Comments for a fool's deeds http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog the journal of a tinker Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:33:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Robin Hood – Reversing a Microcosm by Shinu http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/2009/07/robin-hood/comment-page-1/#comment-78 Shinu Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:33:41 +0000 http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/?p=5#comment-78 Thank you, that did the trick... Thank you, that did the trick…

]]> Comment on Robin Hood – Reversing a Microcosm by jestar_jokin http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/2009/07/robin-hood/comment-page-1/#comment-77 jestar_jokin Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:11:07 +0000 http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/?p=5#comment-77 I used Photoshop 7 to view the files. When you open a .raw image, you'll need to specify the image's dimensions (which I've written in the blog post). The colours will be quite wrong, so you also need to import the colour table (I think under the Edit->Image Mode menu, make sure it's in 8-bit/256-colour mode, then there's a Color Table option that will let you import the palette I've included in the zip file). I used Photoshop 7 to view the files. When you open a .raw image, you’ll need to specify the image’s dimensions (which I’ve written in the blog post). The colours will be quite wrong, so you also need to import the colour table (I think under the Edit->Image Mode menu, make sure it’s in 8-bit/256-colour mode, then there’s a Color Table option that will let you import the palette I’ve included in the zip file).

]]> Comment on Robin Hood – Reversing a Microcosm by Shinu http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/2009/07/robin-hood/comment-page-1/#comment-75 Shinu Sun, 25 Apr 2010 03:55:25 +0000 http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/?p=5#comment-75 How can I open those .raw files? How can I open those .raw files?

]]> Comment on Robin Hood – Reversing a Microcosm by jestar_jokin http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/2009/07/robin-hood/comment-page-1/#comment-44 jestar_jokin Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:49:21 +0000 http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/?p=5#comment-44 Hi eschatonizer, I'm afraid I've made no progress since around July or August. I only got as far as finding out that large chunks of data are read in from the rules file, with the first byte or word (not sure which offhand) indicating how large each chunk is. But there's a lot of fiddly little things I'm not sure about. Don't forget to check out bgbennyboy's text extractor code, that might be a good method for uncompressing the text in the rules file. I've already tried to contact you privately re: collaborating, I'll try again (looks like Hotmail is blocking my normal e-mail address). Hi eschatonizer,

I’m afraid I’ve made no progress since around July or August. I only got as far as finding out that large chunks of data are read in from the rules file, with the first byte or word (not sure which offhand) indicating how large each chunk is. But there’s a lot of fiddly little things I’m not sure about.

Don’t forget to check out bgbennyboy’s text extractor code, that might be a good method for uncompressing the text in the rules file.

I’ve already tried to contact you privately re: collaborating, I’ll try again (looks like Hotmail is blocking my normal e-mail address).

]]> Comment on Robin Hood – Reversing a Microcosm by eschatonizer http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/2009/07/robin-hood/comment-page-1/#comment-42 eschatonizer Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:14:03 +0000 http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/?p=5#comment-42 Thanks for the image decoder... I knew it was RLE and that there was a palette at the beginning of the files, but stumbled upon your write-up before I found the proper bit. Over the past week, I had the strange notion of remaking the 1991 Robin Hood game. It seems you have similar ambitions. How is your progress with reverse engineering the rules files going? Perhaps we could collaborate in some form. Thanks for the image decoder… I knew it was RLE and that there was a palette at the beginning of the files, but stumbled upon your write-up before I found the proper bit. Over the past week, I had the strange notion of remaking the 1991 Robin Hood game. It seems you have similar ambitions. How is your progress with reverse engineering the rules files going? Perhaps we could collaborate in some form.

]]> Comment on Robin Hood – Reversing a Microcosm by bgbennyboy http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/2009/07/robin-hood/comment-page-1/#comment-6 bgbennyboy Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:54:13 +0000 http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/?p=5#comment-6 I was bored so knocked up a quick <a href="http://quick.mixnmojo.com/temp/robinhood/RobinHood_PRGTextExtractor0.1.zip" rel="nofollow">text extractor</a> for it. The lookup table seems to work ok with all 4 languages (as far as I can tell with my limited knowledge of German/French/Italian). As you say though, its not exactly the most optimal compression I was bored so knocked up a quick text extractor for it.

The lookup table seems to work ok with all 4 languages (as far as I can tell with my limited knowledge of German/French/Italian). As you say though, its not exactly the most optimal compression

]]> Comment on Robin Hood – Reversing a Microcosm by jestar_jokin http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/2009/07/robin-hood/comment-page-1/#comment-4 jestar_jokin Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:11:49 +0000 http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/?p=5#comment-4 Thanks for sharing your findings, bgbennyboy! I noticed the missing characters myself; it looks like some text compression is going on. However, considering the game supports not only English but also French, Italian, and Spanish, I wonder how useful the compression is, since it's storing particles like "You are" and "going". Thanks for sharing your findings, bgbennyboy! I noticed the missing characters myself; it looks like some text compression is going on. However, considering the game supports not only English but also French, Italian, and Spanish, I wonder how useful the compression is, since it’s storing particles like “You are” and “going”.

]]> Comment on Robin Hood – Reversing a Microcosm by bgbennyboy http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/2009/07/robin-hood/comment-page-1/#comment-3 bgbennyboy Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:47:24 +0000 http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/?p=5#comment-3 I found some of my old notes, most were rubbish but there was this regarding the rules.prg file: For some reason the strings in it are all missing parts - these parts are contained in the exe in a lookup table. The full notes are <a href="http://quick.mixnmojo.com/temp/robinhood/robinhood.txt" rel="nofollow">here.</a> I found some of my old notes, most were rubbish but there was this regarding the rules.prg file:

For some reason the strings in it are all missing parts – these parts are contained in the exe in a lookup table. The full notes are here.

]]> Comment on Robin Hood – Reversing a Microcosm by bgbennyboy http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/2009/07/robin-hood/comment-page-1/#comment-2 bgbennyboy Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:50:09 +0000 http://www.jestarjokin.net/blog/?p=5#comment-2 I remember this game fondly, I've never seen anyone else write about it before. I also looked at making an interpreter for it a few years ago, I didnt get much beyond decoding the .vga files though. I'll be watching your progress with interest! I remember this game fondly, I’ve never seen anyone else write about it before.
I also looked at making an interpreter for it a few years ago, I didnt get much beyond decoding the .vga files though.

I’ll be watching your progress with interest!

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