Welcome to Cairn: the "one app" for Red Faction modding.
Q: What is Cairn?
A: Cairn is a GUI-based editing suite for Red Faction, and supports viewing, analyzing, and tweaking most common game formats. It also supports many format conversion flows, with more to be added in the future.
Q: What is Cairn
not?
A: Cairn is
not a level editor, graphics editing software, or a 3d modeling/skeletal animation tool. Cairn exists to augment and compliment your existing tools, not to replace them. You will definitely still need to use tools like RED, Photoshop, and Blender - what Cairn does is give you a "one stop shop" for viewing, analyzing, sorting, troubleshooting, and tweaking asset and data files for use in Red Faction.
Q: What are some feature highlights?
A: This is by no means a complete list, but:
- Create, preview, troubleshoot, and tweak ATX texture files
- Create, preview, troubleshoot, tweak, and retarget RFA animation files
- Preview and edit V3C/V3M meshes, with glTF and OBJ import/export
- Create, preview, troubleshoot, and tweak VFX animated mesh files
- Create, browse, and edit VPP packfiles
- Create, edit, and troubleshoot TBL files with syntax highlighting, cross-file dependency mapping, and asset previews
- Preview, troubleshoot, analyze, and edit VF font files
- Create, preview, and edit VBM textures, and convert them to ATX
- Preview levels (RFL) and group files (RFG) in 3D, and convert levels to glTF, OBJ, V3M, or RFG group files for the level editor
- Preview and convert sounds to WAV or Ogg Vorbis, and convert images to DDS
- Preview and convert legacy and PS2 RF data files such as PEG texture packfiles, VSE and VMU sounds, V3D/VCM exporter meshes, and RFM and RFC meshes
- Browse, extract, preview, and convert Red Faction II packfiles, levels, meshes, animations, and effects
Q: Do you have an overview of what's new in Cairn v1.1.0?
A:
Levels & groups
- Open
.rfl levels (RF1, Alpine Faction and RF2) and
.rfg group files in a 3D preview: compiled geometry or brushes, face-class filters, object markers and a fly camera.
- A full level info panel: author, fog, ambient light, geomod settings, object counts, every referenced file and where it's found, and the section layout.
- Convert levels to glTF, OBJ,
.v3m, or
.rfg group files for Alpine's level editor, with brushes, groups, movers and objects kept.
- Turn any mesh, glTF or OBJ into an
.rfg.
Red Faction II support (read-only, convertible)
- Open RF2 packfile groups (
.toc_group) to browse, preview, extract and convert their contents.
-
Levels: preview them and convert them to RF1 formats. Textures are translated by default, and lights, coronas and clutter are mapped.
-
Meshes (.rfm/.rfc): preview and convert to .v3m/.v3c. Bone orientation was checked against the game's own animations.
-
Animations (.rfa v9): play them on RF2 characters and convert them to RF1 .rfa clips.
-
Effects (.rfe): an animated preview, and conversion to RF1 .vfx.
Meshes & animations
- Wavefront OBJ import and export for .v3m/.v3c, with a material file and textures.
- Packfiles open in Cairn show up in the animation library, so you can play any clip on any character from an open packfile.
Workflow
- One
File › Convert to… menu for every conversion, also available on packfile entries.
- Files opened from a packfile now use that packfile's textures.
- Extraction remembers the last folder you used.
- File associations for .rfl, .rfg and .toc_group.
Cairn is a perpetual work-in-progress and will be improved and added to as needed to provide maximum value to RF developers and creators. If you have ideas, please drop by the Cairn thread in #workshop-projects on the
RF Community Discord
More information:
- Github repo:
[Link]
- Usage guide:
[Link]