Sonic Unleashed (XBOX 360/PS3)
From Sonic Retro
| SCHG:Sonic Unleashed (XBOX 360/PS3) |
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| Main Article |
| How-To |
| Import Levels (360) |
This is the Sonic Community Hacking Guide for Sonic Unleashed.
Extracting/Opening Unleashed ar.?? files
Extracting or opening ar files from Sonic Unleashed normally like you would in Sonic Generations with Generations Archive Editor will give you an error. This is because the files are compressed to conserve disk space. In order to be able to open Unleashed ar files, you will need to decompress them before attempting to open them with Generations Archive Editor. To do this use QuickBMS and the Xcompress script for the Xbox 360 version or the Segs script for the PS3 version found on the QuickBMS homepage to decompress the files. Once done you'll be able to open the decompressed ar.?? files using Generations Archive Editor.
Music
Music is stored in CPK files (CRI Middleware proprietary package format), along with a list of files in the CSB files, music is in ADX/AAX format, Sonic 4 for PS3 also uses this format for its music, and both are compatible, and interchangeable. CSB uses UTF8 for encoding, CPK uses UTF8 internally, also contains a TOC for files inside CPK. Use CRI Filesystem Tools or CRI FileMajic SDK to repack. Replacing FX AAX file appears to break sound entirely, be careful!
Level loading
Level loading involves loading the .arl file for the act (in the demo MykonosAct2) from <cdvd>/<bindir>/ which on PS3 is /dev_bdvd/PS3_GAME/USRDIR. This contains a listing of files in the .ar archive for the act. SEGA uses zlib for compression, on failure on PS3, error output for Zlib is sent to SPU STDERR, and will end up crashing the game and/or Lv-2 and/or SPURS Engine. PFD file is in Packed directory and contains level geometry, you can change it, but if it's too large, you'll crash the game.
More coming soon as I continue to look at Sonic Unleashed.
References