This topic was archived here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000fw_/https://www.zenhax.com/viewtopic.php?t=7587

Game Ripper, posted Tue Mar 20, 2018 8:40 am (33468)

---

Hi guys, can you tell me if extraction of individual tracks out of CoreStream containers using information from respective Core files is possible? Apparently Killzone 3 utilizes exactly the same format which AlphaTwentyThree couldn't figure out back in the day but maybe someone here is able to make heads or tails about what this Guerrilla archive is all about? There're a few samples as expected but this time I decided to include 2 full example files, not any cuts from them.
Here's some info regarding KZ3 iteration of the format in question: all *.corestream & *.core pairs can be found in a folder titled "Lumps" (it's a subdirectory of "LocalCachePS3" which in turn is one of root folders inside data_ps3.psarc) and the former certainly look like lumps. Those CoreStreams are seemingly just a bunch of assets stitched together (plain MP3s when it comes to any *.corestream with the word "music" in name) so that extracting singular files (BGMs or stingers in our case) is pretty hard. Associated Cores certainly hold not simply track names but also full paths to every individual MP3 (it's claimed that their extension is *.wav though) but I can only speculate if offsets or other data required for unpacking is to be found there. I hope you'll help me check this theory of mine.
What's interesting is that a single container, the one named ASSETS_DESCRIPTION.MENU.BASEMENU_STYLES.CORESTREAM, has XVAG headers within making extraction of contained music themes a bliss. If only remaining BGM files were such a walk in the park to unpack!
Goodbye!

aluigi, posted Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:03 am (34225)

---

All that text is painful for the eyes

Let's recap, the psarc archives aren't your target because the music is probably inside these core (index) and corestream (data) files, correct?

At least it's not a real problem since corestream is just a sequence of mp3 files that you can play as a long one.

The format of core doesn't seem very difficult (apparently) but it's not worth the effort.
I leave some keywords about the core index files: "RTTIBin" "Music Resource"

Game Ripper, posted Mon Apr 23, 2018 3:17 pm (34291)

---

If you had seen my old handwritten notes you would have called them totally unreadable and my text above a breeze . But let's not get distracted, shall we?

I agree that it's not a real problem because I can play back those *.corestream lumps as music suites despite occasional jingles & very short loops. Of course it'd be better if each composition/stinger was in its own file but this is how it is.

Those MP3 containers were the biggest surprise to me since I wasn't expecting anything like it; I forgot that author of old gamerip, the one I listened to many years ago, mentioned this problem and claimed that he manually split each CoreStream file into separate tracks and named them according to titles found in *.core files.
BTW NovaSoft Extractor, a tool that's able to scan for contained *.MP3 streams, is useless here: it can't distinguish borders between tracks. Well if it can't be done automatically I guess we can stop here, I'm definitely not willing to repeat what another ripper did years ago...

So long!

Game Ripper, posted Thu Jan 03, 2019 6:22 pm (41900)

---

I looked into Killzone 2 and it might utilize a variation of this format; it's just core files though, not big *.corestream small *.core ones. It should be a bit different from later version - for example NovaSoft Extractor finds individual MP3 tracks inside them so that it might be even less of a real problem than dealing with KZ3 archives.
Anyway I'd like to be able to extract the tracks with their right names, not just BaseName#.MP3 and there're definitely many filenames & their paths in plain text within *.core files. If you need samples simply send me a PM.
Later!

n1nonly1, posted Mon Jan 31, 2022 10:13 am (69512)

---

Hello,
Do you have any updates on this?
Thank you.