Template libraries (.plib)

ForzaTechWorld and streamingApplies toFH6

Each placement category has a library, Ribbon_00\instancetemplates\<season>\objects\<CATEGORY>.plib, that turns the block names of .pgeo files into models. The objects\ folder is byte-identical to summer\; there is one library per category per season folder (5 folders × 13 categories = 65 files of version 38). Observed All 65 files read to their last byte under the layout below, every constant holding on every file (545 draw behaviours, 19,776 model templates and 47,835 placement templates in all). Proven · all 65 files

Placement\GRASSTEMPLATE.plib (version 9) is a different format: groups of weighted grass templates for the run-time .mtp grass, not used by .pgeo. Observed All 5 (one per season folder) read to their last byte under the layout further down (512 groups with 2,379 items and 415 sets in all). Proven · all 5 files

Layout

.plib (version 38)variableFH650% known

Little-endian; a string is a u32 length and that many bytes of printable ASCII, a list a u32 count and that many entries. The file ends where the names end.

ProvenObservedSourcedInferredUnknownNot described

Offset	Size	Type	Field	Confidence	Notes
0x0	4	u32 = 38	version	Observed
0x4	4	u32	unknown	Unknown	varies per file
0x8	4 + n	str	category	Observed	GRASSTEMPLATE, TREES, ...
next	8	u8[8]	hash	Unknown
next	variable	behaviour[]	draw behaviours	Observed	u32 count, then behaviours
next	variable	template[]	model templates	Observed	u32 count, then templates
next	variable	tailor[]	tailors	Observed	u32 count; each { str name, str uv, u32 0, str scale, u32 0, u32 0, str density }
next	variable	uv entry[]	UV entries	Unknown	list of { str name, f32[6] }; then a u32 0 (a list that is empty in every file)
next	variable	scale entry[]	scale entries	Unknown	list of { str name, f32[2] }; then two u32 0 (lists that are empty in every file)
next	variable	density entry[]	density entries	Unknown	list of { str name, f32[5] }
next	variable	material[]	materials	Observed	list of { str name, str material (empty for MATERIAL_DEFAULT), u32 0, u32 index (0 to 20, meaning unknown), u32 0 }
next	variable	placement template[]	placement templates	Observed	list of { str name, str proxy path, u32, str billboard template, str billboard tailor, str model template, str model tailor, str material, f32[2], i32 }
next	4	u32 = 0	zero	Observed	a list that is empty in every file
next	variable	str[]	names	Observed	the crowd animation names in the crowd library; one empty name elsewhere

A draw behaviour is str name (TREE_3D_DEFAULT, PLANT_3D_DRAW_BEHAVIOUR_HIGH, …), u32 mode (0, 1 or 3), two floats (−1, −1 or 1, 1), 13 flag bytes (meanings unknown), and 65 slots; each slot is u32 nRanges, nRanges × 33 B { u32 kind, f32 start, f32 end, f32 fadeIn, f32 fadeOut, f32 −1, f32 −1, 5 × u8 }, f32 −1, f32 −1, f32 (1.0, 0.8 or 0.6), u8. Observed

A model template is the block name, the draw behaviour name, an AABB (f32 min[3], 0, max[3], 0), f32 1.0, 11 flag bytes, the x range of the AABB again, u8 1, u32 nModels (1 on all 19,776 templates) with a path tracks\brio\scene\models\...\<stem>.model|.max, u8 0, 65 bytes slotToSet (the index of the LOD set for each behaviour slot; non-zero exactly where the behaviour slot has ranges: 0 mismatches over 257,725), and the LOD sets u32 nSets × { u32 n, n × { u8, u32 lod, u32 (0, 1, 1000000 or 0x7FFFFFFF), u32 k, k × u32 id } } (set 0 is empty). Observed

A placement template is what a .pgeo block’s source range names (GBL_SUSUKI_SUM_A_HIGH): it names a model template (and a tailor and a material entry) and optionally a billboard model template. Observed The tailors, UV, scale and density entries, and the material entries are read as listed above; what their floats and the template’s words mean is not established. Unknown

The version 9 library is u32 9, u32 (varies), two names (GRASSTEMPLATE twice), a list of groups, a list of sets and a final f32. A group is str name, u32 n, f32 and n items { str placement template, u8 (0 or 2), f32[7], i32 (−1, 0 or 1), f32[3] }; a set is str name and a list of group names. Proven · all 5 files The meaning of the floats, the byte and the word is not established. Unknown

Template to model

The model is the file stem of the one path; the archive has <same folder>\<stem>_clusterNNN.i.modelbin (the grass template 3D_GBL_SUSUKI_SUM_A_3D_HIGH maps to groundcover\gbl\gcr_gbl_susuki\gcr_gbl_susuki_a\gcr_gbl_susuki_a_cluster000 to 002). For all 3,485 <x>_3D templates in the summer libraries the stem is <x>; other seasons differ for 1 to 35 templates (spring and winter tre_lmt_elm_c_3D map to tre_lmt_elm_wnt_c; autumn tre_urb_ginkgo_d_3D to tre_urb_ginkgo_wnt_d). Observed The autumn trees.plib defines tre_urb_ginkgo_d_3D twice (one record to tre_urb_ginkgo_d, a later one to tre_urb_ginkgo_wnt_d); which one the game uses is not known. Unknown

The grass mapping is identical in all seasons for the templates they share (winter lacks 56 and spring adds 6). All 49 placed grass templates are in the spring, summer and autumn libraries; winter lacks 23 of them (crops, tufty grass, which are placed in all-season files). Observed The winter library therefore probably draws no such grass. Inferred

LOD bands

A slot lists distance bands and the template’s set for that slot lists the model LODs (lod = 0, 1, 2 …, in _clusterNNN order, which is inferred). Observed Examples: TREE_3D_DEFAULT slot 13 is 0–25, 25–80 and 80–225 m with set LODs 0, 1 and 2, slot 11 is 0–135 m with LOD 2; impostors take over from 225 m (impostor_draw_behaviour slot 13: 225–1000 and 1000–2600 m). GEN_LONG_GRASS_A_3D_HIGH, _MEDIUM and _LOW are one model at LOD 0, 1 and 2 for 0–40, 40–80 and 80–189 m, so the _HIGH suffix is the near band of the same model. Observed Which render pass each slot is (colour, shadow …) is not established. Unknown

What each slot’s LOD set draws, read over the 26 <x>_impostor templates, their 26 <x>_3D twins and 38 other templates (buildings, props, signs, barriers, infrastructure) placed in the Shibuya Scramble area: slot 13 is the only slot whose set holds LOD 0 of every template and holds the whole chain (trees [0, 1, 2], bushes [0], props [0, 1, 2, 3] or [0 .. 4], buildings [0, 3], impostors [0] or [0, 2]); slot 11 holds no LOD 0 of a model with several (props [1, 2, 3], buildings [1, 3], trees [2]); slot 12 holds [1, 3] and slot 10 [3] (buildings); slots 1 and 6 hold one coarse LOD ([3] or [4]; [0] for impostors, the one card). Observed The bucket flags of the meshes of those LODs do not tell the slots apart: they are the same files, with colour buckets (0x19, 0x1c, 0x38), in every slot. Observed A tree’s _3D template covers 0 to 25, 25 to 80 and 80 to 225 m in slot 13 and 0 to 135 m (LOD 2) in slot 11, and its _impostor template starts at 225 m in slot 13 and at 135 m in slot 11 (a bush: _3D 0 to 55 m, impostor from 55 m in slot 13; _3D 0 to 40 m, impostor from 40 m in slot 11), but in slots 1 and 6 only the impostor has ranges (0 to 400 or 500 m and 0 to 200 or 250 m for a tree, 0 to 250 and 0 to 150 m for a bush). Observed Slot 13 is therefore probably the main colour view: the one pass with the finest LOD and the near bands. Inferred The flattenable-bush proxy templates (bsh_flat_*_3D, Bush_Flattenable_Hard_3D: two triangles, material art_mesh, and bucket 0x18 for Bush_Flattenable_Hard_3D) have ranges in slot 11 only, and every one of the 924 placed in the area has a real _3D bush at the same position. Observed The impostors are placed the same way: each of the 3,270 placements of the 26 <x>_impostor templates in and within 30 m of the area has a placement of the same tree’s or bush’s <x>_3D template at the same position (within 1 cm). They come from the rule files (…so.pgeo 2,764, …ulc.pgeo 253, …ulp.pgeo 253). Observed An impostor is marked only by names: the template’s _impostor suffix, its materials’ Impostor_LOD<n> names and the uber_foliage Impostor parameter, while their meshes’ bucket flags (0x38) are those of other foliage. Observed The distinct range ends of every slot are all values of the main-view LOD profile distances (.pvs, pass 2, tier 1 or 3), which does not tell the slots apart either. Observed

The template box is not the model’s extent

The AABB is not the model’s extent: it can be smaller or far larger than the mesh (prp_cty_strge_delivery_01_a: library half width 0.17 m, model 0.31 m; inf_fst_entrance_a: library reach 846 m, model x −15.2..15.2 m). Observed The bounds that do contain the mesh come from the hand-placed instance file (model bounds). Observed

Templates with no geometry

Some templates have an all-zero AABB and every LOD id 0xFFFFFFFF (props decal_cty_pnt_cyclearrow, cyclelane, filterline, pedestriancrossing01 to 05, long_u, inf_hwy_volume_01_b, bar_gbl_pavement_blocksrural_spacer, road_gen_rum_round_collision, *_glow), in all four seasons, while their shipped siblings have real bounds (decal_cty_pnt_pedestriancrossing: 0.65 × 0.006 × 5.07 m, id 7968). Their model path is an ordinary mesh reference (scene\models\road_decals\decals\...) with an ordinary draw behaviour, and no modelbin exists for them in any archive. Observed The game probably draws nothing for those placements, and the painted road markings come from the road decal layers of the terrain (Decals). Inferred

Placements whose model stem has no modelbin are numerous: 35,504 buildings, 19,490 props, 5,797 barriers, 1,164 infrastructure, 120 bushes, 7 rocks map-wide. Observed Looking every model path of the 65 libraries up as <same folder>\<stem>_cluster<NNN>.<k>.modelbin among the 113,868 modelbins of GeoChunk0 finds a file for 12,566 of the 19,776 paths (10,834 of the 17,874 .max paths and 1,732 of the 1,872 .model paths); 7,210 have none, 30 of those being empty paths. Proven · all 65 libraries

What do the UV, scale and density entries and the tailors mean?

They are read and every byte is accounted for, but what a tailor does with its three entries, and what the floats are, is not established.

What do the lists that are empty in every file hold?

Three lists after the UV and scale entries and one after the placement templates are empty in all 65 libraries, so their entry layout cannot be read from the install.

What do the draw behaviour mode, flags and slot kinds mean?

mode (0, 1, 3), the 13 flag bytes and the per-range kind are read but not interpreted.