CHAR (Metroid Prime 3)

This article is for the CHAR format from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. See CHAR (File Format) for the other revisions of this format.

The CHAR format defines an animation character; together with SAND, it serves as the successor to the ANCS format from Prime 1 and 2, and contains much of the same data. The main difference from ANCS is that the file no longer contains multiple characters; instead, every character gets its own CHAR file, and any animation data shared with other characters is stored in SAND.

Format

Type	Count	Name	Notes
u8	1	Version	Always 0x5.
u8	1	Character ID	This is an ID unique to each character sharing the same SAND file.
string	1	Character Name	Name of the character. Likely included for debugging purposes.
Asset ID (CMDL)	1	Character Model	ID of the model used by this character.
Asset ID (CSKR)	1	Character Skin	ID of the skin used by this character.
u32	1	Overlay Count	Number of overlay models.
Overlay Model	Overlay Count	Overlay Array	Array defining overlay models that this character can use.
Asset ID (CINF)	1	Character Skeleton	ID of the skeleton used by this character.
Asset ID (SAND)	1	Character Animation Data	ID of the animation data used by this character.
PAS Database	1	PAS Database	Not much known about how this data is used.
Particle Resource Data	1	Particle Resource Data	List of particle assets being used by this character. This primarily contains particles used by animation events.
u32	1	Anim Event Set Count	Count of anim event sets used by this character. There'll be one set per animation that uses events (unless the animation has its events in the SAND file).
Anim Event Set	Anim Event Set Count	Anim Event Set Array	Array of animation event sets.
u32	1	Animation Count	Count of animations used by this character.
Animation	Animation Count	Animations Array	Array of animations used by this character.
u32	1	Animation Bounds Count	Count of animation bounding boxes in the next array.
Animation Bounding Box	Animation Bounds Count	Animation Bounding Box Array	Array of bounding boxes for animations used by this character.
bool	1	Unknown
u32	1	Unknown Array Count	Size of the following array.
bool	Unknown Array Count	Unknown Bool Array	Unknown array of bools.
u32	1	Collision Primitive Set Count	Number of animation collision primitive sets.
Collision Primitive Set	Collision Primitive Set Count	Collision Primitive Sets	Array of collision primitives used by this character.
u32	1	Sound Resource Count	Number of sound resources used by this character.
Asset ID (CAUD)	Sound Resource Count	Sound Resource List	List of sound resources used by this character.

Overlay Model

Type	Name	Notes
FourCC	Overlay Type	Possible values: FRZN: Overlay used when the character is frozen (eg. by Ice Missiles) HYPR: Overlay used when the character is in hypermode ACID: Overlay used when the character is in acid rain XRAY: Overlay used something related to the X-Ray Visor
Asset ID (CMDL)	Overlay Model	Model used by the overlay.
Asset ID (CSKR)	Overlay Skin	Skin that rigs the Overlay Model to the character's skeleton.

Particle Resource Data

Type	Count	Name	Notes
u32	1	Generic Particle Count	Count of generic particle systems.
Asset ID (PART)	Generic Particle Count	Generic Particle List	List of generic particle systems used by this character.
u32	1	Swoosh Particle Count	Count of swoosh particle systems.
Asset ID (SWHC)	Swoosh Particle Count	Swoosh Particle List	List of swoosh particle systems used by this character.
u32	1	Electric Particle Count	Count of electric particle systems.
Asset ID (ELSC)	Electric Particle Count	Electric Particle List	List of electric particle systems used by this character.
u32	1	Spawn Particle Count	Count of spawn particle systems.
Asset ID (SPSC)	Spawn Particle Count	Spawn Particle List	List of spawn particle systems used by this character.
u32	1	Unknown	Always 0.
u32	1	Unknown	Always 0.

Anim Event Set

Type	Count	Name	Notes
u32	1	Unknown	Likely animation ID that this set corresponds to
string	1	Set Name	Name of this event set.
u32	1	Effect Event Count	Number of effect events in this set.
Effect Event	Effect Event Count	Effect Events	Effect events contained in this set.
u32	1	Sound Event Count	Number of sound events in this set.
Sound Event	Sound Event Count	Sound Events	Sound events contained in this set.

Effect Event

Type	Name	Notes
string	Event Name	Same as the event name in the event data.
Effect Event	Effect Event Data	Actual event data.

Sound Event

Type	Name	Notes
string	Event Name	Same as the event name in the event data.
Sound Event	Sound Event Data	Actual event data.

Animation

Type	Name	Notes
string	Name	Animation name.
Meta-Animation	Animation	Meta-animation data.

Animation Bounding Box

Type	Name	Notes
Asset ID (ANIM)	Animation Asset ID	Asset ID of the animation that this bounding box corresponds to.
AABox	Animation Bounding Box	Bounding box of the animation when applied to this character.

Collision Primitive Set

Type	Count	Name	Notes
string	1	Set Name	Name of this primitive set.
u32	1	Primitive Count	Number of primitives contained in this set.
Collision Primitive	Primitive Count	Primitive Array	Array of collision primitives contained in this set.

Collision Primitive

Offset	Type	Name	Notes
0x0	u32	Unknown
0x4	u32	Unknown
0x8	u32	Unknown
0xC	u32	Unknown
0x10	u32	Unknown
0x14	float	Unknown
0x18	float	Unknown
0x1C	float	Unknown
0x20	float	Unknown
0x24	float	Unknown
0x28	float	Unknown
0x2C	float	Unknown
0x30	float	Unknown
0x34	string	Primitive Name	Name of the collision primitive.
	float	Unknown