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Zelda (Wii U / 3DS / Switch) — Archives, Textures, Audio & Models

Source: XeNTaX forum knowledge extraction (2015–2023). Covers Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, Twilight Princess HD, Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time 3D, Zelda 3DS general, Sonic Lost World Zelda Zone DLC, Four Swords Anniversary.

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

Archive Pipeline​

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

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)

Tools​

ToolPurposeNotes
Syroot.NintenTools.Yaz0C# decode/encodegithub.com/Syroot/NintenTools.Yaz0 — NuGet
Yaz0.exe (XeNTaX)CLI decode/encodeFake compression (level 0) on encode → larger but valid
Uwizard / yaz0encCommunity toolsRepacking issues (game crashes even with untouched content)
Switch-ToolboxMulti-formatgithub.com/KillzXGaming/Switch-Toolbox — Yaz0, SARC, BWAV, GTX

SARC Archives​

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

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
  • Structure: content/Pack/*.pack (SARC) → contains Layout/*.sblarc (Yaz0)

2. Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) — Audio​

BWAV Format​

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

Tools​

ResourceLink
GameBanana postgamebanana.com/posts/10308634
Switch-Toolboxgithub.com/KillzXGaming/Switch-Toolbox
vgmstreamFoobar2000 component for BWAV

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

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 developing GTX splitter (2016)

Archive​

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

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

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

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

Formats​

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

Tools​

ToolNotes
N3dsCmb ViewerLoads .cmb, fails on .csab animations
hex2objManual mesh extraction (shakotay2)
OoT3D-Importergithub.com/MeltyPlayer/OoT3D-Importer — Blender importer
GAR - ZAR UnpackExtracts models/animations from ZAR

CSAB Animation Structure (shakotay2)​

  • Bone weights in VatrChunk.BoneWeights
  • Animation data at sepd.BoneWeightArrayOffset
  • Frame data: 16 bytes/frame (offset diff = count × 16)
  • Skinning weights possibly in .dae export (unconfirmed)

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

Formats​

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

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)

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

Archive Pipeline​

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

File Types​

ExtensionContent
.modelMesh (convertible to FBX via modelfbx_2012)
.shadow-modelShadow mesh
.skl.hkxHavok skeleton (HKX 2012)
.anm.hkxHavok animation
.ddsTextures (Gfx2 header = Wii U GX2)
.materialMaterial definitions

Tools​

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

Special Cases​

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

8. Four Swords Anniversary (DSi) — Binary Formats​

Formats​

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

9. Cross-Game Nintendo Formats Summary​

FormatGamesCompressionTools
Yaz0BotW, TPHD, Mario 3D World, many Wii ULZSS variantSyroot.NintenTools, Yaz0.exe, Switch-Toolbox
SARCBotW, Mario 3D World, Captain Toad, manyNone (container)JayK unpacker, Switch-Toolbox
GTXTPHD, BotW, most Wii UBlock compressiontexconv2 (partial), Switch-Toolbox, custom splitter needed
BWAVTotK, BotW (Switch)ADPCM/PCM in BARvgmstream, Switch-Toolbox
BAR/ZSTotKzstd (.zs)zstd + Switch-Toolbox
CMB/CSABOoT3D, MM3D, Zelda 3DSCustomOoT3D-Importer, GAR, hex2obj
HKX (2012)Sonic Lost World (Wii U)Havok packfileHKXConverter-2012, havok2fbx
LZ/ARCSkyward Sword (Wii)LZCustom tools

10. Key Repositories​

RepoDescription
Syroot/NintenTools.Yaz0C# Yaz0 library
KillzXGaming/Switch-ToolboxAll-in-one Switch/Wii U tool
MeltyPlayer/OoT3D-ImporterBlender importer for 3DS Zelda
slashiee/libgens-sonicglvl (WiiU branch)Sonic Wii U PAC/PACK tools
RandomTBush (GTX splitter)WIP GTX multi-texture splitter

11. Gaps / Unresolved​

  • Yaz0 maximum compression: No public tool matches Nintendo's 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