Reference model

Stub

This article or section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

Reference.mdl

The Reference.mdl, conventionally named <modelname>.mdl, contains a range of key information for an in game model:

The model's Filename, used to identify vital data stored in the model's VTX, VVD, PHY files.
The names of any Sound WAV files used by this model.
The names of the Skin VMT files used by this model. (or is this in VTX / VVD files ?)
The names of any Animation Sequences used by this model.
The names of any Animation Library MDL files used by this model.
Any propdata attributes this model may have, including
The names of any Gib MDL files used by this model.
etc

Each model's 3D Rendering data is stored in the VVD and VTX files, and its Collisionmodel data in its PHY file.

The reference.smd, conventionally named "<modelname>_ref.smd" or "lod0_<modelname>_ref.smd", contains:

The nodes block defines the skeletal Bone Hierarchy.
The skeleton block defines the bone coordinates for a single "idle" animation frame.
The triangles block defines each (triangular) polygon of the (default LOD) Render Mesh.
- Each triangle specifies the default Skin filename, followed by a set of XYZUV coordinates for each of its vertices.
- XYZ are the 3D Mesh coords, and UV are the 2D Texturemap coords.