Savegame Format

This document describes the savegame block format used inside the Wasteland 1 GAME1 and GAME2 files.

It covers:

how the savegame block is located
the outer block structure
the rotating-XOR decoded prefix
party-group data
character record layout

Scope

Each of GAME1 and GAME2 contains one savegame block near the end of the file.

The block location and reserved block size are not self-describing. The game uses executable metadata from the executable to locate them.

See EXE Format for the structure and locations of those tables.

In the shipped Wasteland 1 data:

the savegame block in GAME1 begins at offset 152517
the savegame block in GAME2 begins at offset 166855
the reserved savegame block size is 0x1206 bytes in both files

All multi-byte integer fields are little-endian.

The rotating-XOR algorithm used by the encrypted payload is documented separately:

Rotating-XOR

Outer Block Layout

The savegame block begins with a 4-byte header:

Value	Meaning
`"msq0"`	Savegame block in `GAME1`
`"msq1"`	Savegame block in `GAME2`

The currently understood structure is:

header
rotatingXorPrefix
reservedTail

Known Prefix

The understood prefix is exactly 0x806 bytes long:

Offset	Type	Meaning
`+0x00`	`char[4]`	`"msq0"` or `"msq1"`
`+0x04`	`u8`	XOR byte 1
`+0x05`	`u8`	XOR byte 2
`+0x06`	`u8[0x800]`	Rotating-XOR encrypted payload

Reserved Tail

The remainder of the reserved block is currently of unknown structure:

0x1206 - 0x806 = 0x0A00 bytes

In the shipped Wasteland 1 GAME1 and GAME2 files, this entire trailing 0x0A00-byte region is zero-filled.

So the currently understood savegame data is the decoded 0x800-byte payload immediately after the two XOR bytes.

Rotating-XOR Decoding

The 0x800-byte payload uses the rotating-XOR decoding described in Rotating-XOR.

Decode exactly 0x800 bytes after the two XOR bytes and verify that the final checksum equals endChecksum.

Decoded Payload Layout

The decoded payload has a fixed size of 0x800 bytes:

Offset	Size	Meaning
`0x000`	`0x038`	Four party-group records
`0x038`	`0x040`	Unknown
`0x078`	`0x001`	Viewport X
`0x079`	`0x001`	Viewport Y
`0x07A`	`0x003`	Unknown
`0x07D`	`0x001`	Current member count
`0x07E`	`0x001`	Current party index
`0x07F`	`0x001`	Current map/location byte
`0x080`	`0x001`	Total member count
`0x081`	`0x001`	Extra group count
`0x082`	`0x001`	Unknown
`0x083`	`0x001`	Minute
`0x084`	`0x001`	Hour
`0x085`	`0x001`	Combat scroll speed
`0x086`	`0x06F`	Unknown
`0x0F5`	`0x004`	Save serial number
`0x0F9`	`0x007`	Unknown
`0x100`	`0x700`	Seven character records

Party Group Record

The savegame contains four party-group records of 14 bytes each.

Layout:

Offset within record	Type	Meaning
`+0x00`	`u8`	Unused / unknown
`+0x01`	`u8[7]`	Party order
`+0x08`	`u8`	X position
`+0x09`	`u8`	Y position
`+0x0A`	`u8`	Current map/location byte
`+0x0B`	`u8`	Previous X
`+0x0C`	`u8`	Previous Y
`+0x0D`	`u8`	Previous map/location byte

Party order semantics:

values 1..7 reference one of the seven character slots
0 means an empty slot

Character Record

Each character record is exactly 0x100 bytes.

The savegame payload contains seven of them, starting at offset 0x100.

The same 0x100-byte structure is also used for NPC records stored inside map blocks. See Map Format.

Character Layout

Offset	Type	Meaning
`0x00`	`char[14]`	NUL-terminated name
`0x0E`	`u8`	Strength
`0x0F`	`u8`	Intelligence
`0x10`	`u8`	Luck
`0x11`	`u8`	Speed
`0x12`	`u8`	Agility
`0x13`	`u8`	Dexterity
`0x14`	`u8`	Charisma
`0x15`	`u24`	Money
`0x18`	`u8`	Gender
`0x19`	`u8`	Nationality
`0x1A`	`u8`	Armor class
`0x1B`	`u16`	Maximum constitution
`0x1D`	`u16`	Current constitution
`0x1F`	`u8`	Equipped weapon slot
`0x20`	`u8`	Unspent skill points
`0x21`	`u24`	Experience
`0x24`	`u8`	Level
`0x25`	`u8`	Equipped armor slot
`0x26`	`u16`	Last constitution before incapacitation
`0x28`	`u8`	Afflictions bitmap
`0x29`	`u8`	NPC flag
`0x2A`	`u8`	Unknown
`0x2B`	`u8`	Item-refusal value
`0x2C`	`u8`	Skill-refusal value
`0x2D`	`u8`	Attribute-refusal value
`0x2E`	`u8`	Trade-refusal value
`0x2F`	`u8`	Unknown
`0x30`	`u8`	Join-string ID
`0x31`	`u8`	Willingness
`0x32`	`char[25]`	NUL-terminated rank string
`0x4B`	`u8`	Game-won flag
`0x4C`	`u8`	Special-promotion flag
`0x4D`	`u8[51]`	Unknown
`0x80`	`u8[60]`	Skill slots
`0xBC`	`u8`	Unknown
`0xBD`	`u8[60]`	Item slots
`0xF9`	`u8[7]`	Unknown

Skill Slots

The skill area consists of 30 two-byte slots:

Byte	Meaning
`+0`	Skill ID
`+1`	Skill level

Slot semantics:

id = 0 means unused
otherwise the slot is occupied

Item Slots

The item area also consists of 30 two-byte slots:

Byte	Meaning
`+0`	Item ID
`+1`	Ammo / status byte