.sfd Video Files, Softdec video

[xrevenge]

Original topic:

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=705&start=15

Read that page since I said all I know about it there and for more details by Mr.Mouse, here are the links for the sample sfd files:

http://rapidshare.de/files/39905125/SFD.rar.html

Basically, the sfd files were made by Sofdec to carry .mpg/.m2v files along with their .adx/.wav audio.
They are used in some games, most of them for the dreamcast I guess but games like Persona 3 still use them.
What I'm looking for isn't a decoded, there's a plethora of ways to handle them, what I want is a way to MAKE one (an encoder in other words), if anyone can help I'd appreciate it. You'd have to multiplex a .m2v or plain .mpg video with .adx or .wav audio to make one, they're kinda like .pss files but not exactly like them.

[Mr.Mouse]

Yes, so that SFD files start off with some header, and at some point there's a .m2v file, but with a difference.

At 0x7e0 intervals there's a line of approx. 0x1f bytes with info that is missing from the actual .m2v file. This info may refer to sound data later in the file, but I'm not sure.

The SFD files are padded with blocks of 2048 (0x800) bytes for easy reading.

The SFD files should have a video file in .m2v format and audio in .adx format.

The question is, what's the format of the SFD files and how can we convert .m2v and .adx back into .SFD.

This is my brief info for now.

[xrevenge]

Yes, so that SFD files start off with some header, and at some point there's a .m2v file, but with a difference.

At 0x7e0 intervals there's a line of approx. 0x1f bytes with info that is missing from the actual .m2v file. This info may refer to sound data later in the file, but I'm not sure.

The SFD files are padded with blocks of 2048 (0x800) bytes for easy reading.

The SFD files should have a video file in .m2v format and audio in .adx format.

The question is, what's the format of the SFD files and how can we convert .m2v and .adx back into .SFD.

This is my brief info for now.

what he said, I didn't really get that 034xchfhg hex thingie but I can do something with it if you want, as long as I don't need to buy something...

[xrevenge]

ok, this could be useful...but I can't be sure its true so you may just be wasting your time...
see, .sfd files can be made by combining mpeg with audio, but at the time of the DC I have reason to believe the people then used MPEG-1, so the Sega DC Movie Creator should have something to do with MPEG 1 too, naturally, but this isn't what I said could be useful, as you may know, to create a MPEG-1 system (excluding conversion) you must combine MPEG audio and video, .mp2 (back then) and .m1v alike, now for the fun part, I've found out that to create a .sfd file (again exluding conversion) you have to convert the MPEG audio to .sfa audio, and then combine it with the video, .sfd is the video so you just add the audio on it, I guess...also, sfd stands for softdecdata

since I'm really interested in this one there will be more to come, I'm sure of it

[sajad]

hi
you can use cube media 2 for decode sfd files and use dc movie maker for encode mpg to sfd
or
use package software "SFD Tool Pack v1.0 by SWAT"

[xrevenge]

hi
you can use cube media 2 for decode sfd files and use dc movie maker for encode mpg to sfd
or
use package software "SFD Tool Pack v1.0 by SWAT"

where can I get the SFD Tool Pack?
there is no way for me toget DC MM and I don't feel like paying for a program that will let me rip stuff I already can

[Mr.Mouse]

Right here at this Russian site, they seem to have a hell of a lot more tools there!

http://dc-swat.net.ru/download/pc.php

[xrevenge]

Right here at this Russian site, they seem to have a hell of a lot more tools there!

http://dc-swat.net.ru/download/pc.php

thanks, i actually had found a russian site to download it but it
A) had no english so I was forced to translate it with google
B) wanted registering

but this thing seems kinda fishy though...it says it includes dc movie creator so isn't it kinda...illegal?
still, I'm not complaining...

[xrevenge]

okay, I installed the stuff and directshow but it doesn't work anyway no matter what compatibility mode I run it on (I've got XP SP2 btw)
but you know what? it doesn't matter, I opened the executable with a hex editor and looked under Ssection Headers
guess what I found under .data...a referance to a file called sfdmux.dll
I did a quick search and I found it in the system32 folder (where else?)
I'll upload it so please, can someone make a tool to encode (or "mux") sfd files?
if there are additional files let me know and I'll find them, MWAHAHAHAHA

[Mr.Mouse]

For your information: I installed it fine by setting the compatibility mode of the setup.exe to Windows 95 (and I skipped the directshow install). I encoded/converted a AVi file to SFD easily with the tool.

But yes, I had not opened the package and did not realise that the SDK MC was in there. That is in principle illegal (so I have deinstalled it). Because there are propably some home made tools by SWAT there, I will not remove the link immediately, but be warned that any of those tools that they have which have copyrights belonging to someone else should not be downloaded or used without approval from the copyright holder! Xentax will not be responsible for any illegal activities for any of its visitors/users.

[xrevenge]

For your information: I installed it fine by setting the compatibility mode of the setup.exe to Windows 95 (and I skipped the directshow install). I encoded/converted a AVi file to SFD easily with the tool.

But yes, I had not opened the package and did not realise that the SDK MC was in there. That is in principle illegal (so I have deinstalled it). Because there are propably some home made tools by SWAT there, I will not remove the link immediately, but be warned that any of those tools that they have which have copyrights belonging to someone else should not be downloaded or used without approval from the copyright holder! Xentax will not be responsible for any illegal activities for any of its visitors/users.

yeah I guess I'll de-install it too...it doesn't work for me anyway
whenever I click a button it just closes so it's a waste of time
any chance for the sfdmux dll thing to be put into use?

[Zench]

any chance for the sfdmux dll thing to be put into use?

Yes. I had a look at it and it is just a DLL wrapper around a command line program (it usually doesn't work like this, so we're lucky). Unfortunately it doesn't print any output to the screen by default, so I had to patch the DLL to get it to display. Making a program from this is very simple. I have already started it.

Here are the functions exported by the DLL:

Code: Select all

long SFM_ExecMultiplex(const char* CommandLineOptions);
const char* SFM_GetVerStr();
unsigned short SFM_GetVersion();
void SFM_SetProgFunc(long (__stdcall *ProgressCallback)(void* UserData, void* Pointer), void* UserData);

In case anyone is curious, this is the usage info from the DLL:

Code: Select all

||||||||||  CRI SFDMUX 1.07 ||||||||||
Sofdec Multiplexer 1999-05-20
Copyright (c) 1998,1999 CRI

Usage:
   SFDMUX [-LANG={J|E}] -V=video -A=audio -S=output
Option:
   -LANG : change language (E = English, J = Japanese)
   -V    : input VIDEO filename (default extention : M1V)
   -A    : input AUDIO filename (default extention : SFA)
   -S    : output filename      (default extention : SFD)
   -SUB  : use sub-command-file
Sample:
   Ex1) C:\>SFDMUX -V=opening.m1v -A=opening.sfa -S=opening.sfd
   Ex2) C:\>SFDMUX -V=opening -A=opening -S=opening
   Ex3) C:\>SFDMUX -SUB=batch.sub

[Mr.Mouse]

Nice work Zench, can't wait for a working program

[Zench]

Here it is. I didn't really test it much.

[Mr.Mouse]

This works fine, by the looks of it. I did not have an actual ADX file to test it out on. And the program requires AFS audio files. But converting a .m2v file to sfd without audio worked.