Analysis of the binary Tibia 10 map file format

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File name format

Tibia client versions up to 10 store their map files in the Automap directory:

• on Windows systems: %APPDATA%\Tibia\Automap
• on Linux systems: ~/.tibia/Automap

Each file within that folder contains the map data for a tile of 256×256 pixels. Each *.map file has a name of the form xxxyyyzz.map, where…

• xxx is the zero-padded X coordinate of the tile. At the moment, this value ranges from 124 to 132, but this range could be extended in the future if CipSoft decides to add new areas outside the current boundaries of the map. Theoretically it can go from 000 to 255.
• yyy is the zero-padded Y coordinate of the tile. It currently goes from 121 to 128, but it could theoretically go all the way from 000 to 255.
• zz is the zero-padded floor ID of the tile. 00 is the highest floor; 07 is the ground floor; 15 is the deepest underground.

Example map file

I’ll be using 12612507.map as an example throughout this guide. This file contains the data for an area near Thais. To follow along, use your own map file, or quickly download a copy:

$ wget https://tibiamaps.github.io/archive/Automap-with-markers/12612507.map

File structure

A *.map file consists of three main parts:

1. The first 0x10000 (= 65536 = 256×256) bytes contain visual map data.
2. The following 0x10000 bytes contain pathfinding data.
3. The remaining bytes contain map marker data.

Visual map data

The first 0x10000 (256×256) bytes of the map file form the graphical portion of the map. Each byte represents a single visible map pixel. The map data first contains the 256 pixels in the first column, then the 256 pixels in the second column, etc. — the pixels go from top to bottom, rather than from left to right.

$ hexdump -v -C -n 65536 12612507.map
00000000  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  33 33 33 33 33 ba 33 33  |3333333333333.33|
00000010  33 33 33 33 18 18 18 18  0c 0c 18 18 18 18 18 18  |3333............|
00000020  18 18 18 18 ba ba ba ba  ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba  |................|
00000030  0c ba ba ba ba ba ba 81  81 81 ba 18 18 18 18 18  |................|
00000040  ba 18 18 18 18 18 0c 18  18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18  |................|
00000050  0c 18 0c 18 18 18 18 18  18 18 18 18 18 18 18 33  |...............3|
00000060  33 33 33 18 18 18 18 18  18 33 33 33 18 18 18 18  |333......333....|
00000070  18 18 18 18 33 33 33 33  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |....333333333333|
00000080  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  33 18 18 18 56 56 18 18  |333333333...VV..|
00000090  18 56 56 18 18 18 18 33  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |.VV....333333333|
000000a0  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |3333333333333333|
000000b0  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |3333333333333333|
000000c0  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |3333333333333333|
000000d0  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |3333333333333333|
000000e0  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 18  18 ba 81 81 81 81 81 ba  |3333333.........|
[…]
0000ff20  18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18  18 18 56 18 18 18 18 56  |..........V....V|
0000ff30  56 56 56 56 56 56 56 56  56 56 56 56 81 81 56 56  |VVVVVVVVVVVV..VV|
0000ff40  56 56 56 c0 c0 56 56 56  56 56 81 81 56 56 56 56  |VVV..VVVVV..VVVV|
0000ff50  56 56 56 56 56 56 18 18  18 18 18 18 81 81 18 18  |VVVVVV..........|
0000ff60  18 18 18 0c 0c 0c 18 18  18 0c 18 18 0c 0c 18 18  |................|
0000ff70  18 18 18 18 18 18 18 56  56 56 18 18 18 18 18 18  |.......VVV......|
0000ff80  18 18 0c 18 18 18 18 18  0c 0c 18 18 0c 0c 18 18  |................|
0000ff90  18 18 18 18 18 33 33 33  33 18 18 0c 18 0c 0c 0c  |.....3333.......|
0000ffa0  0c 18 0c 18 18 18 18 18  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |........33333333|
0000ffb0  33 18 0c 18 18 18 18 18  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |3.......33333333|
0000ffc0  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |3333333333333333|
0000ffd0  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |3333333333333333|
0000ffe0  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33  |3333333333333333|
0000fff0  56 81 81 0c 81 81 81 18  18 18 56 56 18 18 81 81  |V.........VV....|
00010000

The official Tibia servers only use a handful of color IDs:

However, the Tibia client recognizes any byte value — even those that aren’t used on the official servers — and assigns a different color to each value. This means it’s possible to create fake map files that contain colors that aren’t used anywhere in the real game map.

Pathfinding data

The next 0x10000 bytes form the map that is used for pathfinding. Each of these 256×256 bytes represents the walking speed friction on a specific tile. In general, the lower the friction value, the higher your movement speed on that tile. There are two known constants:

• 0xFA = unexplored/unknown
• 0xFF = non-walkable

$ hexdump -v -s 0x10000 -n 65536 -C 12612507.map
00010000  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
00010010  ff ff ff ff 96 96 96 96  ff ff 96 96 96 96 96 96  |................|
00010020  96 96 96 96 ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
00010030  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 6e  6e 6e ff 96 96 96 96 ff  |.......nnn......|
00010040  ff 96 96 96 96 96 ff 96  96 96 96 96 96 96 96 96  |................|
00010050  ff 96 ff 96 96 96 96 96  96 96 96 78 78 78 96 ff  |...........xxx..|
00010060  ff ff ff 96 96 96 96 96  96 ff ff ff 96 96 78 78  |..............xx|
00010070  78 96 96 96 ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |x...............|
00010080  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff 96 96 96 ff ff 78 ff  |..............x.|
00010090  78 ff ff 78 96 96 96 ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |x..x............|
000100a0  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
000100b0  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
000100c0  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
000100d0  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
000100e0  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 96  96 ff ff 64 64 64 ff ff  |...........ddd..|
[…]
0001ff20  96 96 78 78 78 78 78 78  78 78 ff 96 96 96 96 ff  |..xxxxxxxx......|
0001ff30  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff 96 96 ff ff  |................|
0001ff40  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff 96 96 ff ff ff ff  |................|
0001ff50  ff ff ff ff ff ff 96 96  96 96 96 96 6e 6e 96 96  |............nn..|
0001ff60  96 96 96 ff ff ff 96 96  96 ff 96 96 ff ff 96 96  |................|
0001ff70  96 96 96 96 96 96 96 ff  ff ff 96 96 96 96 96 96  |................|
0001ff80  96 96 ff 96 96 96 96 96  ff ff 96 96 ff ff 96 96  |................|
0001ff90  96 96 96 96 96 ff ff ff  ff 96 96 ff 96 ff ff ff  |................|
0001ffa0  ff ff ff 96 96 96 96 96  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
0001ffb0  ff 96 ff 96 96 96 96 96  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
0001ffc0  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
0001ffd0  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
0001ffe0  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff  |................|
0001fff0  ff a0 a0 ff a0 a0 a0 96  96 96 ff ff 96 96 6e 6e  |..............nn|
00020000

Map marker data

The remaining bytes contain the map marker data.

$ hexdump -s 0x20000 -n 65536 -C 12612507.map
00020000  07 00 00 00 0e 7e 00 00  ab 7d 00 00 02 00 00 00  |.....~...}......|
00020010  18 00 46 75 72 79 20 47  61 74 65 20 28 77 6f 72  |..Fury Gate (wor|
00020020  6c 64 20 63 68 61 6e 67  65 29 41 7e 00 00 d3 7d  |ld change)A~...}|
00020030  00 00 09 00 00 00 07 00  48 61 72 62 6f 75 72 5b  |........Harbour[|
00020040  7e 00 00 e2 7d 00 00 0a  00 00 00 0c 00 44 65 70  |~...}........Dep|
00020050  6f 74 20 26 20 62 61 6e  6b 5e 7e 00 00 ee 7d 00  |ot & bank^~...}.|
00020060  00 08 00 00 00 1b 00 4f  66 66 6c 69 6e 65 20 74  |.......Offline t|
00020070  72 61 69 6e 69 6e 67 20  28 64 69 73 74 61 6e 63  |raining (distanc|
00020080  65 29 61 7e 00 00 de 7d  00 00 0c 00 00 00 09 00  |e)a~...}........|
00020090  50 76 50 20 61 72 65 6e  61 71 7e 00 00 ef 7d 00  |PvP arenaq~...}.|
000200a0  00 05 00 00 00 06 00 54  65 6d 70 6c 65 8f 7e 00  |.......Temple.~.|
000200b0  00 dc 7d 00 00 03 00 00  00 0b 00 4d 61 67 69 63  |..}........Magic|
000200c0  20 73 74 6f 72 65                                 | store|
000200c6

The first 4 bytes indicate the number of markers on the map as a uint in little-endian byte order. If the file contains no markers, this byte sequence is 00 00 00 00 after which the file ends.

The structure of a single marker is as follows:

1. The first byte is xOffset, i.e. the x position offset of the marker within this 256×256px tile, as a uint8.
2. The second byte is xTile, i.e. the map tile the marker is in on the x axis, as a uint8. (This is the same value as the xxx component of the *.map file name.)
3. The next two bytes are blank, i.e. 00 00.
4. The next byte is yOffset, i.e. the y position offset of the marker within this 256×256px tile, as a uint8.
5. The next byte is yTile, i.e. the map tile the marker is in on the y axis, as a uint8. (This is the same value as the yyy component of the *.map file name.)
6. The next two bytes are blank, i.e. 00 00.
7. The next 4 bytes represent the image ID of the marker icon, as a uint in little-endian byte order.
8. The next 2 bytes indicate the size of the string that follows, as a uint in little-endian byte order.
9. The next bytes represent the marker description as a windows-1252-encoded string. As a result, only the 128 symbols that can be represented in the windows-1252 encoding can be used in marker descriptions. Each marker description is limited to 99 such symbols — when viewed in the client, markers with descriptions exceeding 99 bytes are truncated, and the map file is updated with the truncated marker description.

This structure is repeated for every marker in the file, after which the file ends.

The following marker icon IDs are available:

Here’s what the marker icons look like in the Tibia client: