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Extension for Game Boy graphics files

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 10:56 am
by tepples
Extension of thefox's question:

Are there common file extensions for Game Boy and Game Boy Color graphics files? In NES circles .chr/.nam/.pal is pretty standard, so thefox went with those. But I noticed that YY-CHR defaults to 2 bpp NES graphic format whenever .chr files are opened... It also auto-opens the (incompatible) .pal file, which is somewhat annoying.

Re: Extension for Game Boy graphics files

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:56 pm
by Myask
I don't have an answer but I must half-seriously suggest "DMG" for dot-matrix graphics.

Re: Extension for Game Boy graphics files

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 6:53 pm
by tepples
On the Mac, .dmg is an HFS+ disk image.

Re: Extension for Game Boy graphics files

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 9:42 pm
by nitro2k01
Myask wrote:I don't have an answer but I must half-seriously suggest "DMG" for dot-matrix graphics.
That would be sort of ambiguous, since DMG as you probably know refers to the original version of the game system as well. I think I've even seen ROM files in the wild with a dmg extension in the late '90s.

I think the closest thing I've seen to a standard is the gbm/gbr extensions use by Gameboy Map Builder/Tile Designer. But those files are GBMB's and GBTD's internal file format which I don't think is particularly compatible with anything else.

Re: Extension for Game Boy graphics files

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:23 am
by Shonumi
I use my own custom tools for injecting data into GB ROMs. Generally, everything is just given a ".bin" extension. Not very descriptive, but I keep my projects organized to the .bins for graphics are never mixed up with functional data like lists or tables, or data representing a song for the sound engine.

I do the same for the GBA. Again, all the editing is done with custom tools. It definitely is a case NIHS, but honestly I could never get to grips with some existing toolsets, and they never fit well for what I wanted/needed.

But in regards to a standard, I don't think there is one. Mainly people just use whatever program they can find to convert an image into a binary file named whatever or directly outputted as C code.

Re: Extension for Game Boy graphics files

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2016 8:43 am
by Myask
Well, I can't suggest .dmg.chr.
.2bppi (2-bit-per-pixel interleaved?) with the ideas of 2bppp (planar) and 2bppb (bitpacked) alongside.

Re: Extension for Game Boy graphics files

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:38 pm
by qwertymodo
How about .dmi (dot matrix image). The extension is already used by an application called Dream Maker, but you'll have far less chance of type conflicts with something obscure like that than with a widely used extension like .dmg. Considering the limited number of 3-letter combinations, and the even smaller subset of which is in any way relevantly related to a particular application, the only way to fully avoid conflicts would be to use a longer extension like .dmgimg. Multi-part extensions like the ubiquitous .tar.gz won't play nice with Windows, as has already been mentioned.

Re: Extension for Game Boy graphics files

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 7:11 pm
by tepples
I'm not averse to longer extensions so long as they're single-part. One of my favorite PC games (which becomes legal in 2019*) uses .smzip, and the 3D modeling program I used for the title screen of RHDE uses .blend. I'll probably go with .dmchr or something similar.


* Right now, StepMania is in the same sort of legal limbo as LAME and x264: free software covered by software patents in some major markets.

Re: Extension for Game Boy graphics files

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 8:46 pm
by Sik
Four character extensions are underrated. Yes I know you can go with five (some people even suggest doing a full phrase - yeowch), but the four character space is probably still quite overlooked.