Main.pak/compressed.txt

compressed.txt is a file located in the main.pak. It stores the entire word list of Bookworm Adventures. It seems to be compressed as some characters are replaced with numbers (hence the name). Modification of this file by itself is possible only on Bookworm Adventures, since attempting to modify the file in Bookworm Adventures Vol. 2 will cause the game to crash during loading.

In Bookworm Adventures 2, the file seems to have some relation with compressed_attribs.dat, and possibly the reason why it crashes if you change the word list.

Compression method

Each word is given a number, followed by some text. The number represents the number of characters that are copied from the previous word. If there is no such number, the number is copied from the previous word's number.

So, if a word is "2se", then two characters are copied from the previous word, then appended with "se".

First 10 words from Bookworm Adventures Vol. 1:

Line nr	Compressd.txt	Uncompressed word
1	aah	aah
2	3ed	aahed
3	3ing	aahing
4	3s	aahs
5	2l	aal

Deciphered words

We've managed to decipher the words from the file (i.e. the words recognizable by the game). A list of deciphered words can be found here and here, for Bookworm Adventures Vol. 1 and 2 respectively.

The first ten words in Bookworm Adventures Vol. 2 are

• aandblom ("evening flower" in Afrikaans)
• aapa ("elder sister" in Indian)
• aapas
• aardvark
• aardvarks
• aardwolf
• aardwolves
• aasvogel (Afrikaans word, brought into English, which means "vulture")
• aasvogels
• abaca

Modifying

To modify this file, simply add the word you want to add. This can be very handy if you want to make the game recognize the unrecognized words.

You can also replace the word list to Solver's dictionary.txt by deleting the compressed.txt, copying the dictionary.txt, and renaming it to compressed.txt.

Trivia

• It is unknown why the word "aandblom" is listed, despite the fact that it's an Afrikaans word, not English.