AssetCacheBuilder is part of the BFME 1.02 patch so I guess you have to get it. The asset.dat file can be 'hacked' open with an hex editor but it will be a pain to update it manually (see elsewhere in this forum for more info on its structure).
BFME 1 models contains three additions that the Renegade Tools can not produce:
- An unknown vertex array
- An unknown vertex normal array
- two new shader detail color options, including housecolor.
It appears to be harmless if the unknown vertex array and unknown vertex normals array are not present in the model. This does not indicate they have no purpose, just that we don't know what they do. The shader detail color can be edited in quite easily using an hex editor (I already did this for the models that will ship with 1.03 patch).
BFME 2 introduces a whole bunch of new stuff though. So far I found 7 chunks of new data. 5 of them are related to some new material model as, if present, they partly replace the 'old' material data.
Whenever the other 2 chunks show up the mesh has a vertex material flag of 99 (or 0x63) which is an unknown value. Both chunks represent vertex normals but their purpose is yet unknown.
All in all I think the Renegade Tools will soon no longer be sufficient for the Sage engine
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