Seeking help with the .mdl format for fable 2

Issues: the headers were stripped from the file by Lionhead. Static meshes and Skeletal meshes seem to have different structures, and it's pretty common for static meshes to have different structures between them.

So far: I can find a significant amount out about most of the rigged assets, but there are issues when an asset is split in to submeshes, and with some of the larger meshes. 

 

i.e:

Bone Count: 143
Bones:
  [0] CH_HeroChild_Male_Rig_Asset (ID: 4294967295)
  [1] Shadow_Hip (ID: 0)
  [2] Shadow_SpineControl (ID: 1)
  [3] Shadow_SpineControl1 (ID: 2)
  [4] Shadow_Chest (ID: 3)
  [5] Shadow_Neck (ID: 4)
  [6] Shadow_Head (ID: 5)
  [7] Shadow_jaw (ID: 6)
...

Mesh count: 3

Parsing mesh headers...
  Mesh 0: Child_hair_NEW2
  Mesh 1: Child_face3
  Mesh 2: hero_eyelash20

Parsing mesh buffers...

  Mesh Buffer 0:
    Buffer starts at offset: 0x00002EAB
    Vertex count: 10093
    Face count: 17065
    Detected vertex stride: 28 bytes
    Vertex buffer at: 0x00002F3E (size: 282604 bytes)
    Face buffer at: 0x00047F2A (size: 34130 bytes)

  Mesh Buffer 1:
    Buffer starts at offset: 0x00077B4C
    Vertex count: 16777240
    Face count: 16777216
    WARNING: Unrealistic values, possible misalignment

  Mesh Buffer 2:
    Buffer starts at offset: 0x00077B64
    Vertex count: 65536
    Face count: 4278190080
    WARNING: Unrealistic values, possible misalignment

Attached my python script, and 010 editor script, for anyone willing to help figure this crap out. also 1 mdl file..

mdl.bt character.py mdl.zip

Using hex2obj. Checked the mdl manually which was not too hard:

Thanks.

just with the values in your screenshot I was able to update my scripts and I’m able to get the header for each mesh with 90% accuracy (only a few outliers, not including those with different structures). 
 

The only “issue” is now understanding the submeshes; notably the eyes are huge centered in the head atm. 
 

once that’s done I can work on the skeleton. 
 

Edited September 17, 2025Sep 17 by vistekis

Really hope you get any help you need! If some sort of tool comes from this project as well as texture support and you can share it (even without skeletons it's not a big deal) it would be incredible. There haven't ever been any Fable 2 tools, it was considered not possible, and we've been waiting 17 years... that's a lifetime! 

3 hours ago, CharlieV said:

Really hope you get any help you need! If some sort of tool comes from this project as well as texture support and you can share it (even without skeletons it's not a big deal) it would be incredible. There haven't ever been any Fable 2 tools, it was considered not possible, and we've been waiting 17 years... that's a lifetime! 

https://github.com/adarec1994/FABLE2

I've already started putting a tool together. 

Most models can be converted. I've got the skeletons, too. Static meshes don't work right now, I know what the issue but I think I got the flu, so I'm not really working on it until I feel better. 

All that's missing now are textures, weights/ skinning/ animations. 

I attached my script and a few models, if anyone would be willing to help finding the weights. 

an example of some output:

File: Hobbe_Caster.mdl | 442185 bytes | BE | Stride: 28
Found 111 bones, 111 transforms
MeshCount: 2
  Mesh 0: art\creatures\combatant\hobbe_grunt\pictures\_sharedtextures\hobbe_caster_polished.tex
  Mesh 1: art\creatures\combatant\hobbe_grunt\pictures\_sharedtextures\hobbe_eye_03.tex

Buffer 0 @0x00002193 (preface 😎
  initial 13 bytes: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 16 38 00
  vertex: offset=0x000021D4 count=4391 stride=28
  faces: offset=0x00020218 count=9407 mode=triangle strips (built 5688 tris)

Buffer 1 @0x00035E06 (preface 17)
  initial 13 bytes: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 01
  vertex: offset=0x00035E50 count=24 stride=28
  faces: offset=0x000360F0 count=31 mode=triangle strips (built 20 tris)

Reached MeshCount (2)

✓ Exported: 2 meshes, 3 materials, 111 bones → Hobbe_Caster.glb

UV's are also working.

I made a post in another part of the forum for help with textures, as far as I'm aware they're compressed and have some sort of encryption. It's beyond my admittedly amateur skillset.

mdl_glb_conv.py New WinRAR archive.rar

Edited September 21, 2025Sep 21 by vistekis

Actually I have mostly sorted out the weights I think. It’s not perfect (yet), but getting close.

posting this via mobile cos I’m too sick for the PC anymore, but the source is available on my GitHub. The script is a huge mess though

I made a maxscript for this game a couple of years ago. If memory serves everything works.

https://github.com/sleepyzay/Maxscript-Projects/tree/main/Fable 2

No information on which version of Max etc makes it not very useful, wanted to test but all I get is "position: 13; line: 6 -- Syntax error: at <, expected <factor> --  In line: <!" error

I wrote it for max 2015. I've never seen a different version give a syntax error before. What model file are you using it on?

On 9/26/2025 at 3:26 PM, sleepyzay said:

I made a maxscript for this game a couple of years ago. If memory serves everything works.

https://github.com/sleepyzay/Maxscript-Projects/tree/main/Fable 2

This is quite excellent, and actually provides a solution to many of the bugs I had (and stopped working on temporarily)

Did you ever do any work on the textures? This is what is largely causing problems right now due to LH using an unknown compression format. It seems to be a version of zlib with deflate, but I can't figure it out.

Unfortunately I never figured out the textures. I always guessed that they had to be dumped using emulator.

2 hours ago, sleepyzay said:

Unfortunately I never figured out the textures. I always guessed that they had to be dumped using emulator.

Figures. I’ll keep on it

I also had a play with your 3ds script

sadly it only builds skeletons for me, I don’t have time to figure out why it’s not making geometry right now, perhaps on the weekend

18 hours ago, vistekis said:

Figures. I’ll keep on it

I also had a play with your 3ds script

sadly it only builds skeletons for me, I don’t have time to figure out why it’s not making geometry right now, perhaps on the weekend

Well this is where I’m at, holistically

 

i need to refine the geometry parsing to build the mesh, but this is only for some of them. 
 

I can build skeletons, however the bones are often not facing the correct direction. I’ve tried a bunch of iterations of this and am limited by my own ability.

i have another thread on this site for trying to figure out the Tex files. 

posted in the wrong sub 

Edited September 30, 2025Sep 30 by vistekis

Is it giving you an error? I only tried it on a few sets of models and I only had issues on models with morph in the file name.

On 9/27/2025 at 5:40 PM, sleepyzay said:

I wrote it for max 2015. I've never seen a different version give a syntax error before. What model file are you using it on?

None, that's what happens just trying to run the script, in 2017. 

6 hours ago, sleepyzay said:

Is it giving you an error? I only tried it on a few sets of models and I only had issues on models with morph in the file name.

yes I was getting an error. 

I tried it on a variety of files

I made a tweak and it would build the skeleton.

which sent me down a rabbit hole of frustration as I couldn't understand why your maxscript was facing bones in the correct direction, and I couldn't get them to do it after hours of tweaking my script. 

skill difference I guess 

18 hours ago, CharlieV said:

None, that's what happens just trying to run the script, in 2017. 

I've tried scripts written for 2012 on max up to 2020 and I've never seen a syntax fault. Are you sure you are not doing something wrong?

 

16 hours ago, vistekis said:

yes I was getting an error. 

I tried it on a variety of files

I made a tweak and it would build the skeleton.

which sent me down a rabbit hole of frustration as I couldn't understand why your maxscript was facing bones in the correct direction, and I couldn't get them to do it after hours of tweaking my script. 

skill difference I guess 

What's the specific error message? Maybe I can help.

On 10/1/2025 at 3:01 PM, sleepyzay said:

I've tried scripts written for 2012 on max up to 2020 and I've never seen a syntax fault. Are you sure you are not doing something wrong?

 

What's the specific error message? Maybe I can help.

I get 2 errors re: unable to convert to integer 64 or a mismatch with vertex / face counts

I tried it on a few models, mostly creatures, including a chicken and balverine_basic.

honestly haven't spent a whole lot of time trying to figure it out either since I can import most models to blender just fine. the issues really are textures and a few outlier models.

I can't say 100% if my skeletons are working without having the animations yet

On 10/1/2025 at 4:01 PM, sleepyzay said:

I've tried scripts written for 2012 on max up to 2020 and I've never seen a syntax fault. Are you sure you are not doing something wrong?

Well I have actually been using Max since 2017 with dozens of scripts and been involved in game assets for a decade with hundreds of tools/plugins/scripts etc. That's simply what happens and I don't have any other versions, never needed one. I checked with other scripts of yours as well, no issues, I've likely used some in the past already. If it's unexplainable then I guess I'm out of luck on that front, I'll wait for this blender plugin project, what I'm doing isn't anything important ha 

Okay I figured out all of the .mdl's thanks to Shak's original response. All of them can be previewed and exported using the Fable 2 Asset Browser now, which is what I was kind of aiming for. I can get the skeletons out, idk if they're necessarily correct or not, but they works so I can only assume it's fine.

So I'm going to turn my attention to the .tex file compression and animations.

Obviously looks better in blender but yeah. I'm sure everyone gets the point.
 

Edited October 16, 2025Oct 16 by vistekis