MDB Format - KCreator/Earth-Defence-Force-Documentation GitHub Wiki
All offsets are relative to the beginning of their table entries.
Since the header is always at the beginning of the file, the offsets there are also absolute file offsets.
File format largely derived from EDF5, EDF4.1 might have unknown differences.
Header: 48 (0x30) bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 4 | Always 'MDB0' |
| 0x04 | 4 | Always 0x14 (Version?) |
| 0x08 | 4 | Name table count |
| 0x0C | 4 | Name table offset (Always 0x30) |
| 0x10 | 4 | Bone count |
| 0x14 | 4 | Bone offset |
| 0x18 | 4 | Object count |
| 0x1C | 4 | Object offset |
| 0x20 | 4 | Material count |
| 0x24 | 4 | Material offset |
| 0x28 | 4 | Texture count |
| 0x2C | 4 | Texture offset |
Name table:
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 4 | String offset (Offset, UTF-16) |
Bone table: 192 (0xC0) bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 4 | Bone index |
| 0x04 | 4 | Bone parent (-1 for no parent) |
| 0x08 | 4 | Bone Next Sibling (-1 for none) |
| 0x0C | 4 | Bone First Child (-1 for none) |
| 0x10 | 4 | Bone name (Name table index) |
| 0x14 | 4 | Child Bone Count |
| 0x18 | 1 | Unknown Byte, possibly control groups (0=None, 1=??? 2=EmptyBones 3=SkinnedBones)? |
| 0x19 | 1 | Unknown Byte, Values below 10, and 250-255 (2=Camera aim?, 4=Aim point?)? |
| 0x1A | 1 | Unknown Bool (value == 1) True if 0xA0 and 0xB0 contain data? False == not rendering? |
| 0x1B | 5 | Always zero (Alignment padding to 8 bytes) |
| 0x20 | 64 (0x40) | Local transformation matrix 4x4. Position, Rotation, and Scale for bones in parent context |
| 0x60 | 64 (0x40) | Inverse Bind Pose Matrix. Used for GPU calculations regarding this bone |
| Note: Matrices are Y-UP for default world orientation | ||
| 0xA0 | 16 (0x10) | float4, Contact position. As the default position for motion transforms |
| Note: Position in MAB is true position of bone | ||
| 0xB0 | 16 (0x10) | float4, Unknown use |
| Note: Float 4's have been changed to all 0, and all 100 for a Frog, no change during gameplay noted. |
Texture table: 16 (0x10) bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | 4 | Texture index |
| 0x4 | 4 | Texture name (Offset, UTF-16) |
| 0x8 | 4 | Texture filename (Offset, UTF-16) |
| 0xC | 4 | Always zero |
Material table: 32 (0x20) bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 2 | Index |
| 0x02 | 1 | Render Priority (Usually 0, often higher on transparent objects) |
| 0x03 | 1 | Render Layer (Normally 0, 1 on Loading screen and tank_catapi, 2 on transparent materials and UI) |
| 0x04 | 4 | Material name (Name table index) |
| 0x08 | 4 | Shader (Offset, UTF-16) |
| 0x0C | 4 | Material Parameters offset |
| 0x10 | 4 | Material Parameters count |
| 0x14 | 4 | Material Textures offset |
| 0x18 | 4 | Material Textures count |
| 0x1C | 4 | Render Type? (Normally 3, 2 was seen for UI elements and Barrier objects, 2 implies updating texture cont?) |
Material Parameters: 32 (0x20) bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 4 | Value 1 |
| 0x04 | 4 | Value 2 |
| 0x08 | 4 | Value 3 |
| 0x0C | 4 | Value 4 |
| 0x10 | 4 | Value 5 (Unused) |
| 0x14 | 4 | Value 6 (Unused) |
| Note: Some values above are sometimes defined (non 0), but unused due to Type. | ||
| 0x18 | 4 | String (Offset, ASCII) |
| 0x1C | 1 | Type (0=Float, 1=Vector2, 2=RGB, 3=RGBA) |
| 0x1D | 1 | Size (Amount of Values used) |
| 0x1E | 2 | Padding 0's |
Material Textures: 28 (0x1C) bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 4 | Texture (Texture index) |
| 0x04 | 4 | Type (Offset, ASCII) |
| 0x08 | 4 | Unknown (Always 0, 4 on only Regular Hornet) |
| 0x0C | 4 | Always zero (Unused) |
| 0x10 | 4 | Always zero (Unused) |
| 0x14 | 4 | Always zero (Unused) |
| 0x18 | 4 | Unknown (Always 0.0 or -1.0 on only Regular Hornet) |
Object table: 16 (0x10) bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 4 | Object index |
| 0x04 | 4 | Name (Name table index) |
| 0x08 | 4 | Mesh count |
| 0x0C | 4 | Mesh info (Offset) |
Mesh info: 40 (0x28) bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 1 | Unknown bool (value != 0, always zero) |
| 0x01 | 1 | Boolean, is skinned mesh (value == 1) |
| 0x02 | 1 | Number of bones per vertex, from 0 to 4 |
| 0x03 | 1 | Always zero (Unused, alignment) |
| 0x04 | 4 | Material Index (-1 for None?) |
| 0x08 | 4 | Always zero |
| 0x0C | 4 | Vertex layout info (Offset) |
| 0x10 | 2 | Total Layout Size (bytes for 1 vertex's data block) |
| 0x12 | 2 | Layout count |
| 0x14 | 4 | Number of vertices |
| 0x18 | 4 | Mesh index |
| 0x1C | 4 | Vertex data (Offset) |
| 0x20 | 4 | Number of indices |
| 0x24 | 4 | Indice data (Offset) |
Vertex layout info: 16 (0x10) bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 4 | Type |
| 0x04 | 4 | Offset in vertex data |
| 0x08 | 4 | Channel (Indicates texcoord0 vs texcoord1) |
| 0x0C | 4 | Name (Offset, ASCII) |
Vertex types:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | float4 (16 bytes) |
| 4 | float3 (12 bytes) |
| 7 | half4 (8 bytes) |
| 12 | float2 (8 bytes) |
| 21 | ubyte4 (4 bytes) |
Indice data: 2 bytes
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 2 | Vertex index, it is an unsigned value |
Vertex data: Variable length
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | Mesh - Total Layout Size | Format and size of data depends on layout info |
| - | - | Data is stored per vertex, data format and order is in order of Layout Info. |
Strings: Variable length
| Offset | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | ? | Variable length ASCII strings followed by UTF-16 strings |