.ARC files from The Incredible Hulk game (2008)

[Trinitron]

Hello, respected forum folk.
The 2008 game Incredible Hulk uses .ARC files that do not adhere to the usual .arc format and I have been struggling to crack them open. I wish to be able to view and edit the contents to locally "mod" the game if you will.  I have done some research and found a tool by cuzitsjonny that extracts the ARC files from a game called Loadout that was made by the same game studio, Edge of Reality Ltd. but this tool gives me an error of "Magic mismatch" when I try to extract any of the ARC files of Incredible Hulk. I haven't undertaken such a reverse engineering project before so I would greatly appreciate any kind of help. What can and should I do?

[ikskoks]

File format for "The Incredible Hulk" ARC files has some differences with comparison to "Loadout" ARC file format. That's why the program fails.

Here is my script to support this new variant https://github.com/bartlomiejduda/Tools/blob/master/NEW Tools/The Incredible Hulk 2008/The_Incredible_Hulk_2008_ARC_script.bms
You can use it with quickbms http://aluigi.altervista.org/quickbms.htm
 

And here's file format specification:
ARC_file_format.zip

[Trinitron]

2 hours ago, ikskoks said:

File format for "The Incredible Hulk" ARC files has some differences with comparison to "Loadout" ARC file format. That's why the program fails.

Here is my script to support this new variant https://github.com/bartlomiejduda/Tools/blob/master/NEW Tools/The Incredible Hulk 2008/The_Incredible_Hulk_2008_ARC_script.bms
You can use it with quickbms http://aluigi.altervista.org/quickbms.htm
 

And here's file format specification:
ARC_file_format.zip

Thank you very much, it has worked perfectly. However, if it is alright with you, could you explain how you have done all of this? I would love to learn. And secondly, the files inside are also a different type of file with no visible extensions. How can I determine which type of file they are and how can I view and edit their contents?
Thanks.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Trinitron
Addition

[ikskoks]

10 hours ago, Trinitron said:

could you explain how you have done all of this?

Sure, I'll explain. So first I've checked if any research was made earlier for this game or engine used by the developers. And it turned out that "Loadout" game has very similar file format. I've checked info on Xentax Wiki (it's down permanently, but I have a local backup of all articles).
Then I've opened one of the ARC files in hex editor and started to analyze file format. I've spotted some differences and I've bookarked it in hex editor and then added it to text file, which I've attached to post above.
After that, the only thing left was to write quickbms script to cover that info, so I did it and tested it on some archives.
 

 

10 hours ago, Trinitron said:

How can I determine which type of file they are and how can I view and edit their contents?

You can't unless you will be able to figure out unknown values in the archive. I suspect that some hashes may be stored this, but it can be figured out only with help of debugger.

But you can extract some data already manually if you want.
For example if you'll extract TEXTURES.ARC, you'll get file "au_sidewalk_d" in the output folder.
If you'll open this file in hex editor, then delete first 64 bytes and you'll save it as "au_sidewalk_d.dds" file, you'll get DDS texture.

[Trinitron]

I see. So I have to use a debugger on the extracted files? Or is there some other way?
Thanks for your replies by the way.

[ikskoks]

Yes. best option would be to use debugger.

[Trinitron]

Okay, I will try this method. Thank you very much for your help.