How to extract and compress .ARD files

[KalasZX]

Not 100% sure this is the right forum for the question. If it's not, mods please move it.

I am thinking about taking a stab at translating the Muv-Luv Substance doujin games, which were made in the ADVRUN engine.

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In trying to find information about ADVRUN it seems to have been popular with Japanese doujin developers from 2004-2006, but haven't had luck finding much else. I found the SDK online here

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but could not figure out how to do what I need from the manual. Maybe I missed it and it needs a second set of eyes? I only saw it mention how to encrypt a script file, not even how to make the script prior to encrypting.

I need a way to extract the files in ARDScript.ARD and then make a new .,ARD after the script has been translated. Any help is appreciated.

 

[osanaiko]

Well, this is an interesting puzzle!

Conveniently I speak/read the Japanese and have a technical background, which I would have hoped would give me a good chance at working this one out. Sadly, I have not found an easy answer

The ADVRUN game framework was developed using Delphi by the one person (using fake name "Buin Nigou" which bascially means "Section member Number 2"), and he ceased active dev of the package in 2006.

The site you linked to is basically his personal website covering a number of topics for his hobby dev and computer investigations. Looks like it has not been substantially updated for a while (last news item was 2010). I'm kind of amazed that the site is still online!

The docs explain that there is an asset compiler tool SNFcompiler.exe, and using "Locale Emulator" I was able to run the tool and view the UI window. However, it only has "compile/encrypt" workflow, not the reverse.

The docs did not directly state how the binary assets were merged/stored into the ARD files. There is a reference to "ZLIB" in the thankyous page. Also looking into his personal site on

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there are references to various archive tool implemetnation DLLs which were developed by "NORG" for use with Delphi. Unfortunately the source listed for this package was the site "DelphianWorld" which is long since gone from the internets.

Looking at the example script file "game.info" in the SDK templates folder, there is a "gcode" value defined which is the encryption key for the assets.

At a guess, and reference to other older JRPG platforms, I would say that the ARD files are encrypted using the defined key, and then inside that are some simple file archive like LZH. Exactly where the key is stored I don't know. You could try using the template folder as a test, running the compiler, and then examining the output files to search for the binary key that matches the one in the game.info

Beyond that, you or someone interested is going to have to get hands dirty doing decompiling and/or execution debugging to find the encryption method etc.

You might also try a moonshot and email the guy, and ask nicely for more info - pretend you are a game history archivist or something.

 

[osanaiko]

I also have to ask: how on earth did you stumble across an obscure Muvluv parody game from 18 years ago?