Soul Calibur 4

[Neo Cyrus]

I was surprised when I saw there was progress on this. I suppose the last time I looked it up it wasn't listed on the first several pages of google.

I registered on this forum to basically start learning, I was hoping Tosyk or one of you who have progressed could write a mini guide/FAQ for those of us (such as myself) who are completely new to this and haven't the slightest clue what to do.

As someone pointed out before I know this isn't the place to be asking how to use 3DS Max, but a mini guide pointing in the right direction is what I'm asking about in case there are some specifics here we need to know that a general guide might not point out. Just a guideline to know what to do, from there we can look it up and find out ourselves.

[DioBrando]

I'm trying to follow the IVY tutorial by Tosyk, can someone tell me what's wrong here?:
http://i.imgur.com/hSsA0.jpg

The gold doesn't seem to mix with the purple at the composite node.

[vicviper573]

This thread hasn't been touched in awhile, which is a shame since there is some really great info here, - enough to inspire me into doing some modding, and to sign up here and contribute myself.

I was hoping that it would somehow be possible to extract and inject assets from/to the other.spd files in the creation/model directory; specifically the customization parts like F_BODY, F_JKET, F_CHAM, etc. The old utility seemed to extract only from the R_ALL files, and I don't think it had a way to re-inject into the big files.

I have tried Itze's method of manually pasting the edited texture data from hex workshop into the .spd, but failed miserably - maybe a step by step walkthru with screens would make it possible. I'd love to be able to edit the textures as I'm pretty good in photoshop. Itze, please help?

Messing around with the files, I have made some progress, and my notes I'm sure may be of use to others. The customization parts can can be swapped with one another, and makes for some interesting effects. If you want to get an "almost topless" character - you can replace the data of file where their geometry isn't hidden to save polygons (I recommend Coiled Breastplate since it's ugly anyway) - and replace it with something that has little consequence to the model such as wings or socks, and bam, they're almost topless - but there are these gray "strips" that remain on the model to cover them. It may be possible to edit the texture.. if only we could get access to F_NUDE_001 and re inject...



I have also found that replacing F_NUDE_001's data with LM_NUDE_001 will allow you to make a lizard female; or basically a female character with a lizard body that still looks right and plays properly - very interesting to see. Hey, Ivy here is nude.. but alas, she isn't human...


To make this stuff possible, I went into literally dozens of the customization assets and identified them best I can (as they are named in the game). I'll post the results of this here. Its not complete, but it covers most of the useful assets that can be used to mod the character body.

F_JKET_201_360: Ashigaru Shirt
F_JKET_202_360: Sleeveless Kimono
F_JKET_203_360: Leather Tunic
F_JKET_204_360: Cloth Tunic
F_JKET_206_360: Short Shirt
F_JKET_208_360: Prayer Robe
F_JKET_212_360: Frilled Blouse
F_JKET_213_360: Longming Qipao
F_JKET_214_360: Tight Shirt
F_JKET_215_360: Jester's Clothes
F_JKET_218_360: Clergy Clothes
F_JKET_221_360: Longhua Qipao
F_JKET_222_360: Hemp Kimono
F_JKET_223_360: Warrior's Robe
F_JKET_224_360: Priestess Kimono
F_JKET_226_360: Battle Dress
F_JKET_230_360: Arabesque Vest
F_JKET_232_360: Kongtian Armor
F_JKET_235_360: DLC? Secret??? Pretty Blouse
F_JKET_236_360: Menghu Clothes
F_JKET_237_360: Wonder Jacket
F_JKET_238_360: Drum Corp Jacket
F_JKET_240_360: DLC? Secret??? Sleeves
F_JKET_241_360: White Shirt
F_JKET_242_360: DLC? Secret??? Torn School Shirt
F_JKET_243_360: DLC? Secret??? Sailor Shirt
F_JKET_246_360: Flight Jacket
F_JKET_247_360: Nurse's Uniform
*F_JKET_248_360: Frilled Apron
F_JKET_249_360: Parlor Blouse
F_JKET_250_360: DLC? Secret??? Plaid Parlor Blouse
F_JKET_252_360: DLC? Secret??? Fur-trimmed dress
F_JKET_254_360: Kittymeow Suit
F_JKET_255_360: Kunoichi Robes
F_JKET_256_360: Bong-seon Blouse
F_JKET_258_360: DLC? Secret??? Striped Sleeves
F_JKET_259_360: Kitty Tunic? Panties??
F_JKET_262_360: Atalanta's Jacket
F_JKET_264_360: Frilled Drape
F_JKET_266_360: Princess Dress
*F_JKET_267_360: Spy Robe
F_JKET_269_360: Night Butterfly Dress
F_JKET_270_360: Raven Dress
F_JKET_271_360: Huayin Dress

F_BODY_005_360: Sarashi
F_BODY_008_360: Tanned Leather Armor
F_BODY_009_360: Chain Mail
F_BODY_011_360: Sleeveless Shirt
F_BODY_012_360: Scaled Suit
F_BODY_016_360: Full Leggings
F_BODY_017_360: Ring Trousers
F_BODY_018_360: Leggings
F_BODY_020_360: Atalanta's Tights
F_BODY_021_360: Bordered Suit
F_BODY_024_360: Hunter's Suit
F_BODY_025_360: Tiger Lily Stockings
F_BODY_028_360: Bong-Seong Underwear
F_BODY_030_360: Kunoichi Tights
F_BODY_032_360: Belle Dress

*F_CHAM_201_360: Dancer's Breastplate
*F_CHAM_202_360: Coiled Breastplate
*F_CHAM_204_360: Tiger Lily Breastplates
*F_CHAM_205_360: Voodoo Breastplate
F_CHAM_206_360: Tortoise Cuirass
F_CHAM_207_360: Breastplate
F_CHAM_209_360: DLC? Secret??? Breastplate; covered
F_CHAM_211_360: Gorgon Cuirass
F_CHAM_212_360: Thief's Belt
F_CHAM_213_360: Quiver
F_CHAM_214_360: Dragon Breastplate
F_CHAM_217_360: Ashigaru Cuirass
F_CHAM_218_360: Scarlet Blossoms
F_CHAM_220_360: Menghu Cuirass
F_CHAM_221_360: Goddess Cuirass

F_SOKS_201_360: Shinobi Tabi
F_SOKS_202_360: Bandages
F_SOKS_205_360: Short Socks
F_SOKS_206_360: DLC? School Socks
F_SOKS_207_360: DLC? Loose Socks
F_SOKS_208_360: Laced Stockings
F_SOKS_210_360: Night Butterfly Socks
F_SOKS_211_360: Huayin Socks

F_WCBL_206_360: DLC? Maid Apron..?
F_WCBL_207_360: Kitty Sash

F_NUDE_001_360: Base Female

F_MANT_202_360: Roman Mantle
F_MANT_203_360: Feathered Wings
F_MANT_204_360: Jolly Roger
F_MANT_205_360: Priestess Mantle
F_MANT_206_360: War Cloak


Didn't do these fully, but I could tell that they were generally:

F_BOTS: Boots
F_ARAM: Wrist
F_FAAM: Arm
F_HEBD: Headgear
F_LGAM: Leg Armor
F_SHAM: Shoulder Armor

F_SHOS: Shoes/Sandals
F_SKRT: Skirt
F_SOKS: Socks/Stocking
F_WSAM: Waist Armor

LM_CHAM: Lizard Chest Armor
LM_HAIR: Lizard Head Accessory
LM_NUDE: Lizard Body
LM_SHAM: Lizard Shoulder Armor
LM_WSAM: Lizard Waist Armor

F is for female, LM is for Lizardman, M is for Male.
* = allows for "almost topless" base

I'm hoping its still possible to spur some activity for this beautiful game. I am very thankful to this board for the info it provided, and would love to give back and keep the thread going. So here's hoping there's a way to get some texture work into the game - especially for the character customization parts!

[jordanpower6]

How do you open the models in 3d max 9?

[vicviper573]

I was eventually able to manually extract all the textures from the files that wouldn't work with the extractor, by searching for the GIDX then skipping 12 positions to find the start of the file. Itze's method of opening the edited texture in hexworkshop, ignoring the first 80, copying the data, then replacing it over the main file after doing the 16 bit byte flip works perfectly. By doing that method I was able to replace textures on pretty much any of the customization parts - allowing for a whole new world of custom characters.

I've opened the models in 3DSmax 10 by importing them as fbx. A lot of work to make them usable for anything, it seems.

[mariokart64n]

Hi
I was bored, and was working on correcting the colours on Amy.

I thought I would share a summary of the things I used and gathered.

Item 1 - Models
Nobby Posted packs of the models:

Characters - 494mb
[url]hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=4C5PS7F7[/url] OR [url]hxxp://depositfiles.com/files/a2jw75ius[/url]
Stages 317 mb
[url]hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=BJK9NDWP[/url] OR [url]hxxp://depositfiles.com/files/agevh1qct[/url]
Weapons 86mb
[url]hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=SOYNC1TZ[/url] OR [url]hxxp://depositfiles.com/files/fm7lkanme[/url]

Item 2 - Image Samples from the game
I took image captures using my capture card:
[url]hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?rdjw1o972zgfzy4[/url]

Item 3 - Texture Colouring Guide
Tosyk made a nice guide showing how to set materials in 3dsmax:
[url]hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/clhj6u[/url]

his guide is pretty good, except that he is using mix/blend instead of Mask. all you need to form a proper diffuse is Composite, Multiply, and Mask.
anyway I mirrored it in a HUGE image link:

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/7269_a/image1nc.png

[TIOVICKO]

Thank You So Much mariokart64n I truly appreciate your time and effort

[orbbu]

@vicviper573:

can you please write a step by step process for having nude characters ? or if possible uploading a .bat for the copy / renaming ?

what files you have to exchange exactly ?

I'll be using the PS3 version, as the files are visible and easilly exchangeable...

Thanks in advance

[vicviper573]

@vicviper573:

can you please write a step by step process for having nude characters ? or if possible uploading a .bat for the copy / renaming ?

what files you have to exchange exactly ?

I'll be using the PS3 version, as the files are visible and easilly exchangeable...

Thanks in advance

I use the 360 version, for those same reasons, technique should still work, but I don't have a PS3 setup for this to test.

1. Get your desired .spd file and decompress it with xbdecompress. (for 360 version only I'm guessing) If you want a nude character, I suggest modding something in the undergarments (F_BODY) section like Tanned Leather Armor (F_BODY_008) or Scaled Suit (F_BODY_012). You can also edit F_NUDE itself which is the basic underwear which may be easier to photoshop. I have not yet found the model/file for what's "under" the F_NUDE basic clothing which is what I show in the screenshots earlier in the thread, so if anyone cares to help, please assist.

2. Use SPD_EX.exe to extract the file. If it spits out another SPD file, you may have to do this a few times. Do this until it spits out DDS files, which is what you'll be editing in photoshop.

3. Make sure you have the Nvidia DDS plugin installed into your photoshop, or it won't load. Google it, its a free dev tool available on nvidia's site.

4. Open the DDS files in photoshop and have fun making your nudies/customs/etc. If you open a file thats blue tinted, thats a normal map, which is used for surface details, height maps, bumps n such. Your nvidia DDS plugin will give you the ability to turn grayscale images into normalmaps with desired height and effects. If you aren't experienced with this, experiment and look up techniques on the net. If you edit a texture, you should definitely edit its normal map to match it, otherwise it will NOT LOOK RIGHT when you get it back into the game, and will still have its original bumps and normalmapping. Simple temporary solution? Use color picker on a part of the blue texture and paint over the whole thing flat blue. But if you are skilled, you can use the normal maps do some great things when modding the graphics.

5. Make sure you save your edited texture as DDS, DXT1 (No Alpha) with 3 mipmaps. Double check that the file size is the same as it started.

6. Dump the edited DDS into Hex Workshop. Go to Tools -> Operations -> Byte Flip -> 16 bit. It will alter the data.

7. Go to position 80 in the file. This is the start of the actual texture data. Hold SHIFT and hit END, or Down Arrow/page down until you hit the end of the file. You can select it with your mouse too but that takes forever. According to Hex Workshop, you should have A800, 15000, or 2A000 bytes selected. Remember this value. Hover your mouse over the HEX window (the one on the left) right click and COPY.

8. Have the source SPD file also opened in Hex Workshop. You want to determine which texture you want to replace. Do a search for GIDX. Hex Workshop will make a nice little list for you in the lower right pane of each instance and you can navigate to each by clicking on the instance. SPD_EX extracted the textures in the order it found them in, thus the texture you want to replace will correspond accordingly. For instance, the first texture SPD_EX spat out will be after the first GIDX instance, the second will be after the second GIDX and so forth. I double checked by comparing the data with what spd_ex had extracted just to be sure and to get the hang of things, so you might want to as well, your first time around.

9. After you find the instance of GIDX you want to replace, move your cursor to just after the 'GIDX'. Now press Right Arrow 12 (twelve) times. This is the start of the texture data. Go to Edit -> Select Block. Remember how big the data block you copied was? It was either A800, 15000, or 2A000. Enter the appropriate size value into the prompt ('Hex' and Size of Block' should be selected as well), and then hit 'OK' The data area will be highlighted.

10. Hover your mouse over the HEX window (the one on the left) right click and hit PASTE. The data you copied from the edited DDS should replace the data in the SPD. Save the SPD. The game will read uncompressed SPD's so you can go ahead and copy that right back into the game.

11. Test, show off, blog, fap, etc. Share with us here!

[skytoast]

Thanks for the write up on this and all your help

I can change basic textures but I still need to experiment more. One thing I noticed was some stuff such as armor or clothing are actually DXT5 with alphas and not DXT1. Also trying to figure out how to corrupt certain items as mention in previous post by Itze so the models dont intefere or show all together. It seems textures/normal maps can be edited and injected back in however the underlying mesh is still there. So the question is once the mesh is edited in 3ds max or whatever how do you inject them back into the game? You can find GIDX for textures by its dds name/number but how do you do this for the other stuff like obj,fbx.. etc?

Also in order for you to see whats visible in the F_NUDE_001_360.spd, after extracting the file with spd_ex.exe you'll get 2 files:

F_NUDE_001_360_000.spd
F_NUDE_001_360_001.spd.

Just run the extractor again on the first file F_NUDE_001_360_000.spd and you should be able to get the textures, obj and fbx files. This is the same for weapons models.

The only thing available however are the mesh/model and texture/normal map for undewear. There is no texture/normal map for skin etc. And of course no face mesh as this is generic fit for all characters. So the resources are just pointing to each character's assets or a different location.

The question I have though is how will you inject this back in since they were two separate spd files coupled together in one file. Where would you look for the GIDX or equivalent?

Great progress so far, hoping the good work continues perhaps even lead to a stand lone compiler of some sort.

[vicviper573]

I'll have to look at them again to see which ones had the DXT5 with alphas. I know there were some parts that had magenta-blue zoning which determined which color zone would be affected when you edit them in the character creation menu (Jester clothes come to mind). Others like Hunter Suit have a way of "cutting out" areas of the texture to make parts of them transparent for holes, torn edges or a more seamless look. Most of my discussion on this is from memory as I haven't touched this stuff in some months but hopefully I can find some time to mess around with it again soon.

One thing I am desperate to find out is where the SPECULAR data is being kept in regards to the textures. If you aren't familiar with the term, specular maps define the level of shininess or light reflection a texture or material experiences as it interacts with the ingame lights. In other games, the specular map is kept either as a seperate grayscale image or as the alpha channel in the main diffuse texture or normal map files. I have NOT been able to find out how Soul Calibur IV does this, and would really like to decrease/increase the specular intensity on a lot of the items for better customization. An example of the behavior ingame: the Sarashi bandages undergarment is not shiny at all, while the Kunoichi tights undergarment is really, really shiny. The materials define this behavior somewhere, just don't know how to change it yet. HELP!

As for editing the models, I believe that Itze corrupted Sophitia's blouse by zeroing random places in her spd file. The geometry data of course would be where the textures are not. I've also done this to models, backgrounds, etc too, with varying results, and nothing useful as of yet. Its like shooting in the dark. I haven't heard of a way of importing them back to fbx after they have been opened in 3Ds, which is why I haven't tried to do anything in it at all.

Thanks for the write up on this and all your help

I can change basic textures but I still need to experiment more. One thing I noticed was some stuff such as armor or clothing are actually DXT5 with alphas and not DXT1. Also trying to figure out how to corrupt certain items as mention in previous post by Itze so the models dont intefere or show all together. It seems textures/normal maps can be edited and injected back in however the underlying mesh is still there. So the question is once the mesh is edited in 3ds max or whatever how do you inject them back into the game? You can find GIDX for textures by its dds name/number but how do you do this for the other stuff like obj,fbx.. etc?

Also in order for you to see whats visible in the F_NUDE_001_360.spd, after extracting the file with spd_ex.exe you'll get 2 files:

F_NUDE_001_360_000.spd
F_NUDE_001_360_001.spd.

Just run the extractor again on the first file F_NUDE_001_360_000.spd and you should be able to get the textures, obj and fbx files. This is the same for weapons models.

The question I have though is how will you inject this back in since they were two separate spd files coupled together in one file. Where would you look for the GIDX?

Great progress so far, hoping the good work continues perhaps even lead to a stand lone compiler of some sort.

[orbbu]

@vicviper573, thanks for the tutorial I'll test that when I'll have some free time

[andthen619]

if anyone would like to send me the dds files i can make them nude and send them back to u. i am a great artist but not so good with technical programming or any crazy injecting extracting stuff.

[sprayer]

.

[firsak]

sprayer
In your pic it looks like she is about to take a dump.