Dat Format

2016-11-26T14:19:16Z

Rousfv:

Dat files are stored in the levels directory and contain the land structure and all the initial objects. These are kept in two blocks of data.

==0x0 - 0x7FFF: Land Heights==

The land data starts at 0x0. Each point of land is a signed word (two bytes) one after the other. 0 is the lowest point which is water. 1024 is considered to be the highest as [[brave]]s lower the land to build anything higher than that. 900 is easier for players to see when their resolution is 640 x 480.

Max (walkable) land height is 1408.

==0x8000 - 0xBFFF: Land Blocks==
Unused, data is ignored

==0xC000 - 0xFFFF: Land Orients==
Unused, data is ignored

==0x10000 - 0x13FFF: Land No-access Squares==
One byte for each land block, non-zero value sets land block to no-access.

==0x14000 - 0x1403F: Player Save Info==
For saved games, the positions of all four players. Consists of four blocks of 16 bytes with the first two SWords being the coordinates.

==0x14040 - 0x14042: Sunlight Info==
First two bytes are unused/ignored, third is a UByte for sunlight inclination.

==0x14043 - 0x2EDF2 Objects==

Each object is 55 bytes containing the object's information. Most of the block is not used. The next object starts after the first object and so on. The maximum number of objects is 2000.

For more information visit [[Object Data]]

==0x2EDF3 - 0x2EE88: End Padding ==
Unused, data is ignored

Object Data

2016-08-10T13:49:39Z

Rousfv:

When editing the object data in dat files each object has a Type and Model. All numbers are stored in big-endian format.

All Objects Start with:
UByte 01 : Model
UByte 02 : Type
SByte 03 : Owner (Tribe)
SWord 04 : Position-X
SWord 06 : Position-Y

The X and Y coordinates are even numbers from 0-254. This differs from the land coordinates which are 0-127. To convert to the land coordinates, divide by 2 and add 0.5 to get the object in the center of the square.

See [[Dat Format]] for more information.

==Types==

*01 - Followers
*02 - Buildings
*03 - Creature
*04 - Vehicle
*05 - Scenery
*06 - General
*07 - Effect
*08 - Shot
*09 - Shape
*10 - Internal
*11 - Spell

==Models==
===01 Followers===

*01 - [[Wildmen|Wildman]]
*02 - [[Brave]]
*03 - [[Warrior]]
*04 - [[Preacher]]
*05 - [[Spy]]
*06 - [[Firewarrior]]
*07 - [[Shaman]]
*08 - [[Angel of Death]]

===02 Buildings===

*01 - [[Small Hut]]
*02 - [[Medium Hut]]
*03 - [[Large Hut]]
*04 - [[Guard Tower]]
*05 - [[Temple]]
*06 - [[Spy Training Hut]]
*07 - [[Warrior Training Hut]]
*08 - [[Firewarrior Training Hut]]
*09 - Reconversion (unused)
*10 - Wall Piece (unused)
*11 - Gate (unused)
*12 - Curr OE Slot (unused)
*13 - [[Boat Hut]]
*14 - Boat Hut 2
*15 - [[Balloon Hut]]
*16 - Balloon Hut 2
*17 - [[Guard Post]]
*18 - [[Vault of Knowledge]]
*19 - [[Prison]]

===03 Creature===
All will show as Eagle. Singleplayer only.
*01 - Bear
*02 - Buffalo
*03 - Wolf
*04 - Eagle
*05 - Rabbit
*06 - Beaver
*07 - Fish

===04 Vehicle===

*01 - [[Boat]]
*02 - Boat 2
*03 - [[Balloon]]
*04 - Balloon 2

===05 Scenery===

*01 - Tree 1
*02 - Tree 2
*03 - Tree 3
*04 - Tree 4
*05 - Tree 5
*06 - Tree 6
*07 - Plant 1
*08 - Plant 2
*09 - [[Stone Head]]
*10 - Fire
*11 - [[Wood|Wood Pile]]
*12 - [[Reincarnation Site|Reincarnation Site Pillar]]
*13 - Rock
*14 - Portal
*15 - Island
*16 - Bridge
*17 - Dormant Tree
*18 - Top Level Scenery
*19 - Sub Level Scenery

===06 General===

*01 - Light
*02 - Discovery
*03 - Debug Static
*04 - Debug Flying
*05 - Debug Flag
*06 - Trigger
*07 - Vehicle Construction
*08 - Mapwho Thing
*09 - Building Add On
*10 - Discovery Marker

===07 Effect===

*01 - Simple Blast
*02 - Sprite Circles
*03 - Smoke
*04 - Lightning Elem
*05 - Burn Cell Obstacles
*06 - Flatten Land
*07 - Move Rs Pillar
*08 - Prepare Rs Land
*09 - Sphere Explode
*10 - Fireball
*11 - Firecloud
*12 - [[Ghost Army]]
*13 - [[Invisibility]]
*14 - Explode Bldg Partial
*15 - [[Volcano]]
*16 - [[Hypnotize|Hypnotism]]
*17 - Lightning Bolt
*18 - [[Swamp]]
*19 - [[Angel of Death]]
*20 - [[Tornado]]
*21 - [[Swarm]]
*22 - [[Firestorm]]
*23 - [[Erode|Erosion]]
*24 - [[Landbridge]] (Requires additional parameters)
*25 - Wrath of God
*26 - [[Earthquake]]
*27 - Fly Thingummy
*28 - Sphere Explode And Fire
*29 - Big Fire
*30 - [[Lightning]]
*31 - [[Flatten]]
*32 - General
*33 - Shape Sparkle
*34 - Lava Flow
*35 - Volcano Explosions
*36 - Purify Land
*37 - Unpurify Land
*38 - Explosion 1
*39 - Explosion 2
*40 - Lava Square
*41 - Ww Element
*42 - Lightning Strand
*43 - Ww Dust
*44 - Raise Land
*45 - Lower Land
*46 - Hill
*47 - Valley
*48 - Place Tree
*49 - Rise
*50 - Dip
*51 - Rein Rock Debris
*52 - Clear Mapwho
*53 - Place Shaman
*54 - Place Wild
*55 - Bldg Smoke
*56 - Much Simpler Blast
*57 - Tumbling Branch
*58 - Conversion Flash
*59 - Hypnosis Flash
*60 - Sparkle
*61 - Small Sparkle
*62 - Explosion 3
*63 - Rock Explosion
*64 - Lava Gloop
*65 - Splash 6
*66 - Smoke Cloud
*67 - Smoke Cloud Constant
*68 - Fireball 2
*69 - Ground Shockwave
*70 - Orbiter
*71 - Big Sparkle
*72 - Meteor
*73 - [[Convert|Convert Wild]]
*74 - Bldg Smoke 2 Full
*75 - Bldg Smoke 2 Partial
*76 - Bldg Damaged Smoke
*77 - Delete Rs Pillars
*78 - Spell Blast
*79 - Firestorm Smoke
*80 - Player Dead
*81 - Reveal Fog Area
*82 - [[Magical Shield|Shield]]
*83 - Boat Hut Repair
*84 - Reedy Grass
*85 - Swamp Mist
*86 - [[Armageddon]]
*87 - [[Bloodlust (Spell)|Bloodlust]]
*88 - [[Teleport]]
*89 - Atlantis Set
*90 - Atlantis Invoke
*91 - Statue To AoD
*92 - Fill One Shot
*93 - Fire Roll Elem

===08 Shot===

*01 - Standard
*02 - Standard 2
*03 - Standard 3
*04 - Fireball
*05 - Lightning
*06 - FireWarrior
*07 - Volcano Fireball 1
*08 - Volcano Fireball 2

===09 Shape===

*01 - General

===10 Internal===

*01 - Formation
*02 - Beacon
*03 - Thing Info Display
*04 - Soul Convert
*05 - Soul Man
*06 - Preacher Attract
*07 - Object Face
*08 - Fight
*09 - Pre-Fight
*10 - Guard Control
*11 - Bridge Control
*12 - Soul Convert 2
*13 - DT Beacon
*14 - Player Raise
*15 - Player Lower
*16 - Guard Post Display
*17 - Player Smooth
*18 - Wood Distribute
*19 - Sinking Building

===11 Spell Cast===

*01 - Burn
*02 - [[Blast]]
*03 - [[Lightning]]
*04 - [[Tornado]]
*05 - [[Swarm]]
*06 - [[Invisibility]]
*07 - [[Hypnotise]]
*08 - [[Firestorm]]
*09 - [[Ghost Army]]
*10 - [[Erode]]
*11 - [[Swamp]]
*12 - [[Landbridge]]
*13 - [[Angel of Death]]
*14 - [[Earthquake]]
*15 - [[Flatten]]
*16 - [[Volcano]]
*17 - [[Convert]]
*18 - [[Armageddon]]
*19 - [[Magical Shield]]
*20 - [[Bloodlust]]
*21 - [[Teleport]]

==Buildings and Worship Items==

SLong 08 : Angle of Building

All buildings contain one number indicating the angle of the structure.

Worship items must be neutral to work

==Scenery==

SWord 11 : Angle of Scenery
UByte 16 : Level Scenery Num

The scenery types 18 - Top Level Scenery and 19 - Sub Level Scenery make use of an extra byte field for the Scenery number. These show various rocks and pillars (Identified as "Special" in the Populous World Editor).

The possible values for top level scenery are:
*39 - Double stacked pillars
*40 - Single tall pillar
*41 - Single short pillar
*42 - Triple tall rock cluster
*43 - Single tall rock
*44 - Double tall rock cluster

==Effect: Landbridge==

SWord 8 : End point X
SWord 12 : End point Y

==Effect: Lightning & Lightning Bolt==

The position bytes for these effect specify the point in sky. Damage occurs at and near the strike point.

SWord 8 : Strike point X
SWord 12 : Strike point Y

==Triggers==

Every worship item uses a trigger. Triggers give the properties of a worship item and what happens when it is worshipped. Triggers are placed on the same position as the worship item.

===Trigger Types===

00 - Proximity ([[Stone Head]] or [[Totem Pole]])
01 - Timed (Usually reoccurring automatic things)
02 - Player Death
03 - Shaman Proximity ([[Obelisk]])
04 - Library ([[Vault of Knowledge]])
05 - Shaman AOD ([[Gargoyle]])

Trigger Data:

UByte 01 - 6 : Model: Trigger
UByte 02 - 6 : Type: General
SByte 03 - 0 : Owner
SWord 04 - 0 : Position-X
SWord 06 - 0 : Position-Y
-
UByte 08 - 0 : Trigger Type: Types listed above
UByte 09 - 1 : Cell Radius
UByte 10 - 1 : Random Value
SByte 11 - 1 : Number of Occurrences (0 for infinite, -1 for retrigger)
UWord 12 - 6 : Trigger Count: Number of followers to worship it (1 if it is an [[obelisk]] or [[gargoyle]]) or timed trigger time
UWord 14 - : 10 Thing idx
...
UWord 34 - 180 : Pray Time in quarter-seconds
UByte 36 - 0 : Start Inactive
UByte 37 - 0 : Create Player Owned
SWord 38 - 1 : Inactive Time

These are all the settings a trigger has. From the 14th byte to 33 are 10 words containing the effects or discoveries linked to it. A trigger can hold up to 10 effects, the word contains the idx of the effect.

The idx is the initial object count in the dat file. For example you might have 40 objects in the dat file and the 7th object was the effect, the idx would be 7. Then the effect occurs only when the worship object has been worshipped.

====Timed Triggers====
Timed triggers use the Trigger Count attribute for the time until the trigger will activate. Unlike the pray time for normal triggers, timed triggers use [[Game Turn]]s rather than quarter-seconds. Timed triggers also make use of the Number of Occurrences being set to -1 meaning they need to be triggered by another trigger to activate again. This can be used to link multiple triggers together to get more than 10 effects from a single trigger action.

==Discoveries==

===Availability Types===

0 - Not Available
1 - Permanent (Needed for [[Vault of Knowledge]])
2 - Level
3 - Once
4 - Discovery

Triggers can be linked to almost anything from discoveries to followers. A discovery is a spell or building that is obtained.

UByte 01 - 2 Model: Discovery
UByte 02 - 6 Type: General
SByte 03 - 255 (Owned by nobody)
SWord 05 - Position-X (should be the same as worship item)
SWord 07 - Position-Y
-
Byte 08 - 11 Discovery Type
Byte 09 - 4 Discovery Model
Byte 10 - 3 Availability Type
Byte 11 - 1 Trigger Type
Long 12 - Mana Amount

[[Image:RisingHead.GIF|right|frame]]
Effects can also be used, see a list of effects above. If no discovery is linked to a [[Stone Head]] it will appear as a [[Totem Pole]] in the game.

==Rising Stone Heads==

On some levels [[Stone Head]]s can rise when another [[Stone Head]] is worshipped. This is done by making another [[Stone Head]] with a trigger etc. and then linking the Worship Object and the Trigger to the Trigger that will making it rise.

[[Category:Worship]]
[[Category:World Objects]]

Populous Wiki - User contributions [en]

Dat Format

Object Data