Alien Breed DAT Format
The six .DAT files belong to three different families. The extension does not specify a single binary structure.
File format
SETUP.DAT, sb16/SETUP.DAT, and mt32/SETUP.DAT are all 103 bytes. Root SETUP.DAT is byte-identical to the Sound Blaster preset. The MT-32 preset differs only at offset 0x06: 00 versus 01. run.bat copies the selected preset into the game directory, so that difference selects between these supplied sound configurations; its exact internal field name is unverified.
The first twelve bytes of root SETUP.DAT are:
01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 09 00 04 00
SETUP.M32 and REM are byte-identical to mt32/SETUP.DAT. Preserve the record length and unknown fields.
Compressed driver records
| File | Stored length | Decoded length | Decoded identifier at offset 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| AVM_DD.DAT | 4,521 | 7,800 | CTVDSK |
| AVM_SB.DAT | 2,681 | 3,910 | CT-VOICE |
Both use the four-byte length plus LZHUF stream. They decoded completely. Their output begins with an x86 jump and contains Creative Sound Blaster driver identification/copyright strings. They are driver binaries, not PCM sample data. The compression interpretation is based on the classic LZHUF implementation and confirmed against these two local samples.
Demo record
DEMO.DAT is 1,024 bytes, begins with five zero bytes, and then contains repeated small byte values. Later executable analysis identifies this as 1,024 consecutive one-byte input samples, one per game frame. The game reads it at startup, plays it on level index 2, and can record a replacement after 0x400 frames. The low four input bits select movement direction; remaining bits and exact playback timing need further analysis.
Notes
The later port identifies keyboard binding bytes at offsets 0x5E–0x66 (up, down, left, right, fire, action, pause, abort, quit); most other setup fields remain unmapped. No public Alien Breed specification for the complete setup record was located. Driver identities come from the successfully decoded binaries; their entry-point/API layout was not recovered. The original READ.ME explains sound configuration and XMS requirements but provides no binary schema.
Files
Paths are relative to game/.
| File | Stored bytes |
|---|---|
| AVM_DD.DAT | 4,521 |
| AVM_SB.DAT | 2,681 |
| DEMO.DAT | 1,024 |
| SETUP.DAT | 103 |
| mt32/SETUP.DAT | 103 |
| sb16/SETUP.DAT | 103 |
Source code
From re-alienbreed, the open-source browser port and asset viewer:
Credits
The Alien Breed-specific format research and parsers were prepared by VorticonCmdr. If you find this information helpful in a project you're working on, please give credit where credit is due. (A link back to this wiki would be nice too!)