Zelda (Wii U / Switch) — XeNTaX Forum Knowledge Extraction

1. Breath of the Wild (Wii U / Switch) — Yaz0 / SARC / sblarc

1.1 Archive Pipeline

Game data → .pack (SARC) → .sblarc (Yaz0 compressed SARC) → content files
Path example: content/Pack/Bootup.pack/Layout/Common.sblarc

1.2 Yaz0 Compression

• Magic: Yaz0 (4 bytes)
• Endianness: Big-endian (Nintendo standard)
• Original spec: http://www.amnoid.de/gc/yaz0.txt (2005, GameCube era)
• BotW uses: Yaz0 wrapping SARC archives (.sblarc = Yaz0 + SARC)

1.3 Tools

Tool	Purpose	Notes
Syroot.NintenTools.Yaz0	C# decode/encode	https://github.com/Syroot/NintenTools.Yaz0 — NuGet package
Yaz0.exe (XeNTaX community)	CLI decode/encode	Fake compression (level 0) on encode → larger files but valid
Uwizard / yaz0enc	Community tools	Repacking issues reported (game crashes even with untouched content)
Switch-Toolbox	Multi-format	https://github.com/KillzXGaming/Switch-Toolbox — supports Yaz0, SARC, BWAV, GTX

1.4 SARC Archives

• Magic: SARC
• Tool: JayK's unpacker (2015) — works for BotW, Mario 3D World, Captain Toad
• Repacking: Community asked but no confirmed working repacker in thread

1.5 Key Issues

• Repacking crashes: Game requires maximum compression; fake compression (level 0) produces valid Yaz0 but game rejects it
• Compression ratio: Original 3.77 MB → re-encoded larger; no tool matched original ratio
• File structure: content/Pack/*.pack (SARC) → contains Layout/*.sblarc (Yaz0)

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2. Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) — Audio

2.1 BWAV Format

• Extension: .bwav
• Container: .bars.zs (zstd compressed) → extract with zstd → .bars → contains .bwav
• Playback: ~90% playable in Foobar2000 with vgmstream; ~10% fail (different encoding?)

2.2 Tools & Resources

Resource	Link
GameBanana post	https://gamebanana.com/posts/10308634
Switch-Toolbox	https://github.com/KillzXGaming/Switch-Toolbox
vgmstream	Foobar2000 component for BWAV

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3. Twilight Princess HD (Wii U) — GTX Textures

3.1 GTX Format

• Extension: .gtx
• Difference from standard Wii U GTX: Stores multiple textures per file (newer format)
• Standard tools (texconv2, Noesis) only extract first texture
• Community work: RandomTBush was developing a GTX splitter (2016)

3.2 Archive

• Container: .pack.gz (gzipped SARC)
• Extraction: QuickBMS script → geo/ and tex/ folders

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4. Skyward Sword (Wii) — LZ / ARC / Enemy Data

4.1 Formats

• Compression: LZ
• Archive: .arc
• Enemy files: .endat, .entxt (spawn points/events?), .zev.dat (enemy spawn data?)
• Status: Partially documented; spawn/event formats not fully understood

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5. Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) — CSAB / CMB

5.1 Formats

• .csab: Animation data (not readable by N3dsCmb viewer)
• .cmb: Model container
• .zar: Archive containing .cmb + .csab

5.2 Tools & Analysis

Tool	Notes
N3dsCmb Viewer	Loads .cmb, fails on .csab animations
hex2obj	Manual mesh extraction (shakotay2)
OoT3D-Importer	https://github.com/MeltyPlayer/OoT3D-Importer — Blender importer
GAR - ZAR Unpack	Extracts models/animations from ZAR

5.3 CSAB Animation Structure (from shakotay2 analysis)

• Bone weights stored in VatrChunk.BoneWeights
• Animation data at sepd.BoneWeightArrayOffset
• Frame data: 16 bytes per frame (difference of offsets = count × 16)
• Skinning weights possibly in .dae export but not confirmed

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6. Zelda 3DS Models (General) — CMB / CSAB

6.1 Formats

• .cmb: Model format (Nintendo 3DS)
• .csab: Skeletal animation
• .zar: Archive (GAR tool extracts)

6.2 Working Pipeline

1. GAR - ZAR Unpack → extract .cmb + .csab
2. OoT3D-Importer (MeltyPlayer) → import to Blender
3. Save as .blend → open in Blender 2.83+ LTS (fixes GFX issues)

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7. Zelda Zone DLC (Sonic Lost World Wii U) — Hedgehog Engine

7.1 Archive Pipeline

.cpk (CriWare) → quickbms cpk script → .pac files
.pac → pacpack-WiiU (libgens-sonicglvl WiiU branch) → game files

7.2 File Types

Extension	Content
.model	Mesh (convertible to FBX via modelfbx_2012)
.shadow-model	Shadow mesh
.skl.hkx	Havok skeleton (HKX 2012)
.anm.hkx	Havok animation
.dds	Textures (Gfx2 header = Wii U GX2)
.material	Material definitions

7.3 Tools

Tool	Purpose
modelfbx_2012	.model → FBX (no bones)
HKXConverter-2012-With-Metadata	.skl.hkx + .anm.hkx → FBX with bones
Switch-Toolbox / texconv2	.dds (Gfx2) conversion
SonicGLvl	Level editor/viewer

7.4 Special Cases

• zdlc03_obj_fairy.model → converts to 5 planes (texture-driven geometry)
• 4th material slot expects "water" string; other values trigger error

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8. Four Swords Anniversary (DSi) — Binary Formats

8.1 Formats

• .bin, .blz (compressed textures)
• Community requested help for translation (2021)
• No documented tools in thread

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9. Cross-Game Nintendo Formats Summary

Format	Games	Compression	Tools
Yaz0	BotW, TPHD, Mario 3D World, many Wii U	LZSS variant	Syroot.NintenTools, Yaz0.exe, Switch-Toolbox
SARC	BotW, Mario 3D World, Captain Toad, many	None (container)	JayK unpacker, Switch-Toolbox
GTX	TPHD, BotW, most Wii U	Block compression	texconv2 (partial), Switch-Toolbox, custom splitter needed
BWAV	TotK, BotW (Switch)	ADPCM/PCM in BAR	vgmstream, Switch-Toolbox
BAR/ZS	TotK	zstd (.zs)	zstd + Switch-Toolbox
CMB/CSAB	OoT3D, MM3D, Zelda 3DS	Custom	OoT3D-Importer, GAR, hex2obj
HKX (2012)	Sonic Lost World (Wii U)	Havok packfile	HKXConverter-2012, havok2fbx
LZ/ARC	Skyward Sword (Wii)	LZ	Custom tools

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10. Key Repositories & Links

Repo	Description
Syroot/NintenTools.Yaz0	C# Yaz0 library
KillzXGaming/Switch-Toolbox	All-in-one Switch/Wii U tool
MeltyPlayer/OoT3D-Importer	Blender importer for 3DS Zelda
slashiee/libgens-sonicglvl (WiiU branch)	Sonic Wii U PAC/PACK tools
RandomTBush (GTX splitter)	WIP GTX multi-texture splitter
XeNTaX threads	Original discussions (see raw file)

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11. Gaps / Unresolved

• Yaz0 maximum compression: No public tool matches Nintendo's compression ratio
• SARC repacking: No confirmed working repacker for Wii U
• GTX multi-texture splitter: Never released (RandomTBush 2016)
• CSAB animation playback: Not implemented in N3dsCmb viewer
• Skyward Sword .endat/.entxt/.zev.dat: Spawn/event format undocumented
• Four Swords DSi .blz: No decompression tool documented