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Cream of the Crop 21
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Cream of the Crop 21 (Terry Blount) (October 1996).iso
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BMPDF.TXT
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1996-01-11
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BMP<->DF package 1.0
This package allows you to interconvert Dark Forces formats FME, BM,
DELT, ANIM, WAX and 256 color uncompressed RGB encoded Windows BMP or
256 color PCX files. You can also assemble/disassemble Dark Forces LFD resource
files. So, you can use the power of any Windows based graphics editor (Paint
Shop Pro for instance) to create/modify textures, objects and briefings of
Dark Forces. I guess it's a great possibility.
The package consist of the following programs:
DF2BMP.EXE - FME, BM, DELT, ANIM->BMP,PCX; disassemble LFD,FILMs
BMP2DF.EXE - BMP,PCX->FME, BM, DELT, ANIM; assemble LFD, FILMs
WAX2BMP.EXE - WAX->BMPs,PCXs
BMP2WAX.EXE - BMPs,PCXs->WAX
BM files are textures, weapon and status graphics, switches
FME files are static one-view objects in the game (keys, weapons, mines)
DELTs are not files. DELTs are resources contained in LFD files.
They are extracted to .dlt files by DF2BMP. You can put them
back to LFD using BMP2DF. DELT files are used for static
pictures in the cutscenes, mouse cursors, and, the most
important, mission briefings.
ANIMs are not files either. They are similar to DELTs, but usually
used for moving pictures in cutscenes and also used for the
briefing background.
FILMs are yet no files. They're LFD resources containing command
for what to do in the cutscene.
WAXes are files that store sprites used in the game. Sprites are
not only enemies, but also scenery, most of projectiles,
some mission objects - anything that requires animation
and/or several views.
All programs have high limits on image size: it can't be over 6000 points
in either x or y dimension or it should fit into the free conventional
memory. This limit may be critical only for briefings. This limits us to
630,000(could you free more memory?)/198=3181 line. This is 3181/200=15.9
pages. I hope that's enough.
Because of the complexity of DF formats, some information gets lost during
DF->BMP,PCX conversion. To avoid this, you can ask (/m switch) DF2BMP or
WAX2BMP program to create additional files with this extra information.
These files, further called "makefiles", are simple text files, so you
can modify them easily. Even more - you can create them from scratch.
Ok, enough for the intro,
Now:
DF2BMP 1.0
This certainly stands for "Dark Forces to BMP". Support for PCX format
was added later and I decided not to change the name of the program.
It can convert BM, FME, ANIM and DELT files to BMP or PCX files or sequence
of them. You can also disassemble LFD and FILM files.
DF2BMP is capable of handling:
BM (Textures, weapon/status display) - simple, transparent, switch, animated.
FME (One-view objects) - compressed/uncompressed
DELT (Static graphics in custscenes, briefings, mouse cursors)
ANIM (Moving graphics in custscenes, briefing backgrounds)
FILM (Cutscene script)
LFD (Data file containers)
Command line
To use DF2BMP, type:
DF2BMP [switches] file1 [file2] [file3]
fileN is file names.
[file1] is the file you want to process.
[file2] is the output file BMP or PCX file.
[file3] is the palette file.
If you omit [file2], program uses the name of your input file, but
replaces the extension to .bmp(.pcx).
If you specify the palette file [file3], the palette from this file is put
into BMP. Otherwise, the default palette is used. The default palette is
the same as the one contained in the file dfuse.pal.
Switches is one or combination of the following:
/F - assume FME input
/D - assume DELT(dlt) input
/B - assume BM input
/L - assume LFD input
/A - assume ANIM(anm) input
/Z - assume FILM(flm) input
/X - Force PCX output
/M - generate makefile for BMP2DF
if you specify this parameter, the file with the same name as your
input file, but with the extension .txt is created. You can submit
this file to BMP2DF as a makefile to convert your extracted BMP
file(s) back to initial format. You may as well, browse/modify it-
it is in simple and understandable text format.
/0=# - use color # as a background(transparent) color for DELT and ANIM.
/S - show loaded files
/V - show loaded files and do not perform any conversion (View)
Use this switch just to view DF graphics.
Specific details:
BM->BMP,PCX conversion
Use the following command line for this:
DF2BMP BMfile [BMPfile] [PALfile] [/b] [/v] [/s] [/m] [/x]
If the BM is multiple(switch or animated), the first 6 characters
of the output file are taken as template, and the remaining two characters
are 00 for first bitmap, 01 for second, 02 for third... and so on.
Examples:
df2bmp zaswit01.bm /m (generate makefile)
df2bmp zaspin.bm /v (view)
df2bmp cesunset.bm sky.bmp secbase.pal /x
FME and DELT->BMP,PCX conversion is generally the same, only you should
use .plt files (LFD style palette) for DELTs. The background of DELT is
filled with color 0 or the color specified in /0=# parameter.
ANIM->BMP,PCX conversion
DF2BMP ANIMfile [BMPfile] [PLTfile] [/a] [/v] [/s] [/m] [/x] [/0=#]
The BMPfile is 6 character template, and the remaining two characters
are 00 for first bitmap, 01 for second, 02 for third... and so on.
Examples:
df2bmp starta.anm /x/m (generate makefile)
df2bmp darklog2.anm darklgbc.plt /v (view)
"Disassembling" FILMs
Use:
DF2BMP FILMname [MAKEFILEname] [/Z]
The program produces makefile with MAKEFILEname if you specify it.
If you don't the name of makefile is the name of the FILM file with the
.txt extension. Add /Z if the extension of the input file isn't .flm.
Disassembling LFD
Use:
DF2BMP file.lfd [/L] [directory]
Directory is the directory where the content of LFD will be stored.
Examples:
df2bmp dfbrief.lfd brief/m (output to brief\, generate makefile)
df2bmp holocu.lfd /v (list the LFD directory)
Now, when we're through with this one,
BMP2DF 1.1
And this stands for "BMP to Dark Forces". But it can also handle PCX
files. That's what the program does - it converts 256 color uncompressed
RGB encoded Windows BMP (or 256 color PCX) files to BM, FME, ANIM and DELT -
file formats used by Dark Forces. It can also create FILM resources and
LFD resource files.
Using BMP2DF you can create:
BM (Textures, weapon/status display) - simple,compressed,transparent, switch, animated.
FME (One-view objects) - compressed/uncompressed
DELT (Static graphics in custscenes, briefings, mouse cursors)
ANIM (Moving graphics in custscenes, briefing backgrounds)
FILM (Cutscene script)
LFD (Data file containers)
Command line format:
BMP2DF [switches] [file1] [file2] [file3]
File1 - BMP or PCX file, File2 - FME or BM file. File2 - PAL file
If you omit File3 (PAL file), no palette conversion is performed
Switches:
/U - uncompressed (FME).
/F - force FME output
/D - force DELT (DLT) output
/B - force BM output
/T - transparent (BM)
/M - Load and process a makefile (see BMP2DF.TXT and MAKEFILE.TXT).
File1 is a makefile
/L - allow to use light-in-the-dark colors in palette conversion.
Colors 1..32 in DF palette are bright even if ambient lighting
in the sector is 0. This switch allows to use these colors in
palette conversion, so that you to create textures with the areas
glowing in the dark. Default value is disable this feature. This
switch is ignored if you're performing BMP,PCX->DELT or BMP,PCX->ANIM
conversion.
/0=# - set color # (in the range 0..255) to be transparent in DELT and
ANIM. This setting has no effect on BM and FME that always have
color 0 transparent.
/S - solid bitmap - no transparent areas.
Color 0 can be transparent (in transparent textures, FMEs, DELTS).
This color is usually black. So if you're using the palette
conversion and have black areas in your bitmap, they all become
transparent. By using this switch you force the black color become
non-transparent. So, you bitmap won't have any transparent areas.
Notice, that /S and /L switches have effect ONLY if you specify a palette
file.