BrawlEx Cosmetics Crash

[InvaderXYZ]

Hi! So, for a while I've been using a pack for BrawlEx called "Brawl for All," and over time I've been replacing the fighters with new ones, seeing as all the slots and cosmetics have already been made. Everything goes smoothly, except for one little thing: sometimes whenever I replace cosmetic images (select pictures, csps, stuff in the character select screen/selchar), some of them will just crash the game. I've played around with it for months, but I can never figure out why some work, but most crash.

The file is way under the maximum file size (3.79), so i'm sure it's not that. The file size seems to really have no impact on whether it crashes or not. None of the images are too big, nor too small.

Here's a link to the dropbox folder with some of the one's that refuse to work: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zop6pl1ohhvmby7/AABULqs5-t3NDcPa2hZlFnyMa?dl=0

Thank you for your time.

[Ebola16]

Well lets get one of them working for starters to see if there's a theme here. I looked at your Scout character selection portrait (CSP). It's dimensions are 128*160 pixels.

1. Find a CSP with the same dimensions as the problematic Scout CSP.
2. Test this character in game before making any changes to make sure the CSP loads properly.
3. If no issue found, replace the CSP with the Scout CSP and do not change the format.

If the replacement is successful then the problem isn't the CSP itself (which I highly suspect).

[InvaderXYZ]

Well lets get one of them working for starters to see if there's a theme here. I looked at your Scout character selection portrait (CSP). It's dimensions are 128*160 pixels.

1. Find a CSP with the same dimensions as the problematic Scout CSP.
2. Test this character in game before making any changes to make sure the CSP loads properly.
3. If no issue found, replace the CSP with the Scout CSP and do not change the format.

If the replacement is successful then the problem isn't the CSP itself (which I highly suspect).

So I followed your instructions and surprisingly... it worked. I'm going to try this some of the other things and hopefully it'll work out? What do you think the problem is?

[Ebola16]

I've tested the Brawl 4 All build and I think there were a few characters that had issues. There may be be different problems for different characters.

If you want to go through each problematic character individually:

1. Does the CSP load before making any changes to it?
2. Does replacing the CSP using an image of the same size and format cause a crash?
3. Does replacing the CSP of a different size or format cause a crash?

[InvaderXYZ]

So, I tried doing this with Scout and everything worked. But once I started doing Heavy over Goku, it crashed again. Everything is the same size, and the same format as before.

Also tried replacing Scout's CSPs again, crashed the game.

[Ebola16]

Are you only replacing the CSPs or the character associated with them too? It's been awhile but I believe that Goku has bone edits so you can't simply place Heavy over Goku. You'll need to edit Heavy's boneset to match Goku's. If bone weights need to be modified, then you'll probably need to re-rig the character, which is a rather difficult process to learn.

[InvaderXYZ]

Yes, I am also replacing the character with a clone of Ganondorf, that's kinda my own custom PSA. Though, I wouldn't see how that would effect it, because it crashes when I change stuff in the character select screen.

[Ebola16]

Ah, that's your problem then. Part of the fighter data is loaded in the character select screen. If you load a character with a significantly different boneset than what the PSA expects then the game will crash. The Goku PSA will require edits to the models if you want to use them.

Important note: not all PSAs expect edited bonesets.

Looking at Dolphin logs can give you a better idea of what's occurring in Brawl behind the scenes.

[InvaderXYZ]

Really? Hmm. What would I have to do to keep my custom PSA for Heavy/Ganon? Do I have to put Goku back, or is there something else I could do?

Also, I have no idea how to set up the emulator, heh.

[Ebola16]

Wait, isn't Heavy based on Ganon's boneset? That won't work with Brawl 4 All's Goku PSA (unless you re-rigged him but that's complicated). If you're replacing the Goku PSA (Pit based) with a Ganon PSA, you'll need to edit the Brawlex configuration and .rel files too.

I'll use a simple example PSA to help explain boneset compatibility, this Flame Orbitars (ver1.40) PSA for Pit.

Default boneset Pit costumes are incompatible with the PSA due to a different bone structure. Bones with different connections (technical term: parenting) or different final BoneIndex IDs are giveaways that edits need to be made. See http://i.imgur.com/3ehzrXk.png

In this case, the PSA expects bones "OrbitL" and "OrbitR" to be present in the model. They're not in original Pit's boneset but they can be easily added through Brawlbox. Copy over the bone's properties so the bone is placed in the correct place too. My PSA Friendly Zero Two Pit is an example of a Pit model modified for this PSA.

This is the simplest case involving unweighted bones. If weighed bones need to be added or rearranged, edits to the models rigging are usually required. This is a much more complicated process. If random points start shooting out of your character or it becomes so garbled that it looks like something from a horror movie, you've probably messed up some bone weights.

The Goku PSA in Brawl 4 All wasn't compatible with a default skeleton. I don't know anything about the other PSA though. Compare the bones of a model that works with that PSA to one that does not.

And if you're interested in the emulator this is the place to go https://dolphin-emu.org/

[InvaderXYZ]

What would I need to do for PSAs like Illuminati over Mario? Is there an alternative solution to this, like writing over Goku entirely, or is there no other way around it?

Also I don't think the emulator will work for me, because the SD Card Maker's max. is 2GB, and I use a 4GB.

[Ebola16]

The same thing applies for all characters with Brawlex. You can replace any Mario-based PSA with another Mario-based PSA by just renaming the /fighter files to what Brawlex expects. If you replace a non-Mario-based PSA with a Mario-based PSA you'll need to edit the configuration and .rel files too.

And Dolphin cannot handle SD.raw larger than 2GB without having read errors.

[InvaderXYZ]

The same thing applies for all characters with Brawlex. You can replace any Mario-based PSA with another Mario-based PSA by just renaming the /fighter files to what Brawlex expects. If you replace a non-Mario-based PSA with a Mario-based PSA you'll need to edit the configuration and .rel files too.

And Dolphin cannot handle SD.raw larger than 2GB without having read errors.

Well I do that, but the game still seems to crash whenever I try to change the CSPs or Select Portrait. It's a bit annoying.

[Ebola16]

Specifically, which PSA are you trying to replace and which PSA is being replaced?

I'd still suggest copying your SD contents to your computer and deleting non-brawlex important files (stages, sounds, etc.) to get under 2GB for Dolphin and looking at Dolphin logs as it's the best way to make identifying Brawlex problems easier.

If that's still not an option then you'll need to restart the character swap from the last non-crashing configuration. Anytime you edit a config file or .rel, confirm that the change makes sense in the Brawlex Thread's original post.

Unfortunately debugging these issues can be quite annoying.

[InvaderXYZ]

Well, it has this problem with any PSA I do. Like today, I put Korra over Naruto, but I am unable to put in the CSPs without crashing.