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GameStar Special 2004 March
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GSSH0304CD2.iso
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Mafia
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MafiaDataXTractor
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MafiaDataXtractor_v1.1.exe
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readme.txt
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2003-04-08
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MafiaDataXTractor v1.1
by MassaSnygga
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-----------------
- WHAT IS THIS? -
-----------------
This is a little tool that allows you to extract all the files from the Mafia *.dta files.
This includes all the GREAT music (In .ogg format. Get a new WinAmp to play them!), the
sounds, the textures, the models...
This tool even patches the Mafia game to read the data files you extracted (and perhaps
modified afterwards :). This makes Mafia-Modding possible!!
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- HOW DO I USE THIS? -
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It's very easy to use. Just start it and say OK when it asks you about patching Mafia.
Then choose one or more data files you want to decrypt. Press EXTRACT and there you GO!
Repeat as often you want :)
- NOTE: The files will always be extracted into your Mafia directory as Mafia will try
to read them from there. But don't fear, they will all be in directories like: sounds,
mission... So you wont end up with a directory with one godzillion unsorted files.
- NOTE: Mafia is HUGE so if you choose to extract all files, have in mind that it will
take some time and consume A LOT of disk space (~2.9 GB).
- NOTE: Although the extracted data files will be written to disk and are read from there
by the game, it is NOT possible to delete the *.dta files as Mafia checks for their
presence. One could patch this, though.
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- WHY SHOULD I USE THIS? -
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There are numerous reason why one could be interested in this, for example:
- Listen to the FABULOUS music without playing the game.
- Rip textures and sounds.
- Modify the game!
This is for sure the interesting part of all. The possibilities go from
simple cheating over texture/music modifications and unlocking hidden features to
creating custom missions.
At this point there are several modding tools as well as many nice mods avaliable. Just
visit your favourite Mafia fanpage for more info.
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- 1.1 Issues -
--------------
With the 1.1 version a8.dta was added to Mafia which contains some replacement files as
well as some new ones. The MafiaDataXTractor is now capable of extracting this file too.
It also should be capable to extract a file named b8.dta, although I it isn't installed
with the patch but Mafia tries to load it upon startup. If you have a version of Mafia
that uses this file, please let me know.
One problem with the a8.dta is, that is overwrites some old files from the old dta files.
So by extracting some of the old dtas you reverse that as the patched Mafia favours
extracted files over packed ones. As this is not what we want, MafiaDataXTractor detects
such a situation and asks the user if he also wants to extract a8.dta afterwards so the
old files are overwritten again and the game will behave as if it's patched.
I stronly recommend you to answer with yes, but of course you are free in your decision.
There is also a file called ISdata.dll but I have not been able to open it, in fact even
Mafia itself doesn't seem to use it. But again there might be versions that actually do.
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- FAQ -
-------
Since the release of this tool I recieved a lot of mail from people that had problems
using my tool. As most of the questions keep repeating itself over and over I created this
little FAQ in the naive belief that I won't have to answer the same old questions ever
again.
Q: Is there a dta packer? If not, write one now!
A: I have heard of a dta packer, but I don't have it, I don't know where to get it and I
am not interested in it. I also won't write one for I don't see the point in it. It is
so much easier to distibute a tiny 100 kb mod over the net than a 400 meg dta monster.
Right?
Q: Your program doesn't work! Mafia doesn't accept my changes. I probably need a packer to
make it work.
A: It's not my program, it's the following:
As you may have noticed there aren't only *.bmp in the maps directory but also other
files like *.565, *.555, *.dx1, *.dx3 and most of them have the same filename as a bmp
(followed by a suffix). These files contain the same texture as the bmp but have
another fileformat. Upon execution Mafia chooses the files to load based on the texture
settings (*.bmp = truecolor, *.565 *.555 *.dx1*.dx3 = other). So the modified textures
aren't loaded but a lower-quality version that remained unmodified. Unfortunately many
mods rely on the truecolor setting as bmp files are the easiest to edit.
AND TO MAKE IT CLEAR ONCE AND FOR ALL:
You don't need a dta packer! NEVER EVER! Mafia definitely loads the extracted files as
long as it is using the patched rw_data.dll. A dta packer won't help that kind of
problems in any way. It just makes testing and mod distibution more difficult.
Q: Do I need to extract all the files (or at least some files) to make <insert mod here>
work?
A: NO! This is definitely not neccessary, although even some mod makers claim the
opposite. As soon as MafiaDataXTractor patched your rw_data.dll every mod will work,
even without extraction. You only have to make sure to put the files in the right
directories (textures go in maps, models in models ...)
Q: Is there a way to edit the 4ds files? I tried every 3D program on this planet, but it
doesn't work.
A: There is no 3D program that can open 4ds files as they it is a file format that was
explicitly designed for being used with the Mafia engine. But there is a converter that
can convert most 4ds files to a commom format. Read more about this here:
http://www.saarcor.de/mafia/
Q: I want to know more about the dta file format. Can you give me any information?
A: Yes I can! I actually wrote a little tutorial about it. Check this out:
http://www.kamalook.de/mafia/dta.html
Q: Where can I get the latest version of the MafiaDataXTractor?
A: From now on you can always download it from this location:
http://www.kamalook.de/mafia/mafiadataxtractor.zip
But this is as far as I will go, forget about a webpage or anything else beyond that.
I'm just too lazy :)
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- WHAT ELSE? -
--------------
This version of MafiaDataXTractor was only tested with the US/UK version of the game as
I don't have access to any other versions of the game.
It is possible, however unlikely, that other versions of the game use different decryption
keys. Contact me if you have any problems with data extraction. But be prepared that I
might not able to help you if you have a problem that is related to a different
localisation of the game. Although if someone would donate that specific version to me,
I would be happy to tackle the problem :).
Furthermore this program was only tested under Win98 and WinXP. I don't have Win95/NT/2k
and therefore WON'T be able fix the program to work in these environments, if there are
any problems.
If you have any suggestions, bug reports or have found an interesting way to mod Mafia,
mail me:
MassaSnygga@kamalook.de
-----------
- HISTORY -
-----------
v.1.1
- added support for the Mafia version 1.1 and particularly for the a8.dta
- added some measures to make the MafiaDataXTractor more stable in case of errors during extraction
- added FAQ to documentation
- some minor bugfixes
v.1.01
- fixed a bug that caused the wrong files to be extracted when one or more dta files was missing
- added the version number to the titlebar
v.1.0
- intitial release