Hacking Decrypted DLC (.app)

[steakk]

It seems that the latest trend right now is using Emulated NAND to run RB2/3 and giving more storage for DLC on an external HDD or SDHC. I am working on creating an automated setup that will build a virgin NAND (utilizing ModMii) and moving around of the .app files to the required places, etc...

But, I am falling short in 1 area: The binary file format for the .app files that are created when the DLC is decrypted. If I knew the binary structure for the .app files, I could easily add in some features that would allow viewing/sorting of songs by year, genre, difficulty, etc, as that information is stored within the file(s).

Does anyone have any insight as to the internals of those .app files? Or perhaps point me in the direction that might be helpful?

Thanks

Jason

 

[Helsionium]

There is no "*.app file format". These are actually just what you said, binary files. The *.app extension does not signify a special file format, just that this file is a content of any Wii title. If I'm not mistaken it could in fact be a TMD, U8 archive, a DOL or anything else for that matter.

Therefore, you must first determine the actual format of the files you want to examine. Use a Hex editor to view the contents of the files, you can most commonly find out about the file format by looking at the header (the first few bytes). If you are unsure, post the first few bytes (16, for example) and I might be able to tell you what file type it is.

NOTE: I seriously hope and believe that posting 16 bytes of copyrighted material (i.e. the *.app files) is justifiable as "fair use". If the moderators deem it not to be such, please feel obliged to remove my instructions.

 

[steakk]

There is no "*.app file format". These are actually just what you said, binary files. The *.app extension does not signify a special file format, just that this file is a content of any Wii title. If I'm not mistaken it could in fact be a TMD, U8 archive, a DOL or anything else for that matter.

Therefore, you must first determine the actual format of the files you want to examine. Use a Hex editor to view the contents of the files, you can most commonly find out about the file format by looking at the header (the first few bytes). If you are unsure, post the first few bytes (16, for example) and I might be able to tell you what file type it is.

NOTE: I seriously hope and believe that posting 16 bytes of copyrighted material (i.e. the *.app files) is justifiable as "fair use". If the moderators deem it not to be such, please feel obliged to remove my instructions.

Helsionium:

"Uª8-" (55 AA 38 2D 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 79 00 00 00 A0) Those are the first few bytes of one of the .app files in question. Judging from that, I would say it is a U8 archive (I could be wrong). I am unable to find anything that specifies the U8 structure or header information though.

I know what I want to do is possible, as there is another application floating around the net that does it. But, the source is not (and will never be) available.

EDIT: Okay, so I found a perl script that will extract the U8 archive for me (seems to work, already tested it)...and I have the songs.dta file that I am most likely going to need. Now to benchmark this and see how long it is going to take to perform that step on 1417 files, heh.

 

[giantpune]

for anybody else interested in this, the .app is a u8 archive. in there is a file in the archive /content/songs/songs.dta. this is actually a text file with windows newlines and all. in the text file is all the info about a song...

Spoiler

(blablabalbal
ÂÂ (name "Pull My Finger")
ÂÂ (artist "giantpune")
ÂÂ (master TRUE)
ÂÂ (song_id 1010010)
ÂÂ (song
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(name "dlc/sZaa/111/content/songssongname/songname")
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(tracks
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ ((drum (0 1))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ(bass (2))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ(guitar (3 4))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ(vocals (5))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ(keys (6 7))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ )
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(vocal_parts 2)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(pans (-1.0 1.0 0.0 -1.0 1.0 0.0 -1.0 1.0 0.0))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(vols (-1.0 -1.0 -7.0 -7.0 -7.0 -5.0 -5.0 -5.0 -5.0))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(cores (-1 -1 -1 1 1 -1 -1 -1 -1))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(drum_solo
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ (seqs (kick.cue snare.cue tom1.cue tom2.cue crash.cue))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(drum_freestyle
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ (seqs (kick.cue snare.cue hat.cue ride.cue crash.cue))
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ)
ÂÂ )
ÂÂ (bank sfx/tambourine_bank.milo)
ÂÂ (drum_bank sfx/kit02_bank.milo)
ÂÂ (anim_tempo kTempoMedium)
ÂÂ (band_fail_cue band_fail_electro_keys.cue)
ÂÂ (song_scroll_speed 2300)
ÂÂ (preview 47368 77368)
ÂÂ (song_length 261332)
ÂÂ (solo (drum))
ÂÂ (rank
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(drum 241)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(guitar 210)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(bass 158)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(vocals 212)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(keys 281)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(real_guitar 0)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(real_bass 0)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(real_keys 342)
ÂÂÂÂÂÂ(band 251)
ÂÂ )
ÂÂ (format 10)
ÂÂ (version 30)
ÂÂ (game_origin rb3_dlc)
ÂÂ (short_version 0)
ÂÂ (rating 2)
ÂÂ (genre new_wave)
ÂÂ (vocal_gender male)
ÂÂ (year_released 1969)
ÂÂ (album_art TRUE)
ÂÂ (album_name "Things That Make Me Fart")
ÂÂ (album_track_number 1)
ÂÂ (vocal_tonic_note 7)
ÂÂ (song_tonality 0)
)