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origamiguy has created a GUI tool to make your game MOD-ready (requires .NET 4.0 framework). UNGTC UNGTC - ATD archive tool. Download Link Description: This tool will extract and rearchive LEGO Racers 2 and Drome Racers archives (the Attention To Detail or ATD LEGO video games). A while back, I started reverse engineering the LEGO Racers 2 and Drome Racers archive file formats (hence forth refered to as GTC). I figured out what almost everything was, but got stuck on the compression used in the GTC. In my extended absence from the site, and have been tinkering with the files, tagging up bytes in a hex editor, determining which bytes were litterals, which were backreferences, and which ones said what did what thorugh experimental byte injection. This would likely have never happened if not for this amazing find by Cyrem. Fast forward to September 1st, I finished writing code that would successfully decompress GAMEDATA.GTC. It didn't extract the files, and couldn't write its own COMPRESS.INF file, but the game would load and play, with some minor speed improvements. Fast forward again to today, and I have finished writing UNGTC, a tool that can both unpack the archives and create new ones! UNGTC is writtin in pure C++, and is very fast. How fast it runs depends on the IO speeds of your drive. With a RAM disk, it can be as fast as a few seconds (5400 RPM drives are much slower). Full source code is included, as are binaries for Windows and Mac. If you are running Linux, compile the source yourself, there are too many processor architectures for me to provide binaries for all of them. Usage: UNGTC is a command-line application, simple give it the folder containing GAMEDATA.GTC, FILELIST.INF, and COMPRESS.INF to extract, or the extracted folder to archive, as the first argument. On Windows, this is easily done by draggin-and-dropping the folder onto ungtc.exe. Some technical notes: UNGTC does create slightly differently than the GTC's that come with the game, but they are 100% compatible, and more efficient. UNGTC does not compress the archives it creates in any way. Since you would not save mush space on modern drives and it would be a slow waste of processor power, I do not plan on adding this ability. UNGTC automatically detects the 2 different formats and uses a meta data file called .GTC to store what version for the file forwat was extracted, for use in rearchiving. It is a plain text file. The Windows executable it 32-bit. As it uses 32-bit opperations, it would not really benefit from being 64-bit. The Mac executable is 64-bit. Compiled using MinGW g++ (Win) and Xcode g++ (Mac). Other Notes Unfortunately, I have tried everything I could think of to make it load the files from the drive instead of from the archive, monitoring the game with Process Monitor for any changes, but it seems to only work with archives. To run the game without having to keep rebuilding the archive, check out this topic. Or this tool by origamiguy (which will also extract the GAMEDATA files). Many of the files are normal files and I expect that many other files have existing tools. Good luck in deciphering the files!

A really simple but very useful mod that gives you access to every car chassis and piece in the builder at any given time (even ones you can't normally use): In GAME DATA/OBJECTS/BRICKS, there's a file called UNIQUEBRICKS.TXT, which contains "All the bricks that can go in the game ever". Now, see UNIQUEBRICKSGENERIC.TXT? It lists "The generic bricks - available in all worlds". Simply overwrite it with a copy of UNIQUEBRICKS.TXT, and boom, every chassis and piece is accessible everywhere. Edit - There seem to be quite a few newcomers who don't know you have to unpack the game's GTC before doing any modding, so here's a link for that:

While you can play as NPCs via Cheat Engine, it doesn't always work perfectly - most NPCs only have face textures for the expressions they normally show in-game, and when they're plopped into a cutscene that needs a texture they don't have, it can cause some weird stuff: While I hope we'll eventually be able to create full sets of face textures for the NPCs, in the meantime, it's pretty easy to patch things up a bit: Go to GAMEDATAGAME DATACHARACTERSHEADS and open FACES.TXT. The developer comments should be enough to explain how it works. What you wanna do is turn something like this: # Frankie Solido (Brick Hauss) # # (individual) # frankie solido happy1 null null null null null null null Into something like this:# Frankie Solido (Brick Hauss) # # (individual) # frankie solido happy1 frankie solido happy2 frankie solido sad1 frankie solido sad2 frankie solido angry1 frankie solido angry2 frankie solido surprised1 frankie solido surprised2 ... For whatever NPCs you wanna fix. Then go into the TEXTURES folder, make copies of whatever facial expressions DO exist, and rename them to match up with the edit you made to the TXT file. Frankie Solido actually has an unused HAPPY2 texture already, so simply cloning those two and renaming them for sad, angry, and surprise should make things work right. Of course, they won't actually show the specified emotions as you're probably gonna be copying the default happy texture(s) around, but it still looks a heck of a lot better than glitchy hair or a big red X. Also, I tried just editing the TXT file to list the same textures repeatedly (instead of actually duplicating the textures in the assets), but the game didn't recognize them and glitched out as it did before. I also haven't tested this with any NPCs aside from Voltage and Frankie, but it should work on all the other minifigures (martians and ramas don't even have multiple face textures).

Could I move into my own floor now please? I don't need all the description I gave before if I'm eligible, simply the name 'JimbobJeffers' Floor'. Floor 1996 would be nice, seeing as it's right next to the insanity of LEGO Island's Infomaniac. Also, perhaps we should install a meme floor, or an asylum or something. Somewhere to store all the crazies of RRU like the Running Man (he'd need a special cage to prevent his escaping). Oh yeah, about room 7,289, the one I previously reserved... I accidentally let in a Chaos Spawn and the entire floor is infested. Don't worry, I've deployed my own JimBot 3000s in an attempt to contain the situation.

LEGO AcceleRacers (Bèta 1.0) The bèta release of the difficulty increase mod for LEGO Racers. All tracks are done now, but testing and feedback is appreciated. I have already tested it a lot, for I had to make sure that the mod meets with its standards. I also need your test results, because I don't know how you people perceive the difficulty that I set for the tracks. Also, I recommend you to read the following in this topic, before you start giving your opinion on the modded tracks I made for this mod. Standards: Warps are allowed. Shortcuts are allowed. Power-up layouts need to be balanced. Needs to be 'difficult'. These are the four major standards for this overhaul. I heard that some refrain from the use of shortcuts and warps, to make the race harder for them. I want the player to have full freedom of using the advantageous aspects of this game, which include the first two standards. The third means that there needs to be a balance between the different types of power-ups, and not having certain types dominate the track. I thank Creator for providing me with his/her custom power-up layouts for most tracks, which I slightly modified to fit into this mod. The fourth needs some explanation ofcourse. The player should not be able to get too far ahead, and since there is no rubber-banding concept of the AI going faster when this occurs, it is hard to find that balance between AI and player. So it might occur that you end up far ahead, but I tried to avoid this from happening by speed-editing the opponents correctly. There are two more things I want to mention. One of them is that the speed-edited AI paths aren't so smooth anymore. The AI path is likely to be prerecorded by the developers, so any changes made within a node of its path will look 'out of place'. This is not in the sense of the AI path being all distorted because of the speed-editing, but more that the AI accelerates and decelerates through its path. Unless we're able to record our own path and convert it into nodes useable for the AI, new and smooth AI paths aren't really an option. The other thing is that there is a difference in difficulty between the normal and mirrorred version of this track. You probably knew this already, but that's not my point. I had to make sure that the mirrorred version isn't too hard, but also not too easy. If I found that right balance (in difficulty) in the mirrorred version of the track, that (perfect) balance may not be present in the normal version of that track. Therefore, the normal version of the tracks may seem a bit easier than the mirrorred ones, because I focused on setting a well-balanced difficulty on the mirrorred tracks. Preview Version history Download Click here to download LEGO AcceleRacers (Bèta 1.0)!

First note: BoB is an acronym I personally use, standing for Back-of-the-Box or Back-of-the-Booklet, for those models that are shown on the back of a LEGO set's box or booklet that serve as 'idea' models and lack instructions. I don't know if there is an official or fanon term for these models but that's what I call them. I wanted to recreate some of the BoB models from the Rock Raiders sets, so I found some instructions online and took a shot at it. However, only the RRHQ set had BoBs on it, and the pictures were incredibly low-res, but I did my best. The images I was working from can be found here, on the last three pages. Here we go. Note that all these names are made up by me, feel free to suggest better ones. Tall Dumper This one is I'm about 90% certain about. It was one of the clearest pictures, and was shown from two angles. I find it interesting, but I don't like it much. Side Dumper This one I'm less certain about, but it seems relatively accurate. This is a truck, similar to the Small Transport Truck, but with a larger bed and which dumps to the side (obviously) Small Mobile Crane this one was the smallest, blurriest picture, so it's probably the least accurate, but also the one I'm most proud of. I like this model, but it doesn't seem balanced. IT looks like it'd fall over all the time. Blue Hover This one was the clearest picture, so I'm certain it's almost completely accurate. A boring blue hovercraft. Energy Craft This one gave me trouble, as the picture is a little confusing, but eventually I figured out exactly what was going on (the box on the left wing is open, which threw me off). The 'cockpit' is too blurry to see, but the rest of the craft I'm certain of. Landing Craft This was another really small image, I had to improvise a bit but the bulk of it is accurate. I have no idea what's going on in the front though. So what do you guys think?

So when I showed this image of the Vakama model I'm working on on BZP, someone thought the face looked creepy. Well I said, And it does. Surely inspired by Jimbob's face melted soldier GIF, I present:

Racers: Beta PWB pack Current version: 0.1 alpha The project is still in development with textures and few other things. I'm going to make a completely new beta layout for my in-development project. Download: http://www.mediafire.com/download/1t9eqgve4he2j3w/RBP_v1.1_PWB_pack.zip Screenshots: The green brick under the sphinx's shortcut has found a place on the actual shortcut Mmm... this reminds me of something. Version history: 0.1 alpha: - DAD preview released; - MMM released; - DFD released.

Welcome! Don't forget to try some of my infamous jam at next breakfast (or whatever meal)!

Welcome to RRU, Jedi! I think you know who I am. ehm, what if I don't have any "old" lego games? Ah, yes, I see your profile. Well, you have two way to solve that. 1. Go buy some classic games from eBay, flea markets, Half Price Book Stores, or ask your friends if they have any copies you can buy off them, or 2. hang around the more general areas. I'm sure you will find something of interest. ;)

O.T. Thanks LimeKiller for such an :af: image! For those of you who saw me rejoicing last night in the SBox and my subsequent status update, this is why. Although I dislike LR2's physics, I hate the low-quality graphics more. Finally, we can change all that. JMMB, you have done it yet again. You have no idea how happy I am from this. Thank you, for the bottom of all my :af:'s. EDIT: Uh-huh. Welcome to first time game modding. I think this is the first game archive cracked since you joined. Even I'm overwhelmed, and I think the LEGOLAND archives have been opened and new/updated/better tools for the Alpha Team PAC archives were written since I came here.

Wow, where to start, what to do. I think we are all overwhelmed now.

Finally Made a version I'm satisfied with. I think this is gonna be the last I touch on this particular project, though.

I love how you two are acting as though this is a perfectly normal community devoted solely to modding. Let him discover the insanity on his own.

That's honestly pretty unprofessional, even for a facebook page. It looks to me like it's just some dumping grounds for someone just dreaming about a Rock Raiders remake and throwing out stuff about liking Rock Raiders. There's even a typo in the page name. The random pictures of minecraft and other minecraft-style games gives me the impression of uncertainty on what you want to do with this project and concern that this is going to end up as another Minecraft clone, and I have no idea what's even going on with that picture of minifig next to the Mega Man enemy and some Minecraft character skin render that isn't even from or possible in that game. The avatar being "Rock Raiders + Minecraft" especially scares me (and feels really uncreative). The thing that really got me to leave this post though was the "'LIKE' if you prefer this style of levels to a more realistic look." If this is serious, it's a pretty terrible way to decide on the art style for the project. Don't do polls off of a meaningless facebook thing, and don't take the results of this meaningless facebook thing as an answer to what you should do for the art style or anything else in the game. EDIT: I just double checked, and yes indeed you are holding a poll between Minecraft ripoff and realistic terrain using facebook likes > Please don't do that.

The problem is that this is exactly what the Rock Raiders United community doesn't want, or at the very least that is the general attitude that many people have around here. Rock Raiders is a very casual game already up until a few levels near the end and many of the mods that RRU has made try to make the game more challenging. The core demographic for the original game was children, so that is understandable. Now, we have grown up and the majority of us are 15 to 25 years old. We can take a challenge. This makes me feel a little bit better about the situation. In my eyes, Rock Raiders was one of your best games and I have hope that you are willing to show us a game that's even better than the original Rock Raiders. Of course, when I say "you" I'm addressing all of DDI -- the programmers, the artists, the musicians, the engineers, and the leaders. I was talking to a few people about this and we're actually concerned about you developing this game on multiple formats at once. Having multiple formats means that you need multiple teams to work on each version, which splits your time and energy. If you're planning on PC, Wii, WiiU, Android, iOS, and Facebook... you're spreading your effort way too thin and the main product (PC) will suffer. And honestly, the game will end up being completely different for each format. The PC has mouse and keyboard controls which are superior to a controller (WiiU) or pointer (Wii), and far superior to a touchscreen (Android, iOS). The general attitude towards Facebook games for many people around here is negative, and I feel that you will receive either backlash or apathy towards a Facebook version of the game. We do not want Farmville Raiders. We do not want to waggle a Wiimote at a screen in order to drill a wall. Please understand this. Your trending analysts may say that Facebook games are hot right now and the casual market is something you need to capture, but RRU in general is not in that market. I don't want to speak for everyone, but I think we are looking for a game that makes us think and plan ahead.

OK a bit more on the design ideas: It is still being fleshed out, but it answers some questions that have been raised. STORYLINE: The year is 3099 and the far reaches of the universe are being colonized with the search for valuable resources. Sending men to these remote and far away lands is dangerous, so instead we teleport a remote controlled android. For some strange reason these look like a Lego MiniFigure, but it’s not exactly the same, as there are still copyright laws even in the 31st century! Your Minifig wants to explore and discover resources, such as minerals, gems and power crystals. These are usually hidden beneath the surface, and unless you can discover caverns and tunnels, your minifig will need to dig deep underground to get these. When you find a good seam, you can choose to chip away at it with your pick axe, or you could teleport back some of your wealth and rent some serious, upgraded excavation equipment. Crushers, or laser drills can get the work done in short time, but for big equipment you need big power supplies and support buildings. Its up to you, choose to build a large mining complex or keep it simple. Then there are the ‘local’ inhabitants to deal with. The more disturbance you make, the more local wildlife you will disturb. Some of the locals are easy to catch, and we call these ‘food’ but many can bite back, and they will call YOU food. You will need to build defenses to protect you and your base. In some cases, if they dislike water, this might be a simple ditch, but in the case of a Rock Monster, I would recommend a river of flowing lava, and make it wide as these monsters can jump! The universe is a pretty big place, so big in-fact that there is a type of world to suit everyone. Planetoids are in zones, which are rated 1 (peaceful) to 5 (wild), so you can choose your neighbors and style of world for the style of game that you want to play. Some people may want to build a magnificent city, design buildings, and create landscaped gardens, and these can be on worlds where you can build, without interruption from other minifigs. Or you can goto a high risk and reward, ‘5 zone’, where you will have to spend as much on defense equipment as you do on mining. You will want to craft or buy, defense towers, weapons and armor. If you want combat and action in these zones you can also choose to be a mercenary, flying from planetoid to planetoid taking what you can steal from the inhabitants.

Now added semi-transparency part for this tutorial, with Brickulator's consent.

UPDATE: READ THIS Here is what I presently know about the file format: It is a 3 file archive. COMPRESS.INF, FILELIST.INF, & GAMEDATA.GTC COMPRESS.INF hold information on null bytes found in GAMEDATA.GTC. FILELIST.INF hold file names and pointers to them of some kind. GAMEDATA.GTC holds the files. FILELIST.INF The list of files, 136 byte blocks: First 128 bytes = File path (null terminated). uint32 {4} = Unknown pointer. 0 indexed and each greater than the rest (unless the next uint32 {4} = 0, then reused) so almost certainly points to the file. uint32 {4} = Unknown pointer. As files that are likely bitmaps of the same resolution have the exact same value, almost certainly the file size. NOTE: the first uint32{4} can exceed the size of the gamedata.gtc file. Most likely, the pointer is only correct after the files in gamedata.gtc are decompressed. This file's structure is different between the games. (Thanks origamiguy!) COMPRESS.INF (Drome) 12 byte blocks: uint32 {4} - Pointer to start of a data chunk in GAMEDATA.GTC uint32 {4} - Length of non-null data at the end of the chunk uint32 {4} - Length of the chunk COMPRESS.INF (LEGO Racers 2) 20 byte blocks: uint32 {4} - Pointer to start of a data chunk in GAMEDATA.GTC uint32 {4} - Length of non-null data at the end of the chunk uint32 {4} - Length of the chunk unknown {4} - unknown. Most likely meaningless. unknown {4} - unknown. Most likely meaningless. GAMEDATA.GTC Stores all the files listed in filelist.inf. Has non-null groups separated by null groups. Uses some form of compression, most likely index based. Possibly separate for each non-null group in the file.

I think you might be wrong about it being 12-byte. Here's what I've come up with so far: COMPRESS.INF 20 byte blocks: uint32 {4} - Pointer to start of a data chunk in GAMEDATA.GTC uint32 {4} - Length of non-null data in the chunk uint32 {4} - Length of the chunk (including the null data, that's why the subtraction thing works) unknown {4} - no idea yet. unknown {4} - no idea yet.