Does anyone here have experience with Game Extractor?

[StishStash]

I can't understand a lot of coding and debugging jargon, unfortunately    but I'm trying out Game Extractor and the game I'm trying to rip from just produces a lot of "unnamed file" types.

Checking the website, it says that I should try adding different extensions (.png .wav .bmp and so on) to the ends of these files, but it feels impossible to determine what files are music files and what files are image files and what are just regular data files. I have tried the image viewer option in the program, but it just gives me scrambled pics.

Can someone explain it to me like I'm 5 how I can easily figure out what files might be sprites or music files? 

Here's what I'm dealing with here
   

[ikskoks]

You can open those files in hex editor (e.g. Hex Workshop) and search for signatures.

For example:
RIFF --> WAV audio
OggS --> OGG audio
BM --> BMP image
89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A --> PNG image


Btw, you can try ImageHeat for raw image preview https://github.com/bartlomiejduda/ImageHeat

[StishStash]

You can open those files in hex editor (e.g. Hex Workshop) and search for signatures.

For example:
RIFF --> WAV audio
OggS --> OGG audio
BM --> BMP image
89 50 4E 47 0D 0A 1A 0A --> PNG image


Btw, you can try ImageHeat for raw image preview https://github.com/bartlomiejduda/ImageHeat

Thank you! This is a big help  
Hopefully I can uncover some of the audio files and sprites, especially with that program! I've heard dos games are hard to rip from but maybe this one won't be so hard.

[gameripper]

You can open those files in hex editor (e.g. Hex Workshop) and search for signatures.

Or try GAME RIPPER with "-s" flag, that will do the search and format detection for you automatically. It will also list all the assets in a list with a preview and you'll be able to save them with a single click.

Detected image files will be listed on the "Sprites" tab, audio files either on the "SFX" (sound effects) or the "BGM" (background music) tabs.

Hopefully I can uncover some of the audio files and sprites, especially with that program! I've heard dos games are hard to rip from but maybe this one won't be so hard.

I'm not so sure about that. DOS games are older, there were no OGG nor PNG at that time. You might find MIDI, WAV, BMP and GIF assets though, but most DOS games used their own custom formats. Even if it's not using a custom format, common formats that were popular in DOS times are now deprecated and long forgotten.

Here's some old forgotten formats that pop into my mind:
- .voc - Creative Voice File, stores PCM data like WAV
- .mod - Amiga Module, a music file that stores both PCM data samples and note sheet as well
- .pcx - PaintBrush Picture Exchange, image format for indexed (paletted) images
- .lbm - Deluxe Paint InterLeaved BitMap, also for images
- .fli, .flc - Autodesk Animator Film, video or animation

Opening these on modern systems is quite problematic and challenging. Audacity knows .voc though, for .mod try OpenMPT, for all the image formats Grafx2 is your best chance (all these are Free and Open Source tools).

[StishStash]

Or try GAME RIPPER with "-s" flag, that will do the search and format detection for you automatically. It will also list all the assets in a list with a preview and you'll be able to save them with a single click.

Image files will be listed on the "Sprites" tab, audio files either on the "SFX" (sound effects) or the "BGM" (background music) tabs.

I don't know if that will work on DOS games, but thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Opening these on modern systems is quite problematic and challenging. Audacity knows .voc though, for .mod try OpenMPT, for all the image formats Grafx2 is your best chance (all these are Free and Open Source tools).

I've at least been able to identify which game files are BMP files, it's possible they could be LBM files though, would it be possible to run some of those older programs on a Windows XP or Windows 2000 virtual machine and convert/uncover the files that way?

[gameripper]

I don't know if that will work on DOS games, but thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Yes, it will work. The "-s" scan feature does not care about the platform, it just scans for all known asset formats. Lots of formats are supported, but admittedly not that many from the old DOS era.

Also all detected images will be automatically converted and exported as PNG, so you don't have to worry.

I've at least been able to identify which game files are BMP files, it's possible they could be LBM files though

BMP files start with the bytes "BM", LBM files with the bytes "FORM". The links I provided contain detailed description of each format, with magic bytes (bytes that identify a format or codec are called "magic bytes").

would it be possible to run some of those older programs on a Windows XP or Windows 2000 virtual machine and convert/uncover the files that way?

You misunderstood me. These are all modern programs designed to run on the most up-to-date systems; they just happen to support old asset formats too.

Simply put: they all can be installed on Win10 / Win11 just as-is, no virtual machine needed.

[StishStash]

I think the issue is that the game assets aren't named with file extensions, so they don't register in any of these programs. However, simply adding a file extension to the end of the file just comes up as corrupted data.

   

Here this file clearly has the BM in its data, but if I try to convert it to BMP it doesn't work. I think this might just be a lost cause, these files are clearly formatted in such a way that they can't be converted into any other file.

[ikskoks]

Here this file clearly has the BM in its data, but if I try to convert it to BMP it doesn't work.

If you want to convert it manually like this, you need to make sure that "BM" is the first two bytes of the file.
So if you open file in hex editor, you need to remove everyting that is before "BM" to make it work.

[StishStash]

Here this file clearly has the BM in its data, but if I try to convert it to BMP it doesn't work.

If you want to convert it manually like this, you need to make sure that "BM" is the first two bytes of the file.
So if you open file in hex editor, you need to remove everyting that is before "BM" to make it work.

oh my god THANK YOU, I knew it would be something that simple! Currently laughing at myself.

[StishStash]

I have one more question, hopefully. There's also some files that start with iMUS and ALSV, what would those files be?

[gameripper]

I think the issue is that the game assets aren't named with file extensions

I repeat myself. GAME RIPPER scans for assets using magic bytes only, it also automatically adds proper file extensions on export (and what's more saves images as PNG files as well).
Not to mention that it would have chopped off that garbage before the BM header for you automatically.

I have one more question, hopefully. There's also some files that start with iMUS and ALSV, what would those files be?

Try List of file signatures or the "file" command under Linux/WSL, but probably some custom proprietary format.

Good luck finding a tool that can read these. Maybe ffmpeg or mpv worth a try (they are known to support some old and proprietary game formats too).

[StishStash]

I repeat myself. GAME RIPPER scans for assets using magic bytes only, it also automatically adds proper file extensions on export (and what's more saves images as PNG files as well).
Not to mention that it would have chopped off that garbage before the BM header for you automatically.

Good luck finding a tool that can read these. Maybe ffmpeg or mpv worth a try (they are known to support some old and proprietary game formats too).

I don't know what to tell you, man, they just didn't want to show up in the program.

Well, iMUS is definitely some kind of sound file, I can tell by the sheer quantity of them, I can't directly convert them with ffmpeg but I managed to extract them in a somewhat convoluted way (unfortunately they aren't in the best quality), and after looking at the files some more ALSV is basically just some programming to make the tutorial cutscenes play out.

Sadly, the only sprites I can locate are the interface and technically what could be classified as backgrounds, static images. The characters, buildings, and other map elements must be locked away somewhere among the code of the other files. It's gonna be one of THOSE things that's impossible to do without a specialized program...but anyway I should stop posting updates for now.

[gameripper]

I don't know what to tell you, man, they just didn't want to show up in the program.

So basically you're saying: "I did something but I won't tell you what because it's probably not the thing you told me to do and didn't work"?
Okay...

I managed to extract them in a somewhat convoluted way (unfortunately they aren't in the best quality)

DOS games never stored the entire music as PCM data like modern games, simply because there was not enough memory for that. They just stored music notes most of the time, so poor quality is most likely a result of an inadequate sound bank. Try converting with an OPL3 option, that was the de-facto standard at that time.

I've attached 3 ogg files in a zip, a DOS game's music file converted with 3 different tools and soundbanks. Just listen to them, how different their quality is!

Sadly, the only sprites I can locate are the interface and technically what could be classified as backgrounds, static images. The characters, buildings, and other map elements must be locked away somewhere among the code of the other files.

Spritesheets and maps being stored in a custom format is very very likely.