There a way to extract samus GFX from super metroid ?

[Dark-SA-X]

As the title states, is it possible to extract samus gfx so it can be editted ?
Last I checked smile didn't show any option of extracting that part.
Mostly everything else is doable.

[Scyzer]

Open the ROM in a graphic editing program like TLP for Tile Molestor. Scroll down; you cannot miss the graphics.
If you proceed past this point, you're crazy. Good luck.

[Vismund Cygnus]

If you proceed past this point, you're crazy.

should be one of the quotes along the top of the forum.


But yes, if you want to have a go at editing this:
[spoiler]

[/spoiler]
...I wish you all the best.

[PKstarship]

There needs to be a patch that organizes that abomination of a tileset so people will have an easier time editing the gfx. So far, the only hack I've seen that changes the Samus gfx is Metroid X-Fusion, and that hasn't even been released yet. I would personally love to see Samus changed to look like she does in Zero Mission...

[Dark-SA-X]

I already know how to find the gfx in the rom, like pkstarship mentioned that tileset is a mess to assemble up correctly.
This is the reason why I ask if smile had this option now or would the programmer highly consider making that option possible ?

If not then I'll just skip hacking the game entirely.

Thank you.

[Scyzer]

No versions of SMILE have ever, no will ever, contain it's own graphic editing function. I can't speak for JAM and his build, but other versions sure won't.

Anyway, it seems you're willing to ragequit already without even starting, simply because there's no easy way to edit samus's sprites. If you give up that easily, then SM hacking is not for you.

[Quietus]

To answer your question:
Yes, you can get the graphics out.
No, you can't get them out in any sort of order.

And even if you did get them out in order, you would have a lot of Samus poses with chunks missing, as a lot of tiles are reused in different animations. Editing Samus is a massive undertaking, and is a massive pain in the arse, which is why nobody has bothered to do it in years, and why nobody has made an editor that can do it yet.

[begrimed]

If you give up that easily, then SM hacking is not for you.

Basically this. No matter how good the resources here become, you're looking at possibly years of investing yourself heavy into it before you produce anything that gets more than a "this is cool I guess" reaction, unless you only intend to make a hack that edits Samus' graphics and nothing else. This is a very multi-faceted hobby. It's basically a side-career that you do not get paid for, and break the law by participating in.

[Vismund Cygnus]

just skip hacking the game entirely

[Microsoft Support]

Please delete System32.

[Dark-SA-X]

To answer your question:
Yes, you can get the graphics out.
No, you can't get them out in any sort of order.

And even if you did get them out in order, you would have a lot of Samus poses with chunks missing, as a lot of tiles are reused in different animations. Editing Samus is a massive undertaking, and is a massive pain in the arse, which is why nobody has bothered to do it in years, and why nobody has made an editor that can do it yet.

Even I did get it in order or halfway order that would be a good starter, yes I know that tileset is a nightmare to recomplie.
I ran into 2 sprite sheets showing samus in a different style, same animation, same poses, same size.
I thought I might try to attempt that if the tools were abit more updated but oh well for that minus this chat.

@scyzer who is jam by chance, I might look into his works and see what he managed to do.

Thank you mods for your input.

[altoiddealer]

I'm sure it's possible using Smart Objects in Photoshop, that you can puzzle piece all of those into a couple finished Samus poses, (host this PSD file everywhere and distribute it to everyone), then just edit Samus at which point it should reflect the changes appropriately in that tileset.

Surprised it hasn't been done yet... am I missing something?

[Quietus]

who is jam

JAM is the creator of SMILE JX, another version of the editor we all use. :^_^:

[Dark-SA-X]

I'm sure it's possible using Smart Objects in Photoshop, that you can puzzle piece all of those into a couple finished Samus poses, (host this PSD file everywhere and distribute it to everyone), then just edit Samus at which point it should reflect the changes appropriately in that tileset.

Surprised it hasn't been done yet... am I missing something?

Hmm and here I am not a photoshop user, I was going to download adobe photoshop cs3.
Would that be enough and have that filter, if it is I'll give it a swing sometime this week and see what happens.

@quietus: oh you meant that thing again, =_= yeah I am already fully aware of that.
Thanks anyway for you help.

[altoiddealer]

I don't think CS3 has Smart Objects.  I also don't know if Smart Objects alone will work, but I guarantee there is a method to make it as simple as editing one image to affect all those tiles.

get CS5 or greater.

Also good luck!  I might screw around with this a bit to see if I can contribute some better information

If enough people on here are using Adobe Photoshop CC, and want to collaborate, putting together an editable spritesheet is quite possible now with a feature they finally implemented called "Linked Smart Objects".  Mulitple people can be editing resources used in a root image, and have it update in real-time.  The root image would be the document that is to be imported back into the game (or formatted appropriately to export the tiles - I don't know jack about hacking Super Metroid).

Basically, the result of this would be a Samus spritesheet that can be editted, instead of a clusterf**k of random tiles.  I googled "super metroid samus sprite sheet" and that's a daunting task in itself.

One person CAN make this, but that will take quite some time to assemble.  Its incredibly tediius so the more people that can work on it, the better.


The way it works:
You have one image with all the random tiles.  Save it as a PSD.
Now take one sprite of Samus and save it as a separate PSD file.
"Place" the Samus file into the tile PSD as a Linked Smart Object.
Apply a layer mask to the samus sprite (in the tile document) the size of one tile.
Align this so it overlays one of the tiles and matches up.
Duplicate the layer, and shift the image around inside the mask
Move the new copy so it overlays another tile.
And so on.

When you edit the Samus sprite file, it will update all those tiles in the root document.

[personitis]

As someone who's poked around the Samus tilesheet and tried to make sense of it (and please don't ask me about it, never got anywhere significant), I don't believe smart objecting things together will work as well as you think it will. From what I remember, Samus has "two layers" so to speak. Some parts are displayed over others, so pasting things together would likely prove more difficult than you think.

[Scyzer]

Alternatively, ditch samus altogether and use a new character!

[ostehovel]

I did made a small example that reads out the samus sprites from a rom file
http://jsm.ostehovel.com/jsm.jar its a Java application, and when you start it, a file chooser pops out, select the super metroid rom.

Oste Hovel

[altoiddealer]

That's a neat little thing ostehovel

So... point blank: Can the tiles be exported, then imported back into a ROM?

It doesn't matter if they are individual image files, or one giant image.  If they can be exported and imported, I can figure out something to make the task more manageable in Photoshop.

[ostehovel]

At the moment is it just a "reader", but writing is not hard to implement.

What i need to know, do you want every piece exported into its own png file, or just the hole picture as this:

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

Ill see if i can cook up some more information so you see how its working tomorrow.

Oste Hovel

[altoiddealer]

Extracting one big image, and then importing one big image to replace the GFX, would be ideal.

But if it's only possible to get the tiles out as individual files, that can also work.  Dealing with them can be automated in Photoshop.
When Exporting them, you would have to keep in mind how the files should be named, so that they can be imported back in as simply as possible.  If there's any way to batch import them, obviously that would be great.

[Quote58]

I think what you're trying to do altoiddealer with photoshop, is pretty much exactly what you can already do with tlp, except more modual. In tlp you have the tile arranger, which lets you arrange tiles onto a panel and then when you edit them there the changes appear on the actual tiles. This is likely how auximiles (sp) did it. However, this is a huge amount of work no matter what, and is not the best way to deal with it.

Don't fret however, big things are happening behind closed doors...(that sounds kinda ominous lol)

[Dark-SA-X]

At the moment is it just a "reader", but writing is not hard to implement.

What i need to know, do you want every piece exported into its own png file, or just the hole picture as this:

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

Ill see if i can cook up some more information so you see how its working tomorrow.

Oste Hovel

Cool beans man, I tested it early this morning before I left for work.
Everything looks good, but yeah if you do work on that take your time with it.
Also I don't mind beta testing it for you before releasing it here.
I appreciate that and with altoids suggestion, thanks folks for your help.

[altoiddealer]

I think what you're trying to do altoiddealer with photoshop, is pretty much exactly what you can already do with tlp, except more modual. In tlp you have the tile arranger, which lets you arrange tiles onto a panel and then when you edit them there the changes appear on the actual tiles. This is likely how auximiles (sp) did it. However, this is a huge amount of work no matter what, and is not the best way to deal with it.

Don't fret however, big things are happening behind closed doors...(that sounds kinda ominous lol)

I'm no stranger to what goes into editing a full spritesheet - I'm 80% done with a full custom sprited MUGEN character (not an edit - MY sprites  :cool:)

http://mugenguild.com/forum/topics/wip-jailbot-from-superjail-new-video-7272015-149846.0.html

But if what you say is true, that there's already a method to make the editing manageable, then is there something hosted that let's someone work like that?  Seems like anyone who wants to change Samus's sprites has to work from scratch still including putting together that jigsaw puzzle from hell

[Quote58]

But if what you say is true, that there's already a method to make the editing manageable, then is there something hosted that let's someone work like that?  Seems like anyone who wants to change Samus's sprites has to work from scratch still including putting together that jigsaw puzzle from hell

That's why I said the photoshop thing would be more modual. In tlp everyone has to do it themselves, your photoshop thing could possibly make it so people would not have to do so.
However, there is still a better way, but you'll have to wait for it. If you want to put the time into the photoshop method in the mean time, go for it.