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- Version differences
- Asset formats, DOS and Windows
Asset formats, DOS and Windows
The two releases share their map file and their save layout byte for byte, and almost nothing else: the DOS art lives in MADS engine archives, the Windows art in Win16 resources.
The full layouts are in DOS file formats and Windows file formats. This page lines them up.
What is the same #
| DOS 1994 | Windows 1995 | |
|---|---|---|
| The map | AMER2.MP, 12,534 bytes |
the same file, byte for byte |
.MP layout |
width, height, version 4, three planes | the same |
| Save header | COLONIZE\0, 0x1a, version 73, map size at 0x0c |
the same bytes |
| Save records | 18-byte settlements, 28-byte units, 202-byte colonies, ahead of four map planes | the same sizes, in the same order |
| Every save field | all ten 1994 saves parse with the Windows layout and re-serialise byte for byte | the 57-field layout |
Measured on AMER2.MP from both installs, on the Windows AUTO01.SAV and on
the 1994 DOS saves. Both formats are documented once, under
shared file formats:
.MP maps and
.SAV saves.
What differs #
| DOS 1994 | Windows 1995 | |
|---|---|---|
| Container | MADSPACK 2.0, one file per sheet, picture or font | NE resources in eleven .DLL modules |
| Compression | FAB, LZ77 with a 4,096-byte window | GIF-style LZW for canvases; none for sprites |
| Sprites | .SS sheets: RLE, several runs a row, index 253 transparent |
SPRT: one run a row, index 0 transparent |
| Full-screen art | .PIK: raw pixels, mostly 320 × 200 |
CVPC: LZW, mostly 640 × 480 |
| Sprite colours | stored: VICEROY.PAL and a palette in each sheet |
stored nowhere: built at runtime, ranges overwritten from CTAB tables |
| Fonts | .FF bitmap fonts, two bits a pixel |
no font file ships |
| Text | .TXT files, code page 437, line by line |
TEXT resources, code page 1252, named, with directives and markup |
| Animation | — | one FLIC, the Declaration celebration |
| Sound | .COL banks, not yet described |
44 plain .WAV files |