Rvmat File Format

Intro

This file format is documented here to properly indicate all file types of BI. It is not intended to be other than a quick reference to the much more complete rvmat description elsewhere.

General

Rvmat files are the texture (material) files for Armed Assault.

The text they contain are classic token pair and classname structures. As such, they are raPifiable just like a config or a mission.sqm. Normally, Rvmats are raPified before use by the game engine, but, just like similar files (mission.sqm eg) they can be passed in text form and let the engine compile it there and then. This, obviously creates an engine load lag time before game start.

Structure

The minimum construct of an rvmat file is as follows;

//class NameOfRvmatFile{
  Ambient[]={D3DCOLORVALUES};    
  Diffuse[]={D3DCOLORVALUES};  
  ForcedDiffuse[]={D3DCOLORVALUES}; 
  emmisive[] = {D3DCOLORVALUES}; 
  specular[] = {D3DCOLORVALUES}; 
  specularPower = 64.0;
  PixelShaderID = "Normal";
  VertexShaderID = "BasicAlpha";
  class Stage0
  {
   texture="#(rgb,8,8,3)color(0,0,1,1,SMDI)";
   uvSource="tex";
   Filter="Point";
  };
  ......
  class StageLast
  {
   texture="#(rgb,8,8,3)color(0,0,1,1,SMDI)";
   uvSource="tex";
   Filter="Point";
  };
//};

where D3DCOLORVALUE = float r,g,b,a;

Note that PixelShaderID is a clear example of Rap files NOT being the popularly termed 'binarised' files. If it were binarised, BasicAlpha would be integer 3