Resources & Input/Output

How to access file data from .package files.

The main functionalities to access resources of the game is in the Resource package. Therefore, in this tutorial, we will assume using namespace Resource; is being used to avoid typing Resource:: all the time.

If you want to see a mod that uses the Resources module, check the GmdlExport mod.

Opening a resource

To access a resource, first you need to know its ResourceKey. Once you have it, you can access the resource by using the ResourceManager:

ResourceObjectPtr object;
if (ResourceManager.GetResource(key, &object)) {

}

The real type of object will be a class that extends ResourceObject, and it depends on the file type: it could be a PropertyList, a GmdlAsset,... The files are converted to resources by using an IResourceFactory; if you make your own file type, you can create a resource factory that reads it.

Getting the file data

Sometimes it's not convenient to get the processed resource: sometimes you will want to directly access the raw data, just as it's written in the .package file. The resource manager allows you to get the Database (the class that represents either a .package or a plain folder like Games/Game0) for a certain file. You can then open the file either for read or write access by using an IRecord.

// Remember keys are { instance, type, group }
ResourceKey key = { id("TestFile"), TypeIDs::prop, 0x405010BB };

if (auto package = ResourceManager.GetDatabase(key))
{
    // If the file does not exist, GetDatabase returns nullptr so this code is not executed
    
    Resource::IRecord* record;
    // By default it's opened for read
    if (pDBPF->GetFile(key, &record))
    {
        // Do something with the IPFRecord
    }
}

Using IO to read/write

If you call record->GetStream() on an IPFRecord, it will return the underlying IO::IStream object that can be used to read/write from the file. That class can be used to read/write batches of bytes directly. The IO namespace provides other methods to read/write specific types of data, such as IO::ReadInt32(), IO::ReadLine(), IO::WriteUInt16,...

Accessing a disk file

It's also possible to read/write a file directly from the user disk. Instead of usnig an IPFRecord, you can create a FileStream directly. After creating it, you must call Open() with the permissions you need. After you are done, don't forget to call Close():

FileStreamPtr stream = new IO::FileStream(u"C:\\Users\\Eric\\Desktop\\test.raw");
stream->Open(IO::kAccessFlagReadWrite, IO::kCDCreateAlways);

for (int i = 0; i < 14; ++i) {
    IO::WriteInt32(stream, &i);
}

stream->Close();

Another useful stream class is MemoryStream, which keeps the file data entirely in memory.