Hacking Discussion Regarding the Nekopara Volume 1 for the Switch

FoxofGrey · Jul 9, 2018

So, yes, I've bought this game, so I haven't broke any laws regarding piracy. So, let's discuss real quick what I found.

It turns out that the full dump of this game (or visual novel as many would call it) is very different compared to the contents of the PC release, as I'll show you here:

This above is the Switch dump

And this is the PC release

As you can tell, the two releases are completely different, in terms of how the files are structured. And, for those not in the know, a xp3 file is the usual VN file that has the assigned data to it, with the sig file being the signature for the xp3 file. The Switch uses, from what I assume, to be none of these elements. And yes, I did check the file headers of the bin files, two are psb (and that might not be true, as the header is different from an actual psb header), and a mdf header for the rest (which is also questionable since the mdf header is also completely different from that header). So, if, let's say, you wanted to patch the Switch version for the R18 content, you cannot do it with the current state.
-snip-

planetarian · Jul 9, 2018

a bit more info on this:

.xp3 is the proprietary archive format used by kirikiri, probably the most widely-used VN engine out there. Nekopara uses a variant of it called KiriKiriZ. Furthermore, nearly every modern krkr game uses some form of unique (but simple) encryption on its xp3 archives, but tools are available which can extract them despite that.
For example, the immediate contents of data.xp3:

The Switch version does indeed look like it has been repackaged to some degree. it looks like there are pairs of files, *_body.bin being the archives and *_info.psb.m perhaps containing metadata of some kind.
It's worth noting that .psb is the extension used by Nekopara's e-mote (the Live2d-ish animated emotive character engine) system for its character files, though as far as I am aware these files are simply packaged .tga texturemaps (containing all the individual 'pieces' of an animated character, laid out in a single image). At first glance I would not expect the .psb files to have anything to do with these .psb.m files, unless psb is really just a container format of some kind regardless of content.

FoxofGrey · Jul 10, 2018

planetarian said:
a bit more info on this:

.xp3 is the proprietary archive format used by kirikiri, probably the most widely-used VN engine out there. Nekopara uses a variant of it called KiriKiriZ. Furthermore, nearly every modern krkr game uses some form of unique (but simple) encryption on its xp3 archives, but tools are available which can extract them despite that.
For example, the immediate contents of data.xp3:
View attachment 135113

The Switch version does indeed look like it has been repackaged to some degree. it looks like there are pairs of files, *_body.bin being the archives and *_info.psb.m perhaps containing metadata of some kind.
It's worth noting that .psb is the extension used by Nekopara's e-mote (the Live2d-ish animated emotive character engine) system for its character files, though as far as I am aware these files are simply packaged .tga texturemaps (containing all the individual 'pieces' of an animated character, laid out in a single image). At first glance I would not expect the .psb files to have anything to do with these .psb.m files, unless psb is really just a container format of some kind regardless of content.

I found this on Live2D's website:
http://www.live2d.com/en/news/cubism_supports_switch

Might clue us in with more details regarding how games are compiled to work on the Switch.

MrComputerRevo · Jul 18, 2018

The engine the Switch version runs on is "Kaleido ADV Workshop" by M2. It is an absolute *paaaain* to work on, and is a combination of a Squirrel VM for system scripting and actually KiriKiri script format for the scenario scripts (though I'm not sure how much it is modified, but some old KiriKiri text extraction tools *do* work on these scripts). I've never messed with KiriKiri, so I don't know what it uses for image formats, but it *might* be similar? (M2 uses PSB container files for pretty much everything I suppose) There are tools to extract the *_body.bin and *_info.psb.m files, but you need an encryption key from the executable (isn't really a problem, since we have access to Switch executables) Anyway, unless someone is *really* keen for making this, I wouldn't expect it. Trust me, I know the pain of trying to port an 18+ patch to a completely different engine...
Well, this being on Switch makes things slightly simpler for reverse engineering as many Switch games for whatever reason include function symbols, and Nekopara is no exception.

FoxofGrey · Jul 18, 2018

MrComputerRevo said:
The engine the Switch version runs on is "Kaleido ADV Workshop" by M2. It is an absolute *paaaain* to work on, and is a combination of a Squirrel VM for system scripting and actually KiriKiri script format for the scenario scripts (though I'm not sure how much it is modified, but some old KiriKiri text extraction tools *do* work on these scripts). I've never messed with KiriKiri, so I don't know what it uses for image formats, but it *might* be similar? (M2 uses PSB container files for pretty much everything I suppose) There are tools to extract the *_body.bin and *_info.psb.m files, but you need an encryption key from the executable (isn't really a problem, since we have access to Switch executables) Anyway, unless someone is *really* keen for making this, I wouldn't expect it. Trust me, I know the pain of trying to port an 18+ patch to a completely different engine...
Well, this being on Switch makes things slightly simpler for reverse engineering as many Switch games for whatever reason include function symbols, and Nekopara is no exception.

-snip-
I'm interested to get the R18 patch running, just to see even if I can do it.

MrComputerRevo · Jul 18, 2018

FoxofGrey said:
-snip- I'm interested to get the R18 patch running, just to see even if I can do it.

I have the game myself, but no, I'm not interested in doing the patch for it, sorry.

I can post an encryption key and link to the extractor tool (exm2lib), but not sure if that is against the rules. Well, if anyone wants to find the key, just search for a string "script/" in the executable. The key should be the string before that one.

FoxofGrey · Jul 18, 2018

MrComputerRevo said:
I have the game myself, but no, I'm not interested in doing the patch for it, sorry.

I can post an encryption key and link to the extractor tool (exm2lib), but not sure if that is against the rules. Well, if anyone wants to find the key, just search for a string "script/" in the executable. The key should be the string before that one.

Just PM me then.

wwwklopar · Dec 8, 2018

MrComputerRevo said:
I have the game myself, but no, I'm not interested in doing the patch for it, sorry.

I can post an encryption key and link to the extractor tool (exm2lib), but not sure if that is against the rules. Well, if anyone wants to find the key, just search for a string "script/" in the executable. The key should be the string before that one.

Can you PM me too "GAME_SEED and key_len" for exm2lib? I wanna to do translation for this game.

whamer100 · Feb 20, 2019

Can you pm me it as well?

chaoskagami · Feb 20, 2019

I've just confirmed the key for Vol. 2 is in fact the exact same key as Vol. 1, for anyone interested.

The "easiest" way to get an extractor for this is to take exm2lib.exe and overwrite the key for Infinite Stratos since both have the exact same key length. Just beware that OP is serious when he says this engine is a pain in the ass.

whamer100 · Feb 21, 2019

chaoskagami said:
I've just confirmed the key for Vol. 2 is in fact the exact same key as Vol. 1, for anyone interested.

The "easiest" way to get an extractor for this is to take exm2lib.exe and overwrite the key for Infinite Stratos since both have the exact same key length. Just beware that OP is serious when he says this engine is a pain in the ass.

I've done my share of data mining yesterday, and ive already dumped all the files, also ive found that the .m part of the extension inside all the files doesnt mean anything (rename one of the fonts to just be .ttf from .ttf.m and its previewable in windows)

All that needs to be done now is a way to open the .psb files that are decrypted

SirB3Ta · Mar 3, 2019

so is it possible to convert the patch to a format the switch can read

nilly · Mar 7, 2019

Did anyone get anywhere on this? or are the engines just to incompatible?

Philippus229 · Mar 25, 2019

Can someone please tell me where to get Kaleido ADV Workshop? I was searching for it for the past 2 hours but wasn't able to find anything, not even on the official M2 website. Then I saw that at least one person in this discussion seems to have it and just decided to ask.

Chocola · Mar 26, 2019

I want to traslate this game too, if someone know how just tell me please ^^

uyjulian · Jul 12, 2019

The 18+ content is localized in "adultsonly.xp3" XPK3 archive. There are NO PSB files contained in that archive, so you can just extract image sequences, images, and voice files from that archive. KrkrExtract will do the job for you quite easily. The scenario in "data.xp3" contains references to those resources, but the 18+ scenario contents may not be leftover in the Switch version.

If the PSB files from the Switch version cannot be converted to JSON with the existing PSB format tools, Ulysses Wu may be able to help you. Try sending an email to that person.

Centergaming · Nov 5, 2019

Did anyone get an update on this?

linuxares · Nov 5, 2019

Why not just contact the devs of the game? They release the R18 patch outside steam. They can probably do the same for Nintendo. Or "leak it on some dark site" or such.

uyjulian · Nov 5, 2019

PC and Switch versions use totally different engine.

Chocola · Nov 5, 2019

linuxares said:
Why not just contact the devs of the game? They release the R18 patch outside steam. They can probably do the same for Nintendo. Or "leak it on some dark site" or such.

I don't want the pervert patch, only translate it xD

uyjulian said:
PC and Switch versions use totally different engine.

The engine of Switch are Kaleido Workshop 2, unafortunally didn't find any documentation of it

Hacking Discussion Regarding the Nekopara Volume 1 for the Switch

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