1- To make it easier to access and read the game's data.
2- To enable quick script editing of the game's files.
Requirements:
1- Windows 7 or higher
2- Python 3.2 or higher
3- StructIO
4- Mingw-w64 (Only if you want to recompile the C library)
Installation:
Download the build and place it in a folder named 'dbpf'. Outside the folder, create a python file and write import dbpf to import the library.
Creates an object resembling the structure of a .package file.
header (Header): Contains the header
entries (list[Entry]): Contains instances of Entry.
file_path (str): The path of the file that was used to create the Package object.
Package()
Creates a Package object containing the data required to make an empty package file.
Package.unpack(file_path, decompress=False, read_names=False)
Static method. Reads a package file from the provided file_path and returns a Package object containing its data. If decompress is True, then all of the package's entries will be decompressed. If read_names is set to True, then the method will try to get all the names of the package's entries. Note that reading the names of the entries is slow.
pack_into(file_path, compress=False)
Converts the Package object into a package file and writes it to a file with the provided file_path. If compress is True, then the function will try to compress all of the package's entries.
copy()
Creates a copy of the package and returns it.
major_version (int): Equal to 1.
minor_version (int): Between 0 and 2.
major_user_version (int): Equal to 0.
minor_user_version (int): Equal to 0.
flags (int): Not known.
created_date (int)
modified_date (int)
index_major_version (int): Equal to 7.
index_entry_count (int): The number of entries in the file.
index_location (int): The location of the file's index.
index_size (int): The length of the index.
hole_index_entry_count (int): The number of holes in the file.
hole_index_location (int): The location of the holes index in the file.
hole_index_size (int): The length of the holes index.
index_minor_version (int): The index version, between 0 and 2.
remainder (bytes): What remains of the header.
Header():
Creates a Header object containing the data of a package file's header.
copy():
Creates a copy of the header and returns it.
Inherits from StructIO.
type (int): Entry type.
group (int): Entry group.
instance (int): Entry instance.
resource (int): Entry resource.
compressed (bool): Indicates whether the entry is compressed or not.
name (str): Contains the name of the entry for supported entry types. Keep in mind that changing this value will not change the actual name in the entry's content. To apply the new name to the entry, use the write_name function.
Entry(type_id, group_id, instance_id, resource_id=0, name='', content=b'', compressed=False)
Creates an entry containing the provided arguments.
copy()
Creates a copy of the entry and returns it.
compress()
Compresses the content of the entry. If the content of the entry is already compressed, then nothing happens. Returns a reference to the entry.
decompress()
Decompresses the content of the entry. If the content of the entry is already decompressed, then nothing happens. Raises a CompressionError if decompression fails. Returns a reference to the entry.
read_name()
Reads the name of the entry from it's content and writes it to name. Returns the name of the entry if the entry's type is supported, otherwise returns an empty string.
partial_decompress(entry, size=-1)
Decompresses entry up to size. If size is not specified, then the whole entry will be decompressed. Returns a StructIO object containing the decompressed bytes. Unlike the decompress function, this function does not overwrite the contents of entry.
search(entries, type_id=-1, group_id=-1, instance_id=-1, resource_id=-1, entry_name='', get_first=False)
Searches the a list of entries for the desired type, group, instance, or resource, returns a list of the entries matching the criteria. if any of the arguments is set equal to -1 then the the function will ignore that specific argument. If entry_name is specified, then the function will check if the names of supported file types contain entry_name. If get_first is set to True, then the function will directly return a list containing the first entry that it finds.
build_index(entries)
Returns an index that enables faster searching of entries using the index_search function. The returned index does NOT get updated when making changes to entries after the function is called.
index_search(entries, index, type_id=-1, group_id=-1, instance_id=-1, resource_id=-1, entry_name='')
Similar to the search function, but uses the index created by build_index for faster searching. Useful when you need to search a large package mutiple times.
General information on DBPF (Package) files (A little dated): https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=DBPF
Useful image showing the game's entry format: https://simswiki.info/images/e/e8/DBPF_File_Format_v1.1.png
Information on the various entry types found in the package file's entries (A little dated): https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=List_of_Sims_2_Formats_by_Name
Information on the compression used by the game's files: https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=DBPF_Compression
Original code for the library I used for the compression and decompression code: www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,8279.0.html
Notepad++ with the HEX-Editor plugin was useful for viewing the game's files: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
SimPE also has a hex viewer, but it only shows you uncompressed entries: https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=630456
I used this tool to compare my edited files to the original files: https://github.com/Shelwien/cmp/