Switch - Nintendo File Formats

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A .ptcl file contains graphical effects. This page describes the .ptcl file format as seen in Nintendo Switch games. This page describes version 22.4.0 of the file format.

This file format does not use relocation tables.

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	32	Binary file header (`VFXB` )
0x20	32	Filename (“Particle”)
0x40		Top-level sections

Every section starts with a section header that indicates its type. The following top-level sections may be present in a particle file:

Type	Description
`ESTA`	Emitter set array
`GRTF`	Graphics resource texture files
`PRMA`	Primitive array
`G3PR`	3D models
`GRSN`	Shader binary array

Section Header

Offsets in the section header are relative to the start of the section header.

If a section has no children, the offset to the first child section is set to -1. If there are no further siblings, the offset to the next sibling section is set to -1.

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Magic number
0x4	4	Total size of section header and children
0x8	4	Offset to first child section
0xC	4	Offset to next sibling section
0x10	4	Unknown
0x14	4	Offset to section payload
0x18	4	Unknown
0x1C	4	Unknown

Whether the section data starts with a child section or other data depends on the section type.

Emitter Set Array

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	32	Section header (`ESTA`)
0x20		Emitter sets

Emitter Set

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	32	Section header (`ESET`)
0x20	104	Emitter set payload
0x88		Emitter sections

Emitter Set Payload

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	16	Unknown
0x10	64	Emitter set name
0x50	4	Number of emitters
0x54	20	Unknown

Emitter

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	32	Section header (`EMTR`)
0x20		Unknown

Graphics Resource Texture Files

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	32	Section header (`GRTF`)
0x20		Unknown

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