Video (Smacker)#

Purpose#

Cutscene and event playback using Smacker (.smk) animation files. Ghidra labels the statically linked Smacker SDK as DirectPlayCreate4, DirectPlayEnumerate3, etc. — these are not DirectPlay networking calls. See pass 40 notes in symbol-map.md.

Key entry points#

Playback wrappers#

Symbol	Address	Role
`lotr2_video_play_smk`	0x435d1b	Thin wrapper; sets screen mode on success
`lotr2_video_play_smk_and_close`	0x435d6e	Play once then close Smacker context
`lotr2_video_start_cutscene`	0x436460	Dispatches intro / title sequences
`lotr2_video_play_intro_variant`	0x436725	Plays `Intro.smk` variant by index

Decode pipeline#

Symbol	Address	Role
`lotr2_video_open_smk_file`	0x435e18	Resolve path; Smacker open (`DirectPlayCreate4`); first frame
`lotr2_video_decode_and_blit_frame`	0x435fc7	Per-frame decode loop; blit to `lotr2_gfx_backbuf_pixels`
`lotr2_video_copy_smacker_palette`	0x43663c	Copy 256 RGB triples from Smacker context
`lotr2_video_apply_smacker_palette`	0x436706	Apply palette to DirectDraw
`lotr2_video_init_smacker_audio_once`	0x4366c4	One-shot Smacker audio hook via DirectSound
`lotr2_video_close_smk`	0x4363e2	Close Smacker file handle
`lotr2_video_close_and_restart_cutscene`	0x436330	Close + chain to `lotr2_video_start_cutscene`

Present / windowing#

Symbol	Address	Role
`lotr2_video_blit_frame_to_primary`	0x4368b1	Full 640×480 present from back buffer
`lotr2_video_smacker_wndproc_paint`	0x43675e	Windowed-mode paint + frame advance

DirectDraw surface setup used during Smacker init lives in gfx/MODULE.md: lotr2_gfx_create_surfaces_and_backbuf, lotr2_gfx_lock_primary_surfaces, lotr2_gfx_release_surfaces.

Decode flow#

flowchart LR
  playSmk[lotr2_video_play_smk] --> open[lotr2_video_open_smk_file]
  open --> decode[lotr2_video_decode_and_blit_frame]
  decode --> palette[lotr2_video_apply_smacker_palette]
  decode --> present[lotr2_video_blit_frame_to_primary]
  decode --> close[lotr2_video_close_smk]
  close --> cutscene[lotr2_video_start_cutscene]

Dependencies#

gfx/MODULE.md — back-buffer blit, palette, DirectDraw surfaces
audio/MODULE.md — lotr2_audio_lpds for Smacker audio track
asset/MODULE.md — path resolve / PK-CD probe for .smk files

Data files#

File	Usage
`intro.smk`	Opening cutscene
`imptitle.smk`	Import title sequence
`Intro.smk`	In-game intro variant
`cap_cty1.smk`, `bat_win1.smk`, `castle1.smk`	Event cinematics

Open questions#

Locate decode entry separate from lotr2_video_play_smk — lotr2_video_open_smk_file @ 0x435e18, lotr2_video_decode_and_blit_frame @ 0x435fc7 (pass 40)
Recover Smacker context struct layout at DAT_004efae8 (Ghidra names it like a COM object)
Map Ghidra DirectPlayCreateN / DirectPlayEnumerateN ordinals to Smacker API names