@SIMGURUMODSQUAD

Hello. Deformer maps (Dmaps) are a big-ish topic, I'll start with the basics:

Dmap resources define a displacement for model vertices when the model is constructed to achieve deformation of the Sim geometry based on user customization. There are many Dmap resources, a particular resource will define a gender/age, region and a morph state (for example "yfBody_Heavy", "yfBody_Fit", "ymFeet_Long", "ymFeet_Short"). Furthermore there are two variations of the resource, one the contains the normal and one that contains the vertex delta - for example, "ymFeet_Short_Normals" (resource db43e069:00000000:c351e7260b39e239) and "ymFeet_Short_Shape" (resource db43e069:00000000:cbe85057a5c4ac2a).

Within a Dmap resource itself there can be two sets of data defined, one for skin tight geometry and one for "robe" data (i.e. with clothing on). This is because deformation should affect the geometry differently depending on if the geometry is loose clothing as opposed to skin or skintight clothing.

The 2nd UV set in the CAS part geometry maps to the displacement data encoded in the the Dmap resource which is used to modify the geometry when the Sim is built. Additionally vertex color in the geometry is used to weight between the "skintight" or "robe" data - this allows gradual transition from skintight to clothing.

The Dmap data is encoded in a pretty custom format (RLE, with skintight and robe data interleaved, data normalized, plus some additional complexity due to optimization). I will work on getting a .bt file for you guys of this resource. Stay tuned.

ORIGINAL LINK

Note that you need to be logged in at EA to see that thread (there is a login prompt now, but it still takes you back to the main forum overview) -- there may be follow-up conversation.

Attached is a zip containing the .bt file for the deformer map resource. Additionally the zip includes a script file (with extension .sc) that can be run in the 010 Editor to decode the bitmap data to a BMP to better illustrate how the RLE compression and index table optimization works.

The data format is relatively straight forward, but more complicated than most because of the optional compression - I am pretty sure I've got it right but let me know if something looks wrong. Note that Maxis authored data is generally compressed. And ideally mods are also compressed, but you can create them as fully uncompressed which simplifies the data format but less optimal for the engine to load and use. Generating uncompressed files probably will make things easier at first while you guys are figuring things out.

Happy dmapping!

DOWNLOAD FILE ON THE OFFICIAL THREAD HERE