How to open Dreamcast BIN Files

[Roareye]

So this is an odd forum for this topic, if it's wrong then feel free to move it, however it kinda hits on Homebrew, Emulation and Online - as well as modifying disc-based assets.

For those who don't know, Dream Library was an official SEGA Mega Drive (and PC Engine, if that can ever be recovered) emulator program built into Dream Passport 3 and Dream Passport Premier (the later Japanese web browsers - their version of Dreamkey/PlanetWeb). It wasn't the best emulator, but the unique element of Dream Library was that you could rent Mega Drive ROMs from SEGA online, download the ROM and play it on your Dreamcast (until you powered the system off). Essentially it was one of the first console versions of something akin to XBLA.

Now that's out of the way, myself and -drez01- have been working our arses off on a project called DreamArena 3. Part of that (my part) is the building of website asset materials, including the new DreamArena homepage. -drez01-'s part is compiling a new browser disc that essentially incorporates the best of all the browsers, including translations of Dream Passport and functional interchanges between Dreamkey and Dream Passport, the revival of the built-in IRC capabilities of Passport and more. One of the assets we want to translate is Dream Library.

I am happy to do the translating, and happy to do the modifications to the images to keep the style as close to the originals as possible (I've already converted the PVRs to PNGs to allow me the ability to mod them in Photoshop). However I am currently a bit confused as to where some of the assets are for Dream Library and I was hoping someone with some knowledge of coding could give me a nudge in the right direction as to how the interface operates.

All I can find in the assets are the following;

- From DREAMLIB/MD_EMU
FONT16, FONT20_3 and FONT20_4 are all Japanese letters
MOJI01 is an English alphabet
HAIKEI is English language credits for the Mega Drive Emulator
OPTION appears to be the main menu image with additional control info assets stored to the side

- From DREAMLIB
ERROR is a copy of OPTION from above, however loses all control info and adds Japanese text over the image (presumably an error message)
TITLE04 is English language credits for the Dream Library itself

I can't find the title screen to Dream Library itself, or the Main Menu assets, or the Dricas Dialling assets. Can someone help me to locate where these might actually be on the disc? The PNGs would be nice, but even the location of the PVRs would be a huge help as I can convert them to PNGs myself.

I'm aware it won't connect atm, but that's not my key concern atm. Thank you for your help guys.

[Roareye]

I've just gone through all the disc assets again and still can't find the rest of it.

Could it be in a BIN file? And if so how would I extract it from there? I don't mind doing the legwork, but need help with how to proceed.

[PkR]

If you do a search for "PVRT" (PVR texture header) or "PVMH" (PVR texture archive header) strings, you can find some texture data in 1DR_LIB.BIN. You could extract it manually by carving the PVMs/PVRs out of the file with a hex editor. You might also be able to extract them automatically with this tool: https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1473/

[Roareye]

If you do a search for "PVRT" (PVR texture header) or "PVMH" (PVR texture archive header) strings, you can find some texture data in 1DR_LIB.BIN. You could extract it manually by carving the PVMs/PVRs out of the file with a hex editor. You might also be able to extract them automatically with this tool: https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1473/

That looks pretty handy. Can't get it to fire up though. Whenever I open pvrext.exe it just says;
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Usage: pvrext.exe -flag file.dat res_dir

Flags:

-e - Extract files
-p - Patching files


Press any key to continue . . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I press a key it closes down. Does the program need to be in the same folder as the BIN file I'm trying to extract from, or am I missing something?

[PkR]

It's a command line tool, so you're supposed to use it in the command line like this:
pvrext.exe -e 1DR_LIB.BIN PVR
That said, I've tried it and it doesn't seem to be able to find anything in the file. But the BIN file definitely contains some texture data.
Also, have you looked at the PVM files in the DPDL folder? Both contain menu graphics:
https://imgur.com/a/8XHt0yZ

[Roareye]

Oh I see. I'm not very technie in that way XD Expect programs to run themselves because I'm a luddite lol

I downloaded a different version of his thing here; http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-1701.html
And used that. It found nothing in the BIN file either, BUT I ran it on the original browser disc and got closer. It gave me the PVRs but they're garbled. The link you shared has the exact images I need, but I want them from the disc (the ones on imgur have been compressed).
I've tried on a CDI copy disc and on an original GDI of Dream Passport 3 Urban.

I might try the command line thing as you say, perhaps the updated app he uploaded is faulty.

::EDIT:: Just got what you said, with the BIN files in the DPDL folder! :O Why didn't I think of that? Going through them now. There's a lot to go through though lol

[Roareye]

It's a command line tool, so you're supposed to use it in the command line like this:
pvrext.exe -e 1DR_LIB.BIN PVR
That said, I've tried it and it doesn't seem to be able to find anything in the file. But the BIN file definitely contains some texture data.
Also, have you looked at the PVM files in the DPDL folder? Both contain menu graphics:
https://imgur.com/a/8XHt0yZ

I'm using PVR Viewer and it can't seem to read PVM files. What program would you recommend to read PVM and rip the menu graphics?

Downloaded PVMEdit from Sonic Retro and it will open both PVM files, but the contents only seem to be black and white PVRs. Am I doing something wrong? How did you extract those images?

[Roareye]

DONE IT! Thank you SO much PkR for pointing me to the PVM files! All the assets... they're soo beautiful ;u;

[Aleron Ives]

The annoying part is trying to convert new images into PVR, as only Sega's official PVR tools are able to save in all the various PVR RGB and compression formats.