(Tool) CCTEX Texture Parse

[CCTEX]

4/13/15 Version 2.0b Change Log:
-Support for ANY dumped texture (previously limited to Mario Kart 64 Characters)
-Custom filename suffix (ie _all, RGBA etc) can be appended, defined by user in main dialog
-Ability to copy desired processing directory path directly from clipboard without the 'browse' dialog
-Output directory is automatically opened upon completion of processing
-Custom application icons
-Stability fixes

INSTRUCTIONS FOR TEXTURE PARSE 1.0b: (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY)

The purpose of this tool is to process a directory containing redundant textures, as seen in the dumped character textures from Mario Kart 64. Once processed, the directory can then be batch upscaled with a tool of your choice. I prefer Photo-zoom, but Photoshop works as well.

Here is what the tool does:

-Deletes all but one png of groups that share the first 8 hex digits in the filenames, ie. the '00EA5375' in 'MARIOKART64#00EA5375#2#1#5862F1A9_ciByR GBA.png'.

-Once those duplicates are removed, the remaining filenames are truncated at the 3rd # sign, and '_all' is appended to the end of the filename before '.png', ie 'MARIOKART64#00EA5375#2#1_ALL.png'

-The software does not do error handling at the moment, so if you point it to a directory and it receives unexpected input, it will fail.


Here is how to use it:

-Prepare a SINGLE LEVEL directory with dumped character textures. Filesystem recursion is not supported at the moment.

-Run the program as Administrator

-Agree to the usage terms

-Click Browse to select your input directory (The program outputs to the same directory, so have a backup copy of your dumped textures in case something goes wrong)

-Click 'Consolidate Textures'

-The program will alert you of the amount of textures processed/deleted.

-You can now process this directory wth your upscaling tool of your choice.

-You are free to use this tool any way you like, I only ask that you give due credit if you release a pack.

-While neither I, nor emutalk.net assume any repsonsibility for your usage of the software, the only real risk of running it would be doing something stupid like having it process your WINDOWS directory etc lol.

-Cheers!

 

[CCTEX]

Photozoom batch upscaling Instructions:

Photozoom utilizes an awesome upscaling algorithm called s-spline max, far more impressive than others I have seen.

-Run Photozoom Pro

-Click on 'New Batch'

-Click on 'Add Folder' (pick the directory you just processed with Texture Parse.)

-Under 'New Size' change from percemt to pixels on the drop down

-Change your LARGEST pixel dimension to 512. The aspect will be retained as you will notice the smaller dimension increase proportionately.

-Select S-Spline Max from 'Resize Method' dropdown menu

-You can now copy my MK64 settings as a starting point, although you should adjust depending on what you are upscaling:

Unsharp Masking: yes
Intensity: 4.40
Radius: 5.90
Sharpness: 100
Film Grain: 0
Artifact Reduction: 55
Crispness: 100
Vividness: 100

-Click 'Run'

-Select your desired output folder

-Change 'Output Format' to PNG

-Change 'Priority' to high

-Click 'Start Batch'

-Enjoy your upscaled textures

 

[CCTEX]

Reserved for info.

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Mirrors

Use the file located at the top post this post serves as a backup encase of failure and for the sake of the archive.

CCTEX 1.0B

CCTEX 2.0B

 

[CCTEX]

Just added the tutorial for Photozoom, which will yield the best results. Haven't personally done batch upscaling in photoshop yet, but if I ever do, I can revisit adding those instructions.

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Thanks! I really think that you have something here.

Improvements:
Would you consider adding a Paste option within the Browser?

 

[CCTEX]

Would you consider adding a Paste option within the Browser?

Sure Ill re-enable it. I intentionally disabled the field since there's no validation, but there is a warning in the beginning, so it should be fine.

I had another change I wanted to make with the appending of the suffix to the filename. At the moment, it doesn't give you an option for the suffix, it just does '_ALL'. Would that be desirable? Anything else you can think of? I can probably get something out today.

 

[NES_player4LIFE]

Cool, that will make searching quicker.

At the moment I'm not sure.

 

[CCTEX]

Version Update 2.0b

Please see first post for update 2.0b. I originally wrote the program for myself to test out on MK64. Since there seems to be interest in the method, I rewrote most of the backend for stability and modified the parsing method to support texture dumps from any rom, among other features. Cheers!