M2Suite

Converter & visualizer for 3DO and Panasonic M2 file formats.

Point M2Suite at an unpacked game folder — or hand it a disc image — and it identifies, previews, plays and converts what it finds. It is a native Windows application (C++20 / Qt 6) with no runtime dependency on emulators or the original SDK.

Platform	Windows 10/11 x64
Language	C++20, Qt 6 (Widgets + Multimedia)
Build	CMake + vcpkg manifest mode, MSVC
Licence	See Licensing — not yet chosen for the original code

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What it reads

Family	Formats	State
Textures	M2 UTF / M2TX — paged, palettised (PIP), multi-LOD	Preview + PNG export
Images	3DO cels (CCB/PDAT/PLUT, 1–16 bpp, packed & coded), IMAG screens, M1 VRAM (LRForm) buffers	Preview + PNG export
Animation	ANIM files, multi-frame cel chains	Looped playback + per-frame PNG
Video	DataStreamer movies (Cinepak), standalone FILM, MPEG-1	Playback with audio, MP4/PNG export
Audio	AIFF/AIFC with SDX2, SQS2, CBD2, ADP4 (IMA ADPCM); WAV; RSRC bundles	Playback + WAV export
Executables	M2 PowerPC ELF, incl. LZSS-compressed sections	Disassembly + pseudocode
Discs	ISO / BIN / IMG via the Opera filesystem	Direct extraction
Alone in the Dark	PAK archives, 3D bodies, pre-rendered backdrops	Interactive 3D viewport, OBJ/MTL + PNG export

Everything M2Suite knows about these formats — including the parts that contradict published documentation — is written down in docs/FORMATS.md. That file is the real product of this project; the application is what proves the findings work.

Documentation

Document	What is in it
docs/FORMATS.md	Every format finding, byte layouts, and the traps that cost the most time
docs/BUILDING.md	Toolchain requirements and the exact build steps
docs/ARCHITECTURE.md	How the libraries and the shell fit together
docs/LIMITATIONS.md	What does not work yet, and the open challenge behind each gap
docs/REFERENCES.md	Every source this work builds on, and how to propose a new one
docs/RELEASING.md	How the portable package is built and published
CONTRIBUTING.md	Bug reports, feature requests, format findings, code
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md	How we treat each other
CHANGELOG.md	Release history

Quick start

Download and run — no build required

⬇ Latest release · or grab dist/M2Suite-portable.zip straight from this repository.

Unzip it anywhere and run m2suite-shell.exe. The Qt runtime, the Visual C++ runtime, FFmpeg and all Qt plugins ship inside the folder — no installer, no admin rights, no registry. Copy the folder to another Windows 10/11 x64 machine and it runs as-is.

The in-repo copy is refreshed on every release, so you never need a working MSVC + vcpkg setup just to look inside a game you own.

Build from source

cmake --preset windows-msvc && cmake --build --preset windows-msvc

Full prerequisites (MSVC toolset pinning, vcpkg setup, the multi-hour one-time FFmpeg build) are in docs/BUILDING.md. If you only want the format libraries and their tests, the core-msvc preset needs no Qt and configures in seconds:

cmake --preset core-msvc && cmake --build --preset core-msvc && ctest --preset core-msvc

First steps in the app

• File > Open Folder — browse an unpacked game
• File > Extract Disc Image — unpack an .iso / .bin / .img
• File > Convert Images to UTF — turn PNG/JPG into M2 textures
• File > Export Selected — batch-convert to PNG / WAV / MP4 / OBJ
• Help > About — credits

Select a file to preview it. Video and animation start automatically. Copy Info puts the file details and full path on the clipboard, which is exactly what a good bug report needs.

A run log is written to m2suite.log beside the executable — check it first if something misbehaves.

Contributing

Bug reports, format findings and feature requests are all welcome, and the rules for each are in CONTRIBUTING.md. Two things matter more than anything else:

1. Name the file. A format bug that cannot be reproduced against a specific file cannot be fixed. Give the game, the exact path inside it, and the file size.
2. Never attach copyrighted game data. Describe it, hex-dump the first 64 bytes, quote the error — but do not upload the asset itself.

Have a source we should be reading — a spec, a decompilation, an open-source tool? Open a Reference source issue; see docs/REFERENCES.md for what makes a good one.

Licensing

M2Suite is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later.

Provenance and attribution for everything the project builds on — the 3DO M2 SDK, the public-domain PKWARE decoder, the AITD reference implementations, and the Qt/FFmpeg runtime bundled at release — is recorded in THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md.

Disclaimer. M2Suite is an independent, non-commercial interoperability and preservation project, not affiliated with or endorsed by The 3DO Company, Panasonic, Konami, or any game publisher. It ships no game data, no SDK, and no BIOS images — it reads files you already own. Trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used only to identify the formats and titles described. If you hold rights to any referenced material and object to its use here, please open an issue and it will be addressed promptly.