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File format for Biik archive files

Cameron Cawley edited this page Nov 20, 2022 · 4 revisions

All values are in little-endian for RISC OS and Windows data files, and in big-endian for Macintosh files. Strings are null terminated, then the file size is padded to a multiple of 4 bytes.

Offset Size Description
0x0 8 BIIK-DJC
0x8 4 Header size.
0xC 4 Archive version? 1 is used for RISC OS and Macintosh archives, while 2 is used for Windows archives.
0x10 4 Game ID. Must match ID provided by the interpreter, otherwise it will crash.
0x14 4 Offset to file index.

The Game ID can be one of the following values:

  • Dinosaur Discovery demo: 0x01
  • A Mouse in Holland: 0x03
  • Explore with Flossy the Frog: 0x05
  • Dinosaur Discovery: 0x06
  • Betsi the Tudor Dog: 0x08
  • Guardians of the Greenwood: 0x0D
  • Patch the Puppy: 0x11
  • Find It Fix It: 0x12
  • Darryl the Dragon: 0xFF

The file index is usually positioned at the end of the file. It consists of a header, followed by one or more entries. The header has the following format:

Offset Size Description
0x0 4 Always 3?
0x4 4 Size of file index.
0x8 4 Size of index header.
0xC varies Title of index (usually File index).

Each entry has the following format:

Offset Size Description
0x0 4 Size of entry.
0x4 4 Offset to file header.
0x8 varies File name.

The file itself is prefixed by a second header, which contains more infomation about the file. The format of the header is as follows:

Offset Size Description
0x0 4 Type of file.
0x4 4 Combined size of the file and the header.
0x8 4 Size of the header.
0xC varies File name.

The file type can be one of the following values:

The embedded file follows immediately after this header.

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