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Mesh Library (VMesh) (.3db, .cmp, .vms)

💥 Overview

Meshes are usually embedded into rigid model files (.3db and .cmp) with exception of UI where mesh data is stored in separate .vms file.

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR

    [*] --> VMeshLibrary
    VMeshLibrary --> mesh.vms
    mesh.vms --> VMeshData

⚡ VMeshData

VMeshData is pretty much a big vertex/index buffer that contains all vertices and triangles of one or multiple parts. However when containing meshes of multiple parts VMeshData isn’t directly aware of how many has, it’s a dumb storage, but an indirect indication that another part begins within its data set is when VMeshGroup.vertexStart is 0 and when vertex index in triangle also starts from 0. Normally parts never share vertices, but mesh groups within a part may.

Name Type Description
meshType uint32 Always 1. Game crashes otherwise.
primitiveType uint32 Direct3D primitive type.
groupCount uint16 Mesh group count.
indexCount uint16 Element buffer count.
vertexFormat uint16 Direct3D FVF (Flexible Vertex Format).
vertexCount uint16 Vertex buffer count.
groups varying Mesh groups.
indices varying Element indices.
vertices varying Vertex attribute data.
  • Element indices are uint16.
  • Vertex attribute length depends on FVF mode.
  • VMeshData can be mapped to OpenGL VAO (Vertex Array Object)

Primitive types are:

Value Type
1 Point list
2 Line list
3 Line strip
4 Triangle list
5 Triangle strip
6 Triangle fan

These are vertex format flags and modes which Freelancer uses:

Name Mask value Description Vertex value
D3DFVF_XYZ 0x0001 Position float[3]
D3DFVF_NORMAL 0x0010 Normal float[3]
D3DFVF_DIFFUSE 0x0040 Color uint32
D3DFVF_TEXn 0xFF00 UV1-8 float[2]
  • D3DFVF_XYZ, D3DFVF_NORMAL, D3DFVF_DIFFUSE and D3DFVF_TEX0 to D3DFVF_TEX8 supported.
  • D3DFVF_PSIZE and D3DFVF_SPECULAR are not supported and will result in corrupted drawing.

A mesh group is a collection of vertices and vertex indices forming triangles that are grouped by a single material identifier. It is fairly common in Freelancer for a model or even an individual part of a compound model to use multiple materials. So a model or each of its parts may use one more groups if they use multiple materials.

Name Type Description
materialId uint32 Material ID (FLCRC32 of material name).
vertexStart uint16 Vertex buffer start index.
vertexEnd uint16 Vertex buffer end index.
indexCount uint16 Element buffer index count.
padding uint16 Padding. Should be 0xCC.

📌 VMeshRef

Pointer to chunk of data in VMeshData.

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    state type <<choice>>

    Levels: Level0 … Level9

    [*] --> type
    type --> VMeshPart : Single level mesh
    VMeshPart --> VMeshRef
    type --> MultiLevel
    MultiLevel --> Levels
    MultiLevel --> Switch2
    Levels --> VMeshPart
Name Type Description
size uint32 VMeshRef byte size, always 60.
meshId uint32 Mesh ID (FLCRC32 of VMeshData parent entry name).
vertexStart uint16 Vertex buffer start index.
vertexCount uint16 Vertex buffer index count.
indexStart uint16 Element buffer start index.
indexCount uint16 Element buffer index count.
groupStart uint16 Mesh group start index.
groupCount uint16 Mesh group count.
extents float[6] Bounding box as max and min of x, y and z.
center float[3] Bounding sphere center.
radius float Bounding sphere radius.

💨 VWireData

Uses mesh vertices to construct lines for HUD wireframe view.

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR

    [*] --> VMeshWire
    VMeshWire --> VWireData
Name Type Description
size uint32 VWireData header size, always 16.
meshId uint32 Mesh ID.
vertexStart uint16 Vertex buffer start index.
vertexCount uint16 Unique vertex count.
indexCount uint16 Element buffer index count.
vertexRange uint16 Range between maximum vertex index and minimum vertex index.
indices varying A pair of element indices per line drawn.
  • Like element indices in mesh these are uint16.
  • There's a limit to how many indices a drawn wireframe model (including any attachments) can have.