question about j2e

[zapS]

just wondering if anybody knows how the image is stored(what kind of format) in the j2e files.

[Stijn]

IIRC, it's a PCX file, probably compressed with zlib.

[zapS]

so pcx is alot smaller than bmp?

[Stijn]

PCX is compressed (and in JJ2's case 8bit) while BMP is not. There's probably some info here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCX).

However, the tool used to make J2E's requires you to give it a PCX file, so I guess that's the format used :P

[Neobeo]

A J2E contains, among other things, 3 BMPs (not PCX), compressed with zlib. More specifically, the images are stored one byte per pixel (once you get past zlib).

[Grytolle]

:( Then it would be false of me to say "it's raw - like me"

[DoubleGJ]

One image is the episode pic, second is the title. What's the third picture, then?

[Stijn]

A low-res of the title image, I believe, for the zooming in-and-out effect.

[Violet CLM]

The title switches to a highlighted version when you select it.

[ShadeJackrabbit]

That's just done with shaders I believe.

Also, I used to have the program that made .j2e files, but lost it 3 hard disk deaths ago.

[Stijn]

That's just done with shaders I believe.
No, it's done by using the other image.

[ShadeJackrabbit]

*thinks back for a few moments*
Sorry, my bad, it is.

[Neobeo]

Also, the size of the image alone leads me to conclude that JJ2 was meant to be played in a resolution of 640x400.

[zapS]

does all the 3 bmp images start with "BM"when uncompressed?
and where do i find the uncompressed size in the header? i can only find the compressedsize (4 bytes before 78 da).

[Neobeo]

The uncompressed size is not given, because it is a static value. I don't have the exact figure at hand though. Basically width * height.

[Newspaz]

Also, the size of the image alone leads me to conclude that JJ2 was meant to be played in a resolution of 640x400.
Well, it makes sense. The game was originally meant for 320x200 like JJ1 was. And 640x400 is exactly the double obviously.

[zapS]

ok, now i can uncompress everything so no more questions about that, but i don't know what the 8 bytes after the width and height are, can anyone tell me?
http://www.freewebs.com/dvugglan/j2e.bmp
and one more thing, when i compress images, they become just 41 bytes and i think that is too small and jj2 doesnt like it. why?

[zapS]

I think the compressed size in the j2e files are at least around 10000 bytes and 41 is quite small compared to that.

[Neobeo]

ok, now i can uncompress everything so no more questions about that, but i don't know what the 8 bytes after the width and height are, can anyone tell me?
http://www.freewebs.com/dvugglan/j2e.bmp
and one more thing, when i compress images, they become just 41 bytes and i think that is too small and jj2 doesnt like it. why?
I have no idea what the 8 bytes after are. They're marked as "unknown" in my file format specs. And 41 bytes definitely doesn't sound right.

I think the compressed size in the j2e files are at least around 10000 bytes and 41 is quite small compared to that.
At a guess, you probably used the compress/compress2 function wrongly.

[zapS]

well how should i use it?
it returns Z_OK or something like that.
i tried to increase all the unknown bytes by 1 and it worked just as usual, but when a set the all to ff, there was a memory error, it said something about memAlloc().

[zapS]

I have found the problem and now i can compress and make my own j2e files!
:-) thanks neobeo for your help.

[Neobeo]

You're welcome. :) Just out of curiosity, what was the problem?

[zapS]

i did wrong when i read the file into a char pointer.
in the fread funtion the first parameter must be an adress you know,
and usually i want to read data and put them in int variables or similar types and then i have to write fread(&var,... and i forgot that in this case it was a pointer and i wrote "&" before. the result were just alot of -51:-), quite a stupid thing to do:-) but that's the kind of small mistakes i often run into;)

[zapS]

now i try to read the .LEV files in 1.00g:-)
i have found out how the tileset data is stored.

[Neobeo]

This probably warrants a thread of its own, but the LEV file format is full of hate. </3 Among other things, each tile is stored differently depending on whether it has any transparent pixels, and where the transparent pixels are.

[zapS]

i know, and it's really annoying. but i think i've found out how it works.
the reason for doing this is because i want to get the cool jungle tileset.

[ShadeJackrabbit]

Any chance of releasing a program publicly that allows this j2e editing?
(*dodges really sharp knife*)

[n00b]

Didn't you already get one?

[ShadeJackrabbit]

About 4 hard disk crashes ago...

[zapS]

that's possible :-)

[ShadeJackrabbit]

Yay! :)

[zapS]

ok, now I've made a simple console app, which creates a j2e file. you just have to enter som filenames etc. it works fine. does anyone think that could be something? :)

[cooba]

Well if it's made completely by you, it could be freely distributed, by being uploaded to J2O for example :)

[ShadeJackrabbit]

Excellent idea!

[Olsen]

it's uploaded now //zapS

[Grytolle]

zapS, please add me to msn (or unblock me) :p grytolle@craccoclan.com

And more importantly; nice job :D

[Doubble Dutch]

So is there something to *extract* said images from the j2e file?

[Grytolle]

jj2 and print screen

[Doubble Dutch]

Doesn't that just give you the whole screen and not the image?

[Violet CLM]

Umm... yes. To be solved by cropping, I suppose.

[FreeFull]

If you do Alt+Print Screen it will do a screenshot of the active window without anything else.

[Doubble Dutch]

Yes, but not the actual images in the .j2e? Without background and highlights? There are a million tools for grabbing an active window.

[Valco]

I assumed it was any non photographic picture compressed with zlib.
I'm probably wrong. Don't listen to me. I'm a do do who lost his cheese.