Packet Documentation Conventions
String Types
When documenting packet fields, use these specific type names to indicate the encoding and format:
By Encoding
| Type |
Encoding |
Description |
ascii |
ASCII |
7-bit ASCII characters |
unicode-le |
Unicode (Little Endian) |
UTF-16LE, each character is 2 bytes |
unicode-be |
Unicode (Big Endian) |
UTF-16BE, each character is 2 bytes |
utf8 |
UTF-8 |
Variable-width encoding (rarely used, mainly book packets) |
By Format
| Suffix |
Format |
Example |
| (no suffix) |
Fixed length, padded/truncated |
ascii with size: 30 = exactly 30 bytes |
-null |
Null-terminated |
ascii-null = string followed by 0x00 |
-prefixed |
Length-prefixed |
unicode-le-prefixed = ushort length + characters |
Common Combinations
| Full Type |
Description |
SpanWriter Method |
ascii |
Fixed-length ASCII |
WriteAscii(text, maxLength) |
ascii-null |
Null-terminated ASCII |
WriteAsciiNull(text) |
unicode-le |
Fixed-length Unicode LE |
WriteLittleUni(text, maxLength) |
unicode-le-null |
Null-terminated Unicode LE |
WriteLittleUniNull(text) |
unicode-be |
Fixed-length Unicode BE |
WriteBigUni(text, maxLength) |
unicode-be-null |
Null-terminated Unicode BE |
WriteBigUniNull(text) |
utf8-null |
Null-terminated UTF-8 |
WriteUtf8Null(text) |
Size Calculations
- Fixed ASCII: Size in bytes = specified size
- Fixed Unicode: Size in bytes = specified size (characters) * 2
- Null-terminated: Size = string length + 1 (ASCII) or string length * 2 + 2 (Unicode)
- Length-prefixed: Size = 2 (ushort length) + string data
Examples in JSON
// Fixed-length ASCII (30 bytes exactly)
{ "name": "characterName", "type": "ascii", "size": 30, "description": "Character name" }
// Null-terminated ASCII (variable length)
{ "name": "message", "type": "ascii-null", "description": "Chat message" }
// Fixed-length Unicode Little Endian
{ "name": "text", "type": "unicode-le", "size": 64, "description": "Unicode text (64 chars)" }
// Null-terminated Unicode Big Endian
{ "name": "affix", "type": "unicode-be-null", "description": "Affix string" }
Numeric Types
| Type |
Size |
Range |
Signed |
byte |
1 |
0-255 |
No |
sbyte |
1 |
-128 to 127 |
Yes |
short |
2 |
-32768 to 32767 |
Yes |
ushort |
2 |
0-65535 |
No |
int |
4 |
-2^31 to 2^31-1 |
Yes |
uint |
4 |
0 to 2^32-1 |
No |
long |
8 |
-2^63 to 2^63-1 |
Yes |
ulong |
8 |
0 to 2^64-1 |
No |
bool |
1 |
0 (false) or 1 (true) |
N/A |
Byte Order
- All numeric types are Big Endian (network byte order) unless noted otherwise
- IP addresses use Little Endian (marked with
LE suffix)
- Some client-specific fields may use Little Endian (always documented)
Packet Flags
Common flag values used in mobile/item packets:
| Flag |
Value |
Description |
| Hidden |
0x80 |
Entity is hidden |
| Poisoned |
0x04 |
Mobile is poisoned |
| Blessed |
0x08 |
Mobile is blessed/invulnerable |
| Warmode |
0x40 |
Mobile is in war mode |
| Female |
0x02 |
Mobile is female |
Direction Values
| Value |
Direction |
| 0 |
North |
| 1 |
Right (NE) |
| 2 |
East |
| 3 |
Down (SE) |
| 4 |
South |
| 5 |
Left (SW) |
| 6 |
West |
| 7 |
Up (NW) |
| 0x80 |
Running flag (OR with direction) |
Notoriety Values
| Value |
Name |
Color |
| 0 |
Invalid |
Gray |
| 1 |
Innocent |
Blue |
| 2 |
Ally/Friend |
Green |
| 3 |
Gray/Attackable |
Gray |
| 4 |
Criminal |
Gray |
| 5 |
Enemy |
Orange |
| 6 |
Murderer |
Red |
| 7 |
Invulnerable |
Yellow |
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