SMD file format

[RagingYou]

Hello,

Interesting topic, I can help but i prefer through msn, if you want to talk, pm me ur msn.

In the old rpt, a smd to ase converter was built to be able to move the old pre-aor town to the new game and place it on a new position in space, it converts the material list (also animated textures), vertex list, face list ,the list that aligns a material on a face properly and lights from lamps in the map. However it doesn't convert light map of vertices, that was simply fixed by transferring the lightmaps from the old smd to the new smd directly, lame but worked. It was written in ugly vb.net code and the app is about 2 years old

[SoyEdu]

if u want, i can make a simple box to analize how the program transform the ase into smd, that will help to understand it, then i can add materials, light and so on

[unzubaru]

Your assumption of the school project is highly unlikely as Triglow pictures are Yedang online.

Also just a note about the reference between the ASCII format of the .ase's we use for 3D models and the .SMD's they are converted into do have some similarities. For example StrangeFay works for ChinaPT, who have level 200 on there server and 2 new maps, and is an experienced coder (not doubting you guys ;)) so there must be some kind of link between the conversion of the .ase or a set of rules that the game.exe follows to convert the files. The thing i dont get is why use so much jumbled crap which it sounds as if they were dumb enough to do, they obviously dont need half of it ?

anyway i hope this helped in some way lol.

peace!
Unzubaru!

[RagingYou]

Actually the assumption of PT being a school project is a very good one, seeing poorly done code of PT.

The 'jumbled crap' in SMD files are easy explainable, When PT converts an ASE to SMD it uses the stack, which is filled with trash data coming from previous use, this can be overcome by modifying the function that converts ASE to SMD, and put the following pseudo code at the top of the function after the ESP stack is subtracted for local use. This way there won't be trash data in the smd, instead it's filled with zero's.

xor eax, eax
mov edi, esp
mov ecx, [size]
rep stos byte ptr es:[edi]

Also, the assumption i read in this topic that there are 2 types of SMD is correct. One for models, one for maps. Maps don't store GEOMOBJECTS seperately and are build differently.

[bobsobol]

What I gathered, is that "programming" and perhaps even IT was *not* what they where studying. It was a pet project they (or at least one of them) sold to Triglow. Godda help the tuition fees right?

I felt happy with this description (though I can't remember the source now) because there are things done in the code that you are taught very early on not to do when you study programming. While it may be quick and simple, it makes the code unmanageable very quickly. But as I say... this is all hearsay.

Nice tip RagingYou. I know pretty much 0% about 3D but I believe what you say about "junk chunks" as we used to say on the Amiga, because I have seen this in Packet sniffing the thing.

Most nastily, if you auth up, then message or GM notice "Hi", all but the first character or two of your auth command is transmitted unsecured and broadcast to everyone who receives the "Hi". :s Morral of the story... Don't GM Notice "Hi" right after authing up. ;)

Reason? Each line typed in is stored in one memory location, and simply overwritten with the next. Nobody sees the rest of the old line because of the null termination byte, (ZString / C String form) but the whole flipping buffer is transmitted to the server, and then copied out of the server without any care for the extraneous rubbish in the packet. :( (and we all know by now I hope to be careful what we throw out with the trash if we want to keep our privacy)

You could also reduce your monthly bandwidth quota by using a specially designed proxy filter on the Server. If it doesn't get the junk, it won't re-transmit it. But that's a project for another day. ;)

It wasn't "Priston" that was the other name... something more like Periah or Pantheon or Perihillion only spelled odd, but they used the same Yedang logo, (nearly the same) and for a while the splash said "By P.... whatever" and underneath in small lettering "For Yedang" coz we where all going "Huh? What happened to Triglow?" I presumed it was sister or child companies, or maybe even buyouts and mergers. But all of that would suggest that it wasn't govt. backed sale... I would think? IDK, it is Korea, and I have almost no knowledge of their systems sadly.

[RagingYou2]

Lol I have already forgotten the password of my RagingYou account, so i'll just use this till I forget this one too lol

What you say about the full chatting buffer being sent in the chat packet is not true. I'm pretty sure it only sends the string + a null terminating byte in the packet. And the size of the packet is simply the size of the string + default size of the chat packet.

And it was Priston

[unzubaru]

Oh well i dont care i'd just like to know where it came from cause its quite a good game for a mere student project lol.
Im also interested in the many mysteries of PT XP.

Well bye guys :D. and it isnt pristontale in Korean its just Wizard if you wanted to know cause they cant make words like we can using syllables etc.

[Beyond2000!]

Only a small test. (It will crash if you load or press cancel when loading a file)

Open only binary smd.

It will displays only the 1st Header Structure of a smd file.

http://rapidshare.com/files/25179048...View3.rar.html

Btw: Dwonload limited to 10 times. Later, if need i

[SoyEdu]

this is a simple plane with text, here are the ase and the smd. this will help to analize also

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OIT017E9

[Beyond2000!]

Hi Soy

the zip file is empty, can u pls re-upload it ?

[SoyEdu]

lol, weird, well here it is

http://rapidshare.com/files/252221717/plane.zip

[Beyond2000!]

Many tks soy

tou took those files from the game right ?

That

[Filterheadz]

Some more pristontale background information....

I found this part in a Pristontale 2 interview on the web.

INTERVIEW:
We encountered many unexpected problems while developing the original PristonTale. The members of the original development team of PristonTale lacked experience in the field of "online games", and we were forced to create plans and develop while experimenting on our own. Consequently, the development team struggled to come up with solutions to these unexpected problems and weaknesses during the entire developmental period.

Only after some time had passed were we able to objectively assess our own development of PristonTale, and we came to realize just how important "preparation" is to the development of a game. The development of PristonTale 2 was begun in an effort to remedy those aspects of the game which we felt to be deficient because of our lack of preparation during the development of the original PristonTale.

In short, it can be said that the developmental background of PristonTale 2 was our wish to develop a more complete and well made game through meticulous preparation.

[bobsobol]

I'm sure PT 1 was meant to be a Client-Server Multi-player LAN game, not an MMO, and IMHO, Priston Tale 2 looks like the Rappelz engine with a PT storyline... but I haven't looked at the code or data files... just watched the wife play for a bit, and taught her the controls I learned in Rappelz. (I know Rappelz is not the only game using this engine, but it's the one I know)

It's quite clear that the Game.exe and the Server.exe for PT1 are built from the same source tree, and some form of compiler #define, or make option is changed to build either the server, or the client. Which only really makes sense is you originally expected players to host their own games. Like Diablo or Dungeon Siege, and then changed your mind later on.

PT2 is new, with stunning graphics, great animation massive server lag etc. ^_^ but the engine is nothing that hasn't been around for some time, and it's still not a great design, frame rate stutters, interface is cludgy all the mistakes in Rappelz are repeated etc. It may well be what the gamers wanted PT to be.

Laxe Lore, on the other hand, looked like PT from a gamers point of view. Nothing new. But it was completely different under the hood. It had everything PT should have had to begin with. It was nicely written, the model files are clean and concise, windows hardware sprites for animating mouse pointers, fast, clean REAL 3D graphics using you GPU for ALL the grunt work, and the whole lot looks like it could be easily developed and extended. That's the game the Devs wanted. ^_^

Sadly, the devs don't pay the server fees.

[Filterheadz]

I'm sure PT 1 was meant to be a Client-Server Multi-player LAN game, not an MMO, and IMHO, Priston Tale 2 looks like the Rappelz engine with a PT storyline... but I haven't looked at the code or data files... just watched the wife play for a bit, and taught her the controls I learned in Rappelz. (I know Rappelz is not the only game using this engine, but it's the one I know)

It's quite clear that the Game.exe and the Server.exe for PT1 are built from the same source tree, and some form of compiler #define, or make option is changed to build either the server, or the client. Which only really makes sense is you originally expected players to host their own games. Like Diablo or Dungeon Siege, and then changed your mind later on.

PT2 is new, with stunning graphics, great animation massive server lag etc. ^_^ but the engine is nothing that hasn't been around for some time, and it's still not a great design, frame rate stutters, interface is cludgy all the mistakes in Rappelz are repeated etc. It may well be what the gamers wanted PT to be.

Laxe Lore, on the other hand, looked like PT from a gamers point of view. Nothing new. But it was completely different under the hood. It had everything PT should have had to begin with. It was nicely written, the model files are clean and concise, windows hardware sprites for animating mouse pointers, fast, clean REAL 3D graphics using you GPU for ALL the grunt work, and the whole lot looks like it could be easily developed and extended. That's the game the Devs wanted. ^_^

Sadly, the devs don't pay the server fees.

Yeah!
I played laxelore, I could even host it on a dedi server -.-...
Well, maybe it is better to leave pt as it is and restart on laxelore.
I actually played laxelore for a while because it seemed like a complete new game, with some PT effects.

Me and a friend might start our own game... but I don't think I am experienced enough and will end up between how PT1 was coded and how PT2 was coded.
It will ask a lot of our spare time, which I have loads and he doesn't unless his gf leaves him xP.

[unzubaru]

Lol that would be awesome!

[bobsobol]

Yeah!
I played laxelore, I could even host it on a dedi server -.-...

Okay... well we're really going off the topic of this thread. There is a LaxeLore thread not too far down the list though, or you could make a new one. And if you have any info you could share about how to set up a server the old LaxeLore client would connect to, I (for one) would appreciate that.

I got the feeling it used different network (or at least logon) protocols from PT, and as the field files are in a completely different format, I can't imagine that we could use our regular PT server and connect to it with an LL client. :s

Official LL development seems never to have gotten out of Beta, and even though the Chinese PT site still has a link to their server, it's dead. :(

@Beyond2000: Sorry to fill your thread with OTs. Any news on the SMD files? And are you planning to do SMB too, or do they look very different to you?

[unzubaru]

Guys, Are we keeping this thread alive? I mean i would really like to find out some news :D.

Peace!
Unzubaru!

[Beyond2000!]

Sorry for he long delay guys.

I

[unzubaru]

Nice, Nice bro, so after you have decoded the .smd routine are you going to release an application of some sort to decode the .smd's? I mean it would help tremendously in this community. If you do release it i think you should make it slightly challenging so that people are just putting this here and there.


Peace!
Unzubaru!

[bobsobol]

Super... I'm glad to see this project hasn't fallen by the way side. We have people asking how things like water are signified in the ASE files, which I can see no way of determining unless we can decode the SMD files. :S

This will be a real breakthrough when finished. Please keep up the good work, and keep us posted. ^_^

[unzubaru]

lol I WILL kep this thread alive!

[Liink]

hei
but the project is still in progress?
or abandoned?
I'm glad to know q are trying to do this =)