Alone in the Dark: Hex - Editing

[gravel22]

Originally Posted by MrQuetch

By the way, gravel, what do you mean by, "bad stuff"? Like mature or adult only content? Or you mean like the reason for it just didn't fit the game???

From what I understood it's adult and gore content.

Well that's what he said

I have to see this!

[MrQuetch]

I apologize Xesf, but might I ask how you went about compiling this code, and into what program? I'm trying new projects with the source code in Dev-c, and have also been trying the code in Microsoft Visual Studio. I'm receiving errors mostly for the #include headers, and do not know why. If you could get back to me, that would be greatly appreciated.

[MrQuetch]

Gravel, do you have any idea as to what file this room might be located in on LBA1? It will be more difficult to find it, unless you have an idea of where the index for that particular room may exist... I guess I could try searching - but it may only go so far.

[MrQuetch]

Oh... Do I need to download and use GitHub in order to compile and use the code successfully?

[xesf]

Well, that won't be that easy has it has loads of dependencies.
I may have the old code from yaz0r that may be easier to work with, because the link I posted requires SCUMMVM (well ResidualVM) code.

I need to search my backups to find that code.

[MrQuetch]

Never mind, just took some time looking into it. I realized that instead of copying and pasting the code, it was better to just download the raw file of it. I've built the code, and have received no errors of any kind. But it seems like whenever I open up the executable, nothing shows up, just the window and a caption.

[MrQuetch]

Sorry, I just saw your comment, Xesf, my webpage just refreshed. Oh, ok. So, would I be able to use that code then if you find it?

[MrQuetch]

Oh my gosh, there is a lot of code on the GitHub, and there's more than enough for me to understand. My brain is beyond full at this moment. I think I'm going to take a break for a bit and just let all of the information just seep in, or at least a good portion anyways. By the looks of it, it seems like a lot of people have already discovered major aspects of how the game is designed.

What I'd really like to figure out now is how to use the code successfully. In that sense, I mean using it to decompress the PAK files, change what I want in there, and then play the game with the files compressed again.

Xesf, is there a way to open the PAK files like there is with LBA Package Editor for the HQR files?

[gravel22]

Originally Posted by MrQuetch

Gravel, do you have any idea as to what file this room might be located in on LBA1? It will be more difficult to find it, unless you have an idea of where the index for that particular room may exist... I guess I could try searching - but it may only go so far.

To be honest I don't know. The best thing would be to create a separate and official topic for this room. Then you can document everything you've searched for and then next people could save time searching it.

Just an idea!

[MrQuetch]

Yeah, that would be the best I would think in regards to finding that room in LBA1. Anyways, as far as the AITD subject goes, I've finally gotten some things working. I can view all of the models from the game using the Unity engine. What's nice about this is that I can view all of the files in their uncompressed forms. The next thing I'll need to learn how to do is recompress the files after I make the specific changes, then I should be able to play AITD with color changed polys!

Gravel, thanks a bunch for the link to the AITD Room Viewer Master! This has saved me a lot of work!

[xesf]

Originally Posted by MrQuetch

By the looks of it, it seems like a lot of people have already discovered major aspects of how the game is designed.

That code was mainly created by yaz0r.
He worked on that engine before TwinEngine and manage to finish most of it. The engine also supports part of AITD2, AITD3 and Jack.

Originally Posted by MrQuetch

What I'd really like to figure out now is how to use the code successfully. In that sense, I mean using it to decompress the PAK files, change what I want in there, and then play the game with the files compressed again.

The easiest would be to create your own piece that decompress the files or recreate the pak files like we do with HQR.

Originally Posted by MrQuetch

Xesf, is there a way to open the PAK files like there is with LBA Package Editor for the HQR files?

Don't think so, they are very close but the compression doesn't seem the same.

You should be able to use uncompressed entries as well, but you need to make sure the entry is marked as uncompressed.

[MrQuetch]

Thanks for the info, Xesf.

So I've just hex edited some of the uncompressed data, saved it, went back into Unity, and I received an error telling me that, "Input string was not in the correct format." I've changed the file back, and saved it again. Yet, Unity gives me those same errors. I've gotten back in and out of the program, so this seems to be a bug. I've also used the alonedark.bms script to uncompres the data all over again, but still - it just gives me errors. Hmmm... I'll see what I can do.

[MrQuetch]

I forgot to mention, the bms script is used in another program called quickbms. If you don't know what it is, it's a website dedicated to hundreds of games, by using a bms script, one can uncompress data from whatever game they want that is located on that site, and using the program, they can ( like I said ) use that uncompressed data.

[gravel22]

Originally Posted by MrQuetch

Gravel, thanks a bunch for the link to the AITD Room Viewer Master! This has saved me a lot of work!

Glad it helped

[xesf]

Very interesting stuffs on those links. I didn't know about them.

[MrQuetch]

Hey, gravel, NHG finally got back to me this morning ! Unfortunately, he told me he doesn't know anything about the game's coding, nor does he know anything about programming in general . He told me that it might be a good idea to still consider talking to him if needed, or to talk to LotBlind. Additionally speaking, he told me that he has another friend named, "Tigrou" who definitely has a better understanding of the programming behind the game.

I'll see if I can look into this whole AITD code soon, but I'm still preparing for that mission coming up. I'm expected to leave mid-January of next year - this is as most official news as I've gotten so far. So, I'll still be here for a while, but I really will be gone starting next February.

[gravel22]

Originally Posted by MrQuetch

Hey, gravel, NHG finally got back to me this morning ! Unfortunately, he told me he doesn't know anything about the game's coding, nor does he know anything about programming in general . He told me that it might be a good idea to still consider talking to him if needed, or to talk to LotBlind. Additionally speaking, he told me that he has another friend named, "Tigrou" who definitely has a better understanding of the programming behind the game.

I'll see if I can look into this whole AITD code soon, but I'm still preparing for that mission coming up. I'm expected to leave mid-January of next year - this is as most official news as I've gotten so far. So, I'll still be here for a while, but I really will be gone starting next February.

Awesome he replied, at least he knows better who you need to call.

LotBlind

That's the guy

[Wesker]

MrQuetch, if you are actually looking at the FITD reimplementation code, how complicated would be to improve the compatibility a little further with the Alone in the Dark games based on the current engine status? The first game can be played (sort of) but has a lot of issues and there's a fatal lockup in the underground caves (the maze part, actually) which can't be avoided, preventing game completion. The second and third games are just barely supported and you can't hardly do anything beyond the initial areas of each game.

What I like about this opensource reimplementation is the possibility to play the games at bigger resolutions, avoiding the massive pixelation problems the games feature with their original renderers. It gives them a way cleaner look overall, similar to what you can achieve with the officially released SVGA version of Time Gate: Knight's Chase (which is the last game done with the original Alone in the Dark engine).

[gravel22]

Woaw this is incredible! :O

[Polaris]

Very nice indeed !

[MrQuetch]

I remember seeing these somewhere a long time ago, but have never found out what they were called. I had always known that there was someway to get the AITD series playing at a higher resolution - I just didn't know how.

Thanks for that information, Wesker. I think that's one of the best posts on this thread. Glad to see gravel and Polaris just as happy about this as I am.

Not that it's possible or not, but maybe there's a way to "vectorize" the backgrounds and bring them in at a higher resolution.

About that "Time Gate: Knight's Chase", I've never heard about it - I'll have to look into it and see how true it stays to the AITD series. I never knew any other games than AITD used the same engine.
Does that game happen to be on GOG at all?

[Wesker]

Oh, but those high resolution screenshots I posted are simply the result of playing any of the classic Alone in the Dark games through a compiled version of the FITD (Free in the Dark) opensource reimplementation, which was developed by yaz0r many years ago like he did with TwinEngine. But unlike that which was still actively developed through the following years, FITD was pretty much abandoned in the state it still is after all these years.

Let me tell you what you can currently do with all the classic Alone in the Dark games through FITD.

Alone in the Dark
You can interact with pretty much everything and play the game up to the maze part in the underground caves, but as soon as you enter (the camera should transition to overhead) there's a lockup you can't avoid by any mean. Some people say the game is completable but I haven't been able to pass that fatal glitch. There's a lot of graphic issues (many polygon models are invisible at certain angles) and weapons aren't able to shoot. Even the game locks up if you try to skip the intro at certain parts of it (like the beginning when the car is arriving the house). Plus, you can save/load (only one game though) but config menu is not functional.

Alone in the Dark 2
Interactions seem to work although the inventory screen doesn't show properly (but you can manipulate through it if you know what you are doing). You can play through the maze garden but when you try to enter the house through the underground passage, then the game locks up. Many graphic issues, mostly regarding enemies which are visible even though they are far in the background and should be hidden by wall. Enemy AI is doesn't properly work and so enemies are not able to follow you and attack you, even though they get "activated" by your presence. You can attack and kill them though. You can't save/load.

Alone in the Dark 3
This is very similar to the Alone in the Dark 2 support except that you can't even do interactions at all. You can access a barely working version of the inventory (which doesn't show correctly like the one of Alone in the Dark 2) and equip the gun but you can't shoot, and you can also get items but that's about it. So you can't do pretty much anything except going for a walk in Slaughter Gulch. Enemies (at least the ones that are able to show up) are mostly static and don't move except for some scripted movements. Some of them try to attack you but don't damage you, and you can't attack/kill them in any way. What's most funny is that you can get beyond the boundaries imposed by the original game at the beginning, as there are "one hit death enemies" that prevented you from passing through certain areas by killing you, but they can't do that here at all! That's something which gives some interesting results like getting beyond the Elwood brothers limit and wandering through some later parts of the game up from the beginning (but if you try to enter the station, game locks up). And you can't save/load. The later released Windows version, titled 'Alone in the Dark: Ghosts in Town', is also supported.

Jack in the Dark
This minigame done to promote Alone in the Dark 2 seems to be supported similarly the first Alone in the Dark, as the inventory shows fine but it seems some interactions like using the coin on the candy machine don't work and therefore it's not possible to complete the game, so you can only wander through the shop (not even possible to get to the part where Santa Claus is).

Time Gate: Knight's Chase
No supported at all, any version.

And common to the all games is the fact that Redbook audio is not supported. Alone in the Dark and Alone in the Dark 2 play the FM music by default (if you use the CD-ROM versions of those games, then the FM music pointers are wrong and this can cause additional glitches/lockups, for example when an enemy appears in the first game and the game tries to load a FM music track which doesn't seem to exist, causing an error) and Alone in the Dark 3 doesn't play any music. Jack in the Dark was always FM only. Common to all of them is also the fact that sound effects/voices play high pitched for some reason.

So this is why I'm asking if there's a chance to develop this any further and improve compatibility with the classic AITD games (maybe even supporting Time Gate too). At some point this was discussed to be accepted as part of the ResidualVM project (similar to the ScummVM project but with 3D engines) but nobody seems interested to give it a try. And more recenly someone actually got the code and ported it to the Dreamcast but in the end it seems the idea was abandoned and didn't actually released anything except for a video where you can see Alone in the Dark and Alone in the Dark 2 running on the Dreamcast. This is pretty much the same as both games run through the current state of FITD.

YouTube

Oh, and one more thing. There was a IOS version of Alone in the Dark released by Atari a couple of years ago. This was apparently developed by a studio called Kung Fu Factory. Now, I haven't confirmed this and I doubt the devs will give a definite answer if requested, but I suspect they actually took the FITD engine and developed it up to a point where they achieved a stable version of Alone in the Dark (the first game, dunno about the others since Atari hasn't done anything regarding them) working and running, then ported and released on IOS. My theory comes not only because of the higher resolution but because they actually left in some bugs/glitches/oddities present in the game when played through FITD! For example, the death sequence in the original game had a static camera angle showing the zombie carrying you and didn't switch until the scene changed to your character lying in front of "the Pickford tree", but FITD actually portrays this scene through the same camera angles that are displayed in that particular area when you actually get to that point in the game by yourself. And the IOS version kept that oddity intact!

YouTube

(skip to 19:01 to see what I mean, that also happens in FITD but not in the original game)

Of course, I doubt that will be of any help as getting the more developed FITD progress from the IOS port would involved reverse engineering it. I bet it's simpler to reach that state through development of the opensource engine itself like the guys of Kung Fu Factory actually did.

And MrQuetch, regarding Time Gate: Knight's Chase, well it certainly stays very true to the classic AITD series since it was developed by the same team who was kept during the three games and hadn't still left Infogrames (not only Fred and his team were the ones to leave, after 2 and 3 there were also some other people leaving the team and the company). Hubert Chardot, which wrote the screenplay in all the classic AITD games, took part in this game too. But it's not an horror/zombie themed game (or "survival horror" as they call it today) any longer, they switched to time travelling. They planned to do a new trilogy in fact but only the first game was ever developed, which takes place in a French medieval setting involving templars. And no, sadly the game isn't available in GOG for some reason (Atari should know this game is strongly related in concept/essence to the AITD series, I still don't understand why they sell the original AITD trilogy and not this game, even on its own).

More info about the game here:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/aitd/aitd2.htm

[Poet]

Hello, my name is Paal, known as Poet in some gaming and modding communities.

I just signed up here because I was searching the net for information about editing and modding Alone In the Dark 1, 2 and 3, and I came across this thread.
I played those games back in the 90s and recently I played them again using DOSBox. And I started wondering if there would be possible to make minor changes to the games through editing some of the files, or if there exist tools for this.

What I had in mind was to put items necessary to solve puzzles in new places (making some of them a little more difficult to find) and add a few more monsters here and there, maybe other things, to give old fans and owners of these games the possibility to play them again with a few extra challenges and surprises added.
A little bit like it's possible to make new maps for many games, except in this case only re-arranging items and adding monsters not making actual maps (that I suppose would be next to impossible, or would it?) .

For some types of changes I reckon one would need the source code and a suitable compiler. Has the source code of any of the AITD games ever been released to the public?

Thanks.

Poet.

[xesf]

Hello Poet and welcome to the forum.

The original reverse engineer project is no longer available to public, but we can find a re-worked version here: https://github.com/somaen/fitd-resid...ree/master/src
This is a modified version of the original reversed engine to work on the ResidualVM.

As far I as remember, all assets are compressed, so in order to change the inside data you will have to decompress it.
Use https://github.com/somaen/fitd-resid...er/src/pak.cpp as reference if you want to decompress the files.

Hope it helps.

[Polaris]

Welcome

And do you really write poems ?