Hacking Theme help

[Krafter]

Hey everyone.

I'm new around here but I contributor to another well known community but unfortunately folks around there don't know to much about custom themes and in fact it's kinda taboo to even talk about them. I have made a few custom themes some of them completely from scratch and some by modifying others that I have found. I have had good luck and bad luck (glad I have boot2) in my adventures but I am really getting the hang of it but I ran into a problem that I can not get past. I download the DarkWii Extended theme and really like some of the features that the author has in it. I would like to decompile a few of his files to figure out how it was done. For the life of me I cannot get the ash files to decompress. I have tried using ash.exe, U8Tool and ShowMiiWads and none of them will do it. I get an error saying out of memory with U8Tool and ShowMiiWads and ash.exe just locks up. I don't know how much experience people around here have with themes and/or ash files but any tips that might help me will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[SifJar]

I think some ASH files are mis-named ARC files...try an ARC extractor maybe?

 

[ChokeD]

http://wadder.net/wiki/index.php/ASH_Files

 

[Krafter]

Well if it was an arc file the U8Tool or ShowMiiWads would have decompressed it I believe. I know when I take a Nintendo ash file and run it through ash.exe and it converts it into an arc file. I then can decompress it using on of the those two apps. I've never had an issue until now. I think I going to try to load the theme and then extract the SM with FSToolbox and see if I can decompress it then.

Thank you for the reply.

 

[techboy]

Not sure if you've gotten them unpacked, but if not:

ASH files that have been altered are often recompressed using a format called yaz0, since nobody's written an ASH packing tool (if one exists, I'd like to hear about it).

Google for yaz0dec.exe It's a command line yaz0 decompressor. Run the stubborn ASH through it. If it was yaz0'd, you'll get a " 0.rarc" file, which is just a normal U8 archive with a .rarc extention.

 

[conanac]

One way to check is to open the file in a hex-editor. As an example, ASH compressed file has the first four bytes as
41 53 48 30 (or ASH0 in text). Hope this information helps.

In terms of ash packing tool, I have created a subroutine for doing that when I need to re-compress the changes in brres file for creating HDLC (i.e. custom DLC) in ACCF game. And I think DsPet (the first creator of HDLC) has done that as well.

 

[Krafter]

Thanks for the tips all. I will give it a go again tomorrow. I seen yaz0 thought about trying it but some how talked myself into thinking it wouldn't work but I will give it a shot.

And great tip about the hex editor. I can use that to get an idea what it Isn't ahead of time.

eidt: I just opened one of the files with a hex editor. The first four bytes are 59 61 7a 30 = yaz0.. You guys are great. Thanks again.

 

[techboy]

One way to check is to open the file in a hex-editor. As an example, ASH compressed file has the first four bytes as
41 53 48 30 (or ASH0 in text). Hope this information helps.
That's what I do as well when working with them. Take a quick look at the header, and you know exactly what tool you should be using to unpack it.

QUOTE(conanac @ Aug 19 2010, 10:46 PM) In terms of ash packing tool, I have created a subroutine for doing that when I need to re-compress the changes in brres file for creating HDLC (i.e. custom DLC) in ACCF game. And I think DsPet (the first creator of HDLC) has done that as well.

Hm. Not too familiar with DLC or HDLC...don't play ACCF or any other DLC games. How difficult would be to adapt it for creating regular ASH archives (if it doesn't already, not familiar with ACCF's brres files), and to make it standalone?

EDIT: @Krafter: Saw your post. Glad to see you finally figured out what those ASHes were.

 

[Krafter]

Thanks again. I just ran one of the files through yaz0 and it worked.

 

[conanac]

Hm. Not too familiar with DLC or HDLC...don't play ACCF or any other DLC games. How difficult would be to adapt it for creating regular ASH archives (if it doesn't already, not familiar with ACCF's brres files), and to make it standalone?

It is possible to make it as a stand-alone tool, but do you think it could be of great use? I dont have much time know to do that but if there is a lot of potential usage (request from people) then I could consider spending some time for that.

 

[techboy]

It is possible to make it as a stand-alone tool, but do you think it could be of great use? I dont have much time know to do that but if there is a lot of potential usage (request from people) then I could consider spending some time for that.

The main use for it that I see is in custom theming. If anything, it'd be a more-proper way to repack an unpacked system menu.

If you're wondering about the demand for such a packer, maybe you should post a new topic asking about it.