Difference between revisions of "Myst resources"

Revision as of 16:50, 2 September 2008

This page contains or will contain a comprehensive analysis of the 8 resource types used in Myst and the two added in Myst ME.

Both Myst and Myst ME use little-endian byte order in the files (by contrast to the big-endian byte order used in Riven and the Mohawk format), although the data itself is stored in properly formatted Mohawk format (don't let the .dni or .dat file extension fool you). The packages in Myst ME are:

• CHANNEL
• CREDITS
• DUNNY
• HELP (Myst ME only)
• INTRO
• MECHAN
• MYST
• SELEN
• STONE
• SYSTEM (Does not exist in all versions and only contains the RSFL resource)

The resources are on the left (MJMP, HELP, and PICT are new in ME). None of the resources are named except for the MSND/MJMP resources.

RLST and VIEW

There are the same number of RLST and VIEW resources in all packages, which leads me to believe that they are locked together by index like HSPT and CARD resources in Riven.

RLST

I think these contain hotspot data (i.e. HSPT).

record type 1

8 1 < 31 276 163 333> 0 FFFF 0 103 2 3006 <0 0 132 57> 3005 FFFF
8 1 <417 260 544 333> 0 FFFF 0 103 2 3004 <0 0 127 73> 3003 FFFF

• this replaces part of the image (in this case <417 260 544 333>) with part of another image (in this case 3004 <0 0 127 73>) based on a variable (103 2 plays in here somewhere)

record type 2: (simple hotspot)

clone2727 says: This does not seem to match everything. I don't think the second short represents type.

Case studies

(Note: these are simply the data in (little-endian) shorts and line-broken where I saw patterns. <l t b r> are (I think) areas on-screen. count [entry]... are guesses at when there are lists of entries. The number in parentheses before the data is the card number (not the resource number).)

(CHANNEL 3001) 2
1 2   <1 0 110 332> 3002
2 2 <455 2 544 332> 3003

(CHANNEL 3002) 2
1 2   <0 1 100 332> 3005
2 2 <431 0 544 332> 3001

(CHANNEL 3003) 4
5 2 <213 90 343 290> 3494 (the door)
2 6 0 0 24 0 1 3494
1 2 <0 0 81 332> 3001 (left)
2 2 <463 0 544 332> 3005 (right)
8 1 <417 260 544 333> 0 FFFF 0 103 2 3004 <0 0 127 73> 3003 FFFF

(CHANNEL 3005) 4
0 2 <76 152 196 330> 3012
1 2  <0   0 106 332> 3003
2 2 <438  0 544 332> 3002
8 1 <31 276 163 333> 0 FFFF 0 103 2 3006 <0 0 132 57> 3005 FFFF

(CHANNEL 3012) 8
8 3 <101 243 214 343> 0 FFFF 1 5
1 3 <103   1 802 103> 2 3013 <0 0 113 100> 3012 FFFF
5 2 <255 193 269 208> 0 1 117 0 1 0
5 2 <268 193 282 208> 0 1 117 0 1 1
5 2 <281 193 295 208> 0 1 117 0 1 2
5 2 <294 193 308 208> 0 1 117 0 1 3
8 1 <252 190 310 210> 0 FFFF 0 17 4
  [3008 <0 0 58 20>]
  [3009 <0 0 58 20>]
  [3010 <0 0 58 20>]
  [3011 <0 0 58 20>]
0 4
<180 31 379 305> 0 5 2
<0 0 544 332> 0 1 34
0 2 3005 0

(MYST 4368) 3
8 3 <305 148 375 238> 0 FFFF 1 [5 1 3 103 1 802] 103 2 FFFF FFFF 4369 <0 0 70 90>
7 2 <216 110 304 235> 0 106 5 5
1 115 101 3 4741 4370 4368 5
1 115 101 3 4741 4370 4368 5
1 115 101 3 4741 4370 4368 5
1 115 101 3 4741 4370 4368 5 0
0 2 <0 0 544 332> 4345

Intro Case Study

See a bit below for where the game starts, INTRO 1. Here's INTRO 2, because it's more deciphered than that.

(INTRO 2) 1
5 2 <245 202 304 253> 4 2 37 0 0 34 0 2 3 11

INTRO 2 is the first interactive part of the game, the part where you can pick up the Myst book. The rect correctly corresponds to where the book is on screen. But, look at the "destination" -- 4. There is no VIEW/RLST 4! However, there is a WDIB 4 and it is the open book with the water. Where this should go is to card 3 and show the Myst book cover before showing image 4 and then playing the video. And, there is a 3 in this chunk, but I'm not sure if that's the purpose. I have no idea what the 37/34 could mean. There is a WDIB 11, but it's of D'ni, so I doubt it's that. ;)

(INTRO 3) 2
0 2 -32000 -32000 32000 32000 5
6 0 <312 70 441 159> "\qtw\intro\intro2" 0x2848 0x2756 0 1 0 0 0

Note that this one has a string for the video (null-terminated). This obviously calls that video which is the Myst fly-by for the linking book. And, that rect perfectly matches where the video should be displayed on screen. However, this also clearly breaks the format specified above for "type 2 hotspots".

WDIB 3 is the cover of the Myst linking book. But, this doesn't match up with the video mentioned here which should be for WDIB 4 (or 10, they are identical)(the open linking book with the water image) and eventually ending at WDIB 12 (the open linking book with the dock image). The 5 after the very large numbers is the target card for the open linking book which seems correct. 0x2848 is 10,312 and 0x2756 is 10,070. The rate of the audio is 11,025. Not sure if this has any correlation.

(INTRO 1) 1
0 2 -32000 -32000 32000 32000 5

This is the same as the first record of INTRO 3. My guess is that this is some sort of call to an external command. INTRO 1 is supposed to be the card which shows the opening movies and then switches to card 2.

VIEW

image name and sub-images (akin to Riven PLSTs)

• I think 3004 is the name of a sub-image (small image to be placed in another) of 3003 here.