Windows EnRLE

Vaumnou

Hello,

My Windows version of EnRLE almost works. I can open and watch the sprites I encode in ResEdit's rle8/D viewers (NovaTools), and I can use them to create shän's, but Nova crashes when it tries to load them. As an experiment, I EnRLEed a red-tinted Vell-Os Dart using my program and using the official w00tware EnRLE. When compared side-by-side in a hex editor, the RLEs are nearly identical. There is only one difference I can see. In SpriteWorld RLEs (the format Nova uses), each block of pixel data is followed by a few "pad bytes" so that the block of data ends on a 4-byte boundary. This speeds up memory access, I believe. My program writes null bytes in this pad area, but the offical EnRLE actually puts non-zero bytes there. My question is this: does anyone out there know what EnRLE is putting in the pad bytes? I would guess that it is a checksum of some sort, which would explain why Nova has an assertion error when it tries to load the sprite. I do not know how it is computed, though.

-Vaumnou

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Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
"He's too late. SEE?!? THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Hurry up!"
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. .... Radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Albert Einstein

(This message has been edited by Vaumnou (edited 05-21-2003).)

SpacePirate

I don't know exactly, but I do know what you could try. Try to copy the hex of the filler byte from ResEdit, and decode it into an ascii character. Then, instead of a null byte you can merely use that character as a buffer.

The only problem is that if it is not just one static character, but if it is a checksum. If it is, I'd try emailing Ralph or Rodger Sutherland.

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Eat blazing electric death!
(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/ept/")Unofficial EV and EVO Ports(/url): FC1 and Beta 2

(This message has been edited by SpacePirate (edited 05-21-2003).)

Vaumnou

Yes, it seems to be different for each byte of padding.

-Vaumnou

------------------
Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
"He's too late. SEE?!? THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Hurry up!"
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. .... Radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Albert Einstein

SpacePirate

Damn. I'll check it out once I get home, unless you feel inclined to post some hex right now...

Have you emailed Ralph or Rodger yet?

------------------
Eat blazing electric death!
(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/ept/")Unofficial EV and EVO Ports(/url): FC1 and Beta 2

Vaumnou

My program:
0200 0006 0000 1442 0421 0000

w00tware's program:
0200 0006 0000 1442 0421 8360

The first four bytes (0200 0006) mean that 6 bytes of pixel data will follow. The next six bytes are data, and then the last two bytes are padding.

I think I'll email w00tware later if no one here figures this out.

(edit) Oops, the hex values were swapped. Sorry about that. (/edit)

-Vaumnou

------------------
Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
"He's too late. SEE?!? THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Hurry up!"
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. .... Radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Albert Einstein

(This message has been edited by Vaumnou (edited 05-21-2003).)

mrxak

Here's hoping you get this all figured out.

Vaumnou

Thanks, mrxak. I just took a look at the actual SpriteWorld code for compiling RLEs. It doesn't seem to put ANYTHING in those bytes. It just increments a pointer to the next 4 byte boundary, without actually writing anything there. Maybe Nova uses some extension of the standard RLE format, but I don't know why it would.

-Vaumnou

(edit) I just got a response from Dr. Sutherland. He said they are just garbage bytes. Meaning I have to look elsewhere for my bug :frown: (/edit)

------------------
Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
"He's too late. SEE?!? THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Hurry up!"
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. .... Radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Albert Einstein

(This message has been edited by Vaumnou (edited 05-22-2003).)

Vaumnou

Good news! The bug has been squashed. WinEnRLE can now write rle8s and rleDs that can be used in EVN. My first test sprite was an orange cargo drone. I added a workable user interface to WinEnRLE, which looks fine so far. I will probably release WinDeRLE and WinEnRLE together after EVN:W comes out, along with a resource processor I am writing called Reznor. Reznor will generate .bin files suitable for use with whatever plugin converter utility comes with EVN:W. Until EVN:W is out, I will probably work on polishing WinDeRLE and the resource compiler.

-Vaumnou

------------------
Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
"He's too late. SEE?!? THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Hurry up!"
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. .... Radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Albert Einstein

(This message has been edited by Vaumnou (edited 05-30-2003).)

SpacePirate

Great news!

So, how does it work, exactly? IIR, EnRLE for Mac required a spďn or shän resource. Do you use your Reznor program to make it, or do you not need spďns or shäns for your version (ie, just enter the data at runtime)?

------------------
Eat blazing electric death!
(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/ept/")Unofficial EV and EVO Ports(/url): Both currently in FC1.

Vaumnou

This is what the user interface looks like: (url="http://"http://www.rail.com/peter/images/WinEnRLE.jpg")http://www.rail.com/...es/WinEnRLE.jpg(/url)

I may make changes in the future, such as adding batch conversion support (i.e. work overnight on 300 sprites). Reznor is only required to put the sprites into a Nova plugin. Until you use Reznor, the sprites are just files, such as "128.rleD".

-Vaumnou

------------------
Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
"He's too late. SEE?!? THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Hurry up!"
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. .... Radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Albert Einstein

(This message has been edited by Vaumnou (edited 05-30-2003).)

mrxak

Excellent.

Willip2

When is E.V. going to be released for Windows, or do I have to go and buy a Mac?

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Where there's a Will, there's a way!

SpacePirate

No one knows. All the information gathered so far has been conveniently gathered (url="http://"http://www.ev-nova.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2115")here(/url), at the EV-Nova.net forums.

------------------
Eat blazing electric death!
(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/ept/")Unofficial EV and EVO Ports(/url): Both currently in FC1.
Please post any bugs (url="http://"http://www.ev-nova.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=26")here(/url).

Vaumnou

Hmmm... I have a (minor) problem here. "Reznor" was supposed to be a play on "rez", the MPW utilty that compiles resource files. "Reznor" is also the name of a multi-headed rhinoceros monster from an old SNES video game. Unfortunately, it is also a real person's name. I don't want anyone to get upset about copyright infringement/name misuse/whatever, so I need a new name for the Windows resource compiler. Any ideas?

-Vaumnou

------------------
Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
"He's too late. SEE?!? THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Hurry up!"
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. .... Radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Albert Einstein

Guest_BOB_BOB_*

Quote

Originally posted by Vaumnou:
I need a new name for the Windows resource compiler. Any ideas?

(/B)

How about Rezifier?

Or "Nova Rezificator for Windows Version One" - NRFWVO

AriosSw

Quote

Originally posted by Vaumnou:
**I need a new name for the Windows resource compiler. Any ideas?

**

Rezist

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(url="http://"http://www.ariossoftware.com")Arios SoftWare(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.ariossoftware.com/programs/evone/")EVONE 1.0.0 - the plugin editor for EV/EVO/EVN(/url)

SpacePirate

Heh. You cannot Rezist. That sounds pretty cool.

------------------
Eat blazing electric death!
(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/ept/")Unofficial EV and EVO Ports(/url): Both currently in FC1.
Please post any bugs (url="http://"http://www.ev-nova.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=26")here(/url).

Vaumnou

Quote

Originally posted by AriosSw:
Rezist

lol, pretty clever. I'll probably end up using that. If I do, I'll put "AriosSW" in the credits. I'm still open to suggestions, just in case someone happens to post a spectacularly brilliant and unbelievably clever name about 5 minutes after this.

-Vaumnou

------------------
Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
"He's too late. SEE?!? THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Hurry up!"
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. .... Radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." - Albert Einstein

(This message has been edited by Vaumnou (edited 06-06-2003).)

blackhole

Quote

Originally posted by Willip2:
When is E.V. going to be released for Windows, or do I have to go and buy a Mac?

EV Nova will be released for Windows in the near future, keep your eyes on (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/")http://www.ambrosiasw.com/(/url)

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--sitharus
(url="http://"http://www.sitharus.com/")Me, online!(/url)
Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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