Treeki / robert.js

javascript tools for working with Microsoft Bob data files

Robert.js

Here are some tools for doing things with data files from Microsoft Bob (and the Assistants from Office 97, since they use an upgraded version of the same format).

I'll write up a better description of this stuff at some point, but for now...

Live demo (requires a modern web browser):

• Assistants: https://wuffs.org/bob/actors.html
• Rooms: https://wuffs.org/bob/room.html

Created by Ash Wolf (https://github.com/Treeki). Licensed under the MIT license.

Think this is awful? Send complaints to me on Twitter: @_Ninji

robert.js

Provides BobPack and BobResource classes. The BobPack class parses a file (.ACT, .ACP or .ANI) and exposes the resources inside (usually just one).

Each BobResource contains the following:

• Payloads: WMF images and pose specifications (arrangements of images)
• RIFFs: Audio files in RIFF/WAV format
• Animation Groups: Groups of animation sequences containing commands to show poses, play sounds and jump
• String Groups: Groups of strings to be used in specific scenarios

wmf.js

Provides a rudimentary implementation of the WMF format that renders to a HTML5 Canvas.

demo_actors.js, actors.html

Loads and renders actors from Bob and Office 97 (and also other animation files used in the Bob Home, just for the hell of it).

Expects actors to be placed in the actors/ directory and the home animation files to be placed in the home/ directory.

demo_room.js, room.html

Loads and displays rooms from Bob. Pretty buggy.

Expects the home animation files to be placed in the home/ directory, the extracted WMFs to be placed in the upic/ directory and the converted room data to be placed in data.json.

extract_graphics.bas

VBA module to extract the Bob graphics from the UPIC.MDB database. Tested with Access 97 on Windows 98.

fix_wmfs.py

Removes the 12-byte headers from every extracted WMF in the upic/ directory.

bobjson.py

Converts data extracted from the Bob databases to data.json for use with the room loader. Expects the following files:

• Rooms.csv: export of the Rooms table from UTOPIA.MDB
• Sobs.csv: export of the Sobs table from UTOPIA.MDB
• soblists.csv: export of the Sob Lists table from UTOPIA.MDB
• Pictures.csv: export of the PictureStorage table from UPIC.MDB

All CSVs should be exported using comma delimiters and quoted fields. The PictureStorage table cannot be exported directly -- you will need to create a query for it containing all fields except for the two containing binary data, and then export the query.