Binary VDF

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Binary VDF is a binary version of the text-based KeyValues format.

In C++, Binary VDF can be read using the function KeyValues::ReadAsBinary.

The format of Binary VDF is a simple repetition of a byte (type), a string (name), and the data based on the type byte. The file ends with one final byte with a value of 11 (0x0B).

The types are:

#	Unicode	Type	Data Format
0	NUL	TYPE_NONE	a nested Binary VDF document
1	SOH	TYPE_STRING	a null-terminated byte string
2	STX	TYPE_INT	a 32-bit little-endian signed integer
3	ETX	TYPE_FLOAT	a 32-bit little-endian IEEE-754 single-precision floating point number
4	EOT	TYPE_PTR	a 32-bit pointer; not generally useful for applications of KeyValues that require serialization
5	ENQ	TYPE_WSTRING	a 16-bit little-endian signed integer representing the number of characters in the string (not including null terminator), followed by that many little-endian UCS-2 codepoints. (Note: Valve's implementation of KeyValues in Source SDK 2013 does not support this.)
6	ACK	TYPE_COLOR	an RGBA8888 color, consisting of one byte each for red, green, blue, and alpha, in that order
7	BEL	TYPE_UINT64	a 64-bit little-endian unsigned integer
8	BS	TYPE_COMPILED_INT_BYTE	an 8-bit signed integer, converted to TYPE_INT when read. (Note: Valve's implementation of KeyValues in Source SDK 2013 does not support this.)
9	HT or TAB	TYPE_COMPILED_INT_0	no data bytes; represents a TYPE_INT set to 0. (Note: Valve's implementation of KeyValues in Source SDK 2013 does not support this.)
10	DLE	TYPE_COMPILED_INT_1	no data bytes; represents a TYPE_INT set to 1. (Note: Valve's implementation of KeyValues in Source SDK 2013 does not support this.)
11	DC1	TYPE_NUMTYPES	not actually a type; this "type" has no name or data and represents the end of a binary VDF document.

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January 2024