Materials (Metroid Prime 3)

The format for materials saw a dramatic overhaul in Metroid Prime 3. The format is seen in both the CMDL and MREA formats and is identical in both. This particular material format appears in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Donkey Kong Country Returns.

This file format needs more research Need to find TEV values for each subsection type

Material Set Format

Materials come as part of a set; although most files will only have one set, some CMDLs will have more, as indicated by a count value in the header. The set format is merely a 32-bit count value followed by that number of materials, with each material beginning with a 32-bit size value.

Material Format

Every material begins with a 0x1C-byte header, followed by a number of subsections. The header is structured as follows:

Offset	Type	Size	Description	Notes
0x0	u32	4	Unknown	Likely a flag value similar to the one from MP1/2. Needs verification.
0x4	u32	4	Unknown
0x8	u32	4	Unknown	Value is possibly unused; the material loading code seems to skip it
0xC	u32	4	Vertex attribute flags	Functionality is identical to Metroid Prime 2
0x10	u32	4	Unknown	Value is possibly unused; the material loading code seems to skip it
0x14	u32	4	Unknown
0x18	u32	4	Unknown
0x1C	End of header

Subsections

The rest of the material data is made up of a number of subsections. These subsections generally set different texture slots, as well as other parameters like Konst colors and material opacity. There's no count for the number of subsections; it needs to be read in using a while loop. The "END " section denotes the end of the material.

The order of the subsections doesn't matter. One material can only have one of each type of subsection; if there's any additional ones, they will overwrite the previous ones.

There are three subsection types (aside from END): PASS, CLR, and INT. Each of these types has a number of subtypes.

PASS

Offset	Type	Size	Description	Notes
0x0	u32	4	PASS subsection size
0x4	char[4]	4	Section subtype fourCC	See below for possible subtypes
0x8	u32	4	Unknown
0xC	TXTR	8	Texture ID
0x14	u32	4	Unknown
0x18	u32	4	UV animations size	Needs verification

List of possible PASS subtypes:

Type	Description
DIFF	Commonly used for lightmaps
BLOL
CLR	Likely color map, similar to DIFF; commonly used for diffuse maps
TRAN	Greyscale opacity map; white indicates transparent, black indicates opaque (Retro is backwards)
INCA	Likely incandescence/emissive maps
RFLV
RFLD
LRLD
LURD
BLOD
BLOI
XRAY	From the name, possibly texture map setting visuals for X-Ray Visor

CLR

Offset	Type	Size	Description	Notes
0x0	char[4]	4	Section subtype fourCC	See below for possible subtypes
0x4	u32	4	Color value	32-bit RGBA value

List of possible CLR subtypes:

Type	Description
CLR
DIFB

INT

Offset	Type	Size	Description	Notes
0x0	char[4]	4	Section subtype fourCC	See below for possible subtypes
0x4	u32	4	Value

List of possible INT subtypes:

Type	Description
OPAC	Sets the opacity of the entire material
BLOD
BLOI
BNIF
XRBR