OK Just what the heck is a VFS Anyway??

[Purpleyouko]

VFS.... What is it? and where can I find it?

That's the questionn i keep getting asked lately.

Also "I can't find the STBs in my 3DData folder" is another common one.

So here it is VFS 101

VFS is a file system used by ROSE to store all teh resource files that it needs to run everything.
Take a look in your rose installation and you will find 5 VFS files

3DDATA.VFS
BASIC.VFS
DATA.VFS
GROUND.VFS
MAP.VFS

If you are using a custom client such as Arua then they will be different. Arua uses AFS. Different name, different format but same basic concept. Anyway, I'm not going into that. All I'm doing here is going through the ROSE default file structure

These 5 files hold almost everything that rose uses to actually run, STBs, ZSCs, all the models maps and texctures to create the world of ROSE

So how do we get at them if they are all embedded inside the VFS files?
Well we could mess around with the DLL files and figure out which one is used to decode them then write an application to read the stuff in or out of the VFS......
Fortunately we don't have to because several people have already done that for us.

You will find 5 different programs that already do just that right here.
http://forum.dev-osrose.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1026

just pick one and download it.
i recommend using Snipah's editor http://forum.dev-osrose.com/download/file.php?id=352 to extract the entire VFS structure in one go.
Just extract it into the root folder of your rose installation then run it.
Create a folder to extract everything into then click "Extract all" in the editor.


Send it to the folder that you prepared then go away and make a cup of coffee or something. This is going to take 10 to 20 minutes to do its work.

When you come back, your new folder has the entire VFS structure in it

Almost everything you need will be inside the 3DDATA folder now.
DO NOT get this confused with the 3Ddata folder in your ROSE installation.
That folder is a kind of mirror of the one in the VFS and in some clients (not evo though) you can just put your files directly into it and teh client will read them in preference of those in the VFS.
Makes it very easy to change stuff since you don't need to actually put files back into the VFS in those clients where this works.
The 112 client used in osprose works this way.

Anyway, now that you know how to get the files from your VFS, you are going to need some editing tools.
Just follow the link I gave above to the tools forum at osprose. they have tools for almost everything written by some of the top names in the field of ROSE. A good few of them are my own.

I'm not going to go into how to edit files at this point. that is a completely different subject.

I am going to assume that you have an edited file and that you want to put it back int your client.
You are going to need a different VFS editor for this as Snipah's doesn't allow you to put files back in. (Yes you DO have to put them back in after editing them. Otherwise they are not going to do a whole lot)

To put files into the VFS I recomend using VFSNextGen http://forum.dev-osrose.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1055
I just like this one

First thing you need to do is find the exact file that you edited in the VFS structure of your client so go ahead and run VFSNextgen (in the root folder of your rose installation as before)
Navigate to the file that you want. (in this case I'm using FILE_AI.STB just for the hell of it)

Before we can add our edited file we have to make a space for it in the VFS so right click on the file and select "Delete Item"

now we need to add your new item

First make sure that you are in the right folder in the VFS. It has a nasty habit of putting stuff in the root folder if you delete something first then forget to re-select a folder.
Click the STB folder and make sure it is highlighted.

Now right click on the STB folder and select "Add Item to Folder"

Now navigate to the item you just edited (FILE_AI.STB in this case) and add it.

And you are done

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you edited any STB file then you need to make sure that the data from this file is also available in your server. For Arc, osrose (dev rev), osirose or osprose, just place a copy of the STB into your server. For osrose rev80 (I can't believe people still use this dinosaur) you have to make CSV and even SQL out of teh STB and put those in the server. (not going into details about that here though)

[MentaL]

[fate963]

I like pie.

Nice tutorial. ;d

[patrick ster]

Realy nice:D now i understand:D

[selinapow521]

lets say if i got example 1000 file need to update into my client, it cant b i insert 1 by 1?

[Purpleyouko]

use neoncube. it's perfect for adding massive batches of files.
There are plenty of tutorials on setting up neoncube.

[Lexil123]

for the lazy people: http://forum.dev-osrose.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1044
have fun ^^