Post by Red Hairdo on Oct 20, 2014 17:00:51 GMT -5
Hello, everyone!
As some of you may or may not know, I and some other people here have been trying to investigate and understand the purpose behind most of the files of Ys Online, a currently-dead MMORPG.
I have been investigating much of its data and how they can be manipulated, but many file extensions are unheard of for me, and some others I had to do some good investigation to see what they are for. So I figured some of you may know what they are for, and how to properly handle its contents, and may just be willing to help. That would at least speed up a lot of things, and perhaps even shed light on things we would otherwise never know! But of course, if no one is available for that, there's no reason for anyone to feel guilty or anything, so no worries.
With all of that said, we were starting with huge data files that contain a lot of other files. Within, we have found the following extensions for all of their internal files, using Ys Online Europe's version as reference (which contains extra data files):
In "data1.ysf", "data1_Local_DE.ysf", "data1_Local_EN.ysf", "data1_Local_ES.ysf" and "data1_Local_FR.ysf":
- .xac ;
- .xsm ;
- .max (a reference for a file with that extension has been found, but no actual file with that extension was within any data file).
In "data2.ysf", "data2_Local_DE.ysf", "data2_Local_EN.ysf", "data2_Local_ES.ysf" and "data2_Local_FR.ysf":
- .anm ;
- .dff ;
- .uva ;
- .rws (just a single file with that extension in the package, apparently);
- .spt ;
- .bsp ;
- .tff (files found only in the "_Local_XX" data files, and also the only file extension found in them).
In "data3.ysf", "data3_Local_DE.ysf", "data3_Local_EN.ysf", "data3_Local_ES.ysf" and "data3_Local_FR.ysf":
- .dds .
In "data4_A.ysf", "data4_F.ysf", "data4_O.ysf", "data4_S.ysf", "data4_Z.ysf", "data4_Lang_DE.ysf", "data4_Lang_EN.ysf", "data4_Lang_ES.ysf" and "data4_Lang_FR.ysf":
- .xml .
In "data5.ysf":
- .PAT (just in a single file in the package, and it's the only file anywhere with that extension).
Here's the current understanding we have on those extensions:
.xac: 3D model files, created and handled through "EMotion FX", which is assumedly used as an SDK/"toolkit" for 3D Studio Max 7 judging from the ".max" file reference we found. Technically, that SDK is also available for Maya/Maya 3D, or one can use a different program altogether called "EMotion Studio", but it seems Ys Online didn't use those. Problem is, I never saw anything about EMotion FX, and it seems its license is neither cheap nor given away too easily, even the trial version, which you can get by e-mailing the creator company with a request along with your company name, assuming you have one. The question is, are there any alternative tools to modify/edit/handle .xac files? Perhaps something open-source and/or free, or just more accessible, even?
Official EMotion FX website (they offer versions 3 and 4): www.mysticgd.com/
.xsm: Same as ".xac" as described above, but apparently they contain 3D animation data for models instead of being model files.
.max: A 3D-Studio-Max-related file. It is either a project file, or simply any regular 3D Studio Max file. Since I don't really know the program, that's all I know.
.anm: Completely unknown. Seems to stand for "animation", though. I found this and this, though.
.dff: Completely unknown, except it may contain 3D model data, judging from this. Perhaps texture data, too?
.uva: Completely unknown.
.rws: Completely unknown, except it may contain texture/3D model data, judging from this.
.spt: Completely unknown.
.bsp: Completely unknown, except it may contain texture/3D model data, judging from this.
.tff: Clearly font files. It is not necessarily the case, but separate font files like so may be exclusive to Ys Online Europe. One would have to check for them in the other versions as well, in order to confirm this.
.dds: Stands for "DirectDraw Surface", essentially meaning they are texture/skin files for 3D models, as well as image files for anything non-3D in the game, such as the graphic user interface, as well as 2D icons and perhaps some 2D effects as well, at least as far as I know. For example, an image of a text saying "CRITICAL!" whenever something lands a critical hit in-game.
"DirectDraw Surface" was created by Microsoft, but apparently it is currently a depricated file format (not that that matters much for us). Surprisingly, though, it's not used exclusively for Microsoft platforms.
".dds" files can be edited and created if you install a free plug-in for Adobe Photoshop created by NVIDIA (you don't need to have an NVIDIA graphics card to use it, by the way), which is extremely easy and intuitive to install and is available here (for 32-bit computers) and here (for 64-bit computers).
According to MP83, Falcom used that extension for Ys: The Oath in Felghana, as well, which he had to use when he had to lend NightWolve a hand with his patch.
.xml: "eXtended markup language" files, which basically are expected to contain XML code. Those can be opened by any text editor, as well as quite a bunch of other programs. Not much mystery going with this one, except the files' very contents, since the files cannot be extracted, as they are password-protected, and the password is not yet known. (All the packages containing those files, by the way, are renamed ".zip" files instead of being ".ysf" files, which was a way of disguising their nature.)
.PAT: Completely unknown, but a quick research led me to believe "PAT" stands for "patch", and that the file with that format contains game patch information and/or game patch data. Although other possibilities exist: it may stand for something other than "patch", and even if it does stand for that, it could still refer to "patch" in a sense different from that we are used to hear! But whatever it is, I don't currently know. And like the .xml files, this one is also password-protected for whatever reason, and its data pack file is also a disguised .zip file renamed with the ".ysf" extension.
If anyone wants to access any of those files, you may get them here, where I uploaded all the aforementioned YsOL EU data files, except I already extracted them to make things easier for those interested.
If you would like to extract the files by yourself for whatever reason, though, you may download any of the Ys Online versions I could get ahold of from this thread. You may extract the ".ysf" files through the source-code of this program, which you have to compile yourself using MS Visual Studio (it is all C# code), and run the program through command-prompt (cmd.exe). (In case you can't find the download link for the code, here it is.)
Also, I'm not sure, but I have heard there's some sort of alternative for this, something called "BMS". I think it's a programming language of some sort, and for our case, I think it's expected to be run on a program called QuickBMS, which can be downloaded here. One can apparently use BMS instead, for extracting those files, for anyone interested, because apparently someone in another forum was. In some Chinese-language forum I found someone who published such a code, here (requires registration to view, which is pretty doable through Google Translate). Or, here's his/her code, for those not interested in the rest of the person's post:
P.S.: lol, "Call of Sodium". =p
Well, that's all there is for now. Hopefully someone else here may know something further regarding some of those file extensions!
As some of you may or may not know, I and some other people here have been trying to investigate and understand the purpose behind most of the files of Ys Online, a currently-dead MMORPG.
I have been investigating much of its data and how they can be manipulated, but many file extensions are unheard of for me, and some others I had to do some good investigation to see what they are for. So I figured some of you may know what they are for, and how to properly handle its contents, and may just be willing to help. That would at least speed up a lot of things, and perhaps even shed light on things we would otherwise never know! But of course, if no one is available for that, there's no reason for anyone to feel guilty or anything, so no worries.
With all of that said, we were starting with huge data files that contain a lot of other files. Within, we have found the following extensions for all of their internal files, using Ys Online Europe's version as reference (which contains extra data files):
In "data1.ysf", "data1_Local_DE.ysf", "data1_Local_EN.ysf", "data1_Local_ES.ysf" and "data1_Local_FR.ysf":
- .xac ;
- .xsm ;
- .max (a reference for a file with that extension has been found, but no actual file with that extension was within any data file).
In "data2.ysf", "data2_Local_DE.ysf", "data2_Local_EN.ysf", "data2_Local_ES.ysf" and "data2_Local_FR.ysf":
- .anm ;
- .dff ;
- .uva ;
- .rws (just a single file with that extension in the package, apparently);
- .spt ;
- .bsp ;
- .tff (files found only in the "_Local_XX" data files, and also the only file extension found in them).
In "data3.ysf", "data3_Local_DE.ysf", "data3_Local_EN.ysf", "data3_Local_ES.ysf" and "data3_Local_FR.ysf":
- .dds .
In "data4_A.ysf", "data4_F.ysf", "data4_O.ysf", "data4_S.ysf", "data4_Z.ysf", "data4_Lang_DE.ysf", "data4_Lang_EN.ysf", "data4_Lang_ES.ysf" and "data4_Lang_FR.ysf":
- .xml .
In "data5.ysf":
- .PAT (just in a single file in the package, and it's the only file anywhere with that extension).
Here's the current understanding we have on those extensions:
.xac: 3D model files, created and handled through "EMotion FX", which is assumedly used as an SDK/"toolkit" for 3D Studio Max 7 judging from the ".max" file reference we found. Technically, that SDK is also available for Maya/Maya 3D, or one can use a different program altogether called "EMotion Studio", but it seems Ys Online didn't use those. Problem is, I never saw anything about EMotion FX, and it seems its license is neither cheap nor given away too easily, even the trial version, which you can get by e-mailing the creator company with a request along with your company name, assuming you have one. The question is, are there any alternative tools to modify/edit/handle .xac files? Perhaps something open-source and/or free, or just more accessible, even?
Official EMotion FX website (they offer versions 3 and 4): www.mysticgd.com/
.xsm: Same as ".xac" as described above, but apparently they contain 3D animation data for models instead of being model files.
.max: A 3D-Studio-Max-related file. It is either a project file, or simply any regular 3D Studio Max file. Since I don't really know the program, that's all I know.
.anm: Completely unknown. Seems to stand for "animation", though. I found this and this, though.
.dff: Completely unknown, except it may contain 3D model data, judging from this. Perhaps texture data, too?
.uva: Completely unknown.
.rws: Completely unknown, except it may contain texture/3D model data, judging from this.
.spt: Completely unknown.
.bsp: Completely unknown, except it may contain texture/3D model data, judging from this.
.tff: Clearly font files. It is not necessarily the case, but separate font files like so may be exclusive to Ys Online Europe. One would have to check for them in the other versions as well, in order to confirm this.
.dds: Stands for "DirectDraw Surface", essentially meaning they are texture/skin files for 3D models, as well as image files for anything non-3D in the game, such as the graphic user interface, as well as 2D icons and perhaps some 2D effects as well, at least as far as I know. For example, an image of a text saying "CRITICAL!" whenever something lands a critical hit in-game.
"DirectDraw Surface" was created by Microsoft, but apparently it is currently a depricated file format (not that that matters much for us). Surprisingly, though, it's not used exclusively for Microsoft platforms.
".dds" files can be edited and created if you install a free plug-in for Adobe Photoshop created by NVIDIA (you don't need to have an NVIDIA graphics card to use it, by the way), which is extremely easy and intuitive to install and is available here (for 32-bit computers) and here (for 64-bit computers).
According to MP83, Falcom used that extension for Ys: The Oath in Felghana, as well, which he had to use when he had to lend NightWolve a hand with his patch.
.xml: "eXtended markup language" files, which basically are expected to contain XML code. Those can be opened by any text editor, as well as quite a bunch of other programs. Not much mystery going with this one, except the files' very contents, since the files cannot be extracted, as they are password-protected, and the password is not yet known. (All the packages containing those files, by the way, are renamed ".zip" files instead of being ".ysf" files, which was a way of disguising their nature.)
.PAT: Completely unknown, but a quick research led me to believe "PAT" stands for "patch", and that the file with that format contains game patch information and/or game patch data. Although other possibilities exist: it may stand for something other than "patch", and even if it does stand for that, it could still refer to "patch" in a sense different from that we are used to hear! But whatever it is, I don't currently know. And like the .xml files, this one is also password-protected for whatever reason, and its data pack file is also a disguised .zip file renamed with the ".ysf" extension.
If anyone wants to access any of those files, you may get them here, where I uploaded all the aforementioned YsOL EU data files, except I already extracted them to make things easier for those interested.
If you would like to extract the files by yourself for whatever reason, though, you may download any of the Ys Online versions I could get ahold of from this thread. You may extract the ".ysf" files through the source-code of this program, which you have to compile yourself using MS Visual Studio (it is all C# code), and run the program through command-prompt (cmd.exe). (In case you can't find the download link for the code, here it is.)
Also, I'm not sure, but I have heard there's some sort of alternative for this, something called "BMS". I think it's a programming language of some sort, and for our case, I think it's expected to be run on a program called QuickBMS, which can be downloaded here. One can apparently use BMS instead, for extracting those files, for anyone interested, because apparently someone in another forum was. In some Chinese-language forum I found someone who published such a code, here (requires registration to view, which is pretty doable through Google Translate). Or, here's his/her code, for those not interested in the rest of the person's post:
# Game: Ys Online: Call of Sodium
# Package: YSF
# by Fatduck Mar 2013
# script for QuickBMS http://quickbms.aluigi.org
idstring "This is a Ys-Online data file by 'YSO File System v0.1'\0"
get OFSTBL long
get SIZETBL long
math ENDTBL = OFSTBL
math ENDTBL += SIZETBL
goto OFSTBL
do
getdstring RESNAME 0x38
get OFSRES long
get SIZERES long
savepos OFSTBL
log RESNAME OFSRES SIZERES
while OFSTBL != ENDTBL
P.S.: lol, "Call of Sodium". =p
Well, that's all there is for now. Hopefully someone else here may know something further regarding some of those file extensions!