Rewriting a scene with Kasumi and putting it together

[placid oak]

So tonight I'll be downloading Royal and tomorrow gathering the tools necessary to mod P5. I want to rewrite at least one scene with Kasumi in it, preferable either the train scene or the ||third video tape from Maruki's palace||. I plan to replace her model, rewrite some text, and replace the bust-ups used in whatever scene.

This is my first time ever modding, but I have a feeling I'll have questions because coding isn't my forte. I'll attempt what I can to lessen the load of whoever wants to help so it isn't complete hand-holding. I'm a fast learner though, if that's any consolation.

the ultimate goal is to import the model of my OC which was recently exported successfully, change some of Kasumi's portraits with my OCs, and rewrite some dialogue.

[high rivet]

The session's location is: EVENT_DATA/MESSAGE/E400/E497_020.BMD
Train dialogue is:
event_data/message/e400/e480_110.bmd
All inside EN.CPK
@placid oak

[placid oak]

I can't pin it

[high rivet]

Ill ping you on it so it'll atleast be "highlighted"

[placid oak]

Nothing can be started just yet
my dad has shit internet so I'll have to download the game overnight and whatever tools necessary tomorrow

Thanks for offering to help

it's honestly crazy this is actually happening
It doesn't seem real

@carmine ice you up to possibly testing?

[high rivet]

imk if you need more text locations. ❤️

[placid oak]

is it hard to remove audio lines?

since this is a voiced event, I know there will be clashes with both audio matching text and new lines added

[high rivet]

You just gotta find the location of them and change the volume to 0. I prefer doing it with ACE

however, it is tedious af.

from what I can find....

train dialogue voices are in SOUND_E.CPK/SOUND/EVENT/E480_110

The name of the voiced should be the same as the text file name.

[placid oak]

makes sense

i know with model replacement you just need to rename the new model the same as the model that shows up in the scene

[pliant folio]

You absolutely don't have to do that......

You can just get rid of the voice lines in the .msg.

[placid oak]

this is gonna be fun it still doesn't feel real

[pliant folio]

Basically, if you're already doing a text edit, you'll see vp commands with the dialogue. You just have to set those to not refer to the voice cues.

[placid oak]

also makes sense
since, if my assumption is correct, the game goes off of flags and stuff, right?

something in the code says 'play this' and it does it

[high rivet]

...I don't see any vp inside the dialogue

I see the bustup commands, and the text but no vp

[pliant folio]

I'll have to check, but that's basically always how dialogue gets called in events.

If not it would be VERY weird.

[placid oak]

@quaint sigil it will happen.....

[pliant folio]

Oh, you must have a different version of AST. It's the f 3 1 8 commands.

[high rivet]

I have 3.1
cuz thats the only version that seems to fricken work.

[pliant folio]

That version must not use the vp format in decompiling, then 😅

[placid oak]

i just realized I could technically download the tools now since they aren't big

[pliant folio]

Also, yes, there are flags, but you'd have to be more specific about what you're expecting to do re: whether flags have anything to do with it.

[high rivet]

Think Neoia (idk if you wanna be called that but i did it get owned) wanted to disable some of the scenes i think?

[placid oak]

I know there's a master list in the master post for tools, but for this specific process, what do you guys suggest I download?

[placid oak]

I usually go by Neo, but Neoia is fine too

[high rivet]

well what exactly do you need for this to happen?

[placid oak]

i was thinking of taking a single scene and rewriting it
I figure the train scene is simple for a first time, but I really wanna actually rewrite the counseling scene so it plays out like a session between Viola and Maruki would go

[high rivet]

rewrite.

we talking rewriting the dialogue, rewriting the whole scene?

[placid oak]

i have the program for unpacking the cpk (cri gui or whatever it's called)
i need to rewrite the script and replace some portraits pretty much. I plan to lengthen the scene, if possible, by adding more lines

that's for counseling scene, if we settle on that

[pliant folio]

I'd recommend starting with just replacing the lines. Anything that gets into deleting/adding lines starts to become actual EVT editing.

[placid oak]

for the train i'll probably rephrase some of Kasumi's lines to be more in line with Viola's personality

but like I said, ideally I'd want to tackle the counseling scene
but I also know that that is unrealistic with my skill level

[high rivet]

Here's Bustup Editor. Used for changing the bustups. https://github.com/ShrineFox/BustupEditor
Here's Atlus Script GUI aka what to use for decompiling BMDs/BFs to get the stuff to edit. https://github.com/ShrineFox/AtlusScriptGUI
Here's ACE, which is what I use to mute voices. https://github.com/LazyBone152/ACE/releases

You're more then welcome to use other tools to fit your needs if these don't work out

[pliant folio]

Although, I cannot stress enough, you do NOT need to edit audio files to mute them for events 😅

ACE could be helpful if you actually want to replace the voice lines with new ones, though.

[placid oak]

i don't know all the details so i figured it was deleting the lines haha

[high rivet]

I'm just passing the stuff I use is all.
If Neo don't wanna use them thats fine by me. :p

[pliant folio]

The text editing tutorial talks a bit about how voice lines get referenced in .msg files, I think. If not, come back here and ask when you get to that 👍

[high rivet]

muting lines with ACE isn't deleting them if thats what you think.

it's just turning the volume down to 0 on them.

[pliant folio]

That's so much extra work, lmao....

[high rivet]

well thats what I had to do for my anubis mod heh

[pliant folio]

Maybe for battle lines where the audio calls are slightly hardcoded that's necessary, but for any line coming from a BMD/.msg, you really really do not need to do all that.

[placid oak]

.....wait a second
i just remembered I have all the CPKs on my portable drive

just the CPKs though

i put them on there because I wanted them on the go when I needed to extract something from the game's CPKs

[quaint sigil]

https://tenor.com/view/mr-bison-street-fighter-yes-gif-3718772

[high rivet]

Actually, here Neo.
Use this to find the location of text that you need to change.
@placid oak

[placid oak]

i'm gathering all the tools into a folder for modding

I figure that I need the whole game folder and not just the CPKs to do this stuff

[pliant folio]

CPKs should be all you need to make your mods. Loading them will require the game itself, though, of course.

[placid oak]

yeah, i figure haha

[pliant folio]

I don't expect you'll be doing any exe patching, lol.

[placid oak]

cause i have the CPKs, just not the game installed

i don't know how I possibly forgot that

[pliant folio]

Then, yeah, until you want to load up the mod, that's all you need.

[high rivet]

"you forget a thousand things everyday, how about you make sure this is one of them?" - Micheal De Santa

[placid oak]

it's a good thing this computer is fast lmao

alrighty so I have this and the CPKs in another folder
Now it's time to unpack them

[pliant folio]

You also should not need to unpack the whole thing, at least.

[high rivet]

yea BASE.CPK is like 60 GB alone.

[placid oak]

i know 😂 that's why i'm installing it overnight

[high rivet]

only extract the things you need or if your gonna be modding other things, extract the whole thing.

[placid oak]

fair enough

so in this case, it's the train scene

[high rivet]

train dialogue location is above and dialogue is in EN.CPK

[placid oak]

alrighty, all extracted

now let's see....
look to the guide

does it take long to decompile?

cause I dragged and dropped it into the script gui but I'm not seeing an unpacked files

[pliant folio]

No, it should be immediate. You dragged the relevant .BMD file onto it?

[placid oak]

unless i need to change some options

[pliant folio]

Hm, you dragged it over the box on the left? Did you put AtlusScriptCompiler.exe inside the GUI tool's folder?

And I think you need to make sure .NET is installed, too.

[placid oak]

the gui is in a lone folder

[placid oak]

it is

[high rivet]

Might need this as well
https://github.com/tge-was-taken/Atlus-Script-Tools

[pliant folio]

Instructions here: https://github.com/ShrineFox/AtlusScriptGUI?tab=readme-ov-file

You need to get the compiler file separately from the release Nyx posted.

Rather than following the instructions I linked exactly, you can just put the compiler EXE inside the folder with the GUI's exe. I think.

I just use the command line 😅

[high rivet]

or you can use my version.

[placid oak]

👀

[pliant folio]

You could, but it's not completely up to date with the version used in the tutorial.

So I would try setting it up yourself first, lol.

[high rivet]

try that and if it don't work, use mine

[placid oak]

in the compiler path do I put atlusscriptcompiler instead of the default gui exe

in the config.json

[pliant folio]

If you put the compiler exe inside of the GUI directory, you shouldn't need to change the config.

[placid oak]

hmmm ...

[pliant folio]

I think folks usually just put all the contents of the AtlusScriptTools release inside of the GUI folder....

[placid oak]

i just put the exe like the github said

but putting it all in makes sense

nope, nothin'

man am i glad my dad is a techie
otherwise my brain would be hurting

[high rivet]

...just..just use mine..

[placid oak]

😂

putting poor Nyx in pain....

[pliant folio]

Go for it, I guess, but remember it won't fully match up with the tutorial.

Using the CLI version is better, but nobody seems to like doing that 🥹

[placid oak]

for the editing tutorial on GB?

[pliant folio]

Yeah.

[high rivet]

That's Nyx, Enforcer Of Anubis to you.

[placid oak]

CL makes me nervous i'll fuck something up on the comp 😞

[high rivet]

pretty sure you can't fuck something up on your computer, like beyond repair unless you delete system32 on it lol

[placid oak]

i'll copy paste the CL text shown on this tut and see what happens

[pliant folio]

The command is actually also shown in the GUI!

[placid oak]

oh wait I was thinking command prompt, huh

[pliant folio]

AtlusScriptCompiler.exe C:\Users\Willow\Desktop\mod\EVENT_DATA\MESSAGE\E400\E480_110.BMD -Decompile -Library P5R -Encoding P5R_EFIGS -Hook -SumBits

[placid oak]

oh shit name reveal oops

[pliant folio]

Incriminating 😆

[high rivet]

wow, a first name reveal, I'll make sure to ddos you and reveal a first name a ton of people have to people who don't have it

[placid oak]

☹️

[high rivet]

even if you had the full name, I wouldn't really care

[pliant folio]

You have to be in the directory that contains it, lol.

Either that, or include the full path to the exe rather than just its name on its own.

[placid oak]

this is why I don't use command line

[pliant folio]

I thiiink you should be able to do cd C:\Users\Willow\wherever\you\put\AtlusScriptTools\

(but I forget what the Windows commands are uhhh)

[placid oak]

yay it decompiled with nyx-enforcer-of-anubis one lol

[pliant folio]

...Oh, looks like you can just type cd and then drag the AtlusScriptTools folder onto the command prompt.

And then you should be able to use the command, assuming that's where the compiler exe is.

[pliant folio]

But hey, if that works for you, great!

[placid oak]

i have just these now 😤 let's see....

[pliant folio]

...no just plain .msg? Hm.

[placid oak]

it opened

i think it's just a msg but bmd is in the title for some reason

[high rivet]

yea thats them.

[placid oak]

I have succeeded

[high rivet]

what programs that btw? That's not notepad

[placid oak]

Notepad++

[high rivet]

o

[placid oak]

i have the bust up directory documentation up, so hopefully this should be easy enough

okay, changed the dialogue

let's look at the busts so I can change her expression to what's appropriate for the dialogue

[high rivet]

there's instructions in the BustupEditor link above.

read them as they're important

[pliant folio]

You should also be able to get rid of the voice lines by replacing all of the [vp 8 0 0 X 4 0]s on her lines with [vp 8 0 0 0 4 0].

(Or on whichever lines you want to change/silence.)

[placid oak]

changing the bust seems straightforward

[pliant folio]

But for those the 4 should remain whatever is there currently. That number refers to the NPC whose mouth will move during the line.

[placid oak]

so by removing the X?

[pliant folio]

By changing that one to 0!

[high rivet]

the X is the number that would be there

[pliant folio]

That number refers to the cue ID for the voice line, so you'll note that it's different on each line. But if it's 0 then it will just play silence.

[high rivet]

bustups have 4 or 5 images on them.

take a look on some of them as they have the full bustup, the eyes and mouth parts.

[placid oak]

the tutorial shows what each number means

it helps that they're using kasumi as an example lol

so

[msg MSG_000_0_0 [Viola]]
[s][bup 0 10 0 65535 0][f 4 10 65535 0 0][vp 8 0 0 1 4 0]Oh, please! Go ahead.[n][f 1 3 65535][w][e]
[s][f 4 10 65535 0 0][vp 8 0 0 0 4 0]You must be tired, right?[n][f 1 3 65535][w][e]

is her neutral expression and i believe at this point she's still in her midwinter uniform

and i'm going to call b010_001_02 (smiling) instead

[high rivet]

during the actual scene, shes in the fall school uniform, aka the one you use with the jacket

[placid oak]

idk what the 65535 is for tho

[pliant folio]

I think the 65535 means it automatically determines the right outfit for the season.

If you put in an actual index, it should be for the subid of the bustup outfit you want.

So [bup 0 10 0 65535 0] will refer to one of Kasumi's neutral expressions, but depending on the date, it will refer to different outfits.

If you put [bup 0 10 1 2 0], it should always refer to B010_001_02.

[pliant folio]

(Since the scene always gets called on the same date, this doesn't matter in the game, but it may matter if you use a mod menu to call it on a different date.)

[placid oak]

it's a .msg, but bmd is in the title lol

hopefully i did it right

it all seems pretty straightforward

renamed it to msg so a comp should recognize it as a .msg now

[carmine ice]

Sure, give me a little bit

[placid oak]

i also need somebody to check the .msg but i'll wait people need sleep and they're busy

[placid oak]

@pliant folio @high rivet
Does the msg look okay?

[high rivet]

thats quite the swears. But you seem to be missing a ) after the 'this IS Japan...'

[placid oak]

she's american

[high rivet]

also, remove the '(copy)' in the file name.
pretty sure it won't compile unless the name is perfect.

[placid oak]

She's probs muttering it in english or thinking it

[placid oak]

I know haha
I just made the copy that way the original is intact

[high rivet]

you could just press 'Save As' then save it on your desktop.

but whatever works.

[high rivet]

remove the space after the ) so it should be this IS japan...)[n]

[placid oak]

there isn't a space

that's just how the program displays it

[high rivet]

oh, then it should be fine

[placid oak]

so i drag the .msg into the program?

[high rivet]

after removing the (copy)

drag it into ASG (atlus script gui) and it should spit out a bmd

[placid oak]

okie dokie, all compiled

don't mods usually have a cpk called mod.cpk?

[carmine ice]

Yes but thats usally for config, if you replacing something then theres no need

you can just use BASE.CPK or whichever folder you're looking in

[placid oak]

Like
just outright replace the file?

I have the file here

it just needs to be tested

[carmine ice]

Yes

Uhh actually when does this play

Idk what the path would be

Well when it plays is irrelevant we just need the path

[placid oak]

as Nyx put:
"
Train dialogue is:
event_data/message/e400/e480_110.bmd
All inside EN.CPK"

[carmine ice]

Then you'll need to recreate that like path as folders

"EN.CPK/event_data/message/e400/(you file here now)

In the folder for your mod

After the essentials folder though

I forgot that part

Wasn't fun trying to diagnose at the time

[placid oak]

idk how i can test it though i don't have a save to just randomly boot up

[placid oak]

essentials folder?

[carmine ice]

Umm ok

Let's go from the beggining

Do we have a mod folder where you have your things to be loaded from

[placid oak]

i have a folder called mod

[carmine ice]

Well I need to hit thr hay but umm, assuming this is in the mods folder of reloaded we can start from there

[high rivet]

okay lets get some things straight.

Do you have a Mod in Reloaded-II/Mods?

[placid oak]

I installed a mod or two yesterday
one being the one meovv made to skip a bunch of the beginning of p5

[high rivet]

Have you made a mod before?

[high rivet]

like made a mod in Reloaded II

[placid oak]

nope

i'm starting small with this

[high rivet]

Alrighty hold on

[high rivet]

Read this to make the mod first.
https://reloaded-project.github.io/Reloaded-II/CreatingMods/

[placid oak]

would something like changing text require any dependencies?

[high rivet]

all you need is Persona Essentials.

Persona Essentials is basically the heart/soul of mod making

[placid oak]

would this be a library mod, right? not universal

[high rivet]

None.
just select 'Persona 5 Royal' for the game.

[placid oak]

but it doesn't show it there, even when i type it in

[high rivet]

you prob don't have Persona 5 Royal as a 'game' in Reloaded.

[placid oak]

gimme a sec

[high rivet]

Click the plus button on the side.

[placid oak]

okay there, added

NOW I can create it 😂

[high rivet]

Alright create it and get back to me when u do

[placid oak]

alright the mod is up on the list

[high rivet]

right click it then click 'open folder'.

Then do the following:

Make a folder called P5REssentials then open it, make a another new folder called CPK, make another new folder inside that called EN.CPK, make another inside that called EVENT_DATA, make another inside that called MESSAGE, make another inside that called MESSAGE, make another inside that called E400

E400 is where you'll put that BMD.

[placid oak]

right click on the mod listing? I can't

[high rivet]

do you have a mod?
not called this but looks like this?

*again not called persona testing

[high rivet]

ok, click P5R, the logo of it.

it'll bring you back to the main mod thing

right click the Mod 'Change Text Test'

[placid oak]

okay

[high rivet]

click 'open folder'

[placid oak]

okay, i see the .json thing now

[high rivet]

you should see a ModConfig.json folder only in there, correct?

[placid oak]

yes

[high rivet]

Ignore it.

Make a folder called P5REssentials then open it, make a another new folder called CPK, make another new folder inside that called EN.CPK, make another inside that called EVENT_DATA, make another inside that called MESSAGE, make another inside that called E400

E400 is where you'll put that BMD.

[placid oak]

i figure lol

[high rivet]

Nope, hold on, don't make two MESSAGE folders

there we go

[placid oak]

so just drag the event into event_data?

[high rivet]

you drag your .BMD (your edited text) inside E400

[high rivet]

your computers different then me.

so is that MSG file a BMD or is still a .msg

[placid oak]

oh shoot you're right

blanked out for a moment there

okay there

[high rivet]

missing the MESSAGE folder.

EN.CPK/EVENT_DATA/MESSAGE/E400

[high rivet]

alright should be set.

[placid oak]

[high rivet]

now you gotta test it

[placid oak]

I don't have a save 🥲

likely will need the zmenu stuff too

[high rivet]

think zmenu doesn't like event stuff

[placid oak]

really? @granite glen uses it to trigger events

[high rivet]

Huh, so it does.

this is what it looks like (dialogue wise)

[placid oak]

hmmm
i need to re-arrange the parentheses

[high rivet]

this is my only save in the overworld btw XD

so ignore the data and outfits

[placid oak]

i got her outfit wrong, but what matters is that i got the right expression

oh

mind sending that save data my way for testing?

btw, in regards to portraits, do they need to be a specific size or does the game resize them?

[high rivet]

look at the portraits in BustupEditor.

I believe the game doesn't resize them.

you have to be the one to resize them

[placid oak]

also, for the zmenu and scripthook it says to just copy paste the stuff in the directory
does it need to be in any folder or just paste it outright in there?

[placid oak]

that's fine
just wanted to know for future reference

[high rivet]

to make ZMenu work?

[placid oak]

yeah

they both say to just paste it into the directory but i'm unsure if i just paste all of it there or to put it in a folder in the directory

[high rivet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGDdXL3CZ9M&t=1s

Here's a video I made installing it. I don't wanna hear it about my voice either it sucks with mics.

also holy f didn't realize the views I got on that now

[placid oak]

definitely has some spacing issues lmao

I wasn't sure how much the box could handle in a single line

[high rivet]

also a thing to know is when putting in [n]'s, you don't need to put spaces between them

[high rivet]

I edited it myself.

hows this?

[placid oak]

edited how much dialogue is in each line? This time I tried to make it so it didn't look as off since I could see more words could be placed in a line

[high rivet]

looks good. remove the [n] between make him move.

add a [n] between at least. and it must be heavy so like this:

at least.[n]it must be heavy.

[high rivet]

\

[placid oak]

there we go!!!

that's what I was trying to accomplish

it looks weird as a block lol

[high rivet]

yea obs stuff

[placid oak]

at least I have the bust selecting right

the dialogue writing format doesn't seem all too difficult, as it has a pattern

[high rivet]

yup, not difficult at all once your used to it and have some experience.

even then, no experience is still easy

[quaint sigil]

Very nice

[high rivet]

tell that to Neo, he made it I just "playtested" it.

[quaint sigil]

It belongs in a movie theater -Mario’s Mom

[quaint sigil]

Yippee!

[placid oak]

she*

lol

[high rivet]

i just gender assumed. oh no

[placid oak]

lmao

that's why i call everyone they

gender neutral

is adding lines hard? I would think it's as simple as copy pasting the template of a character talking

[high rivet]

I personally do not know.
I've never tried adding lines, both for battles and non-battles.

[placid oak]

do you know the dimensions of a bust-up?

for pc

because i know the switch has different dimensions and idk about ps4

[high rivet]

think for the full bustup it's 1536x1536

[placid oak]

cause down the line her bust-ups are gonna need to be the right size and stuff

[high rivet]

I checked on the bustupeditor, full bustups are 1536x1536

[pliant folio]

To expand on what I was saying in the general P5 modding channel: in the file you're working with, MSG_000_0_0 is an example of a dialogue with two "pages." You can add more pages to the other dialogues in here without EVT editing, but if you wanted to add a new turn called, say, MSG_005_5_0, it just wouldn't get used at all unless you add extra stuff to the EVT.

[placid oak]

i still don't quite grasp what "pages" are
could you show me an example in a .msg to clarify?

[pliant folio]

The screenshot in the message I replied to shows MSG_000_0_0.

Note that it contains two lines that start with [s] and end with [e], while the rest only have one such line.

Each line like that is a "page."

Basically, the EVT refers to messages by their IDs to show the text on screen, so just adding MSG_005_5_0 to the BMD wouldn't be enough to change anything without adding a reference to it in the EVT. The BMD file just stores the text so that it can be referenced by the EVT.

When the EVT does refer to, say, MSG_000_0_0, it shows all of the (2, in this case) pages in a row. So you can make a character talk for longer by adding more pages, without needing to edit the EVT. But if you wanted to add more back-and-forth, EVT editing would absolutely be required.

[placid oak]

ohhh
so each spoken line is a "page"

[pliant folio]

Yeah. It helps to think of it like:

• Each spoken line is a "page"
• A labeled "turn" can have multiple "pages"
• The EVT refers to dialogue by "turn" rather than by "page"

[placid oak]

basically like what I did with Kasumi? Each sentence in a "page" is a "turn"?

[pliant folio]

Anything below a message (turn) label that starts with [s] and ends with [e] is a separate page in that turn.

So MSG_000_0_0 would be the turn, with pages that say "please, take my seat" (page 1) and "my station's coming up" (page 2). There's often one sentence per page, but there could be multiple if they're short sentences.

So "(What a fucking asshole... Nothing I can do...)" is still all one page.

[placid oak]

😵‍💫 a little tricky to grasp, but I know I'll get it

[pliant folio]

If you changed it to

[s]Nothing I can do...[e]```
(+ the rest of the details I'm leaving out) then it would be a 2-page turn. Just a `[n]` simply adds a newline character into the same page.

[placid oak]

ohhh
basically it would be counted as a separate "word bubble"

and not a part of an entire series of sentence(s)

[pliant folio]

Yeah!

[placid oak]

gotcha gotcha

[pliant folio]

To give you a little glimpse at how this text gets referenced in the EVT....

It's a timeline kind of setup, where the text you see in the BMD can get called with a command in the EVT's timeline... but it doesn't show up without such a command, because the BMD is just for storing the text.

[placid oak]

The video just shows as black

[pliant folio]

Aw, boo. My videos show up inconsistently on Discord, for some reason. If you download it, you should be able to play it.