How to open game28.dta?

[IS4Code]

Sorry for asking here, but how do I open the game in AGS when its main file is game28.dta?

[rofl0r]

this is an already unpacked game, there are tools that work on the "game data file" in agsutils such as agsalphahack if you need code examples, if you only need to start that game in ags and it comes without a main "launcher" file, you can repack its files into a pack using agspack, but you need to have the file agspack.info agstract creates (if it's missing you could create one by unpacking another game, then copying that file over and editing it to match the files of the unpacked game you have).
anyway i'm just guessing around here since you provided almost no info. maybe you can point me to that game and i can figure it out.

[IS4Code]

Sorry; I was trying to open the latest version of King's Quest 2 VGA. For older versions, agstract creates ac2game.dta which I can open in AGS 2.72, but the latest version seems to have been made in AGS 3.2, but that uses .agf as the project format so I was confused. To clarify, I was trying to open the project as a whole in the editor and assumed it should be working.

I managed to copy the rooms to a blank project and open them there, so I eventually got what I was looking for, but I wonder if there is an easier solution.

[rofl0r]

For older versions, agstract creates ac2game.dta which I can open in AGS 2.72

interesting. for those it should even extract the .c code for the room files, if i'm not mistaken. unfortunately, the main game files were never saved as .c in the pack, so they can only be recreated by reversing the agsdisas output.

To clarify, I was trying to open the project as a whole in the editor and assumed it should be working.

i see. yes, the "project file" which has all the info how to load stuff into the editor and build again is usually not distributed together with games.

sometimes it's not even possible to compile the original C sources without the IDE project file as some properties can be set in the editor which are then passed as some kind of enum to the compiler.

I managed to copy the rooms to a blank project and open them there

interesting. do you think it would be possible to recreate an entire game solely from the provided resources inside the gamepack/.exe file that way? a writeup about what's needed there could be of big interest to many modders.

[IS4Code]

Ah, I understand now, thanks for clarifying. As for using the rooms this way, not sure how usable it would be for other things, as I was just interested in the background images.

[rofl0r]

I was just interested in the background images

aren't those extracted by agsprite from the sprite file acsprset.spr ?

[IS4Code]

Haven't tried that, but considering I only copied the rooms, the background were contained within those files, not in sprites.

[ZvikaZ]

Hi.
@IllidanS4 , did you manage to open this?

@rofl0r , I encountered a similar issue while trying to open SQ2 VGA remake. I extracted the game's files with agsex, and got also a game28.dta , which I cannot open from AGS (3.5.1.11)

[IS4Code]

@IllidanS4 , did you manage to open this?

I didn't progress further beyond what my original goal was, that is to extract the room backgrounds.

[rofl0r]

I extracted the game's files with agsex, and got also a game28.dta , which I cannot open from AGS (3.5.1.11)

just run make to reassemble the modified files into game.ags, which you then can open in the engine. game28.dta is already being split into the parts we're interested in using the tools called by agsex, it's not meant to be used directly with the engine, but rather re-injected with mods into a gamepack.

[ZvikaZ]

make indeed created game.ags. However, I've re-read my question and your answer, and realized that I wasn't clear enough - you answered regarding opening the game from the runtime engine, while I'm trying to open the game from AGS Editor. It cannot open the game.ags file as well.

Is there any way to open the unpacked .exe file from the AGS Editor?

[rofl0r]

Is there any way to open the unpacked .exe file from the AGS Editor?

in current version, no. it uses additional xml files etc that are not built into the game binary.
with the old win32 engine 2.72 it's possible, but you'll lack the scripts, and will have to rewrite them by comparing the asm with the code generated by agscc. or you can just have empty scripts and then re-inject the object file into the pack after making mods in the editor.