Sonic Adventure/Model Format

SCHG: Sonic Adventure
Dreamcast Gamecube 2004 PC 2010 PC
Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast) Main Article Object Editing Editing Objects File Name Layout Format Special Objects Object Lists Programs Sound Editing Sound Editing Music List Voices Sound Effects Model Editing Format Models Animations Locations Models Levels Level Data Formats Save Files Main Save Chao Save Misc Level List Character Animation Lists Textures Sonic Adventure DX (Gamecube) Main Article Object Editing Editing Objects File Name Layout Format Special Objects Object Lists Missions Programs Sound Editing Sound Editing Music List Voices Sound Effects Save Files Main Save Chao Save Misc Level List Character Animation Lists Textures Sonic Adventure DX (PC) Main Article Object Editing Editing Objects File Name Layout Format Special Objects Object Lists Missions Programs Sound Editing Sound Editing Music List Voices Sound Effects EXE Editing EXE Editing Animation Swapping Action Swapping Physics Text Editing Misc. Code Function List Object List DLL Files CHRMODELS.DLL ADV00MODELS.DLL ADV01MODELS.DLL ADV01CMODELS.DLL ADV02MODELS.DLL ADV03MODELS.DLL CHAOSTGGARDEN02MR_DAYTIME.DLL CHAOSTGGARDEN02MR_EVENING.DLL CHAOSTGGARDEN02MR_NIGHT.DLL Model Editing Format Models Animations Locations Models Animations Levels Level Data Formats RAM Editing RAM Editing Global Variables Emblems Event Flags Character Object 1 Character Object 2 Character Object 3 Save Files Main Save Chao Save Misc Level List Character Actions Character Animation Lists Textures How-To Import Levels Sonic Adventure (2010) Main Article Object Editing Editing Objects File Name Layout Format Special Objects Object Lists Missions Programs Sound Editing Sound Editing Music List Voices Sound Effects Save Files Main Save Chao Save Misc Level List Character Actions Character Animation Lists Textures

Remember: all pointers are 4 Bytes, and need to have a key subtracted from them to find the correct location in a file.
For sonic.exe, subtract 0x00400000.
For DLL files, subtract 0x10000000.
For BIN files from the dreamcast version, subtract 0x0C900000.
For 1st_read.bin from the dreamcast version, subtract 0x8C010000.
Nothing is currently known about the Gamecube version.

Model format

As a rule, data sets occur in the reverse order that these pointers do. In a non-hacked model, the model data always starts with the material structs and goes down the file to the vertex struct, with the exception of the vertex struct. The verts occur right after the mesh struct and the normals are the last data set before the attach struct. The tools sonic team used strictly followed that rule, but the game can operate outside of that constraint so make sure your pointers are always accurate. A crashing game usually means a bad pointer!
Note: these are listed in the order they will appear in the file. However, it is likely that you will start at the OBJECT Struct.

MATERIAL struct

The game loads as many of these structs as indicated in the attach struct. The format is as follows.

offset	Type	Description	Notes
0	4 Bytes	Diffuse Color	in 0xAARRGGBB format
4	4 Bytes	Specular Color	in 0xAARRGGBB format
8	Float	Exponent
C	4 Bytes	28-bit Texture ID, 4 bits unused
10	4 Bytes	Material flags

POLY struct

Triangles

Three shorts, indicating the vertices to use.

Quads

Four shorts, indicating the vertices to use.

Strips

A byte indicating the number of strips to load, a byte indicating the direction to read the strips in, followed by an array of shorts indicating which vertices to use.

VColor struct

An array of ints in 0xAARRGGBB format for each vertex in the strip.

UV struct

An array of two shorts representing the U and V coordinates for each vertex in the strip.

MESH struct

The game loads as many of these structs as indicated in the attach struct. The format is as follows.

offset	Type	Description	Notes
0	2 Bytes	Low 14 bits Material ID	High 2 bits Poly Type: 0 = Triangles, 1 = Quads, 2 or 3 = Strips
2	2 Bytes	Poly Total	This is how many polys to load
4	Pointer	Polys	Read notes on poly data
8	Pointer	Pattr	Unused by sadx (maybe), but are part of official sega model format
C	Pointer	PolyNormal	If it's non-zero, points to an array containing two Floats for each POLY.
10	Pointer	Vertex Colors
14	Pointer	UV Coordinates
18	4 Bytes	Null	Only in DX version.

VERTEX struct

A Float[3] for each vertex, times the total specified in the ATTACH Struct.

ATTACH struct

Offset	Type	Description	Notes
0	Pointer	Vertices
4	Pointer	Normals
8	4 Bytes	Vertex/Normal Total
C	Pointer	Meshes
10	Pointer	Materials
14	2 Bytes	Mesh Total
16	2 Bytes	Material Total
18	Float[3]	Center
24	Float	Radius
28	4 Bytes	Null	Only in DX version.

OBJECT struct

Offset	Type	Description	Notes
0	4 Bytes	Flags	See section below.
4	Pointer	Attach
8	Float[3]	Position
14	Int[3]	Rotation	Signed BAMS (0x10000 = 360°)
20	Float[3]	Scale	Ignored for level geometry.
2C	Pointer	OBJECT Child
30	Pointer	OBJECT Relate

Flags

These flags have (or don't have) various effects on how the model data is used.

Bit	Value (hex)	Description
0	1	Don't apply position values. Seems to have no actual effect.
1	2	Don't apply rotation values. Seems to have no actual effect.
2	4	Don't apply scale values. Seems to have no actual effect.
3	8	Don't render this model. Does not affect level geometry.
4	10	Don't process children. Seems to have no actual effect.
5	20	Rotation values are in ZYX order. Seems to have no actual effect.
6	40	Don't include this model for animations.
7	80	Don't include this model for morphs.

Model Editing Tutorial

(For SADXPC)

Disclaimer

"The information below on model editing is old, outdated, and generally a pain. It should be ignored, but for the moment I am way too lazy to give it an update proper. Look to the right for a list of much more useful, up-to-date, and pertinent information." - Dude

Alright, so you want to edit models in SADX.

First off you need to think of what character you want to edit.

Let's say you want to do Sonic. His head model is name group5674388.

The 5674388 is the decimal offset in CHRMODELS.DLL you need to go to. Use a calculator to convert this number to hexadecimal; in this case the value is 569594.

Open CHRMODELS.DLL in a hex editor. Open the "go to" window (usually done by pressing Ctrl+G). If your editor supports decimal you can just paste in the original value, or you can choose hexadecimal and use that number. Most models end in something like _4 or _20; you only need the numbers before the dash.

Once you have gone to the offset for Sonic's head, you will see 04 00 00 00 (or 0400 0000, depending on how your hex editor is set up; every 2 numbers/letters is one hex byte).

So you want to skip the first 4 bytes, in this case that is 04 00 00 00. You should now see 68 95 56 10 (or another value for a different model). These four bytes are the next offset you want to go to, but they are in little endian and have had 10000000 added to them. Reverse the order of the bytes and subtract 10000000 to get 00569568, and then go to this address.

This time we do NOT skip the first 4 bytes, we select the first 4 bytes which are 78 73 56 10 and once again, reverse the byte order and subtract 10000000. You should get 00567378.

Go to this offset. You are now at the model =D. what you need to do now, is export your edited model in .obj format. (When editing the model do not use symmetry modifiers or mirror the model! You must edit each vertex by hand, you can't mirror it)

Drop your .obj file on obj2vt.exe and you will get an out.vt. Open the out.vt in a hex editor and check how many bytes it has. Off the top of my head, I believe sonic has around 4,000 something. well, check how many bytes that has, and go back to CHRMODELS.DLL. Select a block, the same size as the other file and hit the delete key. Go back to out.vt and select everything and copy it. Paste it in CHRMODELS.DLL were you deleted the old model.

Save, and it should work.

Animation format

Offset	Type	Description
0	Pointer	Model (OBJECT Struct)
4	Pointer	Section 2

Offset	Type	Description
0	Pointer	Frame Data
4	4 Bytes	Total frame count
8	2 Bytes	Data flags
A	2 Bytes	Number of pointer/frame count pairs

Flags:
0x1: Contains Position data
0x2: Contains Rotation data
0x4: Contains Scale data

The next section contains data in the following order, as the flags dictate:
Position Data pointer
Rotation Data pointer
Scale Data pointer
4 Byte Position Data frame count
4 Byte Rotation Data frame count
4 Byte Scale Data frame count

Position/Scale data:

Offset	Type	Description
0	4 Bytes	Frame number
4	Float	X
8	Float	Y
C	Float	Z

Rotation data:

Offset	Type	Description
0	4 Bytes	Frame number
4	4 Bytes	X
8	4 Bytes	Y
C	4 Bytes	Z

If the position, rotation and scale data exist, they will override the values from the OBJECT Struct.

Character Node Hierarchy

The following is a list of the node hierarchies for each playable character in the game.

Sonic/Super Sonic/Metal Sonic

• This list is based on observations when the model is viewed in SAMDL. As such, it's inaccurate for the time being.

ID	Description
0	Root node
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10	Chest
11	Face (Parent)
12	Face (Parent 2)
13
14	Right Eye (Parent)
15	Right Eye (Parent 2)
16
17	Right Eye
18	Left Eye (Parent)
19	Left Eye (Parent 2)
20
21	Left Eye
22	Head
23	Sclera
24	Right Arm (Parent)
25	Right Arm (Parent 2)
26	Right Bicep (Parent)
27	Right Elbow (Parent)
28
29	Right Wrist
30	Right Palm
31	Right Thumb
32	Right Fingers
33	Right Elbow
34	Right Bicep
35	Left Arm (Parent)
36	Left Arm (Parent 2)
37	Left Bicep (Parent)
38	Left Elbow (Parent)
39
40	Left Wrist
41	Left Palm
42	Left Thumb
43	Left Fingers
44	Left Elbow
45	Left Bicep
46	Right Leg (Parent)
47	Right Leg (Parent 2)
48	Right Thigh (Parent)
49	Right Knee (Parent)
50
51	Right Calf
52	Right Heel
53	Right Toe
54	Right Knee
55	Right Thigh
56	Left Leg (Parent)
57	Left Leg (Parent 2)
58	Left Thigh (Parent)
59	Left Knee (Parent)
60
61	Left Calf
62	Left Heel
63	Left Toe
64	Left Knee
65	Left Thigh
66	Tail (Parent)
67	Tail (Parent 2)
68
69	Tail
70
71
72

Tails

• This list is based on observations when the model is viewed in SAMDL. As such, it's inaccurate for the time being.

ID	Description
0	Root node
1
2
3
4	Face (Parent)
5
6
7	Head
8	Right Eye
9	Left Eye
10	Right Arm (Parent)
11
12
13
14
15	Right Wrist
16	Right Palm
17	Right Fingers
18	Right Thumb
19	Right Elbow
20	Right Bicep
21	Left Arm (Parent)
22
23
24
25
26	Left Wrist
27	Left Palm
28	Left Fingers
29	Left Thumb
30	Left Elbow
31	Left Bicep
32	Right Leg (Parent)
33
34
35
36
37	Right Calf
38	Right Heel
39	Right Toe
40	Right Knee
41	Right Thigh
42	Left Leg (Parent)
43
44
45
46
47	Left Calf
48	Left Heel
49	Left Toe
50	Left Knee
51	Left Thigh
52
53
54
55
56
57
58	Chest
59	Right Tail (Parent)
60
61
62	Right Tail
63	Left Tail (Parent)
64
65
66	Left Tail
67

Knuckles

• This list is based on observations when the model is viewed in SAMDL. As such, it's inaccurate for the time being.

ID	Description
0	Root node
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10	Face (Parent)
11
12
13	Right Eye (Parent)
14
15
16	Right Eye
17	Left Eye (Parent)
18
19
20	Left Eye
21	Head
22	Sclera
23	Right Arm (Parent)
24
25
26
27
28	Right Wrist
29	Right Palm
30	Right Thumb
31	Right Fingers
32	Right Elbow
33	Right Bicep
34	Left Arm (Parent)
35
36
37
38
39	Left Wrist
40	Left Palm
41	Left Thumb
42	Left Fingers
43	Left Elbow
44	Left Bicep
45	Right Leg (Parent)
46
47
48
49
50	Right Calf
51	Right Heel
52	Right Toe
53	Right Knee
54	Right Thigh
55	Left Leg (Parent)
56
57
58
59
60	Left Calf
61	Left Heel
62	Left Toe
63	Left Knee
64	Left Thigh
65	Tail (Parent)
66
67
68	Tail
69
70
71
72	Chest

Amy

• This list is based on observations when the model is viewed in SAMDL. As such, it's inaccurate for the time being.

ID	Description
0	Root node
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10	Face (Parent)
11
12
13	Right Eye (Parent)
14
15
16	Right Eye
17	Left Eye (Parent)
18
19
20	Left Eye
21	Head
22	Headband
23	Sclera
24	Left Eyelash
25	Right Eyelash
26	Right Arm (Parent)
27
28
29
30
31	Right Wrist
32	Right Palm
33	Right Thumb
34	Right Fingers
35	Hammer Handle
36	Hammer Head
37	Right Elbow
38	Right Bicep
39	Left Arm (Parent)
40
41
42
43
44	Left Wrist
45	Left Palm
46	Left Thumb
47	Left Fingers
48	Left Elbow
49	Left Bicep
50	Right Leg (Parent)
51
52
53
54
55	Right Calf
56	Right Heel
57	Right Toe
58	Right Knee
59	Right Thigh
60	Left Leg (Parent)
61
62
63
64
65	Left Calf
66	Left Heel
67	Left Toe
68	Left Knee
69	Left Thigh
70	Tail (Parent)
71
72
73	Tail
74
75
76
77	Chest

Big

• This list is based on observations when the model is viewed in SAMDL. As such, it's inaccurate for the time being.

ID	Description
0	Root node
1
2
3	Right Leg (Parent)
4
5
6
7	Right Heel
8	Right Toe
9	Right Calf
10	Right Thigh
11	Left Leg (Parent)
12
13
14
15	Left Calf
16	Left Heel
17	Left Toe
18	Left Thigh
19	Tail (Parent)
20
21
22	Tail
23	Stomach (Below the Belt)
24
25
26
27	Right Arm (Parent)
28
29
30
31
32	Right Wrist
33	Right Palm
34	Right Fingers
35	Right Thumb
36	Right Elbow
37	Right Bicep
38	Left Arm (Parent)
39
40
41
42
43	Left Palm
44	Left Fingers
45	Left Thumb
46	Fishing Rod
47	Fishing Rod Reel
48	Fishing Rod Reel Handle
49	Left Wrist
50	Left Elbow
51	Left Bicep
52
53
54
55
56
57
58	Face (Parent)
59
60
61	Jaw
62	Head
63	Right Eye
64	Left Eye
65	Right Iris
66	Left Iris
67	Right Whiskers
68	Left Whiskers
69
70	Chest
71	Belt Buckle
72	Loose Belt Flap

E-102 Gamma

• This list is based on observations when the model is viewed in SAMDL. As such, it's inaccurate for the time being.

ID	Description
0	Root node
1
2
3	Right Leg (Parent)
4
5
6
7
8	Right Calf
9	Right Leg Wheel Hub
10	Right Leg Wheel
11	Right Heel
12	Right Toe
13	Right Knee
14	Right Thigh
15	Left Leg (Parent)
16
17
18
19
20	Left Calf
21	Left Leg Wheel Hub
22	Left Leg Wheel
23	Left Heel
24	Left Toe
25	Left Knee
26	Left Thigh
27
28
29
30	Chest
31	Right Arm (Parent)
32
33
34
35
36	Gun
37	Gun Handle
38	Right Elbow
39	Right Bicep
40	Left Arm (Parent)
41
42
43
44
45	Left Wrist
46	Left Palm
47	Left Fingers
48	Left Thumb
49	Left Elbow
50	Left Bicep
51	Face (Parent)
52
53
54	Head
55	Left Eye
56	Right Eye with "nose" markings
57	Lower Chest
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73	Exhaust Belt
74	Metallic Flap
75	Headlight Base
76	Headlight