Copyright: Copyright ® 1997 Silo / Factal [BlackBag]


Contents

Introduction

RTool is a multi-usage tool designed for manipulation of images produced by development platforms for consoles using a Intel based platform (preferably a Pentium Class machine).

For some features RTool has a minimum requirement:-
Failure to meet these minimum requirements may result in RTool behaving erratically.

Feature	Requirement
Image Backup	Bios 1.60 or higher
IPS Sending to Doctor	Bios 1.60 or higher
MemPak Backup/Restore	Surgeon64 Hardware

Please note that SP64/Wildcard image backup is not supported - neither of the us have a SP/WC which makes development of software for it a little…difficult… it may be supported at a later date.

Please Read Important Note about BIOS Tuning

Reference

Commands

Index

Disclaimer


Menus
Commands

Toolbar Commands

Send an Image

Receive an Image

Re-Size an Image

Change Image Format (Byte Flip)

IPS Patch an Image

Calculate an Image's CRC

Compress an Image

De-Compress an Image

File Selection Filter

Exit to Windows

Menu-Only Commands


Index

B

BIOS TUNING

C

Calculate an Images CRC

Change Image Format

Compress an Image

Contents

D

DeCompress an Image

Disclaimer

E

Exit to Windows

F

File Selection Filter

G

Glossary

I

IPS Patch an Image

M

Menus

Menus

Menus

R

Receive an Image

ReSize an Image

S

Send an Image


Disclaimer

The authors of this program make no warranty, express or implied about its usefulness for any purpose. The end user, YOU, take full responsibility for any legal actions against the use of this program.  The authors do not endorse or condone the copying of any software titles, except in the interest of protecting your investment in titles which you have purchased. The authors will not be responsible for the use or misuse of this program, or any illegal or 'grey-area' activities that are facilitated by the use or misuse of this program. This program is meant to be an educational and experimental tool only, for personal, non-corporate uses. Any other use constitutes copyright infringement.

Important Notice(s) and Prohibitions.

You must not, in any manner and through any medium whatsoever commercially exploit this software or use this software for any commercial purposes.

This program and the associated files program must not be stored on any media whatsoever of any commercial company or subsidiary thereof without the prior permission of the author(s). If you wish to contact the authors for this purpose, Email addresses will be made available in the accompanying documentation.

By using and/or storing this program, you are agreeing to the above terms.


BIOS Tuning

Bios 1.60 and above allows you to modify the colour of the bios background and the position of the screen.

RTool2 will allow modification of these features within the bios but they are used at your own risk.
**DO NOT** use on a bios version under 1.60 as unpredictable effects may occur and could theoretically result in a unusable Doctor64.
If you do continue modifying old bios' and get to this point you will have one of two choices:-

1 	Re-Burn the bios (you'll need access to a EPROM burner obviously)

2 	Buy a new doc.

If that hasn't put you off then to tune a bios you need to follow these steps.

1 	Highlight the bios file in the file window

2 	Choose BIOS from the menu and choose the 'Tune Bios' options.

3 	Use the sliders to select which colour you wish the background to be

4 	Select the X,Y offsets for the screen

5 	Send the bios.

6 	Wait for it to finish re-writing itself and then press PLAY on the Doctor64 to restart.


Calculate an Images CRC
Calculate an Image's CRC

Occasionally (i.e. after modification) the image checksum will become invalid - this will stop the unit from loading and executing the image. To check and/or repair a checksum highlight the image and click on the CRC icon. A valid checksum will be reported if found, otherwise a requester offering you the choice of recalculating the checksum will appear.

This option can also be selected from the Menubar and the Right Click Context Menu on the File List.


Change Image Format
Change Image Format (Byte Flip)

Images are usually stored as either a 'standard' byte format or a 'byte flipped' format. The Doctor64 uses the 'Byte Flipped' format whereas the SP64, Wildcard and Z64 use the standard byte format.

To convert between image formats, simply highlight the file and choose the 'Change image format' icon). This will convert a Doc64 format to SP/WC/Z64 and vice versa.

The file format of the image will be reported in the status panel at the bottom of the info screen.

This option can also be selected from the Menubar and the Right Click Context Menu on the File List.


Compress an Image

RTool64 supports compression and decompression of images to reduce the overhead on required disk space. RTool will also directly send compressed images to a unit without the need to decompress it first.
To compress an image, highlight the image and click the compression icon and the image will be imploded.

This option can also be selected from the Menubar and the Right Click Context Menu on the File List.


DeCompress an Image
De-Compress an Image

This is the opposite of the compress option and allows a imploded image to be exploded and restored to its original state.

This option can also be selected from the Menubar and the Right Click Context Menu on the File List.


Exit to Windows

If you need an explanation of this icon perhaps you should first purchase our accompanying book 'What to do with mommy's computer' (1st edition).

This option can also be selected from the Menubar.


File Selection Filter

The file window can be filtered to show all files, valid files (every file type that RTool knows about), Roms (all sorts) or Roms for the individual territories.
To choose a filter, click on the selection box (currently saying 'all files' and choose a new filter.


Glossary


IPS Patch an Image

To apply an IPS patch to a file, highlight the file to receive the patch and click the IPS icon. A requester will appear asking for the IPS file. Choose the IPS file and click 'ok' - the IPS file will then be permanently patched into the file.

The doctor64 is also capable of directly receiving IPS files (see bios requisite) -  to directly send an IPS file to the doctor64, simply double click the IPS file after the image has been loaded Once 'ok' has appeared the image will have been patched.

This option can also be selected from the Menubar and the Right Click Context Menu on the File List.


Menus

Insert Menus help text here


Receive an Image

Note:   For Doctor64 use only

1 	Press 'Menu' then 'Next' on the Doctor64 to bring up the backup menu.

2 	There are 2 choices - Backup Card to Dram or Backup Card to PC - Choose 'Backup Card to PC' with the applicable size for the image.

3 	Click on the Receive Icon and enter a filename.

This option can also be selected from the Menubar.


ReSize an Image
Re-Size an Image

Highlight the required file and click on the resize icon.
This will ask for the new image size and a choice of 4 presets.
Note: If you have backup's enabled you will require free space equal or greater than that of the file being modified.

This option can also be selected from the Menubar and the Right Click Context Menu on the File List.


Send an Image

Highlight the required file and click the above icon. This will upload the image to the specified unit.

This option can also be selected from the Menubar and the Right Click Context Menu on the File List.