View source for Spore:DBPF

Copied from CustomSims3 http://www.customsims3.com/forum1/YaBB.pl?num=1214408105
<pre>
// File Format Specs
// Header:
//    DWord type_name [0x46504244 "DBPF"]
//    DWord version_maj [2]
//    DWord version_min [0]
//    DWord ???
//    DWord ???
//    DWord ???
//    DWord ??? [created?]
//    DWord ??? [modified?]
//    DWord ??? [index_maj?]
//    DWord entry_count
//    Dword old_version_field [formerly the entry point]
//    DWord index_size  [index size]
//    Dword ??? [num_holes?]
//    Dword ??? [hole_loc?]
//    Dword ??? [hole_size?]
//    Dword ??? [index_min?] [3]
//    DWord index_start_V2 [file offset to seek to for index start]
//    DWord padding[7]
//
// Index:
// In general, a single linear read of this file type is impossible.
// You have to read the index, often (but not necessarily) located at the end of the file.
// So, you can read the header, skip to the index, sort the entries, rewind and skip to
// each chunk, or you can seek from each index entry to the chunk, then return to the index.
//
//    DWord index_type [known values 4, 5, 6 and 7]
//
//    case 4:  [8+(entry_count*28) must equal index_size]
//	  DWord index_null [zero]
//	  repeated once per entry_count:
//		DWord type
//		DWord group?
//		DWord instance?
//		DWord Chunk_offset
//		DWord Disk_Size [or'd with 0x80000000]
//		DWord Mem_size [decompressed size]
//		Word Compressed [0=no, 0xFFFF=yes]
//		Word unknown [1]
//    case 5:    [12+(entry_count*24) must equal index_size]
//	  DWord type
//	  DWord index_null [zero]
//	  repeated once per entry_count:
//		DWord group?
//		DWord instance?
//		DWord Chunk_offset
//		DWord Disk_Size [or'd with 0x80000000]
//		DWord Mem_size [decompressed size]
//		Word Compressed [0=no, 0xFFFF=yes]
//		Word unknown [1]
//    case 6:    [12+(entry_count*24) must equal index_size]
//	  DWord type
//	  DWord index_null [zero]
//	  repeated once per entry_count:
//		DWord group?
//		DWord instance?
//		DWord Chunk_offset
//		DWord Disk_Size [or'd with 0x80000000]
//		DWord Mem_size [decompressed size]
//		Word Compressed [0=no, 0xFFFF=yes]
//		Word unknown [1]
//    case 7:    [16+(entry_count*20) must equal index_size]
//	  DWord type
//	  DWord group?
//	  DWord index_null [zero]
//	  repeated once per entry_count:
//		DWord instance?
//		DWord Chunk_offset
//		DWord Disk_Size [or'd with 0x80000000]
//		DWord Mem_size [decompressed size]
//		Word Compressed [0=no, 0xFFFF=yes]
//		Word unknown [1]
//
// The overall structure appears that index type 4 has a unique type, group and instance
// for each entry, index types 5 and 6 all share the same type, and index type 7 all
// share the same type and group values. So 5, 6 and 7 are shorter per entry to save space
//
// Chunks:
//    Every chunk type is different. The index entry tells you where in the file the
//    chunk starts at, and how large it is. If it is compressed, the index gives the
//    uncompressed size. The compression is compatible with that used for DBPF V1, but
//    the compressed file header has changed from 9 bytes to 5. These 5 bytes are
//    counted as a part of the compressed size indicated in the index. The first two bytes
//    are the compression type 0x10, 0xFB or 0x50, 0xFB [0xFB10 or 0xFB50]. These appear
//    to decompress the same way. The next three bytes are the decompressed size, in
//    Big-Endian format (hi-byte to lo-byte). This should match the value found in the
//    index. Examples of decompression code are documented on the Sims2Wiki and at
//    moreawesomethanyou.com.
//
</pre>

== Visual Guide to DBPF v2.0 ==

Having recently started poking around with the DBPF format again for the SimCity 4 community on SimTropolis, I created some visual guides to the DBPF archive format. Hopefully they will be found useful here.
{|
| [[Image:DBPF_File_Format_v2.0.png|thumb|left|200x152px|alt=DBPF v2.0 Visual Guide|DBPF v2.0]]
|}

Some information was taken from old DatGen source code, such as the Created/Modified timestamps and possible Flags DWORD. That information may not be accurate, as it was some time ago that I last chatted with Maxoids about the DBPF format.

 - DarkMatter

See [[Spore:Chunk Types]]