removing rubbish

[itchione]

After removing the rubbish i am not interested in, i have the following confusing parts:

VMGM,LU(--),2 (dummy)
pre command: Jump to Title 2

VMGM,LU(--),6 (dummy)
pre command: Jump to Title 3
post command: Jump to VMGM PGC 2

VTST 3,1 TTN1 (0:06) Title 3
pre command: Call the VMGM PGC 6, resume cell 6
post command: Call the VMGM PGC 6, resume cell 6

VMGM PGC 2 (20th century fox promo) is traced (highlighted in yellow) but VMGM PGC 6 & Title 3 are never exectuted when tracing ?

Performing "clear jump to void pgcs" and "delete uncalled pgcs" with pgcedit does nothing. Should these pgcedit functions have removed PGC6 and Title 3 ?

If not, is it just to manually delete pre and post commands of Title 3 and then do a "clear jump to void pgcs" followed by "delete uncalled pgcs" ?

Cheers, Itchione

[r0lZ]

Uncalled and unplayed PGCs are not the same thing.

Uncalled PGCs are PGCs that are never called directly or indirectly by a VM command, a Prev/Next/GoUp PGCN link, and that are not callable directly with the remote. Those uncalled PGCs cannot be played, and can safely be deleted.

Unplayed PGCs are PGCs that have not been played during the navigation you have simulated in trace mode. That doesn't mean that they are not playable, but that might be the case. They could be played, for example, from an easter egg, or at the end of the playback of the main movie or of a bonus, or when you call a menu directly with the remote. To remove them safely, you have to be sure that it is really impossible to play them. Unfortunately, that's difficult, unless you modify the navigation yourself.

You can remove the calling commands to convert an unplayed PGC to uncalled, but that's dangerous, as if the PGC containing the calling command is played, the navigation may stop, or be redirected to a wrong place.

A safe and relatively easy way to convert an unplayed PGC to an uncalled PGC is to replace its calling command by the pre and post commands of the called PGC. Of course, you will have to adapt the commands as some of them might be illegal in their new location. For example, to make Title 3 uncalled, you have to replace the Jump to Title 3 in the VMGM PGC 6 by the call to the VMGM PGC 6, but that command is illegal in a menu domain. You have to convert the CallSS to a JumpSS command.

Note that, in your example, there is something strange. Since VMGM PGC 6 calls Title 3, and Title 3 calls the VMGM PGC 6, if one of those PGCs is played, an infinite loop will occur. This is a very strange authoring! Therefore, IMO, it is probably safer to replace the jumps to VMGM PGC 6 by jumps to the VMGM PGC 2. (Use "Go to calling command" to locate all commands jumping to a PGC.) After that, the VMGM PGC 6 and Title 3 will be unreferenced (unless Title 3 is called by another command) and PgcEdit will be able to remove them with Delete Uncalled PGCs.

If that sounds too complicated to you, don't worry, and just blank the titles and menu PGCs you don't need. Once blanked, they do not consume disc space anyway.

[blutach]

Of course, if VMGM 6 and title 3 are only called by each other (this may be the case here), just eliminate all their VM commands and Ctrl-Shift-U to delete them.

As well, VMGM 6's post command is useless as its precommand will take you somewhere else. Having a post command in a dummy PGC is meaningless. PgcEdit puts these in for a reason where PGCs are blanked (sometimes by force this needs to happen) and not made into dummies. Suggestion to r0lZ: If a PGC is made into a dummy, remove all post and cell commands.

Regards

[r0lZ]

Well, I agree that removing the post and cell commands in a dummy menu PGC is probably a good thing. However, currently, PgcEdit uses the same method for the menu and the title PGCs, and removing the post commands of a title can be dangerous, as it can be called directly with the remote. In this case, although the pre-commands are executed, there are some rare cases where the title can be played anyway. Therefore, leaving the post commands in place is important.

Furthermore, if I modify the way the menu PGCs are killed and converted to dummies, I would prefer to leave the post commands, but not copy them in the pre-command area. This is perfectly legal, and much more simple for me. (It's the IfoEdit method, not compatible with the titles.) I will just have to copy a cell or BOV command, if it's necessary.

Hum, the simplest way for me is probably to continue to use the current method, but add a test at the end of the process, and if it's a dummy menu, remove the post and cell commands. That's really easy!

Of course, if VMGM 6 and title 3 are only called by each other (this may be the case here), ...I don't think so. In this case, Delete Uncalled PGCs should have removed them automatically.

[blutach]

On your edit - that is what I was thinking actually (but not expressed well).

And yes, I see what you mean re itchione's problem.

Regards

[itchione]

Thanks for the explanation rOlZ and blutach.

I do understand what uncalled pgc's are but i must admit i don't know what easter eggs are and assume they are just some sort of selectable button within the movie itself (linked to what may look like unplayed pgcs).

Is it correct to also assume unplayed pgcs and void pgcs are one in the same ?
Is there anyway to trace easter eggs within pgcedit ?

As far as the strange authoring, i do not know if it that way before i started to deleted all the junk using pgsedit. When i have some time i will re-rip the disk and examine the structure to see if it was indeed an issue with authoring on the pressed disk or something added during my pgcedit processing :confused:
If it seems like it's something that pgcedit added, though highly doubtful as it has always been me in the past, i will post info here.

Blutachs suggested improvement related to removing post commands for dummy pgcs sound good as i was always confused by such seemingly useless post commands - now i know such commands are actually useless :)

In any case, to solve my problem, i removed pre and post commands of VMGM PGC6 and Title3 and then deleted uncalled pgcs and these two objects were toast :) All looked fine when tracing in pgcedit and within windvd.

Cheers, Itchione

[r0lZ]

Easter eggs are hidden bonuses, usually not easily reachable, from hidden buttons for example.

Void PGCs are totally blank PGCs, without commands nor NextPGCN link. If they are played, the DVD will stop. Usually, the jumps to void PGCs can (and should) be removed. Void PGCs are often uncalled, but not always.

Glad you have been able to remove those strange PGCs.