VDM

A rust library for parsing and modifying .vdm files used in source games.

Included features:

• Easily parse .vdm files.
• Create a new .vdm from scratch.
• Modify, delete and add actions.
• Export to a file.

Usage

Add this to your Cargo.toml

[dependencies]
vdm = "1"

Examples

Creating a new .vdm

The quickest way to get stated is by making a brand new .vdm file and exporting it.

let vdm = VDM::new();

// Include the file path you wish to export to
vdm.export("example.vdm"));

However, this would result in a blank .vdm file. Instead, let's add a new action to it.

let mut vdm = VDM::new();

// This will create a new action and automatically append it to the vdm.
let mut action = vdm.create_action(ActionType::SkipAhead);

// Gather the props from the action to edit them.
let mut props = action.props();

// Name the action for easy organization when exported
props.name = "Skip 5 seconds in".to_string();

// Skip 5 seconds into the demo
props.skip_to_time = Some(5.0);

// Save the new props to the action
action.set_props(props);

// Save the action to the vdm
vdm.set_last(action);

vdm.export("example.vdm");

This is rather verbose, but we can shorten it quite a bit by knowing what we want to do.

let mut vdm = VDM::new();

// create_action() always create the action at the end, we don't need to save it because it's easy to access later.
let mut props = vdm.create_action(ActionType::SkipAhead).props_mut();

// Since we used .props_mut() we can directly edit the Action without needing to set anything after.
// Set is available if you want to completely replace an Action or its properties with .set_nth_props()
props.name = "Skip 5 seconds in".to_string();
props.skip_to_time = Some(5.0);

vdm.export("example.vdm");

example.vdm

demoactions
{
  "1"
  {
    factory "SkipAhead"
    name "Unnamed"
    skiptotime "5.000"
  }
}

Because no start time is listed, it will happen as soon as possible after the demo starts.

Editing an existing .vdm file

You can also parse/edit existing .vdm files in a very similar way.

In this example, we're going to change when the skipping starts in the previous example.

let mut vdm = VDM::open("example.vdm").unwrap();

// Grab the first actions properties.
let mut props = vdm.first().props();

// This sets the starting point 100 game ticks into the demo
// 66 ticks = 1 second
props.start_tick = Some(100);

// You could also use vdm.set_nth_props(0, props);
vdm.set_first_props(props);

vdm.export("example.vdm");

Alternatively, we could also borrow it as mutable using .first_mut() and .props_mut() which cuts it down even further.

let mut vdm = VDM::open("example.vdm").unwrap();
// Grab the first actions properties as mutable.
let mut props = vdm.first_mut().props_mut();

// This sets the starting point 100 game ticks into the demo
// 66 ticks = 1 second
props.start_tick = Some(500);

// export without needing to set anything.
vdm.export("example.vdm");

example.vdm

demoactions
{
  "1"
  {
    factory "SkipAhead"
    name "Unnamed"
    skiptotime "5.000"
    starttick "100"
  }
}

The .vdm file will only ever show actions that work with that specific action. SkipAhead will never show RGB values for example.

Deleting an Action

Let's say we need to delete the action we just made. It's simple!

let mut vdm = VDM::open("example.vdm").unwrap();

// Remove whatever the last action is.
vdm.remove_last();

// Alternatively you can remove the first or nth element
// vdm.remove(n);
// vdm.remove_first();

vdm.export("example.vdm");

example.vdm

demoactions
{
}

Action Types

• SkipAhead
• StopPlayback
• PlayCommands
• ScreenFadeStart
• TextMessageStart
• PlayCDTrackStart
• PlaySoundStart
• Pause
• ChangePlaybackRate
• ZoomFov

Dev command: cargo watch -q -c -x "run -q"

License: MIT OR Apache-2.0