MMH - Revision history

Eshme: /* mmh.xml schema */

2011-02-13T08:37:34Z

‎mmh.xml schema

Eshme: /* mmh.xml schema */

2011-02-13T08:36:41Z

‎mmh.xml schema

Eshme: /* mmh.xml schema */

2011-02-13T08:32:17Z

‎mmh.xml schema

Eshme: /* Example .MMH.XML file */

2011-02-13T08:23:09Z

‎Example .MMH.XML file

Eshme: /* Example .MMH.XML file */

2011-02-13T08:19:20Z

‎Example .MMH.XML file

ChewyGumball: clarified a few parts

2009-12-15T05:49:42Z

clarified a few parts

ChewyGumball at 00:38, 26 November 2009

2009-11-26T00:38:44Z

ChewyGumball at 00:37, 26 November 2009

2009-11-26T00:37:54Z

ChewyGumball: added link to custom model import/export tools

2009-11-26T00:37:07Z

added link to custom model import/export tools

ChewyGumball: added example XML based only on provided schema

2009-11-13T01:20:53Z

added example XML based only on provided schema

Show changes

@@ Line 95: / Line 95: @@
      <element name="NodeMesh">
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="BonesUsed"/> <!-- list of integer values, representing the BoneIndices, in an order correlating to the Vertex BoneIndices. Used by models with skeletal Animation. -->
+         <attribute name="BonesUsed"/> <!-- list of integer values, representing the BoneIndices, in an order correlating to the Vertex Blend Indices. Used by models with skeletal Animation. -->
        </optional>
        <optional>

@@ Line 95: / Line 95: @@
      <element name="NodeMesh">
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="BonesUsed"/> <!-- list of integers. Bodies have a lot of bones listed, other body parts have fewer. Boots, armor, gloves, helmets, hair, eyes, etc. all have bonesused. -->
+         <attribute name="BonesUsed"/> <!-- list of integer values, representing the BoneIndices, in an order correlating to the Vertex BoneIndices. Used by models with skeletal Animation. -->
        </optional>
        <optional>

@@ Line 44: / Line 44: @@
        </optional>
        <attribute name="ModelDataName">
-         <data type="NCName"/> <!-- an MSH file name -->
+         <data type="NCName"/> <!-- The MSH file name, of where the Mesh Chunks are in by default -->
        </attribute>
        <attribute name="Name">
-         <data type="NCName"/> <!-- An MMH file name -->
+         <data type="NCName"/> <!-- An MMH file name. This MMH -->
        </attribute>
        <optional>
@@ Line 98: / Line 98: @@
        </optional>
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="CastBakedShadow"> <!-- appears to be a true/false value -->
+         <attribute name="CastBakedShadow"> <!-- true/false value -->
            <data type="integer"/>
          </attribute>
        </optional>
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="CastRuntimeShadow">  <!-- appears to be a true/false value -->
+         <attribute name="CastRuntimeShadow">  <!-- true/false value -->
            <data type="integer"/>
          </attribute>
        </optional>
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="CutAway"> <!-- appears to be a true/false value -->
+         <attribute name="CutAway"> <!-- true/false value (Cut Away enables Fading out on Isometric view in Dragon Age) -->
            <data type="integer"/>
          </attribute>
@@ Line 114: / Line 114: @@
        <optional>
          <attribute name="ID">
-           <data type="NCName"/> <!-- A short string that always seems to be "_" followed by two or three random-looking numbers and letters -->
+           <data type="NCName"/> <!-- A short and unique string. It is unique across every mesh used in whole Dragon Age. Used by lightmapper to reference the mesh -->
          </attribute>
        </optional>
@@ Line 126: / Line 126: @@
        </optional>
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="MaterialLibrary"> <!-- Strings like "CAI_Floor03.mao" and "CavesInterior.mal" - mao and mal are material editor file types -->
+         <attribute name="MaterialLibrary"> <!-- Strings like "CavesInterior" - reference to MAL files, MAL are material editor file types. (may not actually be useful in the game) -->
            <data type="NCName"/>
          </attribute>
        </optional>
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="MaterialObject"> <!-- Some boots had things like "pn_boo_hvyd_l3" here, a piece of corridor named fca_corridor01_0 had separate nodemeshes with both "fca_master" and "BLK_Master". I think this is referring to material libraries create by the material editor -->
+         <attribute name="MaterialObject"> <!-- Strings like "pn_boo_hvyd_l3" here, this is referring to material object (MAO files) create by the material editor -->
            <data type="NMTOKEN"/>
          </attribute>
        </optional>
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="MeshGroupName"> <!-- A lot of very generic-sounding names like "Box23" and "Object9331", mixed with a few more meaningful names like "MshMain_CAV_CaiPlatform03_0" -->
+         <attribute name="MeshGroupName"> <!-- The Meshes Name, used to reference the meshchunk name in the MSH  -->
            <data type="NCName"/>
          </attribute>
@@ Line 145: / Line 145: @@
          </attribute>
        </optional>
-       <attribute name="Name">
+       <attribute name="Name"> <!-- name of the node -->
          <data type="NCName"/>
        </attribute>
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="PunchThrough"> <!-- appears to be a true/false value -->
+         <attribute name="PunchThrough"> <!-- true/false value -->
            <data type="integer"/>
          </attribute>
        </optional>
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="ReceiveBakedShadow"> <!-- appears to be a true/false value -->
+         <attribute name="ReceiveBakedShadow"> <!-- true/false value -->
            <data type="integer"/>
          </attribute>
        </optional>
        <optional>
-         <attribute name="ReceiveRuntimeShadow"> <!-- appears to be a true/false value -->
+         <attribute name="ReceiveRuntimeShadow"> <!-- true/false value -->
            <data type="integer"/>
          </attribute>
@@ Line 1,227: / Line 1,227: @@
 </grammar>
 </pre>
 == Example .MMH.XML file ==

@@ Line 1,266: / Line 1,266: @@
 		BonesUsed="List:int" -- list of integers. Bodies have a lot of bones listed, other body parts have fewer. Boots, armor, gloves,
 								helmets, hair, eyes, etc. all have bonesused.
-		CastBakedShadow="int" -- appears to be a true/false value
+		CastBakedShadow="int" -- true/false value
-		CastRuntimeShadow="int" -- appears to be a true/false value
+		CastRuntimeShadow="int" -- true/false value
-		CutAway="int" -- appears to be a true/false value
+		CutAway="int" -- true/false value (Cut Away enables Fading out on Isometric view in Dragon Age)
-		ID="string" -- A short string that always seems to be "_" followed by two or three random-looking numbers and letters
+		ID="string" -- A short and unique string. It is unique across every mesh used in whole Dragon Age. Used by lightmapper to reference the mesh
 		IsVFXMesh="int" -- if this mesh is categorized as a VFX Mesh, load in the MaterialColor parameter
 		MaterialColor="List4:decimal" -- String with four values - RGBA

@@ Line 1,272: / Line 1,272: @@
 		IsVFXMesh="int" -- if this mesh is categorized as a VFX Mesh, load in the MaterialColor parameter
 		MaterialColor="List4:decimal" -- String with four values - RGBA
-		MaterialLibrary="string" -- Strings like "CAI_Floor03.mao" and "CavesInterior.mal" - mao and mal are material editor file types
+		MaterialLibrary="string" -- Strings like "CavesInterior" - reference to MAL files, MAL are material editor file types. (may not actually be useful in the game)
-		MaterialObject="?string?" -- Some boots had things like "pn_boo_hvyd_l3" here, a piece of corridor
+		MaterialObject="?string?" -- Strings like "pn_boo_hvyd_l3" here, this is referring to material object (MAO files) create by the material editor
-									 named fca_corridor01_0 had separate nodemeshes with both "fca_master" and "BLK_Master".
+		MeshGroupName=string"> -- The Meshes Name, used to reference the meshchunk name in the MSH
-									 I think this is referring to material libraries create by the material editor
-		MeshGroupName=string"> -- A lot of very generic-sounding names like "Box23" and "Object9331", mixed with a few more meaningful
-								  names like "MshMain_CAV_CaiPlatform03_0"
 		MeshName="string" -- the mesh file that the meshchunk is in. if this isn't set, it will default to the first mesh in the model (for backwards compatibility)
-		Name="string" -- name of the nodemesh
+		Name="string" -- name of the node
-		PunchThrough="int" -- appears to be a true/false value
+		PunchThrough="int" -- true/false value
-	    ReceiveBakedShadow="int" -- appears to be a true/false value
+	    ReceiveBakedShadow="int" -- true/false value
-		ReceiveRuntimeShadow="int" -- appears to be a true/false value
+		ReceiveRuntimeShadow="int" -- true/false value
 		<<UNKNOWN>> ReceiveShadow="int" -- I didn't find this referenced in the source code - deprecated, perhaps?
 		ShadowCasting="int" -- used to set GFF_MMH_MESH_CAST_RUNTIME_SHADOW in the source code, same as CastRuntimeShadow above - synonyms?
-		UseVariationTint="int" -- appears to be a true/false value
+		UseVariationTint="int" -- true/false value
 	-->
 	<!-- 0 or more of the following items come next, definitions follow later -->

@@ Line 1,426: / Line 1,426: @@
 <Rotation>
-   data <!-- data is a Quaternionf (ie: f f f f, or maybe f,f,f,f)-->
+   data <!-- data is a Quaternionf and represents the relative rotation from its parent or the world axis if it has no parent-->
 </Rotation>
-<Export ControllerType="string" ExportName="?string?" TagName="string">
+<Export ControllerType="string" ExportName="?string?" TagName="string"/>
    <!-- Optional Attribute: MaterialColor="List4:decimal" -- String with four values - RGBA -->
-</Export>
+  <!-- An export is what is used to connect nodes from an animation file to nodes in a model file. The key frames in an animation file affect the translations/rotations of the nodes with the corresponding exports of the same name. -->
 <BoundingBox>
-	data <!-- data is Vector4f min, Vector4f max (ie: f f f f,f f f f or maybe (f,f,f,f) (f,f,f,f) -->
+	data <!-- data is Vector4f min, Vector4f max (ie: f f f f f f f f -->
 </BoundingBox>
@@ Line 1,442: / Line 1,442: @@
 		MeshParticleUpAxis="List3:decimal"-- Three numbers separated by spaces
 	-->
-	data <!-- I believe this is a Vector4f -->
+	data <!-- This is a vector4 representing the difference in position from its parent, or the origin if it has no parent -->
 </Translation>
@@ Line 1,452: / Line 1,452: @@
 <!-- can have 1 or more Shapes -->
 	<Shape>
-	<!-- nAttributes:
+	<!-- Attributes:
 		AllowEmitterSpawn="int"
 		Fadeable="boolean"

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 '''MMH''' ("Model Mesh Heirarchy") files are used to describe a wide variety of physical objects that appear in Dragon Age levels. It includes props, visual effects, creature models, weapon models, and so forth.
-MMH files are defined by XML files named with the .mmh.xml extension. BioWare generated these XML files using 3DSMax plugins that have some legal encumberances preventing their distribution, but the specifications for .mmh.xml will be released and it is hoped that converters will be able to be written for other file formats. See [[3rd_party_extentions]] for custom model export and import tools.
+MMH files are defined by XML files named with the .mmh.xml extension. BioWare generated these XML files using 3DSMax plugins that have some legal encumberances preventing their distribution, but the specifications for .mmh.xml will be released and it is hoped that converters will be able to be written for other file formats. See [[3rd_party_extensions]] for custom model export and import tools.
 The XML file is then run through the GraphicsProcessorMMH.exe program (found in the Dragon Age\Toolset\export_processors directory) to produce a binary file that is used by the game. The game can actually use the XML file directly, but this has poor performance (it runs it through GraphicsProcessorMMH every time the object is loaded) and should only be used for testing purposes.