AFJ All Day

A blog of my terrible patchwork solutions to tech problems.

[afjallday]

DDRescue and Ubuntu (Portable)

So this is a short one. DDRescue is a tool to recover blocks of data from a hard drive. Think of HDDCopy but on steroids. The original DDRescue is a terminal program. I will be talking about the DDRescue-GUI

In order to launch it, you must download dependencies listed in the link, or the PPA here: https://launchpad.net/~hamishmb/+archive/ubuntu/myppa

Here is the command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hamishmb/myppa

sudo apt update

That should do it

[afjallday]

Opcode Studio Vision 4.5.1 to MIDI

Before we begin:

1. (If not using OS9 compatible hardware) Get SheepShaver and follow an install guide like this one. I will assume you’ve already set this up. If using original hardware, ignore info about the “This PC” drive, and instead transfer files using whatever methods are available to you.

2. Download Opcode Studio Vision 4.5.1 *the final release before they were acquired and became defunct. (originally from this forum, you may need to register)  Also be sure to download Open Music System 2.3.8 (OMS).

3. Download ResEdit  (this tip courtesy of https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7440800?answerId=29707864022#29707864022)

Please note: The data and resource forks of OS9 files will be damaged when storing them on non-Macintosh file systems. To prevent this, files should be encoded with the MacBinary format (.bin) or Stuffit compression (.sit / .hqx) before transferring off of an OS9 machine. This includes application files as well as project files.

Installing OMS And StudioVision Pro

As soon as you start up SheepShaver and finally boot in to the desktop, make sure you see the “This PC” icon allowing you to copy and paste files between your PC and the emulator. If you don’t see it, google how to set it up within SheepShaver and whatever OS you’re running on your main computer.

Once that’s settled, go to “This PC” and navigate to the folder containing the “.sit” files for both OMS and Studio Vision Pro. Copy both to the desktop and unpack them to a new folder. Now open the OMS folder. Click the Installer and use Easy Install. Let it run, then reboot when prompted.

Upon reboot, follow this chart:

Make sure as many of these files as possible are in the correct location on your drive. This includes files inside the Studio Vision folder. Please note this chart is for Vision DSP, but it still mostly applies for Studio Pro. Just regard anything listed as Vision DSP as Studio, and ignore anything that you don’t have inside either folder. Everything else needs to be moved to the right location since Studio Vision doesn’t have a proper installer.

Now navigate to the Studio Vision Pro folder and open StudioVision PPC

You will likely get an error about a font called Aloisen not being found. Don’t worry about this, it is only necessary for the notation function, not for MIDI work. You may also encounter a popup about ASIO drivers not working, just hit Cancel.

The drivers may be required for playback in the software, but if all you need to do is export as MIDI, you can ignore this.

You should be greeted by a screen like this:

Now, once again navigate to the “This PC” drive and copy over any StudioVision document files you have.

Go into the folder where your project files are located and select View > as List. This will give you more information about the files inside, such as the kind of file it is. Below is a screenshot of the types of files you may encounter.

If it says StudioVision document, you’re all set and don’t need to read the next section. Skip to Exporting as MIDI. If it instead only says “document” read on.

Restoring The Correct File Kind

Now, it’s quite likely that somewhere along the way, the files lost their association metadata, making them impossible to open in Studio Vision without tweaking them first. That’s where ResEdit comes in.

Unpack the “ResEdit_2.1.3.sit.hqx” file to its own folder on the desktop as well

Open it up and navigate to the ResEdit program. Open it and you will be greeted by this splash screen:

Click on the image and it will start the program.

From here, a file navigaiton window should open. Find the Studio Vision documents you want to alter. Open one and you will be greeted a screen like this:

Select OK and ignore the window it opens. Next, go to File > Get Info For [filenamehere] . It should open a window like this

We are only interested in the two blank boxes near the top- Type: and Creator:

Here we are basically restoring the tags that tell Mac OS 9 these files are for a specific program. In our case that is Studio Vision Pro and these are the tags (caps are important here):

Type: MID2   Creator: MIDA

Now, go to File > Save. If you see a text box about not allowing more than 4 characters in the type box, double click the box until it’s highlighted purple. Then hit backspace and type the tag again. Same for the creator box if required. Now save it. We are done with ResEdit.

Exporting As MIDI

From here it’s pretty straight forward. Double click the newly restored file and it should open StudioVision. You may see a popup like this about undefined channels:

That’s completely normal. It’s unlikely you’d still have the same setup from over two decades ago. Just click Cancel. You should now see a screen similar to this:

From here, select File > Export as MIDI File... and Select a folder to export to.

PLEASE NOTE: Exporting to midi only exports the currently selected sequence, not the entire project. If your project has multiple sequences, be sure to export each one individually.

Now simply copy the exports back to a folder on the “This PC” drive. From here you may notice none of the files are actually labeled as “.mid” files. Simply select the file name, and add the “.mid” to the end yourself, agreeing to any popups about changing the file type in the process. You are now DONE. I hope this was helpful.

[afjallday]

Shin Megami Tensei - Persona (PSP) Undub Patch and Music Restoration Tutorial

This is for anyone looking to play SMT Persona on the PSP (only tested on emulator however) and would like to use the undub patch AS WELL AS the PSX music patch. This is basically just getting around the checksum that xDelta uses before patching the ISO.

The checksum is like a file’s fingerprint, it can help verify that whatever file this is, even if renamed, has the same exact data as another copy of that file. This is used to make sure that a game patch is applied to the correct version of a game.

To Download:

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona PSP .ISO (look for it on the Music patch link)

Delta Patcher 2.0.1

PSX Music Patch (look for the .xdelta file)

SMT Persona Undub

1. Applying the Undub

Once everything is downloaded, you can unzip everything into separate folders. The Persona zip will contain a .ISO file, and the Undub will contain a program and another folder.

After unzipping the original Persona .ISO as well as the Persona undub folder, open the undub folder and launch the Persona 1 Undub Patcher.exe.

Once open, select the “Patch...” option on the bottom right of the window. This will bring up the file explorer, go to the directory where you saved the unmodified Persona .ISO, and select it. 

If the program says the checksum is incorrect at this point, it likely means the .ISO you have has already been modified in some way and may lead to issues further down the line. If this is the case, you’ll need to get another copy of the .ISO from someplace else.

From here the patcher will do all the work, from verifying the hash file to applying the patch. Once the patch is applied successfully, you will find a second version of the .ISO with an added ”_[Undub]” on the end of the name in the same directory as the original. You can now exit the program.

2. Applying the PSX Music Patch (by ignoring checksum)

Now that your game has been patched with the undub mod, it will not have the same checksum as before. Because of the new checksum, the file appears to be incorrect to any further patching of the game file. This will be bypassed manually in this next step.

Now, unzip the DeltaPatcher.exe from the “Deltapatcher_v2.0.1_win32_bin.zip” file and launch it.

In the program, first select the file icon under “original file” and look for the newly patched undub .ISO file. Then look for the XDelta patch file for the PSX Music patch. It will likely be titled “Persona PSX Music Patch Beta by Canzah.xdelta”

Once both file locations are selected, click the cog icon to the right of the apply patch button. Uncheck the option titled “Checksum validation” then click Apply Patch.

You will most likely see a window popup like this.

Click “Cancel” and then click “Apply Patch” once again. It should now say patch applied successfully. Unlike the previous patch, this one edits the ISO directly and does not create another copy or rename it.

You should now have a patched copy of the game that has Japanese voices as well as the original (less poppy) music.

[afjallday]

Hackintosh UEFI fix

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/solved-uefi-clover-boot-option-gone-after-bios-update.211715/

[Solved] UEFI clover boot option gone after BIOS update

Following fixing a different issue, where Clover was making a new UEFI boot drive every time I restarted (causing 20+ boot drives in bios),

[afjallday]

My Wake On Lan Setup

This is how to setup WOL on my weird bridge setup of: MY_PC > Ethernet Cable > Airport Extreme (in bridge mode) > Airport Express (router)

The Planning Phase: A.  Open the command console on the PC, and type in " ipconfig /all " B.  Scroll down until you see the device you plan to use for W.O.L. ("Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller” in my case) C.  Take note of it's preferred “IPv4 Address” and "Physical Address" (MAC address), as this will be used to reserve the IP address later.

Network Setup: 1.  Open Airport Utility (either on iMac or mobile version works) 3.  Check for the Extreme's MAC address in "hardware info" tab on extreme. (Use WiFi address) 2.  Reserve the ip address of both the Extreme (bridge), and the PC you want to W.O.L. 3.  Create new ports under the "Port Settings" tab, using the ip address reserved for the PC. (NOT THE EXTREME) 4.  Save everything and quit.

PC Setup: 5.  Under device manager, find the network adapter you plan to use (Realtek Ethernet most likely) 6.  Right Click on it, and select properties. Look at the Advanced tab 7.  Under Advanced, Look for "Wake on Magic Packet" and turn it on. 8.  Go to "Power Management" tab, and check the box labled  "Allow this device to wake computer" and "Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer"

Mobile App Setup: 9.  Find a WOL app (I use "Wake") 10. Use MAC address of your PC's Ethernet port, and the router's public ip address (whatsmyip.com) 11. Use a port number you opened in step 3.

12 Test it with a magic packet sniffer, or try putting your pc to sleep

LINKS

Magic Packet Sniffer (good one)

[afjallday]

The Process of Pixel Art: Doing

I have been asked by friends how I go about making my pixel art so I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and answer it here.

What you need:

-Pencil + Paper

-Photoshop or equivalent

The process for creating pixel art is fairly straight forward. Like any other form of art, you have an idea, then you realize it.

In the case of the image in this post, I had the idea of creating a town overview for a fictitious video game me and some friends came up with.

I started with listing what I thought would make fun game levels and objectives, then what kind of buildings I would need complete those objectives. Things like hardware stores, malls, schools, art museums, movie theaters, science labs, and so on.

Then came time for the initial paper sketch:

This would become the basis for the overall layout of the town map.

Next, I scanned the map and smoothed out the look with simple lines (in a non pixel style)

With this more concrete layout I went to work by minimizing this image to the smallest scale I could, then tracing everything with crisp clean pixels:

This part most resembles traditional media, just painting as usual, just using more limited tools

Finally, after some finessing, the end product is complete, and you have yourself a piece of retro pixel art!

[afjallday]

Pixel Art: What is it?

From time to time I dabble in the medium of pixel art. But what is that?

(some of my earlier attempts at pixel art)

 Pixel art is the use of large computer pixels to create an image. Originally this method was less of a preference and more of a requirement for computer and game programmers in the early years of computer electronics. Old computers couldn’t store or reproduce the large file sizes required for detailed artwork, and as such, it was up to the graphic artists to make recognizable imagery using limited canvas sizes and color palettes that a computer could actually use. Now a days, computers are powerful enough to do all sorts of fancy graphics, 2D and 3D, but some people still choose to create in pixel art either out of nostalgia for the art styles of the games they grew up playing, or as a way to challenge their skills as artists by forcing them to limit themselves in terms of tools available.

Now, to be clear, I don’t consider myself to be an artist, I’m just interested in older computer tech, and I love explaining why and how people used to use older tech. In the next post I will show the process of thought to product in the ways of pixel art.