Text files used by the Xeen engine are made up entirely of ASCIIZ (null-terminated) strings. No other data is stored with the file.
Map Text Files[]
Maps use two text files, AAZExxxx.TXT (stored in the game CC file) to store the text strings used by events on that map, and a text file named after the game (DARKxxxx.TXT or XEENxxx.TXT) which stores a single string, the name of the map (for example, "Area A1").
See the map file format page for more information.
Special Characters[]
Certain strings (notably event text files) can contain non-printable characters which perform different effects.
| Hex | Escape | Args | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x01 | \001 | Instructs the renderer to use the large font set | |
| 0x02 | \002 | Instructs the renderer to use the small font set | |
| 0x03 | \003 | 'l', 'c', or 'r' | String justification left, center, or right |
| 0x04 | \004 | nnn | Draws a "bar" of the background colour under the text nnn pixels wide |
| 0x05 | n/a | Totally unused | |
| 0x06 | \006 | Currently unknown | |
| 0x07 | \a | nnn | Set background colour |
| 0x08 | \b | c | Display character c as a "shadow" |
| 0x09 | \t | nnn | x offset start (or center or end, depending on justification) of line |
| 0x0A | \n | New line | |
| 0x0B | \v | nnn | y offset of top line |
| 0x0C | \f | nn | Set text colour |
| 0x0D | \r | Flood fill entire window with background colour | |
| 0x0E | \016 | Return to top |
Special Text Files[]
- AWARD.BIN - Character awards strings
- CREDITS.BIN - Game credits text
- QNOTES.BIN - Auto Notes text
- SPECIAL.BIN - Darkside and Clouds introduction / end sequence subtitles
- SPLDESC.BIN - Spell descriptions, plus guild descriptions
- TAVERN.BIN - Tavern rumours
- VIEWTEXT.BIN - Miscellaneous text: stats ratings, races, attributes, skills, etc.
- DARKMIRR.TXT and XEENMIRR.TXT - Mirror file