[INFO] - Formats, tools and docs for the mods

nonnex · Post by **nonnex** » Tue, 26. Nov 13, 11:17

Hello,

the main goal of this thread is to collect and share information about the used fileformats, tools, technical in depth informations, specifications and other usefull contributions for devs about X:RB.
It is not focused to be a beginner tutorial for programming or modding, but rather it should be a solid information basis for advanced modders or developers, because without information and proper tools a more comprehensive modding|programming is|will be hard or even impossible. How ever, here we go:
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UI
Fileformats:

.dae : collada digital asset exchange schema
.bgf : "Binary Game File" (Serialized) for inclusion into X:RB source, no public tools available, kind of a spec from "Gibbed Avalanche" project here.
.bsg : "Binary Game File" (Serialized) for inclusion into X:RB source, no public tools available, kind of a spec from "Gibbed Avalanche" project here.
.amw : "Anark Media Workspace" file extension. This file contains the project’s data and workspace settings, No public tools or specification known yet.

Information: Used for the 3D UI but no public tools available.
Used Software: Anark Studio 4.0 (abandoned middleware and not supported anymore) in conjunction with FCollada (C++ library which offers support for COLLADA interoperability)
Needs: Anark Studio 4.0, or proper tools from ES in the future
Alternative: None by now, proposal: Switch to UI-Composer, or implementing a wrapper for another 3DGUI capable systems (for example: Crazy Eddie's GUI System)

Modeling (Environment mesh + animation)
Fileformats:

.xmf : Xu Mesh File

Information: Mesh binary format (Xu Mesh File)
Used Software: 3DMax, Blender, or other...
Needs: xmf<=>dae converter (by arc_)
Alternative: None by now.

Fileformats:

.ani : No public tools or specification known yet.

Information: animates .xmf meshes (e.g. radar dishes that spin, crates that open - anything non-NPC). Presumably custom file format by ES. No tools or specification available known yet. (by _arc)
Used Software: ???
Needs: ???
Alternative: ???

Modeling (NPC mesh + animation)
Fileformats:

.xac : EmotionFX Actor file (NPC mesh). No public conversion tools available yet but upcoming.
.xpm : EmotionFX facial animation. No public tools available but a basic specification.
.xsm : EmotionFX skeletal animation. No public tools available but a basic specification.

Information: Used for NPC Meshes and animation.
Used Software: EmotionFX by "Mystic Game Development"
Needs: EmotionFX
Alternative: None by now.

Scripting
Fileformats:

.xpl : .lua renamed to .xpl, compiled with LUAjit

Information: LUAjit bytecode, mostly used for UI behavior
Used Software: LUA 5.1 + LUAjit
Needs: LUA Sources from ES
Alternative: Disassembling with luajit-decompiler

Fileformats:

.xml : Standard XML
.xml : diff XML patching
.xsd : XML Schemas, some missing xsd's, apache vfs2 filesystem (Thanks brammie)

Information: Used for low lvl scripting and diff patching in extensions
Used Software: Any txt editor
Needs: more love for properties and parameter documentation.
Alternative: not needed

FX
Fileformats:

.psb : Particle effects, binary, no specification yet

Information: Particle effects
Used Software: ???
Needs: Specification.
Alternative: ?

Fileformats:

.fbpc : directx hlsl shaders and effects, renamed to .fx
.fxh : directx hlsl shaders and effects for the .fx above

Information: Each file stores a DirectX 9 "effect" which is a collection of vertex and pixel shaders. The shaders can be extracted using a little custom tool _arc has made, EffectExtractor - run it from the command line and pass it an .fbpc, and it'll put the extracted shaders next to it as .fx files. After that the shaders can be disassembled with fxc.exe, the FX Compiler from the MS DirectX SDK: "fxc.exe /dumpbin <path to .fx file>" (by _arc)
Used Software: MS Tools for DirectX Graphics
Needs: EffectExtractor, fxc (from MS DirectX SDK)
Alternative: None by now.

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Would be nice if we share some in depth knowledge. I will keep the list fresh if there's something new, changed or additional.
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UPDATES:
28.12.2013
+ Added xmfConverter. by (_arc).
+ Added XUMF definition link.
+ Added ".amw" description.
~ Changed Liststyle.
+ Information collected by _arc. Thank you pal.
+ Links to fileformats to specifications.
29.12.2013
+ DXShader informations and links.
+ More links for various keynames.
+ More informations about various filetypes.
30.12.2013
+ More information about .bgf (thanks brammie)
01.01.2014
~ Happy new year
+ New "Dev Tools" Section

jeroll3d · Post by **jeroll3d** » Tue, 26. Nov 13, 11:26

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=354767

nonnex · Post by **nonnex** » Sat, 28. Dec 13, 21:26

updated

arc_ · Post by **arc_** » Sat, 28. Dec 13, 22:57

Meshes:
+ .xac: EmotionFX Actor file (NPC mesh). No public conversion tools available yet but upcoming. Specification

Animations:
* .ani: animates .xmf meshes (e.g. radar dishes that spin, crates that open - anything non-NPC). Presumably custom file format by ES. No tools or specification available that I know of.
+ .xpm: EmotionFX facial animation (PM = Progressive Motion). No public tools available but a basic specification.
+ .xsm: EmotionFX skeletal animation (SM = Skeletal Motion). No public tools available but a basic specification.

FX:
* .fbpc: renamed .fx files. Each file stores a DirectX 9 "effect" which is a collection of vertex and pixel shaders. The shaders can be extracted using a little custom tool I made, EffectExtractor - run it from the command line and pass it an .fbpc, and it'll put the extracted shaders next to it as .fx files. After that the shaders can be disassembled with fxc.exe, the FX Compiler from the MS DirectX SDK: fxc.exe /dumpbin <path to .fx file>

nonnex · Post by **nonnex** » Sat, 28. Dec 13, 23:02

thanks _arc

nonnex · Post by **nonnex** » Sun, 29. Dec 13, 18:18

update

brammie · Post by **brammie** » Sun, 29. Dec 13, 21:28

you want some schema's i've generated sofar that were missing?

like wares.xsd, savegame.xsd and so on
i've checked them with some generated code round tripping and they seem ok (setting up a repo at github but not there yet)

Post by **UniTrader** » Sun, 29. Dec 13, 21:38

i would want them.. especially if they have some documentation in them

nonnex · Post by **nonnex** » Mon, 30. Dec 13, 01:28

always good. let me know when they're available at git.

brammie · Post by **brammie** » Mon, 30. Dec 13, 02:45

and there we go

https://github.com/brammie73/xrebirth/tree/master/xsd

i've noticed some small errors when reversing them from xml, the generators seem to break on mixed content elements ...

filesystem source is there to:

https://github.com/brammie73/xrebirth/t ... filesystem

its a apache commons vfs implementation and works with all tools that uses is, like OtrosVfsBrowser. Looks like eclipse has there own vfs, gonne see if i can make that work to..

brammie · Post by **brammie** » Mon, 30. Dec 13, 10:06

.bgf : No public tools or specification known yet.
.bsg : No public tools or specification known yet.

Both are AnarkBGF ...

Anark Gameface creates the media file along with the HTML page needed to call it.For game interfaces, the scene file can be exported as a .BGF binary file for inclusion in a game.

http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Anark-Gameface/1172968855

only code i've found sofar is
https://code.google.com/r/jmatth1-h/sou ... arkFile.cs

that is used in some modding suite

nonnex · Post by **nonnex** » Tue, 31. Dec 13, 13:29

updated

iforgotmysocks · Post by **iforgotmysocks** » Tue, 31. Dec 13, 19:26

brammie wrote:and there we go

https://github.com/brammie73/xrebirth/tree/master/xsd

i've noticed some small errors when reversing them from xml, the generators seem to break on mixed content elements ...

filesystem source is there to:

https://github.com/brammie73/xrebirth/t ... filesystem

its a apache commons vfs implementation and works with all tools that uses is, like OtrosVfsBrowser. Looks like eclipse has there own vfs, gonne see if i can make that work to..

Wow, just taking a look!

JonMicheelsen · Post by **JonMicheelsen** » Wed, 16. Aug 17, 03:44

Anyone happens to have a working link for the EffectExtractor mentioned above?

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Sat, 23. Sep 17, 14:43

JonMicheelsen wrote:Anyone happens to have a working link for the EffectExtractor mentioned above?

I'm not familiar with the topic so I don't feel confident in suggesting a link but googling with "fxc.exe download" seems to provide some options.

JonMicheelsen · Post by **JonMicheelsen** » Sun, 24. Sep 17, 14:44

I found I had actually downloaded the above linked version on an old computer some years ago. Without the EffectExtractor, the fxc is not gonna help.

If anyone is interested I have this thread marked for monitoring. Though be warned, the assembly you end up with is not exactly modding friendly - and playing around with it, I never even got far enough to test if it was even possible to compile it back into the game.

tomchk · Post by **tomchk** » Mon, 31. Aug 20, 23:36

JonMicheelsen wrote: ↑Sun, 24. Sep 17, 14:44 I found I had actually downloaded the above linked version on an old computer some years ago. Without the EffectExtractor, the fxc is not gonna help.

If anyone is interested I have this thread marked for monitoring. Though be warned, the assembly you end up with is not exactly modding friendly - and playing around with it, I never even got far enough to test if it was even possible to compile it back into the game.

I'd find this helpful, thanks! Please let me know if you have it.

NolanTheFox · Post by **NolanTheFox** » Thu, 3. Oct 24, 22:50

Anyone have any more info on the .bsg, .bgp, or .bgf files? Looking for some way to open or convert them.

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[INFO] - Formats, tools and docs for the mods

[INFO] - Formats, tools and docs for the mods

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Re: [INFO] - Formats, tools and docs for the mods