Can I copy a VTS with PgcEdit

[peppi_le_piou]

I have a VTSM1 which is a menu and its VTST1 Title1 which I have made an uncalled title.

A second VTSM2 (dummy menu) contains the movie, VTST2 Title2. I am wondering if it is possible to move the VTST2 Title2 into VTSM1 so that I can delete the last VTS as it will then be redundant (just to tidy things up a little). I would have no trouble to manually edit some navigation commands if required.

[r0lZ]

Technically, it's possible. But usually, that requires much work, for a small benefit. For example, with the chapter menu in VTSM 1 and the main movie in VTST 2, there are certainly several VMGM PGCs serving as "bridges" between the two VTSs, and there is probably a method based on some GPRMs to jump to the right title and chapter from the menu. If you move the main movie in the same VTS than the menu, all that stuff becomes useless, and there are a lot of manual edits to do.

If you really want to do it, you can overwrite the title currently in VTST 1 with the main movie with File -> Replace VTST Titles, and remove completely the VTS 2 after the operation. And finally, do the numerous manual edits to fix the navigation.

Note that, since the commands of the imported VTST are not modified, the commands jumping to the "bridges" in the VMGM will still point to the right VMGM PGCs, but of course, you will have to fix the commands jumping from the VMGM to VTS 2. There is a trick to simplify that. Do a copy of the original (unmodified) DVD. In the copy, swap VTS 1 and 2 (with DVD -> Remap Titlesets). Now, the main movie should be in VTST 1 and the menu in VTSM 2. The advantage of the operation is that PgcEdit has fixed the jumps in the VMGM to point to the right VTSs. The commands jumping from the VMGM to the VTS containing the main movie are therefore as you need them in the final DVD, but the commands returning from the main movie to the menu are wrong, as they point now to the menu in VTSM 2, but they are still right in the original DVD. The next operation consists therefore in mixing the right commands together: In the unmodified DVD, overwrite VTST 1 with VTST 2 and remove the whole VTS 2 as explained above. Then, open the two DVDs in two instances of PgcEdit, and in the DVD with the swapped VTSs, locate all VMGM commands that jump to VTST 1 (with Info -> Jump to VMG to Current VTS). Copy and paste them in the final DVD. Of course, that method does not remove the VMGM bridges, that are now useless since the menu and the movie are in the same VTS, but it is relatively easy to implement.

The third method is to re-author completely the DVD from scratch. It's my preferred method when there is a lot of useless VTSs in the original DVD (such as fake protected "copies" of the VTS with the movie, or numerous preview in individual VTSs). If you want to give it a try, the basic principle is to create a new DVD (File -> New DVD), import the main movie (File -> Import VTST Title) and menu (right-click on the main movie and select Import Menu), reorganise the menu to remove most dummies and all commands, create a new Title Menu, and finally redo all commands manually. (You can use the new Paste and Increment JumpVTS_PTT option in the menu editor to jump directly from the chapter menu buttons to the right chapter in the movie.) That's also a lot of work, but you can do it exactly as you want it, and it's a good exercise. However, I do not recommend it if you are not expert in VM programming, as leaving an authoring error is easy!

Anyway, don't forget to verify carefully the DVD before burning it, and use Info -> Find Jumps to Nowhere a lot!