BFEVFL

BFEVFL is a binary file format for event flows. In Breath of the Wild and other Nintendo games such as Splatoon 2 and Link's Awakening, binary event flows are parsed by Nintendo's EventFlow/evfl library.

Structures

BFEVFL is a format that supports both big endian and little endian; however, event flows typically use little endian even on Wii U, as is the case in Breath of the Wild.

BFEVFL uses pointers very heavily to refer to strings, to other sections, etc. All pointers are always 64-bit long -- this is because the same format is used on 64-bit platforms like the Switch. Pointers must be present in the #Relocation table if the file is to be loaded correctly by the official EventFlow code.

As a direct consequence, most sections don't have any fixed order. Therefore, this article will only document the data structures and mention the order Nintendo places sections in. For more details, it is recommended to look at the evfl library directly.

Another consequence is that sections must be aligned to 8-byte boundaries in most cases to avoid unaligned memory accesses (this is not as important for strings).

Header

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	char[8]	Magic ("BFEVFL\x00\x00")
0x8	u8	Version (major)
0x9	u8	Version (minor)
0xa	u8	Version (patch)
0xb	u8	Version (sub-patch)
0xc	s16	Byte order mark
0xe	u8	Alignment (to get the actual value: 1 << raw_value)
0xf	u8	Padding
0x10	int	File name offset
0x14	u16	Is relocated flag (set in memory)
0x16	u16	First block offset
0x18	int	Relocation table offset
0x1c	int	File size
0x20	u16	Number of flowcharts
0x22	u16	Number of timelines
0x24	u32	Padding
0x28	Flowchart**	Flowchart (nullptr if no flowchart)
0x30	Dictionary*	Flowchart name dictionary
0x38	Timeline**	Timeline (nullptr if no timeline)
0x40	Dictionary*	Timeline name dictionary

Note: 0x0-0x20 are just a standard ore::BinaryFileHeader (which is identical to nn::util::BinaryFileHeader).

Relocation table

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is ore::RelocationTable.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	char[4]	Magic ("RELT")
0x4	int	Offset to relocation table start (table_start_offset)
0x8	int	Number of sections
0xc	u32	Padding
0x10	Section[num_sections]	Sections
-	Entry[...]	Section entries (emitted in the same order as each section)

Note: the number of sections is almost always 1 because a single section can already fit 2^32 - 1 entries. If you need more than 4 billion entries, you are probably doing something very wrong.

The table base pointer is calculated as follows: `reinterpret_cast<char*>(&table) - table_start_offset`

Relocation table section

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	void*	Optional base pointer (ptr)
0x8	int	Optional base pointer offset (offset)
0xc	int	Size
0x10	int	Index of the first entry in this section
0x14	int	Number of entries

The base pointer (base) is calculated as follows:

• If the optional base pointer field is nullptr, the base pointer is equal to the table base pointer.
• Otherwise, it is equal to ptr - offset.

Relocation table entry

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	u32	Offset to pointers to relocate, relative to the table base pointer
0x4	u32	Bit field that determines which pointers need to be relocated (up to 32 contiguous pointers starting from the listed offset)

Offsets are treated as signed 32-bit integers.

Pointers are relocated by overwriting each 64-bit pointer field with base + offset.

String pool

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is ore::StringPool.)

The string pool starts with the STR magic and contains 2-byte aligned strings. The magic is not checked at all since strings are directly referred to using pointers.

All strings in the pool are Pascal strings, i.e. length-prefixed strings. The length is an unsigned 16 bit integer. Strings are stored in reverse order of their binary representation.

Dictionary

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is ore::ResDic.)

A dictionary is a data structure that is used to quickly look up the index of an element based on its name. Thus, they are always used in conjunction with an array of elements. However, the way the dictionary and the array are associated depends on the structure.

BFEVFL dictionaries are essentially binary radix trees (also called PATRICIA trees or tries). The structure contains a binary search tree and bit-by-bit comparisons of strings are done to navigate through it. It is extremely similar to the Wii U BFRES "index group" structure, but with significant changes to the algorithm. The Switch BFRES format shares the same algorithm.

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	char[4]	Magic ("DIC ")
0x4	u32	Number of entries (ignoring root entry)
0x8	Entry	Root entry (bit index is 0xffffffff)
0x18	Entry[num_entries]	Entries

Dictionary entry

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	u32	Compact representation of bit index
0x4	u16	Next index if bit is 0
0x6	u16	Next index if bit is 1
0x8	PascalString*	Name

The compact representation of the bit index has two parts:

• Bits 3-7: index of the byte that should be checked
• Bits 0-2: index of the bit in that byte

A bit index can be translated to its compact representation using:

def get_compact_representation(bit_idx: int) -> int:
    byte_idx = bit_idx // 8
    return (byte_idx << 3) | (bit_idx - 8*byte_idx)

Example: Hello corresponds to 100100001100101011011000110110001101111. Bits 0-3 are 1, bit 4 is 0, etc.

Container

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is ore::ResMetaData.)

Containers are key-value mappings with keys being strings. A #Dictionary is used to store keys.

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	ContainerItem	Root container structure (data type is Container)

ContainerItem

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	ContainerDataType (u8)	Data type
0x1	u8	Padding
0x2	u16	Number of items
0x4	u32	Padding
0x8	Dictionary*	Dictionary (only for the Container data type)
0x10	ContainerItemData	Data

ContainerItemData

Data type	Data	Number of items
Argument	String (not in string pool, follows item structure immediately)	1
Container	ContainerItem*[n]	n
Int	Signed 32-bit integer	1
Bool	0x80000001 if true, 0x00000000 otherwise	1
Float	binary32 floating point number	1
String	String (not in string pool, follows item structure immediately)	1
Wide string ("wstring")	Wide string (not in string pool, follows item structure immediately)	1
Int array	Int[n]	n
Bool array	Bool[n]	n
Float array	Float[n]	n
String array	String[n] (aligned to 8-byte boundaries this time)	n
Wstring array	WString[n] (aligned to 8-byte boundaries this time)	n
Actor identifier	Two strings: actor name + secondary name	2

Wide strings use wchar_t which is 32-bit long on Switch.

ContainerDataType enum

The following enum definition is complete and all names are official.

Value	Name
0	Argument
1	Container
2	Int
3	Bool
4	Float
5	String
6	Wide string ("wstring")
7	Int array
8	Bool array
9	Float array
10	String array
11	Wstring array
12	Actor identifier

Actor

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResActor.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	PascalString*	Name
0x8	PascalString*	Secondary name
0x10	PascalString*	Argument name
0x18	#evfl::ResAction*	Pointer to array of actions (strings)
0x20	#evfl::ResQuery*	Pointer to array of queries (strings)
0x28	Container*	Parameters
0x30	u16	Number of actions
0x32	u16	Number of queries
0x34	u16	Entry point index for associated entry point (0xffff if none)
0x36	u8	Cut number? This is set to 1 for flowcharts. Timeline actors sometimes use a different value here. [check] In BotW, this value is passed as the @MA actor parameter.
0x37	u8	Padding

evfl::ResAction

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	PascalString*	Name

evfl::ResQuery

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	PascalString*	Name

Event

EventType enum

(The official name for this enum in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResEvent::EventType::Type.)

Value	Name	Description
0	Action	Invokes an actor function ("action") with no return value.
1	Switch	Invokes an actor function ("query") with an int return value and branches execution flow depending on it.
2	Fork	Branches execution flow unconditionally.
3	Join	Used to reunify execution flow after a fork finishes executing.
4	Sub flow	Invokes an entry point in the same or in a different event flow. Similar to a function call.

Main event structure

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResEvent.)

Offset	Type	Description
		Action	Switch	Fork	Join	Sub flow
0x0	PascalString*	Name
0x8	EventType (u8)	Type
0x9	u8	Padding
0xa	u16	Next event index	Number of cases (>=0)	Number of forks (>0)	Next event index
0xc	u16	Actor index		Join event index (required)	Unused
0xe	u16	Actor action index	Actor query index	Unused
0x10	void*	Container* (optional parameters)		u16* (fork event indexes)	Unused	Container* (optional parameters)
0x18	void*	Unused	SwitchCases* (0x0: u32 value, 0x4: u16 event index, 0x6: u16 padding)	Unused		PascalString* (flowchart name)
0x20	void*	Unused				PascalString* (entry point name)

Entry point

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResEntryPoint.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	u16*	Sub flow event indices
0x8	Dictionary*	VariableDef names (parsed by the evfl lib, but unused by BotW)
0x10	VariableDef*	VariableDefs (parsed by the evfl lib, but unused by BotW)
0x18	u16	Number of sub flow event indices
0x1a	u16	Number of variable definitions
0x1c	u16	Main event index. 0xffff if the entry point doesn't point to any event.
0x1e	u16	Padding

Flowchart

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResFlowchart.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	char[4]	Magic ("EVFL")
0x4	u32	String pool offset (relative to this structure)
0x8	u32	Padding
0xc	u32	Padding
0x10	u16	Number of actors
0x12	u16	Total number of actions
0x14	u16	Total number of queries
0x16	u16	Number of events
0x18	u16	Number of entry points
0x1a	u16	Padding
0x1c	u16	Padding
0x1e	u16	Padding
0x20	PascalString*	Name
0x28	Actor*	Actors
0x30	Event*	Events
0x38	Dictionary*	Entry point dictionary
0x40	EntryPoint*	Entry points

Timeline

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResTimeline.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	char[4]	Magic ("TLIN")
0x4	u32	String pool offset (relative to this structure)
0x8	u32	Padding
0xc	u32	Padding
0x10	float	Duration
0x14	u16	Number of actors
0x16	u16	Total number of actions
0x18	u16	Number of clips
0x1a	u16	Number of oneshots
0x1c	u16	Number of subtimelines
0x1e	u16	Number of cuts
0x20	PascalString*	Name
0x28	Actor*	Actors
0x30	#Clip*	Clips
0x38	#Oneshot*	Oneshots
0x40	#Trigger*	Triggers (exactly 2 per clip)
0x48	#Subtimeline*	Subtimelines
0x50	#Cut*	Cuts
0x58	Container*	Parameters

Clip

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResClip.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	float	Start time
0x4	float	Duration
0x8	u16	Actor index
0xa	u16	Actor action index
0xc	u8	? [check]
0xd	u8[3]	Padding
0x10	Container*	Parameters

Oneshot

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResOneshot.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	float	Time
0x4	u16	Actor index
0x6	u16	Actor action index
0x8	void*	Padding
0x10	Container*	Parameters

Trigger

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResTrigger.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	u16	Clip index
0x2	#TriggerType	Trigger type
0x3	u8	Padding

TriggerType

Value	Description
1	Enter - triggered when a clip starts
2	Leave - triggered when a clip ends

Cut

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResCut.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	float	Start time [check]
0x4	u32	? [check]
0x8	PascalString*	Name
0x10	Container*	Parameters

Subtimeline

(The official name for this structure in the EventFlow library is evfl::ResSubtimeline.)

Offset	Type	Description
0x0	PascalString*	Subtimeline name

Section order

File

• Header (0x48 bytes)
• Flowchart* array if it exists
• Flowchart dictionary (always)
• Timeline* array if it exists
• Timeline dictionary (always)
• Timeline
• Flowchart
• String pool (STR )
• Relocation table (RELT)

Timeline

• Actor param containers, evfl::ResAction
• Parameter container
• Timeline header
• Actors
• Clips
• Oneshots ^[check]
• Subtimelines
• Triggers
• Cuts
• Clip param containers
• Oneshot param containers ^[check]
• Cut param containers ^[check]

Flowchart

• Flowchart header
• Actors

• Argument name is put in the string pool.

• Events
• Entry point dictionary
• Entry points
• Event param containers, fork structs, etc. (in order)
• Actor param containers, string pointer arrays (in order)
• Entry point extra data

• Sub flow event index arrays are written here
• ptr_x10 data may be written here? (ptr_x10 has always been a nullptr in files that have been checked by leoetlino.)
• The size for each entry point is sizeof(event_idx_array) rounded up to the nearest multiple of 8 + 0x18 bytes.

Container

• Container header (variable size)
• Container dictionary
• Container items (+ values)

Usage in Breath of the Wild

BFEVFL is used as the underlying format for event flows in the release versions. They are always stored under EventFlow and have "bfevfl" (for flowcharts) and "bfevtm" (for timelines) as their file extensions.

For development versions, it appears that a different, non-binary format was used ("evfl").

Tools

• evfl: Python library for parsing and writing event flows
• EventEditor: graphical editor for event flows