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.
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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.
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Format
| Type
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Description
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| char
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Unknown
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| char
|
Unknown
|
| Character Info
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Specific settings and resources used by this character
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| Animation Set
|
Events, Animations, and Hitbox related settings
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CharacterInfo
| Type
|
Count
|
Description
|
| string
|
1
|
Character name
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| CMDL
|
1
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Character model
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| CSKR
|
1
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Character skin
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| u64
|
1
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Overlay count
|
| Overlays
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overlay_count
|
Overlays used for various status effects, such as Frozen, Hazard, or Hyper
|
| CINF
|
1
|
Character skeleton
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| SAND
|
1
|
Character sand
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| PASDatabase
|
1
|
Parameterized Animation Set Database
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| Particle Resource Data
|
1
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Various Particle Systems used by this character.
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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
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| u64
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CMDL id
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| u64
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CSKR id
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ParticleResData
Particle Resource data is simply a list of particle systems that can be used with this character.
| Type
|
Count
|
Description
|
| u32
|
1
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PART count
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| u64
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part_count
|
PART ids
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| u32
|
1
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SWHC count
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| u64
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swhc_count
|
SWHC ids
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| u32
|
1
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UNKNOWN count
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| u64
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unk_count
|
UNKNOWN ids
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| u32
|
1
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ELSC count
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| u64
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elsc_count
|
ELSC ids
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| u32
|
1
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SPSC count
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| u64
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spsc_count
|
SPSC ids
|
| u32
|
1
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UNKNOWN count
|
| u64
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unk_count
|
UNKNOWN ids
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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
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evnt_count
|
Events available for use by various animations, how events are linked to animations is currently unknown
|
| u32
|
1
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Animation count
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| Animation
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animation_count
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Animations used by this character
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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
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Index of this particular event, how it's currently used is unknown
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| u32
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1
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ParticlePOINode count
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| ParticlePOINode
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particle_poi_node_count
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Particle effects events that can be triggered during the course of the animation
|
| u32
|
1
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SoundPOINode count
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| SoundPOINode
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sound_poi_node_count
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Sound effect events that can be triggered during the course of the animation
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ParticlePOINode
| Type
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Description
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| POI Header
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Basic information about this particular event
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| FourCC
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Type, PART is the most common, not aware of any others being used
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| u64
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Particle ID, file type corresponds to the previous value.
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| float
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Scale of the particle system.
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| u32
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Parent Mode
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SoundPOINode
| Type
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Count
|
Description
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Notes
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| POI Header
|
1
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Basic information about this particular event
|
|
| u64
|
1
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CAUD id
|
|
| u32
|
1
|
UNKNOWN
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|
| u32
|
1
|
UNKNOWN
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|
| u32
|
1
|
UNKNOWN
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Dictates the presence of the following values, if 1, the following float exists, otherwise 35 unknown bytes.
|
| float
|
1
|
UNKNOWN
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Only present if the previous value is 1
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| u8
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35
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UNKNOWN
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Only present if the value above does not exist
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| Type
|
Description
|
| string
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u16
|
UNKNOWN
|
| string
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u16
|
UNKNOWN
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| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
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| u32
|
UNKNOWN
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| u8
|
UNKNOWN
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| float
|
UNKNOWN
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| u32
|
UNKNOWN
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| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
|
| u32
|
UNKNOWN
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