Extract text from Source Engine scripts (QCI)
To convert QCI scripts to another format, you need Valve Source Engine or other Game software.
To convert other file formats to the "Engine Script File" file type, you need software like Valve Source Engine or a similar tool.
The .qci file format is primarily used by the Valve Source Engine as a model script include file. It contains plain text instructions that define bone structures, animations, macros, or material paths for 3D models. Developers and modders use tools like Source Filmmaker and community decompilers like Crowbar to manage these scripts. A secondary, rare use of .qci is for proprietary TSMC wafer inspection reports by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
The main disadvantage of the .qci format is its strict dependency on the Source Engine compilation pipeline (StudioMDL). Because it is essentially a fragment of a qc file, it cannot operate independently. Users often need to convert or compile these text scripts into binary mdl files so the game engine can load them. However, standard online converters fail here because compiling requires engine-specific binaries and associated smd (geometry) or .vta (animation) files located in the exact same directory.
If you need to edit or convert a .qci file, your best target is a standard txt format for reading, or compiling it directly to mdl using specific Valve tools. Attempting to convert this script to standard 3D formats like fbx will result in data loss, as the script only contains instructions, not the actual 3D geometry.
This file format is difficult to open or convert because it is a proprietary, pipeline-specific script rather than a standard media or document file. Often, only the original game tools can properly read or export the 3D data. If our analysis detects an underlying text format, viewing or extracting the script data may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your QCI file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted DMX, VMT and POSE files.
If you want to convert QCI file to CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, INI, CFG, CONF, DAT, DB or SQL, you can use Valve Source Engine or similar software from the "3D Model Scripting" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DBF, XML, SQLITE, XLSX, SQL, TSV, ACCDB, YAML, MDB, CSV, ODS or JSON files to QCI, try Valve Source Engine or another comparable tool in the "3D Model Scripting" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our QCI converter.