pyr0ball
acd4057e72
BitB/BitR/XPAL/STR# system fully reverse-engineered: - BitB<id>.dat: big-endian uint16 width/height header - BitR<id>.dat: raw 8-bit palette-indexed pixels (no header) - XPAL<id>.dat: 256 RGB triplets, 8-bit per channel - STR#<id>.dat: length-prefixed UI string tables - Runtime patch: index 2 must be forced to black (0,0,0) -- the game engine overwrites this at runtime but stored values vary Discovery: XPAL7A12 (correct render) vs XPAL7A1C (salmon background) differ in only 3 palette entries (0,1,2); index 2 is the canvas black. All 32 full-screen menu backgrounds, 57 vehicle HUD icons, cockpit windshield frames, vehicle selection screens, and button strips now render correctly. Documented in docs/FORMATS.md. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
135 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
135 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
# Havoc file formats (reverse-engineered)
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All offsets/sizes verified against the retail data set (Reality Bytes, Inc., 1995).
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## Binaries
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| File | Type | Notes |
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|---|---|---|
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| `HAVOC.EXE` | PE32 i386, GUI | Imports `DDRAW`, `DSOUND`, `WINMM`, `WSOCK32`, `GDI32`, `USER32`, `KERNEL32`. **No Direct3D** — 3D is a software rasterizer drawing into a DirectDraw surface. Contains a CD-presence check ("...Extra Player CD..."). |
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| `LAUNCHER.EXE` | PE32 i386, GUI | Front-end menu (see `havoc_9` screenshot). |
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| `SETUP.EXE` | PE32 i386, GUI | Config/setup. |
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| `DIRECTX/` | DX5-era | Ships 16-bit `DSETUP16.DLL`/`DDRAW16.DLL` — the 16-bit installer path is what breaks on 64-bit Windows, not the game itself. |
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## `.FF` — "FlashFile" archive ✅ implemented in `tools/ff_extract.py`
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Used by `MUSIC.FF`, `SOUND.FF`, `OBJECTS.FF`, `INTRFACE.FF`. Built by the bundled DOS tool
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`FFCREATE.EXE` (found inside `MUSIC.FF`/`SOUND.FF`).
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```
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uint32 file_count (little-endian)
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repeat file_count:
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uint32 absolute_offset (little-endian, from start of .FF)
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char[] name (NUL-terminated, variable length)
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<concatenated payloads> entry size = next_offset - this_offset
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```
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Notes:
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- The table may contain a trailing empty-name entry — skip it.
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- Entry payloads are raw and self-describing (e.g. `RIFF`/`WAVE`, `MZ`, bitmaps).
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### Archive contents
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| Archive | Count | Entry kinds |
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|---|---|---|
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| `MUSIC.FF` | 116 | `WAVE<id>.DAT` PCM segments, `PLST<id>.DAT` playlists, `FFCREATE.EXE` |
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| `SOUND.FF` | 65 | `WAVE<id>.DAT` sound effects, `FFCREATE.EXE` |
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| `OBJECTS.FF` | 526 | `ASND<id>.DAT` (enemy/pickup models + object sounds — format TBD) |
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| `INTRFACE.FF` | 547 | `BitB<id>.dat` headers, `BitR<id>.dat` rasters, `XPAL<id>.dat` palettes, `STR#<id>.dat` string tables, `RTbl<id>.dat` remap tables, `xpXl<id>.dat` palette variants |
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## Music: `WAVE` segments + `PLST` playlists ✅
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- `WAVE<id>.DAT` — standard `RIFF`/`WAVE`, PCM **mono, 22050 Hz, 8-bit**.
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- `PLST<id>.DAT` — a song = an ordered sequence of WAVE segments. **Payload is big-endian**
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(note: the `.FF` table around it is little-endian — mixed by design):
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```
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uint16 segment_count (big-endian; how many WAVE segments belong to this group)
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uint16 step_count (big-endian)
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uint16[step_count] sequence (big-endian; 1-based segment index)
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```
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Segment resolution: a playlist named `PLST<id>` has base id = `int(id, 16)`; **step value N
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maps to wave id `base + N - 1`** (e.g. `PLST07D1` step 2 → `WAVE07D2`). Concatenating the
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referenced segments' PCM reproduces the song exactly (verified by ear).
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## `INTRFACE.FF` bitmap system ✅ implemented in `tools/ff_extract.py`
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All entries share a 4-digit hex ID that links related assets (e.g. `797C` = main menu):
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`BitB797C.dat` (dimensions) + `BitR797C.dat` (pixels) + `xpal797c.dat` (palette) + `STR#797C.dat` (strings).
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### `BitB<id>.dat` — bitmap header (4 bytes)
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```
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uint16 width (big-endian)
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uint16 height (big-endian)
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```
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### `BitR<id>.dat` — raw bitmap raster
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Raw 8-bit palette-indexed pixels, row-major, `width * height` bytes total. No header.
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### `XPAL<id>.dat` / `xpal<id>.dat` — palette (768 bytes)
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256 RGB triplets, 8-bit per channel (NOT 6-bit VGA). One palette per screen/sprite group.
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**Critical runtime patch:** the game engine always forces palette index 2 to `(0, 0, 0)` black
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at runtime. The stored XPAL files may contain any value there (often `#e78484` salmon from the
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development environment). Any renderer must override index 2 to black after loading. Index 0
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and 1 are the transparency/key color (`#ff00ff` magenta in most palettes).
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**Discovery method:** comparing `XPAL7A12` (correct black background) vs `XPAL7A1C` (wrong
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salmon background) revealed only 3 differing entries out of 256 -- indices 0, 1, and 2.
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### `STR#<id>.dat` — string table
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Length-prefixed strings for the screen's UI labels. First byte = string length, then UTF-8
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text. Example: `STR#797C` contains all main menu button labels and the copyright notice.
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### Identified screens (640x480 full-screen bitmaps)
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| ID | Content (from STR# strings) |
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| `797C` | Main menu |
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| `79E0` | Network options |
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| `79AE` | Load/save game |
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| `7A44` | Settings menu |
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| `7A4E` | Sound/music settings |
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| `7A58` | Graphics settings |
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| `7A62` | Keyboard settings |
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| `7A6C` | Joystick settings |
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| `7ADA` | Info/help |
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| `7A12` | Network client/server status |
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| `79F4` | Network client options |
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| `79FE` | Network server options |
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### Identified sprites
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| Size | Count | Content |
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|---|---|---|
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| 640x480 | 32 | Full-screen menu/UI backgrounds |
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| 512x236, 512x230, 512x218 | 3 | Cockpit windshield frames (color variants) |
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| 428x196 | 12 | Vehicle selection screens with 3D-rendered thumbnails |
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| 104x432 | 3 | Cockpit side panel strips |
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| 420x46, 228x46 | 29 | Button/UI strip elements |
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| 48x48 | 57 | Vehicle HUD icons (monochrome green, multiple vehicles/angles) |
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| 18x18 | 13 | Small UI icons |
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## World data (`WORLDS/`) — TODO (3D terrain)
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Per-level sets `<NN>` = 01..06 plus `N`/`N2` variants (biomes: desert, snow/ice, lava, ocean).
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| Pattern | Guess | Status |
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|---|---|---|
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| `MAP<lvl>.MAP` | tile/heightmap grid, 1 byte per cell | layout confirmed (byte grid); dims TBD |
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| `LAND<lvl>.DAT` | terrain geometry/tile defs | TBD |
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| `GRAFIX0N.DAT` | terrain/texture tilesets | TBD |
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| `STUF<lvl>.DAT` | entity placement (contains `Item` records) | TBD |
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## Other top-level data — TODO
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| File | Notes |
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| `BIGFILE.DAT` (64 MB) | starts `Copyright 1995, Reality Bytes, Inc.` then embedded `RIFF` data — bulk audio/stream pool |
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| `STRDATA.DAT` | length-prefixed UI string table (`Out of memory.`, `Not enough disk space.`, …) |
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| `HAVOC.ICO` | 32×32 4-bit icon |
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