File Types🔗︎

These formats originate from either the Sonic adventure games directly or are storage mediums brought into existence by SATools.

Models🔗︎

Stored in file ending with *.*mdl.

  • *.sa1mdl - Ninja Basic Format Models.
    • Mostly used in SA1 & SADX.
  • *.sa2mdl - Ninja Chunk Format.
    • Mostly used in SA2 & SA2B, features vertex weights.
    • SADX uses this for Chao and Cream.
  • *.sa2bmdl - Ginja Chunk Format.
    • Only seen in SA2B.

Stages🔗︎

Stages are stored in files ending with *.*lvl.

  • *.sa1lvl
    • Used in SA1 & SADX.
  • *.sa2lvl
    • Used in SA2.
    • Stores collision in Ninja Basic format, separated by collections on import.
  • *.sa2blvl
    • Used in SA2B/PC.
    • Stores collision in Ninja Basic format, separated by collections on import.
    • Can display real-time shadows

Textures🔗︎

Textures are stored in a variety of archive types.

  • *.PVM
    • Used in SA1, SADX, and SA2. In SA1 and SA2, they will be compressed in PRS files. (eg. SONIC.PVM)
  • *.GVM
    • Used in SA2B/PC. These are compressed in PRS files. (eg. sonic-tex.prs)
  • *.PAK
    • Used only in SA2PC. These store textures in DDS format. (eg. adx-logo.pak)

Animations🔗︎

Animations are stored in *.saanim files

  • This format is shared between both games.

Sonic Adventure 2 Events🔗︎

SA2 events are a bit more complicated. There are 2 types of Events: Full events, and Mini events.

Note

Event files can be used out of the box from the games resources, and dont need to be extracted with a project.
The SATools Project Manager still allows for splitting event files if needed. However, blender is able to handle event files as is.

Full Events🔗︎

Full events are almost completely independent of any other game data. All info is stored in multiple files, mostly compressed using PRS.
Most event related files belonging to the same event all share the same base name, usually a 4 digit number (####*).
Events mainly consist of the following files:

  • ####.prs - The main event file, containing all 3D models
    • in SA2 for the dreamcast, it also stores animations
  • ####_0.prs - The events effect file, stores information about
    • Default subtitle placements
    • Default audio playback info
    • Screen effects
    • Particle effect information
    • Object Lighting
    • Blare Effect information (unused)
    • Particle emitter information
    • Video Overlays
  • ####_%.prs - These files contain language related information
    • Information contained:
      • Subtitle placements
      • Audio playback info
    • Each file is for a specific language. % denotes the language key:
      • 1: English
      • 2: French
      • 3: Spanish
      • 4: German
      • 5: Italian
      • J: Japanese
    • These files are optional; If not present, the game will use the default information provided by ####_0.prs
  • ####texlist.prs - Texture name list
  • ####texture.prs - Texture archive
    • Compressed PVM archive on Dreamcast
    • Compressed GVM archive in ports
  • ####motion.bin - Animations
    • Only used in the ports

Blender only requires the following files for importing events:

  • ####.prs
  • ####texture.prs
  • ####motion.bin

Paths🔗︎

paths are stored in .INI files