RigidModel

.rigid_model_v2 (RMV2) is CA’s in-engine 3D model format — used for units, monsters, buildings, props and effectively everything you see on the battle map. RPFM reads and writes versions 6, 7 and 8 of the format. Pre-RMV2 model formats (the ones in Empire and Napoleon) are not supported.

Layout

The tab is a horizontal splitter: the editor form on the left, and (when enabled) the 3D preview on the right.

The editor form contains:

• RMV group box — the format version combobox (8 / 7 / 6) and the Export to glTF button.
• LOD tree — every LOD in the file as a top-level node (Lod 0, Lod 1, …); each LOD’s mesh blocks appear as children, labelled with the material name (e.g. Mesh Block 0 (Material: weighted_skin)). Selecting a LOD or a mesh block fills the detail panels on the right; switching selection auto-saves the previous selection’s edits back into the in-memory model.
• Detailed view group box (per-LOD) — visibility distance, authored LOD number, quality level. Active when any LOD or mesh block is selected.
• Mesh block group box (per-mesh-block) — mesh name, texture folder, shader name. Only active when a mesh block is selected, not the LOD root.
• Textures table — two columns (texture_type, texture_path) listing the textures attached to the selected mesh block’s material. Editable like a regular table view.

Editing

The editor is editable, not read-only — for files inside your own Pack. When a file is loaded from GameFiles or ParentFiles, the save path is a no-op (you can change the fields, but they won’t be persisted).

What you can change from the UI:

• Per-LOD: visibility distance, authored LOD number, quality level.
• Per-mesh-block: mesh name, texture directory, shader filters.
• Per-texture: texture type and path, via the textures table.
• Per-file: format version (re-encode as 6, 7 or 8 via the combobox).

What is not editable from the UI: vertex data, bones, geometry, attachment points, custom material parameters, cloth/grass/collision-specific data. To make changes there, author the model in Blender / 3ds Max / Maya with the appropriate CA exporter and import the resulting .rigid_model_v2 into your Pack.

3D preview

The 3D preview is gated by both:

• The support_model_renderer Cargo feature at build time. Default release builds may or may not include it depending on the platform — the renderer pulls in a separate native library that isn’t on every target.
• A runtime setting (enable_renderer in preferences). Even when the build supports it, the renderer is only spun up when this setting is on.

When both conditions are met and the model loads, the renderer attaches as a second pane in the splitter and stays in sync with the file’s in-memory state on save and reload. Failures to load the renderer are non-fatal — the editor still works, just without the 3D pane.

glTF export

Export to glTF in the RMV group box converts the current in-memory model to glTF 2.0 (one scene per LOD) and writes it to a path you pick via a Save dialog. Useful for opening CA models in Blender or other standard 3D tooling.

The same conversion is available programmatically via rpfm_extensions::gltf for tools that want to batch-convert outside the UI.