STARDRAFT F.A.Q. - MPQ AND EDITING FILES
- What is an "MPQ" file? What do I do with them?
- Where can I get the internal Blizzard campaign maps from? What about the splash screens and sounds?
- What is a *.___ file and how can I edit it?
What is an
"MPQ" file? What do I do with them?
A file with the *.mpq extension is the most common mpq file
used in Starcraft -- most notably StarDat.mpq, Broodat.mpq, and occationally,
patch_rt.mpq. Maps -- *.scm and *.scx
files -- and the Install.exe on the CD are also MPQ files. MPQ files are simply compressed
archives where Starcraft puts lots of "little files" into a big clump. For
example, Stardat.mpq stores unit graphics, sounds, unit property file information, and a
lot of other stuff. A scm holds the decompressed map (*.chk),
the sounds (*.wav) you put in the map, and occationally other
tid bits like a file that gives it that little "Blizzard" or "Ladder"
symbol on Battle.net. (Feel free to ask about it, but the answer is no, you can't make
your own functional ladder map =) To look at and extract the "little files" from
inside an MPQ, you just need an MPQ Viewer utility (see the Programs
section). Usually, you will find duplicate files in Stardat.mpq, Broodat.mpq, and
patch_rt.mpq. Stardat will hold most of the original Starcraft files (pre-Broodwar),
Broodat will hold the additions and modifications from Broodwar, and patch_rt will hold
additional "patch" modifications (like from 1.05). In most circumstances, the
files in patch_rt override the other two and the files in Broodat override those in
Stardat if you are playing Broodwar.
Where can I get
the internal Blizzard campaign maps from? What about the splash screens and sounds?
The campaign maps, in-map sounds, and splash screens are in the Install.exe on the
Starcraft and Broodwar CDs (Starcraft for the original campaign and Broodwar for the
Broodwar campaign). All the maps are called scenario.chk (in their respective level
directories). To open the map in Staredit, simply choose Open, then go to the directory
where the scenario.chk is located, and manually type in scenario.chk. To make the
scenario.chk playable, simply Save As a scm or scx file.
If you are not seeing the scenario.chk files in the Install.exe, you probably have an old MPQ Viewer data file. Get the latest one from the Programs section.
What is a *.___
file and how can I edit it?
Here is a list of the basic file extensions. All the utilities can be found in the Programs sections.
- bin - these are sort of archives.
The most familiar are aiscript.bin and broodat.bin which contain the AI scripts
and iscript.bin which contains animation data for the sprites. ScAiEdit will
edit the AI script files. To edit the iscript.bin, can use ICE. The other bin files are layout files
for the menu screens. If you want to figure them out (hex) for yourself (not
really that hard) see Camelot Systems' spec
sheet. I'll write an article eventually.
- chk - uncompressed map files.
Basically, a scm/scx without the sounds. Just open one of these up manually
with Staredit and you can edit it like a normal map.
- cnd - these files are found
in scm or scx files. They basically indicate to Battle.net that there should
be a "Blizzard", "Ladder", or "PGL" symbol placed
in front of this map. You can place one of these in your own maps and you
will get the little symbol on Battle.net, but it will not play.
- dat - the data files which
hold default unit properties, upgrade properties, weapon properties, and more
"control" information. All of these files can be edited with Arsenal
II in a user friendly way. You don't even have to extract the files from the
mpq; Arsenal II will create default ones for you. See the SCEB
for more info.
- fnt - these are font files.
I guess you can extract and use them by placing them in your Windows Font
directory? I'm not sure.
- got - these files control the
game types. I.E., they control default melee settings, use map settings, team
melee, greed, and others. You'll need a hex editor to edit these. See the
main Stardraft page for a link to specs.
- grp - these are unit graphics
files. Basically, each grp file contains a set of picture frames which make
up how the unit looks in each position it can take. You either use RetroGRP
or the GRP editor contained within Stardraft to edit these. You will also
need a basic paint program to edit the bmp files which will be out-put (one
bmp for each frame). See the graphics section
for more info.
- lo* - there are the *.lol,
*.loa, *.lox, etc. files. They are probably the files which control the overlay
graphics. I.E., where to place the tank turret on the tank body, where to
place that little turret thing on the science vessel, where to place the "working"
graphics on a nexus/command center/forge/etc., and more. Shadowflare has created
a program to edit them. You can find it in the programs secton.
- pcx - this is a picture file.
Usually, these will be the format of the splash screens and control panels
in the game. This format is also used for Starcraft palette files. (That's
why you'll find some that are just a jumble of lots of colors) You just need
a simple paint program to edit these. Be sure to use only colors from the
picture's original palette, otherwise your picture will look all messed up
in Starcraft.
- smk - these are movie files
which consist of the campaign cutscenes to (more commonly) the unit portraits.
You use Smacker Tools to edit these.
- tbl - these are files which
contain most of the text in Starcraft, from unit names to weapon names to
error messages to AI titles. You edit them with TBL Edit, which you access
by double clicking on a tbl file when it is in Stardraft's CWAD manager. See
the SCEB for more info.
- trg - trigger files. You can
import [from the trigger menu] these into maps (scm/scx) to see waht triggers
are inside. The particular ones located in the MPQ are used for the default
game settings (one set for each type; e.g., generic victory conditions for
melee) and are missing the general 8 byte (I think) header that they have
when you export trg files from staredit. But if you add it and then import,
you can see the actual triggers.
- v*4 - Tileset files. See Nossirahdrof's
TileEdit for more info on this and other tile/doodad files and the ability
to edit them.
- wav - these are sound files. The larger ones on the CD are for the game music and the smaller ones in the *.mpq files are for unit responses. Use any old sound editor to edit these.
