[REFERENCE] papadump.exe & papatran.exe

Papadump.exe and papatran.exe are two utilities included with the PA client. There are separate 32bit and 64 bit versions of these tools, located in the PA\bin_x86\Tools and PA\bin_x64\Tools folders, respectively.

PAPADUMP
This utility outputs technical information about a given .papa model.

Code:

c:\Program Files (x86)\Planetary Annihilation\PA\tools>papadump.exe
usage: papadump.exe [options] papa-file
  options:
    -v/--verbose

Sample Output (without -v, which is *very* verbose):

Code:

c:\Program Files (x86)\Planetary Annihilation\PA\tools>papadump.exe "c:\Program Files (x86)\Planetary Annihilation\PA\media\pa\units\land\aa_missile_vehicle\aa_missile_vehicle.papa"
0 textures.
1 vertex buffer:
    0:
        format: Position3Weights4bBones4bNormal3TexCoord2
        number vertices: 1223
1 index buffer:
    0:
        format: IF_UInt16
        number indices: 2313
2 materials:
    0:
        shader: "solid"
        1 vector parameter:
            0:
                name: "DiffuseColor"
                value: Vec4<float>(0.47451,0.47451,0.47451,0)
        0 texture parameters.
        0 matrix parameters.
    1:
        shader: "solid"
        1 vector parameter:
            0:
                name: "DiffuseColor"
                value: Vec4<float>(0.588,0.588,0.588,0)
        0 texture parameters.
        0 matrix parameters.
1 mesh:
    0:
        vertex buffer index: 0
        index buffer index: 0
        2 material groups:
            0:
                name: ""
                material index: 0
                first index: 0
                num primitives: 771
                primitive type: PRIM_Triangles
            1:
                name: ""
                material index: 1
                first index: 2313
                num primitives: 0
                primitive type: PRIM_Triangles
1 skeleton:
    0:
        4 bones:
            0:
                name: "bone_root"
                parent: -1
                translation: 0,0,0
                rotation: 0,0,0,1
                shear_scale: 1.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                             0.000000  1.000000  0.000000
                             0.000000  0.000000  1.000000
                bind2bone: 1.000000  0.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                           0.000000  1.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                           0.000000  0.000000  1.000000  0.000000
                           0.000000  0.000000  0.000000  1.000000
            1:
                name: "bone_turret"
                parent: 0
                translation: -4.27995e-010,1.09395,1.41058
                rotation: 0,0,0,1
                shear_scale: 1.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                             0.000000  1.000000  0.000000
                             0.000000  0.000000  1.000000
                bind2bone:  1.000000   0.000000   0.000000   0.000000
                            0.000000   1.000000   0.000000  -1.093951
                            0.000000   0.000000   1.000000  -1.410582
                            0.000000   0.000000   0.000000   1.000000
            2:
                name: "bone_pivot"
                parent: 1
                translation: 0,-1.19209e-007,1.83813
                rotation: 0,0,0,1
                shear_scale: 1.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                             0.000000  1.000000  0.000000
                             0.000000  0.000000  1.000000
                bind2bone:  1.000000   0.000000   0.000000   0.000000
                            0.000000   1.000000   0.000000  -1.093951
                            0.000000   0.000000   1.000000  -3.248714
                            0.000000   0.000000   0.000000   1.000000
            3:
                name: "socket_muzzle"
                parent: 2
                translation: 0,-1.08823,0
                rotation: 0,0,0,1
                shear_scale: 1.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                             0.000000  1.000000  0.000000
                             0.000000  0.000000  1.000000
                bind2bone:  1.000000   0.000000   0.000000   0.000000
                            0.000000   1.000000   0.000000  -0.005724
                            0.000000   0.000000   1.000000  -3.248714
                            0.000000   0.000000   0.000000   1.000000
1 model:
    0:
        name: "aa_missile_vehicle_mesh"
        model2scene: 1.000000  0.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                     0.000000  1.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                     0.000000  0.000000  1.000000  0.000000
                     0.000000  0.000000  0.000000  1.000000
        skeleton_data: 0
        1 mesh binding:
            0:
                name: "aa_missile_vehicle_mesh"
                mesh index: 0
                mesh2model: 1.000000  0.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                            0.000000  1.000000  0.000000  0.000000
                            0.000000  0.000000  1.000000  0.000000
                            0.000000  0.000000  0.000000  1.000000
                4 bone mappings:
                    0: 0
                    1: 1
                    2: 2
                    3: 3
0 animations.

PAPATRAN
This utility combines a number of source files to generate a .papa file.

:lol:

Hmm, tried importing delta.papa into blender, exporting as .fbx, then using papatran and re-importing. Got this:


Doesn't quite match the current delta commander. I can't import the .fbx to verify the export is correct in the first place, though.

Cool! I will test it today

It does have a lot of deltas though...

FYI, these tools are not limited to Windows. The linux build contains them as well (I have verified this) and I assume Mac build does as well.

Tried using fbx converter from autodesk to try different versions of fbx, all came out the same. Comparing the binary files now, straight away I can see there is no bones converted, only the default 3 that all papa unit models have.

So we only use fbx files that come from 3DSMAX. The ones form blender might be whack.

Probably be easiest to give you guys one of our FBX files so you can see how we have it setup.

Considering I use Crosswalk for FBX in XSI, I wonder hwo those would fair......but still, having a "template" FBX would be a great resource.

Mike

I emailed knight an fbx to post. Continuing the theme with the aa_missile_vehicle.

Turns out it was the Blender importer messing it up, hadn't realised there were multiple Vertex formats, and exporting a .papa to .fbx then using papatran.exe actually modified which Vertex format it was using.

Still not getting the extra bones, but the mesh is coming through properly (use v0.5 of the importer).

Was trying to use it to import some pngs to papa, but got a "could not find resource-root setting" error.

It needs the default.settings file. I find that the easiest way is to copy the png to where you want the papa to be and run papatran from the media directory. For example, suppose you want to make a nifty texture for the orbital factory. Copy the nifty.png to <PA Install dir>/media/pa/units/orbital/orbital_factory. Then from the command line, cd to <PA Install dir>/media and call papatran like this:

Code:

../tools/papatran pa/units/orbital/orbital_factory/nifty.png -o pa/units/orbital/orbital_factory/nifty.papa

(Change the '/' to '\' if you are using Windows)

(edit: spelling)

Thanks!

Opening either papadump or papatran will not work, trying to run the program from the folder or making a bat file with txt editor does not extract anything.

D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Planetary Annihilation\bin_x64\tools\papadump.exe "D:\Program Files (x86)\Planetary Annihilation\PA\media\pa\units\land\aa_missile_vehicle\aa_missile_vehicle.papa"

Work around is to use the Papa Texture Editor.

Papatran is for turning a png/fbx into a papa, and papadump only displays text-based info about the papa (it doesn't extract). Put a "Pause" statement in the bat file to see the output, but I don't think it will help for what you are after - the papa texture editor is the way to go if you want to extract textures, and the Blender importer can be used for models.

Note that you'll need a default.settings file in the tools directory when you eventually create the papa file.

With all modding i duplicate the folders, 1 in my work space and one backup so i can undo any faults with the default files.
But i do hope in time Uber releases a better tool, the process of extracting files, editing etc is cumbersome.
And yes i know early access so do not see this as a negative comment.
Would even be better if i can some how make a plugin for PS based on the current extractor tool.

That should be possible. I don't know what language Photoshop uses for its plugins, but the relevant code you would need to port can be found in GitHub. The only functions you would need from those are the decodeXXXXXX functions and the load function.

Hi.
I have follow your instruction but every time I click on papatran.exe the window appear for only 0,5 seconds and i can't see anything.... I have also tried with blender but, the export of .papa files dosn't work.
How can I fix this?

It's a command-line tool. As in, you need to run it from the command line.
Press <Win>+R and type "cmd". That will get you the command line in Windows, I think. If you've never used a command-line before, maybe this will help.