Category:World of Warcraft DBC Files
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Contents |
Header
| Column | Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signature | String | (4-bytes) string, always 'WDBC' |
| 2 | Records | Integer | (4-bytes) number of records in the file |
| 3 | Fields | Integer | (4-bytes) number of fields per record |
| 4 | Record Size | Integer | (4-bytes) Fields*FieldSize (FieldSize is usually 4, but not always) |
| 5 | String Block Size | Integer | Size of the string block |
String Block
Unlike the cache files, string data is stored in a block after the records. String data in records contain an offset to the string, starting from the string block. For example: If the address of the string block was 500, and the string value was 50, the address of the string would be at 550. The string block starts with a null character, and all strings are null-terminated.
Notes
Some strings in DBC Files are localized. For each possible language there is a reserved string field. Actually the total string field count is 16, and still subject to change. Following the 16 String* fields is a bitmask field. I'm not exactly sure what the bitmask field is used for yet, see Localization.
Although all the fields are reserved for localization, only two are used in language packs, one language field and the bitmask field, others being empty. It make localized strings easily detectable, taking 17 fields instead of one, but it is still a waste of 64 bytes. Anyway it probably have to do with the way blizzard use the databases internally (as far as I remember the official servers are able to serve data in many different languages). I suspect the localized databases to be a dump of "universal" databases that only blizzard possesses, just wiping out uneeded data but preserving field structure.
Maybe it could be interesting to rebuild those univesal DBC files by merging all localized files into one...
| Offset | Notes |
|---|---|
| 0 | English (enUS) / Great British (enGB) |
| +1 | Korean (koKR) |
| +2 | French (frFR) |
| +3 | German (deDE) |
| +4 | Chinese (zhCN) |
| +5 | Taiwan (zhTW) |
| +6 | Spanish (esES) / Maxico (esMX) |
| +7 | Russian (ruRU) |
| +16 | BitMask that always follows output string data. |
2.1.1 changed the total field count to 16(+1), was 8(+1) before.
Nulled Out Files
These files are no longer used or reside server-side only. For a full listing check out the obsolete articles category.
| File Name | Patch Removed |
|---|---|
| CharacterCreateCameras | Unknown |
| ItemDisenchantLoot | 5894 |
| SoundCharacterMacroLines | 4294 |
| SpellAuraNames | 4442 |
| SpellEffectNames | Unknown |
Articles in category "World of Warcraft DBC Files"
There are 191 articles in this category.
