File Formats

All inclusive list of REDengine file formats

Written & Published: April 10 2023 by @manavortex Game version: 2.1

For an exhaustive list, see the W2RC File Format Table.

.app (Appearance definition)

This file contains a list of appearances with their associated components. To load them, you require a root entity .ent. The .app files also contain extensive parameters for wounds and dismemberment, determining which meshes to use for different types of garment an NPC might be wearing, and even the physics behavior of these meshes.

Appearance: .app files

Holds a list of components.

.ent (Entity)

Root entity

The entry point for the game to display an NPC or prop. It is a collection of components that the entity is comprised of, determining their parameters or referencing the files that have said parameters. For instance, NPC .ent files have over a hundred components each, such as entAnimatedComponent (references the correct .anims, .animgraph and .rig files), entTemplateAppearance (references all .app files that are applicable to the entity) and entEffectSpawner (references all .effect files for decals or particles that the entity can spawn). Many of these components have configurable parameters, and the .ent file itself has many under the "entity" section. Many of these parameters, however, are merely the initial state of the entity and are modified in gameplay (such as the boolean isRagdolling).

From ArchiveXL item additions, this kind of file is usually called a root entity.

Mesh entity / Component entity

For player items, an .ent file can serve as a wrapper, splitting components out of the .app file by putting them in their own file.

Entity: .ent files

Components

Not a file type but an internal data structure and part of .ent or .app files. Components are how the game adds anything to the in-game world, from pag3d data over player interaction prompts to explosion sounds.

Components

.inkatlas (Texture mapping)

.mesh (3d object)

A 3d object, holding appearances, materials, and rigging. Meshes for inanimate objects also tend to contain the physics parameters of these objects, whereas NPC meshes tend to contain some garment parameters.

A mesh can have several submeshes, which can be displayed or hidden via chunkmasks.

.mi / .mt / .remt

A material definition for a shader. You can assign those to CMaterialInstance entries in your mesh and then define their qualities by changing their parameters.

For further detes on materials, see here. For an explanation on .mi files, see here.

Relevant properties:

Different per material — see parameters/[2] for a list of properties

e.g. BaseColor, Metalness, NormalStrength or VectorField, FresnelColor, Albedo

.opusinfo/.opuspak (audio)

OpusPaks are collections of opus audio files, they are described by the sfx_container.opusinfo file. For more info see the Audio Files page:

Audio files

.streamingsector (world data)

This file holds world environment information and -properties. Due to its complexity, information is grouped on its sub-page.

The whole world: .streamingsector

.wem (audio)

A Wwise audio file, usually containing a voice-over or music. You can find more info on the Audio files page:

Audio files

.xbm (Texture)

A regular texture file. Can be exported to .png via WolvenKit, edited, and imported back into the game. The type of texture is often indicated at the end of the filename. For instance, diffuse textures are specified as "_d" and normals are specified as "_n".

If you stick to the game's naming schema, Wolvenkit will auto-detect the right import settings for you.

Normal maps

Can be either blue or yellow (inverted), both exist. For a guide how to make your own, see here.

Cyberpunk normal maps are swizzled (a technique originally employed in DTX-5).

  • The red channel stores the X axis

  • The green channel stores the Y axis

  • The blue channel is empty, since the Z-data will be calculated from red and blue.

Texture Atlases

Texture atlases contain multiple textures that the game may choose at random (such as blood splatters, as seen in fx_blood_splatter_2x2_01_d.xbm) or play sequentially (as seen in splash_texture.atlas_n.xbm, used by the game for the blood puddle animation). Texture atlases won't always have "atlas" in their filename, but can still be quickly identified by the size of the grid. For instance, "3x3" in the filename means a grid of nine textures. In the asset browser, right-clicking on the file and selecting "Find Files Using This" will take you to files that allow further customization of how the game interacts with the grid.

Relevant properties:

IsGamma

Override in-game gamma (lighting)? - Set to "false" for normals - Set to "true" for diffuse/albedo and any parts of the UI

W2RC File Format Table

ExtensionDescriptionFully Parsed

Animation databases that rename and organize animations for use in scripts and other files such as animation graphs

Audio

Pathfinding/AI

Animation and physics graphs, used for visual scripting of all animations associated to an entity, as well as physics behavior of dangling objects such as necklaces

Collections of individual animations and their data

Mesh appearance configurations, as well as wound/dismemberment configurations

?

Terrain related

?

?

A.I. behavior graphs, can be used to influence NPC reactions to various stimuli

?

Bink video

Bink video

Camera curve preset

?

Character editor preset

Minimap

Quest related

Cutscene related

See mlsetup

See anims

See app

Configuration for credits

6-sided cube texture

Determines the curve graph values of things such as fall damage and level scaling

?

?

Master file for visual effects such as particles and decals. Holds parameters and has a second tab for editing the associated .particle file.

Entity, master file that contains all components and parameters of which an entity is comprised

Environment definition

?

?

Behavior parameters for attacks, weapons and explosions. Highly influential on gameplay.

?

?

?

Font

Foliage brush

Destructible foliage element

?

Game main configuration file

?

Animation database that determines which animations should play based on various enum inputs (see associated .csv to see which parameter corresponds to what number)

?

?

Hit detection for different body parts, as well as visual feedback based on whether the material is flesh, metal, cyberware, etc.

Hair profile

?

UI animation

UI texture atlas

UI character related

UI font

UI

UI settings

UI

UI

UI

UI

UI

UI

UI

UI

Quest info

Quest info

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

Pins on map

Mesh/model, often containing physics settings (for inanimate objects) and some garment parameters (for NPCs)

Instanced external shaders/materials

Masks for multilayer supershader

Setup file for multilayer supershader

Template file for multilayer supershader

Blend shapes/shape keys

Base shader

navmesh

AI navigation meshes

?

Audio

Audio

Parameters for particles and decals, can be configured in the second tab of .effect files

Nvidia PhysX physics parameters, also present in many .mesh files

Nvidia PhysX physics parameters, also present in many .mesh files

Physics Material definitions. Governs bullet penetration, A.I. visibility through different materials, friction, etc., but tweaks to it are only partially applied in-game

Point of Interest Map pin

?

Quest

Quest progression

regionset

?

Similar to mt, difference is unclear

Resource list

Rig/skeleton for animation, definition of bone groups and ragdoll physics

Cutscene

Cutscene versioning

?

?

Skin profile

?

Terrain

The world in manageable pieces

Terrain

Links all the sectors

Terrain

Multiple textures

?

?

?

Leftover mesh file with RED3 extension

Leftover mi file with RED3 extension

?

Texture

Texture

Generic Format

<explanation>

Generic FIle Format Table

ExtensionDescription

Standard CSV file, spreadsheets containing definitions for various parameters and enums that are used in other files

Audio file

Archive Format

File Structure

NameType/SizeInfo

Header

Custom Data

WolvenKit only. See specification of custom data below.

Files

data

Raw file data

File List

NameType/SizeInfo

Magic

char[4]

Constant: "RDAR"

Version

uint32

Currently 12

IndexPosition

uint64

Offset of beginning of file list

IndexSize

uint32

Size of file list

DebugPosition

uint64

Always 0

DebugSize

uint32

Always 0

Filesize

uint64

Size of file (excluding Filesize)

CustomDataLength

uint32

WolvenKit only

Custom Data (WolvenKit)

The following data only applies for archives created with WolvenKit

NameType/SizeInfo

Magic

char[4]

Constant: "LXRS"

Version

uint32

Currently 1

Size

int32

Size of uncompressed data

ZSize

int32

Size of compressed data

PathCount

int32

Number of custom paths

PathStrings

zstring[PathCount]

Custom file paths

File List

NameType/SizeInfo

FileTableOffset

uint32

Always 8

FileTableSize

uint32

CRC

uint64

Checksum of ???

FileEntryCount

uint32

Number of files

FileSegmentCount

uint32

Number of file segments

ResourceDependencyCount

uint32

Number of resource dependencies

FileRecords

File Record[FileEntryCount]

FileSegments

File Segment[FileSegmentCount]

ResourceDependencies

uint64[ResourceDependencyCount]

File Record

NameType/SizeInfo

NameHash64

uint64

FNV1A64 hash of the filename

Timestamp

int64

Windows filetime of file creation

NumInlineBufferSegments

uint32

Number of inline buffers

SegmentsStart

uint32

Index of the first file segment

SegmentsEnd

uint32

Index of the last file segment

ResourceDependenciesStart

uint32

Index of the first resource dependency

ResourceDependenciesEnd

uint32

Index of the last resource dependency

SHA1Hash

uint8[20]

SHA1 hash of the file

File Segment

NameType/SizeInfo

Offset

uint64

Offset of the data

ZSize

uint32

Size of compressed data

Size

uint32

Size of uncompressed data

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