PTCL - Nintendo File Formats

NW > Particle File

This file contains resources for particle effects. This page describes version 0x41 of the file format.

The file is structured as follows:

File header and effects
Texture section
String table
Shader section
Keyframe animation section
Primitive section
Parameter section

File Header

The offsets are absolute.

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Magic number (`EFTF`)
0x4	4	Version number
0x8	4	Number of effects
0xC	4	Unknown
0x10	4	Offset to string table
0x14	4	Texture section offset
0x18	4	Texture section size
0x1C	4	Shader section offset
0x20	4	Shader section size
0x24	4	Keyframe animation section offset
0x28	4	Keyframe animation section size
0x2C	4	Primitive section offset
0x30	4	Primitive section size
0x34	4	Parameter section offset
0x38	4	Parameter section size
0x3C	4	Unknown
0x40	4	Unknown
0x44	4	Unknown
0x48		Effects

Effect

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Unknown
0x4	4	Unknown
0x8	4	Name offset (into string table)
0xC	4	Name address (filled in at runtime)
0x10	4	Emitter count
0x14	4	Emitter offset (absolute)
0x18	4	Unknown

Emitter

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Offset to emitter data (absolute)
0x4	4	Pointer to emitter data (filled in at runtime)
0x8	4	Pointer to static uniform block 1 (filled in at runtime)
0xC	4	Pointer to static uniform block 2 (filled in at runtime)

Emitter Data

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Type (0=Simple, 1=Complex)
0x4	4	Flags: 0x0000400 - Reverse particle order 0x0010000 - Emission rate is limited (can't be sped up)
0x8	0x2C	Unknown
0x34	4	Custom action callback id
0x38	4	Name offset (into string table)
0x3C	4	Name address (filled in at runtime)
0x40	0xD8	Texture res 1
0x118	0xD8	Texture res 2
0x1F0	0xD8	Texture res 3
0x2C8	4	Pointer to keyframe animations (filled in at runtime)
0x2CC	4	Offset into keyframe animation section
0x2D0	4	Size of keyframe animation data
0x2D4	8	Unknown
0x2DC	4	Primitive index
0x2E0	8	Unknown
0x2E8	4	Primitive index 2
0x2EC	4	Number of parameters
0x2F0	4	Offset into parameter section
0x2F4	4	Pointer into parameter section (filled in at runtime)
0x2F8	0x28	Unknown
0x320	4	Display side type
0x324	4	Blend type
0x328	4	ZBuf A test type
0x32C	4	Animation function scale
0x330	4	Animation function color 0
0x334	4	Animation function color 1
0x338	4	Animation function alpha 0
0x33C	4	Animation function alpha 1
0x340	4	Emit function type
0x344	0x100	Unknown
0x444	4	Base emission ratio (float)
0x448	4	Emission ratio randomness
0x44C	0x10	Unknown
0x45C	4	Initial particle speed
0x460	0x24	Unknown
0x484	4	Speed acceleration (float)
0x488	0x1C	Unknown
0x4A4	4	X acceleration (float)
0x4A8	4	Y acceleration (float)
0x4AC	4	Z acceleration (float)
0x4B0	8	Unknown
0x4B8	4	Mesh type (0=Square, 1=Primitive)
0x4BC	4	Unknown
0x4C0	4	Base speed randomness (float)
0x4C4	0x10	Unknown
0x4D4	0x7C	Texture emitter data 1
0x550	0x7C	Texture emitter data 2
0x5CC	0x7C	Texture emitter data 3
0x648	8	Unknown
0x650	8 x 16	Color table 0
0x6D0	8 x 16	Color table 1
0x750	0x34	Unknown
0x784	0x14	3v4k animation key alpha 0
0x798	0x14	3v4k animation key alpha 1
0x7AC	0x7C	Unknown
0x828	4	Rotation acceleration (float)
0x82C	5	Unknown
0x831	1	Custom shader callback id
0x832	0x12	Unknown
0x844	4	Shader index 1
0x848	4	Shader index 2
0x84C	4	Shader index 3
0x850	0x6C	Unknown

Only present if type is complex:

Offset	Size	Description
0x8BC	?	Unknown

Animation Functions

ID	Function
0	None
1	4k3v
2	8key

Emit Functions

ID	Function
0	Point
1	Circle
2	Circle same divide
3	Fill circle
4	Sphere
5	Sphere same divide
6	Sphere same divide 64
7	Fill sphere
8	Cylinder
9	Fill cylinder
10	Box
11	Fill box
12	Line
13	Line same divide
14	Rectangle
15	Primitive

Animation Key

This animation uses four keys and three values (3v4k).

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	First key value
0x4	4	Difference between first and second key value
0x8	4	Difference between second and last key value
0xC	4	Time of second key value
0x10	4	Time of third key value

The animation is constructed as follows:

float value1 = StartValue;
float value2 = StartValue + StartDifference;
float value3 = value2 + EndDifference;

KeyFrame(0, value1)
KeyFrame(Time2, value2)
KeyFrame(Time3, value2)
KeyFrame(1, value3 )

Texture Res

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	2	Width
0x2	2	Height
0x4	4	Tile mode
0x8	4	Swizzle
0xC	1	Wrap mode
0xD	1	Filter mode
0xE	1	Depth
0xF	1	Padding
0x10	4	Mipmap count
0x14	4	Components selector
0x18	4	LOD max (float)
0x1C	4	LOD bias (float)
0x20	4	Original texture format
0x24	4	Offset into texture section for original texture data
0x28	4	Size of original texture data
0x2C	4	FTX texture format
0x30	4	Size of FTX texture data
0x34	4	Offset into texture section for FTX texture data
0x38	4	Is GX2Texture initialized (must be 0, updated at runtime)
0x3C	0x9C	GX2Texture structure

Texture Format

ID	Description
1	RGBA8 UNORM
2	RGB8 UNORM
3	BC1 UNORM
4	BC1 SRGB
5	BC2 UNORM
6	BC2 SRGB
7	BC3 UNORM
8	BC3 SRGB
9	BC4 UNORM
10	BC4 SNORM
11	BC5 UNORM
12	BC5 SNORM
13	R8 UNORM
14	RG8 UNORM
15	RGBA8 SRGB
16	R8 SNORM
17	RG4 UNORM
18	RG11B10 FLOAT
19	R16 FLOAT
20	RG16 FLOAT
21	RGBA16 FLOAT
22	R32 FLOAT
23	RG32 FLOAT
24	RGBA32 FLOAT
25	R5G6B5 UNORM
26	RGB5A1 UNORM

Texture Emitter Data

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	0x7C	Unknown

Texture Section

This section contains raw image data that may be referenced by emitters.

String Table

The string table simply contains a bunch of null-terminated strings. The first string in the string table is the name of the particle set.

Shader Section

The offsets are relative to the start of the shader section.

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Number of shaders
0x4	4	Shader section size
0x8	4	Unknown
0xC	4	Unknown
0x10	4	Offset to shader files
0x14	4	Offset to shader info list

Shader Files

This section simply contains a bunch of GSH files.

Shader Info

One per shader. The shader file offset is relative to the first shader file.

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	0x28	Shader resource info
0x28	0x3C	Texture sampler info
0x64	4	Unknown
0x68	4	Shader file size
0x6C	4	Shader file offset
0x70	4	Unknown
0x74	4	Unknown

Shader Resource Info

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Unknown
0x4	4	Flags: 0x02000000 - Use GPU calc for emitter
0x8	32	Unknown

Texture sampler info

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	1	Unknown
0x1	1	Maximum texture sampler id (0, 1 or 2)
0x2	17	Unknown
0x13	1	Is texture sampler 0 an array
0x14	1	Is texture sampler 1 an array
0x15	0x27	Unknown

Keyframe Animation Section

This section contains keyframe animations that may be used by emitters. It contains zero or more copies of the following structure:

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Identifier (`KEYA`)
0x4	4	Number of animations
0x8		Animations

Keyframe Animation

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Number of keyframes
0x4	4	Unknown
0x8	4	Animated attribute
0xC	4	Unknown
0x10	4	Number of frames
0x14	4	Unknown
0x18	4	Size of this structure
0x1C		Keyframes

Keyframe

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Frame (float)
0x4	4	Value (float)

Attribute

ID	Description
0	Emission ratio
1	Random
2	Matrix scale X
3	Matrix scale Y
4	Matrix scale Z
5	Rotation X
6	Rotation Y
7	Rotation Z
8	Position X
9	Position Y
10	Position Z
15	Particle speed
17	Scale X
18	Scale Y
25	Particle acceleration

ID	Description
28	Random X
29	Random Y
30	Random Z
31	Magnet
32	Spin 1
33	Spin 2
34	Convergence
35	Position X
36	Position Y
37	Position Z
38	Color 0 Red
39	Color 0 Green
40	Color 0 Blue
41	Color 1 Red
42	Color 1 Green
43	Color 1 Blue
44	Alpha 0
45	Alpha 1
46	Scale X
47	Scale Y

Primitive Section

The offset is relative to the start of the primitive section.

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Number of primitives
0x4	4	Size of primitive section
0x8	4	Offset to primitives (0xC)
0xC		Primitives
		Vertex buffers

Primitive

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	5 x 16	Buffer info

Index	Name	Type
0	v_inPos	Vec3
1	v_inNormal	Vec3
2	v_inColor	Vec4
3	v_inTexCoord	Vec4
4	v_inIndex	Uint32

Buffer Info

Offset is relative to start of vertex buffers in primitive section.

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Number of elements
0x4	4	Stride (number of elements)
0x8	4	Buffer offset
0xC	4	Buffer size