| # AoE2:DE reference data extraction — README |
|
|
| Extracted directly from the game's own `empires2_x2_p1.dat` (Genie engine |
| format) via a custom C++ tool built against the official `Tapsa/genieutils`. Two |
| snapshots exist: |
|
|
| - `may2026/` `VER 8.8`, 59 civs, 1510 techs, 1409 effects. |
| - `kotd4/` — matched to the KOTD4 tournament |
| dataset, `VER 7.4`, 39 civs, 851 techs, 851 effects. |
|
|
| The contents of these files are released under the Mi |
|
|
| Each snapshot's display strings (`display_name`, `description`, etc.) are |
| resolved against **that same install's** `key-value-strings-utf8.txt`, |
|
|
| ## Files |
|
|
| - `aoe2_civs.json` — one entry per civilization. |
| - `aoe2_techs.json` — one entry per tech (includes hidden/auto-research techs |
| used internally for civ bonuses and tech-tree gating — see `is_civ_bonus`). |
| - `aoe2_units.json` — one entry per **skirmish-relevant** unit: filtered to |
| unit ids that appear in the game's own tech-tree UI (`TechTree |
| .UnitConnections` / `BuildingConnections`). This excludes scenario-editor |
| entities — corpse variants (`_D` suffix), duplicate age-specific |
| building meshes (`Shipyard2/3/4`, `Port 2/3/4`), decorative props, and |
| unused duplicate entries — that share id ranges with real units but were |
| never wired into the tech tree. So this excludes gold mines, trees, rocks, |
| and other gaia props, as well as the "dummy" units. |
| - `aoe2_effects.json` — every effect group (id + name + raw command list), |
| for looking up an `effect_id` referenced from anywhere else in these files. |
|
|
| IDs (`civ id`, `tech id`, `unit id`) match the raw `.dat` values and were |
| cross-checked against the SAGE/KOTD4 per-match parquet export pipeline's own |
| id space — they align. |
|
|
| ## Text fields |
|
|
| - `internal_name` — old internal codename (e.g. `"British"`), not the |
| in-game display name. |
| - `display_name` — resolved in-game name. For civs this isn't stored in the |
| dat file at all; it's a hardcoded engine convention (`string id = 10270 + |
| civ id`). |
| - Units: `creation_text` (train-button label), `help_text`, and |
| `description` — the official train-button tooltip ("Strong vs. X, Weak |
| vs. Y" blurb) which lives at an string offset |
| (`21000`). |
| - Techs: `description`, `help_text`, `tech_tree_text` (tech-tree panel text). |
| - Civs: `overview_text` — the civ-selection-screen blurb (bonuses, unique |
| unit/techs, team bonus), resolved from another undocumented convention |
| (`string id = 120149 + civ id`). `team_bonus_text` is the "Team Bonus:" |
| section parsed out of that same blurb. |
|
|
| ## Effect commands (`type`/`a`/`b`/`c`/`d`) |
|
|
| Every place an effect's command list appears, each command has been |
| enriched in place with `type_name` and `meaning` (a decoded, human-readable |
| one-liner) using the field semantics from `Tapsa/AGE` (the actual AoE2 |
| modding editor's source — the tool players use to hand-edit these exact |
| values, so it's authoritative, not inferred). |
|
|
| The type number encodes both a base operation and a scope: |
| `type = base + scope_offset`, where `scope_offset` is `0` (self), `10` |
| (team), `20` (enemy), `30` (neutral), or `40` (gaia), and `base` is one of: |
| `0` set attribute, `1` set/change resource, `2` enable/disable unit, |
| `3` upgrade unit, `4` change attribute (+/-), `5` multiply attribute, |
| `6` multiply resource, `7` spawn unit, `8` modify tech, `9` set civ name. |
| Types `101`/`102`/`103` (tech cost/disable/research-time modifiers) don't |
| get scope variants. |
|
|
| **Known gap:** the `a`/`b`/`c`/`d` → class-name lookup for attack/armor |
| bonuses (`class N` in `meaning`) is only populated through class id 61; AoE2 |
| DE has since added more unit classes for newer content, so some decoded |
| lines show a wrong or generic class name (e.g. "vs Tree" where the real |
| target is a newer class not in the table) or fall back to `unit N` for a |
| few unresolved ids in some team bonuses. Treat `meaning` as a best-effort |
| gloss, not a certified translation — the raw `type`/`a`/`b`/`c`/`d` values |
| are always present alongside it if you need to re-derive. |
|
|
| ## Civ access / tech-tree fields |
|
|
| - `civs_with_access` / `civs_disabled` (on units) and `disabled_techs` (on |
| civs) / `disabled_for_civs` (on techs) are two ends of the same data, |
| built from **two independent sources**: |
| 1. civ-restricted bonus techs (`Tech.Civ >= 0`) and their effects, and |
| 2. each civ's own dedicated "Tech Tree" effect |
| (`Civ.TechTreeID` → `Effects`), which is **not** reachable through any |
| `Tech` row at all — it's a direct field on the civ record. This is |
| where most `type=102` "Disable Tech" commands live (e.g. Britons' |
| tech-tree effect disables `Bombard Tower`, `Stone Shaft Mining`, etc. |
| — 51 techs in the current snapshot). An earlier version of this |
| extraction missed source (2) entirely, which is also why |
| `civs_with_access`/`unique_to_civ` came back empty far more often than |
| they should have. |
| - **An empty `civs_with_access` list does NOT mean "no civ has this unit."** |
| Most units have no explicit per-civ restriction at all and are available |
| to every civ by default (e.g. Archer, Militia-line) — for those, empty is |
| correct and expected. The list is only populated when a specific civ-only |
| *unlock* command was found; treat it as "explicitly restricted to these |
| civs," not as the full roster. |
| - `unique_to_civ` is derived from `civs_with_access` having exactly one |
| entry — same caveat applies (a unit with no restriction at all is neither |
| "unique" nor generically "shared," it's simply unrestricted). |
| |
| These choices a reflection of the game's internal logic, not a design decision` |
| of this extraction tool. |
|
|
| ## Team bonus (fixed) |
|
|
| `team_bonus.effect_id` (`Civ.TeamBonusID`) is a **direct index into |
| `Effects`**, not a tech id. An earlier version of this tool wrongly treated |
| it as a tech id and looked up `Techs[TeamBonusID].EffectID`, which for |
| Britons (`TeamBonusID=399`) silently landed on an unrelated tech and |
| decoded as something nonsensical (Vikings' unique unit). This is now fixed |
| and cross-checked against `team_bonus_text` (the string-based version) — |
| they agree for all civs in both snapshots. |
|
|
| ## `repeatable` on techs |
|
|
| `repeatable=true` does **not** mean "can be researched |
| multiple times in a normal game" — the great majority of techs in the dat |
| (1154 of 1510 in the current snapshot, including ordinary one-shot techs |
| like Loom and Crop Rotation) carry this flag. It only takes effect under |
| specific game/lobby settings that permit re-research; in a standard game |
| almost everything behaves as single-research regardless of this flag. |
| Don't treat it as a reliable "can be researched N times" signal on its own. |
|
|
| ## AI Use |
| This document was generated using AI, then manually reviewed and edited for accuracy. |
| The AI was used to summarize the contents of the files and provide explanations for |
| AI was also used to extract the information from the game's data files and organize |
| it into a readable format, following the author's direction. |
|
|
