zztexview is a program for viewing, converting, and locating texture data in Nintendo 64 rom images and files dumped from them. Much inspiration was taken from Texture64.
- Texture search locates pixel data matching a user-provided PNG file (even color-indexed formats are supported)
- Export/import feature makes it easy to update existing textures
- Create new texture banks from one or more PNGs, including the ability to share palettes
- External palettes
- Palette editing
- Entirely self-contained with no external dependencies like the .NET Framework or Mono
- Windows XP
- rgba8888 (32 bit)
- rgba5551 (16 bit)
- intensity-alpha (16 bit)
- intensity-alpha (8 bit)
- intensity-alpha (4 bit)
- intensity (8 bit)
- intensity (4 bit)
- color-indexed (8 bit)
- color-indexed (4 bit)
- First, click the
Openbutton, or drag-and-drop a binary file onto theleft pane. - Left-click any preview to bring up the
Import/Export PNGdialog. - Right-click-drag in any preview window to scroll quickly.
- Using the mouse wheel inside a preview window nudges it along one pixel at a time: perfect for making fine adjustments.
- In a value box, you can right-click-drag up/down to rapidly change it, or use the mouse wheel for smaller increments.
- Scroll the mouse wheel on any drop-down menu to quickly navigate through its items without having to click.
- v1.0.2
- Better
edgeresults withi(intensity) formats - In exported images, alpha channel is user's selected 'blending' mode
zztexviewis now open source
- Better
- v1.0.1
- Bug fix: could not edit value/text boxes after clicking drop-downs
- Bug fix: "Scale" drop-down text now wraps properly when scrolling on it
- Bug report credits: AriaHiro64, Zeldaboy14
- v1.0.0
- Initial release
SYNOPSIS
zztexview is a program for viewing, converting, and locating
texture data in Nintendo 64 rom images and files dumped from them.
Much inspiration was taken from Texture64.
LOADING FILES
To open a file for exploring, either click the 'Open' button
or the left sidebar, or try dropping a file onto one of them.
NAVIGATION
While you can edit the value boxes manually by clicking them, you
will find the easiest way to navigate is by doing a right-click-drag
inside any preview window. You do this by placing your cursor inside
a preview, pressing and holding the right mouse button, then moving
the cursor up or down. You can also do this inside a value box to
quickly adjust its value up or down, or even navigate this manual.
Scrolling with the mouse wheel can also be used to adjust value
box values, or quickly change a drop-down menu's selection without
having to click it. Mouse wheel scrolling inside a preview area will
nudge you forward or back a single pixel at a time.
HOW CODECS WORK
Each codec describes a valid format/bit combination. For example,
ci8 refers to a texture of the format ci (color indexed), where each
pixel is eight (8) bits. Higher bit values provide more detail, but
cost more space. A brief description of each format follows.
rgba contains a separate color/alpha value for every pixel
ci a series of index values, which are used to look up
what color each pixel should be according to a palette
(the palette offset is independent from the texture
offset; multiple textures can use the same palette)
ia packed value list describing intensity (grayscale)
and alpha (opacity) for every pixel
i every pixel contains a single value that is shared
by all color channels: RGBA (whiter = more opaque)
CI PALETTE
The 'CI Palette' pane contains a palette data preview. You can
adjust the number of colors within it for safer editing, if you
happen to know how many colors the one you're editing contains.
All the same navigation rules described above apply here.
If for some reason you must load a palette from a separate file,
you can do so by clicking or dropping a file onto the 'Load External
Palette' button.
Otherwise, it will source palette data from whatever file is
already loaded, since storing textures and palettes in the same
file is a common practice.
'Palette Override' and what role palettes play when importing
textures are both explained in the next section.
CHANGING TEXTURES & PALETTES
You can click any preview (palette or texture) to open the image
action dialog. Click 'Export PNG' inside this dialog and follow the
prompt. Edit this file in your external editor of choice.
To import the modified PNG, click the same preview as before, and
select 'Import PNG'. You will be asked to select the PNG you wish to
import. Note that if you are importing over a CI format texture, the
colors will be matched to the palette shown in the 'CI Palette' pane
as closely as possible. If you want a new palette to be generated
instead, enable the 'Palette Override' option before conversion. Be
mindful that the old palette will be overwritten if you do this,
which will break all other textures that use it if it is shared.
If you are making major changes to a CI texture (aka, using a new
palette), it is recommended that you modify the palette before you
import the new texture. Also be aware that a palette can be shared
by multiple textures, so be prepared to import updated versions of
all textures that rely on any palette you update.
As a final note, any texture imported this way will use the
'AlphaColor' generation settings that have been selected within the
'Texture Convert' pane, described below.
TEXTURE CONVERT
First and foremost: the 'Texture Convert' pane is not for
importing textures and palettes into the currently opened file.
It is for creating a brand new file containing only textures. If
changing textures in an existing file is what you're looking for,
read the section above this one. That said, only a small niche has
use for either of these features.
This pane allows you to convert one or more PNGs to a valid
codec. Simply click or drop PNGs onto the 'New File from PNGs'
button. You can hold the 'Ctrl' key on your keyboard when clicking
files to select multiple. If everything goes well, you should get a
preview of the results, and be able to copy notes to your clipboard
if you wish. To actually save the generated file somewhere, click
the 'Save As' button in the upper corner of the window.
When multiple PNGs are specified and the codec is a CI format,
they are all optimized to use a shared palette, instead of one
palette being derived for each.
AlphaColor
Older converters have a track record of mishandling textures
containing transparency, such that you will notice white or black
outlines along the edges of your textures in-game. This is because
they are setting the colors of invisible pixels to white or black.
The 'AlphaColor' menu offers algorithms that are meant to address
this problem. Each is briefly described below:
edge derives alpha colors by expanding visible edge colors
average the alpha color used across the texture
is the average of all its visible colors
white every invisible pixel's color is set to white
black every invisible pixel's color is set to black
image use invisible pixel colors that are stored in the PNG
* NOTE: if the number of unique invisible colors exeeds
the value of AlphaColorMax, it falls back to
the 'edge' algorithm
AlphaColorMax
This is the maximum number of unique alpha colors to allow
in the generated palette (applies to CI formats only).
TEXTURE SEARCH
Use the 'Texture Search' pane to search the loaded file for any
texture data that matches the PNG you provide. This is useful for
locating rom offsets of textures dumped by video plugins.
If an external palette has been loaded loaded, that will be
searched for palette data instead of the primary file.
When matches are found, they are displayed immediately. Use the
'Results' drop-down to browse the results. A result containing 'P'
(for example, 'ci8-P') indicates a partial match. Partial matches
happen only for CI formats, and occur when matching CI data was
located, but no palette could be found. You can copy the results
to your clipboard by clicking the 'Results -> Clipboard' button.
Two additional codecs are introduced here:
auto search only for codecs that are most likely to match
the provided PNG (this has proved to be extremely
accurate throughout my rigorous testing)
all search every codec (this is slower and only recommended
for textures that 'auto' fails to find matches for)
* The other codecs in this drop-down force it to search for the
one codec you specify. This is most useful if you already
know the codec of the texture you're trying to find.
Mode
1st match searches only up until it finds a match, then stops
find all this is slower, but if you want to locate multiple
occurrences of the same texture, use this
FAQ
Q: What is this blend feature?
A: It allows you to see the colors of invisible pixels. The blending
mode you have selected also controls how a texture appears when
exported to PNG.
Q: What is the EOF toggle in the corner for?
A: Files are padded at the end, which can sometimes be misleading.
For this reason, I found it helpful to offer the option of
customizing what value is used for padding the loaded file.
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