NeoGF

NeoGF is a library of tools for Gotcha Force.

This project is still under "heavy" development. It not yet 100% ready to use.

Do not hesitate to contribute.

If you want more infos about the game, go read our Gotcha Force Wiki.

Warning - Running tests is for dev purpose: it will create lots of files and this could stress your SSD.

gcmtool.py

Python3 script for unpack/pack GCM/iso files. This tool can rebuild FileStringTable (FST) of GCM and patch boot.bin with a new apploader.img, boot.dol, add/remove/edit of folder and files of the game.

User manual

Unpack GCM/iso file game.iso in folder unpack_iso: (If the destination folder is not specified, it will use the game_code-DVD_number as folder.)

gcmtool.py --unpack game.iso unpack_iso

Pack folder in GCM/iso:

gcmtool.py --pack unpack_iso game.iso

Rebuild FST and patch boot.bin for a new apploader, dol, and add/remove/edit of folders and files:

gcmtool.py --rebuild-fst unpack_iso

Japanese charset is not handled for now except if you have installed Japanese local. The original GCM/iso and repack GCM/iso are different most of the time. This is because GCM DVD contains "empty spaces" with data unused (old datas or random datas I don't know). So this datas are useless and loss during unpack.

Extracted file tree

root folder contains all files of the unpacked GCM/iso

sys folder contains GCM system files of the game:

• boot.bin
• bi2.bin
• apploader.img
• boot.dol
• fst.bin

afstool.py

Python3 script for unpack/pack AFS files. Rebuild of Table of content (TOC) and Filename directory (FD) is not implemented yet. This tool is under development.

User manual

unpack source_afs.afs in the default new folder source_afs. If optional_dest_folder is specified we unpack in optional_dest_folder. If the FD is present we use OS mtime to store the date of the file.

afstool.py --unpack source_afs.afs optional_dest_folder

pack source_folder in the default new file source_folder.afs. If optional_dest_file.afs is specified we pack in optional_dest_file.afs. If the FD is present we use OS mtime to retrieve and update the date of the file. pack handle max file size using next file (or sys file) offset. Without FD the last file has no max length constraint.

afstool.py --pack source_folder optional_dest_file.afs

Print stats about the AFS file or the unpacked AFS folder. This stats contains informations about FD, offsets ranges and files (and sys files) addresses space, and duplicated filenames grouped by filenames.

afstool.py --stats source

Extracted file tree

root folder contains all files of the unpacked AFS

sys folder contains AFS system files of the game and generated files needed for AFS operations:

• tableofcontent.bin - TOC sys file: You can edit this file it will be handled by the --pack command.
• filenamedirectory.bin - FD sys file: This file is created only if there is a FD in the AFS.
• filename_resolver.csv - Created when multiple files have the same name in the FD.
• afs_rebuild.conf - Edit this file for rebuilding the AFS.
• afs_rebuild.csv - Edit this file with correct values set in afs_rebuild.conf for rebuilding the AFS.

filename_resolver.csv:

When there is a FD, new names use "filename (N).ext" format with N:Integer. Each line contains a couple of "index/unpacked_filename". If there is no FD in the AFS files are named with their index, for instance: "00000002" for the second file. You can use the resolver to rename files using the index like this: "2/my_new_filename.ext". Then during pack afstool.py will auto detect the file and put it at the right index.

afs_rebuild.conf:

All offsets and indexes are stored in hexadecimal with 0x prefix: 0xabcdef. Use auto when it's possible.

[Default] section

AFS_MAGIC: 0x41465300 or 0x41465320

files_rebuild_strategy: auto, index, offset or mixed

files_rebuild_strategy is used to organise files (indexes, offsets, packed name if there is a FD) in AFS. The strategy use informations in afs_rebuild.csv autogenerated during unpack. 4 strategies are available:

• auto: Rebuild all files indexes and offsets with packed packed_filename if there is a FD or else unpacked_filename. afs_rebuild.csv indexes and offsets will be ignored.
• index: Keep the specified index for designated files. afs_rebuild.csv offsets will be ignored.
• offset: Keep the specified offset for designated files. afs_rebuild.csv indexes will be ignored.
• mixed: Keep the specified offset or index for afs_rebuild.csv entries where a value is specified.

filename_directory: True when there is a FD and False when there is none. If set to True then it must have a [FilenameDirectory] section.

[FilenameDirectory] section

toc_offset_of_fd_offset: The TOC offset of the FD offset is at the end of the TOC. Some AFS use pad after the offsets/lengths serie. Use auto when it's possible.

fd_offset: The FD is at the end of the AFS. Use auto when it's possible.

fd_last_attribute_type: The type of the last 4 bytes of each FD entries. 4 values are available:

• length: Use file length.
• offset-length: Use offset length series.
• 0xabcdef: Use a custom hexadecimal constant.
• unknown: Don't know yet what it represent.

afs_rebuild.csv:

All offsets and indexes are stored in hexadecimal with 0x prefix: 0xabcdef. Use auto for offsets or indexes when it's possible. Offsets have to be aligned to 0x800 (2048). filename_resolver.csv will be removed but you can keep changes about filenames by putting them into this file. You have to put "unpacked_filename/index/auto/unpacked_filename" in this file changing index by the right index.

afs_rebuild.csv contains entries describing how to pack files in the AFS. Put one line per selected file that you wan't to constraint using the format: "unpacked_filename/index/offset/packed_name", for instance: "dummy (5).bin/0x12/0x80000/dummy.bin". You can put auto to index or offset: "dummy (5).bin/auto/auto/dummy.bin". For an empty block add only index/offset couple: "0x12/0x80000" (Not implemented yet). First remove all files without constraints from afs_rebuild.csv. Then put auto in indexes and offsets that doesn't have constraints.

pzztool.py

Python3 script for unpack/repack unpzz/pzz and uncompress/compress of PZZ archive. MDT files are also handled by pzztool.py.

How to patch a pzz

1. Extract afs_data.afs from the ROM
2. Extract the pzz file from afs_data.afs
3. unpzz it
4. Edit files in decompressed folder keeping the filename important parts inchanged (see "Extracted files format" for further informations)
5. pzz the decompressed folder
6. Import back the patched pzz in the afs_data.afs
7. Patch the ROM with new afs_data.afs

User manual

unpzz source.pzz in the default new folder source. If optional_dest_folder is specified we unpack in optional_dest_folder. unpzz handle auto-decompress of all files extracted.

pzztool.py -unpzz source.pzz optional_dest_folder

pzz source_folder in the default new pzz file source_folder.pzz. If optional_dest.pzz is specified we pzz in optional_dest.pzz. pzz handle auto-compress / auto-decompress of all files extracted from the pzz according to their initial states in the pzz.

pzztool.py -pzz source_folder optional_dest.pzz

unpzz every pzz files present in source_folder using the same directory. For each pzz a folder is created using the name of the pzz. If optional_dest_folder is specified we unpzz all files in optional_dest_folder instead of source_folder. The batch pzz command could be very time consuming (1h30 for whole pzz in afs_data).

pzztool.py -bunpzz source_folder optional_dest_folder

pzz every folder present in source_folder using the same directory. For each folder a pzz file is created using the name of the pzz. If optional_dest_folder is specified we pzz all folders in optional_dest_folder instead of source_folder. The batch pzz command could be very time consuming (1h30 for whole pzz in afs_data).

pzztool.py -bpzz source_folder optional_dest_folder

Unpack source.pzz in the default new folder source. If optional_dest_folder is specified we unpack in optional_dest_folder. This is faster than unpzz but compression must be handled by user after the unpack.

pzztool.py -u source.pzz optional_dest_folder

Pack source_folder in the default new pzz file source_folder.pzz. If optional_dest.pzz is specified we pack in optional_dest.pzz. This is faster than pzz but compression must be handled by user before the pack.

pzztool.py -p source_folder optional_dest.pzz

Unpack every pzz files present in source_folder using the same directory. For each pzz a folder is created using the name of the pzz. If optional_dest_folder is specified we unpack all files in optional_dest_folder instead of source_folder.

pzztool.py -bu source_folder optional_dest_folder

Pack every folder present in source_folder using the same directory. For each folder a pzz file is created using the name of the pzz. If optional_dest_folder is specified we pack all folders in optional_dest_folder instead of source_folder.

pzztool.py -bp source_folder optional_dest_folder

Extracted files format

Every file extracted has a name using the format:

AAAB_CD.D

• AAA is the 3 digits index of the file in the PZZ starting at 000.
• B describe the compression state of the file when packed in the PZZ. If compressed it's C and if not it's U.
• C is the name of the PZZ.
• D is the resolved name and extension of the file. If the file is compressed it use the .pzzp (PZZ Part) extension and if the file is uncompressed by default it's .dat

For example file 012C_cmn_data.dat describe:

• the 13th file off the pzz,
• initialy compressed,
• in a pzz named "cmn_data.pzz",
• that has been uncompressed,
• with the default format "dat".

The names of unpacked files and the presence of empty unpacked files are important to keep informations relative to the initial pzz and ensure a correct pack.