Animation string
Basic format
Animation strings are of the form:
<frame descriptor 1>-<frame descriptor 2>-...-<frame descriptor n>
Frame descriptors are a sequence of lowercase tags followed by an uppercase frame letter and an integer frame duration:
zzA1
For instance:
x-5A3-x-3B2-x-2C1-x-1D1
divides up as:
| Tags | Frame | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| x-5 | A | 3 |
| x-3 | B | 2 |
| x-2 | C | 1 |
| x-1 | D | 1 |
Tags
There are a lot of available tags. Not all of them are understood. Some of them take numeric parameters, which are indicated in angle brackets below. Such parameters must match the regular expression:
-?+\?[0-9]*
An omitted parameter is treated as 0.
Here's a complete list of all tags. Descriptions in italics may be unreliable.
| Tag | Notes |
|---|---|
| aa | |
| ab | |
| ac | |
| ad | |
| ae | |
| af | |
| ag | |
| ai | |
| am | |
| ao | |
| as | |
| at | |
| aw | |
| ax | |
| ar | |
| al | |
| b<...> | The b codes control the rendering method used for the sprite. A variable b is set to a visibility level, and is linearly interpolated throughout the frame from the bs value to the bf value, if the bs value has been specified and is not zero. Otherwise the b value is set to the bf value.
<math> b = bs ? (bs + (bf - bs) * tick / ticksThisFrame) : bf </math> The bf value is set by the tags bb, bf, bj, bl, bm. These tags all also set some bflags which control the rendering effect. |
| b1 | = 0x2000 |
| b2 | = 0x4000 |
| bb<n> | = 0x0010, bf := n Screen shake with magnitude n |
| be | = 0x0800 Something related to victory/scrap/destruction animations? |
| bf<n> | = 0x0001, bf := n Blend finish with opacity n < 256 |
| bh | = 0x0040 |
| bl<n> | = 0x0008, bf := n |
| bm<n> | = 0x0100, bf := n |
| bj<n> | = 0x0400, bf := n |
| bs<n> | bs := n Blend start with opacity n < 256 (the sprite is drawn at this opacity at the start of the frame and gradually transitioned to whatever is set as the blend finish value) |
| bu | = 0x8000 |
| bw | = 0x0080 |
| bx | = 0x0002 |
| bp<...> | The bp codes control scene and entity lighting and colouring. A variable bp is set to a colour level, and is linearly interpolated throughout the frame from the bpb value to the bpp value. The bpd tag specifies a reference colour (r,g,b) by palette index.
bp = bpb + (bpp - bpb) * tick / ticksThisFrame
for i = bps to bps + bpn:
if bz:
m = max(r_i, g_i, b_i)
r_i' = r_i + m/64 * bp/64 * (r - r_i*)
g_i' = g_i + m/64 * bp/64 * (g - g_i*)
b_i' = b_i + m/64 * bp/64 * (b - b_i*)
else:
r_i' = r * bp/64
g_i' = g_i * (1 - bp/64) + g * bp/64
b_i' = b_i * (1 - bp/64) + b * bp/64
r_i = max(0, min(63, r_i'))
g_i = max(0, min(63, g_i'))
b_i = max(0, min(63, b_i'))
In the above, r_i* is the original (unmodified) value. |
| bpd<n> | bpd := n
Specifies a colour (reference palette index) |
| bps<n> | bps := n
Starting palette index |
| bpn<n> | bpn := n
Palette entry count |
| bpf | Blend Palette Fighter: If this is the HAR for player 2 then bps48 bpn48 (second robot's colours) else bps1 bpn47 (first robot's colours) |
| bpp<n> | bpb := n, bpp := n
Set both initial and final colour level. |
| bpb<n> | bpb := n
Initial colour level for blending. Specify bpp first. |
| bpo | bpo := 1
Disables palette effects. |
| bz |
If specified, a colour tint effect will be used, otherwise a green-blue lightning effect will be used. |
| ba<n> | |
| bc<n> | |
| bd | |
| bg | |
| bi<n> | |
| bk<n> | crashes if not in arena? |
| bn | |
| bo<n> | |
| br | Draw additively |
| bt | |
| by | |
| cf | |
| cg | |
| cl | |
| cp | Apply the damage for the current animation to opponent |
| cw | |
| cx<n> | |
| cy<n> | |
| d<n> | d1 is the animation string for the third to last frame in all the scrap metal damage bits that fall off of a HAR |
| e | |
| f | toggle flag Flip sprite verticially |
| g | |
| h | |
| i | |
| jf2 | |
| jf | |
| jg | |
| jh | |
| jj | |
| jl | |
| jm | |
| jn<n> | |
| jp | |
| jz | combination of all other j flags except jn |
| k<n> | |
| l<n> | |
| ma<n> | if n == 1000 then n := random(360) |
| mc | |
| md<n> | Destroy animation n |
| mg<n> | |
| mi<n> | |
| mm<n> | mm := n |
| mn<n> | |
| mo | something involving HARs, applied to object mm |
| mp<n> | |
| mrx<n> | mx := random(320 - 2*mm) + n |
| mry<n> | my := random(200 - 2*mm) + n |
| ms | my := -4 * (f1C - 188) |
| mu<n> | similar to mo, n < 1024, applied to object mm |
| mx<n> | mx := n |
| my<n> | my := n |
| m<n> | Create instance of animation n |
| n | |
| ox<n> | ox := n |
| oy<n> | oy := n |
| pa | |
| pb<n> | n < 512 |
| pc<n> | n < 512 |
| pd<n> | n < 256 |
| pe | make pa, pb, pc, pd operate on the other HAR |
| ph | disable pa, pb, pc, pd |
| pp<n> | |
| ps | update a color palette |
| ptd<n> | |
| ptp<n> | |
| ptr<n> | |
| q | |
| r | toggle a global Flip sprite horizontally |
| s<n> | Play sound n |
| sa | |
| sb<n> | same as se<n> plus setting one other value to n |
| sc<n> | sc0 is different from other sc tags |
| sd | |
| se<n> | similar to sl<n+1> (the latter also clears the high byte of the value) |
| sf<n> | Sound frequency n |
| sl<n> | Sound loudness n |
| smf<n> | |
| smo<n> | |
| sp<n> | Sound panning n? |
| sw<n> | sw<n> sets an internal counter to max(current value, n). This counter is decreased at a rate of either 2 or 4 units per game tick, down to 0. If the counter gets to 100 or above, the game pauses for a little while. |
| t | |
| ua | |
| ub | motion blur |
| uc | |
| ud | |
| ue | |
| uf | |
| ug | |
| uh | |
| uj | |
| ul | |
| un | |
| ur | |
| us | |
| uz | |
| v | |
| vsx | also does v. |
| vsy | actually vsK where K is anything other than x. also does v. |
| w | |
| x<...> | /x-?\+?=?-?\+?[0-9]*/ is accepted but in practice it'll be one of... |
| x-<n> | Move x by n left? |
| x+<n> | Move x by n right? |
| x=<n> | Interpolate to x=<m> on next frame? |
| x<n> | If unspecified, a value of 100 is assumed. Set x to n? |
| y<...> | /y-?\+?=?-?\+?[0-9]*/ is accepted but in practice it'll be one of... |
| y-<n> | Move y by n left? |
| y+<n> | Move y by n right? |
| y=<n> | Interpolate to y=<m> on next frame? |
| y<n> | If unspecified, a value of 100 is assumed. Set y to n? |
| zg | |
| zh | |
| zj | |
| zl | |
| zm | |
| zp | |
| zz | Combination of all other z flags. Player is invincible for this frame |
Error handling
A handful of animation strings used by the AF and BK files provided with OMF2097 are ill-formed. The behaviour in the case of ill-formed strings in the OMF engine is inconsistent, but at least the following non-tags must be accepted and ignored by any correct parser:
| Tag | Used by | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| zc | Pyros' Shadow Super Thrust x+4zcubs21l50zp |
Probably a typo for zp. It looks like someone added 'zp's at the end of all the tags later when it was found to be not working properly (probably because of this zc). The tags for the frames before and after both contain zp. |