(PS3) House of the Dead 4 .cno files to .3ds or .obj?

[MakutaMaster962]

Hi, everyone!

Is there any way I can convert .cno model files from Sega's on-rails zombie shoot-'em-up game "The House of the Dead 4", which is available from Playstation 3's PSN store to a more useable file format, such as .3ds or .obj? I have searched practically everywhere on the internet for something, like a QuickBMS script or some kind of converter, but with no luck so far. This game aparrently uses the Sega NN Library Engine which uses chunk formats(.cno being one of them).

I sucessfully managed to:

1. Obtain the .pkg file,
2. Extract the .BNK archive files inside,
3. Extract the IZCA archive files from inside the .BNK files,
4. Use TGE's Sega NN Library Resource Extractor script to get the .cno model files from the IZCA archives.

I've attached a .rar archive file with 2 different .cno models: a primitive cube, and a more complex model, a chainsaw. Both are from the PS3 PSN store release of HOTD4.

Any help at all would be vastly appreciated.

Thanks for responding to this.

[MakutaMaster962]

Hello everyone.

Sorry for resurrecting this ancient topic, but I'm still trying to get help with getting .cno files converted to a more usable file format. I already tried asking Random Talking Bush several times at the VG Resources forums to update his Sega .*NO model import script(for 3ds Max) to include support for .cno files too, but I never heard back from him at all.

If there's anyone here who is able to help me with this, please let me know instead of just ignoring me. I'm almost to the point where I have to literally beg for assistance.

The sample .cno files are still at the bottom of the first post.

[Acewell]

i can assure you no one is ignoring you, either they don't know about the thread, or they don't know what to do with the data
or they aren't interested or have time to look at it. on top of that there is less than a handful of people here actually looking
at model formats and only 2 or 3 that are actively making plugins.

this is the best i got so far with zz_chainsaw_r_long.cno in Hex2obj


it looks garbled because i'm reading the data in one array, this model is probably split into 10 different submeshes.
Hex2obj is the way to go when you need something quick and without doing a format analysis

[MakutaMaster962]

i can assure you no one is ignoring you, either they don't know about the thread, or they don't know what to do with the data
or they aren't interested or have time to look at it. on top of that there is less than a handful of people here actually looking
at model formats and only 2 or 3 that are actively making plugins.

this is the best i got so far with zz_chainsaw_r_long.cno in Hex2obj


it looks garbled because i'm reading the data in one array, this model is probably split into 10 different submeshes.
Hex2obj is the way to go when you need something quick and without doing a format analysis

Thank you for the reply back, Acewell.

I actually tried using Hex2obj about a year ago, but unfortunately, I couldn't figure everything out.
Since that particular chainsaw model didn't turn out good, could you please try these sample .lno files instead? They originate from the same game(The House of the Dead 4) but these files are ripped from the actual arcade version and not from the PS3 version. Inside is a chainsaw model(again), and the other one is called "zb05a0_iw_star_mant.lno" which I believe is the model for the cape that the game's 5th boss wears, since "zb05" most likely stands for "zombie boss 05," and "star" is the boss's name, and finally, "mant" is short for "mantle" which is another word for "cape".

[Acewell]

Since that particular chainsaw model didn't turn out good...

no it actually turned out perfect as far as i can tell, once you remove the extra useless triangles

[MakutaMaster962]

Since that particular chainsaw model didn't turn out good...

no it actually turned out perfect as far as i can tell, once you remove the extra useless triangles

Wow! I can't believe you actually managed to get a perfect version of that chainsaw! That's so incredible! How'd you manage to do it? I'm just dying to know. Because I've been trying to rip some models from House of the Dead 4 for over a year now, but with no luck...

[MakutaMaster962]

Hey Acewell, did you see my last post on this thread a couple of days ago? I'm bumping this topic because up until now, no one has ever managed(or wanted) to produce an actual useable model from HOTD4.

If replying back & forth to each other on the forums won't work out, do you know if PM-ing you or emailing you would be more effective way of communication? Because I'd like it if we could keep in touch regularly.

Please respond as soon as possible.

[Acewell]

yeah i saw your last post but you didn't read my last post carefully enough
i said the model was all there in the first post i made and that i just
deleted the stray triangles to get what you see in my second post image

i really have no interest in this game files i was just helping kick start the format research for you
and its best to converse on open forums than PMs so other interested parties can get involved.

[MakutaMaster962]

Sorry about that. My mistake, I should've been more specific. Can you at the very least point out for me which triangles were considered "stray" when looking at the file in a hex editor? That way I'll have a good idea on where to begin when I try some other models from the same game that I've had my eye on.

[Acewell]

you have to save the mesh out of Hex2obj and open the obj in your favorite 3d software,
in there you will surely be able to spot the strays and you just select and delete them.

[MakutaMaster962]

you have to save the mesh out of Hex2obj and open the obj in your favorite 3d software,
in there you will surely be able to spot the strays and you just select and delete them.

Thank you so much, Acewell! This helped me immensely, and I was able to get rid of all the extra triangles. Now I've got another question: how exactly did you know what settings to put into hex2obj for the start address and amount of face indices, vertex block settings, and the start address and amount of vertices? Because I've been straining my brain for the past day or two trying to figure those settings out for a few other models I have which are also from HOTD4.

[Acewell]

how exactly did you know what settings to put into hex2obj for the start address and amount of face indices, vertex block settings, and the start address and amount of vertices?

experience, pattern recognition and trial and error is the only thing that can help you here i'm afraid.
there are tons of examples on Xentax and Hex2obj comes with a tutorial that is worth looking at

edit
can you upload more cno samples?

[MakutaMaster962]

experience, pattern recognition and trial and error is the only thing that can help you here i'm afraid.
there are tons of examples on Xentax and Hex2obj comes with a tutorial that is worth looking at

edit
can you upload more cno samples?

Hello again, Acewell. Sorry for not responding sooner to the edit of your last post. Thanks to you I finally managed to get a completed model of The Empress(the 3rd boss in House of the Dead 4, the one that uses a double-ended chainsaw to attack).

As for me uploading more cno samples, I can most certainly do that. Here is a cno file that's been giving me a headache every time I tried it. If it's too complex for you to figure out, just let me know and I'll upload some smaller, simpler samples instead.

[HARVLAW_ORENGI]

How did you extract the .cno models ?

[Argg]

Could've done with more samples for this one tbh - if importing has issues message me on discord (see link in readme or in the add-ons panels)
GitHub link for blender add-on

Crosspost with vgr