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+# hlm2-wad-extract
+
+This application is a tool to extract the asset data used in the newly released [Hotline Miami 2: Wrong
+Humber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotline_Miami_2:_Wrong_Number) game. After purchasing and thoroughly enjoying this
+title, I desired that I would also like to listen to the excellent soundtrack while coding. I was slightly disappointed
+when I discovered that the music data was not simply included in the install directory as it was in the preceding game.
+Seeing as I had some free time, I decided to try to fish out the music OGG files myself out of the accompanying game WAD
+pack files. The file format turned out to be really simple and easy to decipher, so I wrote a small Python utility to
+extract some or all of the game data.
+
+## Usage Instructions
+
+This script makes it trivial to extract game data from the WAD files shipped with the game (currently
+`hlm2_data_desktop.wad` and `hlm2_patch_desktop.wad`). These files can be found in the game install directory; on Linux
+this is under `~/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Hotline Miami 2` (probably in a similar location on other platforms).
+Assuming that you have [Python 2.7](https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.7/) installed, you can execute the
+`extract.py` script with the `-h` option for a description of available options:
+
+```
+usage: parse.py [-h] [--pattern PATTERN] [--output DIRECTORY]
+                filename [filename ...]
+
+Extract assets from Hotline Miami 2 WAD files
+
+positional arguments:
+  filename            WAD files to extract
+
+optional arguments:
+  -h, --help          show this help message and exit
+  --pattern PATTERN   asset file filter pattern (ex: *.ogg)
+  --output DIRECTORY  output directory for asset files
+```
+
+For example, in order to extract the game's music files only, you could execute the following command:
+
+`./parse.py --pattern "*.ogg" --output test hlm2_data_desktop.wad`
+
+While I expect this utility to be trivial for all to use, let me know if you encounter any difficulties or unexpected
+behavior.