ERF

ERF editor

ERF ("Encapsulated Resource File") files are container files for game resources.

List of common ERF Files

ERF Files for Dragon Age Game Resources are stored in the (Dragon Age Install Dir)\packages\core\ Folder and Subdirectories. ERF's for Addons or Mods are usually in their respective Addon or Mod Folder.

Common ERF's of certain interests are,

• Game Resources
  • packages\core\data\2da.erf
  • packages\core\data\anims.erf
  • packages\core\data\consolescripts.erf
  • packages\core\data\designerareas.erf
  • packages\core\data\designercreatures.erf
  • packages\core\data\designercutscenes.erf
  • packages\core\data\designerdialogs.erf
  • packages\core\data\designeritems.erf
  • packages\core\data\designerplaceables.erf
  • packages\core\data\designerplots.erf
  • packages\core\data\designertriggers.erf
  • packages\core\data\face.erf
  • packages\core\data\gui.erf
  • packages\core\data\guiexport.erf
  • packages\core\data\iterationtests.erf
  • packages\core\data\lightprobedata.erf
  • packages\core\data\materialobjects.erf
  • packages\core\data\materials.erf
  • packages\core\data\misc.erf
  • packages\core\data\modelhierarchies.erf
  • packages\core\data\modelmeshdata.erf
  • packages\core\data\pathfindingpatches.erf
  • packages\core\data\postprocesseffects.erf
  • packages\core\data\resmetrics.erf
  • packages\core\data\scripts.erf
  • packages\core\data\shaders.erf
  • packages\core\data\states.erf
  • packages\core\data\subqueuefiles.erf
  • packages\core\data\textures.erf
  • packages\core\data\tints.erf
  • packages\core\textures\high\texturepack.erf
  • packages\core\textures\medium\texturepack.erf

• Patch Resources
  • packages\core\patch\... --- Contains Resources added by Game Patches

• Toolset specific Resources
  • packages\core\data_tools\... ---Contains Resources for the Toolset

Extracting Resources

The Toolset is capable of extracting ERF Files Contents.

If you are modding Resources, the first step would be extracting Resources. You may start of by extracting all Resources of certain interest to you, or just a single File. To Maintain a simple and clean resource place, it is best to use a similar Folder Names to extract in.

One may create a Folder on the HD named for example "gameresources". Then added with subfolders that suit the Purpose, for example "Materials" in which one extracts only Materials. Preferably the Folderscheme is similar to that of the ERF's, to make browsing simple and easy to remember.

Packing Resources

The builder to player process packages up resources into ERF files for you, storing the generated ERFs inside DAZIPs.

Additionally, you can edit any ERF by opening it directly in the Toolset, and add or remove files by drag& dropping them into the Toolset with the ERF open manually. In cases the above process fails or whenever.

Overriding Resources

ERF's are named by their general purpose. But not all material files need to necessarily be put into Materials.ERF as an example. Patches do add every Patched Resource into one single ERF for example. The Original Game Resource ERF Files however are best left alone, as it has a high risk of breaking the game.

Files do not need to be present in ERF Files at all. When Overriding Gameresources as when modding, this is a pretty easy method. Overriding Files are of equal name to their original Gameresource counterpart, and are to be placed into packages\core\override\. The Game will then choose this File over the original.

File Format

The format of Dragon Age erfs is not the same as previous versions. There are no string arrays, only a header, a list of files and the files themselves.

Header

Table of Contents</TD

Files</TD

The header consists of:

4 characters (8 bytes) for the type of ERF ("ERF ")

4 characters (8 bytes) for the version ("V2.0 ")

16 bit integer representing the number of files encapsulated in this ERF

The table of contents is a list whose length is the same as the number of files and whose entries are formatted like so:

32 characters (64 bytes) for the file name with trailing null characters if file name is not 32 characters long

32bit integer representing the offset from the beginning of the ERF to the beginning of the encapsulated file

32bit integer representing the length of the encapsulated file

After the table of contents comes the encapsulated files which are in their own format, specified by the extension of the file name in the table of contents.