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Developers programming third-party applications to enhance BioWare's Aurora Engine and Toolset on various platforms
will find documents, downloads and links to help them on their way.
Message from Don Moar
Updated Dec 11 2003
I'd like to thank you for taking the time to check out the For Developers section of the BioWare community. The set of documentation required for creating tools that will work with the Aurora engine class of games is now effectively complete.
Starting with the .bif / .key, and .erf file formats you can extract the individual data files from any source in the game. With the .gff file format you can then read and modify most of those data files, repackaging them when you're done. The creature, conversation, door, encounter, item, merchant (store), place-able, trigger, sound and waypoint documents provide additional details about those specific object types and how to interact with the corresponding .2da files (if any). In addition, file formats such as the .ssf, .jrl and .fac, also described here, serve in a more supportive role for those people interested in the more minute details of interacting with the Aurora engine. The only data generated by the Aurora Toolset which is not documented here are the compiled (.ncs) and debug (.ndb) script formats.
What does the future hold for the For Developers section of the BioWare Community website? First, changes that are made to the file formats for the Aurora engine class of games by the Live Team (if any) will be reflected in these documents as quickly as possible. Next, we will continue to frequent the For Developers forum in order to answer your questions whenever possible. Finally, descriptions of data formats used by other BioWare games may also appear, time permitting.
Please continue to use this section to help you or someone else build those tools that will allow you to get more from BioWare's games. Thanks for your support!
Don Moar
Lead Programmer - Tools
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Faction Format
[Dec 11, 2003]
A Faction is a control system for determining how game objects interact with each other in terms of
friendly, neutral, and hostile reactions. Faction information is stored in the repute.fac file in a module or savegame. This file uses BioWare's
Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Journal Format
[Dec 11, 2003]
A Journal is system of keeping track of where a player is in each plot that the player has started, and a
way of describing the current step of each plot to the player. Journal information is stored in the module.jrl file in a module or savegame. This file uses BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Encounter Format
[Dec 11, 2003]
An Encounter is a set of vertices defining a region that can spawn in a set of creatures when creatures of
certain factions enter it. Encounters are stored in the game and toolset using BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is
assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Creature Format
[Dec 11, 2003]
A Creature is an object that can move around in the game and interact with other objects such as doors, placeable objects, items, encounters, triggers, or other creatures. The behaviour of a creature is controlled by a set of scripts, and it may also be controlled by a Dungeon Master player who possesses it. A Player Character (PC) is a specialized Creature that does not have AI scripts, but is instead controlled directly by a player. Creatures are stored in the game and toolset using BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Conversation Format
[Dec 11, 2003]
A Conversation is a branching set of predefined text strings ("lines") that a player and one or more NPCs can say to each other, along with the conditions that govern which lines are said and which are not, which are available to say and which are not, and the actions that accompany each line as it is said. Conversations are stored as .dlg files, and may be present in global game resources in BIF files, in the override directory, in a module, or in a savegame. Conversation files use BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Store Format
[Oct 1, 2003]
A Store is an object that exchanges items and gold with the player. Stores contain the list of items they have in their inventory, the buy/sell markup and whether it will purchase from the player items marked as stolen. Stores are stored in the game and toolset using BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Item Format
[Sept 24, 2003]
An Item is an object that can be placed in an area, or carried in a container, whether the container be a
creature, placeable object, or store. Items are stored in the game and toolset using BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed
that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Situated Object (Door and Placeable Object) Format
[Sept 10, 2003]
A Situated Object is a base object type from which the Door and Placeable Object types are derived. Situated objects contain all the shared properties of Doors and Placeable objects. This document will first discuss these shared properties, then discuss the properties that are specific to doors and placeable objects themselves.
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Sound Object Format
[Aug 27, 2003]
A Sound object is a source of sounds that play in an Area. They may be positional, playing from a specific location, or they may be area-wide, sounding the same regardless of where in the area the listener is.
Sounds are stored in the game and toolset using BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Common Game GFF Structures
[Aug 13, 2003]
This document describes Structs and Lists that are frequently seen in files saved in the BioWare Generic File Format. This document assumes that the reader is already familiar with the Generic File Format document. This document is intended to supplement the documentation for various GFF files (eg., IFO, ARE, etc.).
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ITP (Palette) File Format
[Aug 13, 2003]
An ITP file defines a palette used by the toolset or DM Client. A palette describes a tree structure of tiles or object blueprints that can be painted in the toolset, or object blueprints that can be spawned in the DM Client.
Palettes are stored in the game and toolset using BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with the Generic File Format document.
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Area File (ARE, GIT, GIC) Formats
[Aug 13, 2003]
In the BioWare Aurora engine, each Area in a module is described by three files. Each file has the same filename, but a different extension. The following are brief summaries of the area file types.
ARE - static area information: area properties and tile layout.
GIT - dynamic area information - game object instances and sound properties.
GIC - area comments - contains toolset-only comments on game object instances.
The file type are in BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF) and it is assumed that the reader has some familiarity with GFF.
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Trigger Format
[Aug 13, 2003]
A Trigger is a set of vertices defining a region that players and creatures can interact with. Two common types of Trigger are Area Transitions and Traps.
Triggers are stored in the game and toolset using BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Waypoint Format
[Aug 13, 2003]
A Waypoint is a simple object type used for scripting and showing map notes to the player.
Waypoints are stored in the game and toolset using BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF), and it is assumed that the reader of this document is familiar with GFF.
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Talk Table (dialog.tlk) File Format
[July 23, 2003]
BioWare's games are released in multiple languages, so it is necessary for game text to be different depending on the language of the user. The talk table file, called dialog.tlk (and dialogf.tlk, containing feminine strings for certain languages), contains all the strings that the game will display to the user and which therefore need to be translated.
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Localized Strings
[July 23, 2003]
The game and toolset use a localized string format called a CExoLocString, or just LocString.
A CExoLocString is a string type used to store text that may appear to the user and has a number of features designed to allow users to see text in their own language.
This document assumes that the reader is already familiar with the game's Talk Table format, as described in the Talk Table document.
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Key and BIF File Formats
[July 17, 2003]
BioWare's games and tools make use of a very large number of files that are packed into a group of files having the .bif extension. The contents of the .bif files are described by one or more files having the .key extension.
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Sound Set File (SSF) Format
[July 9, 2003]
The Sound Set File (SSF) format is used to store Neverwinter Nights soundset information.
A soundset is a set of sound files to play and associated strings to display when a creature or player character (PC) performs certain actions or when the creature or PC reacts to certain conditions. For example, when a PC attacks a creature, the PC may shout a battle cry, with the text of the battle cry appearing over the PC's head and in the game's message pane. The soundset tells the game what string to display and what sound file to play.
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2DA File Format (2-dimensional array)
[July 2, 2003]
A 2da file is a plain-text file that describes a 2-dimensional array of data.
In BioWare's games, 2da files serve many purposes, and are often crucial to the proper functioning of the game and tools. They describe many aspects of the rules and game engine.
Although 2da files are plain text files, they are structured according to a set of rules that must be followed in order for the game and tools to read them correctly.
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IFO File Format (InFOrmation file)
[July 2, 2003]
An IFO file is a module InFOrmation file. Every NWN module (.MOD or .NWM) or savegame (.SAV) is an Encapsulated Resource File (ERF) that contains an IFO file called "module.ifo". The IFO file type is in BioWare's Generic File Format (GFF) and it is assumed that the reader has some familiarity with GFF. Many of the GFF Fields in an IFO file make references to 2-Dimensional Array (2DA) files, so it is also assumed that the reader is familiar with the 2DA format.
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The Generic File Format (GFF)
[May 28, 2003]
The Generic File Format (GFF) is an all-purpose generic format used to store data in BioWare's games. GFF parts of a Neverwinter Nights module include object blueprints, conversation files, journals, palettes and more. The example GFF Editor is an internal BioWare tool (Windows only).
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The Encapsulated Resource File (ERF) Format
[May 7, 2003] The Encapsulated Resource File (ERF) format is one of BioWare's methods of packing multiple files into a single file so that they may be treated as a single unit. In this regard, it is similar to .zip, .tar, or .rar.
BioWare Aurora Toolset files that use the ERF format include the following: .erf, .hak, .mod, and .nwm. The example ERF Editor is an internal BioWare tool (Windows only).
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