Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon — XeNTaX Forum Knowledge

Extracted and organized from XeNTaX forum discussions (2005–2018). Covers the Ghost Recon series across multiple engines and platforms: Ghost Recon 2 (Unreal), GRAW (Yeti/GEAR), GRAW PS2, and Ghost Recon Future Soldier.

1. Ghost Recon 2 (Unreal Engine)

Topic 1157 (2005). Ghost Recon 2, like Ghost Recon 1 and other Tom Clancy games, uses the Unreal engine. As of 2005, MexCom (MultiEx) could not handle these files. (friendsofwatto, 2005-04-06)

Contact: WATTO (watto@watto.org, http://www.watto.org).

2. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) — *.bundle (Yeti/GEAR)

Topic 2712 (2007). GRAW (PC) uses .bundle files, which employ an XMB-based structure similar to Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires). (Rheini, 2007-07-17)

.bundle File Format (itg, 2007-07-24)

Header:

DWORD: Header // "BNDL"
DWORD: Version // 0x02
ULONG: TOC size // e.g. 0x021F6

TOC markers:

Marker	Meaning
`01`	file name
`0101`	directory
`02`	file info
`03`	move to parent dir

Entry layout:

string filename = data/anims/ghost/ghost_machine.xmb
ulong offset = 0x021cbdfc
DWORD filesize = 0x0703D82

Example TOC hex:

00000010 0101 6461 7461 0001 0161 6E69 6D73 0001 ..data...anims..
00000020 0167 686F 7374 0002 FCBD 1C02 0000 0000 .ghost..........
00000030 823D 7000 0167 686F 7374 5F6D 6163 6869 .=p..ghost_machi
00000040 6E65 2E78 6D62 00 ne.xmb.

(0101 = dir "data", 01 = "anims", 01 = "ghost", 02 = file info, then filename ghost_machine.xmb + offset + filesize)

000001C5 0301 0167 7569 0002 308A 2E01 0000 0000 ...gui..0.......
000001D5 52D7 0200 0161 6C65 7274 2E78 6D62 00 R....alert.xmb.

(03 0101 = go to parent dir and enter gui)

.bundle Tools

GRAWbundle-reader v1.0 (GRAWbundle-readerv1.0.zip) — *.bundle unpacker. (KorNet, 2007-07-17)
itg's tool — extraction + packing abilities (repacking patch.bundle works; game loads fine after repack). (itg, 2007-07-23)

Ubisoft SS files: Users asked whether a tool could be written for Ubisoft's SS0 / SS-numbered files. (kimkalisto, 2007-07-20)

3. GRAW (PS2) — *.PKG Archives

Topic 4034 (2010). Two QuickBMS scripts for GRAW PS2:

PS2 IMG/container script (aluigi, 2010-01-11)

A script reading a full-size container: header FULLSIZE, OFFSET1, INFO_OFF, OFFSET3, NAMES_OFF, BASE_OFF. The number of files is (OFFSET3 - INFO_OFF) / 0x30. Each entry record is 0x30 bytes:

Offset	Type	Field
+0x00	long	NAME_OFF (relative to NAMES_OFF)
+0x04	long	CURR_ID
+0x08	long	PREV_ID (0 = this is the leaf/full name)
+0x0C	long	NEXT_ID
+0x10	long	DUMMY4
+0x14	long	TYPE
+0x18	long	ZSIZE
+0x1C	long	SIZE
+0x20	long	OFFSET
+0x24..0x2C	long	DUMMY6/7/8

Filenames are reconstructed from the linked-list via PREV_ID (each node prepends its name to the child path). If ZSIZE == SIZE the file is stored raw, else clog (compressed).

GRAW PS2 *.PKG script (AlphaTwentyThree, 2010-01-23)

# extracts the PKG archives used in
# Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (PS2)
# (c) 2010 by AlphaTwentyThree of Xentax

get DATASTART long
get FILES long

for i = 1 <= FILES
 savepos POS
 get NAMEPOS long
 math NAMEPOS + POS
 get OFFSET long
 savepos POS

 goto NAMEPOS
 getdstring NAME 0x40
 goto POS

 if i == FILES
 get SIZE asize
 else
 get DUMMY long
 get SIZE long
 endif
 math SIZE - OFFSET
 log NAME OFFSET SIZE

 goto POS
next i

Header: DATASTART (long) + FILES (long).
Per entry: NAMEPOS (relative to current pos) then OFFSET; filename is a fixed 0x40-byte string; size computed as next offset minus current.

4. GRAW (Xbox 360) — Audio

Topic 4089 (2010). Xbox version audio is xbadpcm (Xbox ADPCM).

Use Luigi's Xbox ADPCM decoder (xbadpdec.exe): http://aluigi.org/papers.htm#xbox
The container has several tracks separated by zero blocks — no header inside the container. Find the correct stream start.
First file offset 0, second offset 0x4B800. (Kataah, 2010-02-03)
xbadpdec.exe mp_01_nl.SS2 stream.wav (all tracks need correct start).
PS2 version: audio is PS2 ADPCM, not .vox. Track offsets need manual locating (e.g. 0x227810 for the next track). (Kataah, 2010-02-03)

Issue: streams can be "scratched" (interleave change ~3.5s before the end of each decoded PS2 stream). (AlphaTwentyThree, 2010-02-06)

5. Ghost Recon Future Soldier — Yeti/GEAR BIG Archives

Topic 9259 / 9554 / 9555 (2012–2018). GRFS uses Yeti Engine (GEAR BigFile) archives.

Yeti Engine (GEAR BigFile) script (Ekey, 2012-07-13)

# Yeti Engine (GEAR BigFile)
# script for QuickBMS http://quickbms.aluigi.org

idstring "[ GEAR BigFile ]"
get DUMMY long
get DUMMY long
get FILES long
get DUMMY long

savepos OFFSET_OFF
for i = 0 < FILES
 get DUMMY long
 get DUMMY long
next i

savepos SIZE_OFF
for i = 0 < FILES
 get DUMMY long
next i

savepos CRC_OFF # crc of the filenames?
for i = 0 < FILES
 get DUMMY long
next i

savepos DUMMY_OFF
for i = 0 < FILES
 get DUMMY string # or byte?
next i

for i = 0 < FILES
 goto OFFSET_OFF
 get OFFSET long
 get OFFSET64 long
 savepos OFFSET_OFF

 goto SIZE_OFF
 get SIZE long
 savepos SIZE_OFF

 goto CRC_OFF
 get CRC long
 savepos CRC_OFF

 string CRC p= "%08x" CRC
 log CRC OFFSET SIZE
next i

Magic: [ GEAR BigFile ] (with brackets).
Filenames are hashed (CRC32); the .report file gives original names.
Works with files in the Sound_Bin_PC folder. (deepshit, 2012-07-15)
For the main-dir archives, change the idstring to "YBIG". (Ekey, 2012-07-17)

YBIG / multi-part BIG archives

yeti2.bms (aluigi): http://aluigi.org/papers/bms/yeti2.bms — for YBIG, but reported incomplete/broken (extracts 1KB files). (deepshit, 2012-07-18)
yeti_gear.bms (aluigi): http://aluigi.org/papers/bms/yeti_gear.bms
yeti_ybig.bms (aluigi, 2013-03-07): http://aluigi.org/papers/bms/yeti_ybig.bms — fixed 2013-03-17: non-compressed files don't have the SIZE field. Output files have no extensions in the names. (aluigi, 2013-03-17)

Manual multi-part merge workaround (GRiNDERKILLER, 2018-09-23)

For GRFS 1.8 (non-Steam), Yeti.big, Yeti.big1, Yeti.big2, Yeti.big3 can be merged into a single Yeti_1.big:

Open Yeti.big and go to byte offset 1487572640 (hex 0x58AA8EA0).
Yeti.big1: remove first 65536 bytes, paste the rest at that offset.
Yeti.big2: remove first 65536 bytes, paste at 2975102352 (0xB1547590).
Yeti.big3: remove first 65536 bytes, paste at 4463445720 (0x10A0AC6D8).
Save as Yeti_1.big and use a BMS script to unpack.
Expected total size: 5,896,484,568 bytes (else wrong version).

The multi-part BIG scheme splits the archive into 64KB-chunked continuation files (Yeti.big1–3 are the 65536-byte-aligned continuation chunks).

Tools Reference

Tool	Purpose	Author
GRAWbundle-reader v1.0	*.bundle unpacker	KorNet
itg's bundle tool	bundle extract + repack	itg
MexCom (MultiEx)	general archives (can't do GR2 Unreal)	WATTO
QuickBMS + scripts	GRAW PS2 PKG/IMG, GRFS BIG	aluigi / AlphaTwentyThree
xbadpdec.exe	Xbox ADPCM decode	Luigi Auriemma
yeti2.bms / yeti_gear.bms / yeti_ybig.bms	Yeti BIG extraction	Luigi Auriemma

Key Facts

Ghost Recon 2: Unreal engine (MexCom unsupported as of 2005).
GRAW PC: .bundle archives, XMB TOC structure, magic BNDL v0x02.
GRAW PS2: .PKG archives (0x40-char names, DATASTART/FILES header) and IMG containers with 0x30-byte linked-list entries.
GRAW Xbox 360: audio = xbadpcm, track-separated by zero blocks, no header.
GRFS: Yeti/GEAR BigFile — [ GEAR BigFile ] and YBIG magics, CRC32 filenames, multi-part BIG1–3 chunks (65536-byte alignment).

1. Ghost Recon 2 (Unreal Engine)​

2. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) — *.bundle (Yeti/GEAR)​

.bundle File Format (itg, 2007-07-24)​

.bundle Tools​

3. GRAW (PS2) — *.PKG Archives​

PS2 IMG/container script (aluigi, 2010-01-11)​

GRAW PS2 *.PKG script (AlphaTwentyThree, 2010-01-23)​

4. GRAW (Xbox 360) — Audio​

5. Ghost Recon Future Soldier — Yeti/GEAR BIG Archives​

Yeti Engine (GEAR BigFile) script (Ekey, 2012-07-13)​

YBIG / multi-part BIG archives​

Manual multi-part merge workaround (GRiNDERKILLER, 2018-09-23)​

Tools Reference​

Key Facts​