Help! Editing FRAME.BIN

[Aqueous]

Hi All,

I think I asked this once before in the past but don't think I got an answer. Methods on the site for editing FRAME.BIN seem to rely on a previous version of Shishi which could do it, alas it can't any more. Could anyone provide help with editing FRAME.BIN in the same vein as this topic for ITEM.BIN: http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=6543.0

I've used the .gif image on the wiki: http://ffhacktics.com/wiki/EVENT/FRAME.BIN

If that's not a problem then I get the impression the main issue I'm having is correctly converting the image back into TIMs. Using the Graphic and Palette locations below I can't see any similar structure in the hex between the .BIN file and my TIMs:

    Graphic: 0x0000-0x8FFF
    Palettes: 0x9000-0x92BF

After converting to 4-bit and 8-bit .tims using TimTOOL the first lines of FRAME.BIN were clearly different in structure from the 8-bit file's 0x14 lines onward (which should be the image data if the same as ITEM.BIN) and 0x9000 onward in FRAME.BIN is completely different from my 4-bit TIM from 0x40 onward. I've even tried doing it with the ITEM.BIN.BMP that Xif attached in the linked thread and can't see a common structure between the 8-bit file and ITEM.BIN.

Back to FRAME.BIN: output file sizes are 144KB for the 4-bit and 288KB for the 8-bit.

If using the .gif on the website is fine then any help in the settings needed to create a viable TIM in TIMTool would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[Choto]

Unfortunately, the tool that we used to use (timutil) doesn't work on windows 7. I tried using TimTool as a replacement and it seemed to work sometimes... but I couldn't get it to work reliably. The file structure for .bmp, .tim, and .bin are all different so you won't see similar hex.

One idea I had was to try running timutil in a virtual-machine emulating windows xp but I never tried it. I think this method will work but it's just a roundabout way. I think you'd need to use a USB to save the .tim on and then move it onto the windows 7 file system. Sorry I can't be more helpful but we got screwed with timutil not working and I just don't know enough about the file structure

[Xifanie]

I can confirm it correctly works with a Windows XP Virtual Machine on Windows 7.... yeah it's a shame, but it's the only way that I know to properly convert those damn files.

[Aqueous]

Alright, thanks guys, I'll try to work out how on Earth to set up an XP Virtual Machine.

Am I ok in using the .gif from the wiki page? It has all the palettes included after all.

At least it's helped me narrow down the cause of the problem so you've both been very helpful.

[Xifanie]

Nah, you have to use bmp. You can convert it to bmp, but remember that it's a 4bit image with 16 palettes, just like spritesheets. So, colour 0x67 becomes 0x7, colour 0x3A becomes 0xA and so on. I'm not quite sure how to convert a 8bit back to 4bit properly that way, so you might be better off editing a 4bit version that is using the palette you want (well, that the item you're editing is using).

[Aqueous]

Nah, you have to use bmp. You can convert it to bmp, but remember that it's a 4bit image with 16 palettes, just like spritesheets. So, colour 0x67 becomes 0x7, colour 0x3A becomes 0xA and so on. I'm not quite sure how to convert a 8bit back to 4bit properly that way, so you might be better off editing a 4bit version that is using the palette you want (well, that the item you're editing is using).

So basically just copy across the image part of the hex and ignore the palette section, yeah? I have no desire to change the palette anyway