VPW Studio Pre-Alpha Preview 36/v0.0.0.36
=========================================

This update is hard to summarize without pointing to the changelog items,
so I'm just not going to write a proper intro this time.

Changes from Pre-Alpha Preview 35
---------------------------------
- [Toki 1 Test Dialog] Now displays address of the Toki 1 data inside of the file.

- [Code Segment Test] Added support for WWF No Mercy pre-release versions.

- Added Global Text viewer for WrestleMania 2000 and later.

- [Font Dialog] Added support for WWF No Mercy June 2000 prototype.

- [Ci*Palette] Ignore empty lines when trying to import palettes from .vpwspal files.

- [Danger Zone] Added Move Animation and Properties Test Dialog (WM2K and later).

- [Code Segment Test] Some changes to the "Pointer to ROM" functionality:
 - Address is now checked if it's in the range of the current selected segment.
   Since the same virtual address can point to different ROM locations depending
   on which segment is loaded, this should (hopefully) remove false positives.
 - Addresses in BSS regions will now notify you that there are no ROM addresses
   for values in the BSS region.
 - Addresses found before the start of the first segment will be converted
   properly now.

- [FileTableDB] Updates to multiple FileTableDBs.
 - World Tour has some small updates.
 - VPW64 had some arena-related files marked, and a palette error fixed.
 - Revenge is now 100% marked. Labeling is still ongoing.
 - WM2K has more files labeled in both NTSC-U/PAL and NTSC-J versions.
 - VPW2 has been updated in my quest to get everything labeled for the decomp.
 - No Mercy's move animations have been filled out courtesy of Randy.

  To update your project, open the File Table dialog, then choose
  Database → Reload File Table Database.

Notes
-----
* All ROMs _must_ be in Z64 format.
  Other N64 ROM formats will probably not be supported any time soon.

  If your ROM is in a different format, you'll need to convert it using
  a tool like uCON64, Tool64, or Hack64's web-based N64 ROM swapper:
  https://hack64.net/tools/swapper.php

* The program is only guaranteed to work using unmodified (or lightly modified)
  base ROMs. Various editors assume certain things about the base ROM,
  and issues will arise when data breaks these assumptions.

  This includes, but is not limited to: WWF No Mercy Plus (any version,
  past, present, or future[1]), S.K. Stylez's VPW2 English Translation, Star
  Trinket's VPW64 and/or VPW2 translations, and VPW2 freem Edition.

  It is likely that any modification meant to be used as a base ROM will be
  updated further, which means VPW Studio would have to support multiple
  versions. This is something I would like to avoid.

  [1] When Randy is done working on it and releases a "final" version,
  support MAY be included. However, support won't happen overnight.

* ROM build times for larger projects can take a while on some computers,
  especially if the Build Log Verbosity level is set above "Quiet".

  As of Pre-Alpha Preview 18, "Quiet" is the new default setting. If you have
  previously used VPW Studio, please change the Build Log Verbosity level
  to "Quiet".

  Since the ROM building process is started from the UI thread, the program will
  appear to lock up when building. The program hasn't actually frozen/stopped
  working, but it may take a while to regain consciousness. This is something
  that needs to be fixed in the future.

  Preliminary research shows that the build logging is what causes build times
  to be inflated.

* A lot of functionality has not been coded yet.
  The program will usually tell you when something hasn't been implemented.
  If you are not a programmer, there is nothing you can do to fix this.

* Everything is subject to change, including the project file format.

  In fact, the project file format _will_ have to change once support for
  the PS1 games is added.

* Build/editing support is not planned for any prototype/pre-release versions
  of the games. This is intentional, and will remain so, unless a very good use
  case is given.

General
-------
VPW Studio works around the concept of Projects, which typically represent
a Total Conversion hack of the game. This choice was made due to the large
number of such projects created by the AKI hacking community.

Program Options
---------------
You can set the emulator executable and any extra command line arguments in
the Program Options dialog (Tools → Program Options). Doing so will let you
play the built ROM by pressing F5 (or selecting "Play ROM" from the Project
menu).

"Build Log Verbosity" controls what messages appear in the Build Log.
"Quiet" is the preferred setting. Other options are primarily for
developer purposes, as they lengthen the project build time significantly.

Known Issues
------------
* When writing back AkiText archives, certain characters may not be replicated.
  This mainly affects the roman numeral 2 (and possibly other characters).

* S.K. Stylez has reported an issue with No Mercy that I haven't gotten
  around to trying to reproduce, nor do I fully remember at this point.

  Maybe S.K. will see this, remember it, and tell me again.

* Opening a project with an invalid Input ROM path and then fixing said path
  does not attempt to reload the Input ROM.

  To resolve this problem until a fix is available, close and re-open the
  project file after fixing the path.

* Font dialog does not load proper characters for various fonts.
  Sometimes, this is due to the "Font Characters" file not having the correct
  letters. This happens in WM2K, specifically.

  Also, the Japanese games have over 3,000 characters in their fonts,
  so those aren't handled yet.

* Some AkiArchive files break the AkiArchive handling code.
  If you see a filesize of "0xFFFFFFFF", it's probably best to not open the file.

* So much stupid shit can happen in the CI Palette Editor if you're not careful.
  Unfortunately, I've forgotten examples of what can break.

* When filling up a stable, the program does not write the required 00000000 value
  so that stable text indexes work properly.
  
  This is more of an issue for WWF WrestleMania 2000 and Virtual Pro-Wrestling 2.
  WWF No Mercy has a maximum of 9 wrestlers per stable (by default), and VPW Studio
  correctly handles this case.

  The current workaround is to limit yourself to 7 wrestlers per stable.
  Not exactly ideal, but it should work without issues.

* Support for prototype versions is not complete. Errors are VERY LIKELY to happen.
  I cannot guarantee things will work properly, and since it's more important to
  give people access to the filetable contents than anything else, that's what's
  been prioritized.

  In other words: please don't bother me if stuff like the Wrestler or Stables menu
  doesn't work with the prototypes. I'm the only person working on this program and
  I'm going as fast as I reasonably can. Thank you for your understanding.

FileTableDB Coverage per-game
-----------------------------
"Last %" date: 2024/07/05 (circa pre-Alpha Preview 35)

Note: WWF WrestleMania 2000 NTSC-J's File Table is slightly shifted from the
NTSC-U and PAL versions, which is why it requires a separate entry.

[Table 1: Entries Marked]
"Marked" refers to entries existing in the FileTableDB, and does not correspond
to how many entries have useful comments and/or proper file types set.

Any game name marked with a "!" before the separator is complete.
Of course, that's also represented with a "100%" in the "% Complete" column...

Data updated 2024/07/29
+-------------------------------------+--------+-------+------------+---------+
| Game (and variant, if needed)       | Marked | Total | % Complete |  Last % |
+-------------------------------------+--------+-------+------------+---------+
| WCW vs. nWo World Tour             !|   5498 |  5498 |       100% |    100% |
| Virtual Pro-Wrestling 64           !|   9357 |  9357 |       100% |    100% |
| WCW/nWo Revenge                    !|   7657 |  7657 |       100% | ~93.39% |
| WWF WrestleMania 2000 NTSC-U/PAL   !|  10311 | 10311 |       100% |    100% |
| WWF WrestleMania 2000 NTSC-J        |   6584 | 10370 |    ~63.49% | ~63.49% |
| Virtual Pro-Wrestling 2            !|  13090 | 13090 |       100% |    100% |
| WWF No Mercy                       !|  19460 | 19460 |       100% |    100% |
+-------------------------------------+--------+-------+------------+---------+
| WWF No Mercy (June 2000 E3 Proto)   |   7638 |  9329 |    ~81.87% | ~81.52% |
| WWF No Mercy (July 2000 Proto)      |    347 | 16124 |     ~2.15% |  ~2.15% |
| WWF No Mercy (August 2000 Proto)    |    140 | 16124 |     ~0.86% |  ~0.86% |
| WWF No Mercy (September 2000 proto) |   7681 | 19443 |    ~39.50% | ~39.50% |
+-------------------------------------+--------+-------+------------+---------+

[Table 2: Labeled Entries]
"Labeled" refers to entries that have a proper FileType set and an explanatory
comment (even if that comment is just a question mark).

Data updated 2024/10/10
+-------------------------------------+---------+-------+------------+---------+
| Game (and variant, if needed)       | Labeled | Total | % Complete |  Last % |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-------+------------+---------+
| WCW vs. nWo World Tour              |     941 |  5498 |    ~17.11% | ~16.69% |
| Virtual Pro-Wrestling 64            |    1302 |  9357 |    ~13.91% | ~13.03% |
| WCW/nWo Revenge                     |    1448 |  7657 |    ~18.91% | ~15.22% |
| WWF WrestleMania 2000 NTSC-U/PAL    |    3529 | 10311 |    ~34.22% | ~30.84% |
| WWF WrestleMania 2000 NTSC-J        |    1354 | 10370 |    ~13.05% | ~13.02% |
| Virtual Pro-Wrestling 2             |    9368 | 13090 |    ~71.56% | ~38.59% |
| WWF No Mercy                        |   14585 | 19460 |    ~74.95% | ~65.25% |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-------+------------+---------+
| WWF No Mercy (June 2000 E3 Proto)   |    1502 |  9329 |    ~16.10% | ~15.09% |
| WWF No Mercy (July 2000 Proto)      |     216 | 16124 |     ~1.33% |  ~1.33% |
| WWF No Mercy (August 2000 Proto)    |     131 | 16124 |     ~0.81% |  ~0.81% |
| WWF No Mercy (September 2000 proto) |    1808 | 19443 |     ~9.29% |  ~9.29% |
+-------------------------------------+---------+-------+------------+---------+
