Hi, guys.
Have you ever wondered how all that popular tools for FIFA are made?
I'll start with Kit Raptor 08. This tool is for importing and exporting kits.
What is really happening inside to get your kits into FIFA?
I bet you think you need to be genuis to make something like this.
Look, Ariel did all the work almost alone, he IS genuis!
Unfortunately, We are not such Einsteins as Ariel.
But let's at least try to understand how it works!
The first strange thing we can notice is a quite big size of package - 3.3 Mb.
We know that tools for converting graphics is about 0.3 - 1 Mb (GFXPAK, FSHEdit, EA Graph) and tools for
importing is about 50-100 Kb (impbig, fifafs).
Well ok, let's install it.
I noticed that something were put into my Windows system folder.
Something like picformat.ocx.
Ah, let's see... Oh, yes:
You can still get it here:
http://www.visualbasiccode.com/asp/showzip.asp?ZipFile=http://www.vbcode.com/code/PicFormat32a%2
Ezip&theID=2679
So it's a library to convert Jpg2Bmp, Bmp2Jpg etc.
Moving on we'll take a look at other installed files (I left only exe and dll in list):
We know what is fatbhbuilder.exe. It's Ariel program based on Diego Rostagnol's fifa.fat algorithm for
rebuilding fifa.fat. kitraptor.exe seems to be the main program.
What are all these DLLs?
I tried right-clicking again, but I see no info included this time. Oh, seems to be home-made Ariel's
libraries which are doing all those tricky things. I opened import-a.dll in hexeditor...
OMG, see what I found inside:
Old good GFXPAK is this! I renamed import-a.dll to gfxpak.exe and run. Yes, it's not a DLL file at all...
I see Ariel is hiding using of gfxpak... or why renaming to DLL?
Let's rename all DLLs to EXE and try to run.
So,
import-a.exe - GFXPAK by Toni Wilen
import-b.exe - ?
import-c.exe - Strange non-working program. Interface looks corrupted.
import-d.exe - SURPRIZE! EAZIP v.3.0
EAZip was made by Don Daily. It's a tool for importing/exporting into BIG files.
Originally made for NBA series.
You can take it here:
http://www.nba-live.com/download/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=39
It's quite fast console tool, a bit slower then fifafs, however.
Well, well, well.
And what are import-b.exe & import-c.exe then?
Now I almost believe that they are not Ariel's creations too.
When I renamed import-b from DLL to EXE, it change it's icon in windows explorer.
It was very familiar logotype with stylized eye... Ah... nVidia!
To avoid long story, I'll just tell you the results of my investigation:
import-b.dll is originally readdxt.exe from nVidia SDK
(http://developer.nvidia.com/page/tools.html)
readdxt.exe made for conveting DDS to TGA.
You can run "import-b.exe conversion3gk.dds" in console and it will produce test.tga with kit.
Let's get to import-c.exe.
It has Ariel's icon but when I run, strange empty window appeares and nothing can be done in it.
OK, let's take hexviewer. Unfortunately, there is almost no textual data in this EXE.
Just looking like screen with Matrix
But wait, what is this at very beginning of the file?
eye. What are you hiding there, Ariel?
Still, there are lots of tools for depacking ASPACK: http://www.exetools.com/unpackers.htm
I took ASPackDie. I unpacked. I opened in hexviewer. I found "About DxTex" string.
DxTex is tool for converting image files into DDS format from Microsoft DirectX SDK...
So import-c.dll is dxtex.exe.
Sorry, Ariel. You corrupted DxTex resources to hide that it is DxTex. You even changed icon to your's green
eye! I'm really sorry...
Now we have some additions to the list of creators of Kit Raptor:
Edward Grubb III (PicFormat library)
Toni Wilen (GFXPAK)
Don Daily (EAZIP)
nVidia developers (readdxt.exe)
Microsoft developers (dxtex.exe)
I'm really amazed that Ariel took those programs from SDK. They are all provided with source codes - why is he
modifyng compiled EXE files and hiding them as DLLs?
Pretty strange.
FSH is DDS container. DDS is DirectX texture.
We convert any image to DDS with DxTex. Then import FSH into BIG files with EAZIP. That is import.
Export FSH from BIG with EAZIP, then convert it to JPG with GFXPAK. Or take out DDS from FSH and convert it
with readdxt to TGA.
We see that Ariel's work is actually making GUI for all that tools which he has hidden in import-x.dll's.
Pretty GUI with animated banners.
Thanks for great tool Ariel, you really simplified kit makers life!
But next time don't forget to mention all that guys who did the real work
P.S.
I really didn't mean to cast slurs upon Ariel's good name of patchmaker.
He is a great guy, who did A LOT (I think more than anybody) past years for FIFA community.
This is only Kit Raptor analyze, nothing personal.
Sorry, if I hurt someone.
I also hope this post will help you guys to know more about how things are working and maybe you even roll
your own Kit Raptor
P.S.S
I can continue and post analyzis of other tools if you like this one.
Have you ever wondered how all that popular tools for FIFA are made?
I'll start with Kit Raptor 08. This tool is for importing and exporting kits.
What is really happening inside to get your kits into FIFA?
I bet you think you need to be genuis to make something like this.
Look, Ariel did all the work almost alone, he IS genuis!
Credits
---------
Author & Producer : Ariel Santarelli
Product Marketing : Xavier Baez
fifa.fat algorithm : Diego Rostagnol
Unfortunately, We are not such Einsteins as Ariel.
But let's at least try to understand how it works!
The first strange thing we can notice is a quite big size of package - 3.3 Mb.
We know that tools for converting graphics is about 0.3 - 1 Mb (GFXPAK, FSHEdit, EA Graph) and tools for
importing is about 50-100 Kb (impbig, fifafs).
Well ok, let's install it.
I noticed that something were put into my Windows system folder.
Something like picformat.ocx.
Ah, let's see... Oh, yes:
Right-clicking on OCX gave me some info - this files were programmed by Edward Grubb III in 2000.PicFormat32.dll
PicFormat32.ocx
You can still get it here:
http://www.visualbasiccode.com/asp/showzip.asp?ZipFile=http://www.vbcode.com/code/PicFormat32a%2
Ezip&theID=2679
So it's a library to convert Jpg2Bmp, Bmp2Jpg etc.
Moving on we'll take a look at other installed files (I left only exe and dll in list):
fatbhbuilder.exe
import-a.dll
import-b.dll
import-c.dll
import-d.dll
kitraptor.exe
We know what is fatbhbuilder.exe. It's Ariel program based on Diego Rostagnol's fifa.fat algorithm for
rebuilding fifa.fat. kitraptor.exe seems to be the main program.
What are all these DLLs?
I tried right-clicking again, but I see no info included this time. Oh, seems to be home-made Ariel's
libraries which are doing all those tricky things. I opened import-a.dll in hexeditor...
OMG, see what I found inside:
GFXPAK %s (%s) BMP/GIF/JPG/PCX/PNG<->EA-SHPI converter by
Toni Wilen <[email protected]> http://www.nhlinfo.net/
Old good GFXPAK is this! I renamed import-a.dll to gfxpak.exe and run. Yes, it's not a DLL file at all...
I see Ariel is hiding using of gfxpak... or why renaming to DLL?
Let's rename all DLLs to EXE and try to run.
So,
import-a.exe - GFXPAK by Toni Wilen
import-b.exe - ?
import-c.exe - Strange non-working program. Interface looks corrupted.
import-d.exe - SURPRIZE! EAZIP v.3.0
EAZip was made by Don Daily. It's a tool for importing/exporting into BIG files.
Originally made for NBA series.
You can take it here:
http://www.nba-live.com/download/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=39
It's quite fast console tool, a bit slower then fifafs, however.
Well, well, well.
And what are import-b.exe & import-c.exe then?
Now I almost believe that they are not Ariel's creations too.
When I renamed import-b from DLL to EXE, it change it's icon in windows explorer.
It was very familiar logotype with stylized eye... Ah... nVidia!
To avoid long story, I'll just tell you the results of my investigation:
import-b.dll is originally readdxt.exe from nVidia SDK
(http://developer.nvidia.com/page/tools.html)
readdxt.exe made for conveting DDS to TGA.
You can run "import-b.exe conversion3gk.dds" in console and it will produce test.tga with kit.
Let's get to import-c.exe.
It has Ariel's icon but when I run, strange empty window appeares and nothing can be done in it.
OK, let's take hexviewer. Unfortunately, there is almost no textual data in this EXE.
Just looking like screen with Matrix
But wait, what is this at very beginning of the file?
I realized that EXE was compressed with ASPACK - that is why all the real file contents was hidden from my.aspack
eye. What are you hiding there, Ariel?
Still, there are lots of tools for depacking ASPACK: http://www.exetools.com/unpackers.htm
I took ASPackDie. I unpacked. I opened in hexviewer. I found "About DxTex" string.
DxTex is tool for converting image files into DDS format from Microsoft DirectX SDK...
So import-c.dll is dxtex.exe.
Sorry, Ariel. You corrupted DxTex resources to hide that it is DxTex. You even changed icon to your's green
eye! I'm really sorry...
Now we have some additions to the list of creators of Kit Raptor:
Edward Grubb III (PicFormat library)
Toni Wilen (GFXPAK)
Don Daily (EAZIP)
nVidia developers (readdxt.exe)
Microsoft developers (dxtex.exe)
I'm really amazed that Ariel took those programs from SDK. They are all provided with source codes - why is he
modifyng compiled EXE files and hiding them as DLLs?
Pretty strange.
FSH is DDS container. DDS is DirectX texture.
We convert any image to DDS with DxTex. Then import FSH into BIG files with EAZIP. That is import.
Export FSH from BIG with EAZIP, then convert it to JPG with GFXPAK. Or take out DDS from FSH and convert it
with readdxt to TGA.
We see that Ariel's work is actually making GUI for all that tools which he has hidden in import-x.dll's.
Pretty GUI with animated banners.
Thanks for great tool Ariel, you really simplified kit makers life!
But next time don't forget to mention all that guys who did the real work
P.S.
I really didn't mean to cast slurs upon Ariel's good name of patchmaker.
He is a great guy, who did A LOT (I think more than anybody) past years for FIFA community.
This is only Kit Raptor analyze, nothing personal.
Sorry, if I hurt someone.
I also hope this post will help you guys to know more about how things are working and maybe you even roll
your own Kit Raptor
P.S.S
I can continue and post analyzis of other tools if you like this one.