this time lets read a .DIR file, that contains general info for files       
    inside a filebase and after, read the description (file_id.diz) of          
    that file, from a .DES file, of mystic.                                     
                                                                                
    the readdirfile() function is 99% the same as the readfilebase()            
    function, also included in this issue. so i am not going to explain         
    that. but i will explain how to get the description from the .DES           
    file.                                                                       
                                                                                
    first of all we need three parameters. the offset of the description        
    inside the .DES file, the length of the text (in lines, not                 
    bytes/chars) and the filename we need to read.                              
                                                                                
    def getfiledesc(ofs,length,filename):                                       
                                                                                
    always check if the file exists, otherwise we exit, with some error         
    num.                                                                        
                                                                                
      if os.path.exists(filename) == False:                                     
        return -1                                                               
                                                                                
    open the file in byte mode, only for reading                                
                                                                                
      f = open(filename, 'rb')                                                  
                                                                                
    initialize some variables. cnt is how many lines we read until now, x       
    is the offset while we read the file and finally, desc[] is a list,         
    containing the description.                                                 
                                                                                
      cnt = 1                                                                   
      x = 0                                                                     
      desc = []                                                                 
                                                                                
    set the pointer of the file to the desired position. this position we       
    know it, from the readdirfile() function.                                   
                                                                                
      f.seek(ofs,0)                                                             
                                                                                
    now, until we read all lines of the description, read line by line.         
    because the .DES file is saved as a Pascal record file, as i have said      
    countless times, pascal, always saves the length of a string in the         
    beginning of that string. so if we read it first, we know, how many         
    characters we need to read next and that's what we do here.                 
                                                                                
    read the length of the string, then read the whole string and append        
    it to the list                                                              
                                                                                
      while cnt <=length:                                                       
        x = f.tell()                                                            
        c = f.read(1)                                                           
        f.seek(f.tell()-1)                                                      
        desc.append((f.read(ord(c)+1)).decode("CP437")[1:])                     
        cnt +=1                                                                 
                                                                                
      close the file and exit the function with the desc[] list as our          
      result.                                                                   
                                                                                
      f.close()                                                                 
      return desc                                                               
                                                                                
    done...                                                                     
                                                                                
                                                                                
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  full script here                                                              
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#!/usr/bin/python3                                                              
                                                                                
import os                                                                       
import struct                                                                   
import sys                                                                      
                                                                                
# RecFileList = Record   // .DIR                                                
    # FileName  : String[70];                                                   
    # Size      : Cardinal;                                                     
    # DateTime  : LongInt;                                                      
    # Uploader  : String[30];                                                   
    # Flags     : Byte;                                                         
    # Downloads : LongInt;                                                      
    # Rating    : Byte;                                                         
    # DescPtr   : Cardinal;                                                     
    # DescLines : Byte;                                                         
  # End;                                                                        
                                                                                
def readdirfile(i,filename):                                                    
                                                                                
  def byte2str(v):                                                              
    s=''.join(str(v))                                                           
    return s[2:-1]                                                              
                                                                                
  if os.path.exists(filename) == False:                                         
    return -1                                                                   
  size = os.path.getsize(filename)                                              
  fdirrec = "<x70sLIx30sBIBLB"                                                  
  sf = struct.calcsize(fdirrec)                                                 
  items = size // sf                                                            
  if i > items:                                                                 
    return -3                                                                   
  f = open(filename, 'rb')                                                      
  try:                                                                          
    f.seek((i-1)*sf,1)                                                          
  except:                                                                       
    return -2                                                                   
  fdirb = f.read(sf)                                                            
  s = struct.unpack(fdirrec,fdirb)                                              
  f.close()                                                                     
  res = {}                                                                      
                                                                                
  res['filename'] = byte2str(s[0]).replace('\\x00','')                          
  res['size'] = s[1]                                                            
  res['datetime'] = s[2]                                                        
  res['uploader'] = byte2str(s[3]).replace('\\x00','')                          
  res['flags'] = s[4]                                                           
  res['downloads'] = s[5]                                                       
  res['rating'] = s[6]                                                          
  res['descptr'] = s[7]                                                         
  res['desclines'] = s[8]                                                       
  return res                                                                    
                                                                                
def getfiledesc(ofs,length,filename):                                           
  if os.path.exists(filename) == False:                                         
    return -1                                                                   
  f = open(filename, 'rb')                                                      
  cnt = 1                                                                       
  x = 0                                                                         
  desc = []                                                                     
  f.seek(ofs,0)                                                                 
  while cnt <=length:                                                           
    x = f.tell()                                                                
    c = f.read(1)                                                               
    f.seek(f.tell()-1)                                                          
    desc.append((f.read(ord(c)+1)).decode("CP437")[1:])                         
    cnt +=1                                                                     
  f.close()                                                                     
  return desc                                                                   
                                                                                
#change the filenames to yours or else it will fail.                            
                                                                                
z=readdirfile(1,'fsx_mutl.dir')                                                 
desc = getfiledesc(z['descptr'],z['desclines'],'fsx_mutl.des')                  
                                                                                
for i in range(len(desc)):                                                      
  print(desc)                                                                
                                                                                
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  end of script                                                                 
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