A FLVER file is a finalized model file used by various From Software games.

It combines the 3D model data with various engine-specific properties so the game understands how to render the 3D model.

For specific implementation details, refer to the FLVER implementation here.

This section will go over the structure of a FLVER file and the meaning of the various sub-types.

Each FLVER will contain the following groups of data:

• Header: determines various general parameters, e.g. endianness of the data, version of the file, string type.
• Dummy Polygons: a list of all the Dummy Polygons defined for this model. These are used to spawn hit capsules and particle effects.
• Materials: a list of all the Materials used by the model meshes.
• GX Lists: a list of special material properties.
• Nodes: a list of nodes used by this model. Nodes are typically bones, but can also represent a mesh or a dummy polygon.
• Meshes: a list of the individual meshes that make up the model.
• Buffer Layouts: a list of layouts that determine how the sets of vertices for a mesh are read and written.
• Skeleton Sets: a list of skeleton nodes. Only used from Sekiro onwards.

The header within a FLVER file defines several general paramters.

This type of entry has the following properties:

• Endianness: also know as byte-order. Typically it is
• Version: the version of FLVER the files is using. Can correspond to which aspects of the FLVER format are used.
• Bounding Box: determines the minimum and maximum extent of the model.
• Unicode: whether the strings used elsewhere are encoded as UTF-16, or Shift-JIS.

A dummy polygon entry represents a marker used for various things, such as marking where a hit capsule may start or end, or where a particle may be spawned.

This type of entry has the following parameters:

• Position: this is the position of the dummy polygon in relation to the node it is attached to.
• Forward: this is the forward vector (direction) of the dummy polygon.
• Upward: this is the upward vector (direction) of the dummy polygon.
• Reference ID: this is the ID that is used to refer to this dummy polygon. Multiple dummy polygons can share the same ID, they will simply all be used when referred to.
• Parent Bone Index: this is the node that the dummy polygon is initially transformed to before it is bound to the attachment bone.
• Attachment Bone Index: this is the node that the dummy polygon will physically follow.

A material entry points to the MTD file that a mesh should use. This specifics which textures are used by the mesh.

This type of entry has the following parameters:

• Name: the name of mesh that uses this material. Numbers within a set of ## symbols (e.g. ##20##) denote a model mask.
• MTD: the virtual path to the MTD or MATBIN file (MATBIN is used from Elden Ring onwards).
• Textures: a list of textures used by this material. Not used with MATBIN definitions.
• GX List Index: the index of the GX List to use with this material.
• Index: the index of the material within the material list. Used in Sekiro during cutscenes.

Note: from Elden Ring onwards, MATBIN files are used instead of MTD files. This means that by default textures are no longer listed within the FLVER, but rather found within the MATBIN used. However, you can still override the default from within the FLVER file.

Refer to the MTD and MATBIN format pages for more details.

A texture entry is used to specific a used texture within a material entry.

This type of entry has the following parameters:

• Type: the type of texture this entry is. Corresponds to the entries in the MTD file.
• Path: the virtual path to the texture file.
• Scale: the UV scale for the texture.

A GX list entry is a set of special material properties.

A node entry represents a bone or a mesh. It contains transform and hierarchy information.

This type of entry has the following parameters: