User:Pixloen/FPANModding/Backgrounds

About Stage Models

French Bread games (except for DFCI) use a proprietary version of the Autodesk FBX format (fbx.bin or fbxex). MELTY BLOOD TYPE LUMINA also contains fbx.json. That means there are no conversion tools for fbx to fbx.bin / fbx.json either.

Most stage mods are texture edits of exisitng UNI / MBTL / DFCI stages, ports of stages between games, or made of entirely 2D assets using the game's pat effect system.

State Properties

Aside from editing textures, which is just a collection of .dds files, the lighting and positioning of stages can be edited through simple txt editing. Stage data is found in the file [ROOT]\bg\BgList.txt

Common Properties

Constant	Comment
DataFile	Which folder this bg loads from.
Scale	How large the model appears in-game. X/Y/Z values.
Position	Offsets the position of the model. X/Y/Z values.
ViewGrid	Enabling this renders a simple looping grid on the floor.
FOV	Changes the FOV.
IsFog	Enables fog.
FogColor	RBGA value for the fog.
FogStart	Where the fog starts, distance from the camera.
FogEnd	Where the fog ends, distance from the camera.
IsBloom	Enables bloom.
StageSelTex	Changes what texture is used for the stages icon on the CSS.

MBTL and UNI2 Properties

Constant	Comment
BGBloomEnable
BGBloomBlightness
BGBloomBiass (R/G/B)
BGBloomBlurRadius
BGBloomTextureSize
BGBloomAlpha
BGTinyFXAAEnable
BGTinyFXAAThreshold
BGTinyFXAALerpT

Adding Pat Effects to a Stage

All effects can be added by placing a file named object.txt inside the background's folder. Below is a commented example of how to arrange this file. Information on how to make .pat Effects can be found (soon!).

local array = {

	panidata = "./bg/bg030/bg030.pat", // Set this to the .pat file you want to load effects from.
	
	data001 = // This represents an object. Each object must have it's own ID.
	[
		{ tag="frm", name="pat_effect1" },          // sets one frame to a pattern.
		{ tag="prio", val=250 },                    // sets priority. above
		{ tag="startpos", x=0, y=100 ,z=350 },      // sets position relative to the stage.
		{ tag="startdelay", val=0 },                // delays the spawn of this object.
	]
	
	data002 =
	[
		{ tag="frm", name="frame1", wait=30 },
		{ tag="frm", name="frame2", wait=30 },

		// adding wait value adds a duration to a frm (in frames)
		// after which it moves on to the next frame, or loops if it cannot find any

		{ tag="prio", val=250 },      

		// if two objects have the same priority, then the object with the lower ID is 
		// rendered above.
          
		{ tag="startpos", x=0, y=-5000 ,z=450 },
		{ tag="startdelay", val=0 }, 
	]
}
BgObject <- array;

FBXEX Documentation (WIP)

00 - 04 | fbxex header

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10 - 13 | ??? (be data size similar to .pat dds format)

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14 - 17 | texture count (int)

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7F bytes long | texture block contains texture name and then filled with 00.

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4 bytes | material header?

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4 bytes | material count

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CB bytes long | material block

first 7F bytes - material name

4 bytes - index 4 bytes - texture index 43 bytes - value (set of floats, usually 1.0 or 0.0)

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