Game tables file formats

The three file formats the server reads at start-up, as its own readers read them: game tables (.tbl), text tables (.bin), and the map files NexusForever.MapGenerator writes (.nfmap). All integers are little-endian. How the server uses the tables is on Game tables.

Game tables

Header

96 bytes. Every offset after it counts from the end of the header.

Offset	Field	Type	Read as
0	Signature	u32	Must be 0x4454424C, DTBL
4	Version	u32	Not checked
8	NameLength	u64	Unused
16	Unknown1	u64	Unused
24	RecordSize	u64	Bytes per row
32	FieldCount	u64	Number of column descriptors
40	FieldOffset	u64	Where the column descriptors start
48	RecordCount	u64	Number of rows
56	TotalRecordSize	u64	Rows plus the string table, in bytes
64	RecordOffset	u64	Where the first row starts
72	MaxId	u64	Size of the id lookup the reader builds
80	LookupOffset	u64	Unused; the reader builds its own lookup
88	Unknown2	u64	Unused

Column descriptors

24 bytes each, FieldCount of them.

Offset	Field	Type	Read as
0	NameLength	u64	Unused
8	NameOffset	u64	Unused: the reader never reads column names
16	Type	u16	The column's data type, below
18	Unknown2	u16	Unused
20	Unknown3	u32	Unused

Data types

Value	Name	Bytes in the row	Row model field
3	UInt	4	uint, or any enum
4	Single	4	float
11	Boolean	4	bool, true when non-zero
20	ULong	8	ulong
130	String	8	string, see below

Rows and strings

• Row i starts at RecordOffset + i * RecordSize, and each row is read from its own start, so a bad row can't shift the next one.
• The first column is the row's id.
• The string table starts right after the last row. A string column holds two u32 offsets; the string is at the larger one, less the size of all the rows, read as null-terminated UTF-16.
• After a string column whose first offset is 0, the reader skips 4 more bytes unless the next field is also a string.

When a model doesn't match

Condition	Result
File shorter than the header, or a wrong signature	InvalidDataException
Debug: field count differs from column count	GameTableException, "GameTable model has an invalid field count"
Debug: a field's type differs from its column's	GameTableException, "Invalid GameTable model field type"
Release: either of the above	No check. Values are read into the wrong fields
An id of MaxId or more	IndexOutOfRangeException

Text tables

Header

96 bytes.

Offset	Field	Type	Read as
0	Signature	u32	Must be 0x4C544558, LTEX
4	Version	u32	Not checked
8	Language	i32	1 English, 2 German, 3 French, 5 Chinese
12	Unknown1	u32	Unused
16	TagNameLength, TagNameOffset	u64, u64	Unused
32	ShortNameLength, ShortNameOffset	u64, u64	Unused
48	LongNameLength, LongNameOffset	u64, u64	Unused
64	RecordCount	u64	Number of strings
72	RecordOffset	u64	Where the records start
80	StringTableLength	u64	Length of the string table, in UTF-16 characters
88	StringTableOffset	u64	Where the string table starts

Records

Each record is a u32 id and a u32 offset into the string table, counted in UTF-16 characters. The reader sizes its lookup from the last record's id, so it expects records in id order.

File	Language	Required
en-US.bin	English	Yes
de-DE.bin	German	No; a warning when missing
fr-FR.bin	French	No; a warning when missing

Map files

Layout

One .nfmap per world, named after the world's asset folder.

Part	Fields
Header	u32 magic 0x504D464E, NFMP; u32 version, which must be 4; u32 client build, which must be 16042
Asset	The world's asset path, as a length-prefixed string
Grids	u32 count, then each grid
Grid	u32 X, u32 Y, u32 cell count, then each cell
Cell	u32 X, u32 Y, u32 flags, then a block for each flag set, in bit order

The file must end exactly after the last grid.

Cell blocks

Flag	Name	Block
0x01	Zone	4 u32 world zone ids
0x02	Height	17 × 17 half-precision heights
0x10	ZoneBound	64 × 64 bytes of zone and aura flags

0x04 (Aura) and 0x08 (Liquid) are declared but have no block, and the reader throws on either.

World geometry

Constant	Value
Grids per axis	128, with grid 64 at world position 0
Grid size	512 world units
Cell size	32 world units, so 16 cells per grid axis

Where the code lives

Piece	Path
Table header and descriptors	Source/NexusForever.GameTable/GameTableHeader.cs, GameTableField.cs
Data types	Source/NexusForever.GameTable/DataType.cs
Table reader and layout check	Source/NexusForever.GameTable/GameTable.cs
Text table reader	Source/NexusForever.GameTable/TextTable.cs, TextTableHeader.cs
Map file reader	Source/NexusForever.IO/Map/MapFile.cs, MapFileGrid.cs, MapFileCell.cs
Map constants	Source/NexusForever.IO/Map/MapDefines.cs
Map file writer	Source/NexusForever.MapGenerator/