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

Extension

Description

Fully Parsed

actionanimdb

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

acousticdata

Audio

aiarch

Pathfinding/AI

animgraph

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

anims

Collections of individual animations and their data

app

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

cubemap

6-sided cube texture

curveset

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

devices

dtex

effect

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

ent

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

env

Environment definition

envparam

envprobe

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

Font

Foliage brush

Destructible foliage element

gamedef

Game main configuration file

garmentlayerparams

genericanimdb

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

gidata

gradient

hitrepresentation

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

inkfullscreencomposition

UI settings

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

mlmask

Masks for multilayer supershader

mlsetup

Setup file for multilayer supershader

mltemplate

Template file for multilayer supershader

morphtarget

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

phys

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

physicalscene

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

physmatlib

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