.bin Data

[Deezire 0]

Not sure if this has already been hit upon, if it has then please forgive the duplication.

 

I took a look at the BIN data part of some of the GameObject XML files. It seems this segment of the file is a compressed or encrypted text file - the ASCII text in them very closely resembles the LUA scripting as seen in BFME in the art parameters section of the old INI file object definition. It looks to me like this is the part of the file that contains all the tags that were once in INI files, usch as health etc.

 

Maybe useful, maybe not.

[jonwil 0]

The best way to see what is in the BMRI files is to use BinOpener.

GameObject data is pretty much unknown and will probably remain that way until we have complete XML for an example of that stream type. Same applies to many other stream types (such as WeaponTemplate, ExperienceLevelTemplate, ArmorTemplate, SpecialPowerTemplate, UpgradeTemplate, AIBudgetStateDefinition, ObjectCreationList, LocomotorTemplate and Weather)

 

This means we will need to wait for the SDK before progress on these can be made.

 

I do intend to look into SkirmishOpeningBook data which looks like it might actually be crackable :)

[booto 0]

I had a quick look through the GameObject stuff, it seems like a binary version of the Object definitions from BFME. The strings you can see are referenced via offsets in the file at locations given by the relo offsets.

 

(Strings in files from the brmi sets typically consist of a 8byte (length, offset) pair, GameObject adheres to this.)

 

I had a quick look at Lua stuff and the sections I looked at didn't seem to be 'sane' Lua bytecode using the standard open source Lua implementation (presumably what EA would have used, as it's free to use in commercial projects.)

[jonwil 0]

ok, took a look at SkirmishOpeningMove. Looks like there is a command to build an object (with an object name, a value of 5 for the first unknown number and a value of zero for the second unknown number). a "build object" command with an empty object name seems to signify the end of the list.

There are also commands with an empty object name, a value of 2 for the first unknown number and some other number for the second unknown number.

 

My guess is that depending on what play style the AI is set to, it uses a different SkirmishOpeningMove to identify what to build first. Going to go inside the game and see if I can work out what the numbers mean.

[Deezire 0]

As a guess - I think maybe value 5 means 'production structure' (from production structures object list) and value 2 is base defense. The second values maybe the index in the object list of the relevant object to build.

 

If that logic is right, other values will indicate factories and tech structures/super weapons.

Edited May 28, 2007 by Deezire

[jonwil 0]

All SkirmishOpeningMove data I have seen with a value of 5 for the first number has a value of zero for the second number. The object name points to an object which can be a vehicle, an infantry unit or a building. Or it can be null (seems to be some kind of "end of list" marker)

If the first number is 2, the object name is always null and the second number is an integer of some sort

Given the way it seems to work, I don't believe that the "2" fields are for building base defenses. If they were, they would most likely have an object name associated with them (i.e. the base defence object name)