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vqp_info.txt
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vqp_info.txt
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COMMAND & CONQUER GOLD AND C&C: RED ALERT *.VQP FILES
by Gordan Ugarkovic (ugordan@yahoo.com)
http://members.xoom.com/ugordan
Revision 1.02
Command & Conquer is a trademark of Westwood Studios, Inc.
Command & Conquer is Copyright (C)1995 Westwood Studios, Inc.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a trademark of Westwood Studios, Inc.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is Copyright (C)1995-1999 Westwood Studios, Inc.
DESCRIPTION:
I used to think that viewing the Red Alert movies in SVGA gives you a higher
resolution, but recently I found out that this is not the case. The movie
resolution remains the same, you simply stretch a low-res movie (320x156 or
320x200) to double its width (640 pixels) and between two adjacent
horizontal pixels you insert a third one that has a color which is the
average value of the 2 pixels' colors.
When I say average value, I don't mean averaging the indexes to palette,
that would be very easy but incorrect. I mean averaging the COLORS themselves
and finding a color in the palette that most closely matches the desired one.
This process of searching is very slow, so a different method needs to be
applied.
This is where a VQP file comes in. In order to be able to average
(interpolate) colors very fast, one needs a COLOR LOOKUP TABLE.
That is the basic purpose of VQP files: to provide you with the neccessary
color lookup tables.
FILE FORMAT:
The VQP file format is actually very simple.
First there is a LONG INT (4 bytes) value which represents how many
lookup tables for the corresponding VQA movie the VQP contains.
Since every palette has a different color order, we obviously need a new
lookup table every time the palette changes.
After the value come the lookup tables themselves. Every lookup table is
exactly 32896 bytes long. I will explain why there are 32896 bytes in a
lookup table and not 65536 (256*256) as someone might suspect.
The reason for this is that some of the color values repeat, for example
if you have an interpolation value for [23][176], you don't have to write
the value [176][23] because the values will be the same. This saves space
needed by almost 50% !
Let's consider a palette which has 5 colors.
We would have to write the following combinations:
C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2 C1 C2
------- ------- ------- ------- -------
0 0 1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0
1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1
2 2 3 2 4 2
3 3 4 3
4 4
Note that none of the combinations repeat.
The number of these combinations is [5+(5+1)]/2 = 15
Likewise, if we had 256 colors, we would have [256+(256+1)]/2 = 32896
different color combinations.
But enough of the math, here is some pseudo-code that will load
the lookup table and fill all the values (it will expand the 32896 bytes
to the full 65536 byte lookup table).
(The lookup table is a 2D array, each dimension having 256 elements):
for C1 = 0 to 255 do
for C2 = 0 to C1 do
begin
val = GetNextByte;
lookup[C1][C2] = val;
lookup[C2][C1] = val;
end;
The function GetNextByte should return the next byte from the file
or from the memory buffer.
Every time the palette changes you run that piece of code
to load the correct lookup table and you'll be fine.
Now, let's say that Left is the color of the left pixel, Right is the
color of the right pixel and Middle is the color we need. We would
get this color value by simply indexing into the lookup table:
Middle = lookup[Left][Right]; (or lookup[Right][Left], it's the same)
It is interesting to note that, with these lookup tables, it is
possible to do a full interpolation of the movies, that is, interpolate
in the vertical direction as well, unlike the Red Alert Win95 version
which only interpolates in the horizontal direction.
Having said that, one can wonder: Where are all the VQPs located?
For SIZZLE.VQA and SIZZLE2.VQA it was easy, but what's with all the
other movies?
So, I started looking and, well, you know those 8 MB of unknown data
located between the 640x400 VQA start movie and SPEECH.MIX in
REDALERT.MIX... :)))
Anyway, here goes...
REDALERT.MIX OFFSETS OF *.VQP FILES
FOR ALL RED ALERT MOVIES
[ENGLISH RED ALERT VERSION ONLY]
~~~~~~~
Movie names are from FILENAME.TXT by Moritz Mertinkat.
Here is what he has to say about the document:
<These excerpts were taken from "The Red Alert Single Player Mission
Creation Guide" (Release 1.1), Copyright 1997 by Andrew Griffin and
C. F. Harkins (andrewg@light.iinet.net.au and cfhark@msn.com).
The latest version can be found at: www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/5458
The text above was slightly modified by Moritz Mertinkat for use in
RA-MIXer; i.e. I added some aspects and corrected some parts of the
text which provided wrong (or not enough) information.
Moritz Mertinkat (ramixer@gmx.net), 23-MAR-1998>
NOTE: Although the offsets given here are for the English version of
Red Alert, I assume the movie names are the same for all the
other language versions and so is the ordering of the VQPs in
REDALERT.MIX. In the English version, the VQPs follow immediately
after the 640x400 VQA. The first one is one of the copies of VQP
for the Lands of Lore 2 Sneak Peek (See note later in the document).
The next one is for AAGUN, so if you are able to find the VQP for it,
you will probably be able to find all the other offsets because
they are stored in succession, one after the other.
Movie name Offset (from start of file, decimal)
-----------------------
AAGUN 16101380
AFTRMATH 16134280
AIRFIELD 20279388
ALLY1 16167180
ALLY2 16529060
ALLY4 16561960
ALLY5 16594860
ALLY6 16660656
ALLY8 16693556
ALLY9 16759352
ALLY10 16232976
ALLY10B 16265876
ALLY11 16298776
ALLY12 16463260
ALLY14 16496160
ALLYEND 16792252
ALLYMORF 16825152
APCESCPE 16858052
ASSESS 16890952
AVERTED 20410984
BATTLE 16923852
BEACHEAD 20443884
BINOC 16956752
BMAP 16989652
BOMBRUN 20509684
BRDGTILT 17022552
COUNTDWN 20542584
CRONFAIL 17088352
CRONTEST 17055452
DESTROYR 17121252
DOUBLE 20575484
DPTHCHRG 20608384
DUD 17154152
ELEVATOR 17187052
EXECUTE 20641284
FLARE 17219952
FROZEN 17252852
GRVESTNE 17285752
LANDING 20707084
MASASSLT 17351552
MCV 17384452
MCVBRDGE 20739984
MCV_LAND 17417352
MIG 20772884
MOVINGIN 21101848
MONTPASS 17450252
MTNKFACT 21134748
NUKESTOK 21167648
OILDRUM 17483152
ONTHPRWL 21200548
OVERRUN 17516052
PERISCOP 21233448
PROLOG 17548952 and 21266348
RADRRAID 21792688
REDINTRO 18075292 and 21825588
SEARCH 21858488
SFROZEN 21891388
SHIPSINK 18108192
SHORBOMB 18173992
SHORBOM1 18141092
SHORBOM2 18173992
SITDUCK 21924288
SLNTSRVC 21957188
SNOWBOMB 18305584
SNSTRAFE 22022988
SOVBATL 22055888
SOVCEMET 22088788
SOVFINAL 22121688
SOVIET1 18338484
SOVIET2 22450676
SOVIET3 22483576
SOVIET4 22516476
SOVIET5 22549376
SOVIET6 22582276
SOVIET7 22615176
SOVIET8 22648076
SOVIET9 22746768
SOVIET10 22286176
SOVIET11 22319076
SOVIET12 22351976
SOVIET13 22384876
SOVIET14 22417776
SOVMCV 22812564
SOVTSTAR 18371384
SPOTTER 22878364
SPY 18404284
STRAFE 22911264
TAKE_OFF 22944164
TANYA1 18437184
TANYA2 18470084
TESLA 22977064
TOOFAR 18502984
TRINITY 18535884
V2ROCKET 23009964
As you can see, even the low-res version of REDINTRO contains a VQP.
At least 3 VQAs have 2 copies of VQP data (PROLOG, REDINTRO and LoL 2 SP).
I don't know why this is, but the copies appear to be the same.
Clearly a waste of disk space (Lands of Lore 2 SP VQPs are each 1,7 MB !)...
Apart from the movies listed above, MAIN.MIX also contains a slightly
different version of Lands of Lore 2 Sneak Peek than in the root
of the CDs. As I said, a VQP for this movie exists, and there are 2 copies
of it (offsets 14456576 and 18568784), but they don't contain
lookup data for all 52 palettes, so the last 2 palettes are messed up.
I don' know why the guys at Westwood even bothered to store this VQA
in MAIN.MIX, when there is one in the root of the CD, obviously
more disk space wasted... :(((
Also, the VQP for one of the Allied briefings (I think ALLY1) indicates
the corresponding VQA has more palettes than it actually has, but that
shouldn't present a problem.
If you want to include these offsets in your program, please ask for
my permission.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me.
--------------------------------
Gordan Ugarkovic (ugordan@yahoo.com)
27 July 1999.
[END-OF-FILE]