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How to change your Chatlog Background and Game Fonts...
First off, I'm going to reiterate;
BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE YOU START! Make 2 folders on your work area, one "New" and one "Old". Your fault if you screw this one up...
Next, lemme vent, please. I just spent 9 HOURS of time I could've spent with my kids, trying to figure this out. NINE LONG, BORING, EXCTRUCIATING HOURS. "Why", you ask?! "That's just insane/stupid", you might be saying. I'll tell you why.
To prove it could be done, NOT by someone with computer experience... and of course cuz I wanted wicked cool backgrounds.
I have NO background in programming, save for text games from 20 years ago on my Dad's Apple IIc.
I never touched any kind of mod program more advanced than GameShark before FFXI. I taught myself how to use Meta and wrote the guide for dummies on VRS.
I know absolutely NO JAPANESE, except for what little succesfully translates on Babelfish.
You wanna know how I did it? Perseverance and common sense... and a little thing called "SEARCH". For all you people new to modding, THIS is how it starts.
Did you notice the 9 HOURS it took me to find out how to change a 256x256 Texture and some letters? THIS is why people don't like answering the same question repeatedly. THIS is why your "teh helpz plz!" threads go unanswered for weeks at a time or are met with sarcasm. AND, this is why, in about a month or two, we're all going to see a "How do you change your background picturez?!" thread at the top of the list.
And, now that I'm slightly less tense and stressed, on with the knowledge.
***************************TUTORIAL******************************
Materials you will need to make my tutorial work for you :
» MSPaint, or desired Graphics Program.
» ChangeTex v0.03
» Graphics Converter 3, or GP with .dds plug-in. See Phabin for more info.
Recommended materials to make your job easier :
» POLUtil, compliments of Pebbles.
» Character Map
***Font and Menu .dats are located within the following folders:
ROM/0/1.dat
ROM/118/111.dat
ROM/119/51.dat
ROM/91/15.dat
Do you need to change them all?! Sure, why not. Ain't gonna kill ya'...
1 > Using Changetex, navigate to one of the folders above.
*************************************
2 > Don't know what all those FileNames mean? That's where Pebbles saves ur arse. Use POLUtils to look up the .dat name and see what's inside each .dat so you don't have to export every file. ALSO, pay attention to the areas I have hi-lited because both are about the only important thing here.
*************************************
3 > Choose the portion of the .dat you wish to edit and hit the DDS button.
*************************************
4> Using all of the graphic editing ability you can muster, either convert the .DDS file into a .BMP, edit it using a Graphic App with a .DDS Plugin, or completely recreate a new .BMP with THE SAME DIMENSIONS [hilited in RED on pic 2]. With GC3, you can change a >DDS file to .BMP by opening it and selecting Format > DIB Format > DIB24bit and then saving it.
*************************************
5 > Convert that space wasting .BMP back into a space wasting .DDS File! If you're going to use GC3, I found that it works for both formats. I messed around with Photoshop7.0 and got results also, but not worth mentioning. PAY ATTENTION TO THE GREEN HI-LITED AREA ON PIC 2! That will tell you what file format it needs to be saved in.
For DXT1 Format use this option!
For DXT3 Format use this option!
*************************************
6 > Finally, we are ready to incorporate this into the game files! Back to ChangeTex and ensure you have hi-lited the file that you want to import back into the .dat. Then, it's just a matter of hitting the hi-lited "????" button and finding the file you just finished customizing. Hit enter, weed past all the "Noodle Success" boxes, and you're set!
*************************************
That's it. 9 Hours of work for that. Now you too can log into your game and enjoy pieces of marvel like such. Hope you enjoyed my tutorial and found it useful.
....and now, I'm going to go change my annoying font and mess around with more BG Combinations.
BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE YOU START! Make 2 folders on your work area, one "New" and one "Old". Your fault if you screw this one up...
Next, lemme vent, please. I just spent 9 HOURS of time I could've spent with my kids, trying to figure this out. NINE LONG, BORING, EXCTRUCIATING HOURS. "Why", you ask?! "That's just insane/stupid", you might be saying. I'll tell you why.
To prove it could be done, NOT by someone with computer experience... and of course cuz I wanted wicked cool backgrounds.
I have NO background in programming, save for text games from 20 years ago on my Dad's Apple IIc.
I never touched any kind of mod program more advanced than GameShark before FFXI. I taught myself how to use Meta and wrote the guide for dummies on VRS.
I know absolutely NO JAPANESE, except for what little succesfully translates on Babelfish.
You wanna know how I did it? Perseverance and common sense... and a little thing called "SEARCH". For all you people new to modding, THIS is how it starts.
Did you notice the 9 HOURS it took me to find out how to change a 256x256 Texture and some letters? THIS is why people don't like answering the same question repeatedly. THIS is why your "teh helpz plz!" threads go unanswered for weeks at a time or are met with sarcasm. AND, this is why, in about a month or two, we're all going to see a "How do you change your background picturez?!" thread at the top of the list.
And, now that I'm slightly less tense and stressed, on with the knowledge.
***************************TUTORIAL******************************
Materials you will need to make my tutorial work for you :
» MSPaint, or desired Graphics Program.
» ChangeTex v0.03
» Graphics Converter 3, or GP with .dds plug-in. See Phabin for more info.
Recommended materials to make your job easier :
» POLUtil, compliments of Pebbles.
» Character Map
***Font and Menu .dats are located within the following folders:
ROM/0/1.dat
ROM/118/111.dat
ROM/119/51.dat
ROM/91/15.dat
Do you need to change them all?! Sure, why not. Ain't gonna kill ya'...
1 > Using Changetex, navigate to one of the folders above.
*************************************
2 > Don't know what all those FileNames mean? That's where Pebbles saves ur arse. Use POLUtils to look up the .dat name and see what's inside each .dat so you don't have to export every file. ALSO, pay attention to the areas I have hi-lited because both are about the only important thing here.
*************************************
3 > Choose the portion of the .dat you wish to edit and hit the DDS button.
*************************************
4> Using all of the graphic editing ability you can muster, either convert the .DDS file into a .BMP, edit it using a Graphic App with a .DDS Plugin, or completely recreate a new .BMP with THE SAME DIMENSIONS [hilited in RED on pic 2]. With GC3, you can change a >DDS file to .BMP by opening it and selecting Format > DIB Format > DIB24bit and then saving it.
*************************************
5 > Convert that space wasting .BMP back into a space wasting .DDS File! If you're going to use GC3, I found that it works for both formats. I messed around with Photoshop7.0 and got results also, but not worth mentioning. PAY ATTENTION TO THE GREEN HI-LITED AREA ON PIC 2! That will tell you what file format it needs to be saved in.
For DXT1 Format use this option!
For DXT3 Format use this option!
*************************************
6 > Finally, we are ready to incorporate this into the game files! Back to ChangeTex and ensure you have hi-lited the file that you want to import back into the .dat. Then, it's just a matter of hitting the hi-lited "????" button and finding the file you just finished customizing. Hit enter, weed past all the "Noodle Success" boxes, and you're set!
*************************************
That's it. 9 Hours of work for that. Now you too can log into your game and enjoy pieces of marvel like such. Hope you enjoyed my tutorial and found it useful.
....and now, I'm going to go change my annoying font and mess around with more BG Combinations.
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