lain-bootleg-bootleg

This project aims to reverse-engineer and remake Lain Bootleg, a Serial Experiments Lain minigame.

Extracting assets

To run the Python scripts you are going to need opencv-python and pefile.

Note for macOS users: You will need also pillow and setuptools. On recent systems preventing global pip installation use a virtual environment with this:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install opencv-python pefile Pillow setuptools

The repository doesn't contain the game's assets, the extraction is done by automation scripts located under the scripts/ directory.

The user will have to provide the game binaries themselves in the following format:

Create directory scripts/binaries/, under it, place these items from the original game: lain_win.dat, lain_mov.dat, lain_win.exe.

Afterwards, run the script make_game_assets.py

Once you're done running the script, a directory called res/ should appear in the root of the repo you just cloned. If that's the case, you can proceed to platform-specific instructions for building.

If your goal is not to build the assets for the game but for your own use, you can also use extract_n_decompress.py directly, which will yield raw decompressed assets along with their mask bitmaps inside a directory called extracted (located under the same location as the script).

Building

Before you build, you must have extracted the assets in the proper location by following the guide above.

Make sure to run git submodule update --init --recursive before proceeding to pull external dependencies if you didn't do it along with the cloning step.

Dependencies

• gcc
• make
• cmake
• mpv along with it's development headers

GLFW and GLEW will be compiled along with the program (submodules) and statically linked. If you would prefer to use your system-installed versions of these, use the CMake options SYSTEM_GLFW and SYSTEM_GLEW. For example:

cmake -DSYSTEM_GLFW=ON -DSYSTEM_GLEW=ON ..

Compiling on Linux

1. cd into the repo
2. mkdir build && cd build
3. cmake ..
4. make

This should produce a binary called lain-bootleg-bootleg.

Compiling on macOS

Ensure you have Xcode Command Line Tools installed (run xcode-select --install).

You will need Homebrew to install dependencies. Note that dylibbundler is only required if you want to create a standalone .app.

brew install cmake mpv dylibbundler.

To build:

1. cd into the repo
2. mkdir build && cd build
3. cmake ..

From here, you now have two options:

• make: This produces a .app that links dynamically to your local Homebrew libraries.
• make bundle: This runs a script that collects all dependencies, fixes paths for portability, handles Python framework linking, and signs the app.

Compiling on Windows using MinGW and MSYS2

For Windows we will need to download libmpv DLLs manually. The usual place to grab them would be shinchiro's builds. Download the archive for your target architecture and extract it under external/mpv. Afterwards, create another directory named mpv inside the include/ directory and move all the contents to it so that the headers of external/mpv/include end up in external/mpv/include/mpv.

So something like:

1. cd into the repo
2. cd external/mpv/include
3. mkdir mpv
4. mv *.h mpv

As for building:

1. cd into the repo
2. mkdir build && cd build
3. cmake -G "MSYS Makefiles" ..
4. make

This should produce an executable called lain-bootleg-bootleg.exe.

Editing the save file

Upon closing the game for the first time, a save file named lain_save.json will be created.

Location:

• Windows / Linux: In the same directory as the executable.
• macOS: Inside the App Bundle. Right-click lain-bootleg-bootleg.app -> Show Package Contents, then navigate to Contents/Resources/lain_save.json.

The file format looks like this:

{
        "score":        0,
        "theater_preview":      478,
        "tool_state":   0,
        "outfit":       0,
        "school_outfit_unlocked":       0,
        "cyberia_outfit_unlocked":      0,
        "sweater_outfit_unlocked":      0,
        "bear_outfit_unlocked": 0,
        "alien_outfit_unlocked":        0,
        "screwdriver_unlocked": 0,
        "navi_unlocked":        0
}

Notes - all the ranges mentioned below are inclusive, and the values are layed out in the proper order.

score is self explanatory.

theater_preview can range from 478 to 484 - classroom, school, lain's room, arisu's room, cyberia, street and bridge.

tool_state ranges from 0 to 2 - no tools, holding screwdriver, holding navi.

outfit goes from 0 to 5 - default, school, cyberia, bear, sweater, alien.

Reporting bugs/issues

If you found any bugs, have questions, etc. feel free to open an issue or join the Discord server.

Libraries used

• GLFW
• glew
• libmpv
• cJSON
• cvector
• miniaudio
• stb_image