I tried Surge's second directions, but the command line converter didn't work, I even had the full version and addons as well. It did it work inside the main program, though, but I switched to IrFanview because that was easy.

Here's what I do (edited surge's steps):


How to use read/write dat:

go to Start->Run type "cmd" and press enter. type cd followed by the folder your read/write dat and your portal_dat are in. they have to be the same folder.

EditingEx: "cd C:\Documents and Settings\Jscho.COMPUTER.001\Desktop\AC Editing"


1) Extract the RAW image with the command "readdat -f client_portal.dat 0600127D". This will create the file "0600127D.bin"


2) Open ACVIEW and find the image number 0600127D in the portal_dat. Save it as PNG


3) Open and Edit the 0600127D.png file and save the new version of the graphic


4) Convert the 0600127D.PNG to .RAW (BGR Interleaved) with IrFanView save as raw


5) Open the .bin from step one(right click Hex Edit with Hex Workship) and copy the first 24 bytes.


6) Open your .RAW and paste those 24 bytes in the first line


7) Put the file back into the AC Dat with the command: writedat client_portal.dat -f 0600127D=0600127D.raw


Also, I have two portal dats in my folder. one is named Original which i take all the images from with readdat and the other is the one I test on.


Final Result:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d120/Jscho21/ScreenShot00078.jpg


I found the higher quality map, downsized it so it was equal the the size of dereth in the old map, placed it over the old map by peices to line it up perfectly. I then took the old map and erased everything but the towns and points of interest, copied that with no background and pasted it on the new map. I did a little bit of moving on sone of the points so that it fit the map closer. I then had to move the map over a couple pixels to the left and add more black parts on the right side for some reason to make it come out even. for some reason when you save the image and then convert and put it into the portal dat, part of the left side shows up on the right.


I downloaded one of the old ac skin folders and I renamed all the files to fit the new portal dat, then I converted them, now I'm attempting to take out all of the images and copy the header then paste it in the new skin and replace it, but it doesn't look like it will fully work because some of the a lot numbers are no longer in the portal dat.

 

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I want that map!!!!! It is amzaing, The water and the cross in the middle of it, I am always trying to figure out where abouts they change from E to W and N to S! Great work guys. I can't wait for the final results!

Eps:

"...for some reason when you save the image and then convert and put it into the portal dat, part of the left side shows up on the right."


Its been a while since I looked at this, But if I recall correctly, this is what happens when the offset is wrong. I think if you decrease the offset by 3 it shifts the img "wrap point" to the right, and if you increase it by 3 it shifts to the left, or vice-versa. (3 because its R/G/B...if you use different offset increments you'll get a totally distorted image).

 

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That explains it, thanks.

 

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Anybody able to replace a Greyscale image successfully? everthing I've tried has come out as a a white object in AC (meaning it didn't work). I've tried like 20 different offsets...

 

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3d models? I found the model number of a silver tusker, and attempted to view it with AC View, but it's not there. It seems like no models in ac are there.. either AC View can't see them, or they're encrypted or something like that. Also the readdat doesn't seem to work with it either.


Silver tusker is Model is 7184 dec/ 1C10 hex so I tried

readdat -f client_portal.dat 02007184 and

readdat -f client_portal.dat 02001C10

and neither gave anything out. I also tried to write a file to it, to attempt to corrupt what it looked like, and then log in to a white tusker or something, didn't change anything. It seems like the location I tried isn't right, anybody know how I could figure out the location, or guess where it would be with this info:?


Oid : 0x1da14c0d

fExists : true

szName : Silver Tusker

szPlural : Silver Tuskers

oty : 0x00000014

ocm : 0x00000002

olc : 0x00000008

eqm : 0x00000000

eqmWearer : 0x00000000

mcm : 0x00000010

szMcm : Creatures

cpyValue : 0

material : 0

workmanship : 0

citemStack : 1

citemMaxStack : 1

cuseLeft : 0

cuseMax : 0

burden : 0

fInInventory : false

iitem : -1

spellid : 0

distApproach : 0

fContainer : false

citemMax : 255

citemContents : 0

icon : 4147

model : 7184

coords : 0.85S 0.20W

kill loc dist : 0.04

Cur loc dist : 0.06

Oid : 0x1da14c0d

 

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Ok i hope someone is still watching this thread i ahve followd the instructions multiple times double triple and quadruple checked every time i patch the file back into the dat it is not what its supposed to be its fills the whole left chunk of the health bar with a greyishblue chunk ??? and when i look at it in the ac view there is no picure file for that one it says "undefined" wherer am i going wrong i jsut dont get it im geting very frustrated and like i ahve said i double checked everything