Questions tagged [file-format]

The structure of data files and how they are stored.

Your choice of file format affects both the size of the game, and the running efficiency of accessing their stored information.

Questions under the purview of this tag deal with the selection and optimization of file formats and the differences between various file formats used for the same purpose.

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How can I store game metadata in a .png file?

Spore allows player-created creatures to be shared by exporting a .png file. That .png is a photo of the creature, but if it's imported into the game, the creature's information (such as textures, size, and shape) also come with it. How can I…
ibrabeicker
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How to design a replay system

So how would I design a replay system? You may know it from certain games like Warcraft 3 or Starcraft where you can watch the game again after it has been played already. You end up with a relatively small replay file. So my questions are: How to…
scable
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What is a good file format for saving game data?

I need to save some custom game data. Map, player, etc. All of them will have "sub objects". For example, a map and map will have an "array" of tiles. ie, hierarchical data. Hopefully nothing binary. What would be a good format for these? So far…
user697111
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How can I include vertex color information in .OBJ files?

The .obj files I export are missing data for vertex colors. Is there a way to include color information in the .obj file? If not, what are the alternatives?
Mina Wissa
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How to avoid hard coding in game engines

My question isn't a coding question; it applies to all of game engine design in general. How do you avoid hard coding? This question is a lot deeper than it seems. Say, if you want to run a game that loads the files necessary for operation, how do…
Marcus Cramer
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What are the pros and cons of these voxel data file formats?

.VXL .VOX .KVX .KV6 .V3A .V3B I am trying to decide whether it's worth going with any of the above, or some other, or if I should roll my own. The deciding factors in order of importance are: Animation support (I am aware this is a difficult aspect…
Engineer
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Why would some PNG files extracted from games display incorrectly?

I've noticed extracting PNGs from some game files that the image becomes distorted part-way through. For example, here are a couple of PNGs extracted from the Textures file in Skyrim: Is this some unusual variation on a PNG format? What…
James Tauber
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Examples of TIN-based terrain formats in FPS games

Do you know of any terrain formats for FPS games that use a triangulated irregular network (TIN) instead of a grid for elevation representation? Or at least a game whose development tools accept a TIN as input for terrain elevation? The only example…
Jaime Soto
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Which 3D file format should my engine use if I don't want to have to change it later?

Is there a de facto format for exporting a 3D model from modeling software to a game engine? I know it varies by engine and situation, but what is the general idea that comes to a skilled game developers mind when this question comes up? In my mind…
Quazi Irfan
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Parsing .sc2replay files

How do I parse StarCraft 2 replay files ( .sc2replay )? Is there an API? I know of Sc2gears , but it doesn't quite fulfil my needs.
Gpx
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Custom extensible file format for 2d tiled maps

I have implemented much of my game logic right now, but still create my maps with nasty for-loops on-the-fly to be able to work with something. Now I wanted to move on and to do some research on how to (un)serialize this data. (I do not search for a…
Christian Ivicevic
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Loading data for an RPG

I'm creating a small text RPG as a way to practice python and I'm running into a question about how to load data. The game is a wild west game, though that isn't too relevant, and I need to store lists of weapons and their properties, as well as…
timfreilly
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Are there any open source Source engine VTX/VVD viewers?

I've been playing with loading and displaying Source Engine models (TF2, specifically) and have had mild success, but there are some aspects of it that are eluding me still. I've been primarily looking at http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/MDL…
Toji
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How to create a game save file format in c++ using STL

Hey so i just learned about the i/o part of the STL, more specifically fstream. Although I can now save binary info and classes i've made to the hard drive, i am not sure how to define how the info should be read. I saw the answer for making a file…
Griffin
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Can SFML load anything other than RGBA8888? (RGBA4444, RGB565, etc.)

I can't see this mentioned in the documentation. Am I missing something obvious? Or does SFML really give you no option, forcing everything to be loaded as RGBA8888? Searches on Google and the SFML forums have been unproductive.
Carter81
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