RenderWare

RenderWare (RW for short) is the graphics engine used by GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas. For general information see [1] and for a list of games using it [2]. Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories use an engine that is almost a clone of RW. Not everything on this page applies to these games as well.

Versions

The versions of Renderware the games are linked against are the following:

	III	Vice City	San Andreas
PS2	3.1.0.0	3.3.0.2	3.6.0.3
PC	3.3.0.2	3.4.0.3	3.6.0.3
Xbox	3.5.0.0	3.5.0.0	3.6.0.3
Android	3.4.0.5	3.4.0.5	3.6.0.3

Binary Streams

RW streams are split up into chunks. Each section has a 12 byte header and can either be empty, contain data or more child chunks. The content depends on the type and parent chunks.

uint32 - type
uint32 - size, including child chunks and/or data
uint32 - library ID stamp

The library ID stamp contains the version and build number of the RW library that wrote the file.

The library version is a hexadecimal number and has the form 0xVJNBB where V (3 bits) is the Renderware version, J (4 bits) is the major revision, N (4 bits) is the minor revision and B (6 bits) is the binary revision. Version 3.6.0.3 for instance would be encoded as 0x36003.

The library build is 0xFFFF in all versions used by GTA.

To make the library ID stamp, 0x30000 is subtracted from the version first and then packed as follows (where D is the 16 bit build number):

VVJJ JJNN NNBB BBBB DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD

Version 0x36003 build 0xFFFF for instance is encoded as 0x1803FFFF.

Version 3.1.0.0 and before had no binary revision and build number and the library ID stamp was just 0x00000VJN (no 0x30000 subtracted). Version 3.1.0.0 for instance would be encoded as 0x00000310. Version 3.1.0.1 (used in some GTA III files, build FFFF) on the other hand is encoded as 0x0401FFFF. To find out what version a file has when reading, RW checks the upper 16 bits and assumes the old format when they're zero.

These C example functions pack and unpack library ID stamps:

RwUInt32
libraryIDPack(RwUInt32 version, RwUInt32 build)
{
	if(version <= 0x31000)
		return version>>8;
	return (version-0x30000 & 0x3FF00) << 14 | (version & 0x3F) << 16 |
	       (build & 0xFFFF);
}

RwUInt32
libraryIDUnpackVersion(RwUInt32 libid)
{
	if(libid & 0xFFFF0000)
		return (libid>>14 & 0x3FF00) + 0x30000 |
		       (libid>>16 & 0x3F);
	return libid<<8;
}

RwUInt32
libraryIDUnpackBuild(RwUInt32 libid)
{
	if(libid & 0xFFFF0000)
		return libid & 0xFFFF;
	return 0;
}

Basic structure

The basic structure of DFF and TXD files is given below. The Extensions are given as empty, their contents depend on the plugins and plugin data of the object they belong to. These are described elsewhere.

DFF

• Clump
  • Struct
  • Frame List
    • Struct
    • Extension *
  • Geometry List
    • Struct
    • Geometry *
      • Struct
      • Material List
        • Struct
        • Material *
          • Struct
          • Texture - optional
            • Struct
            • String - texture name
            • String - mask name
            • Extension
          • Extension
      • Extension
  • Atomic *
    • Struct
    • Extension
  • Struct *
  • Light *
    • Struct
    • Extension
  • Struct *
  • Light *
    • Struct
    • Extension
  • Extension

TXD

• Texture Dictionary
  • Struct
  • Texture Native *
    • Struct
    • Extension
  • Extension

PS2 TXD

• Texture Dictionary
  • Struct
  • Texture Native *
    • Struct
    • String - texture name
    • String - mask name
    • Struct
      • Struct
      • Struct
    • Extension
  • Extension

* These chunks can appear multiple times. The count is usually given in the parent's struct.

See RenderWare binary stream file for further information.