Research: [NDS] Pokémon Black Version 2/White Version 2 Opening Cinematic

[PokémonShinySilver]

Hm... I've been thinking about this for a while now, and just recently I have been trying to research stuff about the Opening Cinematic in Black Version 2 and White Version 2. It very much seems like it uses the same type of method as what Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version Opening Cinematic uses.

Alright, so here's what I've done. I've tried to look through every single folder in the a folder along with the numbered folders and NARC files. And so I was expecting to find some NCGR, NCLR, NANR, NCER and NSCR files in there or some BTX files. But it seems as if I can't find any of them. I still wonder to myself "where are they?!", I even wonder to myself if some of the binary files in the NARCs that have no extension host the images for the opening cinematic screen.

What I'm aiming to do with editing the opening cinematic... is change the Japanese logo into the English one at the near beginning of the animation, even maybe I might also see about taking advantage of doing this with a Pokémon Black Version 2 ROM hack I'm planning, called Pokémon Lava Ruby.

If we can find any information about where the data for the opening cinematic screen is, please be sure to post about it here, and also this thread can also be used for posting information about the opening cinematic screen, and what format it uses and stuff like that, in which can help other ROM hackers with their NDS editing.

So it could even be useful for other games as well, Pokémon Black/White/Black 2/White 2 are probably not the only ones that use it.

[Team Fail]

Are you sure it's not in the same compression as MobiClip? I don't think it's been cracked yet.

[Bond697]

it's supposed to be a/2/2/2, but i don't know much about the format.

e: you sure it's mobiclip? the mobiclip library isn't listed.

RAM_ARM9:02005050 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkNintendoDwc5_3_300 DCB "[SDK+NINTENDO:DWC5.3.30054.20100706.1000_TWLDWC_5_3_PATCH1_SSLGD"
RAM_ARM9:02005050 2B 4E 49 4E+                                        ; DATA XREF: sub_20581F0+8o
RAM_ARM9:02005050 54 45 4E 44+                                        ; RAM_ARM9:off_2058228o
RAM_ARM9:02005050 4F 3A 44 57+DCB "B4]"
RAM_ARM9:02005093 00          ALIGN 4
RAM_ARM9:02005094 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkNintendoBac DCB "[SDK+NINTENDO:BACKUP]",0
RAM_ARM9:02005094 2B 4E 49 4E+                                        ; DATA XREF: sub_206F0EC+20o
RAM_ARM9:02005094 54 45 4E 44+                                        ; RAM_ARM9:off_206F234o ...
RAM_ARM9:020050AA 00 00       ALIGN 4
RAM_ARM9:020050AC 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkUbiquitousCps DCB "[SDK+UBIQUITOUS:CPS]",0
RAM_ARM9:020050C1 00 00 00    ALIGN 4
RAM_ARM9:020050C4 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkNintendoWifi3_3_30 DCB "[SDK+NINTENDO:WiFi3.3.30052.201006221129]",0
RAM_ARM9:020050EE 00 00       ALIGN 0x10
RAM_ARM9:020050F0 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkUbiquitousSsl DCB "[SDK+UBIQUITOUS:SSL]",0
RAM_ARM9:02005105 00 00 00    ALIGN 4
RAM_ARM9:02005108 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkNintendoLibvct1_4_ DCB "[SDK+Nintendo:libVCT 1.4.1]",0

[PokémonShinySilver]

Originally Posted by Team Fail

Are you sure it's not in the same compression as MobiClip? I don't think it's been cracked yet.

Hm... MobiClip... I think I've heard that name before, but I don't think I've looked into it before.

Originally Posted by Bond697

it's supposed to be a/2/2/2, but i don't know much about the format.

e: you sure it's mobiclip? the mobiclip library isn't listed.

RAM_ARM9:02005050 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkNintendoDwc5_3_300 DCB "[SDK+NINTENDO:DWC5.3.30054.20100706.1000_TWLDWC_5_3_PATCH1_SSLGD"
RAM_ARM9:02005050 2B 4E 49 4E+                                        ; DATA XREF: sub_20581F0+8o
RAM_ARM9:02005050 54 45 4E 44+                                        ; RAM_ARM9:off_2058228o
RAM_ARM9:02005050 4F 3A 44 57+DCB "B4]"
RAM_ARM9:02005093 00          ALIGN 4
RAM_ARM9:02005094 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkNintendoBac DCB "[SDK+NINTENDO:BACKUP]",0
RAM_ARM9:02005094 2B 4E 49 4E+                                        ; DATA XREF: sub_206F0EC+20o
RAM_ARM9:02005094 54 45 4E 44+                                        ; RAM_ARM9:off_206F234o ...
RAM_ARM9:020050AA 00 00       ALIGN 4
RAM_ARM9:020050AC 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkUbiquitousCps DCB "[SDK+UBIQUITOUS:CPS]",0
RAM_ARM9:020050C1 00 00 00    ALIGN 4
RAM_ARM9:020050C4 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkNintendoWifi3_3_30 DCB "[SDK+NINTENDO:WiFi3.3.30052.201006221129]",0
RAM_ARM9:020050EE 00 00       ALIGN 0x10
RAM_ARM9:020050F0 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkUbiquitousSsl DCB "[SDK+UBIQUITOUS:SSL]",0
RAM_ARM9:02005105 00 00 00    ALIGN 4
RAM_ARM9:02005108 5B 53 44 4B+aSdkNintendoLibvct1_4_ DCB "[SDK+Nintendo:libVCT 1.4.1]",0

Was a/2/2/2 the area where the opening cinematic was in the first Black/White? I've looked in a/2/2/2 in Black 2, and that folder contains many binary files. Could they be the frames for the animation process? As for the first Black/White, in a/2/2/2 contains BMD0 models of trucks, which is nothing related to the opening cinematic.

If so, I wonder how we're going to edit the frames to make it different?

[Awkward Squirtle]

I suspect Game Freak have their own proprietary movie format, used for the intro movie (including Game Freak logo). You're not going to get very far unless you can figure out how their movie codec works.

[shiny quagsire]

Originally Posted by Awkward Squirtle

I suspect Game Freak have their own proprietary movie format, used for the intro movie (including Game Freak logo). You're not going to get very far unless you can figure out how their movie codec works.

If it is proprietary, I'd imagine it isn't too complicated. Probably a stream of compressed images (PNG, JPEG, raw RGB(A) data) with some sort of header telling different data like speed or something.

[PokémonShinySilver]

Originally Posted by shiny quagsire

If it is proprietary, I'd imagine it isn't too complicated. Probably a stream of compressed images (PNG, JPEG, raw RGB(A) data) with some sort of header telling different data like speed or something.

Yeah, that's exactly what I've been thinking. However from what I've seen... it only contains the data and no header. Like for instance, if you look in a/2/2/2 (which is what I've been told that is the opening cinematic data) in B2/W2... you'll notice all those binary files contain no headers at all.

But I can take a guess at what they might've used before they put them into Adobe PhotoShop, they probably would've used Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya or some kind of 3D modeling program.

'Cause I've tried everything except for the 3D models in Adobe PhotoShop to attempt to produce the blue/red glow from the logo in the same way as it does in B2/W2. So the only way of getting that kind of effect would be using 3D models in Adobe PhotoShop before saving them as .png or .bmp. From what I've noticed, the opening cinematic in both B/W and B2/W2 don't contain as many colours as what a .png image would, it matches that of a .bmp.

[Bond697]

there are potential library functions for 6 or 7 different 3d modeling programs, but in bw2 only 3 are included in the engine: 3dsmax, maya, and something called xsi. so if that's what the files are, they likely started out as one of those.

Spoiler:

[PokémonShinySilver]

Originally Posted by Bond697

there are potential library functions for 6 or 7 different 3d modeling programs, but in bw2 only 3 are included in the engine: 3dsmax, maya, and something called xsi. so if that's what the files are, they likely started out as one of those.

Spoiler:

Hm... interesting. Now that you mention about "something called xsi", that's actually SoftimageXSI. Which I have indeed looked all over Google for the version compatible with the Nitro Plugin I have, which is 4.0. It's impossible to find it anywhere on the web, unless there's someone willing selling theirs or something, wow... it just shows how many historical programs have been lost to the sands of time. Though I know the current versions of SoftimageXSI is made by Autodesk now.

So yeah anyways, wow I see some NNSi (Nintendo NITRO-System i) functions as well. Probably comes with the TwilightSDK, which hasn't been leaked.

[Bond697]

a good amount of the twl sdk is exactly the same as the nitro sdk aside from some adjustments to the card and filesystem libraries. there are differences in other libraries though, i occasionally have to make up a name for a function. the "i" functions are internal to the devkit only, not for use by app developers. they're not dsi-related. internal functions in the nitro system, wifi system, sdk, and other libraries are marked with the library name and then an "i" are internal.

btw, just for the sake of trivia, the entire set of modelling programs usable with the nitro system are 3dsmax, maya, si3d, and xsi. some of the stuff i thought was different modelling programs are actually general-purpose for the listed programs.

[Team Fail]

A bit late to the party, but I've found a program on the ActImagine Video codec, and it seems to use an VXS1-encoded AVI file. However, I can't get it to play. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to upload the .avi videos in question that are encoded with this, but I'm going to look a bit more and see what else I can find. It might be the same codec used, but I'm not sure.

Edit: The VXS-1 codec was included in the ActImagine files, and I managed to install it as well.

[Bond697]

i don't think it is. libVX isn't part of the linked-in libraries. if you look above, i pasted them all in. if libVX was there and used, it would show up. i know because the abiosso lib is another middleware lib for voice chat and it shows up in the list. so are libVCT and ubiquitous ssl.