Alien Breed
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Alien Breed
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| Levels? |  Partially editable |
|---|---|
| Tiles? | Partially editable |
| Sprites? | Partially editable |
| Fullscreen? |  Editable |
| Sound? | Editable |
| Music? | Partially editable |
| Text? | Partially editable |
| Story/cutscenes? | Partially editable |
| UI/menus? | Partially editable |
| Demos? | Editable |
Alien Breed is the 1993 IBM PC edition by Team17, converted by A.V.M. This page describes the 135 files in the inspected local collection. The edition includes 256-colour VGA graphics, sampled sound, FM music, and optional Roland and PC-speaker music. Asset formats differ from the Amiga and later OpenBreed resources.
The file extension alone is not always enough to select a decoder. .DAT covers configuration, demo inputs, and compressed drivers. The .BEP and .ROL music files contain Standard MIDI Files. .VHF, .EHF, and .HUF use the same size-prefixed LZHUF wrapper but hold different decoded data.
Tools
| Name | Platform | Archives | Levels | Graphics | Music | Sounds | Text | Saves | .exe patch | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| re-alienbreed | Web browser | N/A | Edit | Export | Preview | Play / export | Some | No | No | Open-source port, asset viewer and level workshop. Requires the user's own original game files. The workshop imports and exports a JSON map model or decompressed raw bytes; it does not write a compressed DOS .HUF replacement. |
File formats
| Filename | Format | Details |
|---|---|---|
| *.256 | Alien Breed 256 Format | Raw 320×200 indexed VGA tile sheets |
| *.VHF | Alien Breed VHF Format | Compressed 320×200 indexed VGA screens and interface art |
| *.EHF | Alien Breed EHF Format | Compressed four-plane sprite sheets |
| *.HUF | Alien Breed HUF Map Format | Compressed 120×96 level maps with remaining data |
| *.VOC | Alien Breed VOC Format | Creative Voice File samples |
| *.CMF | Alien Breed CMF Format | Creative Music File FM scores |
| *.BEP | Alien Breed BEP Format | Standard MIDI Files used by the beeper path |
| *.ROL | Alien Breed ROL Format | Standard MIDI Files used by the Roland path |
| DEMO.DAT / SETUP.DAT / AVM_*.DAT | Alien Breed DAT Format | Demo inputs, configuration, and compressed sound drivers |
| *.BIN | Alien Breed BIN Driver Format | Sound driver code modules |
| AVM.INF | Alien Breed INF Format | Game identification record |
| SETUP.M32 | Alien Breed M32 Format | MT-32 configuration preset |
| REM | Alien Breed REM File | Extensionless copy of the MT-32 preset |
| INSTALL.DSK | Alien Breed DSK File | Turbo C context data |
| READ.ME | Alien Breed ME File | Original PC-edition documentation |
| STATE.RST | Alien Breed RST File | BRIEF editor state |
The shared compression wrapper is documented at Alien Breed LZHUF Compression.
Notes
- The playable game asset families are .256, .VHF, .EHF, .HUF, .VOC, .CMF, .BEP, .ROL, and parts of .DAT. The remaining entries document supporting programs, settings, text, and incidental files found in the collection.
- Map cells are now decoded by the port as a 120×96 grid of big-endian words; older format notes predate that finding. The 3,188-byte remainder of each decompressed map still lacks a complete specification.
- No claim is made that incidental files such as INSTALL.DSK, STATE.RST, or the Loom launcher were present in the original retail release.
External links
- re-alienbreed – browser port; load your own game files
- re-alienbreed on GitHub – source, parsers, reverse-engineering notes, and evidence log