ATTENTION: You are viewing a page formatted for mobile devices; to view the full web page, click HERE.

DonationCoder.com Software > Finished Programs

SOLVED: GDF File Reader

(1/1)

gameaddict20:
It's me again. This time I think I have a tough challenge (possibly I really have no idea how hard it is going to be).
What I require is a GDF file reader, that is Game Definition File reader.
Under Win vista and 7 games are added to game explorer using a Game Definition File usually integrated into an exe or a dll which is basically an XML file embedded into that file.
I can retrieve the data with GDFTrace.exe which is available in the DirectX SDK but this program is copyrighted under Microsoft and so I cannot distribute it with my program, Photon Game Manager.
So what I require is a small app that when given the path to the file containing the GDF then outputs the GDF information to a file (with the text formatted in any way best for you).
Note: A sample file with a GDF in it is minesweeper found at "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Minesweeper\minesweeper.exe"

Thank you for any help you provide

EDIT: The GDF data is also available from tools like Resource Editor but I can't find a command line tool

fenixproductions:
@gameaddict20
This one may be hard to implement because there seems to be is no easy way to be 100% sure where the GDF file is embedded in (i.e. Batman has BmGDFBinary.dll, Damnation - DamnGame.exe and Fallout 3 - GDFFallout3.dll).
The only possible solution would be to get some resource editor code and iterate through all exe/dll files looking for DATA\__GDF_XML and DATA\__GDF_THUMBNAIL binary resources but it is not efficient by any means.

Maybe the best would be to check Registry for just HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GameUX\Game entries?
Or try to contact with guys behind these projects:
http://gameeditor.webnode.com/
http://www.extensiblesoft.com/gamex/

gameaddict20:
hi, thanks for your comment.
I've already found the registry entries that point to each games specific file containing the GDF. Its getting at the GDF that I am having problems with, I can do it with resource hacker and GDFTrace but both are copyrighted so I cannot distribute them with my program.
What I require is a program I can give an exe/dll path to and it dumps out the DATA\__GDF_XML and DATA\__GDF_THUMBNAIL to a path I specify on the command line.
Thanks again for any help

gameaddict20:
Never mind, after hours and hours (I really do mean hours!) I found a freeware program that is copyrighted but under the license allows me to distribute it.
But it was like finding a needle in a haystack.
For anyone interested its found here: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/resources_extract.html

Navigation

[0] Message Index

Go to full version