https://github.com/aybe/twisted
Twisted Metal reverse-engineering
https://github.com/aybe/twisted
playstation twisted-metal unity3d
Last synced: 3 months ago
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Twisted Metal reverse-engineering
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/aybe/twisted
- Owner: aybe
- Created: 2022-01-31T11:51:07.000Z (over 3 years ago)
- Default Branch: develop
- Last Pushed: 2022-05-19T15:27:00.000Z (over 3 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-04-06T00:22:52.798Z (6 months ago)
- Topics: playstation, twisted-metal, unity3d
- Language: C#
- Homepage:
- Size: 2.54 MB
- Stars: 11
- Watchers: 4
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
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Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
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README
# Twisted
Reverse-engineering of Twisted Metal, a game released on the PlayStation in 1995.
# Table of Contents
- [Twisted](#twisted)
- [Table of Contents](#table-of-contents)
- [Getting started](#getting-started)
- [Using the database viewer](#using-the-database-viewer)
- [The toolbar](#the-toolbar)
- [The database view](#the-database-view)
- [The database columns](#the-database-columns)
- [Reverse-engineering](#reverse-engineering)
- [The database](#the-database)
- [The symbols](#the-symbols)
- [Tips and tricks](#tips-and-tricks)
- [Known issues](#known-issues)
- [Unity](#unity)
- [Project](#project)
- [Gallery](#gallery)
# Getting started
To use this project, you will need the following:
- [Unity 2022.1.0b16](https://unity3d.com/beta/2022.1b#downloads) or later as the project uses the latest UI elements
- Twisted Metal, you can use demo files from [*UK PlayStation Magazine 4 CD*](https://github.com/aybe/Twisted/releases/tag/twisted)
# Using the database viewer
The database viewer allows you to explore levels of the game, you can launch it from the _Twisted_ menu.
## The toolbar
***Open an existing database:***
Every database has an associated texture atlas, make sure that both are in the same directory.
***Enable polygon-level generation:***
Generates one game object per polygon, this is quite slow but allows for a detailed inspection.
***Enable texture:***
Objects without texture will most likely need to have vertex color enabled to look as intended.
***Enable transparency:***
Objects with transparency will most likely need to have this setting enabled to look as intended.
***Enable vertex color:***
Pretty much all objects in the game will require this setting to be enabled to look as intended.
***Enable polygon color:***
Tints every polygon family with a distinct color, useful to highlight usage of a specific polygon family.
***Enable hierarchy filtering:***
Filters out the generated hierarchy, only including objects tagged as being part of the environment.
***Enable search filtering:***
Filters out the nodes shown in the list while searching the database, only including distinct nodes.
***Enable selection framing:***
Enabling this setting will automatically frame the generated hierarchy of objects in the scene view.
***Number of visible nodes:***
Indicates how many nodes are currently shown in the tree or in the filtered list during a search.
***Search field:***
Filters out the database to show nodes containing entered text, regular expressions are supported.
## The database view
The content is shown as a tree view that switches to a list view while performing a search.
Multi-column sort can be done by holding Ctrl or Shift key to add or remove a column.
Database nodes have a context menu from which you can perform some actions on them.
## The database columns
***Name:***
The name of the class that implements the node.
***Kind:***
The major type for the node, categorizes nodes by their purpose in the database.
***Role:***
The minor type for the node, categorizes nodes by their purpose in the scene.
***Position:***
The position of the node in the database file.
***Length:***
The length of the node in the database file.
***Category:***
This is a human-friendly representation of the *Role* column, indicates major role in scene.
***Description:***
This is a human-friendly representation of the *Role* column, indicates minor role in scene.
***Polygons:***
Indicates what family of polygons are referenced by the database node.
# Reverse-engineering
## The database
The DMD format is a hierarchical data structure that consists of nodes with different kind and role.
It appears to be a rough variation of the HMD format that can be found in the official PlayStation SDK.
Everything in the database is referred to by an offset to a base pointer specified at the top of the file.
The nodes themselves are intertwined with model data throughout the file and in no particular order.
## The symbols
These can be found in the PSX.SYM file and they do match against the executable SIPS_600.07.
Obviously, knowing this information is extremely useful in further understanding the game!
Ghidra and IDA users can generate a script to perform batch renaming using [dumpsym](https://github.com/aybe/dumpsym).
## Tips and tricks
From the *Twisted* menu, you can batch extract the nodes and polygons for an easier analysis.
You are likely to hack onto the game at some point, try [no$psx](https://problemkaputt.de/psx.htm) with its amazing debugger.
You may also like [nocash-GPU-command-prettifier](https://github.com/aybe/nocash-GPU-command-prettifier) and [nocash-GPU-texture-calculator](https://github.com/aybe/nocash-GPU-texture-calculator).
Here are a couple of useful patches to apply to the game:
Address|Value|Result
-|-|-
8011A270|(DWORD)(0)|Suppresses enemy movement
801196FC|(DWORD)(0)|Suppresses enemy weaponry
800FF634|(DWORD)(0)|Suppresses head-up display
# Known issues
## Unity
**Progress bars may occasionally not reach 100%:**
This is because Unity progress bar are incredibly slow at catching updates.
**Focused control may occasionally lose focus after typing:**
This happens throughout Unity when there are UI elements at play.
**Tree view is partially redrawn after clicking a column header:**
This is a bug in Unity's tree view.
**Recursively expanding a tree view item using selects the item:**
This is a bug in Unity's tree view.
**Tree view items cannot be fully revealed using keyboard navigation:**
This is a bug in Unity's tree view.
## Project
**Wrong colors in some regions:**
Extra lighting is involved in the game but it hasn't been figured out yet.
**Wrong sprites:**
These require a special type of node that isn't implemented at the moment.
**Wrong textures if rendering a database in its entirety:**
There is colliding texture information in the game data.
**Wrong textures in some regions:**
There is incorrect texture information in some of the polygons.
**Wrong transforms for some objects:**
The game performs extra transformations at runtime.
**Wrong transparency for some objects:**
Correct transparency among families of polygons isn't implemented at the moment.
**Z-fighting:**
Either some objects are at the same position or required ordering tables are missing.
# Gallery
