ALX — Skies of Arcadia Legends Examiner

ALX is a command-line tool for Linux, macOS and Windows to export and import the game data of Skies of Arcadia, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Eternal Arcadia (エターナルアルカディア), and Eternal Arcadia Legends (エターナルアルカディアレジェンド).

Features

• Character Skills (Super Moves and Magic)
• Character Stats (EXP Boosts, EXP Curves, Magic EXP Curves, Parameters and Spirit Curves)
• Crew Members
• Defined Strings (Detector for Shift_JIS and Windows-1252 Strings)
• Enemy Ship Stats (Action Patterns and Parameters)
• Enemy Skills (Super Moves and Magic)
• Enemy Stats (Action Patterns, Encounters, Events and Parameters)
• Items (Accessories, Armors, Ship Cannons, Ship Accessories, Ship Items, Special Items, Usable Items and Weapons)
• Playable Ship Stats
• Map Scripts (Events, Tasks and Versions)
• Shops
• Swashbuckler Ratings
• Treasure Chests

Requirements

The commands in the bin directory require:

• Ruby 2.7+ (Linux and macOS only)
• Extracted image of Skies of Arcadia, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Eternal Arcadia (エターナルアルカディア) or Eternal Arcadia Legends (エターナルアルカディアレジェンド)

The CSV files in the build and dist directories require:

• Spreadsheet application with UTF-8 support (e.g. LibreOffice Calc or uniCSVed)
• Editor for plain text (e.g. Notepad++)

Download

• You can get the latest official release on the SourceForge project website: https://sourceforge.net/projects/aex/files/latest/download
• You can also get the current development version from the GitHub repository: https://github.com/Taikocuya/ALX

Installation

Pre-exported CSV files with complete game data can already be found in the dist directory.

Folder	Description
2000-03-03-dc-jp-demo	Kuzokuban (Trial Edition)
2000-04-07-dc-jp-demo	Dreamcast Express Vol. 6
2000-05-09-dc-us-demo	E3 Prototype
2000-08-21-dc-us-demo	Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine Vol. 9
2000-08-23-dc-jp-barai	@barai Version
2000-08-24-dc-us-proto	V0.800 Prototype
2000-08-28-dc-jp-final	Final JP Build
2000-09-07-dc-us-proto	V0.830 Prototype
2000-09-14-dc-us-proto	V0.840 Prototype
2000-09-18-dc-us-final	Final US Build
2000-11-15-dc-eu-proto	Beta Preview
2001-02-13-dc-eu-demo	Dreamon Vol. 20
2001-02-19-dc-eu-final	Final EU Build
2002-11-12-gc-jp-final	Final JP Build
2002-12-19-gc-us-final	Final US Build
2003-03-05-gc-eu-final	Final EU Build

If you want to import and export the game data by yourself, you need in the build directory at least one extracted image of Skies of Arcadia, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Eternal Arcadia (エターナルアルカディア) or Eternal Arcadia Legends (エターナルアルカディアレジェンド). Depending on the platform the directory structure should look like this.

build
├── custom-name-dc
│   ├── meta
│   │   └── IP.BIN
│   └── root
│       ├── BATTLE
│       ├── FIELD
│       ├── 1ST_READ.BIN
│       └── ...
└── custom-name-gc
    └── root
        ├── &&systemdata
        ├── battle
        ├── field
        ├── opening.bnr
        └── ...

To obtain the game data for the root directory, you need a corresponding image (ISO, GCM or GDI) and the appropriate data extraction tool:

• GCRebuilder
• GD-ROM Explorer
• GDIBuilder

Commands

All commands and utilities can be found in the bin directory. On Linux and macOS, you have to install Ruby first to run the RB scripts. Windows users can optionally do this as well or simply run the CMD scripts which use the included Ruby.

buildimage.cmd & buildimage.rb

Builds a bootable Dreamcast or GameCube image in the image directory. The destination directory is created automatically if required. This utility only supports Windows.

build
├── custom-name-dc
│   ├── image
│   ├── meta
│   └── root
└── custom-name-gc
    ├── image
    └── root

clearcache.cmd & clearcache.rb

Clears the cache storage in the cache directory. Normally, you will not need this utility, however, it can be used to force a recompilation of all files.

build
├── custom-name-dc
│   ├── cache
│   ├── meta
│   └── root
└── custom-name-gc
    ├── cache
    └── root

createbackup.cmd & createbackup.rb

Creates a backup of the root directory and stores it in the backup directory. The destination directory is created automatically if required. This utility only considers files that can actually be examined by ALX. It is not recommended for a complete backup of all files.

build
├── custom-name-dc
│   ├── backup
│   ├── meta
│   └── root
└── custom-name-gc
    ├── backup
    └── root

export.cmd & export.rb

Executes all export commands in bin except exportdefinedstring.cmd, exportdefinedstring.rb, exportscripttask.cmd and exportscripttask.rb. Exports everything from the root to the data directory. The destination directory is created automatically if required.

build
├── custom-name-dc
│   ├── data
│   ├── meta
│   └── root
└── custom-name-gc
    ├── data
    └── root

import.cmd & import.rb

Executes all import commands in bin except importdefinedstring.cmd, importdefinedstring.rb, importscripttask.cmd and importscripttask.rb. Imports everything from the data to the root directory. The destination directory must exist.

build
├── custom-name-dc
│   ├── data
│   ├── meta
│   └── root
└── custom-name-gc
    ├── data
    └── root

restorebackup.cmd & restorebackup.rb

Restores the backup from the backup directory and overwrites existing files in the root directory. The destination directory must exist. This utility only considers files that can actually be examined by ALX.

build
├── custom-name-dc
│   ├── backup
│   ├── meta
│   └── root
└── custom-name-gc
    ├── backup
    └── root

Resources

Acknowledgments

See CREDITS.md for a full list of the awesome people, groups and software that made this project possible.

License

Copyright (C) 2024 Marcel Renner. ALX is licensed under the GNU General Public License, Version 3.0. See LICENSE.md for the full license text.