HexAppeal

http://sporeswap.appspot.com If spore won't recogn...

2010-02-16T12:53:55.434-08:00

http://sporeswap.appspot.com
If spore won't recognize the result (happens ONLY with pictures you draw yourself and never with spore images), add few extra pixels before encoding. Looks like it's checking for parity (3 LSB's?) of the original image.

I just want to say thank for illustrating how the ...

2009-11-03T03:48:30.506-08:00

I just want to say thank for illustrating how the Spore's .png format work. This is really broadening my knowledge. Anyway, if you have time, take a visit to my Free Games website.

Spore is awesome the game lets you travel the gala...

2009-11-02T22:33:32.317-08:00

Spore is awesome the game lets you travel the galaxy. There are over 500,000 unique planets to explore! That's just unbelievable! Also you can create any type of creature and all the creatures you run into are from other players. No other game can claim this.. The best part of this game is the space phase, you could spend a lifetime exploring all the planets and meeting new creatures.. This game is limitless, there is no other game that comes close to this one.
Anyway, if you have time, take a visit to my Download Games website.

Just a note to the author, I have started on Galac...

2009-09-17T10:32:53.292-07:00

Just a note to the author, I have started on Galactic Adventures. I think that this article should get an update with information on the mission files. The original python program from sa doesn't even want to touch the adventure files. It hangs at the zlib decompression from what I can see. Get back with me, I am looking up as much info as I can.

I found the original code from SA lurking in a hid...

2009-09-01T13:17:30.716-07:00

I found the original code from SA lurking in a hidden folder in my documents (hmmm, I wonder how it got there?). I think its a bit long to post the full code in a comment with it being 597 lines. I can email it to whoever requests it from me through email.

I'm with these guys. Anybody still have a copy? Or...

2009-07-17T01:03:41.300-07:00

I'm with these guys.
Anybody still have a copy? Or, could anyone with a Something Awful subscription help us out?

Hi, Could you please repost the python scrypt? Th...

2009-07-15T16:15:46.253-07:00

Hi,

Could you please repost the python scrypt? The link is dead. Thanks !

I really don't like necroposting, but I see no oth...

2009-07-01T15:21:11.498-07:00

I really don't like necroposting, but I see no other way to get the info I need. Do you, by any chance, happen to have the python script for decoding Spore .png files anywhere? The link you posted is now dead, and Google is no help -.- Anyways, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

~ Michael

you will be sadly missed :(

2009-04-07T11:02:51.338-07:00

you will be sadly missed :(

Testing 1,2,3

2009-02-16T12:00:19.615-08:00

Testing 1,2,3

Am I to understand that the problem he was having ...

2008-10-12T02:11:24.225-07:00

Am I to understand that the problem he was having with the encoder had to do with the IID of the files?

If so, those are generated using a combined preset DWORD, and a name hash of the file being encoded for DBPF storage (or .png storage in this case)

We had to learn that one from maxis by asking when we were decoding sims 2.

It probably has more to do with the creators not w...

2008-09-21T04:08:36.217-07:00

It probably has more to do with the creators not wanting you to take the content that their users are creating and putting it into your game. I.e., maybe taking the airplanes and putting it into a flight sim. The only reason why I come to that conclusion is because I believe from reading the past thread that if the png file is loading a bunch of random salt keys from the game then the discovery of one key from my understanding of keys would allow you to import creatures as the one you are proposing but that's just my take on it. Either way I think being able to create your own tools would benefit spore. If a science class for example wanted to import spider species into the game but didn't want to use the Spore tools then someone could create a 3rd party tool more intuned to the needs of the science class. I don't know how advance Spore is for that but it sounded like Will W. wanted to see Spore in the next science class and I'm sure kids interested in this stuff would enjoy even more to see an actual scientific creature imported and used in this engine however right now the game is simply that, just a game for kids and adults that like kids games.

This is great work, I can also note that the proce...

2008-09-18T18:03:39.908-07:00

This is great work, I can also note that the process doesn't change for the full release. This info has helped a great deal with a program i am working on. Cheers.

Nice post. Thanks for the info.

2008-09-03T13:54:18.674-07:00

Nice post. Thanks for the info.

I don't understand where you've taken the probabil...

2008-08-17T03:30:25.703-07:00

I don't understand where you've taken the probabilities from?

Gluck!

2008-08-17T02:29:04.072-07:00

Gluck!

Yes, I should have updated the post. I found it to...

2008-08-13T12:05:42.754-07:00

Yes, I should have updated the post. I found it too (and as far as I know, responsible to making it more publicized), and wrote a short description of the encoding mechanism here

I read somewhere that this has already been figure...

2008-08-13T11:30:56.305-07:00

I read somewhere that this has already been figured out. There is a python script that will extract or embed the model data in a png. It's xml once you descramble it.

Thank you for all the hard work you spent working ...

2008-08-05T01:23:51.766-07:00

Thank you for all the hard work you spent working on this posting.

I haven't a clue when it comes to the technological aspect of things, but off the top of my head - can it be that maxis used the extra LSBs to encode some personal information about the creator of the creature?

i'll keep pondering on this, my lad

You can turn off your internet connection and see ...

2008-08-02T13:30:12.164-07:00

You can turn off your internet connection and see that creature creator is still willing to load (not previously cached) creatures.
But you are not completely wrong - the pixels themselves contain the creature data, as I've written in a previous post.

Actually, I now have a method for extracting the data from the png files, and I'll post about it in the next few days.

I don't think the creature data is embedded in the...

2008-08-02T12:53:08.850-07:00

I don't think the creature data is embedded in the png. I think the creature png is used as a "checksum" to get the real creature data from the server. So when you drag a creature image into the spore editor, it will send the image to the server, which in turn will lookup the creature data and send it back.

I didn't verify this, but its about the only thing I can imagine, because I've used a png chunk viewer, and there is simply no space left besides the image pixels to store additional data.

let's see you recreate it in spore

2008-08-01T00:48:42.460-07:00

let's see you recreate it in spore

Hey Mythor,LSB is the least significant bit, which...

2008-07-30T01:23:34.627-07:00

Hey Mythor,
LSB is the least significant bit, which in our case means the bit that changing it would cause the least noticeable change in colors.
As for PNG containers, this would be the obvious place to save the creature's data. Alas, Maxis chose not to do so, and there isn't any specially created container in the files.

It is fixed now, the firebug sale is over.

2008-07-28T18:11:38.849-07:00

It is fixed now, the firebug sale is over.

yep, the issue is still there, but supposedly it w...

2008-07-28T10:46:51.494-07:00

yep, the issue is still there, but supposedly it would be fixed by tomorrow.
This is your last chance to find out the email addresses of maxis employees, or of that cute girl that uploaded that bunny yesterday.