Specialised editors

Several less-common file types have dedicated views that didn’t warrant their own chapter. Grouped here for completeness.

UnitVariant

Variant mesh definitions for units — which RigidModel goes with which faction colour scheme, kit, etc. The view is a proper structured editor: a categories list on the left, a variants list in the middle for the selected category, and a per-variant form on the right (mesh file, texture folder, an unknown numeric value). Add / clone / delete on both lists from their right-click menus.

A separate read-only JSON debug view for the same file type also exists behind a settings, in case you want to edit the file more freely.

Atlas

Sprite-sheet layout files. Each row defines a region (UV rectangle + name) within an associated texture. Atlas files open in the regular DB editor — full grid editing, TSV round-trip, the whole DB editor toolset.

ESF

.esf is CA’s binary format for save games and startpos files. Massive, deeply nested, and slow to parse. RPFM exposes it as a tree of nested nodes with typed leaves (ints, floats, strings, arrays).

Disabled by default. The ESF editor lives behind the Enable ESF Editor toggle in PackFile → Settings → Debug. Turn it on first; otherwise opening an .esf falls back to the JSON debug view.

• Browse the full structure as a tree.
• Edit leaf values in place via a side detail panel.
• Filter within the loaded ESF (substring + regex toggle, plus an “auto-expand matches” option).

Writing is supported but slow on big files (a multi-hundred-MB save can take a few seconds). Most ESF editing is for startpos files in a campaign mod context.

BMD

Battle Map Definition files — the binary scene description for battle maps (terrain, props, lighting). The current view is a JSON text editor: the file decodes via the lib, gets serialised to pretty JSON, and saves parse the JSON back. Editable but unstructured.

Group formations

Formation templates the AI (and multiple-selection drag-outs) use to deploy armies. Supported for Shogun 2, Rome 2, Attila, Thrones of Britannia, Troy, Pharaoh, Three Kingdoms and Warhammer 3.

Each formation is a set of blocks:

• Absolute blocks sit at a fixed position. Every formation needs at least one, as it anchors the rest.
• Relative blocks sit at an offset from another block, their parent.
• Spans group other blocks, so relative blocks can be positioned from the whole group.

The editor has three columns:

• Formations: the list of formations, with add, clone and delete. Formations with issues get an error or warning icon.
• Canvas and blocks tree: the canvas draws a simulated deployment of the selected formation over a grid in meters, with the front at the top. The tree below shows each block under its parent. Selection is shared between both.
  • Drag blocks to move them. Their offsets snap to the grid step set above the canvas. Dragging a span moves all its members.
  • Shift+drag from a block to another to make the second one its parent.
  • Drag on empty space to select several blocks, and right-click for the block actions (add, add span over the selection, delete, delete with children).
  • Units per Block changes how many units the simulation assumes, so you can check how the formation stretches.
• Inspector: the properties of the selected formation, container or span, including AI purposes, unit category requirements, supported subcultures and factions (picked from the ones in the game and the open Packs), and each block’s entity preferences.

Files opened from the game or from dependencies are read-only. Edits can be undone with Ctrl+Z. Deleting a block re-attaches its children to the closest surviving ancestor, keeping them in place. Issues like missing references or blocks depending on each other in a loop are reported in the Diagnostics panel.

The simulated layout assumes a relative block’s offset is a gap measured from its parent’s edge, and that a zero offset centers it on the parent. This hasn’t been confirmed in-game yet, so the canvas may not match the game exactly.

If you need the raw data, enable Use Debug View for Group Formations in the settings to open these files as JSON instead.

Animation file formats summary

For convenience, here’s where each animation-shaped format lives in the manual: