MAPA (File Format)

The .MAPA file format defines the minimap models used in the Metroid Prime series. MAPA or MAP Area consists of several sections: The header, Point Of Interest entries, Vertices, Primitive Headers, and the primitives.

This file format needs more research A few things are unknown in the header and POI Entries

Format

Header

The header is very straight forward, and has some minor differences depending on version, the unknown values don't seem to do anything, however not much research has been put into them.

Type	Description	MP1	MP2	MP3
u32	Magic; Always 0xDEADD00D	✔	✔	✔
u32	Version; See below	✔	✔	✔
u32	Unknown	✔	✔	✔
u32	Unknown	✔	✔	✔
CAABox	Bounding Box	✔	✔	✔
u32	Unknown	✖	✔	✔
u32	Unknown	✖	✔	✔
u32	Unknown	✖	✔	✔
u32	Unknown	✖	✖	✔
u32	POI Count	✔	✔	✔
u32	Vertex Count	✔	✔	✔
u32	Primitive Count	✔	✔	✔

Version

The version value listed above can have the following values:

Game	Value
Metroid Prime 1	2
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes	3
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption	5

Point of Interest

A Point of Interest in the Metroid Prime series can include: Mission Objectives, Elevators, Doors, Map Stations, and Missile Stations. Each Point of Interest entry consists of the following struct:

Type	Description	MP1 & MP2	MP3
u32	Unknown	✖	✔
u32	Type; All valid values are not currently known	✔	✔
u32	Unknown	✔	✔
u16	Unknown	✔	✖
u16	ID; Which door, elevator etc.	✔	✖
CVector4f	Unknown	✖	✔
u32	Padding; always -1	✔	✔
CTransform4f	Tranform Matrix The Point of Interest's position in world space.	✔	✔
u32 * 4	Padding; four values of -1	✔	✔

Vertices

Vertices are a simple array of CVector3f. Geometry in MAPAs is, almost always, centered around the origin (0, 0, 0) and are simplified, full sized, versions of the map they replicate. Each vertex is referenced at least twice: once for the primitive, once for the line border.

Primitive Headers

The Primitive headers are extremely simple, they merely have a bounding box followed by the primitive table start and end point, relative to the end of the current primitive header. In other words: read in the header, seek to the start of the table from the current position, then read the primitives tables.

Type	Description
CVector3f	Normal
CVector3f	Center of Mass
u32	Primitive Table Start; relative to the end of this header
u32	Primitive Table End; relative to the end of this header

Primitive Table

The Primitive is also fairly simple, each one consists of two parts: The GX Primitive list, and the Border list.

Type	Description
u32	Primitive Count (PC)
Primitive * PC	Primitives
u32	Border Count (BC)
Border * (BC)	Borders

Primitive

A primitive in a MAPA is a simple 4 byte aligned list of indices into the vertex list, starting with the GX Primitive type, a count, then an array of indices, each index taking up one byte.

Border

A border in a MAPA is a simple count followed by a 4 byte aligned list indices into the vertex list, each index taking up one byte. A border is simply drawn using GX_LINESTRIP.