Skip to content

Supported File Formats

BuildBot edited this page Jun 12, 2026 · 1 revision

Supported File Formats

String files

Extension Description
.strings Null-terminated strings. Used for simple key→value mappings.
.dlstrings Length-prefixed strings. Used for dialogue.
.ilstrings Length-prefixed strings. Used for interface/UI strings.

All three share the same binary header (8 bytes) and directory structure (8 bytes per entry: ID + relative offset). The difference is only in how individual string data is terminated/prefixed.

Encoding is auto-detected on open (UTF-8, CP1251, CP1252, BOM). The detected encoding is shown in the status bar and can be overridden via Edit → Override Encoding.

BA2 archives

BA2 archives (.ba2) can be opened directly. The editor supports:

  • Fallout 4 format (v1)
  • Starfield format (v2)
  • GNRL type only (zlib-compressed general archives)

If a BA2 contains multiple .strings/.dlstrings/.ilstrings files, a picker dialog appears to select which one to open.

ESP / ESM / ESL plugin files

Plugin files can be opened in ESP mode. Only non-localized plugins are supported (text stored directly in field buffers). Localized plugins (flag bit 0x80) store text in companion .strings files instead.

Translatable record/field combinations include: FULL, DESC, NNAM, RNAM, and others defined in _FIELD_DEFS.

xTranslator XML (SST)

Import and export translations in xTranslator's SST XML format via File → Import XML / File → Export XML. Matching is done by string ID (sID hex) first, falling back to source text — mirroring xTranslator's Pascal logic.

Clone this wiki locally