XeNTaX

Ok so here are some of my progress and fixes.... and problems.

For the models that are skinned, all the positions are stored in shorts, to get back the correct proportions scaling them with the AABB values works well for all the models.
I suspect there are some other more official values stored in there somewhere, but was unable to find them!

I was able to render the skeleton hierarchy in 3D by using the BoneInfo's parent and position values (all the positions are relative to their parent).

The problem now is to correctly index each bone index in the vertices back to the right bone in the hierarchy. There should be somewhere either a table to re-index them, or some offset value.
Anyone got any idea on where to look for those?

Chrrox, I finally got to try your method and guess what: it works! right now I'm experimenting different file extensions. We already know that .mod and .tex files work fine, I tried the .bfx (shader files) and they also worked, .sdl files will most probably work.
The problem is that capcom games in general don't have a robust error handlig system, something like "could not load COLLISION file c:/game/TheCollision.col !" that will hint to the type of file missing, instead, there this stupid "Don't send" message (we call it like this) that crashes the game immediately without any info.

And hey poly, skeleton data is evil so keep it up!! btw, I didn't notice those AABB, I think they will hint the rescaling thing.

This is a pic to demonstrate how I abused nero to make him even more devilish ... poor nero.

You know all this reminds me of a previous post about the RPGViewer3 being unable to handle file extensions. The thing is, the number of files extracted from an archive is less than the number of files that are in the original archive, look at the attached pic and you'll see what I mean: the tool actually extracts all the files but some files will overwrite others so in the end we only get 1 file instead of 4 (see pic)

I wrote a message to the author of the RPGViewer3 hoping he would provide the decompression routines so that I would write the proper .arc extraction tool. The answer was no and without it we can't extract all the filetypes. But at least we still have the textures and models to mess with and that's a good start.

I'm thinking about a tool that'll make the game run all the textures and models outside the archives in a single shot.

If you want to see the error messages run the re5 benchmark it includes the extensions when it has an error
If you want to extract the files write a tool that modifies the archive file so it reads the number and adds it to the file name in the archive
that way when rpg viewer extracts them it will not overwrite the files.
Great progress I am glad my method worked for you

Great the to see the progress you guys doing here

is there any progress being made toward editing files that contain parameters regarding the actual function of things the game? I saw mention of .PLAs, but from the ones I looked at, it doesnt seem like there's much of interest there. What I did see was a couple PLP files such as pl006_param..PLP (yes it has two consecutive dots) and these intrigue me. But there's nothing in them I can even use as a foothold to understanding them via a hex editor.

ThinRedPaste wrote:is there any progress being made toward editing files that contain parameters regarding the actual function of things the game?

Yes there will be progress as soon as we figure out the correct file extensions.

chrrox wrote:If you want to see the error messages run the re5 benchmark it includes the extensions when it has an error

Resident Evil 5 - 3D Stereo Benchmark.EXE ( 595 MB ): this is too much for my connection, I prefer waiting for the final release and by the complete game.

chrrox wrote:If you want to extract the files write a tool that modifies the archive file so it reads the number and adds it to the file name in the archive
that way when rpg viewer extracts them it will not overwrite the files.

Chrrox, that might just be the trick I was looking for, you're a genius!!

Now here are the tools I've been talking about: Dmc4Patch_01 & Dmc4Patch_02:

IMPORTANT NOTE:
if you are using Dx10 version then you need to delete the shader.arc before you start, otherwise (Dx9) just delete the shader10.arc.

Dmc4Patch_01 will patch all the arc files so that when you use RPGViewer3, all the files will be extracted with extensions and without any losses. Since the program changes the filenames, you must run the program on a copy of the game because the original files have to be untouched! Put the program where the DevilMayCry4_DX9.exe is then run it, now use the RPGViewer on those freshly modified files and extract everything.

There is a little bug in RPGViewer, when extracting too many files, the tool overflows and crashes so it's better to run it on a smaller amount of .arc files. I did this by changing the path and extracting then quit then run RPGViewer then change the path the extract then quit ... And remember, extract the files into one same location (ex: "c:/Dmc4Out/")

Now it's Dmc4Patch_02 turn: copy the extracted files into the nativePC directory of your game, the one that you will use to play. Put Dmc4Patch_02.exe where DevilMayCry4_DX9.exe is and run it. The program will alter the filenames of the files that will run outside the archives. So far, only some files can run outside those archives, the rest have incorrect extensions and are under research.

files that can run outside the ARC files:

ARCEXT_MODEL .mod
ARCEXT_TEXTURE .tex
ARCEXT_RTEXTURE .rtx
ARCEXT_SHADER .bfx
ARCEXT_ANIMATION .anm
ARCEXT_SCHEDULE .sdl
ARCEXT_SOUND_OGG .sngw
ARCEXT_SOUND_STRQ .stq
ARCEXT_SBCOLLISION .sbc
ARCEXT_PLAY .pla
ARCEXT_MOTION .lmt

This whole explanation is a little louzy so here's a recap:

DirectoryA 7.4GB holds the original game files
DirectoryB 7.4GB same as A but Dmc4Patch_01 will be applied here
DirectoryC 7.4GB a safe copy, you never know when my tools turn crazy
DirectoryD 5.3GB holds the extracted game files to mess with

1) use patch_01 on B
2) extract files using RPGViwer3 from B to D
3) use patch_02 on A
3) copy contents of D to A, now A should be about 12GB

run the game and enjoy messing with different file formats

Can you post the source so I can modify the program to work with re5 the same way?
Thanks in advance and great job with this

Okay ... but you will need to make some modifictions to reflect the new RE5 file formats, I doubt the still use the (old) DMC4 format, although I'm sure that models/texturtes are still the same. Capacom uses what they call the MT Framework engine for all their games, I suggest you take a look at these links:

http://www.cgtantra.com/index.php?optio ... &Itemid=35
http://www.softimage.jp/user_case/lostplanet/index.html

The second article is in japanese, I had the english link but I lost it. Anyways...

Hey poly, any news on the skeleton/animation data?

Surveyor wrote:Hey poly, any news on the skeleton/animation data?

Sadly I'm still stuck at trying to figure out how to properly skin the vertices.
Anyone that got to work with the file format that has any idea about ways to attack the problem is welcome to give me suggestions, either way I'll keep going!

Hi everybody. I have trouble with mod-to-obj converter (Dmc4Model.zip - download/file.php?id=2215 ). Can anybody help me?
1. File pl009.mod I rename to model01.mod
2. File location C:\test\model01.mod
3. I copy Dmc4Model.exe in my test derictory -> C:\test\
4. Double click on Dmc4Model.exe
5. In opened black window i trying type -> model01.mod (press enter) -> window is closed
then trying type -> \test\model01.mod (press enter) -> window is closed
then trying type -> C:\test\model01.mod (press enter) -> window is closed
and nothing OBJ creates
What is wrong I do?
Please help.

So this is my ARCInjector. This can remake the arc files. But this program can't recompress the new data, just inject into the arc file!
Because this is a translator tool, only tex/dds/msg supported fully. Other format not tested.
The program based on Inside the game's source of Lost Planet ARC Extractor (http://int0thegame.blogspot.com). Thanks the source.

Translation tutorial and updated MSG2Editor attached.

Hi,guys.I'm new , and have got really useful information here.
Thanks you for this great work.

Forgive my pool English...

Current I manage to write a program for unpack arc Packages.
I readed this thread, extract compressed entry, then google bring me a lzx decompression libs call cabextract，but cabextract doesn't work. Can anyone tell me the right way for decompression? Please. (libs, code segment...). Any advice will be welcome.

Hi there!!

poly wrote:Hi everybody. I have trouble with mod-to-obj converter (Dmc4Model.zip - download/file.php?id=2215 ). Can anybody help me?
1. File pl009.mod I rename to model01.mod
2. File location C:\test\model01.mod
3. I copy Dmc4Model.exe in my test derictory -> C:\test\
4. Double click on Dmc4Model.exe
5. In opened black window i trying type -> model01.mod (press enter) -> window is closed
then trying type -> \test\model01.mod (press enter) -> window is closed
then trying type -> C:\test\model01.mod (press enter) -> window is closed
and nothing OBJ creates
What is wrong I do?
Please help.

Yeah the program quits whatever the outcome, to prevent this, you need to run the game
from the dos console, just click start->run and type cmd, move to your local directory and
try again. this time the window won't close and you will see what messages are there for you!!

evin wrote:Current I manage to write a program for unpack arc Packages.
I readed this thread, extract compressed entry, then google bring me a lzx decompression libs call cabextract，but cabextract doesn't work. Can anyone tell me the right way for decompression? Please. (libs, code segment...). Any advice will be welcome.
Hi,guys.I'm new , and have got really useful information here.
Thanks you for this great work.

Forgive my pool English...

Current I manage to write a program for unpack arc Packages.
I readed this thread, extract compressed entry, then google bring me a lzx decompression libs call cabextract，but cabextract doesn't work. Can anyone tell me the right way for decompression? Please. (libs, code segment...). Any advice will be welcome.

Sorry I can't help! I've been stuck in this for some time. when I emailed the author of RPGViewer, he said the compression was a modified LXZ (not the regular one) and he used
some assembly code extracted from the game exe to make his tool extract the data.

It seems there is some problem with the forums, it's not poly nor evin who wrote the previous posts!!