Chicken Run Source Code

Edit on Github | Updated: 1st December 2024

Developed by Blitz Games (formerly known as Interactive Studios Limited) in 2000 as a cross platform action adventure game based on the movie with the same name.

Throughout the engine you will find referenced to the acronym isl (Interactive Studios Limited) e.g islfile, islfont etc.

Act (Level) Data

On Dreamcast each act has its own folder each with its own .BFF and .SPT and some containing region specific .SBB/.SBH files. On PC each act also has its own folder plus the addition of .WAB files accompaning the .BFF and .SPT files. On PS1 the layout is completely different, presumably the data is compressed in CRTEST.DAT. it also contains a file called DUMMY which just contains padding 00 bytes.

BFF files (Big file format?)

There is a very helpful comment at the top of the bff_load.c file which explains what BFF files are:

Quickie guide to BFF files:-

 A BFF is, simply, a collection of data segments, prefixed by a TYPE, a SIZE, and an ID (the CRC of a name)
Data of many different types can just be shoved together into one file.
After loading, the program scans through the list, checks the type of each segment, and calls a "link" routine
for that type, which basically fills in any required pointers.

 Then there's a little routine saying "find a bff segment of "such&such type, with this name-CRC"

In the header file it also mentions:

 // All the types of object that you stick into a BFF need to start with a standard header
// which allows the BFF routines to seek out specific objects on request.

// "id" is long something like "PSA0" or "COL1" for PSA and collision data,
// for identifying the TYPE of the block it is.

// "len" is the length of the block, including the header.

// "crc" is the CRC of the name of this specific entry, to distinguish it from any
// other blocks of the same type.

typedef struct BFF_HeaderTag
{
	unsigned long id;
	unsigned long len;
	unsigned long crc;
}BFF_Header;

SPT Files

Used for File streaming, seems to be used for both texture and sound streaming.

CRTEST.DAT (Playstation 1)

This is where the Chicken Run game data is stored on the PS1 version instead of the folder based layout of the PC and Dreamcast. It has a magic number of FLA2, not sure why, did they ever have a FLA1, what does FLA even stand for?

static char FILEIO_CDINDEX[64] = "\\CRTEST.DAT;1"; //	"\\MYGAME.DAT;1"
#define FLA_MAGIC			0x32414c46			// Magic number 'FLA2' INTEL

Games Referenced in the Source code

Developers tend to reuse the same engine or parts of the same engine for multiple games across a wide range of platforms (one of the beenfits of writing in cross-patform C), which means there are other games that will share many of the same source files used in chicken run. Here is a list of games that have been referenced in the source code:

  • Glover
  • Action Man 2
  • Frogger 2

Dreamcast Engine

Most of the dreamcast specific code has a DCK_ prefix, presumable short for Dreamcast Katana (Katana was the code name for the dreamcast). Some example:

  • DCK_System
  • DCK_Texture

Presumably there were versions of this code with N64 and PS1 prefix used at ISL but they weren’t released with this source code unfortunetly. As most of the game code is cross platform but these files contain the very platform specific code for the Dreamcast.


Compiling for Playstation 1 with PSYQ

So although it was originally compiled for PS1, all the sourcecode has been modified for the dreamcast version so it will need some modifications in order to compile for the playstation.

The following files won’t compile to PS1 without modification:

  • types.c

However the root/cr/source folder contails a makefile.mak which is for psyq and build the PS1 version.

There are a 2 linker files crtest.lnk and crdemo.lnk which are for the PS1 development tool PSYLINK.EXE you can find out more about there files here: http://www.retroreversing.com/ps1-psylink

These files are vital for piecing together the PS1 source code as it contains the exact specifications for the object files and libraries that were linked in to get the final and demo executables for the playstation.


Missing Files

As with most leaked source code there are some missing files these are:

  • shinobi.h (Dreamcast SDK)
  • sg_syhw.h (Dreamcast SDK)
  • km*.h (Dreamcast SDK)

C Game Source Code

Some of the source code for the game Chicken Run has been available to the internet as part of a “Dreamcast source code” bundle. After extracting the archive we are presented with two folders, “simple model shell” and “cr”.

Presumably cr stands for chicken run and the simple model shell is a tool to display some of the 3D models as they would appear in the game engine.

Simple Model Shell

This tool would have been very useful for artists when exporting their models from their modelling software such as 3ds max or maya, as it will show what optimizations need to be made to the model.

Filename Description Category
DCK_Maths.c    
DCK_Maths.h    
DCK_System.c    
DCK_System.h    
DCK_Texture.c Texture handler rountines  
DCK_Texture.h    
DCK_Types.h    
actor2.c    
actor2.h    
bff_load.c    
bff_load.h    
crc32.c    
crc32.h    
fixed.c    
fixed.h    
gte.c Gte playstation emulaution routines and structures  
include.h    
islfile.c    
islfont.c font support - AM2 PS (c) 1999-2001 ISL (AM2 = Action Man 2 Destruction X for PS1)  
isltex.c Texture and VRAM management  
islutil.c ISL PSX LIBRARY (c) 1999 Interactive Studios Ltd.  
islutil.h    
layout.c    
layout.h    
main.c Main core routine and system initialisation - This file is part of Frogger II, Copyright 2000 Interactive Studios Ltd  
main.h    
makefile    
maths.c This file is part of Frogger2, (c) 1999 Interactive Studios Ltd.  
maths.h    
newpsx.c    
newpsx.h    
psi.c Playstation Model (i) Handler - PSX CORE (c) 1999 ISL  
psi.h    
psiactor.c    
psiactor.h Skinned model control routines  
psitypes.h ISL PSX LIBRARY (c) 1999 Interactive Studios Ltd.  
quatern.c    
quatern.h PSX CORE (c) 1999 ISL  
sbinit.c Copyright (C) 2000, Sega of America Dreamcast  
shell.c    
shell.h    
sonylibs.h    
sprite.c This file is part of Frogger2, (c) 1999 Interactive Studios Ltd.  
sprite.h    
types.c    
types.h    
ultra64.h n64 header (Copyright (C) 1994, Silicon Graphics, Inc.)  

CR (Chicken run source)

We actually have multiple versions of the chicken run source code:

  • the main cr folder
  • source folder under cr (ps1 makefile so guessing ps1)
  • “Copy of Source” folder under cr (?)

This was very common before good version control software such as git came along, so developers would work in seperate folders and merge changes, or keep different console ports in different folders.

The main files in cr are:

Filename Category Description
DCK_Maths.c    
DCK_Maths.h    
DCK_System.c    
DCK_System.h    
DCK_Texture.c    
DCK_Texture.h    
DCK_Types.h    
DC_TIM.c    
DC_TIM.h    
DISPSTR.C    
DISPSTR.H    
PSX_PC.h    
USR.H    
Usr.c    
actor.c    
actor.h    
actor2.c    
actor2.h    
adxtest.c    
adxtest.h    
anim.c    
anim.h    
backup.c    
backup.h    
bff_load.c    
bff_load.h    
bpacsetup.c    
bpacsetup.h    
bpamsetup.c    
bpamsetup.h    
camera.c    
camera.h    
card.c    
card.h    
catapult.c    
catapult.h    
charactr.c    
charactr.h    
chase.c    
chase.h    
chicken.scr    
chickenrun.cpj    
cntrscn.c    
cntrscreen.c    
collide.c    
collide.h    
construct.c    
construct.h    
cr    
cr.dsp    
cr.dsw    
cr.ncb    
cr.opt    
crate.c Animation Chase sequence featuring Mrs Tweedy hanging from the airplane
crate.h    
crc32.c    
crc32.h    
credits.c    
credits.h    
curtains.c    
curtains.h    
cus_anim.c    
cus_dyn.c    
cus_full.c    
custom.c    
custom.h    
custom2.c    
dc_timer.c    
dc_timer.h    
dctext.xls    
debris.c    
debris.h    
demo.c    
demo.h    
deth.c    
deth.h    
dogchase.c    
dogchase.h    
dualshock.c    
dualshock.h    
ectsmenu.c    
ectsmenu.h    
egglaying.c    
egglaying.h    
empty.c    
empty.h    
enemies.c    
enemies.h    
engine.c    
engine.h    
error.h    
fireworks.c    
fireworks.h    
fixed.c    
fixed.h    
fma.c    
fma.h    
fx.c    
fx.h    
fxtest.c    
fxtest.h    
gallery.c    
gallery.h    
gametext.h    
gametext.txt    
global.h    
gte.c    
help.c    
help.h    
incbn    
include.h    
includeps    
inventory.c    
inventory.h    
islcard.c    
islfile.c    
islfont.c    
isllocal.c    
islpad.c    
islsfx2.c    
isltex.c    
islutil.c    
islvideo.c    
islxa.c    
language.c    
language.h    
layout.c    
layout.h    
lcdicons.h    
lev_flow.c    
lev_flow.h    
lights.c    
lights.h    
loading.h    
loadlnd.h    
loadsnd.c    
loadsnd.h    
main.c    
main.h    
makefile    
map.c    
map.h    
map_draw.c    
map_draw.h    
map_play.c    
map_play.h    
map_view.c    
map_view.h    
maths.c    
maths.h    
menu.c    
menu.h    
mssccprj.scc    
newpsx.c    
newpsx.h    
nme_dogs.c    
nme_mrst.c    
ok.h    
options.c    
options.h    
overlay.h    
overlay1.c    
overlay2.c    
overlays.c    
overlays.h    
pad.c    
pad.h    
particle.c    
particle.h    
pause.c    
pause.h    
platcoll.c    
platform.c    
platform.h    
powerbar.c    
powerbar.h    
psi.c    
psi.h    
psiactor.c    
psiactor.h    
psitypes.h    
puzzles.c    
puzzles.h    
quatern.c    
quatern.h    
ranges.h    
route.c    
route.h    
saveicon.h    
saving.h    
sbinit.c    
scenics.c    
scenics.h    
seesaw.c    
seesaw.h    
sfxtest.c    
sfxtest.h    
shell.c    
shell.h    
snapshot.c    
snapshot.h    
sonylibs.h    
sound.c    
sound.h    
source    
sprite.c    
sprite.h    
sprouts.c    
sprouts.h    
sptstream.c    
sptstream.h    
startup.c    
startup.h    
station.c    
station.h    
stilts.c    
stilts.h    
subgame.c    
subgame.h    
test.c    
text_ids.h    
timer.c    
timer.h    
types.c    
types.h    
ultra64.h    
viewer.c    
viewer.h    
vmucheck.c    
vmucheck.h    
vssver.scc    
wings.c    
wings.h    

Data Structures

Name Category Description
A2TS_STATEREF    
A4TS_STATEREF    
ACTORLIST    
ACTOR_SHADOW    
AM2_STREETSTR    
ANIMATION    
ANIM_ANIMATION    
ANIM_DATA    
ANIM_SEGMENT    
BACKUPINFO    
BFF_HeaderTag    
BMP_HeaderInfoType    
BMP_HeaderType    
BMP_RGBType    
BOUNDINGBOX    
BOX    
BYTEVECTOR    
CARDSTR    
CARD_HEADERSTR    
CARD_SAVE_STR    
CASEDATA    
CASERECORD    
CHARACTERINFO    
CHARACTERVARSTR    
COLLIDEBOUNDSTR    
COLLSPHERE    
COLL_PLAT_CACHE    
COLOUR    
CONSTRUCT_DATA    
CONTROLMAP    
CON_CAMERA    
CON_CHICKEN    
CON_MRTWEEDY_CAM    
CON_RYTHM_DISPLAY    
CricketScore    
CurrentData    
D2M_TMD_P_FG3I    
D2M_TMD_P_FG4I    
D2M_TMD_P_FT3I    
D2M_TMD_P_FT4I    
D2M_TMD_P_GT3I    
D2M_TMD_P_GT4I    
D2M_TMD_P_SP4I    
DCKBYTEVECTOR    
DCKFLOAT2DVECTOR    
DCKSBYTEVECTOR    
DCKSHORT2DVECTOR    
DCKSHORTVECTOR    
DCKVECTOR    
DCTIMER    
DEBRISSTR    
DIRECT2MESH    
DISPLAYABLETEXT    
DUELVECTOR    
EGGLAYING_CTRL    
EL_CHICKEN    
EL_EGG    
EL_PANEL    
ENEMYBFFLIST    
ENEMYDEF    
ENEMYGLOBALS    
ENGINECTRL    
FIREWORK_DATA    
FIREWORK_SPARKS    
FMA4_GT3    
FMA4_GT4    
FMACTRL    
FMADATA    
FMAOBJECT    
FMAPLAYEDSTATUS    
FMASTATUS    
FMA_G3    
FMA_G4    
FMA_GT3    
FMA_GT4    
FMA_MESH_HEADER    
FMA_WORLD    
FMA_WORLD2    
FOG    
FRAMELIST    
FVECTOR    
FX_PARTICLE    
FX_PARTICLE_SYS    
GETMATSTR    
GamePlayDataType    
GameSaveDataType    
IQUATERNION    
KEYFRAME    
KEYFRAMESHORT    
LCOORD    
LEVINFO    
LIGHT_MOBILESTR    
LIGHT_MOVEPOINT    
LVERT    
MAPDRAW_CLIPCHECKSTR    
MATRIXI    
MENUDATAFMA    
MOVEDATA    
MRT_TORCH_STR    
NAMEVALUE    
OBJECTSPRITE    
OPTIONDATASTR    
PATROLDOGSTR    
PLANE    
PLATFORM_BIG_DUMMY_DEFSTR    
PLATFORM_CONVEY_DEFSTR    
PLATFORM_CONVEY_WORKSTR    
PLATFORM_POINTTAG    
PLATFORM_POINTX_TAG    
PLATFORM_PUSHABLE_DEFSTR    
PLATFORM_PUSHABLE_WORKSTR    
PLATFORM_ROTATING_DEFSTR    
PLATFORM_SAVESTR    
POINT2D    
POSMARK    
PSITEXTURES    
PUZZLEVARSSTR    
QUATERNION    
QUATERNIONSHORT    
RAILDATA    
RAILRECORD    
RGBCD    
ROUTEBOX    
ROUTEBOX_VECTOR    
ROUTEFIND_STR    
ROUTE_BOXISECT_STR    
SCENICSTR    
SCENIC_BFF    
SFX    
SHORT2DVECTOR    
SHORTQUAT    
SHORTXY    
SKEYFRAME    
SKINVTX    
SLERPSTR    
SOUNDTRIGGERLIST    
SOUND_BFF    
SOUND_TRIGGER    
SPECIALLEVEL_SWITCHSTR    
SPOT_SFX    
SPRITELIST    
SPRITE_ANIMATION    
SPRITE_ANIMATION_TEMPLATE    
SPROUTMANAGER    
SPROUTSTR    
TAGACTION    
TAGACTION_FIVESHLONGS    
TAGACTION_FOURSHORTS    
TAGACTION_GOTO_LEVEL    
TAGACTION_LEAD_ACTION    
TAGACTION_OBJECT_USABLE    
TAGACTION_PLAY_SAMPLE    
TAGACTION_SETOBJECTPARAMETER    
TAGACTION_SETVAR    
TAGACTION_SET_SCENIC_ANIM    
TAGACTION_TASK_COMPLETED    
TAGACTION_VECTOR    
TAGACTOR2    
TAGCONDITION    
TAGCONDITION_BUTTON_PRESSED    
TAGCONDITION_IN_BOX    
TAGCONDITION_NEAR_POINT    
TAGCONDITION_OBJECTPARAMETER    
TAGCONDITION_TASK_COMPLETED    
TAGCONDITION_VARIABLE    
TAGLEVEL_VISUAL_DATA    
TAGPLANE2    
TAGPOLY    
TAGPUZZLE    
TAGPUZZLIST    
TAGRGBCD    
TAGSPRITE    
TAGWORLD_VISUAL_DATA    
TAG_MALLOC_LIST_TYPE    
TAG_MALLOC_TYPE    
TEXANIM    
TEXANIMFRAME    
TEXANIMHEADER    
TEXANIMLIST    
TEXINSTANCE    
TEXTCTRL    
TEXTURE_ANIMATION    
TMD_P_FG3I    
TMD_P_FG4I    
TMD_P_FT3I    
TMD_P_FT4I    
TMD_P_GT3I    
TMD_P_GT4I    
TPOINT    
TVECTOR    
UBYTEVECTOR    
VECTOR2D    
VKEYFRAME    
WINGCTRL    
WM_BARS    
WM_CHICKEN    
WM_PROGRESS    
WORLD_MESH_INSTANCE    
XA_INDEX_STR    
XYSHORT    
_ACTOR    
_CAMVARS    
_DCKMATRIX    
_DCKOBJECT    
_DCKPOLYGON    
_DCKQUATERNION    
_DCKVERTEX    
_DEBRIS_FLAG_SUB_TYPE    
_DEBRIS_FLAG_TYPE    
_DSHOCK_EVENT    
_EXLIGHT_DATA_TYPE    
_EXLIGHT_RGB    
_EXLIGHT_TYPE    
_FileIODataType    
_LanguageDataType    
_PadDataType2    
_PadPacket    
_Point2DType    
_Point3DType    
_RAILDATA    
_TIM_HEADER    
_TIM_PIXELDATA    
_VMUCHECK    
_XADataType    
_displayPageType    
animation    
catDeviceStr    
catDroneStr    
catFloaterStr    
catStr    
controlType    
countDownTimerStr    
deviceStr    
dogType    
dogchaseChickenType    
doorType    
dustType    
fireDrone    
fireFlap    
gametimerType    
inventoryType    
light    
link    
mattressStr    
optionsScreenType    
seesawDroneStr    
seesawStr    
soundType    
spotliteDrawScratch    
stiltsStr    
tagBMPHeaderType    
tagCAMINFO    
tagCHARACTER    
tagCHARACTERLIST    
tagCOLLBOX    
tagCOLLDATA    
tagCOLL_BFF    
tagDEMOFRAME    
tagENEMY    
tagENEMYINFO    
tagENEMYLIST    
tagENEMYPOINT    
tagFMAINFO    
tagMAPCAMDATATYPE    
tagMAPDATA    
tagOVERRIDE    
tagPARTICLE    
tagPARTICLEFX    
tagPARTICLEFXLIST    
tagPLATFORMDEF    
tagPLATFORMWORK    
tagRAMPHEADER    
tagREBDATA    
tagTXTATTRIB    
tag_VENT    
u162DVECTOR    
u16VECTOR    
graph LR A-->B B-->C C-->A D-->C

Playstation 1

PS1 Gameshark cheats

Name Code
Max Eggs 800AA1D0 0063 1
Have All Map Pieces (GS 2.2 or Higher Needed) 50000901 0000 300AA1F1 00011

Game Credits

  • Fred Williams (Lead Programmer) - https://twitter.com/RFredW
    • // I'll do these things for platforms, with a view to copying 'em into the main collision code
      // when it's free. Luv, Fred.
      
  • Tom Drummond (Programmer)
  • David Harries (Programmer) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-harries-92a56213/
  • Barry Peterson (Programmer)
  • Chris Wilson (Programmer)
  • James Steele (Tools Programming) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-steele-0a62791/
    • c // Since Fred insits on being such a clever bugger and using in-line assembler, this file contains a load of macros so that the custom.c, custom2.c and map_draw.c compile and work on the PC as well as the PSX without me having to write a whole load of PC draw routines. // James Steele
  • Chris Wilson (Tools Programming)
    • ` /* Curtains.c - by Chris Wilson It’s curtains for you, my lad!*/ `
  • Ian Bird (Additional Programming) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-bird-19358780/
  • Steve Bond (Additional Programming) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-bond-b21ba9/
  • Scott Lamb (Additional Programming) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottjameslamb/ (SL: in comments)
  • Andy Sidwell (Additional Programming)
  • John Whigham (Additional Programming) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-whigham-b8524834/
  • Richard Hackett (Compression Technology) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-hackett-4324531

Also thanks to Phillip and Andrew Oliver who founded Blitz Games - http://www.olivertwins.com

Sources

  1. http://www.cheatcc.com/psx/codes/chickenr.html#ixzz5RAbHltbW  2

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