I still haven't looked inside SC3 in detail as I've been pretty busy over the week. Not sure when I could get to it. Other than general file structure, I haven't been able to find anything relevant inside the .olk package or the .unk's that I'm familiar with in relation to later games. I'm not sure if its simply in a more compressed format or what but I can't find any header information inside any of the files I looked at.
Theoretically it should be possible to move assets across any of the games. You would have to re-assemble and rewrite the structure of the file used in each game for each platform. For instance, the shader and color palette are different in SC4 and SC5 so you would have to accomodate for those. Then there's other aspects such as model phase states (armor breakage) since in SC4 there are three levels (top, middle, bottom) vs toggle (on/off) in SC5.
First of all a disclaimer before what I show next:
None of the following will ever work as a method to mod/cheat online such as savedata editing (gameshark methodology) and such. Since this involves mostly actual data modding locally, there is no advantage for doing any of this. Things like frame data will be completely off and some collision models are absent entirely, so most of this is completely cosmetic in nature. As an avid fan of the series like most of you, I have high regards for the community, both competative and casual. Also I will not share any information regards to methodology to the general public here in this forum. So do not ask. With that said...
To illustrate, here's Amy's SC4 model parts imported into SC5.
The hair, dress and lacing is a rewrite of the file to match SC5. These were equipped to Viola model (who resembles Amy and as many speculated, the same character but aged older). The motion files which contain fighting animation for SC4 Amy was also imported here (since it is absent entirely from the game). However, it is buggy since it's specific for the game and many things it references is either missing or incompatible so would require rewrite. The weapon belongs to Raphael who already has an option to wield Amy's sword. And of course, being that it is forced, the voice events are completely off reflecting Viola's.
Complete deformation of the model is possible too.
This is Pyrrha's Omega shield except I rescaled it to something ridiculous such as this:
As stated earlier, this is completely cosmetic in nature. The boundaries for the shield are still retained by the original shape. The collision models would have to be rewritten for this properly work at its given size.
Theoretically I'd imagine it be possible to do the reverse and move assets from later games into previous ones but you would probably have to remove lots of stuff to accomodate the older engine. There would need to be a major redux such as simpler models with less vertices and faces since older platforms could only handle so many polygons. But yes, theoretically it should be possible to do almost anything really if you know where to look.
