File Format
From ZU
Here is the complete and unadulterated file format for ZZT:
Padding preferably with 0h.
Bytes Description
----- -----------
2 FFFFh verifies that this is a ZZT file
2 Number of boards minus 1
2 Starting ammo
2 Starting gems
7 Starting keys (Nonzero if player has it)
Order: blue, green, cyan, red, purple, yellow, white
2 Starting health
2 Starting board
2 Starting torches
2 Number of cycles until torch goes out
2 Number of cycles player is still energized
2 *Unknown
2 Starting score
1 Length of world title
20 World title
210 Places for 10 flags that are set
Flags in following format:
1 byte = length of flag name
20 bytes = flag name
If the flag "SECRET" is set, then this is a protected file.
2 Time passed
2 *Unknown
1 If this byte is nonzero then this is a savegame
The following 247 bytes were not used by normal ZZT, ZZTAE v2.0 will use
them in the following way:
4 "ZZTÆ"
13 Fontfile
40 Author
40 World title
40 E-mail
60 Website
1 Genre 1
1 Genre 2
1 Genre 3
40 Custom genre
1 Total files for game (if the game spans multiple worlds)
1 Number of this file
5 *Unused
ZZTQED stores "°±²Û ZZTQED Û²±°" at the beginning of this unused area.
Followed by the boards in exactly the same format as the *.BRD files
�
Format of *.BRD files (ZZT)
=====================
Coordinates are 1-based, ranging from (1,1) to (60,25).
Bytes Description
----- -----------
2 Board size (excluding these 2 bytes)
1 Length of board title
34 Board title
16 *Unknown
Followed by the actual board design:
1 How many times the next thing repeats
1 Thing
1 Color (The character for text)
(This repeats for a board of 60x25)
After the board design:
1 Max shots
1 Darkness
1 Board to North
1 Board to South
1 Board to West
1 Board to East
1 Re-enter when zapped
1 Size of message on message row
58 Message on message row
1 Board entry X-coordinate \ used for re-entering when zapped; ignored by
1 Board entry Y-coordinate / ZZT except when restoring from a .SAV file
2 Time limit in seconds
16 *Unknown
2 Number of things with parameters minus 1
Followed by objects, creatures, etc. in the following format:
1 X-coordinate on board
1 Y-coordinate on board
2 Current horizontal movement in steps a cycle
2 Current vertical movement in steps a cycle
2 Cycle number
3 Parameters
2 Stat # of the thing behind this thing (used for centipedes; -1 is no linkage, 1 is first non-player stat)
2 Stat # of the thing in front of this thing (used for centipedes; -1 is no linkage, 1 is first non-player stat)
1 Code for thing under this thing
1 Color for thing under this thing
4 *Unknown
2 Position in program as byte number minus 1, FFFFh = Program ended
2 Size for object/scroll -- if negative, -(stat #) of the thing this thing is #binded to (-1 being first non-player stat)
8 *Unknown
? Only if size is positive: Program/text according to size
This comes after all the boards (footer):
2 Length of comments
? Comments
�
Codes for genres (ZZTAE v2.0)
================
Code Thing
---- -------------------
000 (None)
001 24hozzt
002 3D
003 Action
004 Adventure
005 Arcade
006 Art
007 Catalog
008 Cinema
009 Collection
010 Comedy
011 Demo
012 Display
013 Dungeon
014 Engine
015 Font
016 Help
017 Horror
018 Interactive Cinema
019 Magazine
020 Miscellaneous
021 Music
022 Puzzle
023 Random
024 Remake
025 Rpg
026 Sci-Fi
027 Series
028 Shooter
029 Side Scroller
030 Simulation
031 Sport
032 Strategy
033 Trippy
034 Update
035 Various
�
Codes for things (ZZT)
================
Parameters:
. = None
A = Ascii char
D = Destination
E = sEnsitivity
F = Firing rate (add 128 if firing stars)
H = pHase
I = Intelligence
L = Locked (0=unlocked, 1=locked)
M = start tiMe
O = Owner (0=player, 1=enemy)
P = firing Period
R = Rate
S = Speed
T = rest Time
U = fUse length (0=normal bomb)
V = deViance
X = uses X-/y-step bytes
Code Thing Name in OOP Parameters 123 Cycle Char
---- ---------------------------- --------------- -------------- ----- ----
000 Space empty 00
001 Board edge 00
002 Messenger 1 00
003 Monitor monitor 1 00
004 Player player ... 1 02
005 Ammo ammo 84
006 Torch torch 9D
007 Gem gem 04
008 Key key 0C
009 Door door 0A
010 Scroll scroll ... 1 E8
011 Passage passage ..D 0 F0
012 Duplicator duplicator X HR. 1 FA
013 Bomb bomb U.. 6 0B
014 Energizer energizer 7F
015 Star star X O.. 1 --
016 Clockwise Conveyor clockwise 3 --
017 Counter-Clockwise Conveyor counter 2 --
018 Bullet bullet X O.. 1 F8
019 Water water B0
020 Forest forest B0
021 Solid Wall solid DB
022 Normal Wall normal D2
023 Breakable Wall breakable B1
024 Boulder boulder FE
025 Slider North-South sliderns 12
026 Slider East-West sliderew 1D
027 Fake Wall fake B2
028 Invisible Wall invisible 00
029 Blink Wall blinkwall X MP. 1 --
030 Transporter transporter X --
031 Line line --
032 Ricochet ricochet 2A
033 Horizontal Blinkwall Ray CD
034 Bear bear E.. 3 99
035 Ruffian ruffian IT. 1 05
036 Object object X AL. 3 --
037 Slime slime .S. 1 2A
038 Shark shark I.. 3 5E
039 Spinning Gun spinninggun X IF. 2 --
040 Pusher pusher X ... 4 --
041 Lion lion I.. 2 EA
042 Tiger tiger IF. 2 E3
043 Vertical Blinkwall Ray BA
044 Centipede Head head X IV. 2 E9
045 Centipede Segment segment ... 2 4F
046 Unused
047 Blue Text
048 Green Text
049 Cyan Text
050 Red Text
051 Purple Text
052 Brown Text
053 Black Text
For texts, the character to display is determined by the colour of that
element; the colour to display is determined by kind. Empty spaces are
always displayed as black regardless of the element's colour.
�
File format of *.SZT and *.SAV files (SuperZZT)
====================================
Bytes Description
----- -----------
2 FEFFh verifies that this is a SuperZZT file
2 Number of boards minus 1
2 Starting ammo
2 Starting gems
7 Starting keys (Nonzero if player has it)
2 Starting health
2 Starting board
2 Unknown
2 Number of cycles player is still energized
2 Unknown
2 Starting score
1 Length of world title
20 World title
336 Places for 16 flags that are set
Flags in following format:
1 byte = length of flag name
20 bytes = flag name
If the flag "SECRET" is set, then this is a protected file.
2 Time passed
2 Unknown
1 If this byte is nonzero then this is a savegame
2 Starting stones
633 Unused
Followed by the boards in exactly the same format as the *.BRD files
�
Format of *.BRD files (SuperZZT)
=====================
2 Board size (excluding these two bytes)
1 Length of board title
60 Board title
Followed by the actual board design:
1 How many times the next thing repeats
1 Thing
1 Color
(This repeats for a board of 96x80)
After the board design:
1 Max shots
1 Board to North
1 Board to South
1 Board to West
1 Board to East
1 Re-enter when zapped
4 Unknown
1 X-coordinate of the player (?)
1 Y-coordinate of the player (?)
2 Time limit in seconds
14 Unknown
2 Number of things with parameters minus 1
NOTE: There can never be 0 things with parameters: there always is a
player present on every board and the player has parameters.
Followed by objects, creatures, etc. in the following format:
1 X-coordinate on board
1 Y-coordinate on board
2 Current horizontal movement in steps a cycle (signed integer)
2 Current vertical movement in steps a cycle (signed integer)
2 Cycle number
3 Parameters
4 Unknown
1 Code for thing under this thing
1 Color for thing under this thing
4 Unknown
2 Position in program as byte number minus 1, 65535 = Program ended
2 Size for object/scroll
? Only if size is positive: Program/text according to size
�
Codes for things (SuperZZT)
================
* = From 1 to 9 (0 to 8 in file storage)
Code Thing Parameters Name in OOP
---- ------------------- ------------------ ---------------
000 Space empty
001 Board edge (Internal use)
002 Messenger (Internal use)
003 Monitor (Internal use) ??? monitor
004 Player ??? player
005 Ammo ammo
006
007 Gem gem
008 Key key
009 Door door
010 Scroll scroll
011 Passage passage
012 Duplicator Rate*,Source dir duplicator
013 Bomb bomb
014 Energizer energizer
015
016 Clockwise Conveyor clockwise
017 Counter-Clockwise Conveyor counter
018
019 Lava lava
020 Forest forest
021 Solid Wall solid
022 Normal Wall normal
023 Breakable Wall breakable
024 Boulder boulder
025 Slider North-South sliderns
026 Slider East-West sliderew
027 Fake Wall fake
028 Invisible Wall invisible
029 Blink Wall Start*,Period*,Dir blinkwall
030 Transporter Dir,Animation transporter
031 Line line
032 Ricochet ricochet
033
034 Bear Sensitivity* bear
035 Ruffian Intell*,Rest time* ruffian
036 Object Char,Locked object
037 Slime Movement speed* slime
038
039 Spinning Gun Intell*,Rate*,Type spinninggun
040 Pusher Dir pusher
041 Lion Intell* lion
042 Tiger Intell*,Rate*,Type tiger
043
044 Centipede Head Intell*,Deviance* head
045 Centipede Segment segment
046
047 Floor floor
048 Water North watern
049 Water South waters
050 Water West waterw
051 Water East watere
052
053
054
055
056
057
058
059 Roton Intell*,Switch* roton
060 Dragon Pup Intell*,Switch* dragonpup
061 Pairer Intell* pairer
062 Spider Intell* spider
063 Web web
064 Stone stone
065
066
067
068
069 Bullet Dir,Type bullet
070 Horizontal Blink Wall Ray
071 Vertical Blink Wall Ray
072 Star Life star
073 Blue text (Color is character)
074 Green text (Color is character)
075 Cyan text (Color is character)
076 Red text (Color is character)
077 Purple text (Color is character)
078 Brown text (Color is character)
079 Black text (Color is character)
�
Built-in labels
---------------
:bombed
:energize
:enter (SZZT only)
:shot
:touch
:thud
Built-in flags
--------------
alligned
blocked [direction]
contact
energized
Directions
----------
n
s
w
e
i
north
south
west
east
idle
seek
flow
rnd
rndns
rndne
Direction pre-fixes
-------------------
cw
ccw
rndp
opp
Colors
------
blue
green
cyan
red
purple
yellow
white
Counters
--------
ammo
gems
health
score
time
torches (ZZT only)
z (the Stones in SuperZZT)
Color encoding
--------------
This works just like in the video memory:
IF ForegroundColor > 15 THEN ForegroundColor -- 16, BackgroundColor ++ 8
ColorCode = BackgroundColor * 16 + ForegroundColor
Some examples: Blinking red on dark green = 28 on 2 = 172
Red on dark green = 12 on 2 = 44
Dark red on dark green = 4 on 2 = 36
Program commands
----------------
[string]
@[objectname]
/[direction]
?[direction]
:[label]
'[string]
$[string]
![label];[string]
!-filename;[string]
#[label]
#[objectname]:[label]
#BECOME ([color]) [thing]
#BIND [objectname]
#CHANGE ([color]) [thing] ([color]) [thing]
#CHAR [number]
#CLEAR [flag]
#CYCLE [number]
#DIE
#END
#ENDGAME
#GIVE [counter] [number]
#GO [direction]
#IDLE
#IF [flag] (THEN) [label|command]
#IF ANY ([color]) [thing] (THEN) [label|command]
#IF NOT [flag] (THEN) [label|command]
#IF NOT ANY ([color]) [thing] (THEN) [label|command]
#LOCK
#PLAY [string]
#PUT [direction] ([color]) [thing]
#RESTART
#RESTORE [label]
#SEND [label]
#SEND [objectname]:[label]
#SET [flag]
#SHOOT [direction]
#TAKE [counter] [number] ([label|command])
#THROWSTAR [direction]
#TRY [direction] ([label|command])
#UNLOCK
#WALK [direction]
#ZAP [label]
Specific info
-------------
ZZT SuperZZT
--- --------
Maximum number of boards 101 33
Screen mode 80x25 40x25
Character size 8x14 16x14 (stretched 8x14)
Viewport size 60x25 24x20
Board size 60x25 96x80
Maximum number of flags set 10 16
Maximum on-board objects 151 129
Similar Documentation
- Kev Vance's The ZZT File Format, the earliest documentation on ZZT's file format
- Nanobot's article from the The Mystical Winds Encyclopedia, which provides lots of details
- SaxxonPike's notes from the DOS Game Modding Wiki
