Maniaplanet Forum

GbxDump is a little Windows application to indicate the contents of the file header of mainly Maps, Challenges, Replays, Packs, Blocks, Objects and Items used by the Nadeo game engine (GameBox). The tool is also able to display the file header of DirectDraw Surface files (*.dds). GbxDump is open-source.

Main features:
· Displays general track properties
· Displays external dependencies
· Displays the author comment
· Shows and exports the thumbnail
· Online interface to the TMX and MX trackbase
· Online interface to the Dedimania records database



After installation the context menu of GameBox (Gbx) files has an additional entry "GbxDump". Using this command you can view into this Gbx file.
You can also run the tool from the start menu and open any Gbx file within the program (Start » Programs » Gbx File Dumper).
Nevertheless, the easiest way is to use drag-and-drop from Microsoft Windows Explorer. Then several files can immediately be analyzed at once.

GbxDump shows lot of technical data (like block identifiers and sizes) to support all types of Gbx files and to detect future changes of the file format.
But the provided information can still be very useful for map builders, title producers, server admins and normal players.
For example:
· All map properties are indicated together at one place using only two mouse clicks.
· Links to external dependencies could be easily tested by copy'n'paste them into a browser.
· The dependence between maps to titles can be checked (via title ID).
· The Lightmap Cache hash is useful to discover the lightmap file in the cache folder.
· The T/MX map ID, the numbers of awards and records could be retrieved from T/MX or Dedimania.
· The thumbnail of (Macro-) Blocks, Objects and Items supplies a good indication of the file content.
· The used texture compression of a DDS file could discover an incompatibility with DirectX9.

Download of GbxDump 1.76
Filename: gbxdump.zip
Filesize: 1.94 MB
Filetyp: ZIP archive
Release: March 2024
Language: German, English
Games: Nadeo Virtual Skipper, TrackMania, Trackmania Turbo, ManiaPlanet, Trackmania 2020
OS Versions: Windows XP SP3/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11

Electron wrote:After three years of examining the GBX file format and 44 releases I finished my Gbx file snooper tool

Well done.

Great work!

Seems you have made a very hard and deep work !

I will try it and share it. It seems to be useful for map creator or server admins

All known internals about the GBX file format are documented in the Mania Tech Wiki. The contents are based on the work of several people (Arc, Tossha, Xymph, me and more). Many thanks also to xbx for few but very important information about the "lookback" strings and the *.Pack.Gbx file header!

A very worthy tool, indeed

Very cool tool, but its not possible to see how many spawns a map has for SM, that would be a cool feature too

I had forgotten the support of Dedimania² for TrackMania² Stadium...
Therefore, I've provided a minor update to version 1.45.

Great, thanks

A new version of GbxDump is available.

Version 1.46 now supports Item.gbx files by adding support of a new ObjectInfo class ID. This concerns also newly saved macro blocks.
I also added support of a skin class used by vehicles, decorations and some blocks.
GbxDump now also indicates the type of an object (Ornament for objects, PickUp for pickup items, Character for bot items, DynaObject for vehicles and arena players).
In the new version the UTF-8 codepage is also used to display XML chunks (bug fix).