Start Trek BOTF extraction issue

[paulus]

Hi again Mr Mouse, (the lunch took a lot longer than expected with the footbal euro cup final being on

well, i guess i have a question-problem....

do you remember by earlier post about "Star Trek: Birth of the Federation" .snd files? - well, the older version of MC seemed to work ok on the sfx.snd file, and i had a problem with the little dos extractor popup on it with the music.snd file.

you mentioned that there was a problem maybe with that dos version, and that the next windows version might fix it.. however when i try it now havuing used the upgrade patch, none of the .snd files seem to open, and MC 4 just hangs now

MultiEx ActiveX DLL - Retrieving Archive Contents (+moving progress bars etc etc), but the CPU just work flat out, and nothing happens and i end up having to use my win98SE tasklist to close it down as its "Not responding"

im just gonna try rebooting my pc, and then will also try uninstalling the upgrade version and reinstalling the full version 4 program again and will also try leaving it on overnight to see if maybe its just a cpu thing?

other than that, im very grateful because i also have other games which are great to extract stuff from but for this particular BOTF game, i dont suppose you can help me any way at all? - maybe you could try the 7meg sfx.snd file over there or something to see if its just me?

any help or advice you could offer woudl be most appreciated.

thanks,
paulus

[paulus]

btw, guess what - after several crashes, i just tried to open one of those files again, and this time i get the following message in about 2 seconds:

Error:
"List file was empty, possible error in format"

[Mr.Mouse]

I know, I watched the final too. Great show from Greece. Nice going. I think the win of the cup was justified as none of the other socalled "great footbal nations" showed anything at all. A sorrow for Portugal, but they just couldn't handle the pressure.

About ST:BOTF, as you might have read in the first couple of posts in this thread, I have converted the old dos-scripts to new ones automatically,and I only had a chance to certify some of those new scripts. In that post you will also see that ST:BOTF is not on the Certified list, that means I didn't have the time or the actual archive to test the new script on. Apparently it doesn't work. If I can dig up some archive somewhere I may take a look at it.

[paulus]

ahh yes, a good game indeed

Ah ok, no problem.
Thanks for a reply back which instills some hope for us BOTF lovers and Mod Makers

I've managed to compress the smallest SFX.SND 7meg file down to just over 4 megs - if you would like me to send it to you, i'd be very happy to do so in email

thanks,
paulus

[Mr.Mouse]

In the meantime, try this file (make a backup of your MC.MRF file in the data/config directory of MC and put the new file there instead). Then try again. I noticed a small thingy in the converted script that may have been the problem.

[paulus]

Hi, thanks for that -
i tried it again, but the progress bar just keeps on moving and completing and looping over etc.

then after about 1 min, i get that List empty message, followed now by "run-time error 5. Invalid procedure call or argument"

does this mean anything to you? #
btw im gonna have to go to bed soon, but appreciate all your help so far

if you do want that 4meg file just to play safe, please jsut let me know.

[Mr.Mouse]

Hmm, okay.

Yes, perhaps you can upload the file somewhere? Or mail it. PM me for the address to mail to.

[Mr.Mouse]

Another try in the meantime:

Try this MRF file on the SND files. Same procedure, replace the mc.mrf in your data/config directory, making sure you have the original stil backed up.

[paulus]

WOW WOW WOW - i used this mrf and guess what - i can now open up the SFX.snd file

It's cool - i can now hear all the star trek bleeps and console soudns, and explosions and phaser files too - Thank you very much indeed


I also tried the ENGLISH.snd file, and it worked too, but i dont think the files inside were actually sound files, so the auto preview just shows up some text etc.

I'm, just trying to load up the 70+ meg MUSIC.snd file, but it still appears to be tryign to open that one.

thanks again for this fix though - and if you want to try out the sfx.snd file for yourself, i just emailed you the last (2nd) rar

[Mr.Mouse]

Ah, yes, I got that one, but for some reason I have not recieved the first part!

[paulus]

btw, the MUSIC.snd files just came up with "list file empty, possible error in format"

i also tried extracting some sounds, but get a "file error encountered" - but the soudns in SFX.snd are cool to listen to even with just the auto preview

[Mr.Mouse]

Ok, so there's still a problem. Could you re-send me the first part ? See if I recieve it this time.

[paulus]

Hi mister mouse, sure - am jsut sending it now..should be with you in a few mins

(btw is that a Cylon as your logo)?

[Mr.Mouse]

Okay! Recieved.

The file error you encounter is really my own DUMB DUMB fault . I just can't believe how stupid I am. I have completely forgotten to fix a bug I had noted down prior release of the new version, that makes MultiEx Commander fail to create a valid filename when it encounters a format that uses no interal filenames in its archives.

I could hit myself on the head with a brick.

Anyway. Tonight I'll fix the bug.

[paulus]

ahh ok thanks for that.
It's always better when a bug is there due to a programmers mistake, because once that mistake is fixed, it usually works...

..the bugs that are probbaly worse are the ones when no fault seems to exist (but still theres a bug)

thanks,
paulus