Micro Machines Tileset Format
| Format type | Tileset |
|---|---|
| Hardware | VGA |
| Max tile count | 512 |
| Palette | External |
| Tile names? | Unknown |
| Minimum tile size (pixels) | 16×16 |
| Maximum tile size (pixels) | 16×16 |
| Plane count | 1 |
| Plane arrangement | Unknown |
| Transparent pixels? | No |
| Hitmap pixels? | No |
| Metadata? | None |
| Supports sub-tilesets? | No |
| Compressed tiles? | No |
| Hidden data? | No |
| Games |
The track graphics of Micro Machines are stored in GAME1\ROUNDnBR.PR0, .PR1 and .PR2, one set per round. Rounds 5, 7 and 8 have no .PR2 file.
File format
Each file is compressed with Micro Machines Compression. The files are decompressed in order and joined together: .PR0 and .PR1 always decompress to 0xC000 bytes (unless they are the last file), and the last file holds the rest.
The joined data is a list of 16×16 pixel tiles, 256 bytes each, with no header. Pixels are 8-bit indices into the round's palette ROUNDn.PAL (VGA Palette), stored row by row. All tiles are opaque.
| Round | Vehicles | Tiles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sportscars | 509 |
| 2 | Powerboats | 443 |
| 3 | Formula One | 472 |
| 4 | Turbo Wheels | 502 |
| 5 | Four by Four | 312 |
| 6 | Warriors | 485 |
| 7 | Tanks | 346 |
| 8 | Choppers | 285 |
| 9 | Ruff Trux | 495 |
The game loads the tiles into memory right below the world map. A tileset larger than 0x20000 bytes (512 tiles) overwrites the map.
Tiles are placed on the track by the .CT file.
Special tiles
- Rounds 2 and 3 have overlay tiles: for a tile marked as overlay, tile number + 12 holds the same picture with the background set to colour 0. It is drawn transparently over the cars. See Micro Machines Meta-tile Format.
- Rounds 1, 3 and 5 scroll the contents of tile 0 at half the camera speed, as a parallax background.
Credits
This file format was reverse engineered 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!)