Rise of the Dragon Technical

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General Information

Graphics

Sound

Requirements


MS-DOS

width="200" | Minimum OS: MS-DOS 3.0
Minimum CPU: Intel 8088 / 8086
Minimum RAM: 640 KB
Minimum Video RAM: N/A
Graphics Modes: CGA, Tandy / PCjr, EGA, VGA, MCGA
Audio Hardware: PC Speaker,Tandy/PCjr Sound,Tandy with DAC,AdLib,Roland MT-32,Sound Blaster,PS/1 Audio CardPC Speaker, Tandy/PCjr Sound, Tandy with DAC, AdLib, Roland MT-32, Sound Blaster, PS/1 Audio Card
Input Devices: Keyboard, Mouse, Analog Joystick
Media: 1 CD discs


Mac

Minimum OS:
Minimum CPU:
Minimum RAM:
Graphics Modes:
Audio Hardware:
Input Devices: Keyboard, Mouse
Media:
Minimum CD-ROM Speed:


Amiga

Minimum OS:
Minimum CPU:
Minimum RAM:
Graphics Modes:
Sound Devices Supported:
Input Devices: Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick
Media:


Exploring Game Resources

[1]

Rise of the Dragon DOS version

Rise of the Dragon DOS version contains these files:

DRAGON.EXE 102094
INSTALL.COM 21152
RESOURCE.CFG 2
VOLUME.001 769811
VOLUME.002 1192993
VOLUME.003 197121
VOLUME.004 197121
VOLUME.005 197121
VOLUME.006 1146429
VOLUME.007 920644
VOLUME.VGA 7823

DRAGON.EXE contains the main game executable compressed with LZEXE. This executable can be uncompressed either with [UNLZEXE](https://sourceforge.net/projects/clonekeenplus/files/Tools/unlzexe/) or with [UNP](http://unp.bencastricum.nl/). Once uncompressed it becomes around twice as large:

DRAGON.EXE 204128

The game data is stored in the VOLUME.* files with some game text strings being embedded in the DRAGON.EXE.

VOLUME.VGA contains an index of the files stored in the VOLUME.00* archives. Files inside the archives can be either uncompressed, RLE compressed, or LZW compressed. If you place a file inside the game root dir, it will be loaded before the files in the archives.

The files often contain named chunk headers (like, "SCR") followed by a colon (':') and then 4 bytes for the chunk size, with the highest bit on the file size value enabled when the chunk contains more chunks inside it.

The archives for Rise of the Dragon (PC) contain files with these extensions:

  • .ADH
  • .ADL
  • .ADS - invokes .TTM.
  • .BMP - bitmaps.
  • .FNT - EGA fonts.
  • .GDS - game code?
  • .OVL - drivers (video|sound). sound patch files (001,003,101) (instruments).
  • .PAL - VGA palettes.
  • .REQ
  • .RST
  • .SCR - background screens.
  • .SDS - game database? w/ dialogues text & item descriptions. invokes .ADS.
  • .SNG - songs (Sierra SCI 1.2 .SND format).
  • .TTM - cinematic scripts.

``` .SCR image files contain 320x200 8-bit background screens, while .BMP image files contain a linear array of variable sized bitmaps. The .BMP and .SCR image files can have BIN:|VGA: chunks where each chunk has 4-bits for a full 8-bit VGA image. The BIN: low 4-bit chunk is used for EGA displays, with the VGA: chunk's high 4-bits add to that, to provide 8-bits for VGA displays. Instead of both these BIN:|VGA: chunks, the image files can have a single VQT: chunk which contains a compressed image (uses block compression with [vector quantization](http://www.data-compression.com/vq.html)?).

Rise of the Dragon (Amiga version)

  • .ADL
  • .ADS
  • .AMG
  • .BMP
  • .CRS - cursors?
  • .FNT
  • .GDS
  • .INS - instruments (AIFF).
  • .PAL
  • .REQ
  • .RST
  • .SCR
  • .SDS
  • .SNG - songs (IFF-SMUS).
  • .TTM

.INS sound samples are in [AIFF](http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/audio/) format. These can be played with libavcodec i.e. `ffplay`. The files still have this comment: "Created Or Edited With Synthia Professional.". Synthia is a music composer suite, which comes with the SMUS Player software, that reads [IFF-SMUS](http://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/SMUS_IFF_Simple_Musical_Score) format music. [ExoticA](https://www.exotica.org.uk/wiki/Sonix_Music_Driver) claims that Stellar 7 (Amiga), another Dynamix game also based on the DGDS, also has music in this format. [UADE](http://zakalwe.fi/uade/) can play IFF-SMUS music.

I have had less luck with the Amiga images. I hoped it was using the IFF-ILBM image format. But it seems likely that the image data is compressed. The data chunks have this string inside: > LZNS05031990

Perhaps they are Lempel-Ziv encoded? The numbers in the string look like a date: 05-03-1990.

Quoting [this page](http://unusedino.de/ec64/technical/formats/lha.html): > The letters typically used in the compression string come from a combination of the creators initials of the LZ algorithm, Lempel/Ziv, and the author of the LHA program, Haruyasu Yoshizaki.

Perhaps `NS` is the name of one of the programmers: [Nels Bruckner](http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,416/). Still, the levels of compression involved, given we know the size of the raw images, suggests a kind of RLE compression.

Rise of the Dragon (Mac version)

  • .ADH
  • .ADL
  • .ADS
  • .BMP - foreground bitmaps (BIN|VGA).
  • .FNT
  • .GDS
  • .PAL
  • .REQ
  • .RST
  • .SCR - background screens (BIN|VGA).
  • .SDS
  • .SX - songs (Sierra SCI .SND?).
  • .TTM
  • .VIN

All the .BMP and .SCR images are in BIN|VGA format. The BIN|VGA chunks are LZW compressed. We have a decoder.

The game comes with three files: `macsnd.drv`, `midi.rll`, and `Sound.p`. `Sound.p` seems to have unsigned 8-bit PCM sound samples for the instruments when I open it in Audacity. While `macsnd.drv` looks like this: > $ od -N64 -c macsnd.drv.rsrc 

> $ od -N64 -c macsnd.drv.rsrc 
0000000  \0 005 026  \a  \0 002  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0
0000020  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 002  \0  \0  \0  \t  \0  \0
0000040  \0   2  \0  \0  \0      \0  \0  \0 002  \0  \0  \0   R  \0  \0
0000060   _ 272   C   O   D   E   S   C   I   V 001  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0
0000100

Note the `CODESCIV` text. This suggests a Sierra SCI game sound driver, similar to the PC port, with sound samples for instruments in a patch file.

Patches

  • No Official Patch


New Installer

Works for both the EGA and VGA versions. Copy all files from your floppy disks into a temporary folder on your hard drive and run this installer from that folder.


Debug Modes

None known.

References

  1. ↑ https://github.com/vcosta/scummvm/wiki


Related Links

 

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