HMM Packfile - Revision history

Dan Tobias: Add category; it's also an archive

2022-11-17T04:58:46Z

Add category; it's also an archive

Thorsted: edited archive.org links to generic non-server specific.

2022-11-16T16:02:11Z

edited archive.org links to generic non-server specific.

Jsummers: Extension categories are normally lowercased

2022-11-15T17:02:31Z

Extension categories are normally lowercased

Ross-spencer: Added links to sample files

2022-11-15T13:21:33Z

Added links to sample files

Ross-spencer: Added link to the internet archive

2022-11-15T13:12:52Z

Added link to the internet archive

Ross-spencer: /* Identification */ Adds note about directory length

2022-11-15T12:58:29Z

‎Identification: Adds note about directory length

Ross-spencer: Documenting the HMM Packfile

2022-11-15T11:46:35Z

Documenting the HMM Packfile

New page

{{FormatInfo
|formattype=electronic
|subcat=Game data files
|extensions={{ext|PAK}}
}}
The '''HMM Packfile''' is a generic game data format that packages files for distribution with digital games. HMM likely stands for [https://www.haemimontgames.com/ "Haemimont-Smartcom"] who are a games publisher associated with at least two different releases known to contain HMM Packfiles - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Kingdoms "Rising Kingdoms"] (2005) and [https://www.discogs.com/de/release/1053674-Backstreet-Boys-Moving-Puzzle "Backstreet Boys Moving Puzzle"] (1999).

== Identification ==

Magic for HMM Packfiles is {{magic|HMMSYS PackFile}}. Although more data can be taken from the 40-byte format header which is [http://wiki.xentax.com/index.php/Rising_Kingdoms_PAK documented as]:

char {16} - Header ("HMMSYS PackFile" + LF)
uint32 {4} - Unknown (26)
byte {12} - null-bytes.
uint32 {4} - Number Of Files.
uint32 {4} - Directory length.

Example data (file has 67 files):

sig: 48 4d 4d 53 59 53 20 50 61 63 6b 46 69 6c 65 0a
unknown constant: 1a 00 00 00
null: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
files: 43 00 00 00
directory_len: ec 11 00 00

=== Suggested PRONOM signature ===

A PRONOM signature may look as follows:

484d4d535953205061636b46696c650a1a000000000000000000000000000000

== Format layout ==

The format layout looks as follows:

{| class="wikitable"

! HMM Packfile
|-

| Format header (40 bytes)
|-

| File directory (n-bytes * no_files)
|-

| Padding (no_files * 4-bytes)
|-

| Files (n-bytes * no_files * file_length)
|}

=== File directory ===

byte {1} - Filename Length
byte {1} - Previous Filename Reuse Length
char {X} - Filename Part (length = filenameLength - previousFilenameReuseLength)
uint32 {4} - File Offset
uint32 {4} - File Length

The file directory is a variably sized section of the file. It contains information about the names of the files "packed" into the object. Filenames are encoded using a basic compression mechanism. This mechanism saves space by avoiding repetition of the logical stricture of the packed objects on-disk. To do this, a "reuse length" field is associated with every file. If this value is greater than zero then the number it documents describes the number of bytes to take from the beginning of the previous filename - these are then amended onto the beginning of the current file name as we walk through the directory. We can infer that files are stored a predicable order based on how they were originally stored on disk.

== Software for unpacking HMM Packfiles ==

* [https://github.com/meh/fffs/blob/862887a2214e146f70b7eb362a6120fe3225fb1a/examples/pak.rb Ruby script for unpacking HMM Packfiles] NB. Needs updating for modern Ruby.
* [https://github.com/ross-spencer/hmmunpack Python script for unpacking HMM Packfiles]

== Further information ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemimont_Games Haemimont Games on Wikipedia].
* [http://wiki.xentax.com/index.php/Rising_Kingdoms_PAK Rising Kingdoms PAK (Packfile) reverse engineering on the Xentax forum].

== Additional links ==

* [https://www.gamersglobal.de/spiel/156072/moving-puzzle-backstreet-boys Information about the Backstreet Boys Moving Puzzle].

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:58, 17 November 2022
Line 82:		Line 82:
	* [https://www.gamersglobal.de/spiel/156072/moving-puzzle-backstreet-boys Information about the Backstreet Boys Moving Puzzle].		* [https://www.gamersglobal.de/spiel/156072/moving-puzzle-backstreet-boys Information about the Backstreet Boys Moving Puzzle].
	* [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Haemimont+Games%22 Haemimont Games on the Internet Archive]		* [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Haemimont+Games%22 Haemimont Games on the Internet Archive]
		+
		+	[[Category:Archiving]]

@@ Line 70: / Line 70: @@
 == Sample files ==
-* [https://ia800508.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/4/items/backstreet-boys-puzzle/Backstreet%20Boys%20-%20Puzzles%20in%20Motion%20%281999%29%28Ravensburger%29%5BMac-PC%5D.iso Backstreet Boys ISO on the Internet Archive].
+* [https://archive.org/download/backstreet-boys-puzzle/Backstreet%20Boys%20-%20Puzzles%20in%20Motion%20%281999%29%28Ravensburger%29%5BMac-PC%5D.iso/ Backstreet Boys ISO on the Internet Archive].
-* [https://ia601006.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/22/items/NemesisOfTheRomanEmpireWindows/Nemesis_of_the_Roman_Empire_Win_Preinstalled_EN.zip Nemesis of the Roman Empire ISO on the Internet Archive].
+* [https://archive.org/download/NemesisOfTheRomanEmpireWindows/Nemesis_of_the_Roman_Empire_Win_Preinstalled_EN.zip Nemesis of the Roman Empire ISO on the Internet Archive].
 == Further information ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:12, 15 November 2022
Line 76:		Line 76:

	* [https://www.gamersglobal.de/spiel/156072/moving-puzzle-backstreet-boys Information about the Backstreet Boys Moving Puzzle].		* [https://www.gamersglobal.de/spiel/156072/moving-puzzle-backstreet-boys Information about the Backstreet Boys Moving Puzzle].
		+	* [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Haemimont+Games%22 Haemimont Games on the Internet Archive]

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 |formattype=electronic
 |subcat=Game data files
-|extensions={{ext|PAK}}
+|extensions={{ext|pak}}
 }}
 The '''HMM Packfile''' is a generic game data format that packages files for distribution with digital games. HMM likely stands for [https://www.haemimontgames.com/ "Haemimont-Smartcom"] who are a games publisher associated with at least two different releases known to contain HMM Packfiles - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Kingdoms "Rising Kingdoms"] (2005) and [https://www.discogs.com/de/release/1053674-Backstreet-Boys-Moving-Puzzle "Backstreet Boys Moving Puzzle"] (1999).

@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 * [https://github.com/meh/fffs/blob/862887a2214e146f70b7eb362a6120fe3225fb1a/examples/pak.rb Ruby script for unpacking HMM Packfiles] NB. Needs updating for modern Ruby.
 * [https://github.com/ross-spencer/hmmunpack Python script for unpacking HMM Packfiles]
 == Further information ==

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 Example data (file has 67 files):
-    sig: 48 4d 4d 53 59 53 20 50 61 63 6b 46 69 6c 65 0a
+    magic: 48 4d 4d 53 59 53 20 50 61 63 6b 46 69 6c 65 0a
     unknown constant: 1a 00 00 00
     null: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
-    files: 43 00 00 00
+    number of files: 43 00 00 00
-    directory_len: ec 11 00 00
+    directory length: ec 11 00 00
 === Suggested PRONOM signature ===