CHAR (Metroid Prime 3)

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

Header

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 and 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

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

Shared Header

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