WE Picture Decoder v0.98 --- README

Editing tools for the Next Generation of Winning Eleven games!

by the WE-NG Team

http://dte-ng.issextreme.com

ABOUT

"DTE!/NG" is a set of tools that allows the edition of the soccer games created for the console Playstation-2 by Konami.
These tools work under Win32.

To the date, the games that have been tested on:

Winning Eleven 6 FE
Winning Eleven 6 Junior League
Winning Eleven 6
Winning Eleven 5 FE
Pro Evolution Soccer 2
Pro Evolution Soccer
it's also been reported the tools work on other non-Konami games ;)

To the date, the toolkit is comprised of two applications:

AFSExplorer v0.70
WEPictureDecoder v0.98

WE PICTURE DECODER v0.98

DESCRIPTION

This software allows the edition of the graphic files of the Konami's Winning Eleven and Pro Evolution Soccer games for the PSX-2.
These games use some very special graphic formats made with the RenderWare Graphics (RWG) engine, very different from the usual BMP or PNG graphic files.
These custom formats may even contain non-graphic data.

This application is designed to work under Win32 platforms, and has been tested to work under all avalaible 32-bit Windows OSs.

CHANGES

From version 0.95 to version 0.98	- The graphic input/output engine, including the management of the game's RWG format, has been rebuilt from the scratch with the aim of making it more compatible, and, over all, to make it easier to addapt to future games.
	- The temporal storage engine has also been rebuilt. One important consequence is that, now, multiple instances of the app can be opened at the same time.
	- Added support to PNG files.
	- Added funtions to import/export the palette.
	- Added funtion to reduce the color usage of a picture.
	- Added funtion to reduce the color file size of a game image file (based on color usage reduction).
	- Improved drawing speed.

From
version 0.92
(1st public release)
to
version 0.95

All that's been left ;)

IMPORTANT NOTES

The graphic input/output engine has been rebuilt, and altough some testing has been made using WE6FE files with the new input/output engine, previous games files (WE6JL and earlier) has not been tested on a PSX-2. Please report any problems if you face with them, but, please, be sure you have readed this documentation carefully before. Thanks!
Temporal files are stored on the same folder than the loaded image file, so make sure you have enough free space and that you don't load from a read-only media.
NOT ALL files extracted from the AFS file are images. If a file does not load: it can happen that it is an image and it is not supported, or that simply it is not an image (more likely)...
Some of the pictures contained in the graphic files may only have palette data or only pixel data.
If this is the case, when working with those pictures, it must taken into account that::
- to display them, a default pixel data or a default grayscale palette will be used, "respectively".
- also, it's worth to mention that altough it may seem the pictures have been modified after using the input/output options, if you save the graphic file, obviously, it won't be modified.
Take care about the fact that all images contained in a FLG file share the same color and alpha palettes. On the contrary, images belonging to the other files have their own palette.
RLE encoded (packed) BMP files are NOT supported.
Please note, BMP specification does not allow alpha values on files other than 24bpp ones. A hack has been made that allows reading the alpha information in BMPs saved with this app, but you'll lost that data when editing the image with other apps.
PNG specification only allows alpha values to be stored as part of the RGB pixel entries on 24bpp images. As a consequence, as the game files are 8bpp and 4bpp the alpha values can only be saved on a tRNS entry (tag). If the software you use does not support those tags (unfortunately Photoshop doesn't), you'll loss that data.
Only those files that are compressed can be shorten using color reduction techniques.
Also, remember the color reduction also reduces the visual quality.
Probably, many thigs are forgotten... in case you have any doubt you can find help at http://www.issextreme.com/forums

MENU DESCRIPTION

File
Rooms the options that allow importing and exporting the games' graphic files.
Please note, not all files inside the AFS files are graphic files.
1. Open File...
  Imports a graphic file.
2. Save file...
  Exports a graphic file.
3. Exit
  I think it needs no explanation ;)
Input/Output
The options of this menu provide a way of modifying the pictures contained in the graphic files.
1. Import BMP...
  Replace the selected image by the image contained in a BMP file.
  RLE encoded (packed) BMP files are NOT supported.
  The imported file must have the same bit-depth and dimensions than the currently selected image.
2. Export BMP...
  Writes the currently selected image into a BMP file.
3. Import PNG...
  Replace the selected image by the image contained in a PNG file.
  The imported file must have the same bit-depth and dimensions than the currently selected image.
4. Export PNG...
  Writes the currently selected image into a PNG file.
5. Import Palette...
  Imports the palette (including alpha levels) of the current picture from a .PLT file.
  Please note, if you are trying to import a palette into a picture with no palette, the new palette will be shown, but obviously won't be of use when saving the game image file.
6. Export Palette...
  Exports the palette (including alpha levels) of the current picture to a .PLT file.
7. Import Transparency...
  Updates the alpha levels of the current picture from those at a .ALP file.
8. Export Transparency...
  Stores the alpha levels of the current picture into a .ALP file.
  Please note, if you are trying to import the alpha levels into a picture with no palette, the new alpha values will be shown, but obviously won't be of use when saving the game image file.
Window
Allows to show/hide some additional windows.
1. View Palette
  Shows/Hides the palette of the current image.
  The color entries that are used by the image are marked with a squared point in their middle.
2. View Transparency
  Shows/Hides the alpha (transparency) values of the current image.
  The color entries that are used by the image are marked with a squared point in their middle.
  In the application, a transparency level of 0 means NO TRANSPARENCY at all.
  FLG files use a value of 255 to mark FULL TRANSPARENCY of a color, while the other files use 128 to represent their higher transparency level.
3. View Transparency Mask
  Shows/Hides the "Alpha Picture" window, where the picture is drawn taking into account the alpha values.
  Depending on the mode selected on the "Blending Mode" menu, the display will be differ.
Blending Mode
Allows to select the blending mode to be used on the "Alpha Picture" window.
1. Grey Levels
  Show the picture as a grayscale image where the gray value of a pixel depends on the alpha value of that pixel's color.
2. Red (...) Yellow
  Makes a real blending with the pixel's color using the specified color.
Zoom
Allows displaying the image at different proportions.
Betis ( A very special menu this one ;) )
It rooms two options that will make life easier to patchers.
They work based on the fact most of game graphic files are compressed using the lossless huffman algorithm, which is more effective as more repeated the data is.
As a consequence, and because the less palette entries are used the more equal the pixels are, reducing the color usage of an image means reducing the final size of the compressed image files.
This can be very useful to adjust the file size so it's not necessary to rebuild the AFS files.
Please note, not all game image files are compressed, so you won't be able to use these functions on all files.
1. Decrement Color Usage
  Reduces, in 1 color, the color usage of the currently selected picture.
  Uses a custom color reducing technique that seems to work very well ;)
2. Reduce File Size...
  Opens a window that allows reducing the final size of the game image file to a given lenght.
  Please note, this is an operation that can take long depending on the image file that is currently being edited, as it must be rebuilded each time to see its lenght.
  As an example, WE6FE's "face.bin" file needs 290 compressions in each color reducing step...
Help
Info about this software.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank the following people (in alph. order):

* Antiz:
For testing the AFS rebuilding and patch generation with his great chants patch. Thanks mate!

* Burgy:
Has helped a lot testing the software! Don't miss his site: http://issrealgame.fr.st
Hope there's a french league patch soon!

* D4lton:
Another excellent tester, and a graphic design master too! ;) His Liga Argentina patch is about to be released.
http://www.023.com.ar/we

* Goku:
Has helped testing the software and giving all support I've needed! He is the one who has designed the DTE-NG website!
The best WE/PES site ever!: http://www.issextreme.com

* Honome:
He was who convinced me to start this stuff. With his unvaluable help in the research and test, this project could not be performed! He lost lots of CDs burning them to test that things worked... until he knew he could have used CD-RWs xDDD
He is one of the makers of the WE-Classic and the Campeonato Brasileiro fabulous patches!
http://www.w11.com.br
http://www.weclassico.hpg.ig.com.br

* K0H:
For spending some of his short spare time testing the util. He is the "Graphic Master" ;) as you'll see on the incoming WEHispano patch.
http://www.wehispano.tk

* Mauras:
Has tested the utils with his portuguese league patch. He has always offered his help when I've needed it. Obrigado!
http://www.lusowedit.html

* Rh4psody:
A "Class A" tester this one ;) He tested beta 0.95 versions with the wedoit 1.0 patch and has tested the new graphic input/output engine created on version 0.98 with his incoming patch. Hope it helps on his fabulous, state-of-the-art patches!
http://www.wedoit.da.ru

* Solidus J2k:
Great help since he tested the new patching format with his chants patch. His great chants patch has been the first released using AFP patch format!
http://w11extremo.da.ru

* TCrew:
Thanks to his posts and his home page I've been able to have a reference point from where to start this project!
http://www.total-amiga.com/we6

* (All people at the ISSExtreme forums):
Thanks for the feedback and suggestions!

------------ Tato

IMPORTANT:
*** You must own an original copy of the game to use these utils ***
*** Use of copies is only allowed to those who own the original ***