Tes4Mod:Save File Format

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Contents 1 Overview 2 CON (Xbox 360 only) 3 File Header 4 Save Game Header 5 Plugins 6 Global 7 Records 8 Temporary Effects 9 FormIDs Array 10 World Spaces Array

[edit] Overview

Doesn't use standard format of ESP/ESM files as in Morrowind.

Files are not encrypted or compressed. Just lots of raw data.

Current format documentation is very incomplete. I have broken some of the table into different sections, but this data is still sequential (Plugins data follows Save Game Header, etc).

You can make a text dump of a save game's contents by using the SaveGame (save) or LoadGame (load) console commands. Simply append a non-zero value to the command arguments, eg: save test 1 or load test 1. It will generate a text file named with the same filename as your save game, but with .txt appended, eg: save test 1 will generate a test.ess.txt file. The dump file contains list of records by type and length of "subrecords" inside records.

It is probably a good idea to review the File Format Conventions.

[edit] CON (Xbox 360 only)

This section is a total of 53248 (0xD000) bytes.

This header is NOT needed by PC Oblivion, nor is it ever present in PC Oblivion created saves.

This is actually the first section of the Xbox 360 File Container, and is only found on Xbox 360 save files. The File Container format that this record is part of also inserts other chunks of information into the Oblivion save file. These additional chunks are inserted independent of the Oblivion save file format, as 4-16 KB pieces that typically appear somewhere after the first 600KB or so of "real" data. Therefore any file starting with a "CON " record needs to have the container information removed (for example, using WxPirs) before it can be parsed according to the format on the rest of this page (and before it can be read by the PC version of Oblivion). See Xbox 360 for more information on accessing Xbox 360 save files.

Name	Type/Size	Info
conId	char[4]	Constant: "CON " The space is a space - not a NULL (0x00).
conData	ubyte[53244]

[edit] File Header

Name	Type/Size	Info
fileId	char[12]	Constant: "TES4SAVEGAME"
majorVersion	ubyte	Current Oblivion major version is 0.
minorVersion	ubyte	After Shivering Isles and patch 1.2 minor version has been 126, before it was 125.
saveTime	systemtime	Real time that save was made. Obtained with GetLocalTime() API. This field is not present in save files less than version 0.82.

[edit] Save Game Header

Name	Type/Size	Info
headerVersion	ulong	Header's version number. After Shivering Isles and patch 1.2 version has been 126, before it was 125.
saveHeaderSize	ulong	Size in bytes of Save Game Header (not including this size variable).
saveNum	ulong	Save number. Based on what?
pcName	bzstring	PC's (player character's) name.
pcLevel	ushort	PC's level.
pcLocation	bzstring	PC's current cell.
gameDays	float	Days that have passed in game. Starts at 1.042 (Day 1, 1 AM).
gameTicks	ulong	Uses the GetTickCount() API to count how many ticks occur during gameplay. This is a total of all ticks elapsed during gameplay.
gameTime	systemtime	Obtained with GetLocalTime() API.
screenshot	struct	Screenshot at time of save.
size	ulong	Size of remaining snapshot data. Value = (width * height * 3) + 8.
width	ulong	Pixel width.
height	ulong	Pixel height.
data	ubyte[3*width*height]	RGB bytes with no compression. Remember that bitmap's scan line typically have different length.

[edit] Plugins

Name	Type/Size	Info
pluginsNum	ubyte	Number of plugins including masters.
plugins	list[pluginsNum]	List of plugin names.
name	bstring	Plugin file name (including extension).

[edit] Global

Name	Type/Size	Info
formIdsOffset	ulong	Absolute address of formIdsNum.
recordsNum	ulong	Number of change records.
nextObjectid	formid	Number of next savegame specific object id. I.e. FFxxxxxx. When this value is overflow it causes Shivering Isle's infamous Reference Bug.
worldId	formid
worldX	ulong	Most likely part of Worldspace ID data.
worldY	ulong	Most likely part of Worldspace ID data.
pcLocation	struct	Current PC location (cell and position within cell).
cell	ulong	FormID of cell. (Not iref).
x	float	X coordinate.
y	float	Y coordinate.
z	float	Z coordinate.
globalsNum	ushort
globals	struct[globalsNum]	Array of global variables.
iref	ulong	Iref of global.
value	float	Value of global. Note that all globals are represented as floats regardless of their CS4 type (float, long, short).
tesClassSize	ushort
tesClassData	ubyte[tesClassSize]	TES Class data.
processesSize	ushort
processesData	ubyte[processesSize]	Processes data.
specEventSize	ushort
specEventData	ubyte[specEventSize]	Spectator Event data.
weatherSize	ushort
weatherData	ubyte[weatherSize]	Sky/Weather data.
unknown5	ulong	unknown (this doesn't seem to be related to created items after all). Appears to be combat related?
createdNum	ulong
createdData	list[createdNum]	Items (potions, enchanted items, spells) created in-game. Format is same as for mod file records.
quickKeysSize	ushort
quickKeysData	ubyte[quickKeysSize]	Quick Keys settings.
reticuleSize	ushort
reticuleData	ubyte[reticuleSize]	HUD Reticule.
interfaceSize	ushort
interfaceData	ubyte[interfaceSize]	Interface stuff.
regionsSize	ushort	Size of regionsNum + regions array.
regionsNum	ushort
regions	struct[regionsNum]	Array of information about regions.
iref	ulong	Iref of region.
unknown6	ulong	Region data. ?Flags?

[edit] Records

Name	Type/Size	Info
records	list[global.recordsNum]	Collection of records documenting changes to data objects supplied by the master mods, and new objects added during game play.
formId	ulong	FormId of the data object being changed. FormId for objects created in-game have value between 0xFF000000 - 0xFFFFFFFF.
type	ubyte	Type of record. Type Name Info 6 FACT Factions 20 ARMO Armor 21 BOOK Books 22 CLOT Clothing 25 INGR Ingredient 26 LIGH Lights 27 MISC Misc. Items 33 WEAP Weapons This record type has been observed to be used at with quests that requires weapon delivery. 35 NPC_ Player and NPC data: attributes, spells, factions, etc. These changes affect all instances of objects. Record 7 contains player character data. 36 CREA Creature information (rats, horses, hostile creatures.) These changes affect all instances of objects. 39 KEYM Keys 40 ALCH Alchemy 48 CELL Cells. 49 REFR Placed instances of inanimate objects (containers, dropped items, chairs, doors, etc.) 50 ACHR Placed instances of PC (player character) and NPCs (non-player characters). Record 20 (14h) contains player character data. 51 ACRE Placed instances of creatures. 58 INFO Dialog entries. 59 QUST Quest information 61 PACK AI Packages.
flags	ulong	Flags indicating what has been changed. Most flags have a corresponding sub-record in the record data. See Change Flags.
version	ubyte	Since patch 1.2 and Shivering Isles 126 (0x7E), before it was 125 (0x7D).
dataSize	ushort
data	ubyte[dataSize]	Collection of change sub-records.

[edit] Temporary Effects

Name	Type/Size	Info
tempEffectsSize	ulong
data	ubyte[tempEffectsSize]

[edit] FormIDs Array

Name	Type/Size	Info
formIdsNum	ulong	Number of formIds in array.
formIds	ulong[formIdsNum]	Array of formIds. Formids for objects created in-game are not included in the formids array. "irefs" are only dereferenced from the formid array if they are less than 0xFF000000.

[edit] World Spaces Array

Probably an array that maps internal references to world space formIds. But if that's so, doesn't it duplicate functionality of FormId array?

Name	Type/Size	Info
worldSpacesNum	ulong	Number of world spaces in array.
worldSpaces	ulong[worldSpacesNum]	Array of world space formIds.