Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 chEtc.pac file tutorial Part 1

[brienj]

This is to explain the chEtc.pac file in SvR2010 on the Xbox 360. The file is used when the game FIRST builds the save file. After your save file is first created, it never accesses this file again, so for any changes to appear, you have to delete your old save.

In this first tutorial regarding the file, I'll explain the part that contains the wrestler's basic info. You must have the data you want to change uncompressed to see what you want to change, use either the yukes.bms script or unrrbe.exe to decompress the data. Then you must put the data back into the file, changing the offsets and sizes in the header of the file, or find a way to compress back to BPE format and then reinsert into the pac file. The header has been reverse engineered and is easy to figure out, so you should be able to do this on your own, I did. I have the whole file with this part of it uncompressed, but I hate publicly posting actual game files, and I really still discourage others that are doing it, I don't want another Ninja Hacker incident happening.

I'll go ahead and start the tutorial with the next post.

[brienj]

The first thing you want to do, is open your Hex Editor, I use Hex Workshop. Next you want to open up your uncompressed data that you want to change, in my example, I will use Triple H and MY custom uncompressed and rebuilt chEtc.pac file. Yours may look different depending on how you get the uncompressed data, but the 0x104 bytes you select of uncompressed data will look the same in the end.

First you select the 0x104 bytes of data of the wrestler you want, do not select the "0100 0801" part of your uncompressed file.

Click to Enlarge


Next, you paste the selected data into a new file.

Click to Enlarge


This is to set it up so you can follow along with the offsets I will be giving in the next step.

[brienj]

List of all known values, if you find any new ones, please let us know, thanks.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

0x000 = All 8 attributes listed twice in a row (Byte values)

0x010 = Raw 0x00
Smackdown 0x01
ECW 0x02
Legend 0x04
WCW 0x05
Free Agent 0x06

0x015 = Cheer 0x00
Boo 0x01

0x01C = Height (Short Value)
Comments:
To determine what value to use for an height, this value will be approxiamtely (54.75 * height in inches) or (2,156 * height in meters). It was difficult to get a really accurate number here, because there are differences in billed height, actual height, and so on, but I believe they are using actual heights of wrestlers, not billed height. Regardless, the values I gave you will get you very close to the actual height that you want.

0x01E = Second Height Value ??? (Some wrestlers have slightly different number here)

0x020 = Wrestler's Number (Short Value)

0x022 = Wrestler's Full Name

0x066 = Wrestler's Nickname (if used)

0x0AA = Wrestler's Short Name

0x0D4 = Man 0x00
Diva 0x01

0x0D2 = Wrestler's Number w/ 1 added to end of it (Short Value) (Example: Wrestler 123 would have value 1231 here)

0x0D4 = Wrestler's Number w/ 2 added to end of it (Short Value) (Example: Wrestler 123 would have value 1232 here)

0x0D6 = Wrestler's Number w/ 3 added to end of it (Short Value) (Example: Wrestler 123 would have value 1233 here)

0x0D8 = Wrestler's Number w/ 4 added to end of it (Short Value) (Example: Wrestler 123 would have value 1234 here)

0x0DA = Wrestler's Number again

0x0DD = Not-Playable 0x00
Playable 0x01

0x0E2 = Number in Selection List Menu (Short Value)
Comments:
Must be careful with this number, if two wrestlers have the same number, one of them will not show up on the selection menu, as well as making one wrestler next to them in the list not show up as well.

0x0E6 = Wrestler's Number again

0x0EA = The 6 Abillities listed in a row (Byte Values)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The values in the game file are little endian. The values in the game save, which uses this game file, are big endian. This is helpful if you check changes in the save file after making changes within the game. This is how I found out some of the values, others were by conjecture. You can also use this method to get the value of each of the abillities.

[snyperstyle]

So Brienj with this info can I just add wrestler pac files from other svr games as long as I assign a select screen number that isnt used and make sure theyre not npc's? If so whats the highest superstar number on the default roster so i can just use numbers above that. Also the height how does that translate into hex for example what value is 6'4"? Sorry for sounding like an idiot.

[DRAVEN]

I have the tools but when I use them on the chEtc.pac I get 5 folders ABD, CTRL, DAT, PMLH, PRO
if i dont use the tools and open the chetc in hex editor I get the below pic

Please Can you tell me were I'm going wrong?

[brienj]

So Brienj with this info can I just add wrestler pac files from other svr games as long as I assign a select screen number that isnt used and make sure theyre not npc's? If so whats the highest superstar number on the default roster so i can just use numbers above that. Also the height how does that translate into hex for example what value is 6'4"? Sorry for sounding like an idiot.

William Regal is the highest number on the select screen, and his number is 0x59, so I've been adding wrestlers starting at 0x60.

Like I mentioned in the tutorial:

0x01C = Height (Short Value)
Comments:
To determine what value to use for an height, this value will be approxiamtely (54.75 * height in inches) or (2,156 * height in meters). It was difficult to get a really accurate number here, because there are differences in billed height, actual height, and so on, but I believe they are using actual heights of wrestlers, not billed height. Regardless, the values I gave you will get you very close to the actual height that you want.

So for the example I used, Triple H has a value of 0x1040 (Hex) or 4,160 (decimal), so you take 4,160 and divide it by 54.75 and you get 75.98 or rounded to 76 inches, which is the 6' 4" that you wanted.

[brienj]

I have the tools but when I use them on the chEtc.pac I get 5 folders ABD, CTRL, DAT, PMLH, PRO
if i dont use the tools and open the chetc in hex editor I get the below pic

Please Can you tell me were I'm going wrong?

In my example I have a rebuilt chEtc.pac file.

Use the yukes.bms script on it, then go in the folder DAT and open 102.POF0 and see if it looks the same then. Remember the offsets will be based on if you remove the first four bytes which are 0x01000801

I edited my post above in the tutorial to explain it better, I hope.

[DRAVEN]

Ok thanks m8 I have it now will wait on your release.. its just good a thing to know... I would like to get into editing the textures for the game as I has already started in the hope that away to reimport them and have them work is found..

[FatalArms]

Love the work you're doing on this!

Use the yukes.bms script on it, then go in the folder DAT and open 102.POF0 and see if it looks the same then. Remember the offsets will be based on if you remove the first four bytes which are 0x01000801

I was really confused until I read this part and tried looking at the 102.POF0 file. Now I'm only a medium amount of confused (heh).

If I look at my chEtc.pac file, it seems like Triple H only takes up 0x083 spaces, not 0x104. But if I run the quickBMS on the chEtc.pac and look at 102.POF0 in the DAT folder, I see that my positions in that file's Triple H all seem to match yours.

How do I reconcile that I have two versions of Triple H here, and only the one in the 102.POF0 file matches your offsets? Can I copy the 102.POF0's Triple H block and insert that directly into my chEtc.pac? Or should I be altering the chEtc.pac's version of Triple H, which is slightly shorter and the offset positions do not match what you've provided?

I'd also like to echo Draven's sentiments about being able to compile a new PAC file with images. If we can do that, we can replace rings, belts, model skins....*drool*

[FatalArms]

One more question - once you're done adding wrestlers to the chEtc.pac, how do you add the extra wrestlers' .pacs to the game? I've been using XBox Backup Creator to Extract and Replace .pacs, but there's no option for Adding one.

You'll probably answer that in the tutorial at some point, I know

[brienj]

Love the work you're doing on this!

Use the yukes.bms script on it, then go in the folder DAT and open 102.POF0 and see if it looks the same then. Remember the offsets will be based on if you remove the first four bytes which are 0x01000801

I was really confused until I read this part and tried looking at the 102.POF0 file. Now I'm only a medium amount of confused (heh).

If I look at my chEtc.pac file, it seems like Triple H only takes up 0x083 spaces, not 0x104. But if I run the quickBMS on the chEtc.pac and look at 102.POF0 in the DAT folder, I see that my positions in that file's Triple H all seem to match yours.

How do I reconcile that I have two versions of Triple H here, and only the one in the 102.POF0 file matches your offsets? Can I copy the 102.POF0's Triple H block and insert that directly into my chEtc.pac? Or should I be altering the chEtc.pac's version of Triple H, which is slightly shorter and the offset positions do not match what you've provided?

I'd also like to echo Draven's sentiments about being able to compile a new PAC file with images. If we can do that, we can replace rings, belts, model skins....*drool*

That's because everything in the chEtc.pac file is compressed. As I've said several times now, I have a custom chEtc.pac file where almost everything is uncompressed in it.

One more question - once you're done adding wrestlers to the chEtc.pac, how do you add the extra wrestlers' .pacs to the game? I've been using XBox Backup Creator to Extract and Replace .pacs, but there's no option for Adding one.

You'll probably answer that in the tutorial at some point, I know

You have to rebuild a totally new iso file.

[snyperstyle]

brienj quick question did you figure out how to add music to the game or were those just playlists from your pc in the video?

[FatalArms]

That's because everything in the chEtc.pac file is compressed. As I've said several times now, I have a custom chEtc.pac file where almost everything is uncompressed in it.

Ah, so you did! Gotcha. I was confusing "uncompressed" with "extracted" in my stupid brain. Makes sense now. Where would I find this unrrbe.exe? A Google search only turns up this thread, as does a forum search.

Also, what program would you (or anyone) recommend for building a new ISO?

(Sorry for being a clueless noob!)

[brienj]

brienj quick question did you figure out how to add music to the game or were those just playlists from your pc in the video?

I didn't add music to the game, each wrestler I add will play a playlist named after them, so for example, Hulk Hogan will play the playlist named "Hulk Hogan" on your 360, if you have a playlist named that, if not, you make one. I did that so people will not have to go into Create-An-Entrance, you can, but if you change anything and save it, you will lose the titantron. I'll have full instructions on how to make custom entrances if you don't like the ones I make, and it will still let you keep the titantron, it just requires copying some info from the save file after you save the entrance the way you want it.

[snyperstyle]

I figured that but thats an awesome idea to have them set up already.