Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

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R3V01t!
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Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2015 4:34 am

Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by R3V01t! »

Hello, I'm new here. I'm not sure where to post this, but I'll start here, since it pertains to DFTFU. First off, I would like to thank the creator and the community behind Daggerfall Tools for Unity!

Some time ago, someone (not me) mentioned expanding DFTFU to Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET. I decided to take a peek at the files. Turns out the file structure is kind of similar to Daggefall.
Here is the directory listing for T:FS: http://pastebin.com/ihjcXRtS
Here the directory listing for SkyNET: http://pastebin.com/ph8fHwt4

I investigated further. I downloaded Daggerfall Imaging 2, and attempted to open the TEXTURE.* files in T:FS. This is what I got.
Image

The textures load, but I get a flat red on all textures. It's probably missing the palette. There are other formats that aren't in DF, such as HMI and possibly WLD.* files

I'm no programmer, so I cannot really figure out a way to code this into DFTFU. I just created this thread to see if there is any interest in getting DFTFU to work with the Terminator games, or at least port the assets into Unity. I'll try to post more information whenever I have a chance.

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Interkarma
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Re: Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by Interkarma »

This looks interesting! You're right, red is the default colour assignment of an uninitialised data buffer in DaggerfallConnect. It lets me know that one of the palettes failed to load. I'm still not sure what's gone wrong here though, as DFImaging2 should at least try to use the default Daggerfall palette for that image file.

The file structure indeed looks very similar to Daggerfall, can only imagine most of the formats are fairly similar also. With a bit of code adaption, I imagine the DaggerfallConnect library could probably be adapted at least partially, then the same techniques apply to building scenes in Unity.

Anyone that takes this on would have 100% of my encouragement, but I wouldn't be able to offer much in the way of direct coding help. The Daggerfall Unity project consumes almost all of my spare time and energy.

Edit: Oh, and welcome to the forums! :D

R3V01t!
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Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2015 4:34 am

Re: Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by R3V01t! »

I took a look at the *.COL files in T:FS. Looks like the same format as the Daggerfall palettes, except they are either 768 bytes or 776 bytes.

I opened the HMI files in a Hex Editor. The HMI files are MIDI type file, with the header HMI-MIDISONG061595.
I've found this thread on DaggerXL http://xlengine.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=901, which states that Daggerfall uses HMI as well. WinAmp seems to play the HMI files just fine. All there is left to do is to figure out the music cues.

There are BSA files in here, but I'm not sure how to open these. Plus I can't tell if it matches DF's BSA structure. There are five BSAs in T:FS:
MDMDBRIF.BSA
MDMDENMS.BSA
MDMDIMGS.BSA
MDMDMAPS.BSA
MDMDOBJS.BSA
MDMDSFXS.BSA

That's all for now, not really that much I can do, but look at the files in a Hex Editor.
One more thing, since DFImaging2 is closed source, is it possible to support T:FS and SkyNET if I send the palette files to you?

EDIT: Made a few changes.

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Interkarma
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Re: Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by Interkarma »

My work has always been open-source. You can find the original source for DaggerfallConnect and Daggerfall Imaging 2 at the old Google Code site. You only need /Library and /Tools/DaggerfallImaging2, just remove any other projects like Daggerfall Modelling, XNALibrary, etc. from the solution.

https://code.google.com/p/daggerfallconnect/

I have T:FS and SkyNET in my physical media somewhere. I'll take a look at the palette files and see if I can rejig DFImaging2 to use them.

R3V01t!
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2015 4:34 am

Re: Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by R3V01t! »

Interkarma wrote:My work has always been open-source. You can find the original source for DaggerfallConnect and Daggerfall Imaging 2 at the old Google Code site. You only need /Library and /Tools/DaggerfallImaging2, just remove any other projects like Daggerfall Modelling, XNALibrary, etc. from the solution.

https://code.google.com/p/daggerfallconnect/

I have T:FS and SkyNET in my physical media somewhere. I'll take a look at the palette files and see if I can rejig DFImaging2 to use them.
Sorry, I didn't know that DFImaging2 and DaggerfallConnect was open-source. I couldn't find it at first.

Anyway, looks like the BSAs can be opened with this, from the UESPWiki's Arena website: http://www.uesp.net/w/images/7/78/Bsa_f-ex_1.3.2.zip.

MDMDBRIF.BSA - Contains *.TXT files.
MDMDENMS.BSA - Contains *.3D files. Enemies.
MDMDIMGS.BSA - Contains *.CFA and *.IMG
MDMDMAPS.BSA - Contains MAP.* files.
MDMDOBJS.BSA - Contains *.3D files. Objects/Prefabs.
MDMDSFXS.BSA - Contains *.RAW files.

I don't know if there are any special files yet. The *.txt files are different from regular text documents; some of them give me garbled characters when I opened them with Notepad and Notepad++.

redeemer66666
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Re: Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by redeemer66666 »

Hi, I'm a tad late to the party but I found this thread and thought I'd chime in with some relevant info and a couple of questions.
I've literally spent years ripping the content from this game, In vein hopes of one day perhaps doing a remake on better technology.

Anyways on to the palette problems.
All that's needed to sort the palettes out is to rename your Skynet/Future Shock one to whatever Daggerfall's is a stick in in the same directory.

Voila! Textures and sprites ready for ripping.

Image Image Image Image << Ha Ha, Gutted Bishop!

I even figured a backwards-ass technique for getting the CFA files!
For that I needed a copy of Arena and few odd tools for importing and exporting, I imported the all the CFA's into Arena's BSA and then used a utility for extraction.

Image

But unfortunately that only worked for the low quality ones so for the higher res ones I had to do manual rips via AVI files recorded through DosBox then put through a cheapy animation studio program. But at least I had the LQ ones to be certain I wasn't missing any frames.
Spoiler!
Image
If anybody wants these Assets just chime in :)

Anyways here's what I cant get my hands on...The damn 3D models and map geometry!!!
Anyone know a way of turning them into something more usable? I was reading somewhere they appear to be a similar structure as Daggerfall models

.3d files?

If anyone can help me with this I'd be eternally grateful. Its the only obstacle left after years of horror and i'll be f**ked if I can figure it out lol

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Interkarma
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Re: Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by Interkarma »

That's some good work, redeemer!

I wish I knew more about those .3d files for you, but I've only ever concentrated on Daggerfall. You've probably eliminated this already, but do those files at all match the individual model data records in ARCH3D.bsa?

redeemer66666
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Re: Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by redeemer66666 »

Actually from what I've read they're extremely similar, The difference is that Daggerfall lists all its model data in records inside ARCH3D.bsa where as SkyNET lists the data inside those individual .3D files.

The data itself is pretty much the same...I think lol

I also found this here that mentions the .3D files from Battlespire are similar too! http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:ARCH3D.BSA

Now this kinda data/coding stuff is a bit beyond my knowledge tbh, But if you could take a quick look and tell me if they are indeed similar that would be awesome. I'd at least know I'm on the right track! :lol:

Anyways I've linked one of these .3D files bellow.
http://wikisend.com/download/241888/ENDOSKEL.3D

Also I'd like to take a second to thank you for your sexy Daggerfall tools, Without them none of this would have been possible.
So thanks! :D

R3V01t!
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Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2015 4:34 am

Re: Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by R3V01t! »

I'm bumping this thread with good reason. I didn't have time to do this last year, but now that I had time, I edited Daggerfall Imaging 2 to use the palette from Terminator: Future Shock. Here's the new build, dubbed Terminator Imaging. Comes with the changed source as well:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/dw38okfwm ... Imaging.7z

At the moment, it can only read certain files with certain sizes. It seems like there's differences with the format from Daggerfall, the major one being that everything is merged into the Texture.* files, so it's a pain to find the good stuff. SkyNET is a bigger problem, since the palette info (*.COL) is not loose in the directory.

Hopefully, for a future release, the palette string can be externalized or something, but at the moment, I don't have the necessary skill to do so.

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Interkarma
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Re: Terminator: Future Shock and SkyNET Research

Post by Interkarma »

This is great! You've made some good progress on this.

If anyone wants to look at externalizing the palette file path, you could probably copy some of the settings code that writes to "settings.xml" (stored in AppData\Roaming\DaggerfallUnity2) and put the palette path there.

TextureFile has a constructor that allows you to send it any palette path:

Code: Select all

public TextureFile(string FilePath, FileUsage Usage, string PaletteFilePath, bool ReadOnly)
Setting up the TextureFile reader with a custom palette should just require new code to call this with external path from settings.xml instead of the defaults.

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