Arcanumalive Project

[Crypton]

This is older topic about ArcanumAlive's first project, ArcanumPascalum, the new Arcanum engine written in Delphi.

 

This project was canceled because of lack of interest from public.

 

However, all source codes has been translated into another language, more famous C++, and this project continues under different name, OpenArcanum.

 

If you are interested in joining, or you are just looking for more info, check out official site at http://arcanum.game-alive.com/ or topic at this forums https://forums.arcanumclub.org/index.php?showtopic=6957

 

Thank you for your support!

 

If you want to read history of this project, continue reading text below....

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Update 9.7.09

 

After weeks without any update, here is small one, we have started our new website:

 

http://arcanum.game-alive.com or http://www.game-alive.com

http://arcanum.game-alive.com/forums/

 

Check it out!

 

Update 12.6.09

 

I've made a short video, if somebody is interested you can watch that at youtube....

 

Preview Video:

 

Preview Video 2:

 

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Update 7.6.09

 

Uf, I did not made too much progress in last 4 days, but at least something was done:

-Added simple scenery animations (machines, fires and so on), every sprite has own framerate, but Arcanum seems to use 15 fps as default for every scenery.

-Added time to game, yes same time as in Arcanum, which is 8x faster than real time.

-Added light switching event, street lights turn on at 18:00 and they turn off at 6:00

-Added constant alpha blending, like bessie uses that

-Added sprite scaling, some of NPC are scaled, in bessie mine, spiders are scaled to 25% of original

-Added shadows, only shadow direction changing is missing....

 

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Update 2.6.09

 

Today, I've realized that I've done a lot of work on this project in last month, you can compare that from screenshots too

 

3.5.09

 

2.6.09

 

 

New screenshots:

 

 

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Update 27.5.09

 

I've finished roofs containers, and fixed portals, added lights

 

 

 

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Update 20.5.09

 

I have really good news! I've found almost all bit flags used in game, including their values and their usage... What this means ? Its actually great because I'll be able to get objects properties, including hidden ones. Also this will speedup a progress of this project, because I'll be able to load any object without errors...

 

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Update 17.5.09

 

I've added few things:

-2D Lighting, original lights from arcanum, looks very identical to original

-3D Lighting, new lights, ambient light, and partially spot lights...

-Alpha blending, 3 modes, this was needed to remove black pixels from fire at screenshots below...

-Zooming !!! yeah, now we can zoom like in 3D RTS

 

 

 

Ideas for new things:

-New map format, probably XML based which easy to edit by hand

-Random quest and map generator

-Dialogs in XML, tree structure will be really helpful here

-Easy editable objects, no proto files anymore, so probably again XML

-Easy editable sprites, no more art files, just simple png/bmp with XML info

-Easy modifiable menu, again XML

-Maybe support for lua scripts

-Map compiler, that will convert text format to binary, that will speedup a loading time

 

 

Update 13.5.09

 

Okey, here is some latest screenshot, I've successfully added a walls and partially portals, like doors and windows, but you can see that I have still some problems with position of portals I need to fix it... I hope I find that problem.

 

Current progress:

 

 

Update 11.5.09

 

A lot of changes happened, and I really dont remember them all but:

- I've added a ART font loading and drawing procedures

- Proper loading of map sectors added

- Added support for loading objects from maps, current only scenery a partially walls

 

Current progress:

 

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Update 3.5.09

 

I've uploaded current screenshot of what I've done so far on this project, remember that game engine was completely rewritten to different language (Object Pascal)....

On that screenshot is only one map loaded, but I can load any map, but without any objects... only with surface.

 

I think that objects will be pretty hard to research, but fortunatelly I've found the most important bits of objets for drawing.... so I think that I could finish object loading in one week.

 

Screenshot, (FPS limiter is enabled):

 

 

 

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Update 29.4.09

 

I found out that developing new formats for Arcanum is bad idea at this moment, it will slow down a development of this project rapidly, so I'm going to make a loader classes for old Arcanum formats, after all formats will be researched then its possible to make new formats....

 

What is done ?

 

- Basic game engine, was rewritten to Delphi and DirectX 9

- Loading and saving sprites from files, including ART files

- Loading of MES files

- Sprite class for drawing sprites, including transparency

- Terrain class for loading terrain data from .SEC files

- Sound class for playing wav sounds from .wav file by using DirectSound //Maybe FMOD or Bass will be better ?

- Video class for playing Bink спам

 

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Update 27.4.2009

 

I'm back, and I'm going to continue working on this project...

 

I was waiting too long for any "real" offer for help with researching or programming, but unfortunately I got only one offer and it was only about programming stuff... so I'm going to work on this project alone.

 

Also I've decided to make ArcanumAlive in Object Pascal (Delphi) and DirectX 9 instead of C++ and OpenGL, why ?

 

-Delphi project compiles much faster than Visual Studio Projects

-Writing applications in Object Pascal is much faster than in C++

 

-I need to learn DirectX more for my other projects

-I've created some games in Delphi already

-I have already made sound engine that uses DirectSound for Object Pascal

-And, the main reason is that I'm pretty skilled in Object Pascal programming

 

Also I've decided to make a website for this project, and maybe sing it on source forge... but firstly I'm going to rewrite this thread in way that more people will understand whats going on in this project

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Screenshot (Very old, first stage):

 

Loaded terrain data,no scenery and objects yet....

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History:

 

15.9.2008

Project has started, I've wrote a simple tile engine that was able to render a tiles from sector files. This app was written in C++ and DirectX.

 

After 3 months searching members to create a team, that could work on this project, I decided to stop this project. Also people were not interested in this project, and many of them (you know who) tried to sabotage this project from beginning...

 

15.4.2009

I've decided to continue on this project, because I hoped that I will create a ArcanumAlive team. Again, nobody joined after all, so I decided to work alone....

 

27.4.2009

I've started to work on this project seriously and also I've moved from C++ to Delphi, with hope that it will speedup progress of this project

 

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Tool section:

 

ArtView:

I've made a small modifications on this nice tool! Whats new ?

-File Extension association, when you doubleclick on any .ART file, it will run a ArtView and preview selected ART.

-Remembering a last browsed folder.

 

Download

 

Do you want more modifications ? Just ask!

 

Arcanum Debug Mode Enabler:

I've found this back in 2008 (posted at TA), when I was researching arcanum executable, this is registry patch that will allow you to show all debug messages from game, it will create also a debug console and it will write all debug messages to debug.txt file in main directory. Also I found that as first(!), after almost 8 years that was game released.... even "DBT" did not knew about that!

Download

[Axeller]

Well... Great project) But i think that using OpenGL instead of DD would be better. It's because with c++ and OGL Arcanum could be crossplatform. I mean we could then easily port arcanum on Linux and Mac. And with crossplatforming we could invite some linux programmers for free. And, also, we may create arcanum cross-platform project on sourceforge.com, where alot of good programmers.

Sorry for bad english.

With best wishes, axeller.

[Элементалист]

Перевод:

Привет, парни!

Я новый на этом форуме. Это конечно своеобразное неудобство, что не знаю русский, потому что это похоже крутой форум и вообще весь сайт крутой.

 

Я уже давно подсел на Арканум, несколько патчей выпустил, хотел бы с вами ими поделиться. Их описание можно найти на terra-arcanum (пардон за нежелательную рекламу)

 

.... тут релиз (скопируй просто ссылки)

 

А сейчас я начал новый проект: ArcanumAlive, создал тему на том же terra-arcanum, если хотите присоединиться или помочь, свяжитесь по личке.

 

Достать исходники Арка нельзя. не вышло. Поэтому клиент было решено написать с нуля. Я достаточно опытный программер на паскале, но для этого дела я решил использовать С++ и пока нет проблем.

Зачем все это? Хочу добавить в Арканум кое-то, будет потом расширение выпущено. Также модеры смогут добавлять любые моды без проблем. Ну и исправление багов Арканума перестанет быть бесконечным дизассемблированием.

 

Что будет сделано:

 

Каждый ресурс будет конвертирован в новый формат, никаких больше ARTs и долбанных proto

 

Будет мультиплеер (? до 8 человек) *от себя - чего-то он не ту игрушку делает*

 

А сейчас я ищу разработчиков в помощь, навыки: C++ и DirecX (DirectDraw)

 

Хотите присоединиться? Мы вас ждем, вместе будет легче. Надеемся справится за несколько месяцев, потому как надо только создать новый клиент и конвертнуть ресурсы.

 

Список того, что надо сделать:

 

Фаза 1

1),Начать овый проект - СДЕЛАНО

2) Добавить функции от DirectDraw для ядра игры - СДЕЛАНО ЧАСТИЧНО

3) Конвертировать карты в загружабельный формат - НАЧИНАЕМ, УЗНАЕМ

4) Разработать новый формат для графики, вероятно BMP/PNG + формат описания.

5) Создать загрузчик карт, или преобразовать карты в новый формат

6) Создать тестовое приложение, которое покажет загруженную карту

 

Фаза 2 будет добавлена после того, как фаза 1 будет закончена, в зависимости от результатов...

[tribunal]

You can use ready-to-use cross-platform 3D-2D engine like OGRE3D. As I know, it is good enough to work with 2D-images, or you can use OpenGL directly. Working with 2D is quite easy. I can help with Linux-part

Right now, I am playing Arcanum using wine, but I (and I hope, not only I) want to play it natively

And one more moment: here you can find some help. Real fans of Arcanum are connected here.

[Crypton]

Wow I'm really surprised and astounded.... somebody translated thread so Russian language thank you so much....

 

I was thinking about open gl for a while but I decided to do that in DirectX because many games are made in that.

 

Of course that if game will be completely decoded,then we can make port to OpenGl easily,I heard that opengl is much easier to understand than DirectX

 

I'll be updating this thread frequently,possibly every day.... so look forward for news everyday.

 

Thanks for interest.

[tribunal]

А теперь перевод:

 

Вау, я действительно изумлен и поражен. Кто-то перевел мое сообщение на русский. Спасибо.

 

Я думал насчет OpenGL некоторое время, но потом все-таки решил делать это на DirectX, потому что много игр делается именно на нем.

 

Конечно, когда игра будет доделана до конца, мы можем написать порт на OpenGL легко. Я слышал, что OpenGL гораздо легче в понимании чем DirectX.

 

Я буду кидать сюда новости как можно чаще, возможно каждый день. Так что следите за новостями.

 

Спасибо за внимание

 

Добавляю перевод:

 

Он работает над декодировкой файлов карт: TDF и SEC. Пока частично декодировал SEC. Дальше идут технические детали, которые я не очень понимаю

[Gentle Giant]

А вот ссылки на темы с terra-arcanum:

Arcanum: Window Mod

Arcanum - Enabling debugging options - здесь в частности зашел интересный разговор о таблицах прототипов...

[Crypton]

А вот ссылки на темы с terra-arcanum:

Arcanum: Window Mod

Arcanum - Enabling debugging options - здесь в частности зашел интересный разговор о таблицах прототипов...

 

Yeah I was working on that,the aim was to extract proto table from arcanum.exe to external file to allow people to modify game items without editing .proto files.

 

I was really close to success but I stopped working on that because I had no time at that time....

 

I can and I will continue with that because decoded proto files will be needed in this project.

[tribunal]

Еще перевод:

 

Да, я работал над этим. Хотел извлечь proto-таблицу из exe-файла, это помогло бы людям модифичировать предметы без необходимости менять proto-файлы.

 

Был близок к успеху, но бросил это дело ввиду нехватки времени.

 

Скоро продолжу, потому что декодированные proto-файлы нужны в этом проекте.

 

От себя: перевод кому-нибудь нужен?

[Wight]

Ну мне интересно, например, а переводить самому лениво.

[tribunal]

Он ищет людей, знающих ассемблер для декодирования форматов данных Арканума. Говорит, занесет в список разработчиков

[san]

Да уж... И тышш 60-80 подъёмных. На пивко.

Не въезжал. Но - популязация старой графики под on-line проекты стала довольно модной.

 

Без комментариев, не понимаю - что-как-зачем-почём - на фиг. Но - это имхо. Да и Ассемблер я не знаю Я в танке. Пойду мести двор

[Devil_FoX]

Я немного знаю ассемблер…

Создавал в универе на лабах проги в ней для элетро приводов

Правда пока что не могу помочь ему… время…да и прошло уже около трёх лет… подзабыл малёха

[Crypton]

Я немного знаю ассемблер…

Создавал в универе на лабах проги в ней для элетро приводов

Правда пока что не могу помочь ему… время…да и прошло уже около трёх лет… подзабыл малёха

 

Well thanks for the answer I can disassemble game by myself,but with few more people it will go much more faster... I was hopin that there will be more people technically aimed,people who know programming but nobody contacted me yet maybe somebody will do it,later...

[Элементалист]

Перевод:

Спасибо за ответ. Я могу делать игру сам, но с несколькими людьми это пойдет гораздо быстрее... Я надеялся, что будут больше людей, которые знают программирование, но никто не контактировал со мной. Возможно кто-нибудь сделает это, позже...