2d Effect (RW Section)

This article handles the binary format of the particle effect placement information inside an DFF Model. For detailed information about particle see Particle (SA).

This article may need to be rewritten. Please help improve this article. The discussion page may contain suggestions.

{{{NAME}}}
RenderWare Stream Section
Vendor	{{{VENDORNAME}}}
Module	{{{MODULENAME}}}
Module ID	0x{{{MODULEID}}}
Identifier	0x{{{IDENTIFIER}}}
Chunk ID	0x{{{MODULEID}}}{{{IDENTIFIER}}}
Versions	All
Hierarchy
Parents: None
Children: None
Extensions: None
File Format

2dfx is one of Rockstar's custom sections. In GTA San Andreas it is used to store particle and light effects, which were located in ide files in previous versions. The typical location in a SA dff section hierarchy is Clump > Geometry List > Geometry > Extension > 2dfx.

There can be multiple effects per section, their types are defined by an ID.

Header

A 2dfx section starts with a 4 byte DWORD which is the number of 2dfx entries that follow.

Entries

There is a common 20 byte header for each 2dfx entry:

12 byte - FLOAT[3] - Position Vector (xyz)
 4 byte - DWORD    - Entry Type
 4 byte - DWORD    - Data Size

Entry Type defines the type of the 2dfx entry, and Data Size the number of bytes that follow the first 20, until the next entry starts.

Entry Type 0 - Light

This type defines lights and has a size of 80 bytes.^[1]

 4b - BYTE[4]  - RGBX, where X = 200d
 4b - FLOAT    - draw distance
 4b - FLOAT    - outer range
 4b - FLOAT    - size
 4b - FLOAT    - inner range
 5b - BYTE[5]  - parameters
24b - CHAR[24] - corona texture name
24b - CHAR[24] - shadow texture name
 4b - INT32    - flare
 3b - BYTE[3]  - flare parameters (?)

This section is incomplete. You can help by fixing and expanding it.

Entry Type 1 - Particle Effects

This type defines particle effects and has a size of 24 bytes.

24b - CHAR[24] - particle effect name

The particle effect name is an entry in effects.fxp.

Entry Type 3 - PEDs

The PED-Section consists in 56 bytes. It`s used for spawning PEDs (Like on ticketbooth, Windows of shops, Blackjack-tables,...) It includes information about the External Script ped is going to use when spawned, it`s facing angle and it`s behaviour.

 4b - INT32    - Type (1 - Sitting, 5 - Standing...)
 8b - BYTE[8]? - Unknown
16b - FLOAT[4] - Rotation (XYZW)
12b - BYTE[12]?- PED IDs?
 8b - CHAR[8]  - External script name
 4b - INT32    - PED-Existing-Probability 
 4b - INT32    - Unknown (always zero)

The rotations are stored in quarternions (That means like in IPLs).

External script name field has to contain a name defined by 0884 opcode like PEDSLOT or TICKET. If the PED just stands/sits/lays, this field is set to 'none'.

This section is incomplete. You can help by fixing and expanding it.

Entry Type 6 - EnEx markers

Type may call game crash!

4b - FLOAT - Rotation angle enter-marker (relative to the object) (Always 0?)
4b - FLOAT - The radius of the approximation to the marker X
4b - FLOAT - The radius of the approximation to the marker Y
12b - FLOAT[3]- The position of exit-marker (offset relative to the object) (Always 0?)
4b - FLOAT    - angle of rotation exit-marker (relative to the object) (always 0?)
4b - INT32    - Number of interior
4b - INT32    - Flags?
8b - CHAR[8]  - The name of the interior
4b - INT32    - color of the sky

Entry Type 7 - Street Signs

This type defines the texts that appear on street signs and has a size of 88 bytes.

 8b - FLOAT[2] - scale (xy)
12b - FLOAT[3] - rotation (xyz)
 2b - WORD     - possibly unused
64b - CHAR[64] - sign text, 16 byte per line
 2b - ?        - padding

The lines can start with arrows, such as <, ^ and >; also _ is used instead of a whitespace.

Entry Type 8 - Slotmachine-wheels

This is for Slotmachines.

4b - Int32 - Wheelindex

Every wheel in the slotmachine has an index, increments by 1 and starrting with 1. The position of the index is the position of the wheel in the Slotmachine. Maybe it can be controlled using SCM.

Entry Type 9

Size is 12 bytes, used quite often and in large ammounts per file.

Entry Type 10 - Escalators

This type defines escalators and has a size of 40 bytes.

12b - FLOAT[3] - bottom of escalator (xyz)
12b - FLOAT[3] - top of escalator (xyz)
12b - FLOAT[3] - escalator end (Z pos, matches top Z if escalator goes up, bottom Z if it goes down)
 4b - DWORD    - direction 0/1 (down/up)

An Escalator in 3ds Max. The dummies stand for the position-info in the Section/Header.

The normal position info of the header gets the same function of th estart-position in opposite to the end-position. Positions seem to be roundet to *.5 or *.0 by the game, so it doesnt make many sense to create escalators with the value of *.3 or *.7. This got the effect that a Escalator looks like in the picture (Example: vgseesc01.dff). Legend to the picture:

• Escalator_Standart_Position - Positioninfo from the header
  
• Escalator_Bottom - Bottominfo from the section
  
• Escalator_Top - Topinfo from the section
  
• Escalator_End - Endinfo from the section
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

External Link

• ^  GTAForums: Encryption of light information

Tools and Scripts

•  GTAForums: DexX Tools by DexX – 2dfx export from 3DSMax (MaxScript)
•  GTAForums: 2dfx Editor by Aschratt – 2dfx Editing
• RW Analyze by steve-m (no 2dfx support yet, but needed by above script)