WOW! Thanks for all the help. I hadn't forgotten this post. Had 2 migraines and to top it off, the hubby's sugar(just found out he's diabetic in Mar.) keeps spiking for no reason...so been having to deal with that.

@That Wrascally Wabbit: Thanks for the offer. I may take you up on that when things settle around here.

@2-SHEDS: It wasn't text. I have just enough program knowledge to get myself in trouble. My programming technique is usually trial and error...mostly errors.

@Goody: I have Aptedit Pro. Since I was using my trial and error method....."Error! Error! That does not compute."

@GMMan, A+ Certified Tech (and Game Hacker): First of all, Congrats! And then, Thank You.I kept telling him the game was probably too old to do that. But he kept insisting to ask "my buddies" on GOTD. If it could be done, they would find away to guide me through it. I really didn't expect you to actually try to do it.. Thank you once again.

I really appreciate all the suggestions and help. Thanks.... all of you.

I've downloaded all four Magic Ball games and did a quick analysis. Here are the results:
Magic Ball 1's .dat files are standard ZIP files. They contain non-structured (plain mapping) level data.
Magic Ball 2's .pak files are encrypted, using one of the available ciphers from MCrypt. Decrypting is difficult because game EXE is obfuscated.
Magic Ball 3's .dat files are also obfuscated, using unknown encryption (potentially a function stripped from MCrypt). Similar to above, EXE is obfuscated.
Magic Ball 4's .dat files are standard ZIP files. However, the level data are in a different format than of the ones used in Magic Ball 1. Those data files are clearly marked as using the MB4 level format.

Verdict: Because all the level formats are different (the encrypted ones are presumed different), it'll take a lot of work to get them all to work with MB1. Also, because of different advances between the games, you'll have lots of trouble converting everything to work with any specific Magic Ball game.

It's past Friday now, so if you want me to look at it, now's the time.

(I think you can tell whether or not I passed the exams :) .)

There are way too many file formats using the .dat extension. Really, a .dat could be anything. It usually indicates a arbitrary binary file, but there are no rules what could be in a .dat file.

has anyone tried Universal Extractor 1.6.1 on it? who knows, might help. I agree with hating IE. Then there's Aptedit Pro for giveaway, gives several angles of view w edit; allmedia grabber might give some files to pattern match for... Hmmm...

I can probably check it out for you if you give me some links to the different packages and maybe a key (if I can't bypass the DRM). I did it with Hyperballoid, so I probably can do it with Magic Ball, if it's not too heavily comfuscated (is that a word?). However, you'll have to wait till after Friday, after I've taken my CompTIA A+ exams (wish me luck).

(I hate IE. There's no spellchecking.)

Not an easy answer really. .dat files are different than regular file extensions. There's really no ONE program that can open or edit them. They can be text (ascii) or hexidecimal files. It's usually a trial and error thing with me but sometimes you can open them with "Microsoft Access" or "Open Office Base". If that doesn't work, try "Notepad" that comes with Windows or use NotePad++ like I do. This will work if the .dat is just text but then again it may have errors with symbols not recognized. If you have programming knowledge, you can use a hex editor if it's hexidecimal (but that doesn't fall into the "easy" part you asked for).

You can try opening the file by right clicking on the file and select "Open with", and then the file that created it (however; you can't always edit the file this way). Also many programs do a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) on the .dat before it loads, and an edited .dat file may not load for ya at all depending on the program that runs it. Like I said, not an easy answer for ya and it's usually a trial and error thing.

Good Luck to ya.

Hi Delenn, I have a game called X-Ray Ball that I purchased from alawar many years ago.
It was released around the same time as the first Magic Ball and is very similar. The blocks look the same and the levels are similar; though it has three different modes of play. I played it out many years ago and will probably never play it again, so you can have it if you wish.

PM me or email me and I'll sort it out for you. :)

See this is what I mean...I left info out...DUH!

What I need it for: The hubby constantly plays the game "Magic Ball". He has ALL the different ones but he only plays the first one. He is bored with it now and he really doesn't like the other games but he would like to take some of the levels from the other games and add it to the first one. Is there a way to do that in the .dat files?

Thanks!

Sorry I haven't been on much. Between the bouts with my migraines and it being summer...taking advantage of the heat, I just haven't been on much.

I need a program that will edit .dat files and right now, I just can't think straight. I, probably, have one ON my PC that I got from GOTD or it's right in front of my face but for the life of me, I just don't know.

So please....hit me with some links or names of programs I should have.

Thanks, rO, for your great choice of games. Your efforts are always appreciated. :)

Thanks for the offer, I accept. Thursdays does seems like the best day so I'll be taking over your Thursdays as well as posting on Fridays. Thanks :)

Yeah, I did notice the forums were starting to get more deserted. Using filefront is a great idea and I'd be interested to see the result.

Yeah, I reckon so. Thanks for taking over though. It was really appreciated. The forums seem to be rather deserted these days, though we do have a small following. As someone else has mentioned previously, there's probably a lot more community members downloading the games that never bother to post (for whatever reason). It would be great to get some idea as to the numbers.....

I have an idea how to accomplish that. One of the games I post could be uploaded to my filefront account and then use that as a download link. It would be an interesting experiment; (does that sound Geekish, lol. It would have to be done with several different games to make it more accurate as some games will probably be more popular than others.

If you want to post on more days you can always take one of mine. Thursday seems the most appropriate as then you'd have two days running concurrently. That would give you three days every two weeks, (the same as me).

later

WR

Since it looks like the Game Giveaway of the Day is back, I won't have to post any more games for the weekend. So I guess I'll just continue posting games on Fridays.

Thanks rO. As ever, mucho appreciated. :)

regards

WR

I have decided to post the rest of the games from the 72 hour game development competition before I forget. All games were created in 72 hours. I'm posting games from the last three competitions that have the theme of Magic, Retro, and Magnets. All these games can be found on the official website but it's a bit disorganized. I recommend Retro Ball and The Complex.

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March 2006 (Magic)

Hunger Strike!

Imagine for a moment a small, peaceful town of zombies. Suddenly, a cloaked man runs by carrying in his hand what appears to be a sandwich. The zombies are confused, but are even more confused when suddenly a fireball falls from the sky and a wizard runs by, punching one of the zombies in the face.

Welcome to the opening scene of Hunger Strike! If that's not random enough for you, then perhaps levels of flying through the air dodging rocks or fighting bosses who use pillars to throw tomatoes at you will suit your needs.

This game has an interesting magic system that uses mouse gestures but the difficulty is a bit high.

Download (18.8 MB):

http://gdguys.com/hungerstrike.php

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Evilness

In this game you play as an evil wizard who has to retrieve an amulet that was stolen from him. As you chase after the thief you have lots of magic spells that you can use to blast enemies that get in your way. This game has a neat feature where it keeps track of the distance between you and the thief. You win the game when you catch up to the thief so if you rush you could beat the game in only a few levels.

Download (82 MB):

http://fish-72.blogspot.com/

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July 2006 (Retro)

Retro Ball

This is a great Arkanoid clone with lots of powerups. It has extremely powerful rockets that can destroy multiple blocks at once. Once you acquire the "drone" powerup that adds drones to the side of the ship, you then fire three!! rockets with each shot. For an added challenge you can try beating the levels without using any rockets.

Download (1.6 MB):

http://www.72hourgdc.com/board/entries/4-73-retroball-bin.zip

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Retro Racers

A racing game that won first overall but is very hard.

we only had time to make 2 levels, but that should be plenty enough gameplay for you guys. It's a bit hard to pick up, but once you do, it's a ton of fun to play. Just remember that the game uses directional steering (pressing the left button makes the sprite go directly left) as opposed to angle steering, and you can press more than one arrow at a time to go at an angle. The game was based around the concept of Galaxy5000 for the NES. You can download the original from http://www.vimm.net.

Screenshots

Download (3.3 MB):

http://www.72hourgdc.com/board/entries/4-82-retroracers.zip

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Ragtime Racing!

Remember way back when, those old cartoons where everything was black and white, and there was upbeat music playing while everyone walked around humorously? RagTime Racing! bases its style off of those cartoons, and thus a retro racing game is born!

The goal of RagTime Racing! is identical to any other racing game, in that you win by beating all of your opponents around a track. At your disposal are oil slicks to slide your enemy out of control and boosts to gain that extra advantage.

Download (4.2 MB):

http://gdguys.com/ragtime.php

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November 2006 (Magnets)

The Complex

In a future world where the powers of magnetism have the potential to turn the tides of war, a new experiment is conceived to create the ultimate superweapon. Now, nineteen years after the experiment's inception, the subject has learned of his future purpose: to maintain the supremecy of the United States as a world superpower by force. It is now time for action: you must escape the complex or the future of the entire planet may be in jeopardy.

The Complex is an exhilarating snapshot of the escape of a powerful experiment by the US government. You play as the experiment, a nameless scientist who must fight his way out of the complex in order to save the world.

This a short top down shooter where your trying to escape the complex and avoid turrets. Luckily there are magnets just laying around that allow you to attract/repel your (and the turret's) shots so you can indirectly shoot the turrets without being exposed.

Download (7.7 MB):

http://gdguys.com/thecomplex.php

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Mag-man

Mag-Man is a decent Bomberman clone by Team Calypson which showcases fantastic sprite work but slightly disappointing gameplay. By using the Mag-Gun's magnetic force, balls and bombs can be pushed around or pulled towards your character though the controls are far too erratic for these special abilities to be of any practical use.

Would have finished first in a beauty contest but manages a respectable third in the 72 Hour Game Development Competition.

Reference: http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2006/12/mag-man.html

Download (6 MB):

http://www.finalredemption.com/media/pixel/pixelpiece60.htm

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Magnetica

Readme:

You are a magnet who can change polarities at will. You have to run around, collecting the tiny particles which have color corresponding to the polarity they will be attracted to (they will be repulsed by the other polarity). These particles serve two purposes: (1)the more particles you have around you, the better your weapon, and (2)you can discharge particles to break certain walls (which are colored appropriately). Everything else that moves is out to kill you. The goal is to navigate through all the levels and take on the boss at the end.

This is by far the best game that theanimalfarm have created. Most of the games on their website are not worth downloading but this is an exception.

CONTROLS

WASD - Move
SPACE - Change Polarity
Left click - Fire
Right Click - Discharge Particles

Download (scroll down, 20 MB):

http://www.theanimalfarmcreations.com/?page_id=1533

I just removed Net magic from my pc's, after 2 years!

Their support is none existent!!!!

Suki....that was a big fan of this software....and I payed for it!!!!!!!

Or maybe you could BUY software. I know it sounds crazy now a days with this site and all of the OTHER means out there to obtain software. But hey just throwing it out there ;]

If you find it please let me know.

There is already a thread about this topic:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/1373?replies=18

So far they don't have an answer that works for everyone.

No matter how many times I un-install and go through the correct procedure for activating and then setup the software, it continues to show 30 day trial period. Can you supply a registration number to make it work beyond the 30 day trial period? Thank you!

Mark Adams

Hey Wildcat, I second your request for Network Magic. I picked up a new wireless router today and the trial version was included with the router software.

Still trying to get the new hardware to play nice with all the computers (that laptop may be reincarnated as a frisbee very, very soon). I need a 'Wireless Magician' along with that Network Magic!

Wildcatxxx are you trying to get free advertising, as all three of your posts are the same app?

You must not understand the term "eevry single week". It seems nowhere near that to me after reviewing your 'done it two times ever' links! And I would not consider it a "new topic". Just the same one twice, Bubby. Try to get Network Magic instead of screensavers and audio translators over and over.
Keep up the good work. I do appreciate it.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/950?replies=2

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/985?replies=1

You don't need to create a new topic every single week.

Just once is enough.

Please try to get Network Magic Premium. It works well with my home network using the trial version and works well after but without some features. It really does help keep you connected to the wireless network you want to be connected to. And the premium version gives a better "My Network Places" way to access shares.

If there is a GAotD-acceptable way to remedy this problem, I'd be interested in hearing it.

As would I. :)

LeanMean wrote:

Did anyone ever figure out what happened to the game on my computer? And, Yes, I did activate it on a timely basis,

Bobby wrote:

Mad Magic is not the only program that becomes 'unregistered.' If there is a GAotD-acceptable way to remedy this problem, I'd be interested in hearing it.

Can't tell you for certain without sitting at your computer but I definitely have a good idea of what happened. I have installed many programs and several games from this site that have not "become" unregistered, including ones that others have insisted "became" unregistered despite successful activations. One of the games is Mad Magic, but there have been other programs that became unregistered for others but are still fully registered on my computer.

However there was one exception... i-Sound Pro, an audio recording program. It indeed "became" unregistered, which turned out to be a mistake that the developer (Abyssmedia) corrected for all GAOTD users who downloaded i-Sound Pro. (There's a thread on these forums about it.)

There is one important difference in how I use i-Sound Pro as opposed to any other programs that came from this site. I use it to record streaming audio from a couple radio shows that are broadcast from where I used to live, but are not accessible from where I live now. (i-Sound even has a scheduler for such tasks so I can record while not at home & transfer to a portable device, great program.) That means I must use it while the computer is actively connected to the internet, in order to access the streaming audio.

However, any time while using any other program from here (as well as any app that is not specifically for net use) I shut down the internet connection on my computer. This is a matter of routine for me and has been long before GAOTD even existed. Like any control freak, I want to decide what programs are going to be doing any "phoning home" rather than have those decisions made for me, especially if it were to happen without the program asking or at least informing of it's intentions. You would be shocked just what (and how many) programs access the internet that seemingly have no business doing so.

My guess is any programs that were indeed successfully activated, then later "became" unregistered, were programs that "phoned home" without notification. That does not mean any sort of spyware was involved, as again this "phoning home" (with or without notification) is quite common and is done by many legitimate programs. (Too common if you ask me, but then I like to be in control of my electronics and programs rather than have them control me.)

Sometimes there is an option to shut off "phoning home" in programs, other times there is not. Be sure to look for and shut OFF any options in GAOTD programs that say things like "automatically check for updates" or "check for new versions when program opens", etc. Again, some progrms will not have any option to shut off "phoning home" even though they may indeed do so anyway, possibly without your knowledge.

It's entirely possible for modern programs to have "registration checkers" that phone home periodically to be sure your registration is legitimate. Nothing wrong with that considering how many people pirate programs, but it could pose a problem for programs from here. Many of the registration codes are specific to this site, meaning they will not work after the give away date which is again perfectly understandable.

But that means if a program phones home and compares your registration code with active ones in it's home database, it's possible the time-limited ones from here will be flagged as not legitimate if there's no way for the home site's database to recognize time-limited registration codes. Phoning home for purposes of registration checking is normally only done periodically as opposed to every time a program is opened, which explains why some were fine for days or even weeks and then suddenly "became" unregistered.

I would suggest only using programs from here while NOT actively connected to the internet, unless it's impossible like in cases of programs that are net specific. One easy way to do this is to simply shut off your modem before even opening any non-net specific programs. Another way is to dowload and install the free version of Zone Alarm, a firewall program with has an easily accessible option to temporarily stop all internet activity. If all internet activity is stopped then nothing can phone home.

But what if you forget to engage the option to stop interent activity, or forget to shut off your modem if you prefer to do it that way? No problem, Zone Alarm will inform you of any program's attempt to access the interent, you then have the option to allow or deny. Again, you would be shocked how many programs attempt internet access without informing you, these are flagged by Zone Alarm so you will always know and be given the option to allow or deny.

There are other free personal firewall programs, some may interfere with activation of GAOTD programs, Zone Alarm will not. It simply tells you each time that "activate.exe is trying to access the internet" and from there you may click "Allow" or "Deny". (Of course you would click "allow" for activate.exe)

The freeware version (free for home and non-profit users) can be found at these sites:

http://www.download.com/3000-2092-10039884.html
http://www.filehippo.com/download_zonealarm_free/

Mad Magic is not the only program that becomes 'unregistered.' If there is a GAotD-acceptable way to remedy this problem, I'd be interested in hearing it. It's happened to several of the programs I've downloaded ... use 'em for days or weeks and suddenly they are 'trialware.' Most aggravating.

Did anyone ever figure out what happened to the game on my computer? And, Yes, I did activate it on a timely basis, lc57270, as I played it on more than one day for hours at a time. Thanks for the advice, though!

Any help yet?

Thanks again, all.

Jean