GimConv

Description

GimConv.exe is a sony program for microsoft windows used to convert GIM images, see Graphic Image Map (GIM)

• GimConv.exe versions:
  • 1.20c (GIM files made around 2005 included in pre-retail PS3 firmwares such 0.82.006)
  • 1.20e (GIM files made around 2006 and still present in PS3 4.82 firmware)
  • 1.20h released with p3tcompiler v2.00 as part of the PS3 Custom Theme Toolbox (this is the version included in rcomage using a modifyed GimConv.cfg)

• Other notes:
  • GIM images can be previewed in PC by using Gim Viewer (unnofficial app made by hsreina, it has limited support for the "rgba based" GIM formats). See Multimedia Formats and Tools
  • The option -viewer (start gimview.exe when process ends) in the official config file (that was removed for rcomage) is intended to launch an official gimview.exe that doesnt exists in the public release
  • PSP Custom Theme Toolbox admits GIM files as inputs, but doesnt includes a GIM converter
  • Some of the settings (such merge_mode) are related with animated images but the support of animated GIM images on PlayStation consoles is unknown, see: http://endlessparadigm.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5054
  • It supports AVI video as input, probably to convert the video frames to static images and build a GIM animation with them, unknown usage
  • Gimconv.exe supports an internal script format to automatize image conversions, it can be seen how appears as an option available at bottom of Gimconv.cfg and allows to create GIM-to-GIS conversions. The usage of this scripting features is mostly unknown
  • There is a GIS2PNG converter made by TizzyT

GimConv.cfg Overview

Before explaining how GimConv.exe works is needed an introduction about GimConv.cfg (the config file). All features of GimConv.exe are driven by the settings that appears on GimConv.cfg

usage {
        This is the help screen (only informative)
}
default {
        Default predefined settings (loaded "from top to bottom", if a setting is repeated two or more times the most at bottom overrides the other/s at top)
}
input * {
        Settings for input file formats
}
option * {
        Groups of settings (overrides the defaults settings, are only used when you specify the option name at the command line)
}
script * {
        Unknown usage
}

Below is shown GimConv.cfg released by sony as part of the PS3 Custom Theme Toolbox (official version). If you are interested in the modifyed GimConv.cfg included with Rcomage see the Discussion page

Code Sample

The contents of GimConv.cfg are loaded "from top to bottom" first are loaded the default settings, and then the settings inside the option (incase you choose an option). The settings inside the options (at bottom ofGimConv.cfg) are actually "overriding" one or more default settings (at top of GimConv.cfg), this overriding applyes too to whatever setting or option you use in command line, as example, if you change the same setting 3 times in a single command line the only setting that counts is the last one

GimConv.exe usage

Help screen

The help screen of GimConv.exe displays a very limited list of options with an small explain for them, the example below belongs to the official GimConv.cfg and shows the options sony considered was useful for them, this options are mostly useless for us, in short: interact doesnt allows you to do special things, the merge modes are hardcore because are intended to create GIM files by some kind of artisan method where you create the GIM by using "pieces" from other files, the promt modes doesnt helps much, gimview.exe doesnt exists, the image resize methods should not be used (instead you should prepare your images with the correct size before processing them with GimConv.exe), the pixel formats normal/faster should not be used that way individually, and the rgba color channels swapping are not needed for PS3

'''C:\PS3_Custom_Theme_v200\GimConv>GimConv.exe'''
gimconv ver 1.20h --- generic picture converter
 Copyright (C) 2006 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
  All Rights Reserved.

usage:
        gimconv <input files> [options]

options:
        -interact       input additional options
        -pictures       merge files as pictures
        -frames         merge files as frames
        -levels         merge files as levels
        -prompt         prompt always
        -warning        prompt on warning
        -error          prompt on error
        -viewer         start gimview.exe when process ends
        -o <filename>   specify output file name
        -s <w,h>        resize image data
        -S              output text format
        -P              resize image data to a power of two
        -N              output in normal pixel storage format
        -F              output in faster pixel storage format
        -R              re-convert ( don't swap RGBA <-> ABGR )

Options

It allows to make a GIM-to-PNG conversions just by specifying the file extension with the option -o:

'''gimconv.exe in.gim -o out.png'''

If you create a PNG-to-GIM (or any of the supported input image formats to GIM) without specifying any other option are going to be loaded all the default setting of GimConv.cfg (from top to bottom) and this is not good, most probably is going to generate a GIM file not compatible with PS3, you can decide to use a modifyed GimConv.cfg with all the default settings required by PS3 but this is not good enought either because there are (at least) 2 different GIM formats used in PS3, and you are going to break the compatbility with PSP, anyway here is the command as an example

'''gimconv.exe in.png -o out.gim'''

To specify an option is needed to use a single dash with the name of the option. At the time GimConv.exe processes this command it loads the settings of GimConv.cfg file "from top to bottom" (so it starts loading the default settings) and then it loads the option we have choosen (and the option contains settings that overrides the defaults)

'''gimconv.exe in.png -o out.gim -DXT'''

• Note the option -DXT used in this example contains 3 settings (this is an example of the official GimConv.cfg, the one used inside rcomage is different):

Code Sample

Another example where can be seen better how the options contains settings that overrides the default settings:

'''gimconv.exe in.gim -o out.gis -S'''

• The option -S contains this settings:

Code Sample

At top of GimConv.cfg (as part of the default settings)appears the settings: output_object with value on and output_script with value off (so by default gimconv.exe outputs a GIM and doesnt outputs a GIS). The option -S of this example is "switching" them (doesnt outputs a GIM but it outpputs a GIS)

Settings

To specify an option is needed to use a double dash with the name of the option. This is the most accurate way to have full controll of how the GIM is built, if you are picky you can write a long line of settings to be sure you are overriding all the defaults (just incase the GimConv.cfg was modifyed by someone, by doing this you are overriding his/her changes made to default settings). If you are writing an script or any tool that sends actions to gimconv.exe you should use this method

'''gimconv.exe in.png -o out.gim --pixel_order normal --format_style psp --format_endian big'''

• Note the 3 options used in the example are overriding the default settings at top of GimConv.cfg (this is an example of the official GimConv.cfg, the one used inside rcomage is different):

Code Sample

Cumulative options and settings

This is the official way, the predefined options of the official GimConv.cfg are intended to be used together with other options, this way you can have a option (containing a group of settings that are common for a console) and several others for different GIM formats supported in that console, using GimConv.exe this way is a bit more confusing though and makes harder to pass commands to it, but is very handy for making tests

'''gimconv.exe in.png -o out.gim -DXT --pixel_order brag'''

Note im loading again the option -DXT like in the example above, but im overriding of of the settings inside -DXT, with the --pixel_order brag im reordering the color channels (from left to right, BLUE, RED, ALPHA, GREEN), the resulting GIM is going to be like the one made in the example above, the only difference is the location of the pixel colors

It allows to cummulate as many settings and options you want, in any order (be careful this could create some problems but it seems it works fine) to do something like this:

'''gimconv.exe in.png -o out.gis -DXT --pixel_order brag -S'''

From rcomage

Dont use this method for PS3. GIM files inside RCO files from PS3 firmware uses variated formats, this method applyes the same settings for all them and breaks some

This works by sending GIM settings from rcomage.exe to gimconv.exe and is made at the time rcomage.exe is compiling the RCO (see the "compile" help in rcomage page)

There are 2 options in rcomage specific for this task, named: --gimconv-cmd and --gimconv-flags

'''rcomage.exe compile in.xml out.rco --gimconv-cmd ".\gimconv\gimconv.exe" --gimconv-flags "--pixel_order normal --format_style psp --format_endian big"'''

How to identify GIM settings

• GIM--->GIM method (prefered)
  • Use gimconv with .gim files as input and output (this preserves dxt pixel info, because dxt images doesnt suffers a conversion)

'''gimconv.exe test.gim -o test.gim --format_style psp --format_endian big --image_format dxt5 --pixel_channel default --pixel_alpha default'''

• GIM--->PNG--->GIM method (fails when there is involved a DXT conversion because DXT conversions are lossy, works fine for rgba**** image formats):
  • Use rcomagegui to make an extraction of the contents without conversion of images (this way the GIM are extracted as GIM)
  • Use rcomagegui to make another extraction of the contents with conversion of images (this way the GIM are extracted as PNG)
  • Use gimconv to convert a PNG ---to---> GIM by the old method of test-error by trying some of the options availables that appears in gimonv.cfg
  • Use a hexeditor to compare the original GIM extracted in step 1 with the rebuilt GIM from your test, there is no need to make accurate comparisons, just an overview of the first 0x80 bytes of the header, and how the pixel data is ordered starting at offset 0x80
  • When the header and pixel data seems similar make a hash comparison, original GIM and rebuild GIM should be exactly the same hash (is posible to create a GIM exactly like the original)

GIM formats used in PS3

PS3 uses at least 2 types of GIM images, both included inside rco's, and in some cases both types in the same rco

When an .RCO contains 2 or more images that was created with different .GIM settings... it means is not posible to compile the .RCO with rcomage by using .PNG images as source (because rcomage.exe sends the GIM settings to gimconv.exe to make the PNG--->GIM image conversion and this settings are applyed to all PNG images)

In other words, the only way to compile this RCO's is in 2 steps. In the first step is needed to make the different .GIM conversions with gimconv.exe (and all the other conversions in case exists .VAG audio a WAV2VAG conversion or a JS2VSMX for the .VSMX script). In the second step is needed to compile the .RCO with rcomage.exe by using the .GIM's .VAG's and .VSMX's as sources without any kind of file conversions

Also means we have a big problem to document in wiki wich settings are used for each image (there are thousands of images so initially seems not posible), but probably they follows a rule, so the solution is to deduce or imagine the real reason of why the ps3 is using different gim formats inside the .rco's

image group or rco	gim settings	notes
ps3bpp32	--format_style psp --format_endian big --image_format rgba8888 --pixel_order normal	Most used GIM format inside .rco's
ps3dxt5	--format_style psp --format_endian big --image_format dxt5	Second most used GIM format inside rco's

Notes about explore_plugin_full.rco from firmware 4.70:

• There are 245 images
  • 201 was created by using settings: --format_style psp --format_endian big --image_format rgba8888 --pixel_order normal (exact match of gims after rebuilding gim--->png--->gim)
  • 030 was created by using settings: --format_style psp --format_endian big --image_format rgba8888 --pixel_order normal --update_fileinfo on (exact match of gims after removing footer from originals and rebuilding gim--->png--->gim)
  • 014 was created by using settings: --format_style psp --format_endian big --image_format dxt5 (exact match of gims after rebuilding gim--->gim)
    • item_tex_trophy.gim, trophy_tex_grade_bronze.gim, trophy_tex_grade_gold.gim, trophy_tex_grade_hidden.gim, trophy_tex_grade_platinum.gim, trophy_tex_grade_silver.gim, item_tex_CardBallon.gim, item_tex_Profile_Game.gim, item_tex_Profile_Highlight.gim, item_tex_Profile_Onlines.gim, tex_indi_Me.gim, tex_sb_base.gim, tex_sb_base_s.gim, tex_sb_slider.gim

PS3 Custom Options

The configuration file allows to modify the help screen of the command line by adding custom labels, or by removing useless options to make room for more custom labels, this labels can be composed of groups of options, there is no need at all to do this because doesnt really enables any new funcionallity as you can specify all the options you need one by one from command line included the hability to override default values, but is good to keep a record of the most common used formats for a console by using custom labels with intuitive names that defines the GIM format

The config file supplyed by Rcomage contains some custom options for the formats that are used in PSP, some changes in the default settings that was common for PSP (included a size limit that breaks compatibility with PS3), and a group of options was added for PS3 (labeled -ps3) but this group seems to use wrong options. For more info about the modifications made in the config file supplyed with rcomage see the differences in the Discussion page

This wiki section proposes new groups of options with new label names (to be able to use a new modifyed config file without breaking the compatibility of other tools that uses rcomage as a dependency)

• Inside explore_plugin_full.rco from firmware 4.70 there are 245 images, 201 of them (included the new icon tex_psn.gim) has been made by using this settings:

Code Sample

• Inside explore_plugin_full.rco from firmware 4.70 there are 245 images, 30 of them has been made by using the settings above and update_fileinfo = on, see: fileinfo:

• Inside explore_plugin_full.rco from firmware 4.70 there are 245 images, 14 of them has been made by using this settings:

Code Sample