File formats

The following structure describes the file formats used by K240. It describes what is in each of the game’s files and how they are structured.

The process of documenting the game’s file formats is incomplete and ongoing.

1. k240_1:data1.bin, data2.bin, data3.bin
2. k240_1:idfile
3. k240_1:intro
4. k240_1:s/startup-sequence
5. k240_2:aliens/a1data1 - a6data1
6. k240_2:aliens/a1data2 - a6data2
7. k240_2:aliens/a1data3 - a6data3
8. k240_2:aliens/a1data4.bin - a6data4.bin
9. k240_2:english.mgl, french.mgl, german.mgl
10. k240_2:hologram.mgl, lang.mgl, tetra.mgl
11. k240_2:idfile
12. k240_2:playk240
13. k240_2:s/startup-sequence
14. k240_2:scenario/*.mgl
15. k240_3:Disk.info
16. k240_3:Install-k240, Install-k240.info
17. k240_3:Installer
18. k240_3:checksum
19. k240_3:k240
20. k240_3:k240.inf
21. k240_3:*.mgl
22. k240_3:shop1.mgl - shop6.mgl
23. k240_3:speech/*.mgl
24. Save game format

k240_1:data1.bin, data2.bin, data3.bin

Graphics and audio data read by the intro executable. They are compressed with CrunchMania, although this has been obfuscated by replacing the first four bytes (normally “CrM!” to denote a CrunchMania-packed file) with four spaces (“ “). Extracted versions have been placed in the directory intro_unpacked.

k240_1:idfile

An ASCII text file consisting of the text “Hard disk ID file”.

k240_1:intro

Intro sequence executable for K240. Only 20,720 bytes.

k240_1:s/startup-sequence

Typical Amiga startup-sequence which loads the intro, then runs the game from disk 2. You can ignore disk 1 entirely and boot from disk 2.

k240_1:intro >nil: <nil:
k240_2:playk240 >nil: <nil:

k240_2:aliens/a1data1 - a6data1

Always 610 bytes. Sprite metadata table, consisting of 61 entries of 10 bytes each. Each sprite entry has the following format:

The 61 records are divided into four sections:

Each of the six alien files relates to the equivalent alien in the list; e.g. a1data1 is the Kll-Kp-Qua, and a6data1 is the Swixarans.

k240_2:aliens/a1data2 - a6data2

Contains the ship and building animation sprite data referenced in a1data1. Stored as 16-color Amiga sprite format, with 4 bitplanes plus a fifth bitplane as a sprite mask. The remainder of the file is the sprite for the alien Orbital Space Dock.

Varies from 20,450 to 22,780 bytes.

k240_2:aliens/a1data3 - a6data3

Alien building sprite metadata and data. The first 400 bytes consist of 40 records of sprite data for 40 buildings. Buildings which do not apply to that alien have a sprite height of 1 and a dummy sprite of 10 bytes (1x16).

The remainder of the file consists of the sprite graphics referenced in the first part.

Varies from 4,240 to 8,450 bytes.

k240_2:aliens/a1data4.bin - a6data4.bin

Alien statistics. Always 1,928 bytes. The first 30 bytes appear to be stored as part of the save game file.

See the individual alien descriptions from the index the main page for the values which appear in each alien file.

k240_2:english.mgl, french.mgl, german.mgl

Text strings in each language, compressed in MGL format. Anyone creating an unofficial translation for the game would need to modify one of these, then find a way to re-pack it into MGL format. Alternatively, you could mod the game to bypass the MGL loader and use uncompressed language files.

The first 1,210 bytes of each when uncompressed consists of 605 two-byte word offsets for the beginning of each string in the file.

The rest of the file consists of 7-bit ASCII text strings, terminated by null bytes. Newlines are usually represented by LF only on Amiga, but in this file they are instead represented by 0xFF. The file ends with 00 0a. Non-English letters are represented by the following values:

See the data directory for the game strings.

k240_2:hologram.mgl, lang.mgl, tetra.mgl

IFF ILBM images, 320x200 pixels, compressed in MGL format.

See extracted images (MGL files) for the images.

k240_2:idfile

An ASCII text file consisting of the text “Hard disk ID file”.

It’s not copied by the HD installer, so by checking for idfile the game can tell if it’s installed to hard disk or running from floppy disks. The main reason you might want to do this is to determine whether the game must save to floppy disk (in which case it saves to DF0: or to hard disk (in which case it saves to k240_2:, which is assigned to the HD install location).

k240_2:playk240

Main game executable. The majority of this website is dedicated to analysis of this one file. There are two known versions (see differences between versions):

k240_2:s/startup-sequence

Typical Amiga startup-sequence. If you boot from disk 2 it will play the game without the intro.

    k240_2:playk240 >nil: <nil:

k240_2:scenario/*.mgl

Amiga sprite data, compressed in MGL format. The files alienp1.mgl - alienp2.mgl contain the picture for that species. The files planet1.mgl - planet6.mgl contain the rotating image of each alien’s homeworld, stored as a series of 64x53 frames.

The file numbers do not map directly to each alien as one might expect. Rather, they apply as follows:

See extracted images (MGL files) for the images.

k240_3:Disk.info

Amiga icon file.

k240_3:Install-k240, Install-k240.info

K240 hard disk install script, written by Graeme Ing. Based on the Heroquest 2: Legacy of Sorasil HD installer script by Kevin Dudley. It won’t install unless you have at least 2,100,000 bytes free. The .info file is its icon, which launches it with the included Installer program.

k240_3:Installer

Amiga hard disk Installer program v1.24 (1.9.92).

k240_3:checksum

An Amiga executable which verifies files on the disks to a pre-calculated checksum.

k240_3:k240

A script to launch the game from from hard disk. It assigns all K240 disk volume labels to the current directory, plays the intro, then plays the game. You can skip the intro either by commenting out the intro line, or (undocumented feature) by holding the left mouse button while the game is loading. The actual game executable is called playk240.

; K240 Hard Disk Startup Sequence
;

ASSIGN "k240_1:" ""
ASSIGN "k240_2:" ""
ASSIGN "k240_3:" ""

k240_1:intro <nil: >nil:
k240_2:playk240 <nil: >nil:

k240_3:k240.inf

Amiga icon for “k240”. Will be renamed to k240.info when copied.

k240_3:*.mgl

IFF ILBM images, 320x200 pixels, compressed in MGL format.

See extracted images (MGL files) for the images.

k240_3:shop1.mgl - shop6.mgl

Amiga sprite data compressed in MGL format. Each file contains six wireframe graphics for blueprints appearing on the Sci-Tek screen, except for shop6.mgl which has only four, since there are only 34 blueprints in total.

See extracted images (MGL files) for the images.

k240_3:speech/*.mgl

Speech audio files. Compressed in MGL format.

Save game format

Save games are stored in files k240.1, k240.2, k240.3, and k240.4. These are stored in DF0: if playing from floppy disk or k240_2: (nominally disk 2, but actually the game’s directory on the hard disk) if playing from hard disk.

For a full description, see save game format.

Eight chunks of the game’s memory are saved: