PS VITA / PsTV Higurashi Vita v3.0.2

tthousand · Sep 15, 2020

Higurashi Vita
by MyLegGuy

A port of Higurashi When They Cry for the PS Vita and 3ds. It can also play VNDS games on the Vita.
Refer to the wiki for scripting API and other useless info.
via Wololo.net: http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=116&t=48223

(Except for the screenshots, the OP is completely spoiler free.)
v3.0 is out! (09/04/2020)
dmaskell92's PS3 patch Meakashi v1.0 is out! (11/18/17 11:04 AM)
v1.7.4 Script Converter is out! (09/04/2020)

This is a port of the Higurashi: When They Cry remakes available on Steam and MangaGamer. It supports the updated character graphics and an older version of the PS3 Graphics & Voices patch. Only the question arcs are fully supported.

This requires the files from the Steam or MangaGamer versions of any of MangaGamer's Higurashi remakes.

The script converter is made with C#. If you're on Windows, you can run it with the .NET Framework that you probably already have. If you're on GNU/Linux or macOS, you need a program called Mono to run it. I've personally tested this on Debian 9. If it doesn't work, make sure you update the .NET Framework or Mono.

This is done BEFORE you use the script converter.

The PS3 patch is being changed so often that I can't keep up.
For now, I don't think I'll support the version where they mod the game's code.
Here are instructions for installing the release right before the DLL changes.

AUTO INSTALLER (Windows & Linux only)
====================
Step 1 - Download my auto-installer.
Step 2 - Extract the ZIP file.
Step 3 - Run HigurashiPS3AutoC. Windows users can double click the program. Linux users can run "run.sh."
Step 4 - When prompted, enter the game you want to install the patch for.
Step 5 - When prompted, enter 6. This is the option labeled "Install the older Higurashi-Vita compatible version."
Step 6 - When prompted, enter the file path to your game instillation's data folder. If the program can automatically detect the location, you can just press enter without typing anything to use the example.
Step 7 - Wait for it to finish. This can take a while depending on your internet speed and computer speed.

MANUAL INSTRUCTIONS
====================
Step 1 - Find your StreamingAssets folder. For me, chapter 2's StreamingAssets folder was at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Higurashi 02 - Watanagashi\HigurashiEp02_Data\StreamingAssets.
Step 2 - Head here.
Step 3 - Select one of the files you see on the Github page. The file you choose depends on which chapter of the game you are patching. For example, if I was patching chapter 2, Watanagashi, I would open "watanagashi.urls"
Step 4 - After you open the file, you'll see a bunch of URLs. Download all of them by copying and pasting them into your browser's URL bar. There should be 4 in total.
Step 5 - Unzip all of the files you just downloaded.
Step 5.5 - After unzipping the files you downloaded, you should see folders with names like "Update", "SE", "CG", and "CGAlt".
Step 6 - Move these folders into your StreamingAssets folder. If done correctly, you should be asked if you want to overwrite some files. Choose to do so.

You need to actually own the games on Steam. Link to the first chapter on Steam.

Step 0 - If you want the PS3 Voices & Graphics patch, install it first. Refer to the instructions in this post.
Step 1 - Download the script and image converter.
Step 2 - Extract the ZIP file.
Step 3 - The next step is to get the files from the Higurashi game you want. It's slightly different if you bought the game from MangaGamer. For Steam, right click on of the Higurashi game on Steam and click "Properties" at the bottom of the menu. Then click "LOCAL FILES" and then "BROWSE LOCAL FILES".
Step 5 - A folder will be opened showing the game's files. Look inside the folder called HigurashiEpXX_Data. Copy the folder called "StreamingAssets".
Step 6 - Paste StreamingAssets in the same directory as the extracted script converter program.
Step 7 - Run HigurashiVitaCovnerter.exe.
Step 7.2 - When prompted by the program, enter 0 because we're converting for the Vita.
Step 7.5 - As a quick way to check if the conversion worked, check if your StreamingAssets folder was renamed.
Step 8 - When it's finished, take the StreamingAssets folder and put it at ux0:data/HIGURASHI/Games/.

On the title screen, you can load a game folder to play the game in an elegant, user friendly way. If it says that no preset files were found, you've done something wrong. Make sure you remembered to convert the game files and put them at ux0:data/HIGURASHI/Games/.

You may want to have a look at the settings. From there, can change the bust (character art) location. The options are "CG" or "CGAlt". Normally, "CG" is the original graphics and "CGAlt" is the Steam graphics. If you have the PS3 patch then "CG" is the PS3 character sprites. When changing the bust location, a sample image will be shown. You may also want to overclock the CPU if you're using the PS3 patch. If you're having trouble hearing the voices over the background music, you can lower the BGM volume and increase the SE volume. If you're not using the PS3 patch, and you want the text to start where the background starts, instead of at the edge of the screen, you can change that. If you want the message box to be darker, you can change that. If you read fast then you can change the text speed.

After loading a game folder, one of two things can happen. If it's your first time loading that game folder, you get a menu where you can either choose a chapter to start on or start a brand new game. If you've already played using that game folder before, you'll be brought to a menu. From there, you can go to the next chapter, go to a previous chapter, view TIPS, and exit.

While in game, you can press circle to toggle the text box, hold square to fast forward, press SELECT to activate Auto Mode, press triangle to access the settings, press START to access the textlog, and press X to advance.

Access the in-game menu to configure auto mode's speed. The bigger the number, the more time it waits after text is displayed. The number is in milliseconds. Hold L and press left or right to add or subtract 200. Don't hold L to add or subtract 500. Activate auto mode in game by pressing SELECT.

ADV mode is exclusive to the PS3 patch. You can choose to enable it when running the script converter, you can't toggle it in the PS Vita application.

You can put the game's data files on uma0 instead of ux0 if you want. If the uma0 folder is there, it's used.

See the wiki:
https://github.com/MyLegGuy/Higurashi-Vita/wiki
You can find info about making preset files, what each command does, and more.

Please report any crashes or things that don't work in chapters 1-4.

* Color inversion commands do nothing. This isn't used too often. Added in v2.4+.
* "Films" are used to change the screen. Ones that tint the screen a color should look fine. Ones that do anything else, like making everything black and white, are just replaced with a white filter. This may be changed eventually, but it's a small thing and I think it doesn't look too bad.
* "Filters" are used when drawing backgrounds and busts to give them a fancy entrance. I don't know how to program this well, so backgrounds and busts have simple fade in and fade out transitions. It still looks good.

Depicts two of the main characters and one of the game's settings.
So, almost no spoilers. I just thought I'd point it out because I said this is a completely spoiler free thread.

Normal graphics. Only takes up part of the screen. There is a setting to make the text start where the background starts, instead of at the side of the screen.

PS3 graphics. Takes up most of the screen.

Sexy main menu

This tutorial is for if you're upgrading from Higurashi-Vita <= v2.3 to Higurashi-Vita >= v2.5.

Step 1 - Select the option on the main menu to upgrade to game folder setup. (If the menu option isn't there, you're good.) What we're doing here is adding preset files to StreamingAssets folders.

Step 2 (One StreamingAssets) - If you only have one StreamingAssets folder, select the preset that goes with it and be done. For example, if ux0:data/HIGURASHI/StreamingAssets/ is a folder with the game files for chapter 2, I'd choose the chapter 2 preset file and that's it.

Step 2 (Multiple StreamingAssets folders) - If you have multiple StreamingAssets folders, choose the preset files that have StreamingAssets folders to go with them. When you have multiple StreamingAssets folders, they are named StreamingAssets_<preset filename>. So if I have StreamingAssets_Ch1_Onikakushi.txt as a folder and StreamingAssets_Ch2_Watanagashi.txt as a folder, I would choose the Ch1_Onikakushi.txt and Ch2_Watanagashi.txt preset files and that's it.

Step 3 - Using VitaShell, make the folder ux0:data/HIGURASHI/Games/

Step 4 - Move all your StreamingAssets folders into ux0:data/HIGURASHI/Games/.

This tutorial is for if you're upgrading from Higurashi-Vita <= v2.3 to Higurashi-Vita >= v2.5.
Sorry its shaky.

Credits -
dmaskell92 - PS3 patch Meakashi port
Theswweet - Some testing for base ch 5-7.
07th Mod - PS3 Voices & Graphics patch for PC
xerpi - libvita2d
See ux0:app/HIGURASHI/License/ for full license list

Download:
https://github.com/MyLegGuy/Higurashi-Vita/releases
Script converter download:
https://github.com/MyLegGuy/HigurashiVi ... r/releases
(Optional) PS3 Voice & Graphics patch easy installer:
https://github.com/MyLegGuy/HigurashiPS3AutoC/releases/
via Wololo.net: http://wololo.net/talk/viewtopic.php?f=116&t=49282

v3.0 is out! (09/04/20)
Game Converter v1.3 is out! (6/21/18)

Note - This is a thread for info about Higurashi-Vita's ability to play VNDS games, this is the same application. On the download page you can choose to download the VPK with the Higurashi-Vita LiveArea, the VNDS LiveArea, or both. Both VPKs work the same.

Note #2 - If you're ever having any crashes or other problems, make sure you've used the latest version of the game converter and the Vita application before reporting a bug. Bugs can be reported by posting in this thread, sending me a PM on this forum, making an issue on the Github repo, or sending me an email. My email can be found on my Github profile once you're signed in to Github.

What is VNDS?
---
VNDS was a homebrew visual novel engine for the Nintendo DS. Some games were ported to its simple scripting language, allowing people to play some visual novels on their DS. Examples of games ported to VNDS are Umineko, Higurashi, and Fate/Stay Night. There is also an was an Android version of VNDS that supports higher resolution graphics.

What is this?
---
Higurashi-Vita, my homebrew visual novel engine, can now also run VNDS games in addition to what it can already do. This thread is for the discussion of that feature. A game converter is still required for reasons I can't really control, see the FAQ for specifics. I have tried to fully implement everything. Many people have tested different games, so it should be pretty stable. Still, if you run into any problems please post and I'll try and fix them as soon as possible. This can run games with high resolution graphics intended for Android devices, DS games will work too.

The script converter should work for all Windows users. Linux and MacOS users will need to run the program with Mono.
1. Get a game in the VNDS format. This usually involves downloading a converter for a certain game, but if you are a bad boy then you may have downloaded a game already in the VNDS format. If its file extension is .novel, I think it's just a ZIP file you have to extract first.
1.5. Check if your game has any .aac audio. If it does, you'll need to follow the tutorial for using FFmpeg with this.
2. Download the game converter and extract the ZIP file.
3. Run the script converter.
4. Select the root folder of your VNDS game. If you're on Windows, you can use the GUI file picker. If you're using Mono, you'll just need to copy and paste the folder path.
5. Start the conversion.
5.5. If the program is skipping .AAC sound files, you need FFmpeg. There's another tutorial I made on this thread for how to do that.
6. Wait
7. The converted game will be in the same parent folder as your source game, with "-converted" added to the end. For example, if my source game was at C:\Games\higurashi\ then the converted game would be at C:\Games\higurashi-converted\.
8. Copy the converted game to your PS Vita inside the folder ux0:data/HIGURASHI/Games/.

1. Get a game in the VNDS format. This usually involves downloading a converter for a certain game, but if you are a bad boy then you may have downloaded a game already in the VNDS format.
2. Download the game converter and extract the ZIP file.
3. Download FFmpeg. Read on for how to do this. There are instructions for both Windows and Linux.

Installing FFmpeg (Windows)
3.1. (Windows) - Head to https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html
3.2. (Windows) - Click the big Windows logo under "Get the packages"
3.3 (Windows) - Click "Windows Builds." You're now on a page where you can select a version, architecture, and linking option.
3.4 (Windows) - The version you choose doesn't really matter, I choose 4.0. For architecture, choose "Windows 32-bit." For linking, choose "Static."
3.5 (Windows) - At the bottom of the page, click "Download Build." Extract the zip file. (Right click -> Extract All)
3.6 (Windows) - Inside the FFmpeg extracted files, go into the "bin" folder.
3.7 (Windows) - Copy all the exe files from the "bin" folder to the same folder as the VNDS game converter.

Installing FFmpeg (Linux)
3.1 (Linux) - Installing FFmpeg is different depending on your distro. For Debian, I was able to just use "sudo apt-get install ffmpeg". If that doesn't work, you'll just need to google how to install it on your particular disto.

4. Run the script converter. The script converter should say that FFmpeg is detected. On the Windows GUI, look at the bottom of the Window. For Linux, look at the first line the terminal outputs. If it doesn't say that FFmpeg is detected, abort mission.
5. Select the root folder of your VNDS game. If you're on Windows, you can use the GUI file picker. If you're using Mono, you'll just need to copy and paste the folder path.
6. Start the conversion.
6.5. The program should not say that it's skipping AAC files. At very least, it'll try to run FFmpeg. If it's working, you'll get like 5 lines of output per sound file. If it's not working, it'll say that "ffmpeg" is an unknown command, or something like that.
6. Wait. This could take a while depending on how many sound files you have and how fast your computer is. It took me like 6 minutes to do just above 2000 sound files on my SSD. It took like an hour to do Umineko's 17,000+ sound files on my normal HDD.
7. The converted game will be in the same parent folder as your source game, with "-converted" added to the end. For example, if my source game was at C:\Games\higurashi\ then the converted game would be at C:\Games\higurashi-converted\.
8. Copy the converted game to your PS Vita inside the folder ux0:data/HIGURASHI/Games/.

Controls
---
X - Advance text
O - Hide textbox
Triangle - Open settings
Square (Hold) - Fast forward
Start - Save
Up on the d-pad - Textlog
Select - Toggle auto mode

Settings
---
(To access some of these settings, you'll need to have a VNDS game loaded.)
Auto Mode Speed - How many milliseconds the program waits before advancing
Auto Voiced Speed - How many milliseconds the program waits before advancing if there's a voice line that goes with the text. The timer starts when the voice line ends.
Overclock CPU - Colored green if it's on. Stuff will load faster.
BGM Volume & SE Volume - 4 is max, 0 is disabled.
Font Size - After changing the setting with left and right buttons, press "Test" to reload the font with that new size so it looks good again. I think 32 is the default font size.
Textbox - "Full" makes text start at the side of the screen. "Small" makes text start at the start of the background.
Text Speed - How many characters are displayed per frame.
Message Box Alpha - How dark the black filter over the art is. 255 is solid black and will keep you from seeing the graphics. 125 is nice.
Bust Location - Does nothing.
Clear at bottom - If the text will clear and start from the top when it hits the bottom of the screen. The original VNDS would just push all the old text up when it reached the bottom of the screen.
VNDS Warnings - If you want to be warned when images files aren't found.
Text Mode - NVL or ADV. NVL has the textbox take up the entire screen, ADV is a smaller textbox at the bottom of the screen.
VNDS Imagre Fade - If VNDS images should have a fadeout animation. The original VNDS did not have these fade transitions, so you may want to turn this option off for some games.
Drop Shadow - For the text
Vita Touch - Allows you to tap the front touch screen to advance the text

* The game may crash after returning from the LiveArea or sleep mode.
* The sound command can't stop all currently playing sounds or play a sound multiple times with one line. Will probably implement eventually™.
* WAV files will be ignored.
* Colored text not yet supported. The markup for it will be hidden though.

Q:

Why do I need a game converter? I hate you.

Click to expand...

A:

1. libvita2d isn't great at loading and displaying weird images. This problem actually killed a different attempt at this same project. Specifically, a PNG with a bit depth of 1 (or was it 2) will make the program completely crash, a JPEG with a bit depth of 8 won't be displayed correctly, and certain PNG images will crash the program when loaded apparently because of their dimensions.
2. Some games use .aac audio, which I think I can't add support for because it's a copyrighted format. Therefor it needs to be converted to a different format.
3. Some games store their assets in zip files. I can't be bothered to support loading assets from zip files.
4. Nobody actually asked this question, I made it up.

Click to expand...

The goal is for every VNDS game ever made to be compatible. If you find a VNDS game that isn't compatible, please report it to me and I will fix it ASAP.

List of games that have been reported as working:
* Higurashi When They Cry Hou
* Saya No Uta
* Wanko To Kurasou
* Fate Stay Night
* Cross Channel
* Red Shift
* Saya No Uta
* Tsukihime
* Shikkoku no Sharnoth
* Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo 01

Games reported as not working:
* none

Higurashi When They Cry with high(er) resolution graphics intended for Android. This screenshot is slightly outdated, smoother image scaling is now used.

Umineko. There is a setting to make the text start where the background starts. In this screenshot, it's off. In the Higurashi screenshot, it's on.

* dmaskell92 - VNDS LiveArea
* Jake Probst, anoNL - Original VNDS
* Anybody who made VNDS ports
* me
* See ux0:app/HIGURASHI/License/ or ux0:app/VNDSCLONE/License/ for full license list.

Download:
https://github.com/MyLegGuy/Higurashi-Vita/releases
Game Converter Download
https://github.com/MyLegGuy/VNDSVitaConverter/releases
FFmpeg (optional):
https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html