Patcher Help
The Suikoden Patch Project GUI (sppgui.exe) provides a user-friendly way to apply patches to
Suikoden II disc image files. The actual work of building a patched image is done by a series of calls to command-line tools; the GUI simply removes the need to follow a checklist of instructions in order to use the patch.
Preamble
This patch is a work-in-progress. If you use it, be aware that there may be issues with the patch process, and with the patched game itself. I will try to resolve any issues as quickly as I can.
If you encounter a problem with the patcher, copy your log output to text file and send it to
pyriel@herrvillain.com or contact me via this wiki or the
Suikosource Messageboard.
If you encounter a problem while playing the game, please be as specific in reporting it as you can. Indicate what you were doing, where, with what characters, and, if you can, be prepared to provide a save-game as near to the incident as possible. The US version of the patch is stable, and has been played through several times. The European and Japanese versions have been given brief testing. There are seven versions of this game in total, and all of them are slightly different from all the others. Although the European English and US version are
almost identical. In any case, it's impossible for one person to play-test everything.
Instructions
You can always download the latest patch from the
Patch Files page.
Important Note: The Windows shell can be a fiddly thing. It has odd rules about handling certain types of characters in commands, such as parentheses, spaces, and angle brackets. Save yourself headaches, and unzip the patch archive to a path that doesn't contain any of those characters, for example "
C:\gs2bugfixes". When you select your original and patched disc images, most any path is fine. The flakiness only occurs if you put the patcher itself in a directory like "
C:\Documents and Settings\me\GS2 (U) patch".
Windows 7 Users: DPI scaling may cause some issues with the GUI. It scales properly as of 2.0.061 (2012-11-20), but on the highest DPI setting (Larger - 150%) the controls don't respond for some reason. You can check your DPI settings in the control panel under Control Panel->Appearance and Personalization->Display, which can be most easily reached by right-clicking the Desktop, selecting Screen Resolution, and then clicking "Display" in the Address Bar. If you're using the highest setting, the simplest fix is to right-click sppgui.exe, select "Properties", and then the "Compatibility" tab. Check the box for "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings". When you next launch the GUI, it should work normally. This shouldn't be necessary on the Medium setting, and it is definitely not necessary on the default, 100% setting.
1. Run the GUI

After you've downloaded the latest patch (these instructions apply to patch version 2.0.061 and higher), unzip the archive to a suitable location. See the note above for help choosing a directory that won't make Windows hiccup later. Then run the sppgui executable.
2. Select Your Game Version

The patch package contains fixes for several versions, or regions, of the game. From the drop-down list, select the entry that describes your game disc. This will be checked when the disc rebuild scripts run, and the patch process will halt if you choose the wrong region.
3. Choose Your Patches

After you select a region, the two lists will be populated with the patches available for it. On the left are available, but unselected patches. On the right are the patches currently selected, and these will be applied when the patch process runs. By default, the patches I believe best represent the game Konami intended to release are active.
You can view the description for any patch by clicking on its name. The description will appear below the list (you can see sample descriptions in the above screenshot). The description may include the keywords
Excludes and
Requires. If one patch excludes another, then activating it will automatically deactivate any excluded patches. If a patch requires another, then activating it will also activate the required patches. Deactivating a patch others are dependent on will cause the dependent patches to deactivate as well. Currently, no patches require others, but a few do have exclusions.
Available patches may be activated by clicking them and then clicking the "> >" button. Selected patches may be deactivated by clicking them and then clicking the "< <" button.
4. Specify Source and Target Disc Images

Use the appropriate "Browse..." buttons to select your original
Suikoden II image file, and your desired output file. The patcher can make sense of most ISO, IMG, and BIN image files (NRG is
not compatible).
You cannot choose your source image as your destination image. If you choose the same file in both places, an error message will pop up, and the application will prevent you from proceeding until the error is remedied.
5. Apply the Patch

When all the prerequisites are complete (at least one patch selected, and the input and output are appropriate), the "Apply Patch" button will activate. Click it, and you will see the screen above. The patch process can be lengthy, and the GUI may stop responding for a time, but you should periodically see new entries appear in the process log. If all goes well, the log will end with a message indicating the build was successful.
A couple of things to note, the message about cd-tool.lua will always appear. The tool is using a built-in script, but feels the need to let you know that it can't locate the file. It's nothing to worry about. The cd-tool also doesn't indicate success or failure via return codes, but an obvious message will appear in the log, and processing will halt if there is a failure for some reason.