Ecco: Defender of the Future (research and assistance)
Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 8:56 am
As much as i'd love to rip the models from this game, it doesn't seem easily possible- or even feasible yet. It's a favorite game of mine from my childhood, and the small but loyal community would love some click-and-drag 3D turntable references I could imagine. (and I wouldn't mind trying my hand at rigging a few of these.)
The current method i've heard is to run PCSX2 or some other emulator with a Stereoscopy plugin, which i've had no luck doing (as I can't easily find the stereoscopy plugin I need, but i'm still trying.) If I do however, I will post what I can here.
Currently the PS2 and Dreamcast emulators seem to remove vertices that aren't being rendered, but I may be wrong. Ripping without a stereoscopy plugin flattens the Z plane so it's absolutely required to run a stereoscopy plugin.
As of this post, I will be attempting the stereoscopy method again with one of the available plugins I have found.
The second method would be to somehow crack open the .GDE files, which is from a program called "Game Builder" (as I recall from an interview) and probably may not be easily done. I myself can not code, and I doubt anyone would be willing to attempt to figure out the file format with next to no interest in ripping from this game (despite the poly count for these models being quite decently high for an early-2000s Dreamcast/PS2 game)
I would love some help- be it helpful pointers to any information you can find on the .GDE format, or even which emulator to use- that would be very much appreciated.
I will update this post regularly with any progress i've made. As ridiculous as it may seem, i've been at this for years, and i'm still determined to someday, eventually, solve this puzzle. I've gotten a better understanding over the years and I can only hope that eventually i'll understand enough to succeed.
The current method i've heard is to run PCSX2 or some other emulator with a Stereoscopy plugin, which i've had no luck doing (as I can't easily find the stereoscopy plugin I need, but i'm still trying.) If I do however, I will post what I can here.
Currently the PS2 and Dreamcast emulators seem to remove vertices that aren't being rendered, but I may be wrong. Ripping without a stereoscopy plugin flattens the Z plane so it's absolutely required to run a stereoscopy plugin.
As of this post, I will be attempting the stereoscopy method again with one of the available plugins I have found.
The second method would be to somehow crack open the .GDE files, which is from a program called "Game Builder" (as I recall from an interview) and probably may not be easily done. I myself can not code, and I doubt anyone would be willing to attempt to figure out the file format with next to no interest in ripping from this game (despite the poly count for these models being quite decently high for an early-2000s Dreamcast/PS2 game)
I would love some help- be it helpful pointers to any information you can find on the .GDE format, or even which emulator to use- that would be very much appreciated.
I will update this post regularly with any progress i've made. As ridiculous as it may seem, i've been at this for years, and i'm still determined to someday, eventually, solve this puzzle. I've gotten a better understanding over the years and I can only hope that eventually i'll understand enough to succeed.