REQUIRED SOFTWARE:
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 (USA)
- UMD Gen 4.0
- TFCardEditGUI
- BatchGimConv
- Gimp
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PART 1 - LET'S BEGIN:
1.1: For this task, we create a new folder on the desktop where we will work, which we will call YUGI.
There, we create a new copy of the game's ISO. (We keep the original in a safe place in case "we" make a mistake).
The first thing we will do is open the ISO and extract a file that contains the sprites we need.
1.2: We open UMD Gen 4.0 and click "Open".
A window will open. In that window, we select the copy of the ISO that we just created in the YUGI folder.
If the process goes well, you will see the Tag Force image on one side of the window.
1.3: In the main panel, click on the PSP_Game folder.
1.4: Open "USRDIR"
1.5: Select the file "always_usa_eng.ehp".
Right-click on it and select "Extract selected".
1.6: A window will open where we need to choose the folder where the file will be extracted.
Locate the YUGI folder.
After opening the folder again, the file "always_usa_eng.ehp" should now be there.
Now, we need to extract the contents of this file.
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PART 2 - EXTRACTING THE CONTENT OF ALWAYS_USA_ENG.EHP
2.1: Create a new folder inside the YUGI folder and name it "TFCardEditGUI".
Inside that folder, copy the "TFCardEditGUI" file and extract it.
Once done, open the "TFCardEdit.exe" file.
8: When opening the program, select "Unpack EhFolder".
2.2: A window will open.
There, select "always_usa_eng.ehp" (the file we just extracted in the previous steps).
2.3: Another window will open, where we will choose where to extract the contents of that file.
Inside the YUGI folder, create a new folder and name it "always_usa_eng".
2.4: Open that new folder, and you should see a bunch of files, including:
- "sd_play_sla.gim"
- "sd_play_ver.gim"
(sd_play_ver.gim)
(sd_play_sla.gim)
The problem is that, to view and work with them, we need to convert them from .GIM to .PNG.
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PART 3 - CONVERTING SPRITES FROM GIM TO PNG AND BACK TO GIM
3.1: Inside the YUGI folder, create a new folder named "BatchGimConv".
Copy and extract BatchGimConv into this folder.
A bunch of new folders will be generated.
Inside the BatchGimConv folder, open the "gim2png" folder.
Within this folder, you will see 2 subfolders:
3.2: Open the "source" folder and place the files "sd_play_sla.gim" and "sd_play_ver.gim" that we obtained in the previous step inside it.
3.3: Go back to the "gim2png" folder and run the gim2png.bat file.
A window will briefly open.
Now, open the "output" folder, and if everything went well, we should have the files converted to PNG format.
3.4: We will edit the sprites to our liking using any editing program, but once we finish, we will open them with GIMP and export new copies in PNG format.
3.5: Now, go back to the "gim2png" folder and open the "png2gim_pspdxt5" folder.
Once again, we will see the same folder structure as before.
This time, open the "source" folder and paste the 2 edited sprites inside.
3.6: Go back to the "png2gim_pspdxt5" folder and run "png2gim_pspdxt5.bat".
3.7: In the "output" folder, we will have our sprites back in GIM format.
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PART 4 - REBUILDING always_usa_eng.ehp
4.1: To conclude, copy our sprites in GIM format into the "always_usa_eng" folder we created in step 2.3.
We will be asked if we want to replace the files. Click Yes.
4.2: Now, go back to the "TFCardEdit" program and select the "Pack EhFolder" option. When a window opens, navigate to the "always_usa_eng" folder and double-click on any file inside it.
4.3: A new window will appear, and we will need to select the "always_usa_eng.ehp" file.
We will be asked if we want to replace the file. Click Yes.
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PART 5 - REBUILDING THE ISO
5.1: Drag the "always_usa_eng.ehp" file into UMDGen, replacing the file we extracted in step 1.5.6.2: Press SAVE, Uncompressed (.iso)
We create a new ISO with a different name.
6.3: Once the loading process is complete, we will open the game.
If you followed the steps correctly, you should see your sprite in game.
Quick notes:
- This tutorial applies to Tag1 and Tag3. But sprites may be stored in another file.
- This won´t change the MC sprite in minigames. To do that, you have to find where are those sprites stored and follow the same steps. This depends on the installment and region of your game.
