rbxfile/rbxl

Package rbxl implements a decoder and encoder for Roblox's binary file format.

This package registers the formats "rbxl" and "rbxm" to the rbxfile package.

The easiest way to decode and encode files is through the functions DeserializePlace, SerializePlace, DeserializeModel, and SerializeModel. These decode and encode directly between byte streams and Root structures specified by the rbxfile package. For most purposes, this is all that is required to read and write Roblox binary files. Further documentation gives an overview of how the package works internally.

Overview

A Serializer is used to transform data from byte streams to Root structures and back. A serializer specifies a decoder and encoder. Both a decoder and encoder combined is referred to as a "codec".

Codecs transform data between a generic rbxfile.Root structure, and this package's "format model" structure. Custom codecs can be implemented. For example, you might wish to decode files normally, but encode them in an alternative way:

serializer := NewSerializer(nil, CustomEncoder)

Custom codecs can be used with a Serializer by implementing the Decoder and Encoder interfaces. Both do not need to be implemented. In the example above, passing nil as an argument causes the serializer to use the default "RobloxCodec", which implements both a default decoder and encoder. This codec attempts to emulate how Roblox decodes and encodes its files.

A FormatModel is the representation of the file format itself, rather than the data it contains. The FormatModel is like a buffer between the byte stream and the Root structure. FormatModels can be encoded (and rarely, decoded) to and from Root structures in multiple ways, which is specified by codecs. However, there is only one way to encode and decode to and from a byte stream, which is handled by the FormatModel.