(2023) 2024 Year(s) in Review
2024 has been over for a bit, and that means it's time for another Year in Review. I should note that there wasn't a Year in Review for 2023. There were probably good reasons for that; I just don't remember what they are. Therefore, this Year in Review will also cover some of the highlights from 2023.
To the surprise of no one, this is *very* late. I started writing this in January 2025, and then put it off for the rest of the year (with two false starts in June and November). It wasn't until mid-December that I decided to finish it up and get it posted.
This list is separated by topic instead of being in chronological order. It's easier on both of us that way.
VPW Studio
On August 31, 2023, the first public release of VPW Studio (v0.0.0.30) was made available. "This is the first public release of the program since its development started in 2018."
Finally.
Despite its current development state, some people have been getting their hands dirty, with impressive results.
2024 only saw three released updates to VPW Studio, which is still better than waiting a year between preview releases. That "monthly" release schedule I was hoping to reach didn't really materialize, though.
May 6, 2024: VPW Studio v0.0.0.34
Pre-alpha preview 34 introduced ArchiveFileDB, which allows users to view and add descriptions and file types to AkiArchive file entries.
July 5, 2024: VPW Studio v0.0.0.35 (and WWF No Mercy prototypes)
Pre-alpha preview 35 was released on the heels of a pretty important moment in AKI history: the public release of the WWF No Mercy prototypes by Baker64.
This version of VPW Studio was rushed out with read-only support for the prototype versions.
October 10, 2024: VPW Studio v0.0.0.36
This is the current release as of this writing.
Development still continues on the program, though there's nothing to really report presently. (Which goes for 2025 too, oops.)
VPW2 freem Edition
After taking a hiatus from the hack in 2021, a new version would be released on July 30, 2023. This would be followed up by another release on June 15, 2024.
A decent amount of progress had been made since the last release in 2021. One of my "bucket list" items, the Road Warriors spiked pads, were finally implemented in the 2023 release.
However, all of the remaining work on the hack requires the VPW2 decomp to progress further. I feel like I've repeated the same talking points for years, so there's no real need to bang them out again.
Besides, there's actually been important progress on the decomp.
VPW2 Decompilation
Around the end of 2023, I finally stopped procrastinating and wrote a command-line program to rebuild the filetable. This is an important step, as it allows us to add files without replacing existing ones.
The other half of this problem is replacing hardcoded file IDs with symbols. That way, when people add files to the filetable, the game can still reference the correct data. It's a long, tedious process, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
I have also started a second VPW2 decomp project using a more modern toolset and approach. When the first decomp was started, I had help from kholdfuzion, as my revious disassembly/decomp projects were for much simpler systems (NES, Neo-Geo). The original goals of the decomp were to make the game "shiftable" and re-assemblable. Converting the codebase to C was not a goal at the time.
The existing decomp is very messy and hacked together. A small amount of routines have been converted to C, but with the way the current decomp is laid out, it doesn't easily work with certain tools. Yes, I'm talking about the elephant in the room: N64 Recompiled.
Progress is slow, which is unfortunately to be expected.
HardBall 5
HardBall 5 is a baseball game I enjoyed in my youth. With all the knowledge I've gained since then, I figured it was time to try and learn how the game data works.
On April 26, 2024, the proof of concept "HB5Tool" was released. It didn't handle all of the data, but progress was made on the game's archive format. After this, I decided to stop work on it for a few months. Eventually, I got the idea that I may not be the only person who has tried to do this...
On December 1, 2024, I find a post on MVPMods by Devlin, who was able to change player portraits and a few other items. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to create new player portraits as of this writing, largely due to focusing on other projects.
HB5Tool is dormant again, as I've been having issues trying to figure out the format used for stadium and UI screens. It seems like a state machine or scripting language, but aside from a few small commands, I can't make heads or tails of it.
Eldpack Continued
Eldpack Continued is a continuation of the Eldpack texture pack for Minecraft. I've written about this in previous Year in Review posts, so I won't go into too much historical detail. As always, I've been contributing by pushing pixels, trying to keep pace with the game's updates. Granted, that doesn't always work out, but we're getting there.
Some of the highlights of my 2024 Eldpack Continued work:
The Copper Bulb
Decorated Pots
and Pointed Dripstone
(If I ever get around to writing the 2025 Year in Review in a reasonable timeframe, you'll see more Eldpack Continued progress there, as well.)
And now for something a little less fun...
Ditching Social Media
2024 was the year X twitter imploded, and instead of jumping off
of a specific bridge (or two), I decided to try Mastodon.
That didn't really work out as well as I had hoped. I'm not really a good fit for Mastodon, and the other services have/had their own issues.
After some thought, I decided that social media was a net negative on my health. Cutting it out of my life was a very good decision; one I'm glad to have made. Sure, I'm not up to date on everything that's going on, but I'm not up to date on what people are complaining about now, so that's a win.
The flip side is that it's harder for people to discover what I'm working on if they're not watching various locations... Doesn't help that I barely update my website as is, either. I should probably do something about that, and maybe redesign the place while I'm at it.
Here's to a wonderful.... 2025? Ah crap, that's almost over too. I'm going to have to do *another* one of these? Let's hope I don't take a year to write it...