The Adventures of Willy Beamish bitmap format. \ VOGONS

The Adventures of Willy Beamish bitmap format.

Topic actions

First post, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2026-09-12, 12:52

Peter Swinkels Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 624
Joined: 2005-11-16, 20:32
Location: The Netherlands

With the help of a handy tool called Librarian ( http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/project_s … rarian/release/ ) I extracted the resources from The Adventures of Willy Beamish resource files and had a look at the *.bmp files.

1A description what is known about the Dynamix Bitmap format used by The Adventures of Willy Beamish.
2
3Year: 1991
4Version: PC floppy version - unknown version number
5
6[Bitmap]
7Extension: *.bmp
8
9Layout:
10Description:	Type:		Contents:
11signature 	4 BYTES		{42h, 4Dh, 50h, 3Ah} ("BMP:")
12length		BE-WORD		Data length. (Equal to filesize - 8.)
13padding		BYTE		Null.
14block marker	5 BYTES		{80h, 49h, 4Eh, 46h, 3Ah} ("?INF:")
15unknown		BYTES		UNKNOWN.
16Footer		WORD		Null.

It's not much but I have no idea how to untangle what appears to be RLE compressed data. It also appears to be a format not used by many other Dynamix games as far as I can tell.

Oh well. 😀

My GitHub:
https://github.com/peterswinkels

Reply 1 of 3, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on Today, 12:42

Peter Swinkels Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 624
Joined: 2005-11-16, 20:32
Location: The Netherlands

Okay, until recently I was unaware of Engie File Converter, which for anyone curious can be found here: https://github.com/Nyerguds/EngieFileConverter - Which means I don't need to waste anymore time and effort on hacking those *.bmp files. 😀

Also, Nyerguds/Maarten Meuris was kind enough to upload an updated version of Librarian after I notified him about issues with inserting resources into the game's (Willy Beamish) resource archives (volume.* files). It can be found at: https://github.com/Nyerguds/Librarian

Hopefully these links will be of some use to someone here. Except for that, this thread might as well be closed. 😀

My GitHub:
https://github.com/peterswinkels

Reply 2 of 3, by RetroGamer4Ever

Posted on Today, 13:59

RetroGamer4Ever Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 946
Joined: 2021-07-28, 21:53

I really wish there was a recompile/remaster that merged the remastered CD graphics and sounds/voices, with digital music based on the original MT-32 score. That game really needs a fresh-coat to be properly appreciated in today's market, but it is very much still a playable game and deserves some TLC.

Reply 3 of 3, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on Today, 15:16

Peter Swinkels Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 624
Joined: 2005-11-16, 20:32
Location: The Netherlands

Personally I love that you get to play a at first bratty and later heroic nine-year old in a relatively contemporary and somewhat realistic setting. I also love the satire on 90's pop-culture. 😀

While the game is pretty solid on a technical level, especially for its time, the interface could definitely be made more user-friendly. Just a bit more clarity about what does what and a little less pixel-hunting would make for a huge improvement. Furthermore, I don't mind the diffilculty level per se, however like many adventure games of its time it is pretty inflexible in how it allows you to reach its conclusion. King's Quest VI, for example was a game that offered the player multiple paths without pandering.

My GitHub:
https://github.com/peterswinkels

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to Milliways