'''MDL''' is the file format employed by Sword of Moonlight when something is to be animated. It's counterpart is [[MDO]]. Tools were provided by [[From Software]] for working with MDO files. However, no analogous tools were ever provided for MDL. MDO appears to be incapable of kinetic animation, despite having some simple texture based animations ability, which MDL may well not enjoy. MDL does the rest.
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'''MDL''' is the file format employed by [[Sword of Moonlight]] when something is to be animated. It's counterpart is [[MDO]]. Tools were provided by [[From Software]] for working with MDO files. However, no analogous tools were ever provided for MDL. MDO appears to be incapable of locomotive animation, despite having some simple texture based animation ability, which MDL may well not enjoy. MDL does the rest.
==History==
==History==
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Despite having tools to work with MDO files, the format itself remains a black box. Since the MDL format on the other hand had been completely inaccessible for nearly a decade, greater priority has been given to figuring it out. The file format was first reverse engineered sometime in the latter half of 2010. There has been no official statement, but it has been claimed that From Software have stated that any attempt to reverse engineer Sword of Moonlight file formats is ok with the company.
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Despite having tools to work with MDO files, the format itself remains a black box. Since the MDL format on the other hand had been completely inaccessible for nearly a decade, greater priority has been given to figuring it out. The file format was first reverse engineered sometime in the latter half of 2010. There has been no official statement, however there has been a claim that on at least one occasion, a From Software customer relations spokesperson did state via email, paraphrasing, any attempt to reverse engineer Sword of Moonlight file formats is OK with the company.
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Even though importers and exporters (export from MDL would come later) were developed around the same time the format had become well understood, there was no party invested enough in creating original MDL compatible models until the mid months of 2011. Efforts so far remain in the immature stages.
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Even though importers and exporters (export from MDL would come later) were developed around the same time the format had become well understood, there was no party invested enough in creating original MDL compatible models until the mid months of 2011. Efforts so far remain in the immature stages while a fully realized outcome appears inevitable.
==Characteristics==
==Characteristics==
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==Specification==
==Specification==
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This section describes the file format in an intimate way, which the average reader might prefer to dismiss. It should be understood that the specification below, is more like documentation, and a reverse engineered one at that. Note that some more technical aspects may be offloaded to subpages linked to from within. If you want to make MDL files, it will probably be a favor to yourself to look this over well.
<fieldset class="spec">
<fieldset class="spec">
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These three 32bit{{dagger}} values account for the number of elements expected to be found within the data indicated by VB, NB, PB respectively.
These three 32bit{{dagger}} values account for the number of elements expected to be found within the data indicated by VB, NB, PB respectively.
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{{dagger|The alignment is 32bit, the values themselves may be 16bit.}}
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{{dagger|The alignment is 32bit, the values themselves may be 16bit (this possibility remains untested.)}}
</fieldset>
</fieldset>
Latest revision as of 05:19, 21 August 2013
MDL is the file format employed by Sword of Moonlight when something is to be animated. It's counterpart is MDO. Tools were provided by From Software for working with MDO files. However, no analogous tools were ever provided for MDL. MDO appears to be incapable of locomotive animation, despite having some simple texture based animation ability, which MDL may well not enjoy. MDL does the rest.
Despite having tools to work with MDO files, the format itself remains a black box. Since the MDL format on the other hand had been completely inaccessible for nearly a decade, greater priority has been given to figuring it out. The file format was first reverse engineered sometime in the latter half of 2010. There has been no official statement, however there has been a claim that on at least one occasion, a From Software customer relations spokesperson did state via email, paraphrasing, any attempt to reverse engineer Sword of Moonlight file formats is OK with the company.
Even though importers and exporters (export from MDL would come later) were developed around the same time the format had become well understood, there was no party invested enough in creating original MDL compatible models until the mid months of 2011. Efforts so far remain in the immature stages while a fully realized outcome appears inevitable.
An MDL file is a relatively simple, piecewise model, with limited texture mapping possibilities. There are two flavor of animation, Tinman and Scarecrow. Tinman animations move like an animated suit of armor, or a wooden puppet come to life. Scarecrow on the other hand, move like a sack doll, or anything really with some degree of flexibility.
This section describes the file format in an intimate way, which the average reader might prefer to dismiss. It should be understood that the specification below, is more like documentation, and a reverse engineered one at that. Note that some more technical aspects may be offloaded to subpages linked to from within. If you want to make MDL files, it will probably be a favor to yourself to look this over well.
