RE4UHD BIN TOOL Tutorial

Tools created by Son of Persia

Tutorial by Mr.Curious
First let me explain the differences of this new bin tool and the old bin tools. The old BIN tools used
separate tools for extraction and repacking but now they have been converted into one easy to use
tool. There is also the functionality of repacking for ETM BIN models which have slight differences
than regular BIN models.

One thing to note about this version of the BIN tool is that after repacking there is no ability to HEX
edit the luminosity or transperancy of the BIN file as we were once able to do. The extra blocks of
data that were normally used for this data have been removed to preserve space. This being said
there are still methods at our disposal to change BIN model luminosity/trasnperancy.

What does this tool do?

The BIN tool is designed to unpack the BIN & TPL files into an SMD & MTL file. This format allows
us to edit the models in a 3D application like 3dsMax, Milkshape or Blender. With SMD files we can
edit the bone mappings in 3D applications, save them, and then use the BIN tools to repack these
edited models into BIN & TPL files. Unpacking & Repacking is fairly easy but lets look at how BIN &
TPL files work together first:

FILES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS TOOL

BIN - the 3d model with all the vertice data.
TPL - the texture pallete that tells the game which .pack file and textuers in that pack file to use.
The TPL is basically a cue sheet or list of textures that are used by the model.
TCS - a printout created during repacking that tells us the texture order according to the texture file
names.
OBJ - a file that we only use to create an MTL file. This 3d model is not actually used.
MTL - the file that lists all the materials and the textures assigned to them.
SMD - 3d model that contains the bones used in the game.

PREVIEWING OBJ & SMD FILES

A good tool to have a quick look at OBJ & SMD files is Noesis whic can befound here:
https://richwhitehouse.com/index.php?content=inc_projects.php

UNDERSTANDING THE TPL FILE

The TPL is a very important file that is highly volatile. If we dont get things right our textures will
come out looking wrong in the game, so it is important to understand how the TPL works with the
tools.
The function fo the TPL is to list all the textures that are used by the BIN model and also contains
the .pack file number for the used textures.

When we extract a BIN file we need to have the right TPL in the folder with the tools for it to read
the correct texture data from the TPL. This makes sure that the correct texture numsbers are
dispalyed in the generated MTL file.

When we repack the BIN model using the SMD and MTL files, the tools create a new TPL file that
will list all the new textures we are using. If we simply edit a model without adding new textures or
materials there is no need to use a newly generated TPL file.

Ususally every BIN file has a TPL that lists which textures it uses but we dont always know which
TPL file is used when we are extracting. The easiest way to make sure all textures come out right
in our generated MTL files when extracting is to place all the BIN & TPL files in the same folder
and extract them at once. While the BIN tool will extract any BIN file with any TPL (or even without
a TPL at all), the MTL file that is generated will not always reflect the correct textures unless the
right TPL is used.

A closer look at the TPL file

When we want to observe the contents of a TPL file we can do so witha HEX editor. Lets havea
quick look at end of pl08_001.TPL:

08 00 00 01 00 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 01 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 02 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 03 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 04 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 05 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 06 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 07 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 08 00 00 00

08 00 00 01 is the pack file number in Little Endian order. This means all the byte order is reversed
(kind of).. you can google what Little Endian order means but simply put it looks like these
examples:

08 00 00 01 = 1000008
05 00 00 02 = 2000005

00, 01,02,03,04, etc are the texture numbers in the pack file. These numbers always come right
after the pack file number and are HEX values which need to be translated into DECIMAL values.
For example look at this TPL:

33 00 00 00 21 02 00 44
34 00 00 00 21 02 00 44
35 00 00 00 21 02 00 44
36 00 00 00 21 02 00 44
37 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

using a simple HEX to DEC converter at https://www.mathsisfun.com/binary-decimal-hexadecimal-

converter.html shows us that:

33 = 51
34 = 52
35 = 53
36 = 54 and so on...

The decimal values are actually the texture numbers inside the pack file (in the example above
our .pack file is 44000221. pack All pack file numbers of the textures inside the pack file are from
0000,0001,0002, 0003,0004, and on and on.. so...

51 is 0051.dds (or .tga)

52 is 0052.dds (or .tga)
and so on...
So in our first example we see that our model is using textures 0000.dds through 0008.dds:

08 00 00 01 00 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 01 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 02 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 03 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 04 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 05 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 06 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 07 00 00 00
08 00 00 01 08 00 00 00

Now we can look at textures 0000.dds through 0008.dds and compare them to the model. Do they
look like the ones this model is supposed to use? As stated above, if we use the wrong TPL the
model(s) will still get converted but the MTL file (and tcs) will have wrong texture entries.. (this is ok
if you are making a new model as you will be creating a new MTL).

FILE EXTRACTION
1 - place all BIN & TPL files of the model you wish to convert to SMD/OBJ in same folder as
RE4UHD_BIN_Tool_2018.exe & .bat files
2 - run BIN_Extract.bat to extract the files.
3 - Three new files are created upon extraction:
1 - SMD file (model with skeleton)
2 - MTL file (list of materials & textures that the TPL will use)
3 - OBJ file (we dont use this really, but it is created during the process of creating an MTL file)
NOTE* this tool will actually extract models wihtout a TPL (but the textures in the MTL will be
wrong)

EDITING MODELS
Now that we have an SMD file we can edit it in the preffered 3D application. If we want to add new
textures to the model that dont already exist in the .pack file for the model we are workign with we
will need to number the new textutre files in sequntial order, starting at the number of the last
texture number used. Example:

our 01000008 pack file has 30 textures starting at 0000.dds through to 0029.dds. If we want to add
new textures/materials to our model we must name them 0030.dds, 0031,dds and so on. Now we
make sure to repack our .pack file using the YZ2 toolset. We must make sure now that the
textures in the 3d application use these newly renumerated textures before we export the SMD
model to be converted to BIN. So once we have finsihed editing the model and added the new
textures to the .pack file we are ready to export our model.

EXPORTING MODELS
Once our textures are prepared & assigned to our meshes we are ready export our model. Here
are the steps for exporting the model:

1 - Export our model as SMD from our 3d app project to our working directory.

2 - Export the same model as OBJ to the same direcotry in order to create an MTL file. This MTL
file is used to tell the TPL file which textures we are using for the SMD).

3 - After exporting the model in OBJ format a new MTL file is created with it, which contains a list of
our materials & textures assocaited with them. Here is an example of what a MTL file will look like
after exporting from Milkshape 3D:
#
# pl08_000.mtl
#

newmtl new-shirt
illum 2
Kd 0.800000 0.800000 0.800000
Ka 0.200000 0.200000 0.200000
Ks 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ke 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ns 0.000000
map_Kd 0010.dds
map_D 0011.tga

Note that the entires with # are not read by the tool and can be used for perosnal notes.

Now lets take a moment to understand how the MTL file is responible for telling the game engine
which texture types are assigned to meshes:

1- All diffuse textures must have map_Kd prefix.

2- All specular textures must have map_Ks prefix.
3- All bump maps must have map_Bump prefix.
4- All opacity maps must have map_D prefix.

note * Since SMD format can not support bump/specular/opacity(transparency) maps, Son of
Persia used an extra MTL file for that type of textures. Thus if you like to have any kind of
specular/bump and/or opacity(transparency) maps, first assign ALL of them to your model and
then export the model to OBJ/MTL format in order to get the required material MTL file. Otherwise
we can manually assign these in the MTL file. like so:

newmtl material_1
Ka 1.000000 1.000000 1.000000
Kd 0.800000 0.800000 0.800000
Ks 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ke 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ns 0.000000
map_Kd 0001.dds
map_Ks 0002.tga
map_Bump 0002.tga

The lines above in red have been added manually by simply thyping these values in the MTL
before repacking.

4 - Before repacking we should make sure all the entries in the MTL file must have the Materials
organized in ascending sequential order. (More on this below in the Working with the TCS file).
The materials in the MTL file should be organized so that the texuture numsbers are in ascending
sequential order like in the example below:

newmtl jacket
illum 2
Kd 0.800000 0.800000 0.800000
Ka 0.200000 0.200000 0.200000
Ks 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ke 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ns 0.000000
map_Kd 0024.dds

newmtl pants
illum 2
Kd 0.800000 0.800000 0.800000
Ka 0.200000 0.200000 0.200000
Ks 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ke 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ns 0.000000
map_Kd 0025.dds
map_D 0026.dds

newmtl arms
illum 2
Kd 0.800000 0.800000 0.800000
Ka 0.200000 0.200000 0.200000
Ks 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ke 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ns 0.000000
map_Kd 0027.dds

newmtl legs
illum 2
Kd 0.800000 0.800000 0.800000
Ka 0.200000 0.200000 0.200000
Ks 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ke 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Ns 0.000000
map_Kd 0028.dds

In my experience, making sure all our material entires are in ascending sequential order by texture
number in the MTL file is the best way to make sure that our TCS file outputs correctly and that the
TPL order is perfect.

Now that we have and SMD and MTL file we are ready to repack using the
RE4UHD_BIN_Tool_2018.exe

FILE REPACKING
After we have edited the SMD file in our desired 3d program (like 3ds Max, Milkshape or Blender),
we must export the SMD file with the vertex weights as the BIN tools will crash if there are no
bones assigned to the exported meshes.

So first, before we repack the model we need to edit the contents of the BIN_Repack.bat file.
First, right click the BIN_Repack.bat file and click 'edit' (be sure to open with notepad or any other
txt editor). We shold see something like this:

RE4UHD_BIN_Tool_2018.exe -p pl08_000.smd pl08_000.mtl 10000008

This tells the BIN tool to -p (repack) the pl08_000.smd model using the pl08_000.mtl material file
and that all our textures will be placed in the 10000008 .pack file. (A previous version of this tool
required that we enter the first custom texture number after the pack file number but this is no
longer necessary).

Once the BIN_Repack.bat file has the correct information, we then save the file and close. Next
we double click on the BIN_Repack.bat file and the magic happens. 3 new files are created: our
new BIN, TPL and TCS files.

SPECIAL NOTE* the TPL file will be named according to the name of the SMD and needs to be
manually renamed. For example, in the above scenario the files that are generated upon
reapacking are are:

pl08_000.BIN
pl08_000.TPL
pl08_000.tcs

the file pl08_000.TPL needs to be renamed to pl08_001.TPL (or whatever the original TPL was
named), This is why it is important to know what the original TPL file is. Now before we simply
place these new BIN & TPL files into the UDAS (or other archive) for repacking we need to observe
the TCS/TPL files to make sure all the texture IDs were generated into the TPL file in correct order.
To do so we can simply open the TPL file and look at the texuture entries at the end of the file or
we can observe the contents of the TCS file

WORKING WITH THE TCS FILE

To make sure that all our textures were placed in ascending sequential order in the TPL file we
need to look at the TCS file that was generated. The TCS file is simply an inventory list of all the
entries created in our newly generated TPL file. After repacking we should always look at the TCS
file to make sure all textures are named & numbered properly. The file output should look
something like this example:

file 24 = 0024.dds
file 25 = 0025.dds
file 26 = 0026.dds
file 27 = 0027.dds
file 28 = 0028.dds

in the example above all the textures are mapped correctly. If your file looks out of order it might
look something like this:

file 24 = 0026.dds
file 25 = 0025.dds
file 26 = 0027.dds
file 27 = 0024.dds
file 27 = 0028.dds

If we dont correct the issue above then the game will load the wrong textures when the game is
loaded.

CORRECTING MISMAPPED TEXURES

To fix the problem of mismapped textures we have 2 options:

Option 1 -Eedit the MTL file entries so that all the materials are placed in ascending numerical
order by their texuture name as described above in step 4 of Exporting Models (remmeber we
would need to repack the file again after any changes to the MTL are made)

Option 2 - we can simply rename our texture files to what they are assigned in the TCS file (we
would rename file 0024.dds to 0025.dds, and rename file 0025.dds to 0024.dds etc). This method
does not require that we repack the model, but could lead to other problems with other models that
use these renamed texture files. I strongly suggest using Option 1 to avoid this.
If have chosen Option1 after repacking once again we look at the TCS file. If everthing looks to be
in the correct order, we simply place these newly generated BIN & TPL files to their relative
desinations (usually an UDAS archive or whatever archive they were extracted from). Repack that
archive and test in game!

Special note about shared TPL files

As mentioned at the start of this tutorial sometimes TPL files are shared with numerous BIN files.
A very common example is hand models that usually share TPL file with body model. The issue
here is that if we are to create a new TPL file for an edited model that shares a TPL how do make
sure that this new TPL contains all the other entries for the other models (for example hand
models) without having to edit every single hand model?

The answer is simple. We have to add all the MTL entires for the models that share the TPL to
the MTL file for our edited model. To do this we can simply copy/paste the MTL entries from
these other models into the MTL file of our model we are working on, remembering though to keep
all the MTL entires in ascending numerical order.

So... what is the process of how we do this? To make sure all models point to the same TPL and
that they have the correct textures we have to:

1- Extract all models that share a TPL file using the BIN tools (so extract all hand models) using the
same shared TPL.

2- Create/edit our new/custom model and export it to SMD/MTL formats (as explained above)

3- Open original extracted MTL file(s) of (other) model(s) that share the TPL file with our custom
model in a text editor and copy/paste all of their content (if all of the original extracted MTL files are
the same, copy the content of one of them, otherwise you must copy the content of all of them) to
the end of MTL file of our custom model (the MTL file you exported after editing/creating your
custom model).

4- Generate your custom model's BIN & TPL files using BIN Tools (as explained above)
If all the MTL entires from the other models that share the TPL were added to the main MTL file
then the newly generated TPL should contain all the entries it requires to load the right textures for
all models using the shared TPL.

There is an archived turorial from Son of Persia on this topic of shared TPL files that I
reposted to the Resident Evil Modding Forums that you can see here:

http://residentevilmodding.boards.net/thread/7707/editing-models-shared-persias-tutorial

Please note that his tutorial was writen for the older version of the BIN tools, so things might be a
little different when repacking (see step 4 that the BIN_Generate.bat file entries are slightly
different), but the main concepts are almost identical. I simply chose to write a different tutorial
based on my methods and experiences.

BIN model luminosity/trasnperancy

As stated at the very beggining of this tutorial, the new BIN tools were designed to optimize space
by removing huge clusters of data blocks that were originally deisgned to allow developpers the
ability to change BIN model transperancy/luminosity. Since this feature is mostly redundant (we
can change RGBA with SMX entires and change transperancy by editing the texture opacity) it
really is no longer needed by the average user.

If we wish to change the transperancy of a particular model in the game we must:

map_Kd and map_D the same texture in the MTL file, then simply adjust the transperancy of the
map_D texture in Photoshop (remove alpha chanel as well).

If anyone is adimant about editing luminosity via BIN hex edit I can provide you with an older
version of the tools if needed. Please message me at the links below.

Thank you and...

HAPPY MODDING!
Mr.Curious
12 - 2018
https://www.youtube.com/user/kalamalkakid/
http://residentevilmodding.boards.net/user/5592