.BMS File Extension
QuickBMS Script
| Developer | Mike Zuurman |
| Popularity |
4.1 | 21 Votes |
What is a BMS file?
A BMS file is a plain text script used by QuickBMS, a file extraction tool used primarily to extract assets from video game asset archives. It contains directives written in the Binary MultiEx Script (BMS) language. You can open a BMS file in any text editor; you can run the script it contains in QuickBMS.
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Luigi Auriemma's QuickBMS allows gamers and other users to extract files from archives saved in proprietary file formats. To do so, users must first create or download a BMS script that can correctly read the archive format. The user then inputs the BMS script into QuickBMS alongside a relevant archive, allowing QuickBMS to extract all the files the archive contains.
Gamers have created many BMS scripts that let themselves and others extract images, meshes, models, audio files, and more from popular games' asset archives. Each BMS script is written in the BMS language, which was originally developed for use with MultiEx Commander (MexCom), another file extraction tool. However, QuickBMS is now more popular than MultiEx Commander, so most gamers recognize BMS files as QuickBMS scripts.
How to open a BMS file
You can open a BMS file in any text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad (Windows), Apple TextEdit (Mac), or GitHub Atom (cross-platform). Doing so allows you to edit the BMS directives the file contains.
To use a BMS file with QuickBMS (Windows), open the program and, when the Select BMS script window appears, navigate to and select your BMS file. Then, when the Select input archives window appears, select an archive that your BMS script is meant to be used with. QuickBMS will use your BMS script to extract the files your archive contains.
Programs that open BMS files
Be-Music Source File
| Developer | Urao Yane |
| Popularity |
2.9 | 8 Votes |
A BMS file may also be a song data file saved in the text-based Be-Music Source (BMS) format developed by Urao Yane for the BM98 program based on the now-discontinued BeatMania DJ rhythm game. It contains song information, which includes the song title, artist, genre, BPM (beats per minute), number of players, note positions, and references to sound effect files.
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Konami developed BeatMania and initially released it in 1997. In the game, you are a club DJ who must move the controls in step with the song playing (the songs are each saved as BMS files) to gain the audience's approval. To advance to the next level (a more difficult song), you have to achieve a certain level of audience approval.
Due to the popularity of BeatMania, gamers developed various PC-based clones of BeatMania. One of the developers, Urao Yane, developed the BMS format in 1998 to store songs for BM98, a simulated version of BeatMania used to practice charts.
While Yane and others ceased developing BM98, developers of other BeatMania variants added support for Yane's BMS song format and continued to improve it. BMS has since become one of the most common formats in the beat rhythm gaming community.
NOTE: BMS may also stand for "Be-Music Script."
How to open a BMS file
You can open BMS files with various beat players, including beatoraja (multiplatform), Lunatic Rave 2 (Windows), and Bemusic Bemuse (Web). Since BMS files store plain text, you can also open them with a text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad or Apple TextEdit.