Editors overview
Every supported file type opens in a dedicated view that knows how to decode, present and re-encode that format. Views live in tabs in the central panel; the Pack tree is where you launch them from.
How editors behave
- Open by double-click. Double-clicking a file in the Pack tree opens it in a new tab. Re-opening an already-open file just brings its tab forward.
- Tabs do not survive Pack switches. Editors stay open until you close them, or you close the Pack underneath. RPFM warns before destroying unsaved changes.
- Save are usually on-edit, except in some editors. Editors save on edit the changes to the in-memory Pack, except some editors which have a save button at the bottom of the screen. You still need to save the Pack for changes to hit the
.packfile on disk. - External editing. From the tree’s context menu, Open with External Program extracts the file into a temp folder and hands it to your OS’s default app for that file type. Edits round-trip back into the Pack when you save them externally. There is no per-extension configuration in RPFM Preferences — the OS decides which app opens what.
Supported file types
| File type | Editor chapter | UI today |
|---|---|---|
| DB table | DB tables | Full grid editor |
| Loc | Loc files | Full grid editor |
| Text & scripts | Text & scripts | KTextEditor (full) |
| Image (DDS, PNG…) | Images & DDS | Viewer only (replace via tree) |
| Video (CA_VP8) | Video | Metadata + IVF round-trip |
| AnimPack | AnimPack | Inner tree + per-file editors |
| AnimsTable | Animations | JSON debug view |
| AnimFragmentBattle | Animations | Structured form view |
| MatchedCombat | Animations | JSON debug view |
| Portrait Settings | Portrait Settings | Full structured editor |
Audio (.wav, .ogg…) | Audio | Play/stop player |
| RigidModel | RigidModel | Metadata + glTF export (read-only) |
| UnitVariant | Specialised editors | Full structured editor |
| Atlas | Specialised editors | Full grid editor |
| ESF (saves, startpos) | Specialised editors | Tree editor (debug-gated) |
| BMD | Specialised editors | JSON text editor |
| UIC | Specialised editors | Read-only text dump |
| Group formations | Specialised editors | JSON debug view |
JSON debug view means the file decodes via the lib, gets serialised to pretty JSON, opens in a text editor, and you save it by hitting Save (the JSON is parsed back into the typed structure). It’s editable but it’s not a UI — handle with care.
For the live list of formats rpfm_lib understands and their lib-side capability, see the rpfm_lib::files API docs. A format with full lib support may still only have a debug view in the UI.
The DB Decoder
A separate, lower-level tool for reverse-engineering binary table layouts. Used when a game patch changes a table format and the schema needs an update. See The DB Decoder.