Microsoft Agent character

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File Format
Name Microsoft Agent character
Ontology
Extension(s) .acs, .acf, .aca
Released 1997

Microsoft Agent was a Windows API, released in 1997 and abandoned by 2003[1], for creating animated characters (sometimes also called "agents") that would serve as part of a program's interface. It allowed for the creation of new characters, beyond the default provided by Microsoft.

Apparently there was both a "version 1" and "version 2" agent format.[2]

Contents

Extensions

Normal character files have the extension ".acs". For distribution online (from when a megabyte download would be too long a wait for most users), characters can be split into .acf files, containing the "core information" of the character; and .aca files, which contain individual animations.[3]

Identification

At least for version 2 files, ACS files begin with 0xAB 0xCD 0xAB 0xC3 and ACF files with 0xAB 0xCD 0xAB 0xC4; ACA files apparently begin with a minor version number[4].

Specifications

Sample Files

Software

Links

See Also

References

  1. Wikipedia:Microsoft Agent
  2. http://fileformats.lebeausoftware.org/downloadfile.aspx?ID=25001fc7-18e9-49a4-90dc-21e8ff46aa1d → Introduction
  3. http://fileformats.lebeausoftware.org/downloadfile.aspx?ID=25001fc7-18e9-49a4-90dc-21e8ff46aa1d → ACF Format
  4. http://fileformats.lebeausoftware.org/downloadfile.aspx?ID=25001fc7-18e9-49a4-90dc-21e8ff46aa1d
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