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Darksecond
rank 3
Posted:
Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:01 am
quote : #1
profile : pm
Posts: 19
Hey everybody,

i am currently working on bringing back the old Sonic Adventure website as good as possible.
but in order to do so, i need your help. can anyone explain in as much detail as possible, how the chao sections worked, and how you uploaded the ranking data (and more?).
pictures are always welcome too.
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Grunts are people too!
Dreamcast ™
rank 39
Posted:
Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:47 am
quote : #2
profile : pm
Posts: 923
Type: NTSC-U/C
Isn't the title a little presumptuous? I wouldn't say that it's possible to bring it back if you don't even know how it works.

To start, you'll need to have access to an uploading script that will parse the uploaded VMU data for you if that's even what the site used. It could be encoded in an entirely different way from Planetweb's method. You'll also need to be fairly proficient in deciphering data by finding offsets that correspond to particular bits of information.
 
Darksecond
rank 3
Posted:
Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:51 am
quote : #3
profile : pm
Posts: 19
sorry, i should have put it more clearly. i know how to decrypt ranking data, and chao data, i know what's in the chao data and most of the ranking data i got figured out. i only want to know how the site operated, to get a as original experience as possible.
only got to find the minigame data and number of emblems, the rest i've got
  _________________
Grunts are people too!
hypershadow
rank 1
Posted:
Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:53 am
quote : #4
profile : pm
Posts: 3
Hello, after finally getting my Dreamcast online I also started thinking about this problem. I was able to write a CGI script to parse the data within the rank file, however I can't decrypt that data. I think that the rank data can only be stored in the "chaodata" field, which is Base64 encoded, but it seems to have another encoding layer which I can't figure out. I checked the archive of the original website, but to enter the ranking page you had to pass through another CGI script, which can't be archived so it's impossible to continue. I can parse and decrypt real Chao data (the one you get if you press A+Y when putting a chao into a VMU) because the encoding method have already been found, but it doesn't work for rank data, so I don't know how to do it. What I did was writing a simple upload script to upload VMU files, then you select your uploaded rank data file and a PHP form converts the VMS to an HTML page ignoring it's header, and then changes the submit data button so it sends the data to a CGI script, written by me, which parses and decodes the data in the "chaodata" field. If I knew how to decode the data, creating a ranking system would be very easy, but I really don't have a clue about the encoding method, so if you can decode it, you have already done the hardest part, now just use a CGI script to upload the data to your page. I'm sure that there should be someone around here that used the Sonic Adventure ranking system, so they can probably help you more than me since I never used it due to the fact that I only got my Dreamcast online some weeks ago, but you can always check the official website's archive at http://www.goodcowfilms.com/farm/games/sonic.games.dreamcast.com/DRMCST.HTM

From what I saw there I think that the original website worked like this: imagine that you want to enter in the ranks with your best time as Sonic in Emerald Coast, so you press the Emerald Coast button and this appears in your adress bar: http://www.goodcowfilms.com/cgi-bin/soa/sonicadv/score.cgi?ASSORT=TIME&STAGE=EME&CHARA=SONIC&command =menu&x=271&y=41
That means that the original CGI script now knows which data it has to select from the rank file. Possibly, in Sonic Adventure's browser, you would have to select your rank data file from your VMU, so the file would be uploaded and parsed by the CGI script according to those parameters (in this case, Type: Time Attack; Stage: Emerald Coast; Character: Sonic; etc.).

Last edited by hypershadow on Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:19 am; edited 1 time in total
 
Darksecond
rank 3
Posted:
Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:04 am
quote : #5
profile : pm
Posts: 19
thanks for your reply, decoding of the world ranking data or chao data is easy, i've got the decryption algorithm sorted out, and found most of the offsets for the values already. i only need info on how the original site operated, how it looked, and stuff. (i've found that link already. have most of the static pages done already, but thanks anyway).
yeah, i tought the same. but maybe i was wrong Wink.
i'm still wondering what those 'x' and 'y' do there, do you have any idea?
as far as i know, those 'x' and 'y' values only appear in chao upload cgi script thingy's

Last edited by Darksecond on Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:35 am; edited 2 times in total
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Grunts are people too!
hypershadow
rank 1
Posted:
Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:28 am
quote : #6
profile : pm
Posts: 3
I added one more thing to my post, I believe that's how the ranking system worked. Can you please tell me how the encoding method works for the rank files, I mean, was the algorithm even similar to the one used in the orginal Chao data?
 
Darksecond
rank 3
Posted:
Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:31 am
quote : #7
profile : pm
Posts: 19
the encoding system is exactly the same as for the chao files. no difference. maybe we can work together?
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Grunts are people too!
hypershadow
rank 1
Posted:
Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:36 am
quote : #8
profile : pm
Posts: 3
Sure, we can work together if you want. I also wonder what are the "x" and "y" fields, they seem to point to some kind of window location. I never tought that the encoding method was the same as the one used in Chao data, since the creator of Chao Editor 1 and 2 wrote a program that was able to decode chao data, but was unable to decode rank data.
 
Darksecond
rank 3
Posted:
Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:50 am
quote : #9
profile : pm
Posts: 19
yeah, i've had a talk with the creator of chao editor 1/2, he helped me a lot. including chao values, and decoding algorithms.
i think the x,y values were for the button locations or something, 'cause there only there for chao stuff.

Posted Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:59 pm:

oh, and i was planning of using the method the original site used, the upload data is actually a website. you can go to it. there the only thing you have to do is click the 'upload' button. unfortunately, this method requires the rerouting of the original website address to my own server. (using DNS). also, the upload data is copy protected, so you can't just upload it. 'my' method is loads quicker.
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Grunts are people too!
lordnikon
rank 87
Posted:
Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:30 am
quote : #10
profile : pm
Posts: 5902
Type: NTSC-U/C
This didn't need a repeat topic. There is already a thread about this here:

http://dreamcast.onlineconsoles.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3496
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I'm already numero uno on Dark Helmet's hit list...
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