Gallius IV Discussion Board

Hello everybody!

I am going to post news related to the Deadlock Decoding Project (DLDP) here.

These posts are also available here: http://sourceforge.net/p/opendeadlock/d ... liusiv.com, so feel free to browse that page as well.

We have created a wiki specially for decoding the original data,
We are going to add memory data structures, known constant pointers and file format structures.

Do not forget to enjoy the sauce: https://sourceforge.net/p/opendeadlock/decode-wiki/.

I admit I was uneasy at first, waiting for someone else to work on it but I was surprised no one else was working on it.

Following instructions from the original developers, I tried creating my own solution but with low success because I didn't have exact offset of the first image I had decoded.

After teaming up with RenanSPH, who knows much more about disassembling than I do, he found the instructions that copy the data and pass to the GDI to be paint on screen.

The first sprite he detected with exact precision was the position and length of the raw data representing the publisher's logo. After I discovered its width and height, it was easy to identify that the length was the product of multiplying width by height.
By knowing that, he found the entry on the table as the instruction had as parameter.

Following that, I'm currently working on a decoder. I already have some good results that I will publish later.

Please help us tag the sprites!

We have an application for tagging, naming and describing the sprites.

See http://opendeadlock.sourceforge.net/spritetag.php

Q&A
Q: Why are you starting from a demo version?
A: Because it is freely available and it has merged both the first and the sequel (it has almost every sprite found in both versions).

If you want to help us but you aren't a developer, this is your opportunity!

If someone is reading and prefers this version or the sf version, please tell me.

I have new posts there that I thought would be too low level for posting here as well.

Recently, two decode tools are available. Please check it out if you are interested on decoding and encoding sprites.

Update: The sprite tag system has been updated, it's now part of OpenDeadlock Knowledge Gathering.

You can freely register now. Go there and see if for yourself:
OpenDeadlock Knowledge Gathering Index Page.

Good news for you, colony leaders,
The Sprite Category Game was just released.
There's a large link for it once you log into the OpenDeadlock Knowledge Gathering.

After you log into the OpenDeadlock Knowledge Gathering, your browser will take you to the sprite tag system, which has a link to the "Category Game": Then you can get into the Category Game: Note: I hope Grunt doesn't mind me hotlinking the background of the forum there...
Ps: No I'm not the only one who comments there, the image's cropped.

The long awaited sprite decoder is now available.

My first version employed Magick++ to write png and gif files, it is not yet available, only my custom XPM output is working for now. If you change the format (parametrized), it will still write XPM files. I will try to make the Magick++ output available by tomorrow.

Remember that XPM files are very large (not size efficient), but they allow lossless indexed images without altering the palette, which is actually very good for editing the sprites.

GIMP, Gwenview, EOG and XNView open them very well. This shouldn't be a problem for you.

For more details, check the decoding blog.
https://sourceforge.net/p/opendeadlock/ ... epository/

[Edit]
Now Magick++ is employed in the open version as well and should allow a huge number of formats, including png, gif and bmp, of course.
For more details, check the decoding blog.
https://sourceforge.net/p/opendeadlock/ ... t-support/

More news!

Now we have standings for the top collaborators for the sprite tagging and categories.
Do not forget to check it over there.
Standings

[edit]
Apparently, this is the 100th post of the creativity corner!

I have posted new wiki pages for the Decode Wiki.

Since I cannot post data straight from the original files, I think you would like to see the so-called "All Unit Names" content here.
All data comes from DL1 1.31 (en), which is also common to the GOG version:

• No Building
• Housing
• Apartment Complex
• Luxury Housing
• Farm
• Hydroponic Farm
• Food Replicator
• Surface Mine
• Mantle Drill
• Sub Space Magnet
• Nuclear Plant
• Fusion Plant
• Anti Matter Plant
• Factory
• Automated Factory
• Robotic Factory
• Replication Station
• University
• Tech Lab
• Collective Tech Lab
• Cultural Center
• Museum
• Art Complex
• Shipyard
• Hydroport
• Airport
• Military Airbase
• Fuel Depot
• Laser Defense
• Energy Defense
• Anti Matter Defense
• Missile Base
• AntiColony Assault Silo
• City Center
• Native Shrine
• No Unit
• Laser Squad
• SAM Trooper
• Battle Trooper
• Assault Trooper
• Laser Cannon
• Fusion Cannon
• Disruptor Cannon
• Holocaust Cannon
• Turbo Wing Fighter
• Starflare Bomber
• Supernova Spyjet
• Sea Transport
• Shockwave Dreadnought
• Shockwave Carrier
• Command Corps
• Scatterpack Warhead
• Groundbreaker Warhead
• Supernova Warhead
• Militia
• Scout
• Colonizer
• Nothing
• Nuclear Fusion
• Synthetic Fertilizer
• Electronics
• Metallurgy
• Shockwave Projector
• Molecular Bonding
• Surface to Air Missiles
• Rocketry
• Chaos Computers
• Automation
• Hoverway
• Anti-Matter Containment
• Energy Deflectors
• Endurium Mining
• Starflare Bombs
• Neutrionic Fuel
• Artificial Intelligence
• Anti-Matter Rifles
• Ion Weapons
• Triidium Processing
• Orbital Surveillance
• Metal Replication
• Cortex Scanner
• Disruptor Beams
• Food Replication
• Anti-Matter Deflectors
• Sub-Space Scanner
• Assault Armor
• Cloaking
• Anti-Matter Beams
• Advanced Cloaking
• Uncloaking
• Transporters
• Time Dilation

Building Costs:

1. No values for "No Building".
2. 50, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
3. 100, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
4. 150, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
5. 50, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
6. 100, 0, 0, 50, 50, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
7. 200, 0, 50, 100, 100, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
8. 100, 0, 0, 50, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
9. 200, 0, 0, 50, 10, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
10. 300, 0, 0, 100, 50, 0, 0, 0, 15, 0, 0,
11. 100, 0, 0, 0, 25, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
12. 200, 0, 0, 0, 100, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
13. 400, 0, 25, 0, 200, 0, 0, 0, 20, 0, 0,
14. 100, 0, 0, 0, 50, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
15. 250, 0, 0, 0, 100, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
16. 500, 0, 25, 0, 200, 0, 0, 0, 20, 0, 0,
17. 750, 0, 50, 0, 500, 0, 0, 0, 50, 0, 0,
18. 100, 0, 0, 0, 25, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
19. 200, 0, 0, 0, 100, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0,
20. 500, 0, 25, 0, 250, 0, 0, 0, 25, 0, 0,
21. 50, 0, 0, 25, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
22. 100, 0, 10, 25, 25, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
23. 200, 0, 15, 15, 25, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
24. 150, 0, 0, 0, 75, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
25. 250, 0, 20, 0, 250, 0, 0, 0, 10, 0, 0,
26. 150, 0, 0, 0, 100, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
27. 300, 0, 20, 0, 300, 0, 0, 0, 25, 0, 0,
28. 50, 0, 20, 0, 25, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
29. 75, 0, 0, 0, 15, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
30. 100, 0, 5, 0, 50, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
31. 150, 0, 10, 0, 100, 0, 0, 0, 10, 0, 0,
32. 100, 0, 0, 0, 50, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
33. 250, 0, 25, 0, 150, 0, 0, 0, 10, 0, 0,
34. 500, 0, 50, 0, 250, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
35. 500, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,

Hint: The building costs match with the names list.
Refer to the wiki for the meaning of each column.

I searched for this data when Ubergeneral Grunt asked me what would be the cost for the shrines.
Remember that some buildings have price inflation (e.g. City Center), then, these are not the final costs, but the base costs.