Twisted Metal 4 Parser (.MR parser)

Parser for MR files.

There are 2 dedicated programs for .MR files as release:

1. mr-unzip - "unzips" all content inside .MR files. You might find some interesting info inside such as sounds.
2. mr-to-obj - converts ".MR" file into wavefront .obj format.

Download

To download these programs please visit the releases section.

Extracting ("unzipping") .MR file content

You can extract all info inside .MR files using mr-unzip.exe program. Simply drag your .MR file into this program and you will find next to your MR file a folder named YOUR_MR_FILE.extracted and you can take a look what is inside. You can find sound/audio files like this for example.

Map weapon locations

In case you want location of powerups inside map, I've created a blender importer addon. To obtain it follow the following steps:

1. Download addon from here
2. In your blender go to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons and click Install... button in upper right corner.
3. Navigate to file you downloaded earler. It should be in your "Downloads" with name tm4_weapon_location_importer.py
4. Convert map .MR file using latest version of mr-to-obj program. You can obtain it in the releases section
5. Go to File > Import > Import TM4 weapon locations
6. Navigate to where the .MR file was converted to .obj and find YOUR_MAP_NAME.txt file and click it.

mr-to-obj .Exe usage:

If you decide to go through experience of converting map/cars yourself, here are the steps to do it:

1. Extract TM4 files in a folder, and remember where you extracted it.
2. Download mr-to-obj.exe (you can find it bellow this text), and remember where you saved it.
3. Go to a map/car file you want to open (found in DATA folder of step 1).
4. Right click the map/car (for example, YARD.MR), click "Open with".
5. Click More Apps -> Look for another app on this PC
6. Find the program that you downloaded at step 2.
7. You will find converted .OBJ file in the same folder as .MR file was found.
8. In order to view .OBJ file, you can use: Blender, Windows 3D viewer (just double click by default) or for example upload it here: https://www.creators3d.com/online-viewer

NOTE: If you are trying to convert map, make sure there is .IMG file in the same folder as your map file.

Map conversion limitations

Map details (teleports, etc)

This data is readable (meaning, it is possible to make a script that would output such values), but I didn't know how to meaningfully output such data to .obj map files. In case you need this data please contact me (contact info is below).

Vertex colors in maps

This game's maps heavily relies on vertex coloring to give a bit of extra lighting feel. Even though this converter outputs vertex colors, not many viewers support that. It seems the program doesn't convert all the maps perfectly though, so beware of that.

Solution

What you can do is use program "Mesh Viewer" to open .obj files and then convert files to other formats that support vertex colors. I think .dae might be the format that supports it.

Missing textures / models in maps

Not all meshes are converted because there are some meshes that are created in runtime (for example, train in neon city, upper part of crane in construction yard, etc.). That's why when you open .png file of maps, you'll see a lot of texture is missing/transparent. Those are accessed through game code in runtime and at the moment this tool can't inspect such textures/models.

Other utilities

mr-unpackager.exe

This program "unzips" the .MR. Output folder is called SAME_FILENAME.extracted, and it will be located in the same folder as .MR file. For example, if you want to "unzip" AXEL.MR, it will be extracted to folder AXEL.extracted. Existing files will be overwritten.

You can then edit or examine files if you want to.

Please keep all folders inside named NODE_..., because there are instances where a file and folder have same name, and this would create conflicts.

Usage: mr-unpackager FILENAME.MR

mr-packager.exe

This program "zips" a folder into a .MR file. Output file will be called SAME_FILENAME.MR, and it will be located in the same folder as the input folder. You MUST choose a folder that ends with .extracted. For example, if you want to convert folder AXEL.extracted, it will be converted to file called AXEL.MR. Existing .MR file will be overwritten.

If you modified something in folders, you can put back the modified .MR file back to CD image (or .iso file) and you'll have the modded game!!!

Please keep all folders inside named NODE_..., because there are instances where a file and folder have same name, and this would create conflicts.

Usage: mr-packager FOLDERNAME.extracted

mr-diff.exe

This program tells you if two .MR files have same content. This actually goes through each node and component and checks if they are the same. Only the frist found difference is shown in output.

Usage: mr-diff FILE1.MR FILE2.MR

Palette editing (a.k.a. editing texture colors) (palette-to-png.exe and png-to-palette.exe)

Before using these 2 programs, first unpackage .IMG file. Inside you need to find .clt--12 file. This is the palette.

• palette-to-png: provide path to a file which ends with .clt--12 and it will convert it to png. The file will be saved like this: palette__originalname.clt--12__offsetx__offsety. It is important that you don't rename the png file.
• png-to-palette: provide path to png file and it will convert it to .clt--12 file.

The flow to edit palette works like this:

1. mr-unpackager.exe PATH_TO.IMG
2. palette-to-png.exe PATH_TO_CLT
3. edit the png with gimp/photoshop/whatever
4. png-to-palette.exe PATH_TO_PNG
5. mr-packager.exe PATH_TO.IMG.extracted
6. Re-package iso/whatever is your flow
7. Enjoy!

Example:

Contact

In case you ever need help with this program, contact me: Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/Guilty_Painter_4707 Discord: charlieamer#9302