SS-Bot -> MERVBot:alias.dll alias.dat converter.


EXTRACT the CONVALIAS application before use!


About:

SS-Bot alias file format is plaintext.  this means that strings like 
player names take up less space, and numbers take up more space.  the 
average database will GROW because 24 bytes are allocated for EVERY 
name with alias.dat format.  however, it will take MUCH less time to 
load a binary database done in this way.  i believe the binary format 
is better because load times are faster in a superscalar manner, and 
considering that SS-Bot is not meant to be human-readable (it is 
called .DAT to prevent your average user from viewing it), the machine-
reading factor is more important.  and besides, you can get that in-game.
the binary format is tamper-resistant, as well.

converting to alias.dat is very easy because alias.dll's alias.h/.cpp is
simplistic to use in other projects.


Usage:

In Linux, this should work just fine with WINE.
Windows NT/XP/2000 Start:Run:"cmd" <Press return>
Windows 9x/3.1x Start:Run:"command" <Press return>

Type: CD <path to convalias.exe> <Press return>
EX: cd C:\projects\convalias

Now type:
convalias <Press return>

Gotcha!  That's just the usage information.

Type: convalias <SS-Bot ALIAS.DAT file> <SS-Bot SEEN.DAT file> <Alias.DLL DAT file> <Merged output DAT file>
EX: convalias alias.txt seen.txt alias.dat alias.dat

It will take a few minutes to convert, if the textual database is large.
This is mainly due to the difficulty of loading textual strings into memory.

Done!  The output file will contain the merged database ready for use with MERVBot.


Issues:
"timediff" is not converted because SS-Bot does not test for this information.