CMDL (Metroid Prime)

The CMDL format is the model format used in the Metroid Prime series. The format's stayed relatively consistent throughout the trilogy, with modifications only really being made to the materials section.

Format

CMDL files are split up into a number of 32-byte aligned sections. Every section both starts and ends on a 32-byte boundary. These are used to separate different parts of the file; different types of sections typically indicate different sets of data. The header declares the section count and the size of each one; using these is the only way to navigate the file.

Header

Offset	Size	Description
0x0	4	Magic; always 0xDEADBABE
0x4	4	Version; see below
0x8	4	Flags; see below
0xC	0x18	Axis-aligned bounding box
0x24	4	Section count (SC)
0x28	4	Material set count
0x2C	4 × SC	Section sizes

Following the end of the header, the file is padded to 32 bytes before the first section starts.

Version

Version	Game
2	Metroid Prime
3	Metroid Prime 2 Demo
4	Metroid Prime 2
5	Metroid Prime 3

Flags

Bit	Hex	Description
0	0x1	Appears to do nothing
1	0x2	Toggle short normals
2	0x4	Enable short UV array

Materials

See Materials (Metroid Prime)

CMDL files can have multiple material sets; each set will get its own section. The main catch with reading materials is to mind the version number; extra values were added starting in version 3 (Echoes Demo).

Geometry

See Geometry (Metroid Prime)

There are a couple little catches when reading the CMDL geometry format. First, the short UV array will always be completely empty (size of 0) whenever it's present; however, if the corresponding flag isn't set in the header, then the short UV section will be omitted entirely. Second, even though the header has a flag to indicate the format of the normals, the vertex format setting in the primitive data is what actually controls how the normals are read. Finally, an extra vertex attribute was added starting in version 4 that you'll need to watch out for; it precedes the position attribute.