VPPTSV

VP Propdump TSV Version 1 (VPPTSV1)

Propdump format for VP designed with simplicity, flexibility and user friendliness in mind. Based on the tab-separated values format, it is intended to be a universal format for storing the object data of worlds and enabling them to be modified. Each object is displayed on its own line, with the various parameters such as model name and location separated by tab, allowing spreadsheet editor to display these parameters in cells.

TSV and CSV files are widely supported by computer programs such as spreadsheet and text editors, making it easy to work with these propdump files.

Usages

The VPPTSV format could be used to store a small group of objects or as a medium to backup a world. It could also be useful as an intermediate format when it is necessary to perform some tasks on builds in AW or VP, or when converting from AW propdumps.

It can make batch modifications to multiple objects a much quicker and more convenient task in both AW and VP, for instance if one needs to modify each texture on a a series of objects or move a build to a different location, making use of the math functions available in spreadsheet editors.

As a flexible format, it is indiscriminate against the two styles of rotation available in VP: XYZ and Axis-Angle, the former being used in AW propdumps.

AW propdumps can also be stored in this format.

File format specification

This specification is still a work in progress and may be subject to change.

Each line in a VPPTSV file is an individual object, with the data values being separated by tab characters. The magic number or header which must be the first line is "vp propdump tsv1". This is used to identify the file format and version. This header may have additional parameters.

Programs parsing the file should ignore lines that start with a hash # allowing for comments to be added such as the creation date and world.

VP SDK Attribute	VPPTSV Attribute	Data Type (C#)
VP_OBJECT_USER_ID	Owner	unsigned int
VP_OBJECT_TIME	DateTime	DateTime
VP_OBJECT_X	PositionX	float
VP_OBJECT_Y	PositionY	float
VP_OBJECT_Z	PositionZ	float
VP_OBJECT_ROTATION_X	RotationX	float
VP_OBJECT_ROTATION_Y	RotationY	float
VP_OBJECT_ROTATION_Z	RotationZ	float
VP_OBJECT_ROTATION_ANGLE	RotationAngle	float
VP_OBJECT_TYPE	ObjectType	unsigned int
VP_OBJECT_MODEL	Model	string
VP_OBJECT_DESCRIPTION	Description	string
VP_OBJECT_ACTION	Action	string
VP_OBJECT_DATA	ObjectData	byte[]

Newline must be replaced with \n and tab must be replaced with \t
Please be aware the header version may be incremented to 1.1 if a small update is made to the specification, instead of whole numbers. This should be accounted for if your program will be processing the version number.
File extension can be .tsv or .csv

Sample

You can copy and paste this sample into spreadsheet software to better visualise it.

vp propdump tsv1 en-GB
# Created:	09/03/2013 23:43:53
# World:	Blizzard

#Owner	DateTime	PositionX	PositionY	PositionZ	RotationX	RotationY	RotationZ	RotationAngle	ObjectType	Model	Description	Action	ObjectData
104	09/03/2013 22:49:39	-1.136963	8.195639E-09	0.2480469	0	1	0	0	0	tbtree003.rwx		create ambient .5,diffuse .5,specular 0
104	09/03/2013 23:13:00	-0.105957	0.005000007	-0.8530273	0	1	0	0	0	pp16w2.rwx		create scale .7 .6 .6,color 0;activate move -1 0 0 wait=10
104	09/03/2013 23:12:46	0.03393555	0.005000007	-0.8530273	0	1	0	0	0	pp16w2.rwx		create scale .7 .6 .6,color 0;activate move 1 0 0 wait=10
104	09/03/2013 23:15:24	0.2128906	0.101	-0.001953125	0.7700768	0.3189757	0.552482	1.286658	0	pole1m02.rwx		create visible no,solid no,light color=skyblue
104	09/03/2013 23:05:52	0.2141113	6.705522E-09	0.1479492	0	1	0	0	0	thseb1g.rwx		
104	09/03/2013 23:14:05	0.2128906	0.301	0.0480957	0	1	0	0	0	thsed2.rwx		
104	09/03/2013 23:11:47	0.4628906	0.301	1.148926	0	1	0	0	0	sign3.rwx	Cheap Test House\nfor example purposes only	create sign	
104	09/03/2013 23:15:36	0.3640137	6.705522E-09	1.398926	0	1	0	3.141593	0	mailbox1.rwx		
104	09/03/2013 23:15:42	0.2141113	6.705522E-09	1.148926	0	1	0	0	0	doorpic2.rwx		create scale .9,solid no

Date & Time Structure

The date and time structure should be compatible with most spreadsheet software, allowing the end-user to modify the propdump and perform operations such as removing objects built before a certain date. Due to the use of the DateTime function, there must be tolerance for slight alterations by spreadsheet software, so it is advised that your program will be able to understand various DateTime formats. The culture is an optional part of the header and dates will be parsed using the "en-GB" culture by default in Nexus Bot if none is specified.

The DateTime string can be parsed into a DateTime structure when programming in a .NET language using the DateTime.Parse Method. This method accepts many date & time formats making it very flexible. When using the SDK, it is easy to parse the DateTime string directly into a VpObject structure using this method.

If the culture and therefore the date format is different, this must be specified in the header as a parameter, e.g: vp propdump tsv1 en-US

See also

• VPATSV Atdump specification
• VPETSV Elevdump specification

External links

• OpenOffice Calc - Free open-source spreadsheet software that can edit TSV files