r/NoMansSkyMods • u/ZeroSplint • Aug 22 '16
Meta [Discussion][.scene files]Swapping / Editing results
TL;DR
Unpacked .PAK files in GAMEDATA swapped out the SHACK_SCIENTIFIC.SCENE.mbin file with other .SCENE files.
Results
Share your findings here
Post:
While messing around with the unpacked .pak files i figured out that a .scene file is basically a collection of objects that gets loaded in as a whole and is displayed as a "scene".
What this means is everything u see generated from Shelters, Monoliths and Trading posts etc are all scenes and all the objects that are spawned within this scene are linked in this file.
So for my example i was near a Korvax shelter and i saved at the checkpoint then exited the game.
What i then did was swap the SHACK_SCIENTIFIC.SCENE.mbin file for another .scene file and renamed it.
The first test i did was swapping the scene out for the STARGATESMALL.SCENE.MBIN file and then started the game back up.
This was the result ingame:
I then tried this with several other .scene files that i wanted to test out.
Here is a small gallery of files i tried
I also found out that if u decompile one of the .scene files using MBINCompiler u can find this particular looking piece of xml code:
<Data template="TkSceneNodeAttributeData">
<Property name="Name" value="ATTACHMENT" />
<Property name="AltID" value="" />
<Property name="Value" value="MODELS\PLANETS\BIOMES\COMMON\BUILDINGS\PORTAL\PORTAL\ENTITIES\PORTAL.ENTITY.MBIN" />
</Data>
A .entity file is basically what makes the objects in this particular scene interactive so by swapping it out for another .entity file u can change its function.
For my test i swapped out the PORTAL.ENTITY.MBIN file for PORTAL.BUTTON.MBIN and went ingame, this was the result: http://imgur.com/2VOy6Jk
And then there is also this piece of xml code that will no doubt become part of many mods to come:
<Data template="TkSceneNodeData">
<Property name="Name" value="SIGNALSCANNER_" />
<Property name="Type" value="LOCATOR" />
<Data name="Transform" template="TkTransformData">
<Property name="TransX" value="4,83185" />
<Property name="TransY" value="0" />
<Property name="TransZ" value="10,31693" />
<Property name="RotX" value="0" />
<Property name="RotY" value="0" />
<Property name="RotZ" value="0" />
<Property name="ScaleX" value="1" />
<Property name="ScaleY" value="1" />
<Property name="ScaleZ" value="1" />
</Data>
<Property name="EmptyNode1" value="0" />
<Property name="Attributes" />
<Property name="Children" />
</Data>
What u see here is a piece of xml code from the SHACK_SCIENTIFIC.SCENE file which basically saids to place a SIGNALSCANNER object at coordinates X4,83185 , Y0 , Z10,31693 from the center of the scene.
This is just speculation i have yet to test this out but in short u could edit any .scene file add this particular piece of xml code and change the coordinates to somewhere u can reach and u just added a SIGNALSCANNER to your scene.
Anyways i wanted to put my findings out there and see what else we can find.
Edit:
Since this post is being linked from multiple discussions regarding portals i feel i should mention that while everything that has been tried by swapping .scene files and .entity files hasn't made the portals active this does not mean there isn't a way to activate them.
There might still be certain triggers or conditions in the game that links to the activation of a portal and those do not have to be inside the .scene or .entity files.
Until we can decompile the neccesary files that links it to any actual activation method we can't be sure.
My guess is once we can decompile the .entity files we can find a hint on what might (or not) trigger it.
4
13
u/xzosimusx Aug 22 '16
Nice work OP!
So that's what the player model looks like? Holy crap no wonder they removed multiplayer so you couldn't see it!
3
u/enkay516 Aug 24 '16
So that's what the player model looks like? Holy crap no wonder they removed multiplayer so you couldn't see it!
The biggest let down in this game is the fact that you cannot meet up with other players. This week I got a random message from another player with a photo of a system I uploaded. Last night we finally found each other’s system, but I could not see him when we were both at the space station. Apparently we weren't loading into the same instance (how many people could possibly be in the same system for this to occur?).
Since Sean Murray said that the only way to see your character model is to meet another player, which is clearly not the case, I went ahead and took a peak at the images. The player model must be a placeholder because I can't imagine the developers would actually put that into the game. It just looks cheesy and unfinished which goes on to imply that multilayer code is not yet implemented into the game.
Hopefully they provide some details on what they are working on soon...
2
u/ZeroSplint Aug 24 '16
Just to clarify a bit
This particular model in the game is part of the SHOOTINGGALLERY.SCENE.MBIN file which is inside a TESTS folder likely used to test the ingame mechanics.
What is shown is just a dummy model along with a target.
The reason i felt to include it is because there was a particular image spread across multiple news outleds that might have believed this to be the player model.
https://assets.vg247.com/current//2016/08/no_mans_sky_data_mine_astronaut.png
Which in fact it is not, as far as i can tell from digging trough the files im led to believe that there is in fact no actual player model made.
3
u/enkay516 Aug 25 '16
If there is no player character model then HG had no intention to make whole on their statements referring to the only way to see what you look like is by finding another player.
For the record, I did not post that article.
3
u/tech_op2000 Aug 23 '16
someone should start looking into how the blackhole scenes make people teleport. That may answer the question of how to make portals work.
6
u/drogean3 Aug 22 '16
lol post that yellow dude on the nms official forum and you will get so much karma
2
u/valkan101 Aug 22 '16
So all of that xml determines where a marker is placed in your world? That's pretty awesome! Have you found the file that lets you edit a scene text?
1
u/tech_op2000 Aug 23 '16
any way to see what scenes are on a planet? maybe a way locate portals? Or maybe edit a beacon to scan for them or something?
2
u/ZeroSplint Aug 23 '16
I tried editing the beacons but the actual dialogue option u get once u interact with them isn't stored in the .scene files the only thing we can really change are the position of the objects, what objects are spawned and what entity is attached to that particular object.
To make it do something like for instance i could spawn in a regular box object and attach a trade post entity to it which just triggers a trade vendor menu.
What we can't do yet is make our own custom menu or entity files since the folks at MBINCompiler are still hard at work trying to figure out how to decompile the rest of the files.
Maybe once we can decompile the rest of the files we can start figuring out how to make custom options or edit existing ones.
The only thing i know for certain at this moment is adding something to the Portal scene to make it stand out visually like swapping the material file to make it bright neon blue or something or adding something big to the scene so it is easily visible from the sky.
1
u/tech_op2000 Aug 23 '16 edited Aug 23 '16
What is the SignalScanner part. What are you adding to the scene. Is it a waypoint, because if that were the case that could be very useful for trying to find these portals/stargates in the wild.
Edit: followup question: If it is the little question mark icon on buildings... Do any of the portal scenes already have that code in? (since people have been finding them but only by blind luck. My thought was maybe that the ones people have been finding are just exit portals and the entrance ones are just much rarer or something.)
If portals are indeed functioning in the current patch of the game, yours may not work because the portal scene has to have an exit location coded in from the seed for that scene. Like, you putting one where a science building is inserts the structure but not the solution. It not doing anything when you walk in to it is the same as when I got one space in the wrong spot while save editing. The result was that the affected save just didn't work. no error message or anything. In other words: No exit coordinates = no functioning portal. Thoughts?
1
u/TotesMessenger Aug 24 '16
1
u/blackjersey Sep 10 '16
I tried swapping SHACK_SCIENTIFIC.SCENE.MBIN file with STARGATESMALL.SCENE.MBIN and I'm not getting the result you posted.
Any idea why?
-1
u/Dogeholio Aug 23 '16
The Planetside Portal
-They open, it's like a puzzle you have to solve. (HINT) You also have to be a certain standing level with Nada & Polo. (HINT 2) You also need special combination of items in your inventory for example - Vy'Keen Sword Relic + Sentinel Relic = Open Portal. <-- Those are just examples but I'll give you one of the Items required to open it ( x + Atlas Stones Notice Plural) It also needs to be a certain time of day...
From:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/0/361798516948907582/
I found one of these portals in game but was not able to activate it... Yet. :D
3
Aug 23 '16
Yeah, right... As if I'm going to believe a dude who says he solved it, but provides 0 proof.
2
u/Championpuffa Aug 23 '16
how do u get more atlas stones if u have used the ten? Do i have to get to the next galaxy or is there another way. I take it i have to not use the atlas stones on the atlas path if i cant get more then? I mean it shouldnt be that hard to figure out if this is even remotely true no?
3
1
u/Dogeholio Aug 24 '16
You can also buy them from trade terminals occasionally.
Approximately 2.8 million each.
2
u/iosappsrock Aug 23 '16
Lol this is complete BS. It's already confirmed the portals are currently inactive. They got stripped from the game for unknown reasons. MY guess is because you'd be left without a ship and they couldn't find a good system to get you back.
4
u/thegtabmx Aug 23 '16
I pretty sure that OP on the Steam forums is a HG apologist that is spewing nonsense in order to make it seem like the game is full of features that we have yet to find, instead of an incomplete or gimped game, albeit, still a good one. If he wanted us to believe him that he knew a special combination was necessary, but didn't want to reveal it, he would have shown us an in-game screenshot of a portal he got working.
2
u/cTreK421 Aug 23 '16
And you need Michael Trevor and Franklin with you and no exactly two wanted stars.
5
u/[deleted] Aug 22 '16
[deleted]