Module bif 

BIF archive support. BIF binary reader and writer.

BIF (BIFF) files are archive containers referenced by KEY indexes. Each entry stores only (resource_id, type_id, payload); names/resrefs are resolved through KEY metadata.

Shape of the container

A fixed 20-byte header, a variable resource table located by variable_table_offset, an optional fixed resource table directly after it, and the payload addressed per entry.

Nothing here carries a name. An entry knows its id, type, offset and size; the resref lives in the KEY, which reaches in by position. That is why a BIF cannot be read on its own.

The fixed table is a format feature nothing uses: fixed_count is zero in all 26 archives of a vanilla install, and the engine ignores the scalar anyway. The table is parsed when present so such a file round-trips.

Compressed .bzf archives are gated behind the crate feature bzf and read through BifIndex, which takes the container kind from the caller rather than guessing it from content – nothing inside a compressed file distinguishes it.

Byte-level field maps for the header and both entry records, the compressed variant and its LZMA payload framing, and the engine’s own load sequence live in docs/src/formats/archives/bif.md.

Structs

Bif

In-memory BIF archive.

BifIndex

A lazily-read BIF archive.

BifIndexEntry

One indexed resource: its identity and where its bytes live.

BifReadOptions

BIF reader option set.

BifResource

One resource entry stored in a BIF archive.

Enums

BifBinaryError

Errors produced while parsing or serializing BIF binary data.

BifContainer

BIF container kind.

BifReadMode

BIF reader input policy.

BifResourceStorage

Storage table kind for a BifResource.

Functions

read_bif

Reads a BIF archive from a reader.

read_bif_from_bytes

Reads a BIF archive from bytes.

read_bif_from_bytes_with_options

Reads a BIF archive from bytes with explicit options.

read_bif_with_options

Reads a BIF archive from a reader with explicit options.

write_bif

Writes a BIF archive to a writer.

write_bif_to_vec

Serializes a BIF archive to bytes.