File formats

Tools, assembly, and file formats.
gerstrong
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in the Levelxx.cky formats

Post by gerstrong »

There is in error in the level formats.

4 2 Lev height Height of the level in tiles
6 2 Level width Width of level is tiles

I have been hacking the format and found out, that it is:


4 2 Level width Width of level is tiles
6 2 Level height Height of the level in tiles
levellass
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Post by levellass »

Good one, you are right there indeed, it's ALWAYS height * width, I must have confused them. It's nice to see someone else poking around with things.

I shall correct this.
gerstrong
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Yeah! No Prob.

Post by gerstrong »

As I am developing on a new version of CloneKeen also called CloneKeenPlus for now, I'm looking for this kind of information and test it.

Original CloneKeen comes with a tileinformation file. That's good, but if you want to use mods, you have a lot of problems.

CKP is now able to extract this information out of the original files.

http://clonekeenplus.sourceforge.net/
levellass
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Post by levellass »

I must applaud you sir, this seems to be a brilliantly thought out and executed project. This is the kind of thing we need file formats for. Well done!
gerstrong
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Post by gerstrong »

Thank you very much!

I think most of you knows the original project. It was a good one and I will continue it.

There is another thing, I want to do. I want to support the galaxy versions, too. If possible also dreams.

Is their enough information to hack those data files? It still will take more time, but I want to do that.

If there isn't enough information, I'm going to hack it myself. It will be hard, but I think a great project deserves it, and by the way ScummVM also did it with LucasArts. Why not CloneKeenPlus with Commander Keen?
levellass
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Post by levellass »

Well, I know most of the formats, but not the way to implement everything. (For example you'll want to see Napalm about Adlib sounds.) I'm still having some trouble checking the Dreams stuff (In some versions.) and the finer points of carmackizing, but when I get around to writing everything up, there should be enough data to implement *something*

If you need anything specific, just ask.
gerstrong
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Post by gerstrong »

Hello there,

I was trying to extract the storytext out of the exe-files.

If someone is interested I have the adresses
levellass
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Post by levellass »

I have them marked in the Patch Index's locations folder already, for version 1.31 anyway. I have a small program for extracting all the text files from any episode of Keen too, if you're interested.
gerstrong
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Post by gerstrong »

I'm working heavily on the physics.

I'm using formulas of real physics and some numerical calculation, optimised for games, of course.

The next thing after that, is to implement the score table.

Maybe you can provide information about scores.ck?

Thanks iun ADvance!
levellass
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Post by levellass »

Certainly, I have written what I know to: http://www.shikadi.net/moddingwiki/Comm ... ore_format
gerstrong
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Post by gerstrong »

Very nice. Thank you again for your help!
gerstrong
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Post by gerstrong »

I have another question.

How can I extract tiles from Commander Keen Ep.1 version 1.34. I was trying catch the address, but I don't find the tile information. Maybe someone can help...
levellass
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Post by levellass »

I have written a small app to get the tile file out of the decompressed executable here: http://levellord.toxicsheep.com/134EXT.zip

The tile file is 8192 bytes located at 79370 in the decompressed file. You'll need to have the player decompress the executable first though. The format, and indeed information is identical to the 1.31 version.
Draik
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Post by Draik »

Good stuff, but the level file documentation doesn't include LEVEL80 / "map mode" info. I would really appreciate it if you could put some up or something.

EDIT: In fact, the level file documentation overall is pretty vague. It mentions the structure of the file, but not importatn things like what tiles are what, etc. I am possibly just so incredibly stupid that these are common knowledge, but I doubt it.
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CommanderSpleen
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Post by CommanderSpleen »

Level 80 is just an ordinary level, utilised differently by the game, specifically that sprites are used to specify where level entry locations and blocking points exist (and teleporters? I don't recall if these were hardcoded into the game).

i.e. Putting Sprite 1 on a tile will make it the entrance to the first level. I don't recall exactly how the blocking sprites work off the top of my head though. Negative numbers or something?
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