Maxis Mesh Stuff

The 3D models used in late-90s Maxis games SimCopter and Streets of SimCity are stored in files with the extension .max. Each file contains many models.

This respository contains tools and information related to these files.

Repository contents:

• C++: Source code for the mesh-extract and mesh-replace command-line tools (executables are in the Mesh Tools folder; see below).
• Info: Information regarding the mesh format used by SimCopter and Streets of SimCity.
  • Maxis Mesh Format Documentation: A description of the Maxis mesh format used for SimCopter and Streets of SimCity.
  • Making Videos for SimCopter's Drive-In Movie Theatres: A comprehensive guide to creating videos for SimCopter's drive-in movie theatres, including discussion of an interesting bug.
• Mesh Tools: Command-line tools to extract meshes from and replace meshes within Maxis mesh files.
• Processing: Scripts for use with Processing, a Java-based graphics framework.
  • Maxis Mesh Viewer: A tool for viewing 3D models from SimCopter and Streets of SimCity. It can also export meshes to Wavefront OBJ format.
• Python: Python scripts to export models from Blender in Maxis mesh format and to tabulate details from Maxis mesh files.