Entry 8

Textures and palettes convert to PNG, stored bottom-up

2026-09-22formatrendertooling

Filestools/ccstex.pytools/png.pydocs/formats/ccs.md

With the texture layout from 7 and the CLUT layout read out of ccStream::Decode_Clut (INF SLUS_202.67:0x0014d660), every texture the chunk walk reaches converts to a correct-looking image. tools/ccstex.py does the conversion and tools/png.py is a minimal PNG writer (8-bit RGBA, one IDAT, standard library zlib).

The CLUT chunk

u32       clut             object index of the CLT_ entry
u32       blt_group        only if version >= 0x92
u8        flag
u8        unknown_1        into the descriptor at +2
u8, u8                     read and discarded
u16       buf_x            VRAM placement; 0/0 or x < 768 is replaced by
u16       buf_y            896/992 and the flag gets bit 0
u32       count            16 or 256
u32[count] colour          R, G, B, A with A = 0x80 for opaque

What 3 called unknown_0c = 0x03000300 in xasc00 is buf_x 768, buf_y 768. For a 256-colour palette the decoder stores colour i at slot clut256Tbl[i] (0x002fb190) - the GS's CSM1 arrangement - so the file holds colours in logical order and a converter uses them as they are. 8-bit textures confirm it: palettes applied in file order give clean images, where the CSM1 order would scramble every 8-colour block.

Survey

Over every texture chunk the walk reaches in DATA.BIN (3,985 of the 4,306 TEX_ objects; the rest sit after a Model chunk the walk cannot yet pass):

Sizes run from 32x32 to 512x512; 128x128 (1,010) and 64x64 (870) are the most common. flag is 0x01 in 3,494 textures, 0x05 in 239, 0x09 in 167, 0x00 in 54, with a handful of 0x10, 0x11, 0x08, 0x18, 0x04.

Rows are bottom-up

The first conversion of TEX_xgttit00 (from title1) showed the .hack//INFECTION logo upside down, and the font sheet TEX_xasc00 had its glyphs upside down with the used rows at the bottom. Rows are stored bottom row first. The source paths in the name table say why: the art was authored as .bmp (x\window\tex\xasc00.bmp), BMP stores rows bottom-up, and the exporter copied them in that order. Presumably the game's texture coordinates account for it; that is not checked. ccstex.py flips by default and --raw-rows keeps the stored order.

At 4 bits per pixel the low nibble is the left-hand pixel. Alpha is GS alpha, 0 to 0x80, and is doubled for PNG. Many interface textures are pure white with the shape entirely in alpha - the title logo is one - so --matte composites over dark grey to make them visible.

Checked by eye

• title1::TEX_xgttit00, 512x256 PSMT4: the .hack logo with INFECTION and 感染拡大, right way up after the flip.
• xasc00::TEX_xasc00, 256x256 PSMT4: four ASCII fonts and a set of large digits, crisp.
• town01::TEX_sr1sky1, 512x256 PSMT8: a sunset sky over hills; and TEX_sr1cas1, a castle-wall atlas - 256-colour palettes in file order.
• xddesk01::TEX_xddback1: a window frame titled VISUAL MAILER ver 6.0, the in-game mail client.

tools/ccstex.py dump work/infection/disc/DATA/DATA.BIN work/infection/png writes all 3,985 in about 22 seconds, one directory per scene file.