NFS4.md

NFS 4 High Stakes file specs

Last time updated: 2024-08-17 03:48:24.553230+00:00

Info by file extensions

*.FFN bitmap font. FfnFont

*.FSH image archive. ShpiBlock

*.QFS image archive. ShpiBlock, compressed (compression algorithms not documented, can be found in resources/eac/compressions/)

*.VIV archive with some data. BigfBlock

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Block specs

Archives

ShpiBlock

Size: 16..? bytes

Description: A container of images and palettes for them

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	4	UTF-8 string. Always == "SHPI"	Resource ID
4	length	4	4-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	The length of this SHPI block in bytes
8	num_items	4	4-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	An amount of items
12	shpi_dir	4	UTF-8 string	One of: "LN32", "GIMX", "WRAP". The purpose is unknown
16	items_descr	num_items*8	Array of num_items items Item size: 8 bytes Item type: 8-bytes record, first 4 bytes is a UTF-8 string, last 4 bytes is an unsigned integer (little-endian)	An array of items, each of them represents name of SHPI item (image or palette) and offset to item data in file, relatively to SHPI block start (where resource id string is presented). Names are not always unique
16 + num_items*8	children	?	Array of num_items + ? items Item size: ? bytes Item type: One of types: - Bitmap4Bit - Bitmap8Bit - Bitmap16Bit0565 - Bitmap16Bit1555 - Bitmap24Bit - Bitmap32Bit - Palette16BitDos - Palette16Bit - Palette32Bit - Bytes	A part of block, where items data is located. Offsets to some of the entries are defined in items_descr block. Between them there can be non-indexed entries (palettes and texts)

BigfBlock

Size: 16..? bytes

Description: A block-container with various data: image archives, GEO geometries, sound banks, other BIGF blocks...

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	4	UTF-8 string. Always == "BIGF"	Resource ID
4	length	4	4-bytes unsigned integer (big endian)	The length of this BIGF block in bytes
8	num_items	4	4-bytes unsigned integer (big endian)	An amount of items
12	unk0	4	4-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Unknown purpose
16	items_descr	num_items*8..?	Array of num_items items Item type: CompoundBlock	-
?	children	?	Array of num_items items Item size: ? bytes Item type: One of types: - ShpiBlock - BigfBlock - Bytes

Bitmaps

Bitmap4Bit

Size: 16..? bytes

Description: Single-channel image, 4 bits per pixel. Used in FFN font files and some NFS2SE SHPI directories as some small sprites, like "dot". Seems to be always used as alpha channel, so we save it as white image with alpha mask

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x7a	Resource ID
1	block_size	3	3-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap block size 16+width*height/2 + trailing bytes length
4	width	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap width in pixels. Has to be an even number (at least in the FFN font)
6	height	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap height in pixels
8	unk	4	Bytes	Unknown purpose
12	x	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	X coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
14	y	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Y coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
16	bitmap	height*ceil((width)*4/8)	Array of height items Item size: ceil((width)*4/8) bytes Item type: Array of width sub-byte numbers. Each number consists of 4 bits	Font atlas bitmap data, array of bitmap rows

Bitmap8Bit

Size: 16..? bytes

Description: 8bit bitmap can be serialized to image only with palette. Basically, for every pixel it uses 8-bit index of color in assigned palette. The tricky part is to determine how the game understands which palette to use. In most cases, if bitmap has embedded palette, it should be used, EXCEPT Autumn Valley fence texture: there embedded palette should be ignored. In all other cases it is tricky even more: it uses !pal or !PAL palette from own SHPI archive, if it is WWWW archive, palette can be in a different SHPI before this one. In CONTROL directory most of QFS files use !pal even from different QFS file! It is a mystery how to reliably pick palette

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x7b	Resource ID
1	block_size	3	3-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap block size 16+width*height + trailing bytes length
4	width	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap width in pixels
6	height	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap height in pixels
8	unk	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Unknown purpose
10	pivot_y	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	For "horz" bitmap in TNFS FAM files: Y coordinate of the horizon line on the image. Higher value = image as horizon will be put higher on the screen. Seems to affect only open tracks
12	x	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	X coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
14	y	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Y coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
16	bitmap	width*height	Array of width*height items Item size: 1 byte Item type: 1-byte unsigned integer	Color indexes of bitmap pixels. The actual colors are in assigned to this bitmap palette

Bitmap16Bit0565

Size: 16..? bytes

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x78	Resource ID
1	block_size	3	3-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap block size 16+2*width*height + trailing bytes length
4	width	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap width in pixels
6	height	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap height in pixels
8	unk	4	Bytes	Unknown purpose
12	x	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	X coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
14	y	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Y coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
16	bitmap	width*height*2	Array of width*height items Item size: 2 bytes Item type: EA games 16-bit 0565 color, rrrrrggg_gggbbbbb. 0x7c0 (0x00FB00 RGB) is always transparent	Colors of bitmap pixels

Bitmap16Bit1555

Size: 16..? bytes

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x7e	Resource ID
1	block_size	3	3-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap block size 16+2*width*height + trailing bytes length
4	width	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap width in pixels
6	height	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap height in pixels
8	unk	4	Bytes	Unknown purpose
12	x	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	X coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
14	y	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Y coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
16	bitmap	width*height*2	Array of width*height items Item size: 2 bytes Item type: EA games 16-bit 1555 color, arrrrrgg_gggbbbbb	Colors of bitmap pixels

Bitmap24Bit

Size: 16..? bytes

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x7f	Resource ID
1	block_size	3	3-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap block size 16+3*width*height + trailing bytes length
4	width	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap width in pixels
6	height	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap height in pixels
8	unk	4	Bytes	Unknown purpose
12	x	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	X coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
14	y	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Y coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
16	bitmap	width*height*3	Array of width*height items Item size: 3 bytes Item type: EA games 24-bit color (little-endian), rrrrrrrr_gggggggg_bbbbbbbb	Colors of bitmap pixels

Bitmap32Bit

Size: 16..? bytes

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x7d	Resource ID
1	block_size	3	3-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap block size 16+4*width*height + trailing bytes length
4	width	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap width in pixels
6	height	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Bitmap height in pixels
8	unk	4	Bytes	Unknown purpose
12	x	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	X coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
14	y	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Y coordinate of bitmap position on screen. Used for menu/dash sprites
16	bitmap	width*height*4	Array of width*height items Item size: 4 bytes Item type: EA games 32-bit ARGB color, aaaaaaaa_rrrrrrrr_gggggggg_bbbbbbbb	Colors of bitmap pixels

Fonts

FfnFont

Size: 48..? bytes

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	4	UTF-8 string. Always == "FNTF"	Resource ID
4	block_size	4	4-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	The length of this FFN block in bytes
8	unk0	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x64	Unknown purpose
9	unk1	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x0	Unknown purpose
10	num_glyphs	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Amount of symbols, defined in this font
12	unk2	6	Bytes	Unknown purpose
18	font_size	1	1-byte unsigned integer	Font size ?
19	unk3	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x0	Unknown purpose
20	line_height	1	1-byte unsigned integer	Line height ?
21	unk4	7	Bytes. Always == b'\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00'	Unknown purpose
28	bdata_ptr	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Pointer to bitmap block
30	unk5	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x0	Unknown purpose
31	unk6	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x0	Unknown purpose
32	definitions	num_glyphs*11	Array of num_glyphs items Item type: GlyphDefinition	Definitions of chars in this bitmap font
32 + num_glyphs*11	skip_bytes	up to offset bdata_ptr	Bytes	4-bytes AD AD AD AD (optional, happens in nfs2 SWISS36)
bdata_ptr	bitmap	16..?	Bitmap4Bit	Font atlas bitmap data

GlyphDefinition

Size: 11 bytes

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	code	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Code of symbol
2	width	1	1-byte unsigned integer	Width of symbol in font bitmap
3	height	1	1-byte unsigned integer	Height of symbol in font bitmap
4	x	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Position (x) of symbol in font bitmap
6	y	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Position (y) of symbol in font bitmap
8	x_advance	1	1-byte unsigned integer	Gap between this symbol and next one in rendered text
9	x_offset	1	1-byte signed integer	Offset (x) for drawing the character image
10	y_offset	1	1-byte signed integer	Offset (y) for drawing the character image

Palettes

Palette16BitDos

Size: 16..? bytes

Description: Resource with colors LUT (look-up table). EA 8-bit bitmaps have 1-byte value per pixel, meaning the index of color in LUT of assigned palette. Has special colors: 255th in most cases means transparent color, 254th in car textures is replaced by tail light color, 250th - 253th in car textures are rendered black for unknown reason

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x29	Resource ID
1	unk0	3	Bytes	Unknown purpose
4	num_colors	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Amount of colors
6	unk1	2	Bytes	Unknown purpose
8	num_colors1	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Always equal to num_colors?
10	unk2	6	Bytes	Unknown purpose
16	colors	num_colors*2	Array of num_colors items Item size: 2 bytes Item type: 16-bit color, not tested properly	Colors LUT

Palette16Bit

Size: 16..? bytes

Description: Resource with colors LUT (look-up table). EA 8-bit bitmaps have 1-byte value per pixel, meaning the index of color in LUT of assigned palette. Has special colors: 255th in most cases means transparent color, 254th in car textures is replaced by tail light color, 250th - 253th in car textures are rendered black for unknown reason

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x2d	Resource ID
1	unk0	3	Bytes	Unknown purpose
4	num_colors	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Amount of colors
6	unk1	2	Bytes	Unknown purpose
8	num_colors1	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Always equal to num_colors?
10	unk2	6	Bytes	Unknown purpose
16	colors	num_colors*2	Array of num_colors items Item size: 2 bytes Item type: EA games 16-bit 0565 color, rrrrrggg_gggbbbbb. 0x7c0 (0x00FB00 RGB) is always transparent	Colors LUT

Palette32Bit

Size: 16..? bytes

Description: Resource with colors LUT (look-up table). EA 8-bit bitmaps have 1-byte value per pixel, meaning the index of color in LUT of assigned palette. Has special colors: 255th in most cases means transparent color, 254th in car textures is replaced by tail light color, 250th - 253th in car textures are rendered black for unknown reason

Offset	Name	Size (bytes)	Type	Description
0	resource_id	1	1-byte unsigned integer. Always == 0x2a	Resource ID
1	unk0	3	Bytes	Unknown purpose
4	num_colors	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Amount of colors
6	unk1	2	Bytes	Unknown purpose
8	num_colors1	2	2-bytes unsigned integer (little endian)	Always equal to num_colors?
10	unk2	6	Bytes	Unknown purpose
16	colors	num_colors*4	Array of num_colors items Item size: 4 bytes Item type: EA games 32-bit ARGB color, aaaaaaaa_rrrrrrrr_gggggggg_bbbbbbbb	Colors LUT