How Do I open .binu8 files

[rose19999999999]

Hello I extracted a visual novel on switch, however when I got to the script folder it gives me files with .binu8 extension, this is the first time I see this kind of extension , how do I extract and repack them ?

 

[FAST6191]

.bin is about the most generic extension you can get.

u8 is often a signifier of compression.

To that end I would first look to see if they are compressed. Fairly easy test - get a bunch of them and put them in a zip file (not 7z) and if the size is about that of all the files together then chances are it is already compressed.
I don't know what standard formats exist for compression on the Switch (and it is a new enough device that we are more likely to see standard PC takes on formats as well as console specific stuff) but u8 decompression is probably a good start for a search.

After that then yeah .bin is generic, I did not see a directory name and the file names themselves are nothing much. Files half a meg to a meg could be archives (which might have their own internal names) but probably not.

 

[masagrator]

Hello I extracted a visual novel on switch, however when I got to the script folder it gives me files with .binu8 extension, this is the first time I see this kind of extension , how do I extract and repack them ?






View attachment 334137

What game is this and what you want to do with it? I may be able to help if it's something I would be interested in.

u8 decompression

Never heard of it.

Those files are pretty big for VN scripts, so I am guessing it's not using any compression. It's probably engine specific scenario file converted into binary format consisting of header, some table and multiple commands that you have a high chance to not be able to disassemble without reverse engineering executable.

LucaSystem VN engine is the only one I know personally that has size specified before every command.

If you have luck, it may store strings at the end of file or in separate file.

 

[Deleted member 301661]

What game is this and what you want to do with it? I may be able to help if it's something I would be interested in.


Never heard of it.

Those files are pretty big for VN scripts, so I am guessing it's not using any compression. It's probably engine specific scenario file converted into binary format consisting of header, some table and multiple commands that you have a high chance to not be able to disassemble without reverse engineering executable.

LucaSystem VN engine is the only one I know personally that has size specified before every command.

If you have luck, it may store strings at the end of file or in separate file.

https://wiibrew.org/wiki/U8_archive
https://gbatemp.net/download/howardcs-u8-tool-v10-1-u8tool-10-1.37168/
https://gbatemp.net/download/u8-py-wii-tools.37075/

 

[masagrator]

https://wiibrew.org/wiki/U8_archive
https://gbatemp.net/download/howardcs-u8-tool-v10-1-u8tool-10-1.37168/
https://gbatemp.net/download/u8-py-wii-tools.37075/

"it is archive, not using compression"

So yeah, still never heard of u8 decompression.
And from what I understand it was used only in Nintendo first party games for Wii.

 

[Deleted member 301661]

"it is archive, not using compression"

So yeah, still never heard of u8 decompression.
And from what I understand it was used only in Nintendo first party games for Wii.

it's been used a lot more than that one game and console, and sometimes it is compressed LZ style...

 

[Mario119]

I'm still wrapping my head around how to open these sorts of files, the tools linked here don't seem to function for me.

 

[kdw]

Those are NeXAS engine BIN files but string are encoded in utf-8

It must be pretty new because most of the tools on github are made for string encoded in shift-jis encoding.

The format looks the same outside of that so you might get the tools working with minimal modification.

 

[masagrator]

I'm still wrapping my head around how to open these sorts of files, the tools linked here don't seem to function for me.

Because linked tools are for completely different files than OP wants.

Those are NeXAS engine BIN files but string are encoded in utf-8

It must be pretty new because most of the tools on github are made for string encoded in shift-jis encoding.

The format looks the same outside of that so you might get the tools working with minimal modification.

Since OP didn't reply to my post, either they solved already the problem or they don't care enough to even come back to this topic and dropped project.
Btw. how do you know which game OP is talking about?
My pure guess is Aiyoku no Eustia since first 3 characters in name files are the same as game title.

 

[kdw]

Because linked tools are for completely different files than OP wants.


Since OP didn't reply to my post, either they solved already the problem or they don't care enough to even come back to this topic and dropped project.
Btw. how do you know which game OP is talking about?
My pure guess is Aiyoku no Eustia since first 3 characters in name files are the same as game title.

I have a visual novel with files that have exact same name format and extension and in a Script folder, i don't know his specific game. But it's highly likely that it's the same engine.
That said you might be right in your guess. The game i tested this on "Aquarium" start with aqu and both games are published by Entergram

 

[Mario119]

I have a visual novel with files that have exact same name format and extension and in a Script folder, i don't know his specific game. But it's highly likely that it's the same engine.
That said you might be right in your guess. The game i tested this on "Aquarium" start with aqu and both games are published by Entergram

I'm also testing Aquarium for reference. Since I posted a person that I'm in a discord server with actually saw this post and showed me they were apparently able to modify the dialogue via hex editing.

 

[masagrator]

So there is an interest in translating Aquarium from some actual translator? Since I could try to help with files to get them into truly editable state (which hex editing is definitely not) if this is the case.

 

[Nekosenin]

Has there been any update on stuff related to translating Aquarium and or opening binu8 files other then with hex editing? This was the only thread/mention I could find relating to the translations of the game so I'm wondering on if there has been any updates in the last few days.

 

[kdw]

Has there been any update on stuff related to translating Aquarium and or opening binu8 files other then with hex editing? This was the only thread/mention I could find relating to the translations of the game so I'm wondering on if there has been any updates in the last few days.

I've modified some scripts and put them on github. It support both binu8 and datu8 files. Search on github for Aquarium_tools
As for translation. I've talked to some people but it's not that easy to convince people to translate a 10hour game
Note that the scripts extract all the strings, not just dialogue, there's filename in there that shouldn't be modified. I

 

[Nekosenin]

I've modified some scripts and put them on github. It support both binu8 and datu8 files. Search on github for Aquarium_tools
As for translation. I've talked to some people but it's not that easy to convince people to translate a 10hour game
Note that the scripts extract all the strings, not just dialogue, there's filename in there that shouldn't be modified. I

Very late response but I couldn't get the binu8 dump script to work on either Windows or Mac. Both devices have the same error, I'm not sure if I did something wrong as I don't know Python to fully understand. The datu8 worked on Windows but wouldn't work on on Mac. I'm running Python 3.11.0 on both if that's any help.

Edit: Apparently after running it 3 times it worked on some files despite spitting out errors,,? Still have no idea why it's erroring though.

 

[masagrator]

Very late response but I couldn't get the binu8 dump script to work on either Windows or Mac. Both devices have the same error, I'm not sure if I did something wrong as I don't know Python to fully understand. The datu8 worked on Windows but wouldn't work on on Mac. I'm running Python 3.11.0 on both if that's any help.

Edit: Apparently after running it 3 times it worked on some files despite spitting out errors,,? Still have no idea why it's erroring though.
View attachment 339286

My guess is that line 56 tries to read 4 bytes from the end of file, but there is less than 4 bytes left, so it reads whatever was left and struct library fails because it expects 4 bytes. It may looks like it worked, but since it fails you may get partial result.

tl;dr script is not perfectly suited for file you provide.

So it seems I need to ask again: is there any translator that wants to translate it since you try to decompile script? Or you are just doing this for fun?

 

[Nekosenin]

My guess is that line 56 tries to read 4 bytes from the end of file, but there is less than 4 bytes left, so it reads whatever was left and struct library fails because it expects 4 bytes. It may looks like it worked, but since it fails you may get partial result.

tl;dr script is not perfectly suited for file you provide.

So it seems I need to ask again: is there any translator that wants to translate it since you try to decompile script? Or you are just doing this for fun?

Mostly for fun/curiosity and to get a basic translation going but I also know a few translators that could do small chunks but I'm also not sure if any are open to projects right now.

 

[kdw]

Very late response but I couldn't get the binu8 dump script to work on either Windows or Mac. Both devices have the same error, I'm not sure if I did something wrong as I don't know Python to fully understand. The datu8 worked on Windows but wouldn't work on on Mac. I'm running Python 3.11.0 on both if that's any help.

Edit: Apparently after running it 3 times it worked on some files despite spitting out errors,,? Still have no idea why it's erroring though.
View attachment 339286

Weird, it works on my side. I'll had some log message so i can see what's going on.

 

[Nekosenin]

Weird, it works on my side. I'll had some log message so i can see what's going on. View attachment 339291

Hm, I wonder why. Maybe something went wrong with my dump? I dumped the cart and extracted the xci for the files but all I can assume is something went wrong somewhere.

 

[kdw]

Hm, I wonder why. Maybe something went wrong with my dump? I dumped the cart and extracted the xci for the files but all I can assume is something went wrong somewhere.

Do you have discord ? add me "Edited"
I will edit the message once i'm added

Post automatically merged: Nov 22, 2022

Neko dumped files had 3 more bytes(Byte order mark) at the beginning which i didn't account for, that made the script not read a correct offset