360 HDR/ARK File Structure (NOT DLC!!!!!)

**xorloser** · Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 68

After asking around it seems that no one has worked out what is up with the ordering of info inside hdr files, and everyone has had the same problems where any changes make them no longer work. This means i will have to look into it in greater depth which could take some time. So in the meantime you can get the sourcecode and sample tool for interacting easily with ark and hdr files from my website
Staff Edit: Removed. Read more here.

A quick glimpse of the result of using this tool: http://www.xorloser.com/gh2_songname_hack.jpg.
A tutorial is also enclosed taking you step by step through how to do this for Xbox360 games.

The sourcecode was designed with ease of use for the programmer in mind. This means that in just a few lines you can write an app that easily accesses these ark and hdr files. It was also designed to be efficient timewise, doing everything quickly and allowing a bunch of editing operations to be queued up but not actually written to disc until you "save" the changes. Even when the changes are saved, a file can be replaced into an ark file in a second or so depending on the size of the file. Oh and PS2 and Xbox360 files are both supported transparently by the same code.

WARNING: As I've stated the hdr file generation is not working properly yet, however the way the programmer uses the sourcecode should not change when this is fixed, so you can start designing your apps to use this code, and then when hdr generation is fixed, insert the updated files and rebuild your app and it will work.

**hailmatt69** · Joined: 25 Feb 2008 Posts: 23

Awesome, but I'm a little unclear on what this means.

Does this mean it is possible to edit the songlist succesfully, and it does work on the burn?
Is there still filesize issues?

**xorloser** · Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 68

there are still filesize issues yes. files can only be replaced with files the same size or smaller atm. as for changing the song and artist names, there is a tutorial for doing so in the rar file.

**devolus** · Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 37

this sounds amazing i hope that you can give us the possibility to change finally the names of the songs for gh2 and especially customs for rock band

awesome

**D1CEx14** · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 140

xorloser how do i get the sample tool to work>?
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**hailmatt69** · Joined: 25 Feb 2008 Posts: 23

**D1CEx14** · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 140

in cmd.exe?
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**cool--ethan** · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 244

**D1CEx14** · Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 140

**nickb611** · Joined: 23 Oct 2006 Posts: 3731 Location: Villanova, PA

These NEW tools are being developed and are NOT meant for non-computer versed people. If you don't know what you're doing, we don't care. This thread will not be continually piled with garbage because people don't know how to run a program from the command line. If you don't know what you're doing, DON'T BOTHER.

That is all.
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**hailmatt69** · Joined: 25 Feb 2008 Posts: 23

I thought I'd post some locations of commonly edited things in the locale.dtb (ui/eng/gen/locale.dtb), to save programmers the time of finding them themselves.

I think the places for these things are slightly different than the ps2 version due to the fact that Sign ins were added, and XBL content, and whatnot.

Tier Names.................: 933 - 941
Bonus Songs in Store...: 1015 - 1066
Star Power/Song Failed: 1194 - 1195
Loading tips.................: 1207 - 1305

The numbers are the nodes where it is located.

**xorloser** · Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 68

Ok ppl I've finally fixed the hdr file generation problems, it took a lot of reversing but I finally found out how it all works

This means that there are no longer any limits. A small file can be replaced with a bigger file and it all works nicely. Also any files can be removed and any files added.

You can get the updated version of ArkTool and the full sourcecode from my website www.xorloser.com.
Screenshot to show that it works

It turned out the ordering fo the info in the hdr file was very important. If not ordered correctly the game would crash. For full ordering info check the sourceode, but here is a basic overview.

The hdr file has 3 sections:

* section 1 is a string table which contains filename and dirnames. these strings are sorted by the offset of the files they represent inside the ark file.

* section 2 is an offset table where the offsets point to the start of strings in the string table (section1). the offsets are sorted by a hash calculated over the string that they point to. check the sourcecode for the hash generation algorithm and how hash collisions are handled.

* section 3 is a table of file entries. they contain the file size and offset inside the ark file as well as an index into the offset table (section2) for the dirname and filename strings. these file entries are sorted first by the dirname index, then by the filename index (when dirname indexes are equal). once again check the sourcecode for more info.

Lastly before people ask again, the included ArkTool is a command line windows app. Double clicking it in explorer will not work. This release is about providing a stable and working codebase for accessing all ark/hdr files in the same way. The idea being that others can quickly and easily make tools that qwork with ark/hdr files (hopefully a nice easy to use GUI tool). ArkTool is just a sample (albeit fully working) tool which shows how to use the sourcecode.

**FoG** · Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 1854 Location: Under A Bridge...

Great job Xorloser!
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**Teancum** · Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 437

Awesome -- I'm looking forward to porting GH1 to GH2, venues and all.