FFPSX/PS2 compression

[dgp9999]

FFX: I finally got my copy of FFXPAL and the first thing I did were shove it in me PC, then I realise dit was a PS2 game. I was very tired okay! Weird, it said 5.4gb used, yet I could only see the root directory which had about 5mb. Are there folders in the NTSC version? BTW, the date on Modified on the SCES number was 21st of December 2001. Are we missing something?

FFIX: While extracting the soundtrack to Devil May Cry and GTA3 I thought I'd try opening FF9's .mbg files into MF Audio. I couldn't find the correct interleave so it sounded like a hiss. Hmm, I then open it in Hex Workshop. The first line of E:\Seq05\mbg107.mbg read: "RIFFd.0.CDXAfmt ........8.XA" According to MF Audio, WAV: Microsoft RIFF: Uncompressed PCM. I was unable to select it. I could only select RAW PCM/ADPCM. Why does it say CDXA formatm as well? All the stupid extractors say there are NO XA files on the FF9 disks. Help!

Also, remember, these .mbg files were in the MDEC directories.

 

[Qhimm]

5.4GB? Okay, my version says 4.3GB, I'm guessing that's a typo since it would exceed the DVD storage

As for the seemingly empty disc, this is nothing uncommon. The only files that have to be entered into the DVD file index are the PS2 startup files: system.cnf, sces_504.90 (FFX startup). FFX itself has an internal index of all data on the DVD and refers to these by direct locations on the DVD instead of file names. We've seen this technique on the PSX as well, like Xenogears and kind of like FFIX, although in FFIX the rest of the CD was encased in an .IMG file. So anyway, there are no folders to be found. The two options to find data is a) Scan the entire DVD with data finders (XA, textures, etc), or b) examine the FFX startup code, or look through the early sections of the DVD to find the FFX internal file index, then write software to read it and extract files.

Interesting on the modified date, though we shouldn't put too much thought into it.

 

[Goku7]

Okay, from what I understand (having FF9PSX for myself and snooping around in windows explorer) .mbg files stand for "Movie BackGround"; they're the movies that the game places the poly-rendered characters on top of.

XA is the format that SquareSoft used to encode the audio that is playing during the movie sequences, like how on an AVI file there can be an audio component that is glued to the video.  Everything else is synthesized, a format I refer to as "PSX-MIDI".

Which brings me to your discovery of the PCM/ADPCM data formating that is claimed to be in there.  Take a wild guess at the format the instrument samples were recorded as (although it is probably encoded in an un-rippable format in the .IMG file).......

 

[ShinRa Inc]

www.zophar.net has plenty of useful tools for Playstation format stuff.  PSXMC and PSMPlay are the two I've used the most.  PSXMC does have some stuff on it for FF9, but since I never bothered buying that game...I have no idea what

 

[dgp9999]

Yeah, those programs only extract the MDECs, and what Goku7 was talking about, the semi-MDECs, like when you first start to control Vivi, that doesn't look as decent as the others and has the Alexandria BGM. I believe you're right about this Goku7.

 

[Goku7]

I've extracted and viewed them in windows myself, from all four discs.  I can confirm that they are movie backgrounds.

 

[sfx1999]

PSMPLAY does not compress the movies. My one movie ended up being 830 MB. I examined it and it said 30,000 frames per second. I mean, god, tv is only 60 FPS (30 FPS Displays half of screen each frame)

 

[Goku7]

SquareSoft seems to prefer some sort of stealth compression algorithim that not on compresses it into .str or mbg format, but also seems to hide the file in such a way that most PSX video player programs get confused when trying to read 'em.

What I used to see them is a combination of two things:
1. A PSX movie player known as "PSX Tulz"
2.  In order to read the .mbg files, you must have a ASPI layer that's relatively new, in order for the program to control the drive to where it can do direct sector reading, (whatever that is) which allows the program to decode some of the more exotic movie formats.

Now, if your ASPI layer isn't current enough, PSX Tulz will give you a message saying that it can't do Direct Sector stuff because of the old DLL files, but it will still function and decode and playback to an extent.

At www.NGemu.com, there's a program called "ForceASPI" or something like that, that will install a new enough layer on your system.