Data files

SRB2 relies on a set of data files to run. These include the executable, WAD files that contain the game's resources, DLL files and various configuration files. The folder where all files related to an SRB2 installation should be located is referred to as the "SRB2 directory". This article lists the data files that are included (or can be included) in the SRB2 directory and explains their content and purpose.

Core installation

These are the files that are extracted from the self-extracting archive file for installing SRB2, most of which are required to run SRB2 itself. In most cases, modifying or deleting these files will cause the game to crash on startup.

Executable

This is the executable for running SRB2 itself – clicking on this file will start the game. With the use of batch files (such as the one below) or a launcher, command line parameters for this file can be set before starting the game.

srb2win.exe

SRB2's executable. It runs under the SDL2 audio and video libraries.

Batch file

A batch file is included as a method to quick-launch SRB2 with particular settings without use of a launcher. Only one batch file to launch SRB2 in the OpenGL renderer is currently included in the SRB2 installation. It can be deleted without harm.

SRB2 - OpenGL.bat

Batch file for running srb2win.exe in OpenGL.

Resources

These are WAD files containing all of SRB2's resources, all of which use file extensions other than the usual .wad extension to make it easier to search for them – SRB2's main WAD file, srb2.srb, uses the .srb extension, while all other resource files use the .dta extension.

srb2.srb	SRB2's main WAD file. This acts as the IWAD for WAD editors that are used for SRB2 editing. It contains most of the resources found in SRB2. These include most sprites, textures, patches, flats and graphics as well as SRB2's palette files (PLAYPAL, COLORMAP and TRANS10–TRANS90).
zones.dta	A WAD file containing all maps, their level select images, and the MAINCFG lump for SRB2.
player.dta	A WAD file containing sprites and other related graphics for the three main characters, as well as the S_SKIN lumps for Tails and Knuckles. However, character select data for all three, as well as Sonic's character stats, are stored in SRB2's code itself, and can not be found in this file. Note that as Sonic's sprites are in fact the default sprites for SPR_PLAY, these appear between the S_START and S_END marker lumps unlike the sprites for Tails and Knuckles.
rings.dta	A WAD file containing the sprites for the weapon rings.
music.dta	A WAD file containing all of SRB2's music, both in Ogg format and MIDI format. Unlike the other main resources, this WAD file can be modified to have custom music files, as there is no MD5 check for music.dta. However, only certain types of files are accepted within it: anything that is not a music file, sound file, palette file, or ENDOOM lump in this file will cause SRB2 to crash.
patch.dta	A WAD file containing fixes to resources for SRB2, introduced for patches to Version 2.1.

Libraries

exchndl.dll	This library is used to create Dr. Mingw debugging reports if SRB2 crashes. The reports are stored in a .RPT file sharing the same name as the executable used, e.g., srb2win.RPT.
libFLAC-8.dll	This file contains the LibFLAC library, which SRB2 uses to play back music in the FLAC format.
libgme.dll	This file contains the Game Music Emu library, which SRB2 uses to play back music in various video game music formats. See Sound and music tutorial > Game Music Emu formats for all sound formats supported by the Game Music Emu library.
libmodplug-1.dll	This file contains the ModPlug library, which SRB2 uses to play back music in module formats such as MOD.
libmpg123-0.dll	This file contains the mpg123 library, which SRB2 uses to play back music in the MP3 format.
libogg-0.dll	This file contains the Libogg library, which SRB2 uses to play back music in the Ogg format.
libopus-0.dll	This file contains the opus library, which SRB2 uses to play back music in the MP3 format.
libopusfile-0.dll	This file contains the opusfile library, which SRB2 uses to play back music in the MP3 format.
libvorbis-0.dll	This file contains the Libvorbis library, which SRB2 uses to play back music in the Ogg format.
libvorbisfile-3.dll	This file contains the Vorbisfile library, which SRB2 uses to play back music in the Ogg format.
mgwhelp.dll	This file contains the MgwHelp library, which is used by Dr. Mingw.
SDL2.dll	This file contains the Simple DirectMedia Layer library, which SRB2 uses for various purposes, such as audio and video input as well as handling the input devices.
SDL2_mixer.dll	This file contains the SDL_mixer library, which is used for sound mixing. See Sound and music tutorial > SDL_mixer formats for all sound formats supported by the SDL_mixer library.

Other files

Game data files

These files will automatically be created by the game to store progress made in Single Player's campaign mode, and will be updated by the game whenever necessary. These can deleted without harm, but this will result in the loss of game progress.

gamedata.dat

A data file containing information on time attack records and unlocked secrets. Both of these areas of information can be overwritten independently in the options menu in SRB2. This file is saved every time a new goal or record is set. If the game has been modified, the game will not save new data to this file until the game has been restarted. However, custom modifications can provide their own custom gamedata files with the use of SOC – the MainCfg parameter GameData determines the name of the custom gamedata file to use instead of gamedata.dat (see MainCfg > Data handling). If the command line parameters -nodata or -resetdata are used, the contents of gamedata.dat will not be loaded on game startup: -nodata will simply not save to the file, while -resetdata will overwrite the existing file with new gamedata as the player progresses through the game again.

srb2savX.ssg

These are save game files that store saved progress for each save slot in unmodified SRB2; they will automatically be created when a new game is started in a particular slot, and will be updated after every zone cleared or when the game itself has been cleared. For any save game file X is the save slot number, which will be a number between 0 and 29 – srb2sav0.ssg takes up save slot #1, srb2sav1.ssg takes up save slot #2, etc. Deleting any of these files will clear their respective save slots. If the save file is for a different SRB2 version, or is otherwise corrupted, the game will detect this and display a warning message on the save game screen. If the game has been modified, the game will not save new data to these files until the game has been restarted. However, custom modifications with a custom gamedata file will allow SRB2 to use save game files of different names instead – the name of the save game files will be [gamedata file name]X.ssg, where [gamedata file name] is the name of the custom gamedata file without the .dat file extension, and X is the save slot number.

Configuration files

These files will automatically be created by the game to store various settings, and will be updated by the game whenever necessary. They can deleted without harm, but this will result in the loss of settings.

config.cfg

A text file containing all settings for the user in SRB2. It will automatically be created when the game is started for the first time, or when the file can't be found in SRB2's directory otherwise on game start-up. It saves all keys set for the player's controls, as well as all the values of console variables that are intended to be retained on restarting SRB2 itself – these include various options such as screen resolution, mouse settings, sound/music volume settings, console settings, and many other tidbits of information. The command line parameter -config can be used to determine the configuration file to start up the game with instead of config.cfg. Certain console commands can also be used to change/save the configuration file used while the game is running: saveconfig saves the current configuration to a new file name, loadconfig loads a new configuration file (without saving the current file used), while changeconfig both saves the current configuration file and loads a new configuration file.

dconfig.cfg

A text file containing settings in SRB2. This is identical to config.cfg, except it will only be used when a dedicated server is being set up. The command line parameter -config will indirectly determine the name of the dedicated server configuration file to start up the game with instead of dconfig.cfg; the file name used instead will be d[config file name].cfg, where [config file name] is the name of the main custom configuration file.

User-created configuration files

These files are not included with the core installation of SRB2 and will not be created by the game in any situation, so they have to be created manually if necessary. Otherwise, these can be deleted without harm if they exist.

autoexec.cfg	A console script file that SRB2 automatically loads on startup if it exists. It can be used to execute console commands for applying settings such as control configurations, player name and color.
adedserv.cfg	A console script file that SRB2 automatically loads on startup if it exists. This is identical to autoexec.cfg in function, but will load only when a dedicated server is being set up.
md2.dat	A configuration file to determine which MD2 models replace certain sprite prefixes or player skins in OpenGL.

Log files

These are text files that will automatically be created by the game for logging purposes. They can safely be deleted without any harm, but for ban.txt this will result in the loss of IP addresses for banned players from the user's netgames.

log.txt	A text file that saves all console in- and output for the last SRB2 session. Note that starting a new SRB2 session will overwrite the old contents of this file with the console in- and output for the new session while the game is running.
ban.txt	Stores info on banned players from netgames hosted by the user. When the game is closed, all banned IP addresses and their ban reasons are saved into this file, to be reloaded back into the game when it is restarted or if reloadbans is used.
srb2win.RPT	When SRB2 crashes, resulting error reports can be found here. Such crashes should be reported on the SRB2 Message Board. In previous SRB2 versions, error reports were stored in errorlog.txt, but this file is no longer used.

Other

srb2XXXX.png	Naming format for screenshots or APNG movies taken in SRB2, XXXX being a four-digit number from 0000 to 9999.
srb2XXXX.gif	Naming format for GIF movies recorded in SRB2, XXXX being a four-digit number from 0000 to 9999.

Folders

Certain subfolders in the SRB2 directory have special purposes for the game itself. None of these are included with the SRB2 installation, but will be automatically generated by the game itself or will have to be created manually.

/replay	Stores replay lumps for Record Attack and NiGHTS Mode. For unmodified SRB2, the folder the files are stored in is: /replay/main For custom gamedata files, the name of the folder used is: /replay/[gamedata file name] where [gamedata file name] is the name of the custom gamedata file without the .dat file extension. Deleting /replay or any subfolders with replay files within will not clear any records obtained in Record Attack/NiGHTS Mode, but will result in loss of the replays used to obtain them.
/DOWNLOAD	Stores files downloaded from a netgame.
/md2	Stores MD2 models and their skin files. This folder must be created manually if needed.