Removing Language Selection and Aspect Ratio Menus v2.0

[2COOL]

HTML guide (http://www.videohelp.com/~r0lZ/pgcedit/third_party/2cool/remove_language_aspect_ratio_menus/remove_language_and_aspect_ratio_menus_intro.htm) hosted by r0lZ.

1/27/2005: I failed to mention in my page 3 of my guide, a blank cell has been appended. The original cell which contained our unwanted menu is now considered "unreferenced material". Basically, the cell is still there holding size and you would have to blank or remove it with another tool like VobBlanker or IfoEdit. But really, most our Aspect Ratio and language selection menus are still menus so, you should have lots of room to spare when you get rid of your other stuff.

10/10/2004: This is my 2nd version of my 1st guide (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67564) (text) using a combination of newer tools. PgcEdit v.0.3.5 used at this time.

1/5/2004: Link above now shows v3.0. v2.0 is gone.

[2COOL]

In response to this post (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=560857#post560857).

@blutach

Originally posted by blutach
Thanks for the guide 2COOL. Another beauty.CThanks!
One thing I did a bit differently, however, which I found worked, was not to post the button command in as a cell command but as the last pre command (item 12 page 2 of the guide (http://home.tiscali.be/debie.roland/pgcedit/third_party/2cool/remove_language_aspect_ratio_menus/remove_language_and_aspect_ratio_menus_2.htm#Top)). This way, the cell doesn't play at all - it just takes you to the PGCN that you want the default button to go to.You were lucky! If you had a button command with a LinkTailPGC, it wouldn't work. You can't jump from Pre to Post commands! BTW, jsoto asked the same thing here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=535177#post535177) about using a new last pre command. ;)

There is also no real need to blank the cell afterwards (page 3), but I did a strip of the VobID with IfoEdit afterwards anyway - call me a purist :).Again, you were lucky with your DVD. I assumed you had only one cell in your PGC-menu. If you had stripped out a cell 5 out of cell 7, IfoEdit would've shifted the remaining kept cells forward and IDs adjusted. You still would've have a menu playing in its place. :( I used a modified Joe Dirt example in my Step 6 (http://home.tiscali.be/debie.roland/pgcedit/third_party/2cool/remove_language_aspect_ratio_menus/remove_language_and_aspect_ratio_menus_1.htm#Top).


Before:

Cell Position in VOB:

Cell_1: has VOB ID 1
Cell_1: has Cell ID 1
Cell_2: has VOB ID 2
Cell_2: has Cell ID 1
Cell_3: has VOB ID 3
Cell_3: has Cell ID 1
Cell_4: has VOB ID 4
Cell_4: has Cell ID 1
Cell_5: has VOB ID 5 //Aspect Ratio menu
Cell_5: has Cell ID 1 //Aspect Ratio menu
Cell_6: has VOB ID 6 // Menu A
Cell_6: has Cell ID 1 // Menu A
Cell_7: has VOB ID 7 // Menu B
Cell_7: has Cell ID 1 // Menu B

After:

Cell Position in VOB:

Cell_1: has VOB ID 1
Cell_1: has Cell ID 1
Cell_2: has VOB ID 2
Cell_2: has Cell ID 1
Cell_3: has VOB ID 3
Cell_3: has Cell ID 1
Cell_4: has VOB ID 4
Cell_4: has Cell ID 1
Cell_5: has VOB ID 5 // Menu A
Cell_5: has Cell ID 1 // Menu A
Cell_6: has VOB ID 6 // Menu B
Cell_6: has Cell ID 1 // Menu B


Another factor too is that I can't strip out Cell 5 in IfoEdit if it held same VOB ID as the others in the same menu PGC. Menu 1 so happens to be my Main menu. :( I would've stripped out my whole PGC. Not good! :(:(

I gotta keep all my bases covered! :D One thing I didn't add to the guide was that if the menu in question resided in it's own PGC, you could've just did a Kill Playback on it. ;) I was too lazy to put that in.

[blutach]

Thanks for that. The button was only a LinkPGCN, so I guess I was lucky. I will learn from your advice though.

With respect to the IfoEdit strip, it turned the menus into "dummies", as there were still commands left in the PGC (the precommands I had inserted). And yes, the menus in question were in their own PGC.

Btw: The DVD in question was Meet Joe Black. If you have it, the menus were VTSM 1, 30 and 31, both of which had the "English" button referring to PGC18 in VTSM 1.

Thanks again and regards

(PS Sorry for the incorrect posting in PgcEdit - I thought it was the appropriate place, given that step 12 involved PgcEdit. But this, obviously, is the better place.)

[blutach]

One other thing: Would it be reasonable to:

1. Determine what PGC led you to the Aspect Ratio Menu (ARM)/Language Menu (LM).

2. Figure out where the appropriate button will direct you.

3. Bypass the ARM/LM altogether by inserting a final post command into the PGC determined in 1 above?

With PgcEdit's fabulous info on cross reference streams, this should be a piece of cake.

What do you reckon?

[2COOL]

IMO, why bother? It is possible to turn this guide into a macro and r0lZ has mentioned he's going to work on one. My manual way will hopefully go into sweet retirement.

[blutach]

But in the meantime, the method I suggested should work, yes?

I ask you because you know a lot more than I about this :)

Regards

[2COOL]

OK, Here's a common scenario I'll give that would make your method fail.

Originally posted by blutach
1. Determine what PGC led you to the Aspect Ratio Menu (ARM)/Language Menu (LM).
PGC-Menu 4 // Main Menu
PGC-Menu 8 // Aspect Ratio menu

If you click on Play Movie button in the Main Menu, you'll jump to PGC-Menu 8.

e.g. Play Movie Button command:

[20 04 00 00 00 00 00 05] LinkPGCN PGC 8

We determined that the menu before the Aspect Ratio was the Main Menu.

2. Figure out where the appropriate button will direct you.So we now know about the jump command from the Main Menu. In the Aspect Ratio menu, you have two buttons only: Widescreen and Fullscreen. Here are their button commands.

Widescreen:

[71 01 00 00 00 01 00 0D] 1 Set gprm(0) =(mov) 1 ; LinkTailPGC

Fullscreen:

[71 01 00 00 00 02 00 0D] 2 Set gprm(0) =(mov) 2 ; LinkTailPGC

Basically, grpm(0) is set to a certain value and then jump to post command #1 of PGC-Menu 8 (LinkTailPGC) to continue navigations.

3. Bypass the ARM/LM altogether by inserting a final post command into the PGC determined in 1 above?In Step 1, we had PGC-Menu 4. Say I wanted widescreen. If I inserted its button command as above as a final Post command in PGC-Menu 4, I'll get errors. Why? because of the LinkTailPGC command. It's in the wrong PGC so it'll be jumping back to Post command #1 of PGC-Menu 4 instead of PGC-Menu 8.

Logically, we want to jump from PGC-Menu 4's Post commands to PGC-Menu 8's Post Commands. Unfortunately, there are no single commands to do this so it's impossible. The DVD specs won't allow it. Also, you can't jump from a PGC's Pre commands to another PGC's Post command. So it's a double whammy.

That's why I've chosen the method on creating a new Cell Command. From there, you can jump to Pre command #1 (LinkTopPGC) or Post Command #1 (LinkTailPGC).

[jeanl]

2COOL, thanks for the explanation (and example). It's very useful to hear exactly why you chose to do it one way and not another, it's very instructive...
Jean

[blutach]

Yep, thanks a lot. I'll follow the guide :)

[blutach]

Update

Just followed the guide and it worked brilliantly. Thanks much for the advice.

One thing tho...my button all had LinkPGCN44 and that command does not have the option to highlight a button so what I did was insert 2 commands into the cell:

1. LinkNoLink, Highlight Button No 1
2. Link PGCN44

It works, but I hope I am not "just lucky" again.

Regards

[2COOL]

Originally posted by blutach
1. LinkNoLink, Highlight Button No 1
2. Link PGCN44Does just using the second command by itself work as a Cell Command? On the top of my head, I doubt that there would be any checking of the highlighted button in your targeted PGC if you have a LinkPGCN situation. Also, I don't I don't think I've ever encountered a dual aspect ratio DVD with both buttons having the same LinkPGCN.

Update: I must be slow on reading your post. You entered two cell commands? Only one of them will be used and it should've been your #2. Or did you entered in two new Pre commands at the end?

[jeanl]

Blutach
I think you can only have one cell command per cell, maybe that wasn't clear from 2COOL message...
Jeanl

[r0lZ]

@jeanl & 2COOL
You entered two cell commands? Only one of them will be used Are you sure?
In a situation where a cell command is not a Jump, Call, Link, RSM, Set+Link or Exit, do you know exactly what a player is supposed to do?
- Abort?
- Continue with next cell's playback?
- Continue with next cell command?
- Continue with post commands?

Also, is it theorically possible to have cell commands with conditions or GOTOs?

As far as I know, thoses sitations are illegal. But I'm not totally sure...

[blutach]

@experts who kindly answered my post :)

1. Thank you for the advice and info!

2. No, I only entered in the cell commands - yes 2 of them.

3. FYI - it was a language menu and I selected the first button, which may have been the default (English).

4. I did not enter any precommands (see? 2COOL, I learnt from last time :))

5. It worked! Of course, I had eliminated all other languages from the menus and audio and subtitles, so what choice did it have? lol :D

But, as posted above, each button only had a link to the PGCN and in that PGC, it played around with the button that had been pressed. So, since the command didn't have a button highlight, I figured I'd try to create it with a LinkNolink.

As 2COOL has reported, it seemed to execute the 2nd command (Link PGC 44) - because I did arrive at the main menu with all GP registers the same as the original disk.

However, PgcEdit did allow me to enter the fact that there were 2 cell commands present (as per 2COOL's guide).

Interesting, eh?

Regards

[2COOL]

@blutach

Originally posted by blutach
One thing tho...my button all had LinkPGCN44 and that command does not have the option to highlight a button so what I did was insert 2 commands into the cell:

1. LinkNoLink, Highlight Button No 1
2. Link PGCN44
There was a single cell command to use for both of your commands above. ;)

[56 04 00 00 04 00 00 2C] 2 (SetHL_BTN) Set Highlighted Button =(mov) 1024 (button 1) ; LinkPGCN PGC 44

@r0lZ

Also, is it theorically possible to have cell commands with conditions or GOTOs?According to my book (http://www.cmpbooks.com/product/1035), DVD Authoring and Production by Ralph LaBarge, navigation commands for DVD-Video titles are broken down into six basic instruction groups.

GoTo: Navigation commands that can be used to change the execution order of other navigation commands in the Pre command and Post command areas. GoTo instruction group commands can't be used in the Button command area or the Cell command area.

Link: Navigation commands that transfer control within the current domain, and can be included in the Pre, Post, Button, and Cell command areas.

Jump: Navigation commands that transfer control outside the current domain, and can be used in the Pre, Post, Button,and Cell command areas.

Compare: Navigation commands that allow comparison operations between SPRM and GPRM registers and static values. Compare instruction group commands can included in the Pre, Post, Button, and Cell command areas. Compare instruction group commands are always used in conjunction with commands from other instruction groups to form a compound command.

SetSystem: Commands used to set SPRM and GPRM register modes and values, and can be used in the Pre, Post, Button, and Cell command areas.

Set: Commands to perform simple arithmetic and logic operations on GPRM registers, and can be used in the Pre, Post, Button, and Cell command areas.

Commands from each instruction group, with the exception of Compare, can be executed individually or in combination with commands from other instruction groups, Up to three commands can be combined and executed together.

[blutach]

Originally posted by 2COOL
@blutach

There was a single cell command to use for both of your commands above. ;)

[56 04 00 00 04 00 00 2C] 2 (SetHL_BTN) Set Highlighted Button =(mov) 1024 (button 1) ; LinkPGCN PGC 44

That does it alright. Thanks.

[r0lZ]

Originally posted by 2COOL

Compare: Navigation commands that allow comparison operations between SPRM and GPRM registers and static values. Compare instruction group commands can included in the Pre, Post, Button, and Cell command areas. Compare instruction group commands are always used in conjunction with commands from other instruction groups to form a compound command.

SetSystem: Commands used to set SPRM and GPRM register modes and values, and can be used in the Pre, Post, Button, and Cell command areas.

Set: Commands to perform simple arithmetic and logic operations on GPRM registers, and can be used in the Pre, Post, Button, and Cell command areas.
Good info. But it's not enough!
If a compare, a Set SPRM or a Set (without link) is used in a button or cell command, what is done when the command do not jump to another point?
For example, if the comparison result is false in a button command, does the player continue with the cell command (if any) or execute an implicit LinkTailPGC?

[jeanl]

Yes, exactly! Is there a default action that could be taken here? Is there a notion of a default "Next PGC"?
I guess we should try that in PowerDVD or something like that...
Jeanl

[2COOL]

Originally posted by r0lZ
Good info. But it's not enough!
If a compare, a Set SPRM or a Set (without link) is used in a button or cell command, what is done when the command do not jump to another point?
For example, if the comparison result is false in a button command, does the player continue with the cell command (if any) or execute an implicit LinkTailPGC? Though I haven't tested it yet, here is mpucoder's 2 cents, from the another thread, for a situation like this.

Originally posted by mpucoder
Pressing a button signals the end of the program, so if the button command does not transfer control the post commands will execute.

[CoNS]

Can this guide be used for skipping the main menu, too? I.e. auto-selecting the "Play" button in the main menu.

[2COOL]

Yes

[suncat]

Sorry for being such a newbie...

I tried the guide on DVD that have JumpTT button command instead of the LinkTailPGC command in the guide. Thus I have a bit problems about step 11 as the cell command editor is different. Does anyone know how to handle this case. TIA

[2COOL]

@suncat

I replied to your post in the appropriate thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=590669#post590669), v3.0.