The CHAR format defines animated characters; it's the successor to the ANCS format from Prime 1 and 2, and the format is extremely similar.
|
This file format needs a lot of research
This format hasn't been researched/documented very well yet, but it appears to be extremely similar to ANCS.
|
Format
| Type
|
Description
|
| char
|
Unknown
|
| char
|
Unknown
|
| Character Info
|
Specific settings and resources used by this character
|
| Animation Set
|
Events, Animations, and Hitbox related settings
|
CharacterInfo
| Type
|
Count
|
Description
|
| string
|
1
|
Character name
|
| CMDL
|
1
|
Character model
|
| CSKR
|
1
|
Character skin
|
| u64
|
1
|
Overlay count
|
| Overlays
|
overlay_count
|
Overlays used for various status effects, such as Frozen, Hazard, or Hyper
|
| CINF
|
1
|
Character skeleton
|
| SAND
|
1
|
Character sand
|
| PASDatabase
|
1
|
Parameterized Animation Set Database
|
| Particle Resource Data
|
1
|
Various Particle Systems used by this character.
|
Overlay
Overlays are external models that are skinned and attached to the rig for certain status effects, the layout simply consists of a FourCC value, a CMDL reference, and a CSKR reference.
| Type
|
Description
|
| FourCC
|
The type of status effect this overlay is for, FRZN, HYPR, or HZRD are known values, there may be more
|
| u64
|
CMDL id
|
| u64
|
CSKR id
|
ParticleResData
Particle Resource data is simply a list of particle systems that can be used with this character.
| Type
|
Count
|
Description
|
| u32
|
1
|
PART count
|
| u64
|
part_count
|
PART ids
|
| u32
|
1
|
SWHC count
|
| u64
|
swhc_count
|
SWHC ids
|
| u32
|
1
|
UNKNOWN count
|
| u64
|
unk_count
|
UNKNOWN ids
|
| u32
|
1
|
ELSC count
|
| u64
|
elsc_count
|
ELSC ids
|
| u32
|
1
|
SPSC count
|
| u64
|
spsc_count
|
SPSC ids
|
| u32
|
1
|
UNKNOWN count
|
| u64
|
unk_count
|
UNKNOWN ids
|
AnimationSet
The Animation Set saw the largest change from Metroid Prime 1/2, gone are Transitions, Half Transitions and AdditiveInfo, EVNT was overhauled, AABBs were moved from CharacterInfo, and Hitboxes were added.
| Type
|
Count
|
Description
|
| u32
|
1
|
EVNT count
|
| EVNT
|
evnt_count
|
Events available for use by various animations, how events are linked to animations is currently unknown
|
| u32
|
1
|
Animation count
|
| Animation
|
animation_count
|
Animations used by this character
|
| u32
|
1
|
Animation AABB count
|
| AnimationAABB
|
animation_aabb_count
|
Animation bounds
|
| u8
|
1
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
1
|
Additive Animation count
|
| bool
|
additive_animation_count
|
A true/false value map for additive animations, true if an animation is additive, false otherwise.
|
| u32
|
1
|
HitboxSet count
|
| HitboxSet
|
hitbox_set_count
|
Hitbox Sets for animations
|
| u32
|
1
|
ANIM count
|
| u64
|
anim_count
|
ANIM ids
|
EVNT
Not much is currently known about the actual structure of the new EVNT format, so much of the structure is a complete guess.
| Type
|
Count
|
Description
|
| u32
|
1
|
Index of this particular event, how it's currently used is unknown
|
| u32
|
1
|
ParticlePOINode count
|
| ParticlePOINode
|
particle_poi_node_count
|
Particle effects events that can be triggered during the course of the animation
|
| u32
|
1
|
SoundPOINode count
|
| SoundPOINode
|
sound_poi_node_count
|
Sound effect events that can be triggered during the course of the animation
|
ParticlePOINode
| Type
|
Description
|
| POI Header
|
Basic information about this particular event
|
| FourCC
|
Type, PART is the most common, not aware of any others being used
|
| u64
|
Particle ID, file type corresponds to the previous value.
|
| float
|
Scale of the particle system.
|
| u32
|
Parent Mode
|
SoundPOINode
| Type
|
Count
|
Description
|
Notes
|
| POI Header
|
1
|
Basic information about this particular event
|
|
| u64
|
1
|
CAUD id
|
|
| u32
|
1
|
UNKNOWN
|
|
| u32
|
1
|
UNKNOWN
|
|
| u32
|
1
|
UNKNOWN
|
Dictates the presence of the following values, if 1, the following float exists, otherwise 35 unknown bytes.
|
| float
|
1
|
UNKNOWN
|
Only present if the previous value is 1
|
| u8
|
35
|
UNKNOWN
|
Only present if the value above does not exist
|
| Type
|
Description
|
| string
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u16
|
UNKNOWN
|
| string
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u16
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u8
|
UNKNOWN
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
AnimationAABB
| Type
|
Description
|
| u64
|
ANIM
|
| float2x3
|
Axis Aligned Bounding Box
|
HitboxSet
| Type
|
Count
|
Description
|
| string
|
1
|
Name
|
| u32
|
1
|
Hitbox count
|
| Hitbox
|
hitbox_count
|
Hitboxes for bones used in an animation
|
Hitbox
| Type
|
Description
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
| string
|
Bone name
|
| float
|
UNKNOWN
|
