Daggerfall Mod:SAVEGAME.DAT description

Layout of Daggerfall savetree.dat Files

Acknowledgements

The Quest Hacking guides on Dave Humphrey's Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages and DaggerWeb (the hacking guide is now on Michael Schneider's site) started me looking into the format of the QBN files. I reached a point where I decided that a better understanding of the save file and its relation to the QBN files was required. My effort has gone in that direction, and I hope that what I find here will help those working on the QBN files. Further, I'd like to thank the many people that figured out most of the information for the character records and for the item records. A lot of what is in here is taken directly from what they found.

Notes

All numbers given in this document are in hexadecimal. Numbers written as XX XX XX are in the same byte order as they would appear in the savetree.dat file. Numbers written as XXXX are short words, and the two bytes are reversed from their order in the file. Numbers written as XXXXXXXX are long words, and the four bytes are reversed from their order in the file.

Level One: Base Structure

Savetree.dat has begins with a header record a 0x13 bytes in length. This is followed by a variable number of variable sized records( there does not appear to be any counts of records, or any offsets, or any other information useful to extracting records). Each record begins with an Int32 field indicating the length of the record's data, excluding this 4 byte field. Some records report 0 length, possibly used to separate the file into human-manageable blocks as per the following structure:

• 0x13 byte header
• Town record (zero length if not in town)
• Monster, character, and item records
• 0-sized record
• Quest records
• 0-sized record
• Dungeon info (Note: this size must be multiplied by 0x27!)
• 0-sized record
• End-of-file

Level Two: Record Structure

With the exception of the Town record and the Dungeon info, each begins with a 1-byte field indicating the record's type. This is immediately followed by a 0x46 byte common structure that contains all sorts of interesting data, most of it uninterpretable by myself. The parts that are fairly clear are:

06	0c bytes of location data
1e	04 byte object ID
25	01 byte quest ID
26	04 byte parent object ID
42	04 byte parent record type

I don't know much about the location data, but I have a suspicion that it is interpreted as 3 Int32 values, where each value represents the X, Y, or Z position of the object in question. Some records don't have a location that makes sense, and some are contained within other records (e.g. objects carried by the character).

• The object ID is a unique eight-digit number for every item. Records start around 065636XX for the very first items you get in the game, which is your starting equipment. The ID numbers advance with every new item found in the game. Therefore all items owned by the player have an ID of the form 06XXXXXX, since it is very unlikely that anyone will ever play a single game long enough to acquire more than 500,000 items. Sometimes parchments (Letters of Credit ?) have identical object IDs.
  Quest relevant objects, e.g. quest objects or inventory items of quest relevant enemies have a much higher numerical ID starting at about 458858XX. Like all items their IDs advance with every new item. The ID of any quest relevant item will turn to a 06XXXXXX ID when it is added permanently to the player's inventory.

• The parent object ID is the unique ID of the record the item belongs to. These are
  • 00000700 for any quest object
  • 00075541 for any weapon or armor
  • 00075542 for any magic item, including the player's spellbook
  • 00075543 for any clothing or miscellaneous item
  • 00075544 for any ingredient
  • A unique number of the form 000XXXXX for any item in the player's wagon, which is identical for all items
  • 06XXXXXX for any item in the player's house and/or ship; for example 06613979 is the parent object ID of the first treasure pile in the house and/or ship, 06613980 for the second and so on, thus the parent object ID refers to the treasure pile the item is stored.

• The parent record type is (you guessed it!) the record type byte that the parent object ID references. It is a unique item specific number, which is identical for all items of a kind, e.g. all daggers have the same parent record ID.

• The Quest ID associates the record with a particular quest. Every quest that the character is involved in has a unique ID. These IDs start at 1 for the first active quest, 2 for the second active quest and so on. Numbers are recycled once a quest is over, but no ID lower than that of the latest active quest is used. Only quest relevant items e.g. quest objects, letters and rewards have this ID. For other items this ID is always 0.

Level Three: Record Contents

I have identified a number of record types and some of their contents, although the rest of the records remain a mystery to me.

Record Types

Hex Type	Item Description
01	Player's Position
02	Item Records
03	Character Record - one per save file
04	Character Record parent - unknown purpose
05	Character Record parent - unknown purpose
06	Unknown
08	Unknown
09	Spells and Spell Effects
0a	Guild Membership Records
0e	QBN Records - slight differences between these records and the QBN files, but still recognizable.
10	Parent for QBN records
12	Parent for QBN records
16	Spellcasting creatures - spell list head
17	Control Setting Records - detail, volume
18	Location Names, possibly logbook entries
19	Bank Accounts
1f	Potion mixing records
20	Unknown, Linked to TOWN record structure
21	Unknown, usually in dungeon saves
22	Creature record
24	Possibly items on store shelves
27	Mystery Record - referenced, but doesn't exist in file
28	Location names - possibly for quests
29	Location names - possibly for quests
2b	Mystery Record - referenced, but doesn't exist in file
2c	Creature record
2d	NPC records
2e	Generic NPC Records
33	Dungeon record? Huge, mostly zero filled
34	Container Records
36	Item left for repair
40	Unknown Records, all are part of a 'container'
41	Unknown, Possibly quest information

Record Contents

Time Stamps

There are a few special fields that need interpretation. Time stamps are recorded in minutes of game time starting from point 0x0. Tamriel has 12 months per year, 30 days per month, 24 hours per day, and 60 minutes per hour. Point 0x0 is per definition 00:00, 1^st of Morning Star, 3E 404. The actual game starts 0x07fd0a in-game minutes from this point which is 13:30, 4^th of Morning Star, 3E 405. The first 4 bytes of any AMF- and ATF-file contain also a time stamp of this kind and indicate the date when the respective dungeon or town was last visited by the player.

File Header

This is a 0x13-byte-long structure found in the beginning of the save file.

Offset	Description	Field Type
0x00	Version	UInt32
0x04	X-Coordinate	Int32
0x08	Y-Coordinate	Int32
0x0c	Z-Coordinate	Int32
0x10	Location code	UInt16
0x11	Zone type	UInt8

Valid version values are 0x125 and 0x126. Location code is taken from MAPS.BSA.

Record type: Item (02)

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
0000	Name	CHAR	20
0020	category	SHORT	02
0024	Value	LONG	02
002c	Hits	SHORT	03
0032	Picture	SHORT	02
0036	Material	BYTE	01
0037	Construction	BYTE	01
0038	Colour	BYTE	01
0039	Weight	LONG	01
003d	Enchant Pts	SHORT	01
003f	Message	SHORT	01
0041	Magic	SHORT	18

Record type: Character (03, ...)

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
0000	name	CHAR	0x20
0020	curstat	SHORT	0x08
0030	basstat	SHORT	0x08
0040	gender	BYTE	0x01
0041	transportation	BYTE	0x01
0042	material resistance	BYTE	0x01
0043	race	BYTE	0x01
0044	armor	BYTE	0x07
0058	start sum	LONG	0x01
0070	opponent	LONG	0x01
007c	health	SHORT	0x02
0080	portrait	BYTE	0x01
0081	level	BYTE	0x01
0083	reflex	BYTE	0x01
0085	gold	LONG	0x01
008d	mana	SHORT	0x02
0091	reputation	SHORT	0x05
009d	Skills	SHORT+LONG	0x23
016f	Equipped	LONG	0x1b
01fd	Last time fed	LONG	0x01
0201	Timestamp	LONG	0x04
0230	resist	BYTE	0x01
0231	immune	BYTE	0x01
0232	low tolerance	BYTE	0x01
0233	crit weakness	BYTE	0x01
0234	flags	SHORT	1
0236	rapid heal	BYTE	1
0237	regen health	BYTE	1
0238	unknown	BYTE	1
0239	spell absorb	BYTE	1
023a	hit/phobia	BYTE	1
023b	forb material	SHORT	1
023d	crit weakness	BYTE	1
023e	forbidden armor	SHORT	1
0240	Class Primary	BYTE	3
0243	Class Major	BYTE	3
0246	Class Minor	BYTE	6
024c	Class Name	CHAR	18
0264	HP/Level	SHORT	01
026a	Start stats	SHORT	08

Record type: Unknown (06)

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
0000	Unknown	SHORT	10
0020	Location	SHORT	6

NOTE: This record type is referenced by what I think are the dungeon descriptions.

Record type: Spell (09)

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
0000	effects	BYTE	0x06
0006	Element	BYTE	0x01
0007	Range/AoE	BYTE	0x01
0008	cost	WORD	0x03
000e	Duration	BYTE	0x09
0017	Probability	BYTE	0x09
0020	Strength1	BYTE	0x05
0025	Strength2	BYTE	0x05
002a	Strength3	BYTE	0x05
002f	Name	CHAR	0x14
0048	Icon	BYTE	0x01
0049	Spell ID	BYTE	0x01
004a	Remaining duration	WORD	0x03
0050	Actual magnitude	WORD	0x03
0056	Actual chance	BYTE	0x03

NOTE: each spell can have 3 effects. Each effect is recorded as two bytes in the 'effects' field, an entry of FF FF indicates there is no effect. Each effect has its own 3-byte probability (base + chance/level) and a 3-byte duration (same). The strength for each effect is (low, high, low per level, high per level, and level) taken straight from the spell creation window.

Record type: Guild (0a)

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
0000	Rank	LONG	0x01
0002	0x01	SHORT	0x01
0003	GuildID	LONG	0x01
0005	Timestamp (Date of last promotion)	LONG	0x02
000A	Other

Record type: Bank Accounts (19)

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
0000	Total Sum in Account	LONG	0x01
0004	Sum Loaned + Interest	LONG	0x01
0008	Date Loan is payable	LONG	0x01
000c	Unknown (always 0)	Unknown	0x01

NOTE: Records start at offset 0x46 with the Bank of Alik'r Desert. Every 0x0d bytes the bank records for the next region begin. All 62 Regions of the Iliac Bay have a bank record, even these regions that don't exist.

Record type: "Destination" (28. 29)

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
0000	Questor	SHORT	1
0002	LINK	LONG	1
0006	Destination	CHAR	20

NOTE: This record can have multiple entries of Questor, LINK, and Destination. I don't know what provides the count or the terminating sentinel.

Record type: Item Group (34)

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
0000	Unknown	unknown	unknown

NOTE: All items owned by the character have a `parent link' back to a type 34 record. This appears to be the grouping of an item: whether it is on the character, in the cart, weapon list, etc. The type of group is determined by a value in the header for the record.

Record type: Item left for repair (36)

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
0030	Town item is left	LONG	0x01

NOTE: The location of the town corresponds with that location which is found in the MAPS.BSA file.

Other Goofy Things

The Town and Dungeon records don't have an identifying type byte. I don't know much about them, but Ive been using the following fields to dump these records, which are in themselves a list of records of some type.

TOWN (1a bytes) 

1*SHORT, 0x10*BYTE, 2*BYTE, 1*LONG, 2*BYTE

DUNGEON(27 bytes) 

2*SHORT, 1f*BYTE, 1*LONG

The long values look to be record ID's, much as found in the common headers of all the other record types.

The records for Potions aren't simply enchanted items. In fact, the potion is a linked record of "glass bottle", indicating that the bottle itself isn't the magic, the contents are! The potion contains both a list of the ingredients that went into the mixture, and a spell effect list.

SAVEVARS.DAT

My small contribution to the savevars.dat file is that the current game date is saved at offset 0x3c9.

Faction Reputation

All reputation relevant data is stored in this file. Reputation records for the various groups start at offset 0x17D0 (starting games saved with version 1.0.175). Each record has a size of 92 bytes.

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
000	Faction Type	BYTE	0x01
001	Region	BYTE	0x01
002	Ruler	BYTE	0x01
003	Name	CHAR	0x26
01D	Reputation Value	SHORT	0x01
01F	Faction Power	SHORT	0x01
021	Faction ID	SHORT	0x01
023	Vampire Clan ID	SHORT	0x01
025	Flags	SHORT	0x01
027	Unknown	BYTE	0x08
02F	Image Index (male)	BYTE	0x01
030	Texture-File	BYTE	0x01
031	Image Index (female)	BYTE	0x01
032	Texture-File	BYTE	0x01
033	Portrait (male)	BYTE	0x01
034	Portrait (female)	BYTE	0x01
035	Race	BYTE	0x01
036	Social Group	BYTE	0x01
037	Guild Group	BYTE	0x01
038	ID of First Ally	LONG	0x01
03C	ID of Second Ally	LONG	0x01
040	ID of Third Ally	LONG	0x01
044	ID of First Enemy	LONG	0x01
048	ID of Second Enemy	LONG	0x01
04C	ID of Third Enemy	LONG	0x01
050	Unkown	BYTE	0x12

Faction Type

Valid values are seen below.

Type	Value
Daedra	0x00
God	0x01
Group	0x02
Subgroup	0x03
Individual	0x04
Official	0x05
Vampire	0x06
Noble	0x07
Witches	0x08
Temple	0x09
Generic Group	0x0C
Thieves	0x0D
Courts	0x0E
People	0x0F

Values 0x0C and 0x0D are not used in any record.

Regions

The respective region the Faction/Person is associated with. For factions that are not associated with a specific region like guilds, temples etc., this value is always 0xFF (-1).

Ruler

If the faction is a region, this entry determines the title of the ruler. For other factions or regions without a ruler (such as The Alik'r Desert, this entry is always zero. See the Ruler enumeration here.

Reputation Values

Valid ranges for the Reputation Values are -32768 (0x0080) to 32767 (0xFF7F), although the game mechanics will not allow your reputation to drop below -100 or grow above 100.

Faction IDs correspond to those used in the game's Faction-Database.

Allies/Enemies affiliations and powers for many factions are not static, they change randomly during the course of a game-year. There is apparently no way that the player can influence this changes from inside the game. There is apparently no rule what way this changes will take. Even very illogical changes, for example a faction's enemy can be one of its own subgroups, may occur.

There are many good programs that can be used to manipulate the reputation values of the various factions that exist in the game. See the Files page.

Vampire Clan ID

If the faction is a region, this entry determines the region's dominant vampire clan. IDs correspond to those used in the game's Faction-Database. For all other factions this entry is always zero.

Flags

Number of Flags used for this faction, although the purpose of this entry is unknown.

Image Index

This entry determines which image will be used to display a person of a faction or an individual person. These images are stored in the various Texture files. Such a file contains a stack of numerous images, or flats as these images can also be called. These 2-dimensional images are used to project an object into a 3-dimensional world. The first picture of a Texture-File has the index 0 the second the index 1 and so on. Since consecutive Texture-Files use the same hex-value, see below, the indices are processed differently for Texture-Files that use the same hex-value.

• The Texture-File with the even number is processed from index 0 (0x0) to index 1 (0x01) and so on.
• The Texture-File with the uneven number uses a different processing namely, index 0 (0x80), index 1 (0x81) and so on. Index 0 starts always at 0x80 and the last index depends naturally on the number of images in the Texture-File.

Some factions and all persons use only one image, but most have two. One for a male character of the specific faction and one for a female character.

Texture Files

All flats that are used for Factions/Persons can be found in the Texture-Files 179-184. The people of Castle Daggerfall, Castle Wayrest and Castle Sentinel can be found in the files 334, 346 and 357. Each Texture-File is identified by a hex-value, which is used for two consecutive files. Following table shows these values.

Texture-File	Description	Value
175	Daedra Lords	0x57
176	Dark Brotherhood	0x58
177	Mages	0x58
178	Necromancers	0x59
179	Witches	0x59
180	Courtiers	0x5A
181	Temple People	0x5A
182	Common People I	0x5B
183	Nobles	0x5B
184	Common People II	0x5C
334	People of Castle Daggerfall	0xA7
346	People of Castle Wayrest	0xAD
357	People of Castle Sentinel	0xB2

Portrait

These entries determine the portraits that are used when the player enters the dialog mode with a character of the respective faction. The value corresponds to the image's index in the FACES.CIF file. Index 0 (0x0) is for example the Oracle. Theoretical a maximum of two portraits per faction can be used, one for a male character and one for a female character. But since only persons have a respective portrait in the FACES.CIF file, only one portrait is used. The other entry (offset 0x34) is therefore always zero. For guilds, regions and all others that don't use such portraits, this two entries are always 0xFF.

Race

This value determines the Race to which the respective Faction/Person belongs to. For supernatural beings and factions like Daedra Lords, gods or Oblivion, this value is always 0xFF. Following numbers can be clearly assigned to following races:

Race	Value
Redguard	0x02
Breton	0x03
Dark Elf	0x07
Vampire	0x12

All other numbers are at best arguable because

1. There are too few people belonging to a specific race, so a clear allocation can not be done.
2. Their appearance is antithetic to the popular appearance of the respective race.

Additionally there are clearly some errors in the Fation-Database, for example Nulfaga, Lysandus' mother, is credited as a Redguard, however she is a Breton.

Social Group

Group	Value
Commoner	0x00
Merchant	0x01
Scholar	0x02
Nobility	0x03
Underworld	0x04
Supernatural	0x06
Knight Order, Temple or Vampire Clan	0x07

Value 0x02 is used mostly for factions of the Mages Guild. Value 0x05 is only used for the faction Generic Temple and for Lord Coulder.

Regional Reputation

The regional reputation data starts at offset 0x424 (verified for v1.07.213) with the record of the Alik'r Desert. Every 80 bytes the record for the next region starts. All 62 Regions of the Iliac Bay have such a record, even these regions that don't exist.

Offset	Description	Field Type	Count
000	Reputation Value	BYTE	0x01
001	0xFF or zero	BYTE	0x01

Valid ranges for the Reputation Values are 0x9C (-100) to 0x64 (+100). If the Reputation Value is negative offset 0x01 is 0xFF and zero otherwise.

Increasing View Distance

by Thor-Eirik Larsen
The first thing that really got on my nerves when I ventured into the wonderful world of Tamriel, was the limited view. I figured I had to fix that particular "bug". In the file savetree.dat, Daggerfall stores the sound/music/detail settings as vars.

Now, the program itself does not allow you to enlarge the red bar beyond the limits of clicking-area, but a simple hex-editor does, if you only manage to locate the vars. As the size differs slightly from time to time, one cannot use the same offset for every savefile. To find the values let your hex-editor search the savetree.dat for these hex-values: 7F 7F 00 80 00, the first byte being the detail. These are the default values for a newly started game. If you have changed the bars manually in the meantime, set all three bars back to the maximum and search for 7F 7F 00 7F 00. Now change the first byte, the detail level, to FF. When you load your game, you'll notice that your range has been doubled making everything look much better! (Not as good as unlimited range, but beats the hell out of the first one :))