KingJavo 0 Posted June 23, 2016 I'm trying to see if I can modify art in an XBOX 360 game. I've extracted the ISO files, but none of them have extensions?? (My extensions are set to show in Win10 btw) I can open the files in my Hex program and see all the binary values, but I was curious if there were some tool I could use to actually see the file contents. I would suspect these files are the compiled versions of the game files, maybe?? If anyone in the community can help, I would greatly appreciate it. There has to be a way to access those files and hack away. Attached is a screenshot of the ISO files extracted that I would love to decompile to see the actual inner content including images, etc.. Thanks in advance! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpNZ 207 Posted June 23, 2016 Most probably of no help..links are for reference only don;t know if downloads can be trusted modio http://modio.en.lo4d.com/ horizon - http://horizon.soft32.com/ party buffalo - 360 drive explorer velocity https://github.com/hetelek/Velocity/wiki/Package-Creator 360 content manager - can be downloaded here at rms lefluffie app http://www.xpgamesaves.com/resources/le-fluffie.628/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
felida 1653 Posted June 23, 2016 1. the files named 0a, 0b, 1a, 1b are what the game is.. they are "loosely" equivalent to .zip files.. and contain the data within them.. reason they dont have a file extension, is because windows doesn't see them as having a file extension.. matter of fact, ALOT of files on the xb360 don't have a file extension(TU's, DLC, w.e..) 2. the process of changing graphics in ANY game, NES to xb360, is not an easy task.. as you have to reverse the games, and every game is different per developer.. and even more you have to code a windows/mac/linux program to interpret the data into a workable format also.. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted June 23, 2016 1. the files named 0a, 0b, 1a, 1b are what the game is.. they are "loosely" equivalent to .zip files.. and contain the data within them.. reason they dont have a file extension, is because windows doesn't see them as having a file extension.. matter of fact, ALOT of files on the xb360 don't have a file extension(TU's, DLC, w.e..) 2. the process of changing graphics in ANY game, NES to xb360, is not an easy task.. as you have to reverse the games, and every game is different per developer.. and even more you have to code a windows/mac/linux program to interpret the data into a workable format also.. Thanks for the reply and information. Okay, so if I wanted to "unzip" the files... is there a tool I can use to do such a thing? I'm a developer and don't have an issue coding a program depending on how complex the functionality. I'd love to know how I can proceed with what you've advised. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swizzy 2084 Posted June 23, 2016 Thanks for the reply and information. Okay, so if I wanted to "unzip" the files... is there a tool I can use to do such a thing? I'm a developer and don't have an issue coding a program depending on how complex the functionality. I'd love to know how I can proceed with what you've advised. Highly unlikely, like felida said it's different for each game... nobody really knows beforehand what format they've used, they could use a standard tool to create the packages, or they used one they made themselves with no names, just indexes or whatever... you'll have to open the files in a hexeditor and try to determine what type of structure they have within and then try to make a tool that extracts the contents of it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted June 23, 2016 Highly unlikely, like felida said it's different for each game... nobody really knows beforehand what format they've used, they could use a standard tool to create the packages, or they used one they made themselves with no names, just indexes or whatever... you'll have to open the files in a hexeditor and try to determine what type of structure they have within and then try to make a tool that extracts the contents of it So I would have to play around with the hex values and see what changes in the game? If so, would the changes to the file possibly break my system? Also, what about rehashing the files once the values change? Do I need to consider that part or just make the changes with no regard to file changes? Thanks a ton for the help guys! I really want to see what can be done. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swizzy 2084 Posted June 23, 2016 You're seriously asking us to tell you what this developer chose to do with their packaging without telling us what game you're working with... or anything?! The general method to figure out a fileformat is to look for signatures, for instance images tend to have a header that tells whatever is loading it what size it is etc. etc, you can also find other similar things for other things such as sounds, videos and graphical data... there's no guarantee's you'll find them tho... but that's the general starting point... other starting points is to look for known data, something you know is there and what it should look like to determine a size of a block of data within and perhaps look for a value indicating a size followed by looking for like a table of data... We're NOT going to tell you exactly how all of this shit is done, we might give you some hints of things to try/look for, but... you're largely on your own i'm afraid... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted June 23, 2016 You're seriously asking us to tell you what this developer chose to do with their packaging without telling us what game you're working with... or anything?! The general method to figure out a fileformat is to look for signatures, for instance images tend to have a header that tells whatever is loading it what size it is etc. etc, you can also find other similar things for other things such as sounds, videos and graphical data... there's no guarantee's you'll find them tho... but that's the general starting point... other starting points is to look for known data, something you know is there and what it should look like to determine a size of a block of data within and perhaps look for a value indicating a size followed by looking for like a table of data... We're NOT going to tell you exactly how all of this shit is done, we might give you some hints of things to try/look for, but... you're largely on your own i'm afraid... LOL, yeah I'm sorry if I sounded like you would just hand over a blueprint or something. I'm quite experienced with HEX editing gamesaves and have a built a handful of editors to work with those files. The game is All-Pro Football 2K8 for the xb360. My work can be found on my site and I have several YouTube vids showcasing my APF2K8 editor. I'd be willing to pay someone to help me figure this out if it's possible and if you're interested, by the way. So do you think I can search the files I posted in my original comment or do I need to somehow "unzip/decode" those values before seeing the true binary (hex) values? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swizzy 2084 Posted June 23, 2016 I don't have that game, most games have a ton of smaller chunks, they're in those files, they're clusters of data packed in some way, i can't tell you if they're somehow compressed or not, but most likely they're not compressed tho... the chunks might be, but the whole package likely isn't Sent from my SM-G903F Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted June 23, 2016 I don't have that game, most games have a ton of smaller chunks, they're in those files, they're clusters of data packed in some way, i can't tell you if they're somehow compressed or not, but most likely they're not compressed tho... the chunks might be, but the whole package likely isn't Well, I'll see what I can uncover. Let me know if you or anyone else would be interested in spot checking those files. Any help would be appreciated! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
felida 1653 Posted June 23, 2016 Thanks for the reply and information. Okay, so if I wanted to "unzip" the files... is there a tool I can use to do such a thing? I'm a developer and don't have an issue coding a program depending on how complex the functionality. I'd love to know how I can proceed with what you've advised. LOL, yeah I'm sorry if I sounded like you would just hand over a blueprint or something. I'm quite experienced with HEX editing gamesaves and have a built a handful of editors to work with those files. The game is All-Pro Football 2K8 for the xb360. My work can be found on my site and I have several YouTube vids showcasing my APF2K8 editor. I'd be willing to pay someone to help me figure this out if it's possible and if you're interested, by the way. So do you think I can search the files I posted in my original comment or do I need to somehow "unzip/decode" those values before seeing the true binary (hex) values? 1. i will re-iterate this again, each package/game is done by a different developer.. they only know their "packing" techniques.. 2. GFX are handled the same way.. they "could" be in a standard format.. or they "could" be custom done, and have the default.xex decode everything.. 3. there is no "general" tool to let you edit gfx files 4. here is an example: skyrim - Bethesda made a creation kit for the game, which handles all the textures/scripts/everything.. so when a mod is done, people use the creation kit.. not stuff like photoshop.. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted June 25, 2016 1. i will re-iterate this again, each package/game is done by a different developer.. they only know their "packing" techniques.. 2. GFX are handled the same way.. they "could" be in a standard format.. or they "could" be custom done, and have the default.xex decode everything.. 3. there is no "general" tool to let you edit gfx files 4. here is an example: skyrim - Bethesda made a creation kit for the game, which handles all the textures/scripts/everything.. so when a mod is done, people use the creation kit.. not stuff like photoshop.. So are you saying there's no realistic way to figure this out? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swizzy 2084 Posted June 25, 2016 So are you saying there's no realistic way to figure this out?Well, give it a try, there are tools for finding signatures in files, if you can find some expected signatures, you can look for offset markers pointing to that data, that's a good starting point...Sent from my SM-G903F Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted July 4, 2016 Well, give it a try, there are tools for finding signatures in files, if you can find some expected signatures, you can look for offset markers pointing to that data, that's a good starting point... Sent from my SM-G903F Man, I would die to have this figured out somehow and like I mentioned earlier. I would pay someone to help me figure this out. You mentioned looking for those signature pointer offsets. Can you point me to info on what this may look like, preferably for an image file? I just need a little help to get started. If you or anyone you know could help I'm sure together we can get this going and I would pay for your help. Please consider! The football community is desperate! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
felida 1653 Posted July 5, 2016 Man, I would die to have this figured out somehow and like I mentioned earlier. I would pay someone to help me figure this out. You mentioned looking for those signature pointer offsets. Can you point me to info on what this may look like, preferably for an image file? I just need a little help to get started. If you or anyone you know could help I'm sure together we can get this going and I would pay for your help. Please consider! The football community is desperate! ok, you were already told, that they are "meshes" and NOT images.. have you tried to open those files with lefluffie or similar? they might just be like a TU/DLC package.. dunno.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted July 5, 2016 ok, you were already told, that they are "meshes" and NOT images.. have you tried to open those files with lefluffie or similar? they might just be like a TU/DLC package.. dunno.. I'm not familiar with those programs. I'll check out lefluffie and see what that's about. Thx. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
felida 1653 Posted July 5, 2016 I'm not familiar with those programs. I'll check out lefluffie and see what that's about. Thx.Lefluffie/velocity open x360 packages, and can even create them.. just dont know if those will be able to open the specific ones you are trying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted August 7, 2016 Lefluffie/velocity open x360 packages, and can even create them.. just dont know if those will be able to open the specific ones you are trying I've tried those apps and no dice. There has to be someone that can help figure this out. Would a 360 dev kit be of any help? I'm desperately searching for a way to make this happen. Please help!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted February 18, 2017 I'm back at this again. None of the programs mentioned in this thread worked. Where I think it would be better to start would be to see if I could identify what the "meshes" look like in those HEX files. Meaning, is there a typical HEX sequence of Bytes for "mesh" objects? From my research, I know there are mod tools for games like Skyrim where you can edit meshes and package them back into the game's iso. I wonder if this could be possible for this game. PLEASE HELP! This site seems to be my only hope. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to figure this out and I have an extensive background in programming, modding game, and technology overall which may help. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
felida 1653 Posted February 18, 2017 8 hours ago, KingJavo said: I'm back at this again. None of the programs mentioned in this thread worked. Where I think it would be better to start would be to see if I could identify what the "meshes" look like in those HEX files. Meaning, is there a typical HEX sequence of Bytes for "mesh" objects? From my research, I know there are mod tools for games like Skyrim where you can edit meshes and package them back into the game's iso. I wonder if this could be possible for this game. PLEASE HELP! This site seems to be my only hope. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to figure this out and I have an extensive background in programming, modding game, and technology overall which may help. The files are basically zips without the extensiom, the default.xex has the info on how to use those files.. each game company uses a diff compression method.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted February 19, 2017 Thanks for the help. How would recommend figuring out the default.xex file to learn how those "zip" files are being used? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swizzy 2084 Posted February 19, 2017 3 hours ago, KingJavo said: Thanks for the help. How would recommend figuring out the default.xex file to learn how those "zip" files are being used? You'd use IDA Pro to read how the default.xex runs, and from there you might find that some of these "zip" files may contain code aswell that gets executed (but runs in a different format then the XEX) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingJavo 0 Posted September 19, 2018 Been a LONG time... I know. I'm back at this again. Wondering if any NEW tools have been released to help identify some of this stuff? I believe I tried all of the tools mentioned last year and not succeeded. I'm a programmer and can probably build the tools needed to get this going, but any help would be awesome. Thanks again guys! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gavin_darkglider 1562 Posted September 30, 2018 First, if you were such a bad ass programmer, you would have figured this much out by now. Second, if you want any information on how those files are used, dissassemble the xex with IDA Pro. From there you have the whole blueprint for the game engine, which will tell you more than a hex editor, or any of us on this forum. The only reason skyrim has mods like this on the 360 is because the game came out on the PC with a homebrew mod options. Since it is the same game, compiled for a different CPU, modders already know what is up with the files. If you could find a PC version of the game, and you can find tools to do this for that version of the games, and then might be able to take what you learn there and apply it to the 360 version. Personally for what you are trying to do, a Nintendo Switch, with LayeredFS(CFW Option), would be a better option, as it is designed primarilly for this sort of application. Unfortunatly the xbox doesnt do this. On top of that some game developers pre-compile assets(Hince why we needed the aurora asset editor) into d3d maps, because it is faster than loading an image file, and having the console convert it into a d3d map to load. Once again this is a development choice, and every developer is different about how they write code. I have seen many code implementations that are all different, but essentially do the same thing over the years. This applies to all programmes, so until you step through the dissassembled XEX, and spend way more time then you want looking at that code, you wont have the first idea of what to do. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites