DarkDB.rb

DarkDB.rb is a command-line mission data reader/writer for Dark Engine games, Thief 1/Gold/2 and System Shock 2. This includes .mis and .sav files.

DarkDB.rb exists to allow players and mission authors to edit mission parameters as they wish.

Using DromEd to edit the mission data tables, such as Mission Quest Data, works, of course. But DromEd can introduce or change more mission data than just the desired values. Perhaps that won't cause issues, but that's unknown, especially without play testing.

Therefore, this program only changes the desired mission values and keeps the rest of the mission data untouched so that it matches what the original mission author intended.

NOTE: Mission values can only be edited. Values cannot be added or removed.

Features

• Operations
  • List all key-value pairs of a DarkDB table.
  • Get DarkDB table key-value pairs by key.
  • Set DarkDB table values.
• Supported Tables
  • DromEd Info Window Data (BRHEAD)
  • Mission Quest Data (QUEST_DB)
  • Campaign Quest Data (QUEST_CMP)

Requirements

• Ruby 3.0+
• Linux
  • Ubuntu: apt install ruby
• Windows
  • RubyInstaller 3.0 builds are known to work.
    • Ruby+Devkit 3.0.6-1 (x64)
    • Ruby 3.0.6-1 (x64)
  • "MSYS2 development toolchain" is not required.
  • "ridk install" is not required.
  • NOTE: As of this writing, RubyInstaller 3.1 and 3.2 builds are not compatible, since the program may not run due to an error with the message "unexpected ucrtbase.dll".

Installation

• darkdb is in the bin/ directory.
• Use darkdb as is or copy it somewhere included in the PATH.
• NOTE: darkdb can be renamed to something else if desired.
• NOTE: Windows users may need to prepend ruby to darkdb to run it. For example, ruby darkdb.

Usage

Usage: darkdb TABLE MIS_FILE [-i] [KEY_REGEX]
       darkdb TABLE MIS_FILE [-i]  KEY_REGEX  NEW_VALUE

DB Table (TABLE):
  info                  : DromEd 'Info Window' Data ('mis' file)
  questdb               : Mission Quest Data ('mis' or 'sav' file)
  questcmp              : Campaign Quest Data ('sav' file)

Options:
  --help                : print this message
  --version             : print version
  --debug               : more detailed error messages
  -i                    : case insensitive KEY_REGEX

  MIS_FILE              : path to 'mis' file (or 'sav' file)
  KEY_REGEX             : match key (using a regular expression)
  NEW_VALUE             : set key to new value

Examples:
  # Print all Quest Data key-value pairs
  darkdb questdb miss20.mis

  # Print Quest Data key-value pairs, matching all loot goals
  darkdb questdb miss20.mis goal_loot

  # Print Quest Data key-value pairs, matching loot goal 2
  darkdb questdb miss20.mis goal_loot_2

  # Print Quest Data key-value pairs, matching loot goals 1 and 3
  darkdb questdb miss20.mis 'goal_loot_[13]'

  # Set all loot goals to a new value
  darkdb questdb miss20.mis goal_loot 500

  # Set specific loot goal to a new value
  darkdb questdb miss20.mis goal_loot_2 500

  # Change loot goals 1 and 3 to a new value
  darkdb questdb miss20.mis 'goal_loot_[13]' 500

  # Change created-by author to a new value
  darkdb info miss20.mis created_by 'Author Name'

  # Change DromEd total time using milliseconds
  darkdb info miss20.mis total_time 45100451

  # Change DromEd total time using time string
  darkdb info miss20.mis total_time '3:21:12:30'
  darkdb info miss20.mis total_time '21:12:30'
  darkdb info miss20.mis total_time '12:30'
  darkdb info miss20.mis total_time '0:30'

Example: Editing Loot Goals

1. Find an FM that you would like to change.
2. Find its mission file, such as miss20.mis.
3. (Optional) List loot goals:

   darkdb questdb miss20.mis loot
   

4. Set all loot goals to 500:

   darkdb questdb miss20.mis loot 500
   

5. (Optional) Find the objectives text file (goals.str) and change its loot values to match the edited miss20.mis file. The goals.str file is likely at:

   <thief>/FMs/<fm_name>/intrface/miss20/english/goals.str
   

   The reason to edit the goals.str file is to make the in-game objective screen match the changed loot goals. The edited mission loot goals will work regardless of what the objective screen shows.

Example: Editing Map Screen Pages

In this example, a note page will be added to a mission that does not have a note page. Some missions only have maps on the map screen whereas others also include a note page on the map screen. Thief 1/Gold original missions do not have note pages. Note pages on the map screen were introduced in Thief 2.

First, find a note page from the Thief 2 resource files that you would like to use. Or, find one that you like from a Thief FM.

Here are some example locations of Thief 2 note page image files:

• <t2>/intrface/miss1/english/PAGE000.PCX
• <t2>/intrface/miss2/english/PAGE005.PCX
• <t2>/intrface/miss15/english/PAGE000.PCX

These note pages are in the intrface.crf file. Use a ZIP program to extract one of those files from the CRF file.

1. Find an FM that you would like to change.

2. Find its mission file, such as miss20.mis.

3. (Optional) List the pages defined in the mission file:

   darkdb questdb miss20.mis page
   

4. Let's say the map_min_page is 1 and the map_max_page is 2. Set map_min_page to 0:

   darkdb questdb miss20.mis map_min_page 0
   

   NOTE: Instead of page 0, the new page can be added as page 3. In that case, set map_max_page to 3.

5. Add the missing page 0 image file. Copy a note image file to:

   <thief>/FMs/<fm_name>/intrface/miss20/page000.<image_extension>
   

   NOTE: Page files usually have an image extension of pcx or png, so page000.<image_extension> would be page000.pcx or page000.png given pcx or png.

NOTE: Some missions may change map_min_page or map_max_page values during gameplay, making additional pages available. So, changing these values may conflict with or mess up the script that runs during gameplay to update the min and max pages. For example, the map_min_page may be 1 and the map_max_page may be 2 in the mission (.mis) file, but in the mission intrface/<miss_name>/english directory, there are files: page001.png, page002.png, page003.png, and page004.png. That's a good clue that the mission will increase map_max_page to 4 during gameplay. These changed values will only be in the save (.sav) file. Therefore, some experimentation may be needed to verify that the map_min_page or map_max_page can be changed without issue.

Thanks

Thanks to the work of Tom N Harris and his Python scripts and DarkLib, which I referenced for this project.