VMU icon dump and development

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Slurmking
lithium
Posts: 45

VMU icon dump and development

Post#1 » Mon Apr 18, 2022 4:56 pm

Hey guy's not sure if this is the right place but this seemed the most code/tinker friendly area.

I have been doing a lot of research on .vms and .vmi files and I am currently developing a Python package to release to you guys that will hopefully help everyone do basic things like generate .vmi files and render / encode icon data.

To test the progress I have been making I ran a quick dump of all the Dreamcast save files and mini-games I could find, and I think the results speak for themselves.

If you'd like you can take a look here.

https://github.com/slurmking/vmu-Icon-Backups
Image
There are over 400 high resolution gifs and icons for your archiving pleasure.

My end goal is to make sure that we preserve all the knowledge that we can, just learning how to read these files was a nightmare of scrolling through dead links and waybackmachine archives. If anyone has any questions about the .vms, .vmi, or ICONDATA file types / structure just let me know.

RobertDaleSmith
noob
Posts: 1

Re: VMU icon dump and development

Post#2 » Fri Jun 10, 2022 12:16 pm

This is super awesome work! Back in the Dreamcast days I ran a VMU icon website. Majority of the icons I created were requested by email. Few years ago I dug up the web site files but all the vms/vmi files were lost. I was able to recreate them and get the website back up and running at the original domain name dcvmuicons.net. Last I tested the file downloading was working with the Dreamcast's web browser.

I have been dreaming of building a simple drag and drop web interface for creating VMU icons. The R&D you have done could be super helpful in making that possible.

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Xiden
Developer
Posts: 2219

Re: VMU icon dump and development

Post#3 » Fri Jun 10, 2022 1:58 pm

Fantastic job as always Slurmking!

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-drez01-
Tank Jr.
Posts: 344

Re: VMU icon dump and development

Post#4 » Fri Jun 10, 2022 2:55 pm

Hey man, exciting to see some interest in this. I agree, info on doing basic things like making your own vmu icons with lcd image is buried.

Most of the old tools are for DOS or win9x based, which is not ideal..

Not to mention things like making 3 frame save animations or eyecatches. That is the stuff I am interested in!

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Slurmking
lithium
Posts: 45

Re: VMU icon dump and development

Post#5 » Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:05 pm

Been pecking away at this the last week or so again. Updated the package to create custom ICONDATA files from square images.

Check it out https://github.com/slurmking/vmu-tools


Original
Image
Converted color
Image
Converted mono
Image
ICONDATA.zip
(671 Bytes) Downloaded 114 times


You can adjust the threshold for the black and white image to tune it to your liking.
I plan on making a better editor or possibly a web app version to make this process easier.

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Slurmking
lithium
Posts: 45

Re: VMU icon dump and development

Post#6 » Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:58 pm

Just made a custom Dreamcast-Talk icon if anyone wants

ICONDATA_mono.png
ICONDATA_mono.png (13.01 KiB) Viewed 3668 times

ICONDATA_color.png
ICONDATA_color.png (16.42 KiB) Viewed 3668 times


ICONDATA.zip
(833 Bytes) Downloaded 119 times

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Xiden
Developer
Posts: 2219

Re: VMU icon dump and development

Post#7 » Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:37 pm

Awesome work as always slurmking!

Oscar1984
noob
Posts: 2

Re: VMU icon dump and development

Post#8 » Thu Dec 28, 2023 3:31 pm

Thanks for your help in developing the Python package. I think this will be useful for developers. I'm just studying a similar topic and using the services of this service https://www.programmingassignment.net/services/php-assignment-help/ to experience as few difficulties as possible with the concept of programming. I like that the teachers at this company are able to explain complex problems in a simplified way, which is very effective for learning.

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