re: Omens Of War .TER File Format

[gustav]

This is a response to a thread I found in the archives, here: http://www.eqemulator.net/forums/showthread.php?t=15876

For my own purposes, I've been working on parsing some of the EQ files (mesh data mostly). It's kinda fun to try to figure them out, anyway I've made a bit of progress on the TER file beyond that listed in this thread, and figure I'd share it, in case anyone wanted to know. I will use the syntax of the original thread (C style), although I'm coding in Java myself. The salient points follow:

1) At this time there are 3 versions of the file format, with Header->version values of 1, 2, and 3.

2) After the Header is a section of Strings, and then a segment which the original thread was not able to figure out. I figured it out. Here's how to parse it:

1. Seek from the end of the header an additional Header->list_length bytes. This gets you at the start of the object list.
2. The name list is a series of null terminated strings.
3. In a loop for Header->object_count times, you will find:

   1. struct ObjectHeader {
         uint32 index; // A non-unique number assigned to the object entry.  Unsure how to interpret at this time.
         uint32 name_offset; // Name of the object, as offset from start of the name list.  C convention uses null termination on Strings. (e.g. rockGrunge)
         uint32 other_name_offset; // Another name offset (e.g. Opaque_MPLBump2UV.fx)
         uint32 property_count; // Count of object properties to follow
      }

   2. Following each ObjectHeader, in a loop for ObjectHeader->property_count, you will find:

      1. struct ObjectProperty {
            uint32 name_offset; // A name offset for the property name
            uint32 type; // The type of the property
            uint32 value; // The value of the property
         }

      2. Based on the ObjectProperty->type, one interprets the ObjectProperty->value as a 'float' when 0, a name offset when 2, and an uint32 (RGBA value?) when 3.

At this time, outstanding items include:

1. Why do ObjectHeader->index values repeat. I do note that they tend to start at 0 and work their way up 1 at a time, and then reset to 0 or 1, and continue the progression. Rinse/repeat.
2. Sometimes there appears to be duplicate object entries out there. Perhaps this is related to the above point. There could be a higher level structure about this list of objects I'm not seeing.
3. I've not noticed a difference between Version 1 and Version 2 files, but I've not looked hard yet.
4. Version 3 files include additional data after the polygon list. I've not yet tried to figure out what it is.

For an example of the object data, I am able to extract the following information from the westkorlachb.eqg/ter_westkorlachb.ter file:

Object 0: FailsafeShader
   Effect: Opaque_MPLBasic.fx
   Properties:
                   e_TextureDiffuse02 = grid_standard.dds
Object 1: Material #1
   Effect: Opaque_MPLBump2UV.fx
   Properties:
                   e_TextureDiffuse02 = Di_korlach_cave_wall01.dds
                    e_TextureNormal02 = Di_korlach_cave_wall01_16n.dds
                  e_TextureCoverage02 = ab_WKB_bot_ov01.dds
                       e_fShininess00 = 12.0
Object 2: Material #2
   Effect: Opaque_MaxWater.fx
   Properties:
                   e_TextureDiffuse02 = rc_cavewater_c.dds
                    e_TextureNormal02 = rc_cavewater_n.dds
               e_TextureEnvironment02 = ra_watertest_e_01.dds
                      e_fFresnelBias0 = 0.2
                     e_fFresnelPower0 = 8.0
                      e_fWaterColor13 = 0xff000a1c
                      e_fWaterColor23 = 0xff003a2b
                 e_fReflectionAmount0 = 0.2
                  e_fReflectionColor3 = 0xffffffff
                          e_fSlide1X0 = 0.02
                          e_fSlide1Y0 = 0.02
                          e_fSlide2X0 = 0.03
                          e_fSlide2Y0 = 0.03
Object 3: Material #3
   Effect: Opaque_MPLBump2UV.fx
   Properties:
                   e_TextureDiffuse02 = Di_korlach_cave_wall01.dds
                    e_TextureNormal02 = Di_korlach_cave_wall01_16n.dds
                  e_TextureCoverage02 = ab_WKB_top_ov01.dds
                       e_fShininess00 = 12.0

gus