We have some unfinished business with regards to the MicroProse CAT file format, it’s time to start wrapping things up. The last time when we looked at the CAT file format we determined the files structure, and wrote some code to extract the contents. We also mentioned the existence of a slightly different variant found with MicroProse’s M1 Tank Platoon. So let’s take a look at this other variant to see how it differs from the version we’ve already looked at.
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Just toss it in the BIN
This is actually a format variant I did a while back, but never got around to writing about it. In this case it’s a .BIN image file from SSI’s Western Front. I’ve decided to include it with their .IMG format as it is raw image data just like the IMG format is, with only a slight difference in how the data is encoded. Also I felt .BIN was a bit too generic to be considered it’s own unique type, this is more of an alias extension. So let’s dig into it and see what the differences are.
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A glitch in the timeline
Once again it appears we need to realign the naming of our PIC file formats. Luckily it’s only a small one this time around, and with it we also add a new title, or rather a port of a title to our list. This is the first time we’ve added a non PC title that supports the PIC format, though I do believe it has been used on other platforms as well. This all happened a couple of days ago so here’s how it went down.
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2-for-1 special, with a spicy side
As summer comes to an end, it’s time to get back in the seat and start reverse engineering again. While we still have some unfinished business with several formats, I thought I’d kick things off with a new one to get back in the groove of things. This one being the CDF file format used by MicroProse with a few of their games. Now unlike many of the other formats we have looked at so far, there are tools already out in the wild for manipulating these files. Most notably those made by Paulo Morais which I’ve seen mentioned and linked to on several EAW (European Air War) themed forums. Unfortunately only the binaries seem to exist, and there is no documentation I’ve been able to find that details the format, this post will hopefully change that.
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Loose ends
Well now that the RAID data has been recovered, and a new one is up and running, we can get back to some of the regular programming around these parts. Seems with my ADD and jumping around between a number of different formats, though mostly all from MicroProse, I’ve left some loose ends of unfinished work. I think it’s time we start wrapping up those loose ends, especially with regards to the MicroProse PIC file format. This post is mostly intended as a recap of what we’ve covered so far, to see what is still outstanding.
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Up! Up, and away!
This post is just a follow up to my previous post about there being some unexpected downtime as a result of a RAID failure. Well I have good news, the RAID data has been recovered, all 6TB of it. A new Open-ZFS based RAID is up and running in its place, as well as a proper backup strategy. So now even if the RAID goes down, my recovery time will be quicker and less stressful. So with that we should start getting back to some of the regular content we had in progress here already. Though as it is still summer, the frequency of posts will still be lower than what it was prior to the RAID failure. I’m going to do my best to try and make 2 posts per week, so we’ll see how it goes. Thanks to all those that reached out and offered support, and to those that subscribed to the blog to keep up to date. I have quite a few new formats queued up on the bench, so once we wrap up with the current batch we will get going on those, should be some exciting discoveries to come.
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Running on empty
In my last post we left of having successfully decoded the PAK and EGA image formats used by Electronic Arts with 688 Attack Sub. In this post we will reverse the process allowing us to convert an input image into the format. This post will mostly concentrate on the EGA image format, as there really isn’t anything to do with the PAK image format as it was just raw image data. The EGA format is more interesting in that it uses a form of RLE compression we had not seen until this point with the formats we’ve looked at so far.
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Attack of the subs
A little diversion while I wait for parts to arrive for my RAID data recovery and rebuild. Fingers crossed we don’t end up in a whole series of reverse engineering the Drobo BeyondRaid Filesystem format. (Though that could be fun for sport, AFTER I’m back up and running) Today’s target comes as another request. This time it’s 688 Attack Sub from Electronic Arts. Looks like there are a couple of different image asset files, PAK (and an accompanying PAL file), and EGA. So let’s dig in and see how far we get.
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Unexpected downtime
Things will be a bit slow here on the blog for the next little while. Firstly my RAID appears to have died, it’s an issue with the logic board, and not the drives or the data, so I can get it back one way or another. I’m working on getting a new NAS or DAS RAID box along with a doner unit that is the same model I have so I can use that to recover my data onto the new RAID box. All my content and notes are on it, so until I get it back up and running the posts I had planned on will be delayed. Secondly it’s summer and I want to get out and enjoy it a bit before the cold returns. I live in Canada where the summers are short, and the winters are long, have to take advantage while I can. And finally, I’m also preparing to sell my house, and I need to devote more time to getting that done. (patching, panting, decluttering, all that fun) This blogging thing has taken up way more time than I had planned, though I am enjoying it and plan to continue doing it… but priorities have to prevail. So for all these reasons things will be a bit quieter around here. I will still post but not as often as I have been the last few weeks. Though until I get my RAID up and running it will be even quieter than I had planned. Hope you all stick around, subscribe to the blog so you get notifications for when I do post, and I will be back with a lot more regular content in the near future, probably around the September time frame, but hopefully some good teasers before then too.
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Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in
After wrapping up with the SSI-IMG format yesterday, I’ve been struggling to come up with what to blog about next. My brain isn’t quite ready to jump back into the PIC format. Then I got a message…
any chance of this amiga “.img” getting converted with your tool?
Would love to extract the bitmap of this splash screen.And so the adventure begins. Just when I thought I was done with the SSI-IMG format.
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Ouch my eye! 