Extracted Xbox files. (Now with actual files!)

[Blizzaird]

So I was lurking here the other day, looking at the stuff ripped from Life Stories, and it occurred to me that maybe the same could be done for the various console versions of the game. I remember playing one of them a pretty long time ago and it had some pretty cool objects and, although a quick google image search reminded me that the console version's graphics suck ass, i figured some of the objects might still be cool to have in the real game (like the trampoline, or the crazy futuristic floating water hot tub thing). So I arred a copy of the Sims 2 for the Xbox (figured it's chances of compatibility would be better than that of the PS2 or GameCube versions due to the PC-ishness of the Xbox and it's file types) and extracted the files. Given that I know next to nothing about the Sims 2 modding I'll list the files here and those more awesome than me can tell me which ones might be of use.

root\default.NGH
root\default.xbe - This is an Xbox executable file, like an exe (some documentation here.)
root\sims2.bin
root\DATA\ambients.arc - can't say I've found any useful information about .arc files
root\DATA\animatio.arc
root\DATA\audiostr.arc
root\DATA\binaries.arc
root\DATA\characte.arc
root\DATA\datasets.arc
root\DATA\edithtre.arc
root\DATA\effectsa.arc
root\DATA\effectse.arc
root\DATA\effectss.arc
root\DATA\emitters.arc
root\DATA\flashes.arc
root\DATA\fonts.arc
root\DATA\levels.arc
root\DATA\models.arc
root\DATA\movies.arc
root\DATA\quickdat.arc
root\DATA\samples.arc
root\DATA\shaders.arc
root\DATA\soundeve.arc
root\DATA\soundtra.arc
root\DATA\textures.arc
root\DATA\index1.ind
root\DATA\index.ind
root\DATA\audiostr.xsb
root\DATA\audiostr.xwb
root\movies - Just a bunch of .xmv movie files, like the EA logo and some cutscenes.

If you want one of the files just say so and i'll upload it. or if you want to try a different version (PS2 or GameCube) and/or game (The Sims, The Sims: Bustin' Out, The Urbz, The Sims 2: Pets*, The Sims 2: Castaway**) i can arr it and extract it's files. Also, no requests for MySims because that would be stupid (and it's been announced that it's coming out for the PC anyway).

*unlike previous games, pets is also available for the Wii, but not the Xbox
**same as pets but no GameCube version

Edit: to fix my forum code fail

Edit 2: Linking files.

[arogers]

thats a very good idea! BUT you will only be able to rip the mesh and textures and add the bhavs etc yourself. if you do find a way around this i would like every object possible.

[Blizzaird]

I'm hoping that's not the case but before we can jump to any conclusions about meshes and bhavs and such we need to figure out how to get them out of these damn .arc files. I'd be lying if I said I'd tried very hard to do that though. All I can say is that they are NOT this.

Edit: to fix my forum code fail. Again.

[arogers]

isnt this how they make Roms? if it is then there must be a program to allow to do this. ive looked and can't find one.

[Blizzaird]

ummm... no.

Technically the term ROM isn't even applicable to games that come on a disk. What I've done is taken a disk image (sometimes incorrectly called a ROM) that someone else already ripped, and used a program called XBox ISO Reader to extract the files from it. So I'm already a few steps past "making a rom".

[Quinctia]

I don't know if there's a similar type of format conversion involved, but Xbox games have been ripped to add content to PC games before.  There's an ongoing project to restore cut material from Knights of the Old Republic II.  It was left on just the Xbox version, and they're making a mod to the PC version with the material.

That (or similar projects I don't know about) may be the place to start your search.

[Jelenedra]

Faulty information there. They left the cut content on the PC version of KOTOR II as well. If you have proper tools, you can listen to the cut audio files straight from the game folders.

So, as far as I know, no one has successfully converted Xbox to PC content before.

[Fat D]

I guess it depends on the individual game. Some are ported between console and PC, whereas others, like for example all sim games, are rewritten with an entirely different backend, and most likely not using the familiar format from TS2, which makes conversion impractical.

[arogers]

i cant see why riping a mesh of an object would be impossbile. there must be some way to get objects from it.

[Blizzaird]

Actually I am familiar with the KOTOR II restoration efforts (that's another forum I've lurked on for quite some time), and although much of the cut content is left in the PC version, an entire cut planet was successfully extracted from the Xbox version. The problem is that the Xbox and PC versions of KOTOR are essentially the exact same game and I doubt much, if any, format conversion had to be done, whereas The Sims 2 was significantly altered or even completely remade when they ported it to the consoles, as Fat D mentioned.

i cant see why riping a mesh of an object would be impossbile. there must be some way to get objects from it.

It's not impossible, the problem is that I have no clue how to do it. That's exactly why I posted this here. I was hoping someone could have a look at one of these files in a hex editor or whatever you would use, and see if they could decode the format. I personally have no experience whatsoever with that kind of thing.

As a side note, I fail at html and have no idea why my links aren't showing up right.

Edit: to fix my forum code fail. I feel stupid now.

[Solowren]

As a side note, I fail at html and have no idea why my links aren't showing up right.

That's because you're trying to use HTML. Use BBCode; this is a forum.

[empires]

I think its a good idea to try even if it doen't work. But if it does *Im hoping that it will.* I hope The Sims, The Sims: Bustin' Out, and The Urbz will follow. I always wonderd if anyone was going to mention this and now its happend.

[Blizzaird]

Use BBCode; this is a forum.

Ahh. I see. I almost never come out of lurkdom or even register on any forums, hence my ignorance of their workings. My bad.

[empires]

You could probbly get pretty far if you could figure out how to open the .arc file.

[Blizzaird]

Yep. That would be the plan, but so far no one with any experience in that kind of thing seems to have taken any interest in the project.

[Ambular]

Have you tried opening the .arc files using Universal Extractor?

[Blizzaird]

Why yes, yes I have. But they aren't that kind of .arc file. They are likely a completely custom file type. I should probably go ahead and Arr some of the other games, and see if they have the same file types.

[empires]

Trying to Arr the other consels own versions and seeing if the file types are different may be a possible help I have my doubts on that but its worth a shot. From what I remember wich may be alittle off people got pretty far into looking at SSBB for the Wii  so the Gamecube versions may or may not be worth looking at. But the only extracting that happend from that game was music but on the bright side people have been managing to get textures out of some gamecube games so you may want to try the Gamecube one.

[Blizzaird]

Yeah I've actually extracted a few sound files from a Zelda Collector's Edition promotional disk for the GameCube myself, but Nintendo re-uses the same formats for a lot of it's games so i just used some converters that some guy had made for Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. The Sims 2, however, is not a Nintendo game and is likely to have the same .arc files on the game cube as it has on the Xbox. I guess i could try anyway, although my hard drives are a little full at the moment so I'm trying to avoid unnecessary downloads. What I meant is that I should try one of the other games, like Bustin' Out, or the Urbz and see if they have different file types because they're older. Even if they are different though I'll still almost definitely not be able to do anything with them myself. I really just posted this because I figured someone here might enjoy the challenge. Maybe if I turn it into a competition... First person to decode the .arc format gets an imaginary cookie! No? A picture of a cookie! Still no? Damn. I don't have any meaningful prizes to give... What the hell, I'll just upload some of them anyway. (The offer of a picture of a cookie still stands by the way.) Here's models.arc and textures.arc. As mentioned before, if you want one of the other files, or files from one of the other games, just say the word.

[empires]

I looked/asked arround and all I got was the same thing you said it wasent.

[Quinctia]

Actually I am familiar with the KOTOR II restoration efforts (that's another forum I've lurked on for quite some time), and although much of the cut content is left in the PC version, an entire cut planet was successfully extracted from the Xbox version. The problem is that the Xbox and PC versions of KOTOR are essentially the exact same game and I doubt much, if any, format conversion had to be done, whereas The Sims 2 was significantly altered or even completely remade when they ported it to the consoles, as Fat D mentioned.

That's exactly why I mentioned it.  I know there's resources to get to that content (restoration project or no, I've seen a really entertaining picture walk-through that faked some of the cut-content that was only on the Xbox) and, while I'm sure the format was really similar to PC in this case, I thought it might be possible that the file compression system was the same among all the Xbox games.  And perhaps that could get you into those .arc files.

You obviously knew about that already.  Crud.

[Blizzaird]

I've looked into it a little more, and as far I can tell, KOTOR on the XBox shares almost all it's filetypes with the PC version, no extra archives to get past, just folders with files in them. Although I think the directories are arranged a little differently. It even has the same .ini file if I'm not mistaken. Console games just don't have the kind of standardized file-types you might expect them to. That link is pretty funny, though a little long and drawn out if you've already played the game.

Also, a reminder to those with skills: I've uploaded two of the .arc files for your decoding pleasure. (see my last post or the first post for links)

[sirnh]

About the .arc files. According to http://www.file-extensions.org an arc file is a 'Compressed file archive' or a 'UGS I-DEAS Native' (wathever that means).

I know that alzip supports the '.arc' file format. (alzip is a compression utility found at: http://www.altools.com/ALTools/ALZip.aspx)

Did you try unzipping an '.arc'-file (it probably will not work, but well...)

[Blizzaird]

Yeah, not with that specific tool, but that is exactly what i previously mentioned that they are most definitely not.

.arc is often also used as a file extension for several different file types that have in common that they are some kind of archive files.

[dragonarts]

UGS stands for UniGraphics... something. I-DEAS is owned by UGS folks. They are professional CAD programs used to 3D model parts of things like cars. My daughter is a designer for some folks that build cupholders and stuff out of plastic for Toyota and Ford and others. She mostly doesn't use either anymore as they mostly design in CATIA now, but she's shared bits about both programs with me. She knows I like 3D modeling for Sims. The only way you're going to get your hands on I-DEAS is through someone's work, unless you've got about $20,000 lying around loose. I don't know if there are other programs out there that can open the files either. You might however try Google sketchup plugins. I know she can convert between TurboCAD and Sketchup. And there's a plugin to export and import .obj files for Sketchup that works very well.