[BBCF IMPROVEMENT MOD] (v3.04, updated 23/07/22)

[GrimFlash]

Dont forget to join the BBCF Improvement Mod's discord server! [discord.gg]

Originally this mod started as a performance fix by KoviDomi in order to set back BBCF's minimum system requirements to the same level as BBCPEX has. As KoviDomi can no longer work on the improvement mod, I have taken up updating it for the foreseeable future.

As time went on, it has further evolved, and by now it provides features such as:

• Adds extra game modes
  
• Adds hitbox overlay
  
• Create and load custom palettes and effects without file modifications
  
• See each other's custom palettes in online matches
  
• More flexibility to change the graphics options
  
• Change avatars and accessories in online rooms/lobbies without going back into menu
  
• Freely adjustable ingame currency value

REQUIREMENTS

• The game must be up-to-date

HOW TO INSTALL

1. Download and extract the latest BBCF_IM.zip
   
2. Put dinput8.dll and settings.ini into the game's folder (where BBCF.exe is located)
   (Should be at ..\Steam\SteamApps\common\BlazBlue Centralfiction)
   
3. Adjust the values in settings.ini as desired

UNINSTALL

Delete or rename dinput8.dll

The mod makes no permanent changes to anything.

HOW TO USE THE MOD'S OVERLAY

• By default the mod's main window can be toggled with the F1 key (can be changed in the settings.ini file).
  
• Double-click on title bar to collapse windows.
  
• Click and drag on any empty space to move the windows.
  
• Click and drag on lower right corner to resize the palette editor window (double-click to auto fit window to its contents).
  
• CTRL + Click on a slider or drag box to input value as text.
  Mouse wheel to scroll.

HOW TO START A CUSTOM GAME MODE

• The custom game mode selector can be accessed under the "Gameplay settings" section on the main window while you are on the character selection screen in the following modes: Training, Versus, Online.
  
• The custom game mode selector is also available in the Replay Theater menu screen, so replays saved after after custom game modes can be replayed. (If a custom game mode that the replay's match was not played on is selected then the replay will desync)
  
• Custom game modes can be played in online player rooms or lobbies with other Improvement Mod users as well. For this both player 1 and player 2 must select the same custom game mode while on the character selection screen. If the players have not settled on the same custom game mode, then it will default back to "Normal".

HOW TO ACCESS THE PALETTE EDITOR

• The palette editor's button can be accessed under the "Custom palettes" section on the main window while you are in a match in the following modes: Training, Versus.
  
• Custom palettes saved in the editor can be found at
  "..\BlazBlue Centralfiction\BBCF_IM\Palettes\"

HOW TO SWITCH BETWEEN CUSTOM PALETTES

• The palette switching buttons can be accessed under the "Custom palettes" section whenever you are in a match.
  
• In online matches you can only switch your own character's palette. (You can reset your opponent's palette with the button found next to the palette switching button).
  
• Using the "palettes.ini" file in the game's root folder you can assign custom palettes to the ingame palette slots.

HOW TO SET A CUSTOM PALETTE AS DEFAULT SO IT GETS AUTOMATICALLY SWITCHED TO UPON THE START OF A MATCH

• See "palettes.ini" file that you placed in the game's root folder.

HOW TO ACCESS THE HITBOX OVERLAY

• The hitbox overlay can be accessed under the "Hitbox overlay" section on the main window while you are in a match in the following modes: Training, Versus, Replay.

WHERE TO PLACE YOUR CUSTOM PALETTE FILES (.cfpl and .hpl files)

• The palette folders are created in the path "..\BlazBlue Centralfiction\BBCF_IM\Palettes\" upon the first launch of the mod.
  
• Place your .cfpl or .hpl files into the character's corresponding palette folder (at "..\BlazBlue Centralfiction\BBCF_IM\Palettes\") to have the mod automatically load them upon start, and making them selectable ingame via the mod's menu.

For legacy .hpl formats:

• Effect files for the .hpl format must end with the naming convention of "_effectXX.hpl". Where XX is the index of the effect file.
  (For example, if you have a custom palette file named "Nyx_Izanami.hpl", then in the same palette folder a file named "Nyx_Izanami_effect01.hpl" will be loaded as that palette's first effect, and a file named "Nyx_Izanami_effect06.hpl" will be loaded as sixth, etc.)
  
• A file created with its name ending with "_effectbloom.hpl" will turn on the bloom effect for that custom palette in the game. (Once activated, the bloom effect will keep the color it was first activated on, and can't be changed unless a new round is started)

KNOWN ISSUES

• Vampire and Extreme Vampire desync online. Avoid using these two custom game modes when online.
  
• Platinum keeps swapping between her default and the selected custom palette whenever she has her drive active. To prevent this, assign her custom palette in palettes.ini before the match starts, and do not switch it during match.
  
• Hitbox overlay is not aligned properly or is off-screen when the game's window resolution mismatches the rendering resolution. To prevent this, open up the settings.ini file, and set Viewport to 2, while setting the RenderingWidth and RenderingHeight to the resolution values you have in the ingame display options.
  
• Hitbox overlay shows phantom hitboxes that are disabled by the engine (shoutout to Shtkn for discovering this)
  
• Screen not displaying properly when Viewport in settings.ini is set to 2 or 3 with keep aspect ratio enabled in in-game settings. This is still being investigated. For now, either
  disable keep aspect ratio or keep the Viewport option set to 1.
  
  Please let me know if you notice any ingame issues caused by this mod, possibly with computer specifications, used settings, and screenshots included.

TROUBLESHOOTING

1. Make sure that your issue doesn't persist if you remove/rename dinput8.dll
   
   • If the issue still persists, then it has nothing to do with the mod.
   
   
2. The mod's UI is very small, unreadable:
   
   • This might happen if you run the game in windowed or full-window mode with a resolution that's higher than what your monitor supports.
     Try changing your display setting to fullscreen, or lowering the resolution ingame.
   
   
3. Blackscreen problem:
   
   • Make sure that RenderingWidth and RenderingHeight values in the .ini file are correctly set to the resolution of your game. If their values are higher than your monitor's native resolution, then you will get blackscreen.
   
   
4. If you just bought the game and get blackscreen even without using the mod:
   
   • Update your drivers.
   
   
5. Game crashes when launched:
   
   • Make sure that the settings.ini file is present in the game's folder.
     
   • Check if the problem still occurs after you remove, or rename dinput8.dll
     
   • Turn off tools such as MSI Afterburner, Plays.tv, or other recording softwares and overlays that manipulate D3D.
     
   • Make sure you are running both Steam and the game with administrator privileges, and remove any steam_appid.txt file if present in the game's directory.
     
   • Restore the default settings in the settings.ini file.
     
   • Reboot your system.
     
   • Update your drivers.
   
   
6. The mod's windows are off-screen or have disappeared:
   
   • Delete the "menus.ini" file found in the game's root folder to reset the positions of the mod's windows.

Keep in mind that the mod may partially, or completely stop working whenever a new official patch of the game is released.

CHANGELOG

23-07-2022 -- version 3.04
===============================
- Updated to be compatible with the ver 2103 patch

08-03-2022 -- version 3.03
===============================
- Implemented fix for additional rare rematch crash

25-02-2022 -- version 3.02
===============================
- Implemented fix for crashes when rematching in lobbies

20-01-2022 -- version 3.01
===============================
- Updated to be compatible with beta branch
- All FT5 modes have been set to FT3. This is to avoid a crash that happens with FT5 game modes online. Once it's fixed they will be reverted back to FT5
- Vsync is now set to off by default. You can turn it on in the settings.ini file
- Removed CpuUsageFix, fix for CPU usage is already in publictest builds officially
- Removed Region lock settings as they are no longer needed
- With the aformentioned changes, it is highly reccomended to replace your existing settings.ini file if you have a previous version of the mod

The entire history of the changelog can be found in the README file.

DOWNLOAD

Download is available at:
Download link to BBCF_IM[github.com]

Source code is available at:
https://github.com/GrimFlash/BBCF-Improvement-Mod

[Kiyaya]

Yooooooooooo Improvement mod hype

[Selyn=Kisaragi]

Hitbox overlay is back! Thanks a lot for the hard work :)

[Arthandas]

Thanks for picking it up!

[GrimFlash]

v3.02 is now available! This fixes a crash regarding rematch in player rooms.

Also, I am aware of the issue regarding the screen not displaying properly when Viewport in settings.ini is set to 2 or 3 with keep aspect ratio enabled in in-game settings. This is still being investigated and will be fixed soon. For now, either disable keep aspect ratio or keep the Viewport option set to 1.

[Sorry, dudebros]

this mod is dead, right?

[WIFI]

Originally posted by Sorry, dude:

this mod is dead, right?

it got update just a week ago tho?

[Sorry, dudebros]

Originally posted by L:

Originally posted by Sorry, dude:

this mod is dead, right?

it got update just a week ago tho?

oh i thought it stopped working on the rollback patch because of legal problems from the dev

[Meseki]

Originally posted by Sorry, dude:

Originally posted by L:

it got update just a week ago tho?

oh i thought it stopped working on the rollback patch because of legal problems from the dev

It stopped working because of changes in the game, but legal reasons stopped the old developer of the mod from updating the mod (as they were part of the rollback development team). However, it didn't stop someone else from picking up the development of the mod, as the mod is open-source.

[GrimFlash]

Originally posted by Sorry, dude:

Originally posted by L:

it got update just a week ago tho?

oh i thought it stopped working on the rollback patch because of legal problems from the dev

As Meseki stated, KoviDomi, the original author of the mod, can't work on it anymore as they assisted with putting rollback into CF officially. The mod is open source and I forked it to work on it for the foreseeable future.

[TimonIphone]

Hi! I just noticed that i was banned in improvement mod discord, but i never interacted with anoyne there and my account was not compromised. It may sound funny but, I believe it could have happened because my profile description is "This User is a registered sex offender. Learn more about Discord's new child safety policy at discordcom/guidelines". Can you please reconsider this ban? I dont know when i was banned, i only visited it to check the news on rollback (before it was officialy implemented) and grab new mod version whenever it was out.

[Corn Liquor]

Does anyone here use the mode on Linux with proton? I'm trying to figure out how to make it work. Using dll overrides doesn't seem to be enough. Game crashes or refuses to use the custom .dll.

Do I need to use winetricks or something?

[TheRandomGamerDude]

is there a Discord for the IM?

[Spooky Pyromaniac]

Originally posted by TheRandomGamerDude:

is there a Discord for the IM?

https://discord.gg/j2mCX9s