[Opensim-dev] Docs on format of an IAR file??

[Justin Clark-Casey]

Robert Martin wrote:
> Doing the sort of thinking that normally requires "herbal" useage, i
> was wondering how difficult would is be to take an unpacked IAR file
> set with a single avatar (and outfit) as input and then make a program
> to automate edits on that outfit (or avatar)?
> 
> Example given a Standard BusinessMan with a Suit in Blue (by way of a
> tint in the base mesh) create the same with
> Black
> Brown
> Grey
> 

There is some file format information on IARs at

http://opensimulator.org/wiki/IAR_Format_0.1

In principle, it should be possible to edit the assets in some external program and repack them.

You may have more trouble with attachments as they are serialized objects contained in the assets 
folder.  Unfortunately, the object format being used is OpenSim's native serialization format and 
this is not documented in the wiki (somewhat deliberately since it's not a nice format to work with 
externally).  Some work has been done to document aspects of this, such as Zonja's post at

http://zonjacapalini.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/using-sql-to-manipulate-oars/

A properly documented external format is probably starting to make more sense, though aspects of 
this (such as script state serialization) would remain undocumented for now.  The disadvantage with 
this is that attributes added to OpenSim scene objects are not automatically included in OARs (the 
file format would need to be explicitly changed).

Either way, any significant changes in this area will be trailed well in advance so that anybody 
trying to do more sophisticated things with OARs/IARs or similar formats knows if any changes are 
mooted.

-- 
Justin Clark-Casey (justincc)
http://justincc.org
http://twitter.com/justincc