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Gregory Smith edited this page Jan 17, 2021 · 1 revision

Overview

When Atque splits a Marathon map or images file, the result is a folder containing the components of that file. Similarly, when merging, a folder containing map components and/or resources is merged into one file.

A map folder contains a numbered folder for each map, as well as a Resources folder, and optionally a "Level Select Names.txt" file. Each map folder can contain the level file, a merged physics file, a shapes patch, Lua and MML scripts, and a decompiled terminal text file.

The Resources folder contains folders for each type of map resource (for example, snd, PICT, and CLUT). Each of those folders contains a list of numbered resource files.

Here is an example folder:

  • Split Map Folder
    • 00 Waterloo Waterpark
      • Waterloo Waterpark.sceA
      • Waterloo Waterpark.term.txt
    • 01 OK, Honeybunny
      • OK, Honeybunny.sceA
      • OK, Honeybunny.ShPa
      • Teleporters.lua
      • Fog.mml
    • 02 Poor Yorick
      • Poor Yorick.phyA
      • Poor Yorick.sceA
      • Poor Yorick.term.txt
    • Level Select Names.txt
    • Resources
      • CLUT
        • 01500.act
      • PICT
        • 01500.bmp
        • 01600.bmp
        • 01602.bmp
        • 10001.bmp
        • 10002.bmp
        • 10003.bmp
        • 10011.bmp
      • snd
        • 01500.wav
      • TEXT
        • 00128.txt

Level Data

Each level is represented by a folder, the name of which must begin with the level number. This folder contains the level's data files, listed below. The extensions must match those listed below or the file will be ignored.

.sceA

Each level must have a .sceA file; these can be created using Forge, Pfhorge, Smithy, etc. Atque will use the first level in the file, even if it contains multiple levels.

.phyA

(Optional) A physics file for embedding. Can be created using Anvil or Physics Editor One.

.ShPa

(Optional) A shapes patch for embedding. Can be no larger than 384 kilobytes. These are Anvil 1.0.3 shapes patches; currently only Anvil can generate them.

Note that the spelling .ShPa is not a typo, and is distinct from .shpA used for Aleph One's main shapes files.

.lua

(Optional) Lua scripts for embedding in the level. Multiple are allowed--they are run in order alphabetically (case insensitive)

.mml

(Optional) MML scripts for embedding in the level. Multiple are allowed--they are run in order alphabetically (case insensitive)

.term.txt

(Optional) Decompiled terminal texts for this level. Atque uses the same format for terminals as Forge uses. See the Forge manual for more details. There are a few enhancements:

  • #PICT groupings can include RIGHT to put the image to the right of the text, or CENTER to center the picture (this can be used to make a full width picture). Centered PICT groupings must not contain text. 
    #PICT 10001 CENTER
  • Aleph One supports a #STATIC grouping; the argument is the duration of the static, in ticks. 
    #STATIC 300

Level Select Names.txt

The Level Select Names.txt file allows the use of different names in Aleph One's menus than are displayed in the overhead map view. It also allows naming resources, sort of like ResEdit allowed resource names for old Marathon files. One difference, if several resources share the same ID, only one name can be used.

Level Select Names.txt contains a list of lines with this format:

<level or resource number> <name>

Here is a sample Level Select Names.txt that makes an [XS] appear in front of OK, Honeybunny in the Vidmaster Oath and Setup Net Game dialogs, and also clarifies the purpose of TEXT resource 128.

1 [XS] OK, Honeybunny
128 Level Script MML

Resources

The resources folder contains a folder for each type of resource stored in the map. Each resource file name must begin with the resource's ID. IDs below 128 will be ignored. For more information about which IDs are used for resources, consult the Forge manual

CLUT

Only necessary for chapter screens. The ID should match the ID of the 8-bit chapter screen PICT. Atque exports these as .act files, which are Photoshop color tables. GIMP can import .act files, but can not export them. Atque can import CLUTs from both .act and .bmp, so if you don't have Photoshop, you can use an 8-bit BMP instead.

PICT

Atque can import and export from/to .pct, .bmp, and .jpg. It does this by file extension, so make sure the files have the proper extensions. Atque will convert from PICT (Aleph One's internal format) to .bmp or .jpg for export when possible. There are some instances when this isn't possible:

  • The PICT looks like it has been altered by Cinemascope. In this case, if Atque were to export as BMP or JPEG, the Cinemascope hack would be lost when re-importing. Convert the PICT to a JPEG or BMP manually, and change the terminal file to center the PICT, which gives a full width picture without using Cinemascope.
  • The PICT contains a banded JPEG. Atque isn't able to combine banded JPEGs together, so use a tool like GraphicConverter or ImageMagick to convert the PICT to a JPEG.
  • The PICT is too complicated, or contains old QuickDraw opcodes. In this case, you will have to convert the PICT to a BMP or JPEG using QuickTime.

Atque can always export pictures as BMP or JPEG that were imported from BMP or JPEG when the map file was created.

snd

The actual resource type has a space in it, 'snd ', but the folder does not. Atque exports sounds to WAV, but can import from AIFF or WAV.

TEXT

TEXT resources contain Lua or MML to embed.

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