound files, I believe, are actually inside the .lvl files (it has been a year I think since I did something like this) and they're the vb files I think?

I remember extracting stuff from the Abe's Oddysee ps1 september demo lol. Maybe if you can extract the files first, it will allow you to convert them?

[Weezenhimer]

By extractor you mean the DOS LVL Extractor?Don't know if it works for AE proto but I'll give it a try,as I think the AE proto cams are based on AO cams.(at least that's what I think)
For the audio,if you said it's in the LVL files,then how can I change them?

[Phylum]

Changing the music is a complex beast. AO and AE do their music dynamically, you can't just replace entire tracks. There's a sounds.dat file (or something with a similar name, I can't remember) contains all of the beeps and boops, which get pout together by the game. That's why the music pulses when a scrab jumps a pit.

[xXxrenhoekxXx]

I read somewhere that Paul's going to try something with music editing somewhere but that's all I know.

[Chubfish]

By extractor you mean the DOS LVL Extractor?Don't know if it works for AE proto but I'll give it a try,as I think the AE proto cams are based on AO cams.(at least that's what I think)
For the audio,if you said it's in the LVL files,then how can I change them?

Yeah I meant that extractor. It's worth a shot; keep in mind the AE prototype is probably heavily based off oddysee at this point (which is probably why we could open the AE PC demo with the same extractor if I'm remembering correctly).

Changing PS1 music files...I have literally no idea. I remember swapping files around and it changed the sound files though. I don't think they store just 1 sound either. I think there was a tool someone used that could open stuff like sounds.dat, but I don't know about .vb files.

Do tell if you find anything :P

[Paul]

The CAM formats are:

AO PC - 16bit images
AE PC Demo - 16bit images
AE PC - custom hacky MDEC compression stuff.. nightmare
AO PSX - PSX MDEC compression
AE PSX - PSX MDEC compression

There is a tool called jPSXDec or something that you could prob use to decompress the PSX CAMS. Or you could write an actual PSX app to decode them using the PSYQ SDK from PsxDev.net

[Weezenhimer]

AE PC - custom hacky MDEC compression stuff.. nightmare
AE PSX - PSX MDEC compression

There is a tool called jPSXDec or something that you could prob use to decompress the PSX CAMS. Or you could write an actual PSX app to decode them using the PSYQ SDK from PsxDev.net

While I thank you for the tool you gave,I wonder,couldn't you use the same decoding that jPSXDec uses in the AE PC?Just use a modified jPSXDec decoding made to work for the AE PC version.

[Paul]

No because AE PC uses a compression algorithm that is only based on MDEC compression, and MDEC compression is complex enough, see here for MDEC:

https://kenai.com/downloads/jpsxdec/...format1-10.txt

[Weezenhimer]

No because AE PC uses a compression algorithm that is only based on MDEC compression, and MDEC compression is complex enough, see here for MDEC:

https://kenai.com/downloads/jpsxdec/...format1-10.txt

Okay.I tried your jPSXDec idea and didn't had success,I could only open the .mov files in the game,nothing else.

[Paul]

Yeah it won't work.. you'll have to get the source and manually decode the cam file segments. Be prepared to waste months of your time if you wish to get it working .

[Weezenhimer]

I think I'll give up with the cam part,and try seeing how to change the audio.Any ideas what I can use to change the audio on the PSX AE discs?

[Phylum]

Changing the music is a complex beast. AO and AE do their music dynamically, you can't just replace entire tracks. There's a sounds.dat file (or something with a similar name, I can't remember) contains all of the beeps and boops, which get pout together by the game. That's why the music pulses when a scrab jumps a pit.

You can replace the music but you can't do it in a meaningful way. There's not much point.

[Weezenhimer]

Phylum,I think there's a difference how PSX and PC do their music.While I know that AE does the music through sounds.dat,PSX does it differently.Also,I want to restore the voices the PSX AE late beta originaly had (English),not change the music.

[Phylum]

Ok, but sounds.dat contains the voices too if I recall correctly.

If it handles audio differently it will be a format thing. The different platforms won't have entirely different methods of music playback. The data from sounds.dat will all be in the PSX version in some form.

You could try replacing it with the equivalent file(s) from the PSX version, but there's no guarantee it will sound right. If anything I guarantee that it will sound wrong.

[Weezenhimer]

Phylum,I don't want to port the PSX sounds from the AE proto to the PC version of AE I have.I want to replace the Russian PSX dubbing from the AE proto with the original English PSX sounds.

[Phylum]

That's what I mean. Your best bet is to try and replace the sound data in beta PSX version with the sound data from the English PSX version. The problem is that because of how the game handles sounds it's more than likely that it won't work.

[Weezenhimer]

Why wouldn't it work?Other than the audio,everything in it is English.(minus the menus and text LCD boards)
And do you know how to access the sound data in it?