Crowdsourcing unknown savegame data

In order to allow proper saving/loading of games in EasyRPG we must support the RPG Makers save format (LSD).

Many of the data defined in the savegame is already figured out (because it maps to the LDB Database) but there is also a lot of temporary runtime data that is still unknown (but important to load the game correctly).

Now we ask you to help us figuring out the unknown data. What you have to do? Alter some data in the savegame, load it, see a change, report the change.

To make editing the save a bit easier we provide a tool for you: lsd2xml
It allows you to convert LSD files to a bit better readable XML files (you can open them with any text editor).

How to use it:
LSD2XML: Converts LSD files to XML. Just start the program, enter the id of your savegame (from 1 to 15) and press enter. It creates a Save[id].xml for you.
XML2LSD: Converts XML files to LSD. Same as the other one, but it takes a Save[id].xml and outputs the Save[id].lsd, so you can load it again via RPG_RT (which is kinda useful, you know :))
Both programs also support command line arguments, just pass a value from 1-15 as the first argument.

What you have to do:
When you open the XML file you will see a lot of sections starting with <unknown_…>. The value between the opening and the closing tag (often -1) is the unknown value. Change the value and then convert it back to LSD. Now try to see a difference (by loading it with RPG_RT, not EasyRpg Player) and report it to us (post the tag, the value you used and the purposes of the tag).
Another way is to create two savegames (at different times of course) and then compare the values in the save (there are also graphical diff tools for such purposes). This is maybe useful if you try to see if some events alter unknown data.

Example for a post:
[SavePartyLocation][unknown_25]: Movement Speed
[SavePartyLocation][unknown_2a] = 1: blocks movement
(Just figured these two values out, rest is your job)

Oh and sorry for only providing Windows versions of the program, but to run RPG_RT you need Wine under Linux anyway. ;)

Update (January 2013):
To run this under Windows XP you have to install Service Pack 2 (this was released 2004, please update your system). Does not run on Windows 2000 or older.

Update (May 2016):
lsd2xml has been replaced by a generic tool that can convert all lcf data to xml and vice versa: lcf2xml. It can run under Windows, Linux and probably other platforms and is available in our Tools Download section.The main difference is, that it has no GUI anymore, but can be used by drag’n’dropping a file on it.

5 thoughts on “Crowdsourcing unknown savegame data”

  1. [SavePartyLocation][unknown_23] = 0 : still animation
    [SavePartyLocation][unknown_23] = 1 : continuous walking animation (0 tiles moved)

    [added to liblcf]

  2. [Sprite_transparent][unknown_2f] = 1,2,3 (presumably any value above 0) : object collision is turned off

    [added to liblcf]

  3. Reported by MarianoGNU:
    —-
    [party_location]
    [SavePartyLocation]
    [unknown_17]7[/unknown_17]
    is the index of the walking frame
    index is 0-4 por first character on charaset
    3-7 for second character

    [added to liblcf]

  4. [Inventory][SaveInventory][unknown_29] Seems to be “Number of turns passed in the latest battle fought”
    However, it behaves differently between RM2000 and RM2003.
    In RM2000, a “turn” passes after every character (enemies and heroes both) performed an action each.
    In RM2003, every time a hero or enemy performs an action, that is considered a “turn”.

    [added to liblcf]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *