Need for Speed — Archive, Model & Texture Formats

Source: XeNTaX forum knowledge extraction (2005–2010), 20 threads. Covers Black Box era NFS (Underground → Shift) plus Hot Pursuit 2010. Formats largely shared across the series with per-game variations.

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1. VIV / BIG Archives (Underground, Hot Pursuit 2)

Structure

Same container format as FIFA and Command & Conquer.

File	Description
sdata.viv	Main archive in Underground 2 (music, sounds). Contains nested .big and .mus files

Tools

• MultiEx Commander (MexCom) — opens BIG and VIV (Mr.Mouse, 2005)

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2. BIN / BUN Archives (Underground, Most Wanted, Undercover)

Key Distinction

BIN and BUN are two distinct formats, not the same (wiki/thread analysis, 2006).

.BIN Format (Most Wanted)

Archive Header:
 2 - null
 2 - Unknown
 4 - Archive Length [+8]
 4 - null
 4 - Number Of Nulls (48)
 48 - null
 2 - null
 2 - Unknown
 4 - Directory Length?
 2 - Number Of Directories (1)
 2 - Unknown

Per Directory:
 4 - Directory Offset [+80]
 4 - Directory Name Length (excl. nulls)
 28 - Directory Name (null-terminated)
 64 - Filename
 4 - Unknown
 24 - null

Directory Entries (per file):
 2 - Unknown (2)
 2 - Unknown
 4 - Length of Next FOR Loop (numFiles * 8)
 // for each file:
 4 - Hash?
 4 - null

 2 - Unknown (2)
 2 - Unknown
 4 - Length of Next FOR Loop (numFiles * 24)
 // for each file:
 4 - Hash?
 4 - File Offset
 4 - File Length
 4 - Unknown (263324)
 4 - Padding Multiple? (256)
 4 - null

File Data:
 X - File Data (per file)

.BUN Format (Most Wanted)

Per file:
 4 - File Type ID?
 4 - File Length
 X - File Data
// Padding entries exist with varying sizes including length=0
// Continue reading until end of archive reached.

BUN Contents (Undercover)

Opening .bun (e.g., Scene_PIPAngie_BundleB.bun) with Total Commander gaup plugin reveals inner .bin files:

• xx.tpk.bin — texture packs
• xx.geo.bin — geometry
• xx.unk.bin — position info, interface buttons, other data (guki, 2010)

BIN Contents (Underground 2)

• Track .bin files (343-byte) = standard DDS with mips
• STREAML4RA.BUN = mixed DDS + other files
• Car .bin files = TPK-compressed archives (e.g., 350Z_vinyls.tpk)
• Textures = DDS (DXT1/2/3/5 headers found)

Tools

Tool	Purpose	Notes
MWTex	Open NFS BIN textures (UG–Undercover)
BinTex v0.4	NFSU1 BIN texture extraction to DDS	KorNet, 2005
NFS TexEd	Texture editing (Undercover / Pro Street)
Total Commander + gaup plugin	Open NFS .bin/.bun archives
bin2ase	Convert UG1/2 geometry	Buggy
ZModeler 2.0.7	Open Most Wanted geometry	Buggy

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3. TPK Archives

.tpk files = compressed texture-pack archives inside NFS BIN files.

• As of 2006: could not be opened — nearly all files inside .bins are .tpk
• No tool could decompress them at the time (thread, 2006)

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4. BFF Archive Format (Need for Speed: Shift)

Overview

NFS Shift packs data in .bff files (in Pakfiles).

• Not zlib — probable scheme: 0x800-byte chunks compressed with LZX-like algorithm
• Identified as XMemDecompress (cross-platform Xbox LZX function) (aluigi, 2009)
• Some BFFs also use RC4 encryption

RC4 Key (PC)

@lLy0urRaC3ar3bE → "All Your Race Are Belong to us"

Applied when X12d flag = 2 (encryption rc4 "@lLy0urRaC3ar3bE") in QuickBMS script.

Key Tool

• QuickBMS + nfsshift.bms — extracts BFF files (aluigi, 2009)

BFF Header

Offset Size Description
0x00 4 " KAP" ("PAK " in big endian)
0x04 4 0x03004010
0x08 4 file count
0x0C 4 alignment
0x10 4 zero
0x14 4 0x800 (chunk size)
0x18 0x100 name of archive
0x118 4 X118 - size of information table
0x11C 4 zero
0x120 4 X120 - size of name table + 0x308
0x124 4 DHSA field offset
0x128 4 DHSA field size
0x12C 1 zero
0x12D 1 X12d - 0 = no encryption, 2 = RC4
0x12E 1 zero
0x12F 1 zero
0x130 X118 information table
... "TXEP" magic
... not verified
... 0x100 Gecko.xml or GeckoDemo.xml
... 0x100 C:\DEV\Gecko\ or C:\DEV\GeckoDemo\
... 0x100 PC
... X120 name table

Information Table Entry (48 bytes per file)

4 - unused (any value, game works) [64-bit timestamp-ish]
4 - unused (any value, game works)
4 - absolute offset of file
4 - ever zero
4 - compressed size (size in archive)
4 - extracted size (uncompressed size)
4 - zero
4 - zero
4 - type: 0 = uncompressed, 2 = compressed
4 - zero
4 - CRC of file **as stored in archive** (decrypted but still compressed)
4 - extension (e.g., "fxo")

Correction (aluigi, 2009): First two fields are NOT CRC — they are likely 64-bit timestamp. Real CRC is field immediately before extension.

Name Table Entry (16 bytes)

4 - absolute offset where name string is located
4 - zero
4 - not verified
4 - not verified (seems a date timestamp)

CRC Semantics

• CRC1 — calculated on file as stored in archive (decrypted-but-still-compressed data)
• CRC2 — should be calculated on final uncompressed file (not verified)
• Polynomial: standard zlib 0x77073096 table-based CRC32

unsigned int crc = 0xffffffff;
for(i = 0; i < len; i++) {
 crc = crctable[(data[i] ^ crc) & 0xff] ^ (crc >> 8);
}
return crc;

Repacking (japamd, 2009)

1. Insert uncompressed file from QuickBMS extraction
2. Change type field to 0, recalculate CRC, zsize/size, and offsets
3. Set X12d = 0 (no encryption), type = 0 (no compression) to avoid compression
4. First two info-table fields don't need recalculation if contents change — but must be preserved (game crashes if they differ for certain files)
5. Cannot add new files — executable won't understand them. Extracted files can be modified freely.

-loose Command-Line Mode (test mods without repacking)

shift.exe -loose

• Game reads unpacked files from disk instead of archives (redilS, 2009)
• Caveat: Crashes if loose files aren't in exact expected location — extract to correct paths, remove Pakfiles folder
• partpak — combined with -loose, allows both packed + unpacked; alone makes Shift behave "awkward"
• For shipping mods: BFF Compiler path preferred — compiled BFFs install on original/compressed game (no -loose needed), keep loading times reasonable. -loose slows race loading badly.

BFF Tools

Tool	Purpose	Notes
QuickBMS + nfsshift.bms	Extraction	aluigi
BFF Repacker / Injector / Compiler	Repack extracted folders to .bff	japamd, requires .NET 2.0; physics files work; vehicle BFFs needed original name table copied in v0.4
Jaeder Naub	Scan/rip files inside BFF	Crude

Localization Caveat

language_English.bff (in /UI/Languages) contains english.bin (game strings at offset 0x010164) and english_histogram.bin. String indexing not fully RE'd — changing string length breaks menus.

PC vs Xbox 360 (Endianness)

Platform	BFF Magic	Endianness
PC	" KAP"	little-endian
Xbox 360	"PAK "	big-endian

• QuickBMS script originally failed on X360 due to endianness; aluigi adapted nfsshift.bms
• BFF Repacker/Injector work only for PC — no X360 repack tool existed
• X360 content is 360-optimised: swizzled textures, probably big-endian model coordinates, different .fsb format (PC FSB extractor chokes). ZModeler declined 360 model support.

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5. BML / BMT / BMx — Binary Material/Setup Files (Shift)

Overview

NFS Shift has many .BML and .BMx files = compiled (binary) versions of plain XML files.

• Editing XML doesn't change game — must edit compiled .bml/.bmt
• .bml files = same format as .bmt files
• .bml/.bmt = different format from .sgb track files
• 3D SimEd can open/read .bml to display whole track
• BML files convert to human-readable XML which Shift also reads (used for modding)
• Binary Material Files can be converted to XML manually

MTX Files

Also BMT files and decrypted MTX files (material XML).

bmt2xml Tool

• bmt2xml (peppe, 2010, http://projects.pappkartong.se/bmt2xml/)
• Generates XML from BMT/binary material files
• As of mid-2010: could generate XML but COLL block still unknown
• Requires tag/attribute names known — unknown tags may go unhandled

Endianness Note

• Binary material/BML files may exist as big-endian X360 materials
• Converter requested but bmt2xml author noted no big-endian samples seen — doesn't handle them

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6. SGB — Track/Scene Files (Shift)

Overview

.sgb files define tracks/scenes (binary equivalent of XML .sgx scene format).

• 3D SimEd can read/display them
• Goal: create new tracks by authoring .sgb

Structure (peppe, 2010)

Six sections: SGB, OCCL, NODE, FLAT, SUMM, END

Each section starts with:

32bit int section name
32bit int section length
32bit int number of blocks in section

Section	Description
SGB	Header + 1 all-zero byte
OCCL	56-byte blocks: two 32-bit ints with string positions (name + file path, e.g., OCCLUDER02, Tracks\Alpental\OCCLUDER02.meb), then four 3D points (4×3 floats) per block
NODE / SUMM	Blocks start with 32-bit block-size int. Contain repeated references (file-position ints) pointing to 40-byte blocks: three ints with string positions (type, name, resource path + .vhf/.meb/.imb) + repeated values
FLAT	One block: 32-byte header (min point=3 floats, max point=3 floats, count, unknown length) + N × 64-byte blocks (16 zero bytes, sphere center/radius, etc.)
END	Section header only

Endianness quirk: SGB section length is in same endianness as section names; all other lengths and data are in opposite endianness. Section names may be big- or little-endian depending on file.

NODE/SUMM Block Semantics (maps to XML sgx)

<OBJ_ID no="1930">
 <NODE type="LOD" Name="GEN_TREE10_LOD0" MatrixNumber="-1">
 <SPHERE Centre="-0.960997 10.404318 -0.533839 1.0" Radius="13.516625" />
 <MATRIX Offset="-449.536987 -4.304690 -196.947006"
 Orientation="0.0 0.0 -0.114994 1.0" />
 <CONTROL Distances="0.000000 " />
 <NODE type="OBJECT" Name="Gen_Tree10_LODA" MatrixNumber="0">
 <RESOURCE Filename="Tracks\_Data\Instances\Gen_Tree10_LODA.imb" />
 <SPHERE Centre="-0.960997 10.404318 -0.533839 1.0" Radius="13.516625" />
 </NODE>
 </NODE>
</OBJ_ID>

Fields: ID (unique object number), three string references (type, name, resource path + .vhf/.meb/.imb), count of elements with that name, unknown flag, SPHERE (center x,y,z + radius), MATRIX (3 position floats + parent index, then orientation), userflags bitfield.

Conversion Tool

sgbconverter (peppe, 2010, http://projects.pappkartong.se/sgbconverter/):

• sgb → sgb round-trip = binary-equal files
• sgb → xml → sgb = non-binary-equal (float precision loss via text round-trip) — for editing, not exact reproduction
• Fails on Shift 2 Unleashed .sgb files (format changed)

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7. Audio Formats

MUS (Undercover)

• No MUS segment headers = headerless EA/XA streams with new stream system
• Without headers: no way to know where one sound ends and next begins
• Still EA/XA codec (same as other MUS), different stream system, no SCHI/SCCI headers
• Codec determined by header (EA SCxl family)
• FFmpeg supports several EA custom ADPCM variants (LGPL)
• Simple SCHII header insufficient — crucial SCHI header supplies number of samples in stream; .mpf sidecar files don't contain MUS headers
• CTPAX-X Team's NFS tool updated for Undercover, but does not support interactive (adaptive) music — only licensed tracks

Audio / SPS (Hot Pursuit 2010, Xbox 360)

• .sps = packed XMA (multichannel)
• Tools: ea_multi_xma (EA Multi XMA), xma_test
• Correct offset for ea_multi_xma = 0x0 — error "doesn't look like EA multi XMA stream" comes from wrong offset

GSTR Audio Streams (Most Wanted)

• Uses GSTR audio streams; extracting/uncompressing and reimporting edited audio was a stated goal

Cop Speech / ASF Audio (Most Wanted)

• Cop speech in SOUND\SPEECH\copspeech.big
• Extracted with Dandapani's schl extractor (schl.cpp)
• Converted from ASF to WAV using SX (Sound eXchange) tool

FSB Audio (Shift)

• Music/sound packed in FSB archives (e.g., nfs_racemusic.fsb)
• Demo password: kua0@z^y0$Wsh9HkhG6%Ih*gICV$Do8 (retail FSBs not encrypted)
• MusicPlayerEx extracts FSB without password
• fsbext -a (aluigi) dumps files and builds headers; xmaencode.exe sometimes too rigid and fails — towav (hcs) handles result fine

Shift (PC) Sound Decoding Pipeline

FSB → fsbext → XMA streams → xmaencode.exe / towav → WAV

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8. XTX Textures (Shift, Xbox 360)

Overview

.xtx files in NFS Shift (Xbox 360) = partial XPR2 (Xbox 360 texture container) files.

• Convertible to TGA

Tools

• XTX_TO_TGA.exe (shadowmoy, 2010) — drop .xtx to get .tga
• Also converts Forza 3 .xds textures
• Known issues: filenames cut off, no batch mode, normal-map blue channel sometimes inverted
• Works on Shift X360 and Forza 3 textures

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9. Materials / Shaders / Misc

• Shift files mostly XML-styled or binary XML except shaders, textures, models, sounds, MoTeC/HUD files
• Vinyls (Pro Street): ~40 MB file with ~150 vinyls; likely vector data (always high quality). NFS TexEd did not handle them
• Most Wanted PS2: textures/geometry/vinyls .bin names also appear in PS2 ELF

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10. Tools Reference Summary

Tool	Purpose	Author
MultiEx Commander	VIV/BIG archives	WATTO
QuickBMS + nfsshift.bms	BFF extraction	aluigi
BFF Repacker/Injector/Compiler	BFF repack	japamd
Jaeder Naub	Scan/rip inside BFF	—
MWTex / BinTex / TexEd	BIN texture editing	community
Total Commander + gaup	Open .bin/.bun	ghisler / totalcmd.net
bin2ase	UG1/2 geometry convert	— (buggy)
ZModeler 2.0.7	Most Wanted geometry	— (buggy)
XTX_TO_TGA.exe	XTX/XDS → TGA	shadowmoy
ea_multi_xma / xma_test	XMA audio decode	EA / community
sgbconverter	SGB ↔ XML scene conversion	peppe
3D SimEd	View/read SGB tracks	sim-garage.co.uk
fsbext (-a)	FSB archive extraction	aluigi
towav / xmaencode.exe	XMA stream decode	hcs / EA
bmt2xml	BMT binary material → XML	peppe
CTPAX (CTPAX-X Team)	NFS audio tool (no interactive music)	CTPAX-X
schl (schl.cpp)	Most Wanted cop-speech extraction	Dandapani
SX (Sound eXchange)	ASF → WAV conversion	—
MusicPlayerEx	FSB sound extraction (no password)	—

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Cross-References

• SimCity audio (RIFF Vorbis, ww2ogg/revorb) → xentax-simcity-knowledge.md
• Generic EA formats (FIFA, C&C share VIV/BIG) — see EA modding communities
• XPR2 / XDS (Xbox 360 textures) — Forza 3 uses same XTX_TO_TGA tool