Title: BigHardMaker
Version: 1.0
Author: Rich Whitehouse
Website: https://www.richwhitehouse.com/
Description: Tool for converting images to the .bighard format.

This distribution is meant for Killer Instinct 1/2 specifically, and includes a default JSON for those images which the program will ingest by default. KI/KI2 data is expected in the same form that MAME currently expects it. Although it can be modified to support any version, it's strongly advised to stick with KI v1.5d and KI2 v1.4 so that you can take advantage of any enhancement scripts written for those versions.

As specified in the JSON, the program will search both kinst/kinst2 directories and zip files for relevant data. CHD files must be located in a search directory rather than a search zip. In Windows, it's also possible to drag-and-drop a file or directory on the executable to automatically set the input directory. The output directory will still default to the location of the executable.

The program will warn you if your data doesn't match the expected checksums. If this happens, it will also prevent enhancements from operating. It may mean your data has been corrupted, or it could be a benign difference in your distribution, but you'll need to find data which matches the expected hash in order to take advantage of a bunch of extra cool shit.




BigHardMaker Copyright (C) 2025 The Dick


BigHardMaker uses libchdr for MAME's CHD format. libchdr's license terms as currently specified at https://github.com/rtissera/libchdr/blob/master/LICENSE.txt:

Copyright Romain Tisserand
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
      notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
      documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
    * Neither the name of the <organization> nor the
      names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
      derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> BE LIABLE FOR ANY
DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.


BigHardMaker uses zlib for various (de)compression tasks. zlib's license is as follows:

/* zlib.h -- interface of the 'zlib' general purpose compression library
  version 1.2.12, March 27th, 2022

  Copyright (C) 1995-2022 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler

  This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
  warranty.  In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
  arising from the use of this software.

  Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
  including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
  freely, subject to the following restrictions:

  1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not
     claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software
     in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
     appreciated but is not required.
  2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
     misrepresented as being the original software.
  3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

  Jean-loup Gailly        Mark Adler
  jloup@gzip.org          madler@alumni.caltech.edu

*/
