Plain string files cannot be read from within .big files #255
Description
Operating System: Any
Commit/build: None
Original game source: Any
*Reproducible in the original Generals Zero Hour?
Multiplayer affected?
Are you using any mods? (like Gentool, Rise of the Reds or Contra)
Issue explanation
Plain string files cannot reliably be read from .big files as they rely on line ending conversions of text mode file IO and .big file contents can only be opened in binary mode.
Activity
willherzog commentedon Mar 5, 2025
Is this primarily a cross-platform issue? If you open a .big archive in FinalBig (for example), you can easily preview the original plain text files (although FinalBig might simply be assuming the line endings are all CRLF):
fix(math): align deterministic Bezier operations (TheSuperHackers#255)
tintinhamans commentedon Oct 10, 2026
Had a look at this for #3460. The str reader splits on
\nand treats\ras whitespace, so binary vs text mode makes no difference. Tried multi-line strings, escapes, speech, LF/CRLF/mixed, loose and in a big, all parse the same.Data\Generals.strin a big already replaces generals.csf today. Loading extra str/csf next to it from bigs is what #3460 adds.