NAME

       convert2da — BioWare 2DA/GDA to 2DA/CSV converter

SYNOPSIS

       convert2da [options] file ...

DESCRIPTION

       convert2da  converts  BioWare's  2DA  and GDA files into (cleanly formatted) ASCII 2DA or CSV files.  2DA
       files are two-dimensional arrays, or tables, holding various information and used throughout many of  the
       BioWare  games.   They  can come in two flavors: binary and plain-text ASCII.  GDA files are conceptually
       the same, but they store their data inside a GFF, a binary hierarchical format.  Unlike 2DA files, a  GDA
       does not store its column header name directory.  Instead, only a CRC hash of the name encoded in little-
       endian UTF-16 is stored.

       This  tool  can  read  all of those formats and produces an easily readable, cleanly formatted ASCII 2DA.
       Alternatively, it can create a CSV file for further processing.  It  also  contains  a  lookup  table  to
       convert GDA column header hashes back to readable names.  Not all column header names are known, though.

OPTIONS

       -h
       --help
             Show a help text and exit.
       --version
             Show version information and exit.
       -o file
       --output file
             Write the output to this file.  If this option is not used, the output is written to stdout.
       -a
       --2da
             Convert the 2DA or GDA file into an ASCII 2DA file.  This is the default mode of operation.
       -b
       --2dab
             Convert the 2DA or GDA file into a binary 2DA file.
       -c
       --csv
             Convert the 2DA or GDA file into an CSV file.
       file
           The name of the 2DA or GDA file to read.

           If more than one input file is given, they must all be GDA files and use the same column layout. They
           will be pasted together and converted as one GDA. This mimics how the M2DA (multiple 2DA/GDA) work in
           the Dragon Age games.

EXAMPLES

       Convert the 2DA file1.2da into an ASCII 2DA file2.2da:

             $ convert2da -a file1.2da -o file2.2da

       Convert the 2DA file1.2da into an ASCII 2DA on stdout:

             $ convert2da -a file1.2da

       Convert the 2DA file1.2da into a binary 2DA file2.2da:

             $ convert2da -b file1.2da -o file2.2da

       Convert the 2DA file1.2da into a CSV file:

             $ convert2da -c file1.2da -o file2.csv

SEE ALSO

       gff2xml(1)

       More information about the xoreos project can be found on its website: https://xoreos.org/.

AUTHORS

       This  program  is  part of the xoreos-tools package, which in turn is part of the xoreos project, and was
       written by the xoreos team.  Please see the AUTHORS file for details.

Debian                                            July 23, 2015                                    CONVERT2DA(1)