YXML IN GAME EDITOR Tutorial

Tutorial By eatrawmeat

Download the tools from here

Thanks to: + Cenz, HSN, CrocoX for telling me that there is a file for menu editing called YXML and providing some info and hints.

YXML In-Game EDITOR is a program that allows you to change YXML for texture configuration. With this, you can modify various aspects of textures. Right now, it only works for menus with 808 textures, allowing you to edit:
- Texture Position (X, Y)
- Texture Width and Height
- Texture Color (with alpha transparency)

Step 1: Setting Up (Once)

For PS2, you will need PCSX2. For PSP, you will need PPSSPP 1.7.1. Additionally, for PSP, you must remove preload.pac if you haven't already. You can download the preload-removed ISO from here. Place the plistpsp.arc in your ISO and plistpsp.h in the PAC folder. This only needs to be done once, and removing preload is mandatory to enable modding.

Download the appropriate emulator for your system. The program will likely not work unless you use one of these recommended emulators. In this tutorial, I will use PPSSPP, but PCSX2 users can follow the same steps. Open the emulator and navigate to the main menu screen.

Step 2: Starting the Program

Start the program and choose the system you are emulating. In my case, it's PSP. Run main_GUI.exe to start the program.

Step 3: Injecting Textures

Press "Inject." If your emulator is one of the recommended ones, it will successfully retrieve the texture list.

Step 4: Experimenting and Modifying Textures

The menu.yxml file alone contains 809 textures! I'll start by modifying the obvious one at ID 255. Searching for 255, I double-clicked the name and found the following properties:

Position X: 6.0 (decrease to move left, increase to move right)
Position Y: 0.0 (decrease to move down, increase to move up)
Width & Height: Adjust accordingly
Color RGBA: Modify using the color wheel

I made a savestate to revert changes if needed. I then moved the texture to the left by changing X from 6.0 to -2.0 and pressed "Write Change." The "PLAY" font moved left, confirming that ID 255 is for the highlighted menu option. Next, I increased the height from 0.8 to 5.0 and applied the change.

To change the color, I pressed "Inject" again to reload the saved data, selected ID 255, and used the color wheel to turn it blue. The program automatically adjusts button colors accordingly.

I then modified ID 259, changing it to yellow. To ensure consistency, I used "Write Change (All)" to apply the color across all similar textures. Yukes defined three sets: L (left), C (center), and R (right). Using the HTML color code, I edited IDs 260 and 261 to maintain the color scheme.

Step 5: Injecting Changes

To make these changes permanent, inject them into 1B58.yxml:

PS2: MENUSD.PAC\MENU\@CMSM.pac\1B58.yxml
PSP: MENU.PAC\MENU\@CMSM.pac\1B58.yxml

Use PAC Editor to extract, modify, and reinject the file using the "Inject as BPE" option. Update the .arc file in PAC Editor to finalize changes.

Calculating PPSSPP Screen Position

To determine texture placement, take a screenshot (Alt+PrintScreen) and paste it into Paint. Use these calculations:

Emulated Width = 991 pixels
Emulated Height = 614 * 0.86623 ≈ 532 pixels
Y Offset = 614 - 532 = 82 pixels
Click anywhere in the image to get the cursor position (e.g., 525,191 px)
Adjust for offset: 191 - 82 = 109
Convert to SVR position:
- Scale X = 991 / 520 = 1.906
- Scale Y = 532 / 304 = 1.75
- SVR X = (525 / 1.906) - 35 ≈ 240.45
- SVR Y = (109 / 1.75) - 158 ≈ -95.71