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TheCandidate, posted Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:26 am (31589)

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I've been attempting to datamine/mod some of my old NTSC-U demo discs (I mostly have SCEA ones) for awhile now and have noticed how the MENU.FF files are structured in an archived manner, though I'm not sure how fully extract them. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this stuff but do know that many of the pre-2005 .FF files include Targa images, menu text and metadata after playing around with such files using X-Ripper and HxD. Menu text is easily editable using a hex editor but I haven't been able to replace any of the Targa images yet.

Attached below is MENU.FF (split with filecutter.bms) from Demo Disc 2.2. Thanks!

aluigi, posted Tue Jan 16, 2018 9:47 am (31595)

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http://aluigi.org/bms/demo_discs_ff.bms

TheCandidate, posted Tue Jan 16, 2018 10:34 am (31602)

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Much thanks for the script aluigi!

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the somewhat plain AppInfo file was essentially where all the menu metadata and whatnot was in. I've also noticed that many demo discs apparently hide their controller images and thumbnails in some manner, though X-Ripper can still find distorted traces of such in the MENU.FF file itself. I'll assume those hidden images are processed in another format more native to the PS2.

Perhaps this is a good time to share another MENU.FF from the Holiday 2005 demo disc, as I believe that around 2004-05, the .FF files started to become encrypted. Using the script as is with it extracts a module file but with garbage data. I'm in no hurry to dissect newer demo discs though, so no rush.

aluigi, posted Tue Jan 16, 2018 10:55 am (31603)

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Script 0.2

TheCandidate, posted Tue Jan 16, 2018 11:25 am (31605)

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So the US demo discs store a majority of their images/textures (probably the "hidden" ones too) in what seems to be another archive file (*.dat *.tbl; usually with "maps" or "res" in its name) within the .FF, and I guess I should share an example one from Demo Disc 2.3. Hope I'm not too bothersome with all this demo disc stuff, but thanks again for the sooner-than-expected .FF script update aluigi!

aluigi, posted Tue Jan 16, 2018 11:43 am (31606)

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Script 0.2.1
If you have more formats I prefer to have all of them rather than updating the script every 5 minutes.

TheCandidate, posted Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:06 pm (31608)

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Last notable archive format I could find within the .FF files are the extensionless "_res" files of the post-2004 demo discs, which do include the Targa images, font files and the like, but are formatted differently from the older .DAT and .TBL files; perhaps its a combination of the two. Attached below is from Holiday 2005. Sorry about the prior inconveniences!

aluigi, posted Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:29 pm (31613)

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That menu_res doesn't seem an archive

TheCandidate, posted Wed Jan 17, 2018 12:09 am (31621)

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Using Ravioli Explorer curiously reveals the Targa files of menu_res (from Holiday 2005):


It does lack a coherent TOC though so its hard to tell whether its an archive or just some unknown kind of compressed format.

EDIT: I just realized that the Ravioli Tools are able to reimport to these odd formats, so that's another alternative.