Need help with Chameleon crck Topic is solved

[annoyment]

Confirming, HashMyFiles reports that the files present in both archives are identical to one another, concluding that they're both from the Russian release. Looked like another amateur group's work, been wondering why it never got listed in scene releases. I'll try locating the CZ clone in the meantime...

[RhymeKidder]

Just an update. That is one hard file to pry out. I can get out individual dta files (lots of "english" subfolder stuff) but not a complete pack without a playthrough.

Going to study how others hacked Mafia and look for a weak connection between sf3 and dta.

[RhymeKidder]

Get it now. Starforce pre-unpacked all files tables.dta ==> protect0.dat.

Thanks to dtaUnpacker in hfric kit, I know "all" names in advance and can setup a dumper. I think Russian -> English translation probably covers all (627?) files. Unless someone thinks there's more in Polish game..

I'll get this uploaded when dumped.

[RhymeKidder]

SFFS content dumped from Polish. Credits in English funny enough.
https://www.4sh=ared.com/archive/MIvped6uba/chm_TABLES.html


If you think there's more files in Polish, place these into game. Run SF3 protection. Play game and check DUMP folder for additional stuff. Logger.txt will tell you if it picked up any new files.
http://s000.tin=yupload.com/index.php?file_id=56356922236123322424


If there's still more untranslated pictures, they're probably in tga.

[annoyment]

Then we'd better dig up on a more reliable method of virtual IDE drive emulation on host (maybe DTPro 4.? could work, dunno) since playing the game without VMware Tools would be an ordeal, if not impossible
EDIT: Wow, after being stunned for a while to see 3D acc. working without the Tools, the crk'ed game works okay enough (stable framerate except when lights are shown, HWT&L eases the drop by a little though), while the emulated one is a brutal slideshow (even leaving only game.dll as is, needed for unpacking, is hellish )...
As for IDE emulation it works almost every single time, unlike T2T which worked just once and never more, and even so it was also stuttering atrociously until crashing during the loading FMV
As for host IDE emu, still nothing yet...
Windows is shutting down

[annoyment]

VOILA:

Code: Select all

http://www.4shared.com/archive/ZIGk4q1Xce/CHMLNCZTABLES.html

This archive contains tables.dta from the Czech initial release of Chameleon, obtained from here (confirming legit working SF-free full demo with nothing ripped, plus it gives you the OST rip as well, fully eliminating the need for the CZ clone ) and uploaded for reference, and/or subsequent NoCD crking of whatever StarForce language release.
Comparison of the file structure (amount of files and folders + manual filename check at base folder of the archive) reveals that CZ and RU (and subsequent EN) have it exactly the same (except the language data within ), and only PL has a different structure, but not by much to hinder interchangeability (as confirmed by applying the EN 1.4 update and beating the entire game on hard with it )...
Now the only things missing are a DTA repacker and/or PL TABLES in DTA format (both optional, but the first would certainly help the modding community ). Which I must ask @RhymeKidder, are you certain that TABLES are already extracted at the "base" of PL protect0.dat and not in DTA (maybe due to accidentally firing off rw_data along the way)?
As for @hfric, looks like this is it then, you'll never get a baseball bat (or at least a taser) for your friend, you can always try KAMIENIA
to everyone involved, you're heroes now
Windows is shutting down

[RhymeKidder]

Checked very carefully - tables.dta is not in Polish. It never processed by/into rw_data.dll unlike other ones. That confused me for a long time. When game loads individual file, game dll ==> rw_data.dll ==> sffs ==> rw_data.dll.


Dumped PL Chameleon.exe - code itself is identical to RU/CZ. Just extra SF3 work data (useless). Going to work on other 7 later.


You already beat game on hard? How long was it??

[annoyment]

You already beat game on hard? How long was it??

IDK, took me < 3 days, I'd say about 6-10 hours, somewhere as much as Two Thrones (no really) and/or Mafia 1. Good game though, worth the time, although it may feel like a drag a few times (due to feeling a little more arcadey than, shall we say, Hitman series ), but that happens very rarely And that's it really (although I found a very negative review for it somewhere online, no worries, it's not @hfric :p )...
Windows is shutting down

[RhymeKidder]

Finished examining files. Wowzp! Very heavy use of SF3 redirects - maybe thousand+ total (that game would run slow). Main functions that use full vm emulation are Titanic-sized gigantic - 1200+ asm lines total. I can't imagine even @eloaded / @dm wanting to hack this game. It'd be a complete waste of time if they did.

That said, all SF3 files are "identical" to drm-free ones you posted. Very heavy likely same build versions from dissection and comparison techniques. No gain from brute sf3 ripping this game.

Best solution for PL is to use available nodrm nocd by annoyment + decrypted PL sffs tables contents.


@annoyment
You'll hack translate the setup.exe file also? That picture helps a lot.


Also everyone for providing all this info! Game / graphics look gamer good to me from short Polish testing. I'm interested in applying English sometime and playing it to finish.


edit:
Oh yes. DTA packer. No one understands how it works 110% (account for every single byte). I've heard that's the only way to make it doable.

[annoyment]

Code: Select all

https://anonfiles.com/file/f34609d8298982634656af9e19796914

This archive contains the Setup executables from PL/CZ releases, both in RAW and EN mods (with a few "creative" liberties in translation ), with the bonus of the picture from few posts prior AND the CZ/SK PDF manual, for bonus sake
The Setups differ in structure and layout width. In Czech version all is normal and it contains (default?) scripts for six languages as is (EN/DE/FR/ES/IT/CZ). But in Polish an additional language resource script has been added (in its separate LANGUAGE folder) and redirected to be used in its release (thus increased in width to accommodate the language itself). I've modded this added resource (a layman's solution) to English. As for the Czech one I had to rewrite a (default?) CZ script to English due to not being able to locate a value that is doing the switch between these scripts (a worse layman's solution ). It''s probably a matter of not having the right utility for the job
@RhymeKidder if you can, please check between these two RAW versions (both exactly 1.06, no worries about that) and see if they differ in any way on how do they parse and save the configs and also the aforementioned switch value. in advance...
And here is another speculation. I'm thinking that protect0.dat IS tables.dta, with just SFFS scripts inserted, and not a dedicated SFFS archive (which opens a possibility of "tumor removal"). Please verify and notify
As for DTA packing you could compare sources of these, could help me thinks (the packer I've linked to on page 1 is, unfortunately, Mafia only, and is from the same wiki)...
Windows is shutting down

[RhymeKidder]

CZ Setup (english switch)
https://ano=nfiles.com/file/f9a154ffbce4fe2eb24c7f89240ee715

Both appear to r/w same config info. Thanks for manual also - I like bonus stuff.


At game oep start, I ask for tables.dta + individual files. This uses my own dummy rw_data.dll replacement for logging purpose - it does not hit. Tables.dta = n/a but files are read okay.

From what I could guess, it uses file name to index into sffs file and directly decrypts different locations. There's no appearance of ISD header or other markers. Looks like normal SFFS pre-unpacked.

[annoyment]

UPDATE: Extracted maps.dta from both PL & CZ and isolated all the language-based textures. Replacing them is piss-easy (although sloppy, due to adding +272 MB, to an already 2 gig game, from the 600+ DTA that weighs 800+ unpacked, and THAT's why I'd prefer a repacker as well, other than that, the game's installer loads text from a DTA BTW), c/p the TARGAs to /maps/ @ game dir, and the game'll give priority to already extracted data (the same way TABLES exploit works), verified with NAHRÁVÁM where ŁADOWANIE should be (and a map change ofc )!
Stuff left to do:
- find non-alpha pre-level briefing display images (O'Roary etc)
- find maps not heavily hindered with solid ZONA WOJSKOWY captions (might try my luck with RU)
- find exact fonts used
- find Photoshop
- make it happen
Plus I've found some interesting stuff while scouring the said DTA, will post when I can
Windows is shutting down

[annoyment]

Just finished it once more as Polish vanilla (with extracted TABLES ofc) on hard, fully error-free, so now it can be called proper IMO, again RhymeKidder for stellar work!
Here's some stuff I found while extracting (descriptions within the page): http://imgur.com/a/HmWhp
Which unfortunately leads to this, proving that no version has clean (or at least with differently placed text) map files (sample from Albania - airport, ordered CZ/PL/RU):

Any suggestions/recommendations on handling this one are welcome
Windows is shutting down

[darkrage]

I'm currently selling a copy of this game on Ebay for those who are interested:http://www.ebay.com/itm/272228169924?ss ... 1555.l2649

[alecanto]

Probably too late with this question but might as well try.. It seems like I have applied the right .exe but it is now giving me an error regarding my directx version.. Can anyone help me with that? Thanks, I am dying to play this game and bought a copy from Poland. I have Windows 10 btw.