VMU Tool 0.7.0 released

[speud]

Well it has been slightly delayed but its finally coming :)

here are links to the SBI (http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/vmutool_070_sbi.rar) to easily create an image with Selfboot Inducer, the elf file (http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/vmutool_070_elf.rar) to upload from your PC with dc-load, and the scrambled bin (http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/vmutool_070_scrambled_bin.rar) to burn on a multisession disc or to use with any sefboot app.

here is a sample of the readme file:

What is VMU Tool ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is an app for the Dreamcast and especially for its memory card, the VMU.

With this tool you'll be able to:
- manage files from your VM easily (copy, rename, remove copy protection...)
- download saves and minigames from your CD or your PC
- backup files from your VM to your PC
- increase your VMU capacity to 241 blocks
- change the icon and color without having to reformat your VM
- hexedit your files or your whole VMU
- dump your VMU to your PC
- edit existing extra icon or draw a new one
- save extra BG images for your boot menu
plus a few other things that are not yet implemented...

The goal of this project is to have everything you need for your VM gathered
in one ultimate VMU Tool :)



What's new in version 0.7.0 ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- fixed a lot of bugs
- added an "Options" menu with a skin selector
- implemented multi-language menus
- allowed free browsing in "Open CD/PC" functions instead of the "vmutool" dir
- rearranged the menus so they are more user friendly
- implemented the Extra icon editor
- made the app check for existing files with ability to overwrite them
- added the ability to rename the file before saving
- optimized the code to gain some speed (noticable with the Hexeditor)
- implemented VM icons and eyecatches for files created with the app
- added an Extra BG selector
- fixed the creation date and time
- probably a lot of other things that took me so long but I can't remember :P

please read the readme file before asking any question like "how it works?", "how i do this and that?", "why it is doing this?", etc.

also it may be good to read the previous "VMU Tool" topic, a few things have changed from the previous version though.
for example you dont need to create a "vmutool" dir anymore nor need to have the extensions in lowercase.

i didnt want to delay the release once more so i kind of rushed this release at the end, the options menu is a bit buggy but thats the only thing i noticed.
thanks for reporting other problems you encountered that are not already mentionned in the readme.

here are some more screenshots:
http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/ss4/t1.png (http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/ss4/1.png) http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/ss4/t2.png (http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/ss4/2.png) http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/ss4/t3.png (http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmutool/ss4/3.png)

enjoy ;)

[wraggster]

Great release :)

[speud]

thanks, now im waiting for impressions, bug reports, suggestions, etc.
i hope it will get more interest than the previous release.

EDIT: wow youre fast, i just noticed you already posted the news. thanks for that, its fantastic ;)

[wraggster]

well i do like to give zoidy and hawq a run for thier money :)

[souLLy]

i think all of these files are corrupted, ive tried both the sbi and scrambled files. looking forward to playing with them...

[speud]

hmmm the elf is not corrupted for sure, i got the first report from another forum.
i used the sbi with selfboot inducer and the scrambled bin with dchakker both worked fine.
the only reason i see they would be corrupted is i uploaded them in ASCII mode by accident, or you didnt save them properly.

EDIT: its very unlikely they are corrupted, or you couldnt even extract the files from the archives.
btw what makes you think they are corrupted exactly?

[wraggster]

An update, LyonHrt downloaded them and they are not corrupt :)

Use the latest version of WinRAR :)

[speud]

ah it reassures me, thanks.
would be nice to get LyonHrt's comments now :)

[wraggster]

Soully on IRC said he will be posting some :)

we were discussing the thought of Sanchezs Vmoo and this VMU Tool combiining to make a fantastic vmu emu that can have so many features :)

[souLLy]

ok well i'm playing with it now and i must say it's very good.

at first the menus/buttons are a bit confusing but once you figure out what's going on everything's great. it looks good, and appears to work very well. i like the vmu icon feature thats very nice. an excellent release well done :D

if i may make a suggestion for a future release, maybe the option of putting a text file with the same filename as the vmu save in the same directory as the save, with a short description of the save. as its a little confusing when you have more than one save for the same game on a cd.

... oops i managed to crash the options screen, but you did say its a little buggy ;)

[LyonHrt]

ah it reassures me, thanks.
would be nice to get LyonHrt's comments now :)

Sorry to busy with working on the site side of things :(
I need to take time out to play my Dreamcast :)

But yeah downloads are fine, if anyone has probs with unraring, make sure you have the latest winrar, otherwise it might act like they're corrupt.

[speud]

ok well i'm playing with it now and i must say it's very good.

at first the menus/buttons are a bit confusing but once you figure out what's going on everything's great. it looks good, and appears to work very well. i like the vmu icon feature thats very nice. an excellent release well done
thanks :)


if i may make a suggestion for a future release, maybe the option of putting a text file with the same filename as the vmu save in the same directory as the save, with a short description of the save. as its a little confusing when you have more than one save for the same game on a cd.
you can already enter a description of your file in the VMI ;) use my VMI editor here: http://bswirl.kitsunet.org/vmieditor/


oops i managed to crash the options screen, but you did say its a little buggy
yer thats something i mentionned in the readme, but it would have delay the release once more if i really took time to fix this bug that i noticed after i made the final changes. anyway thats the only place where it crashes from my first tests, and you dont need to go in options too often anyway :) i got the vmu files list to freeze once too :-/


Sorry to busy with working on the site side of things
nevermind, i thought you tested it

[souLLy]

heh i realised the vmi header contains the info after i posted the message doh! that vmi editor is really useful too, easier than using a hex editor :)

[speud]

we were discussing the thought of Sanchezs Vmoo and this VMU Tool combiining to make a fantastic vmu emu that can have so many features
btw if youre in touch with dirty sanchez you can tell him im waiting for him to contact me, i too am impatient to get a VM emu with a file selector.

if he his too busy or changed his mind i could try to port marcus' emu by myself but that would require lot of work dirty sanchez already did and probably better that i would, so that would be a waste.

also by implementing the extra icon editor LCD display i thought it would be quite feasable to draw the emulated frames on the VM screen in real time, thats a feature i would really love to see for a VM emu on DC.

[souLLy]

I'd love to see the two projects combined, fingers crossed :D

[Christuserloeser]

Now that would be great! :)