Difference between revisions of "LVZ Format"

Revision as of 13:34, 11 January 2005

Some with 640x480 res please go through this adding the line breaks and indentations where necessary so it doesn't widen the page --smong.

Taken from lvzFormat.txt from http://forums.minegoboom.com/viewtopic.php?p=31747#31747

.lvz File format description for Continuum .38
Description written by Ryan Murphy (aka Mine GO BOOM) on 02/12/2002, updated 03/16/2003

Edited by Bak- on: 1/6/2005


This is a quick decription of the current .lvz format for continuum .38.
Please safely handle the differences of the Types foreach section, since
 newer continuum version will add newer sections.

The first 8 bytes of every .lvz file:

4-len str	Type - Should always be 'CONT'. This varifies you have a
                     .lvz. If not, don't continue on. This string is not
                     NULL ended.

i32	       Count - How many compressed sections are in this .lvz.


After this, if the count is > 0, there should be a compressed header:


4-len str	Type - Should be 'CONT' also. If not, the compression 
                     header is bad, and do not use.

i32		Decompress Size - The size of the data after it would
                     be decompressed. This is the value you should set
                     your out-buffer for the zlib's compression call.

i32		File Time - This can either be a file time, if this
                     compressed section is a file, or it could be 0. If
                     0, then is a special compressed section. The file 
                     time is the standard time_t format used by windows/unix.

i32		Compressed Size - The size of the compressed data in the
                     .lvz. This is how many bytes you'll need to read to
                     get your required data.

Null-end str	File Name - This string is always null ended. If no file
                     time, the File Name should be blank (just the 0x00),
                     but do not always count on it.

* data *	Compressed data - This should be the length of the Compressed
                     size. Read this all in, and then run it through zlib's
                     decompress function.

Once you have the decompressed data, you can take action on it, or store
  it for later use. The compressed header with the compressed data at the
  end will repeat till the number of headers equals the count (if the 
  .lvz is made correctly), or till the end of the file.

The decompressed data can be 1 of two types for the current .lvz format.
  The first type is more often found in .lvzs, and this is the file type.
  Files are determined by having a File Time not equal to 0, and having a
  File Name length not being 0. Please be warned, future formats of .lvz's
  may change one or the other of these checks, so a good safety feature would
  be that files require both of these to be true. Files are normally just
  saved to the proper folder and the correct file time set to it. If you do
  not know how to set file times, its is not 100% important for most
  DeBuildLevel like programs.

The only other current decompressed data type is the Object section.
 The object section is determined by having a File Time equal to 0 and the
 File Name length being 0.

***Object section can now have two different types, though only the Screen
 Objects are changed***

Object Section always starts with this 12 byte header:
4-len str	Type - Can be 'CLV1' or 'CLV2'.
i32		Object Count - How many object definitions are in this Object Section.
i32		Image Count - How many image definitions are in this Object Section.

*** For both of CLV1's Screen/Map object, or CLV2's Map object ***
 After the Object Section header, you would loop through the Object Count
 reading 10 bytes at a time till you hit the Object Count. Each of these
 10 byte sections are the Object definitions:
i1		Map Object - A bool-like value. If true, this is a Map Object.
                    If false, then is a Screen Object.
i15		Object ID - The value for this object id, for use with *objon
                    for example.
i16		X Coord - The X coord value, in pixels, this object will be
                    displayed on. More info later.
i16		Y Coord - The Y coord value, in pixels.
i8		Image Number - Which of the Image Definitions this object will
                    use for its graphic.
i8		Layer - Which layer it will be displayed on. Values for this later,
i12		Display Time - How long will display for, in 1/10th of a second.
i4		Display Mode - Which display mode this object uses. Values later.

*** CLV2's Screen Object ***
i1		Map Object - A bool-like value. If true, this is a Map Object.
                    If false, then is a Screen Object.
i15		Object ID - The value for this object id, for use with *objon for example.
u4		X Type - Which part of the screen the X coord is offset
                    from (see OffsetTypes lower down)
i12		X Coord - The X coord value, in pixels, this object will be displayed on.
                    More info later.
u4		Y Type - Same as for X
i12		Y Coord - The Y coord value, in pixels.
i8		Image Number - Which of the Image Definitions this object will use for
                    its graphic.
i8		Layer - Which layer it will be displayed on. Values for this later,
i12		Display Time - How long will display for, in 1/10th of a second.
i4		Display Mode - Which display mode this object uses. Values later.


After finish looping through the Object Count, you now would loop through for
 the Image Count. The Image Definition are not pre-determined lengths though.
 Image Definition:

i16		X Count - How many columns are in this image. Used for animations.
i16		Y Count - How many rows are in this image.
i16		Display Time - How long to display each frame for.
                   EDIT: This is stored in 1/100th of a second NOT 1/10
Null-end str	File Name - This will be null ended. This is which file this image
                   uses. The file name is not required to be included with the .lvz,
                   and maybe in another .lvz package, or a non-zone downloaded image
                   that users place in their folders themselves. So do not expect this
                   file to always be in this .lvz or to be in the folder.


And thats it. That is all that a .lvz can be. If you wish to test your program for
 creating a .lvz, I have created a DeBuildLevel program that follows these guidelines
 above to be pretty strict to how continuum will load from it. It will also stop at
 the first sign of trouble, and print a debug message for you to be able to use.

Layer Values:
0 = BelowAll
1 = AfterBackground
2 = AfterTiles
3 = AfterWeapons
4 = AfterShips
5 = AfterGauges
6 = AfterChat
7 = TopMost

Display Mode Values:
0 = ShowAlways
1 = EnterZone
2 = EnterArena
3 = Kill
4 = Death
5 = ServerControlled

Types for X/Y's (CLV2 ScreenObjects Only):
 0 = Normal (no letters in front)
 1 = C - Screen center
 2 = B - Bottom right corner
 3 = S - Stats box, lower right corner
 4 = G - Top right corner of specials
 5 = F - Bottom right corner of specials
 6 = E - Below energy bar & spec data
 7 = T - Top left corner of chat
 8 = R - Top left corner of radar
 9 = O - Top left corner of radar's text (clock/location)
10 = W - Top left corner of weapons
11 = V - Bottom left corner of weapons


Document approved for release by the developer of the current .lvz format,
 PriitK.


Notes by Bak-:

All the data is in confusing little endian byte ordering...here's a layout
 of the data within each byte:

MapObject:

0: [low 7 bits id] [1 bit mapobject]
1: [high 8 bits id]
2: [low 8 bits x]
3: [high 8 bits x]
4: [low 8 bits y]
5: [high 8 bits y]
6: [8 bits image num]
7: [8 bits layer]
8: [low 8 bits display time] 
9: [4 bits mode] [high 4 bits display time]

ScreenObject:

0: [low 7 bits id] [1 bit mapobject]
1: [high 8 bits id]
2: [low 4 bits x_coord] [4 bits x_type]
3: [high 8 bits x_coord]
4: [low 4 bits x_coord] [ 4 bits x_type]
5: [high 8 bits y_coord]
6: [8 bits image num]
7: [8 bits layer]
8: [low 8 bits display time] 
9: [4 bits mode] [high 4 bits display time]

ImageObject:

0: [low 8 bits x-count]
1: [high 8 bits x-count]
2: [low 8 bits y-count]
3: [high 8 bits y-count]
4: [low 8 bits displayTime]
5: [high 8 bits displayTime]
6+: [Null-ended string filepath]

Also note that altough ini's store the display time in 1/100th
 seconds for map and screenobjects... they are stored in the file as 1/10th seconds.
 This is not true for imageobjects.