Author Topic: OP2_ART.Bmp (?) (Read 5574 times)

LongFist · « **on:** March 02, 2005, 12:58:11 PM »

Okay, I'm stumped, but that's because we (my sons are learning to develop game software) and I have decided to "take a step back" and look into OP2 for ideas of images/animations/etc. The problem is - I've read (here and there :find:) hints about the information I seek being held in OP2_ART.bmp and (perhaps) in Well00??.bmp as well. (No pun intended.) But (quite naturally) we were hoping one of you incredibly resourceful people would have figured out how to mine these modules for their images. Some people seem to have accomplished this, others seem to be on the verge of it. And one of the primary rules of system development is "...do not duplicate another's efforts, unless your approach somehow grants an advantage over theirs...".

So I am appealing to whichever one of you guys (or grrls - I'm not particular) has figured this stuff out, if you'd be so kind as to share it with us. Again, we're developing some fun stuff for our OP3 (well, we might just call it OP4 or so, since OP3 seems to have been overworked already, and we're not good thieves...) game. [Disclaimer: no - it's nothing LIKE ready for release - so we're not talking much about it... :heh: ]

Heck, rather than raid someone's toybox, we'd be just as happy with some hints and/or factoids about how it all goes together - we'll take it from there, I think. Of course, we could just start a game, and do a *LOT* of screen captures, but I'm sure that there is a better way. (No joke: one of my sons is already enduring the headaches of the previously mentioned approach. But he has no patience, so I'm willing to let him 'experiment'...)

Thank you in advance for enduring this appeal. I appreciate your time and attention.

BlackBox · « **Reply #1 on:** March 02, 2005, 02:16:31 PM »

Alright. The OP2_ART.bmp contains all the sprite graphics for objects on the map, and some parts of the interface as well. (Things like the unit graphics come from here).
We haven't really worked on extracting this data yet (we know too little about it for it to be of much use. We do know that most of the images are made up of many smaller images overlayed on each other).
Placement, palette and animation data is located in OP2_ART.PRT inside maps.vol.

The wellxxxx.bmp files are located inside maps.vol as well. They contain the bitmap data for the tilesets (the ground) and a couple other things like the lava animations. These are 16 bit and the game will accept them in two formats: standard windows bitmap and a proprietary bitmap format. (The proprietary format only really differs in the header fields).
We know a little more about the proprietary format (which OP2 uses for all the well files).

If you need any other help with anything tell us.

LongFist · « **Reply #2 on:** March 02, 2005, 03:17:30 PM »

Thanx. Very, very much. :mellow: I'll see what I can do about spooling it all out into something we can (all) play with. My biggest interest is in what OP2 uses as their initial (building/vehicle) sprites - we thought we might study what went before, to see if we can create a closer match to what the originators used. A "more authoritarian extension" - as Dr. Hackworth would say.

(OT)
My sons and I are surprised that Sierra didn't/doesn't maintain a backup of the release code. It's hard to beleive that a manager (somewhere) made the decision to "can it" - and his subordinates all obeyed. In most of the companies I've ever worked for - when the order cam to "can it", about twenty or so "backup copies" went out the door (or the 'port) in just about every direction. Alas, you never can tell when that coded you've been working on for the last three months will come in handy for something else... I'm not saying I don't believe Leviathan when he says it was destroyed, but I'm wondering what kind of manager would order such a thing...

Leviathan · « **Reply #3 on:** March 02, 2005, 06:29:26 PM »

Welcome Welcome

Sierra and Dynamix who made the game are both no longer around. Thats why the source got chucked. We have a OP2 Art viewer program which can show u all the frames n animates in the art file..

Hooman · « **Reply #4 on:** March 02, 2005, 07:50:58 PM »

Yes, the unit graphics would all be in OP2_ART.BMP. At least all the pixel data is. All the indexing information is in OP2_ART.PRT. The .bmp file is structured like a regular Windows bitmap file, except the palette section is all zeroed out (yes, it's 8 bpp). The .prt file contains 9 (if I remember right) palettes. Each palette has a small header in front of it that contains a 4 byte ASCII section name and the section's size. There is some other info too. After the palette section is a frame section. Each frame structure gives and offset into the pixel data from the .bmp file for the graphics. It also gives the index of the palette from the .prt file to use. The dimensions of that frame are also stored in the structure. The frame section of the file is erally just an array size followed by an array of structures.

There are a bunch more structures after this one, but I don't yet know much about how they work. some of them are used to collect the frames into animation sequences.

Cynex knew a fair bit about the .prt file, but I haven't seen him around here for the better part of a year I think. He was the one that wrote the art viewer Leviathan mentioned. I have a quick and dirty Visual Basic program that will load and display what I know, but it's certainly not as advanced as what Cynex wrote. Let me know if you want a peak at some source.

As for the well00??.bmp files, those are just the tilesets. If you need those graphics, that would be no problem to hook you up with some stuff. That file format is fairly well understood.

LongFist · « **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2005, 10:29:18 AM »

Ah. Ok, I think. I downloaded (and actually started using) the Map Editor, so I think that would cover everything in the Well Files - right? So all I have to figure out and/or harvest is the art in the OP2_ARt.Bmp.

:Cool:

Of course, I have no idea what to look for - there are no (apparent) links on the web for "OP2 Art Viewer", so I guess I*'m kinda stuck. However, I *think* I can get a start extracting the info from the file (at 8bpp), and see what I can see. Following the standards, the sub-frames should/would/could be all the same size height/width-wise, right? We'll just have to find out.

I just realized, after we peel OP2_Art.Bmp, we will have revealed all of the resources that go into making OP2 - that we would effectively have everything we needed to re-create the game! :evil laugh: Just a thought, just a thought.

Thank you for your continued assistance - we really, really appreciate it. Of course, now - having seen some of what goes into the finished game - my sons are wondering if we'll ever finish it. I merely point out that our CyberSpace Fighter game (advanced air/spacecraft dog it out in cyberspace) will never be completed, either - and they decided to get back to work. [The CyberSpace Fighter started out life as a "can we do xxx with yyy" - and took on a life of its own. No, it will never be ready for prime-time, but it can help waste an afternoon/evening for a treat. Especially when we decide to add/change something...]

Leviathan · « **Reply #6 on:** March 04, 2005, 10:44:43 AM »

Yea we dont have the viewer on the website, and after looking I cant find it.

But someone has it and will send to me then ill put it up for ya guys.

Someone did want to start making a OP2 clone, but he couldnt extract the GFX so he stoped.

LongFist · « **Reply #7 on:** March 04, 2005, 11:46:20 AM »

Well, thanks to you guys, I've found what looks to be the Palette information located in OP2_ART.PRT - it starts [PPAL head ... data] and then we're looking at the palette, right? Well, that's what it looks like, anyway. From there, the PRT file becomes a little less obvious when you arrive at file offset 9140 - it reads [ZZZ.RZZ.\RT.RRZ.RRR.PJR.LHH.BCC.889] and gets really cryptic from there - so I think I can piece the two together with a little trial-and-error.

But anything anyone has already done would be greatly appreciated. I can understand why, after failing to decrypt the graphics images, a possible OP2 Cloner would stop development. It's quite the daunting task.

But I asked myself: if it's so easy to build on the [Red Alert] command interface, and OP2 was the original interface for that type of game, why wouldn't/couldn't we try to revive it with new code? I'm not totally convinced that we can't. It might take some effort, but I beleive it might actually be do-able. However - I must add that the right game engine improves end-project success incredibly.

I need to go back and study the SDK a little more - but I think I have a few ideas for missions/adventures, and I need to (at least) make a few notes, before I lose them...

TH300 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 04, 2005, 01:48:35 PM »

As for an Outpost2 clone: I know, that one is already being made by U01.

Leviathan · « **Reply #9 on:** March 04, 2005, 02:22:36 PM »

yep TH that what i was talking about.
Hes left to do other projects because he needs OP2 GFX if hes 2 get anywhere...

BlackBox · « **Reply #10 on:** March 04, 2005, 02:28:58 PM »

The animation sub frames are not the same size as the big frames.

I think those letters you mentioned are RGBQUADs. (B,G,R,0)

The BMP file itself, like Hooman said, is pretty obvious. I think one of the header values is negative (so a normal bmp reader wouldn't load it).

The scanlines of each image come one after the other.
In other words a normal BMP that looks like:
ABC
ABC
ABC

looks in the OP2_ART as ABCABCABC. If you happen to apply one of those palettes to it, and reorganize the scanlines of each individual sub image (if you know the width of the sub image) you can obtain usable graphics.

Oh btw.. we know fully about the palette section of the PRT, if you want specs ask. You are right, the PPAL is palette data.

Hooman · « **Reply #11 on:** March 04, 2005, 03:15:35 PM »

If you want some code or some specs then find me on IRC or someother way for me to send the stuff to you. I have a copy of the art viewer mentioned above, some source code from one of my own attempts at it (Visual Basic), and the complete tilesets stored in regular Windows bitmap format, as well as some loading/saving code for the tilesets (C++). I may have written up a bit of a spec for the first part of the .prt file, but I can't remember at the moment. Anyways, I should have enough for you to extract the graphics (mostly), but not group them together into animation sequences. There are also a few oddities where some graphics are actually 1 bpp. (Unit shadows are one example of this) Hopefully someday I'll have a complete spec, but lately I've had other seemingly more important projects to work on. (Like school work

)

LongFist · « **Reply #12 on:** April 17, 2005, 08:52:56 PM »

I'm still trying to get the time to hack OP2_ART, but having the rough time of it. I think I need to write a few other utilities - but the semester is coming to an end, and I've been paired into an ultimately inept group, which project is due way too soon - so time is at a premium.

What I was going to ask is if there was a way for Hooman tio transfer/dead drop what already existed (trying to decode OP2_ARRT with little success) - I can meet somewhere halfway - and my eMail addy can take up to 5MB per message (not much I know, but code compresses extremely well, for the most part...) if it came down to that.

Other than that, naturally, all three of my classes beleive themselves to be the only class I take that means anything, so their homework/tests/etc. have become something unbearable. I think I really should've done college before getting a life, no? :mellow:

Well thanks again for helping me. I hope this divide is not as permanent as the Eden/Plymouth divide was - I almost found it humorous that the OPU wold follow the original storyline so closely... ...but I'm not laughing at anyone. Just making observations, and attempting to complete a task (or two).

I'll pop in later, and see what we can achieve...

Have a terrific day!!!

Leviathan · « **Reply #13 on:** April 17, 2005, 09:28:44 PM »

Maybe Hooman, Eddy-B, Cynex can post what they have found...

Hooman · « **Reply #14 on:** April 18, 2005, 04:40:38 AM »

In a couple days I'll be done school myself. Then I think I'll spend some time organizing a major code release. I have some VB code that can load any image from that file. I also have information on the animation sequences, but no code to handle that info. I'll likely post a VB project, and a text file describing everything I know about the file format. The text file should be enough to write any of your own code. There are still a few details that I don't understand, but it seems like most of the important details may have been worked out.

There are a few minor fixups that I'd like to do before posting anything. I have nothing against giving people advanced copies though. For now, I guess I'll try emailing the text file. Is there a preferred language for sample code?

Cynex · « **Reply #15 on:** April 18, 2005, 01:17:02 PM »

You can get the stuff once I'm completely sure it's all correct.
For now there are just some issues with batch saving and the group animations. I hope to get it all working this week.

LongFist · « **Reply #16 on:** April 18, 2005, 02:23:28 PM »

From Hooman:

Quote

Is there a preferred language for sample code?

No preferred language, per se: I run well with VB (3 and up), VC++ (5 and up), .Net (lateley, as customers request it), and other esoterica (like DarkBASIC). I can pretty much use just about anything. It looks as though we're looking at VB code - that's totally fine.

From Cynex: (and Hooman)

Quote

You can get the stuff once I'm completely sure it's all correct.

I totally understand. I had to pre-release stuff too, especially when I find that I could have done it a better way, eradicated some more bugz, etc. I'm a patient guy; I figure I can wait.

:whistle:

Again - I really appreciate your assistancec here. As soon as I figure out how this gets done, I'll be able to forge the "next generation"...

Thanks again!!!

Ezekel · « **Reply #17 on:** April 19, 2005, 08:02:50 AM »

s'pity the NHCS isn't online anymore, cos i remember there was a tutorial on there about how to open the op2art.bmp file in a way that was understandable ot the human eye (and i in fact actually was able to follow the instructions and open it).

before you ask, no i don't remember how i did it :-/
though i do remember it involved DLing a program called infraview or something like that (it's logo was a red teddy bear with a black mask on).

Eddy-B · « **Reply #18 on:** April 19, 2005, 10:23:33 AM »

Since my name was on levi's list also :lol: .. i didn't get very far at all, and the others got more on it thatn i'd know

BlackBox · « **Reply #19 on:** April 19, 2005, 02:00:20 PM »

Lol, I think I wrote that tutorial Ezekel.

I can't remember much of it anymore, but it involved doing something like applying a palette to the image (using irfanview or something like that) and then saving it, the data in the image was then somewhat visible.

News:

Author Topic: OP2_ART.Bmp (?) (Read 5574 times)