AoS Protocol Documentation

This site documents the AoS protocol as well as the extensions that have and will been made to it. If you want to propose changes to the protocol, open an issue or file a PR against this repo

View the Project on GitHub piqueserver/aosprotocol

This page documents Ace of Spades 0.75, the last fully released version of Ace of Spades classic, and 0.76, the last publically available version of Ace of Spades Classic.

Except where otherwise noted, this document applies to .75, the only commonly played version.

Connection

When you connect, you must send a version number as the initial data.

Following that a client needs to send an Existing Player data packet to send its own name, team etc.

If the client does not send an Existing Player packet first, but any other packet, then the server closes the connection and seems to temporarily ban the player.

Number AoS version
3 0.75
4 0.76

Send this magic number as part of the enet_host_connect(ENetHost, ENetAddress, channels, int) function

Disconnect Reasons

Whenever the connection is closed by the server, there is a reason supplied to the client in the event’s data (event.data).

Number Reason
1 Banned
2 IP connection limit exceded?
3 Wrong protocol version
4 Server full
10 Kicked

About Coordinates

In Ace of Spades the up-down axis is Z and it is inverted. This means 63 is water level and 0 is the highest point on a map.

Packets

All packets start with an unsigned byte to specify their type, followed by the data for that type of packet. The size given for each packet below includes this byte.

Table of Contents

Data types

Generally, all fields in the Protocol are Low Endian if not specified.

The following shorthands are used in this document:

Shorthand details
Byte 8 bits of arbitrary data. Usually accompanied by a note
UByte Unisgned 8 bit number
LE Float 32bit IEEE float
LE Uint 32bit unsigned integer
CP437 String String encoded with CP437. Usually fixed-length.

Position Data

Client <-> Server

This packet is used to set the players position.

Packet ID: 0
Total Size: 13 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
X LE Float 0  
Y LE Float 0  
Z LE Float 0  

Orientation Data

This packet is used to set the players orientation.

Packet ID 1
Total Size: 13 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
X LE Float 0  
Y LE Float 0  
Z LE Float 0  

World Update (0.75)

Updates position and orientation of all players. Depending on the server implementation, the size may be fixed at 32 players or dynamic based on the greatest player ID, or even based on which players have moved since last update (although this may not work well with Voxlap). “Slots” which are not occupied by a connected player should be zeroed-out (position: [0,0,0], orientation: [0,0,0]).

Packet ID 2
Total Size: 1+24*players bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
players positions and orientations Array[32] of Player Position Data   See below table for data

‘Player Position Data’

Total Size: 24 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
X position LE Float 0 0 for non-players
Y position LE Float 0 0 for non-players
Z position LE Float 0 0 for non-players
X orientation LE Float 0 0 for non-players
Y orientation LE Float 0 0 for non-players
Z orientation LE Float 0 0 for non-players

World Update (0.76)

Updates position and orientation of all players. Unlike 0.75, this only sends information for the necessary players.

Packet ID 2
Total Size: 1+25*players bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player positions and orientations Array[] of Player Position Data, variable size   See below table for data

‘Player Position Data’

Total Size: 25 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
X position LE Float 0  
Y position LE Float 0  
Z position LE Float 0  
X orientation LE Float 0  
Y orientation LE Float 0  
Z orientation LE Float 0  

Input Data

Contains the key-states of a player, packed into a byte.

Packet ID 3
Total Size: 3 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Key states UByte 0 Each bit in the byte represents a key, as defined in the table below.

Key States:

Placement Key
1 Up
2 Down
3 Left
4 Right
5 Jump
6 Crouch
7 Sneak
8 Sprint

Weapon Input

Contains the weapon input state.

Packet ID 4
Total Size: 3 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Weapon input UByte 0 The lowest bit represents the primary fire, the second lowest represents the secondary fire.

Hit Packet

Client-to-Server

Sent by the client when a hit is registered. The server should verify that this is possible to prevent abuse (such as hitting without shooting, facing the wrong way, etc).

Packet ID 5
Total Size: 3 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID hit UByte 0  
Hit type UByte 0 See values in table below

Hit Types

Value Type
0 Torso
1 Head
2 Arms
3 Legs
4 Melee

Set HP

Server-to-Client

Sent to the client when hurt.

Packet ID 5
Total Size: 15 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
HP UByte 0  
Type UByte 0 0 = fall, 1 = weapon
Source X position LE Float 0  
Source Y position LE Float 0  
Source Z position LE Float 0  

Grenade Packet

Spawns a grenade with the given information.

Packet ID 6
Total Size: 30 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Fuse length LE Float 0  
X position LE Float 0  
Y position LE Float 0  
Z position LE Float 0  
X velocity LE Float 0  
Y velocity LE Float 0  
Z velocity LE Float 0  

Set Tool

Sets a player’s currently equipped tool/weapon.

Packet ID 7
Total Size: 3 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Tool UByte 0 Tool values are listed below

Tools

Value Type
0 Spade
1 Block
2 Gun
3 Grenade

Set Colour

Set the colour of a player’s held block.

Packet ID 8
Total Size: 5 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Blue UByte 0  
Green UByte 0  
Red UByte 0  

Existing Player

Set player’s team, weapon, etc.

Packet ID 9
Total Size: depends

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Team UByte 0  
Weapon UByte 0  
Held item UByte 0  
Kills LE UInt 0  
Blue UByte 0  
Green UByte 0  
Red UByte 0  
Name CP437 String? Deuce  

Short Player Data

Like Existing Player, but with less information.

Packet ID 10
Total Size: 4 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Team UByte 0  
Weapon UByte 0  

Move Object

This packet is used to move various game objects like tents, intels and even grenades. When moving grenades in TC mode the voxlap client has a bug that changes grenades’ models to small tents.

Packet ID 11
Total Size: 15 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Object ID UByte 0  
Team UByte 0 2 = neutral
X position LE Float 0  
Y position LE Float 0  
Z position LE Float 0  

Create Player

Send on respawn of a player.

Packet ID 12
Total Size: depends

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Weapon UByte 0  
Team UByte 0  
X position LE Float 0  
Y position LE Float 0  
Z position LE Float 0  
Name CP437 String? Deuce  

Block Action

Sent when a block is placed/destroyed.

Packet ID 13
Total Size: 15 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Action type UByte 0 See table below
X position LE Int 0  
Y position LE Int 0  
Z position LE Int 0  

Fields

Value Type Notes
0 Build places a block with the player’s selected color
1 Bullet and spade (left button) destroy  
2 Spade (right button) destroy destroys 3 blocks, one above and below additionally
3 Grenade destroy destroys all blocks within an 3x3x3 area

Block Line

Create a line of blocks between 2 points. The block color is defined by the Set Color packet.

Packet ID 14
Total Size: 26 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Start X position LE Int 0  
Start Y position LE Int 0  
Start Z position LE Int 0  
End X position LE Int 0  
End Y position LE Int 0  
End Z position LE Int 0  

CTF State

Brief description.

Packet ID none
Total Size: 52 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Team 1 score UByte 0  
Team 2 score UByte 0  
Capture limit UByte 0  
Intel flags UByte 0 bits signal if teams have intel - bit 1 for team 1, bit 2 for team 2
Team 1 intel location Location Data 0 see below
Team 2 intel location Location Data 0 see below
Team 1 base X position LE Float 0  
Team 1 base Y position LE Float 0  
Team 1 base Z position LE Float 0  
Team 2 base X position LE Float 0  
Team 2 base Y position LE Float 0  
Team 2 base Z position LE Float 0  

The intel location data is 12 bytes long. If the intel is being held, the first byte is a UByte with the ID of the holding player, then the rest are padding. If the intel is on the ground (not being held), the data will hold three LE Floats with its x, y and z position.

Fields

Intel State Field Name Field Type
Held Holding player ID UByte
  N/A (padding) 11 bytes
Dropped Intel X position LE Float
  Intel Y position LE Float
  Intel Z position LE Float

This packet is not a complete packet, as it is only sent after the initial data, where the gamemode is sent. It could be considered as part of that initial data packet, but as what’s sent varies greatly depending on the gamemode, it is documented separately.

TC State

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
territory count UByte 16 Maximum is 16 otherwise the client will crash with ‘Invalid memory access’
Array[] of territory data LE Float, LE Float, LE Float, UByte   See table below

This packet is not a complete packet, as it is only sent after the initial data, where the gamemode is sent. It could be considered as part of that initial data packet, but as what’s sent varies greatly depending on the gamemode, it is documented separately.

State Data

Server-->Client

Indicates that the map transfer is complete. Also informs the client of numerous game parameters. Be aware that CTFState or TCState may be appended to the packet after the gamemode ID portion.

Packet ID 15
Total Size: 52 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Fog blue color value UByte 0  
Fog green color value UByte 0  
Fog red color value UByte 0  
Team 1 blue color value UByte 0  
Team 1 green color value UByte 0  
Team 1 red color value UByte 0  
Team 2 blue color value UByte 0  
Team 2 green color value UByte 0  
Team 2 red color value UByte 0  
Team 1 name CP437 String Blue Always 10 characters long
Team 2 name CP437 String Green Always 10 characters long
Gamemode ID UByte 0 0 for CTF, 1 for TC

Kill Action

Server->Client

Notify the client of a player’s death.

Packet ID 16
Total Size: 5 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 12 Player that died
Killer ID UByte 8  
Kill type UByte 0 See table below
Respawn time UByte 1 Seconds until respawn

Fields

If any value greater than 6 is received in the classic/Voxlap client, it will display the kill message as “Derpy Kill Message”.

Value Type
0 WEAPON (body, limbs)
1 HEADSHOT
2 MELEE (spade)
3 GRENADE
4 FALL
5 TEAM_CHANGE
6 CLASS_CHANGE

Chat Message

Two-way

Reasonable limits should be placed on length and frequency of chat messages.

Packet ID 17
Total Size: . bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Chat Type UByte 0 See table below
Chat Message CP437 String "join /squad 1"  

Fields

Value Type voxlap default color
0 CHAT_ALL white
1 CHAT_TEAM team color, black for spectator
2 CHAT_SYSTEM red

Map Start (0.75)

Server->Client

Sent when a client connects, or a map is advanced for already existing connections.

Should be the first packet received when a client connects.

Packet ID 18
Total Size: 5 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Map size LE Uint 4567  

Map Start (0.76)

Server->Client

Sent when a client connects, or a map is advanced for already existing connections.

Should be the first packet received when a client connects.

Packet ID 18
Total Size: 9+ bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Map size Uint32 283839  
CRC32 Uint32 0x4c7ebe43  
Map name CP437 String "pinpoint2"  

Map Chunk

Server->Client

Sent just after Map Start, repeatedly until the entire map is sent.

Should always be the next sequence of packets after a Map Start packet.

Packet ID 19
Total Size: depends

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Map Data UByte 0 DEFLATE/zlib encoded AOS map data

Player Left

Server->Protocol

Sent when a player disconnects.

Packet ID 20
Total Size: 2 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
player ID UByte 0  

Territory Capture

Server->Protocol

Sent when a player captures a Command Post in Territory Control mode.

Captures have affects on the client.

Packet ID 21
Total Size: 5 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Entity ID UByte 0 The ID of the CP being captured
Winning UByte 0 (or losing)
State UByte 0 Team ID

Progress Bar

Server->Client

Display the TC progress bar.

Packet ID 22
Total Size: 8 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Entity ID UByte 0 The ID of the tent entity
Capturing team ID UByte 1  
Rate Byte 2 Used by the client for interpolation, one per team member capturing (minus enemy team members). One rate unit is 5% of progress per second.
Progress LE Float 0.5 In range [0,1]

Intel Capture

Server->Protocol

Sent when a player captures the intel, which is determined by the server.

Winning captures have affects on the client.

Packet ID 23
Total Size: 3 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  
Winning UByte 0 Was the winning capture

Intel Pickup

Server->Protocol

Sent when a player collects the intel, which is determined by the server.

Packet ID 24
Total Size: 2 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0  

Intel Drop

Server->Protocol

Sent when a player dropped the intel. This will update the intel position on the client.

Packet ID 25
Total Size: 14 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0 ID of the player who dropped intel
X position LE Float 32.0  
Y position LE Float 32.0  
Z position LE Float 32.0  

Restock

Server->Protocol

Id of the player who has been restocked.

Packet ID 26
Total Size: 2 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0 ID of the player who restocked

Fog Colour

Server->Client

Set the colour of a player’s fog.

Packet ID 27
Total Size: 5 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Alpha UByte 0 Unused
Blue UByte 255  
Green UByte 232  
Red UByte 128  

Weapon Reload

Client–>Server->Protocol

Sent by the client when the player reloads their weapon, and relayed to other clients after protocol logic applied.

This has no affect on animation, but is used to trigger sound effects on the other clients.

Packet ID 28
Total Size: 4 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0 Player who reloaded
Clip ammo UByte 0  
Reserve ammo UByte 0  

Change Team

Client–>Server–>Protocol–>Kill Action & Create Player

Sent by the client when the player changes team. It is not relayed to clients directly, but instead uses Kill Action (optionally) then Create Player to inform other clients of the team change.

Packet ID 29
Total Size: 3 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0 Player who has changed team
Team ID UByte 0 See values in table below

Team IDs

Value Type
255 Spectator
0 First team (Blue)
1 Second team (Green)

Change Weapon

Client–>Server–>Protocol–>Kill Action & Create Player

Sent by the client when the player changes weapon. It SHOULD NOT be sent to clients, but pyspades and all known derivatives send the packet with invalid parameters immediately before the kill action is sent (if any). All packets of this type sent from the server SHOULD be ignored. Otherwise, the server sends Kill Action (optionally) then Create Player to inform other clients of the weapon change.

Packet ID 30
Total Size: 3 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Player ID UByte 0 Player who has changed weapon
Weapon ID UByte 0 See values in table below

Weapon ID

Value Type
0 Rifle
1 SMG
2 Shotgun

Map Cached (0.76)

Client->Server

Packet ID 31
Total Size: 2 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Cached UByte 1 1 if cached, 0 otherwise

Extra Packets

Extra packets are new packets added by the community, usually requiring a script.

Version Handshake Init (EP)

Server->Client

Sent to the client for checking if client is compatible with version info (this isnt required to get version info).

When sent, server waits for a Handshake Response with the challenge.

Packet ID 31
Total Size: 5 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Challenge LE Int 42 A number that should be sent back in handshake response

Version Handshake Response (EP)

Client->Server

Send back the challenge number to the server, for validating the client (this isnt required to get version info).

Packet ID 32
Total Size: 5 bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Challenge LE Int 42 Number sent to the client in Handshake Init

Version Get (EP)

Server->Client

Ask the client to send the client and operational system infos.

Packet ID 33
Total Size: 1 byte

Version Response (EP)

Client->Server

Send the client and operational system infos.

Packet ID 34
Total Size: (varies) bytes
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
client_identifier Byte o Number representing an ASCII character
version_major Byte -1 Current client major version
version_minor Byte -1 Current client minor version
version_revision Byte -1 Current client revision version
version_revision Byte -1 Current client revision version
os_info CP437 String Windows 10 Operational System informations

Powerthirst Edition

This version adds 4 new packets, extends 2 packets, and duplicately maps 1 packet over another.

The World Update packet has up to 64 fields now instead of 32.

Map Start (PT)

Server->Client

Sent when a client connects, or a map is advanced for already existing connections.

Should be the first packet received when a client connects.

The version must exist and be >= 1 (and <= the client’s Powerthirst proto version or otherwise the client will refuse to connect) to enable certain Powerthirst features such as long-name support.

Packet ID 18
Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Map size Uint32 4567  
PT version UInt32 4  

Map Chunk (PT)

Server->Client

This is just a remapping of the Map Chunk packet to 2 packets back to stop vanilla clients from connecting.

Packet ID 17
Total Size: 9 bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Map Data UByte 0 DEFLATE/zlib encoded AOS map data

Script Begin (PT)

Server->Client

Packet ID 31
Total Size: (varies) bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Script size Uint32 4567  
Module name CP437 String    

Script Chunk (PT)

Server->Client

This is just a remapping of the Map_Chunk packet to 2 packets back to stop vanilla clients from connecting.

Packet ID 32
Total Size: (varies) bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Script Data UByte 0 DEFLATE/zlib encoded AngelScript source code

Script End (PT)

Server->Client

Once this is sent, the script is loaded.

Packet ID 33
Total Size: (varies) bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Module name CP437 String    

Script Call (PT)

Server->Client

Packet ID 34
Total Size: (varies) bytes

Fields

Field Name Field Type Example Notes
Function name 0-terminated CP437 String void main() Must be an AngelScript prototype, not just the name itself
Parameters See below    

Script Parameters

Start from after the 0-byte in the Function name string. Then, loop through these IDs: