--------21/09/2022: Rev 1.1--------
CPS1 SUPPORT!
   After bashing against that wall for a while, the stitcher
   is now compatible with most CPS1 Games! There are fringe cases
   like Forgotten Worlds where the Stitcher isn't suitable, but by
   and large still usable with the majority of CPS1 games i've seen.
   The only real distinction between adding a CPS1 game as opposed to
   CPS2 is that there are a couple new vars to accomodate varying Group
   Sizes, and how many bytes to interleave per group
   For example, Final Fight is setup like this:
   
   gfx_prefix = ["ff-5m.7a", "ff-7m.9a", "ff-1m.3a", "ff-3m.5a"]

   group_size = [4]
   group_collec_size = [2]

   #Total size of each ROM group
   rsize0 = 2 << 18 #524288 bytes, or 512KB
   rsize1 = 2 << 19 #1048576 bytes, or 1MB
   rsize2 = 2 << 20 #2097152 bytes, or 2MB
   rsize3 = 2 << 21 #4194304 bytes, or 4MB
   rsize4 = 2 << 22 #8388608 bytes, or 8MB
   gfx_romsize = [rsize0]
   
   This will probably be adjusted at some point to accomodate games like
   Forgotten Worlds, but should still prove useful, i hope.
   To see the size of groups for ya game, make sure to check Mames cps1.cpp

NEO-GEO: PREFIX_OVERRIDE
   In order to accomodate Samurai Shodown 1, adjusted the code
   so now you can define a prefix_override array to read files of
   varying cx prefixes. In the case of Samsho 1, it's prefix_override
   looks like this

   prefix_override = [1,2,3,4,51,61]

   This indicates to the stitcher to read, in order,
   c1.c1
   c2.c2
   c3.c3
   c4.c4
   c51.c5
   c61.c6

NEWLY SUPPORTED GAMES
   ffight - Final Fight
   ghouls - Ghouls 'N Ghosts
   knights - Knights of the Round
   samsho - Samurai Shodown/Samurai Spirits
   sf2 - Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior
   sfa - Street Fighter Alpha
   strider - Strider

1)Python
The script was made with Python 3.10.6, so that version or above is required. Google should prove satisfactory

2)Palmod
Palmod is a really dope program that allows you to edit the pallete data of an arcade game. It has support for tons of games for the CPS1/2/3, Neo-Geo, IGS PGM, SNES, etc etc. With it ya can rip the exact pallete of whatver you're ripping. It's also just genuinely cool so i'd suggest it anyway
DL: https://zachd.com/palmod/releases/

3)Tile Molestor
Charming name i know. This program allows you to open the interleaved data in a way an actual person would care for. I'll link the one i use, which has an additional extension to load .act files. This in conjunction with Palmod is where the magic happens
Comes with the script, but being a Java application, Java needs to be installed for it to work. Simple enough to do

With those pre-requisites, here's how you would use it!

Assuming you installed Python correctly, you should be able to run the script as is. Place the unzipped folder of the ROM of your choice in to the roms folder and run it
You should be greeted with this



If your game is not supported, consult the readme and lemme know if there's anything i can do to help should you find my wording strange. If it is, sick! Just write the name of whatever game ya want. In this case, we'll go with KOF98



It should be noted it really doesn't matter if you type in upper or lower case. As long as the name is right, it'll work just fine. Assuming our ROM is in the right place, we can go ahead and enter 1 to interleave the data



Once that's done, there should now be a new folder name interleaved gfx. Inside is the GFX file we want to edit. Run runtm and open this file by switching the open type as "all files"
View > Codec > 4bpp Planar
Row Interleaved
Hold shift and press the right arrow key 16 times to give yourself a bit of wriggle room, and explore away!
As stated, the extension lets us import and act file directly in to Palmod. Look up how to find Pallete addresses should there be none for your game of choice. Seeing as KOF98 has support, we can simply open Palmod, load KOF98, and save an act file of our choice. Since i dig him, we're going with Kim. Once this is saved, in Tile Molestor, navigate to pallete > import from > another file, and load in the act file
To have the best view, go to view > block size, and turn off full canvas. The Neo-Geo loads tiles in strips, and these tiles are 16 by 16, so gp tp view > custom and change the width to 2
After a lil searching, we found Kims tiles!


If you want to rip stuff, great, we're done! If you want to edit them, the best way imo is to export the tiles in to another program, edit them using the colours of the pallete and shoot them back. Go to edit > copy to in order to export the current view. Open the PNG in a program of your choice, make the changes, and then edit > paste from it back in. Press ESC to apply the change, and CTRL+S to save. Run the Stitcher again, KOF98, 2, and ya done! The change should now be applied to the GFX ROMs proper. Simply load the ROMs back in to your game of choice. For the sake of this example, drew a lil face on Kims pants


Slightly outdated, but a decent vid showing the process for Neo-Geo


This process is identical for the CPS2, only real difference is it's tiles aren't strips so ya shouldn't need to adjust the block size. A vid reference in case ya still curious

0x00 - Percussion
0x01 - Percussion2
0x02 - Cymbal?
0x03 - Percussion3
0x04 - Drum?
0x05 - Breakbeat?
0x06 - "Circuit"
0x07 - Intro  Breakbeat
0x08 - Voice?
0x09 - "We await your return, warrior"
0x0A - Taiko Drum? (Common in Ryus theme)
0x0D  -Steel Drum?
0x12 - Cowbell?
0x13 - Trangle Wave?
0x14 - Plucked Bass
0x15 - Xylopohone?
0x16 - Distortion Guidar (Hugos theme)
0x17 - Funk Guitar?
0x18-0x1D - Synth Pluck? (Hard to describe it, kinda froggy)
0x1E - ???
0x1F - Funk Organ
0x20 - Synth Slap Bass
0x22 - Square Wave?
0x25 - Saxaphone
0x26 - Saxaphone 2
0x27 - Piano
0x28 - That weird thing in the background of Ibukis theme
0x29 - Church Organ
0x2A - Loud tone? Dunno what it is
0x2B - Softer tone
0x2C - Sawtooth maybe?
0x2D - Choir (Gills intro?)
0x2E - Strings
0x2F - Shakuhachi (Akuma/Ibukis theme)
0x30 - Crystal?
0x31-0x38 - Synth Bass (Hugos theme uses this iirc)
0x39 - Synth Pad
0x3A - Stick idfk remember the name rn lol
0x3B - Beats in my Head?
0x3C - Orchestra Hit?
0x3D - Funk Guitar Pluck
0x3E - Orchestra Hit?

Ryus first instrument is the value 0x0A, Loaded in to this RAM address
2078D54

Sample Bytes
--MUSIC DATA, EACH INSTRUMENT IS SEPERATED BY 0x70 worth of bytes, or 112 Bytes
--This is the first Intrument. Each subsequen instrument is split up by 0x70 bytes.
--This is done 10 times, or 0x0A in Hex
local Music_Instr_Start = 0x207BD5C
local Music_Instr_End   = 0x207C1BC
0x207BEAD + 0x0x207B98D  are the whistles in Kenjis theme, default value is 0x34
02 - Cymbal
05 - Gong
0C - Traingle
12 - Orchestra Hit
15 - Plucked Bass
16 - Bass (Prominent at beginning of Intro)
19 - Acoustic Bass
1B - Distortion Guitar Background of Leos theme)
1C - Overdrive Guitar (Lead of Leos theme)
1D - Strings1
1E - Strings2
20 - Piano
21 - Bright Piano
22 - Synth Piano
23 - Organ 1
25 - Organ 2 (Background of Leos theme)
27 - Brass
2A - Flute? Sounds kinda nice
2B - Brass
2C - Whistle
2D - Synth Pad1
2E - Synth Pad2
2F - Choir
33 - Shamisen
34 - Shakuhachi (Prominent in Kenjis theme)