Editing PlayStation archive (PSARC)

'''P'''lay'''S'''tation '''ARC'''hive is a container that allows subfolders and per-file compression using zlib or lzma with 9 available compression levels (but in the practise only level 0 or 9 are used)

**Compression level 9 has a compression ratio of around 50% of the original size for general file types, this ratio is variable for every file type

**Some file types doesnt admits much compression like audio and videos because are compressed originally (as example, max compression ratio for .BIK video and .MP3 audio when added inside a .psarc doesnt reachs 1% or 2%). For this reason is better to dont use compression with them because the size reduction is ridiculous

**Very small files (smaller than 100 bytes or so) as well as dummy files (0 bytes) doesnt admits compression, they will be stored as "not compressed" inside the .psarc archive

See {{Talk}} page

  00000000  <span style="background:#ff6666;">50 53 41 52</span> <span style="background:#66ff66;">00 01 00 04</span> <span style="background:#ffff66;">7A 6C 69 62</span> <span style="background:#6666ff;">00 01 23 BA</span>  PSAR....zlib..#º

| style="background-color:#ff6666;" | 0x00 || style="background-color:#ff6666;" | 0x04 || '''magic''' || 50 53 41 52 || PSAR || '''P'''lay'''S'''tation '''Ar'''chive

| style="background-color:#66ff66;" | 0x04 || style="background-color:#66ff66;" | 0x04 || '''version''' || 00 01 00 04 || v1.4 || First 2 bytes is the main version, next 2 bytes is the subversion and are processed separatedlly, so 0001.0004 is "translated" to 1.4 by the system

| style="background-color:#ffff66;" | 0x08 || style="background-color:#ffff66;" | 0x04 || '''compression type''' || 7A 6C 69 62 || zlib || zlib (default) or lzma

| style="background-color:#6666ff;" | 0x0C || style="background-color:#6666ff;" | 0x04 || '''table of content length''' || 00 01 23 BA || 0x123BA ||  

| style="background-color:#dd00dd;" | 0x10 || style="background-color:#dd00dd;" | 0x04 || '''table of content entries size''' || 00 00 00 1E || 30 Bytes || Default is 30 bytes

| style="background-color:#dddd00;" | 0x14 || style="background-color:#dddd00;" | 0x04 || '''number of entries''' || 00 00 09 16 || 1+2325 files || The filecount includes the "file path/names definitions" as an additionall file always placed at first position in the list and without an assigned ID

| style="background-color:#dddddd;" | 0x18 || style="background-color:#dddddd;" | 0x04 || '''block size''' || 00 01 00 00 || 65536 Bytes || Default is 65536 Bytes

| style="background-color:#d0000d;" | 0x1C || style="background-color:#d0000d;" | 0x04 || '''archive flags''' || 00 00 00 02 || Absolute paths || Default is 0. See table below

PSARC Archive Flags are stored in the header as a big endian number, and defines the characteristics and structure of the archive when it was created

| {{cellcolors|black|lime}} 00 00 00 00 || style="text-align:right;" | 0 || 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 || '''relative archive paths''' (no slash character at the start of every line) || default value when using command line or xml

| {{cellcolors|black|lime}} 00 00 00 01 || style="text-align:right;" | 1 || 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000001 || '''ignorecase archive paths''' (all characters in capitals) || same than --ignorecase in command line and ignorecase="true" in the xml

| {{cellcolors|black|lime}} 00 00 00 02 || style="text-align:right;" | 2 || 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000010 || '''absolute archive paths''' (slash character added at the start of every line) || same than --absolute in command line and absolute="true" in xml

==TOC Table==

The compression is applyed "per-block", is posible to know the compression level by looking at the zlib header

</small>

GUI versions are derivated from the command line versions

===Open PSARC PS3 Extractor===

===PSARC tool===

===PSARC Extractor===

By Insomniac @ xentax forums, download link: http://www.ps3hax.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=452 and http://www.modcontrol.com/Board/pc-tools/28869-psarc-ps3-extractor.html

===PSARC===

*From xentax forums: http://forum.xentax.com/viewtopic.php?p=44228&sid=0a7b5167ba4599f71f85471119c918a6#p44228 Download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?o3wy35uublreh

====help====

{{Keyboard|content=

'''C:\Portables\psarc>psarc.exe --help'''

'''usage:'''

'''verbs:'''

'''general options:'''

'''create options:'''

'''extract options:'''

 

|| Validating <file ID/number>: || file path inside psarc archive || (file original size in bytes)

 

 

 

'''C:\Portables\psarc>psarc.exe list c:\psarctests\custom_folders.psarc > c:\psarctests\custom_folders_file_output.txt'''

}}

Listing c:\psarctests\custom_folders.psarc

Folder3/Folder31/Folder311/Image311.jpg (209/12524 1%)

{{Keyboard|content=

'''C:\Portables\psarc>psarc.exe dtd'''<nowiki>

</nowiki>}}

Based in the DTD layout is posible to create an .xml layout that automatizes all the actions of the tool, this example is a generic layout containing all the elements and attributes availables together

{{Boxcode|content=<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

**The purpose of this XML is to use it as a base layout containing all, but is not posible to use it like that, is needed to delete the tags that are not needed for a specific case, the ones that are incompatibles with other tags, and is needed to add paths, etc...

**Some attributes appears as common in the DTD for "create" and "extract" but are not common, some of them has been deleted to avoid mistakes... but probably is needed to delete some more

**Is posible to generate this kind of .xml by using as the source the output of the "list" command after applying over it some character strings replacing using regular expressions with a tool like http://findandreplace.codeplex.com/#

The required options are '''--input''' (the source .psarc) and '''--to''' (the target folder where contents will be extracted). The example command extracts all files from the .psarc to a directory with full directory tree names, no skipped missing files, no overwrite

{{Keyboard|content=

'''C:\Portables\psarc>psarc.exe extract --input=c:\psarctests\custom_folders.psarc --to=c:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted'''

Extracting: Folder1/Image1.bmp (6220854 bytes)

Extracting: Folder2/Folder21/Image21.png (6142 bytes)

Extracting: Folder3/Folder31/Folder311/Image311.jpg (12524 bytes)

*There are 3 optional available attributes for extract:

**'''--overwrite''' (if the files existed in the extraction folder they will be overwritten without advise)

**'''--strip-all''' (extracts all files in the root of the target folder, incase of several extracted files with the same name the program will return an error, this can be solved by using the command --overwrite)

**'''--skip-missing-files''' (seems pointless, mostly to extract files from malformed .psarcs or .psarcs that doesnt passes the "verify" command ?)

When using this options the command line output is the same than in the example above, there is no mention of wich files are stripped, overwritten, or missing in the extraction process, usage example:

{{Keyboard|content=

'''C:\Portables\psarc>psarc.exe extract --overwrite --strip-all --skip-missing-files --input=c:\psarctests\custom_folders.psarc --to=c:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted'''

Extracting: Folder2/Folder21/Image21.png (6142 bytes)

Extracting: Folder3/Folder31/Folder311/Image311.jpg (12524 bytes)

====create====

Ther are 3 different ways to create a psarc archive (by '''directory''', by '''filelist''', or by '''file'''). '''By directory''' creates the psarc using the contents of a specifyed folder and all subfolders, all them ordered alphabetically (windows style), this method cant be used to rebuild psarcs where every file needs to be assigned with an specific ID (and im not sure if is available in command line). '''By file''' means every path of every file in the PC is needed to be specifyed and this is not posible in command line when the archive has lot of files (for a single file is fine, but when are thousand of files is a no way). For this reason the only method explained here is '''by filelist'''

The filelist is a plain .txt file where every file is defined by a single line, composed by his path, filename, and file extension, 1 line per file, in any order (not needed to be ordered alphabetically). Is posible to generate this kind of filelists automatically by using the output of the '''--list''' command and some regular expressions to replace characters (this is long explain and doesnt fits here by now)

As explained before, the examples used here in wiki uses full PC paths to be more flexible (no need to place psarc.exe next to the source folder, actually you can place psarc.exe in c:\ the source folder in d:\ and create the psarc in x:\). When using full paths is mandatory to use the '''--strip''' option with an explicit path or a regular expression (regex) to remove part of the PC path (e.g: if you strip '''psarctests\custom_folders_extracted\''' from '''c:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted\Folder1\Image1.bmp''' the resulting path of the file inside the archive will be '''Folder1\Image1.bmp''')

In the next example the filelist is in '''c:\psarctests\custom_folders_filelist.txt''' and contains the PC paths of the files that will be included inside the psarc archive:

{{Keyboard|content=

'''C:\Portables\psarc>psarc.exe create --strip=C:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted\ --output=c:\psarctests\custom_folders.psarc --inputfile=c:\psarctests\custom_folders_filelist.txt'''

Strip: c:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted

Output: c:\psarctests\custom_folders.psarc

Archiving C:/psarctests/custom_folders_extracted/Folder1/Image1.bmp

Compressing C:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted\Folder1\Image1.bmp

Compressing C:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted\Folder2\Folder21\Image21.png

Compressing C:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted\Folder3\Folder31\Folder311\Image311.jpg

           3: Total Files Archived

          87: Manifest (uncompressed)

           57: Manifest (compressed)

         348: TOC size

         8789: Final Size

         4.0%: Directory Overhead

}}

**The program replaces the windows slash "\" by "/" when archiving the files (note the difference in the creation process between '''Archiving C:/...''' and '''Compressing C:\...'''). When making a '''--list''' command over the created psarc the slashes will appear as "/" because this is how they was archived in the '''Manifest''' (manifest is the first file inside the psarc filetable, doesnt appears as a file when using the '''--list''' command and doesnt have an assigned '''ID''')

**'''--strip''' option removes part of the paths from the filelist, can be used several times with different stripped paths, this is usefull when the psarc archive is generated from a filelist that contains paths from different folders and/or devices in the PC (e.g: is posible to create a filelist including a file from '''F:\textures\packed\texture1.jpg''' and another file from '''G:\models\packed\model1.xxx''' and strip the paths: '''F:\textures\''' and '''G:\models\''', this way both files will be stored inside the psarc archive together under path: '''packed/texture1.jpg''' and '''packed/model1.xxx''')

To use an .xml is needed to prepare it before using psarc.exe, using an xml is the most flexible way to use psarc.exe because allows to place the source (files to create, or psarc to extract), target (files to create, or psarc to extract), and psarc.exe in any path of the PC, it allows the usage of a filelist.txt (that defines all files inside the archive), create psarcs based in a directory, or specify all the files inside the xml, also to specify the compression level for every file (needed for video or audio files that doesnt admits compression), etc...

Is also the most complicated method because is needed to specify full PC paths inside the xml, and when creating is needed to specify regular expressions to strip part of the PC path

When the xml is ready you can run it this way:

'''C:\Portables\psarc>psarc.exe --xml=c:\psarctests\extract_custom_folders.xml'''

The options '''--verbose''', '''--debug''', and '''--quiet''' cant be used inside the xml, so if needed are specifyed in the command line, this way:

'''C:\Portables\psarc>psarc.exe --debug --xml=c:\psarctests\create_custom_folders.xml'''

Extracting all files

{{Boxcode|content=<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<extract archive="c:\psarctests\custom_folders.psarc" to="c:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted">

Extracting a single file

{{Boxcode|content=<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<extract archive="c:\psarctests\custom_folders.psarc" to="c:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted">

<file archivepath="Folder1/Image1.bmp" />

{{Boxcode|content=<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<extract archive="c:\psarctests\custom_folders.psarc" to="c:\psarctests\custom_folders_extracted" stripall="true" skipmissingfiles="false" overwrite="true">

<file archivepath="Folder1/Image1.bmp" skipifmissing="true" />

<file archivepath="Folder3/Folder31/Folder311/Image311.jpg" />

=====xml create=====

===PS3 PSARC GUI===

=Related Tools=

When rebuilding a psarc is needed to preserve the original positions of all the files inside the archive (because every file in the original psarc has assigned an '''ID''' number, and after rebuilding this numbers must match with the original positions). for this same reason when rebuilding is not a good idea to remove files (because the other files that comes after will be displaced). When the purpose of the rebuild is to  reduce the sze (by removing languages, etc...) the method consists in replacing them by dummies (0kb files), this dummies preserves the positions of all the files

To be sure all the files are in the correct positions can be used as a base file (to edit later) the output of the '''list''' command as explained before

This edition of the file generated by the '''list''' command can be automated completly (not needed to edit a single character by hand). Is posible to generate a '''filelist.txt''' or an '''automated.xml''' by replacing/erasing/adding characters with other programs that identifies and replaces characters by using regular expressions, the examples used here are commands for fnr.exe (find and replace tool) and contains regular expressions (to search) and a character string (to replace)

*The file paths inside filelist.txt or inside an automated.xml admits 2 formats:

**'''full PC paths''' (where the full PC file path included the device letter is used by psarc.exe to locate the file in any device and/or any folder). This method is the most flexible but needs an ''strip'' command to remove part of the PC path when creating the psarc archive

==Generating a filelist with regular expressions==

==Generating an xml with regular expressions==

|+ {{icon content ps3}}

! TITLE !! PSARC files || Version<BR />(offset 0x04) !! Compression<BR />(offset 0x08) !! TOC entry size<BR />(offset 0x10) !! Block Size<BR />(offset 0x18) !! Flags<BR />(offset 0x1C) !! ignorecase !! absolute !! no<BR />compress !! per-file<BR />compress !! TOC Dupes

| Ape Escape || sound.psarc || 00010004 || zlib || 0000001E || 00010000 || 00000000 || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || Contains not-compressed audio

| Ape Escape || <language>.psarc || 00010004 || zlib || 0000001E || 00010000 || 00000002 || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} ||  

| Ape Escape || target.psarc || 00010004 || zlib || 0000001E || 00010000 || 00000002 || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || TOC dupes!!!, see notes below

| Atelier Rorona Plus || ? || 00010004 || zlib || 0000001E || 00010000 || 00000002 || {{no}} || {{yes}} ||  ||  ||  ||  

| Eiyuu Densetsu Sen no Kiseki || ? || || || || || || ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  

| God of War. Ascension || CRTN.PSARC<BR />CYN.PSARC<BR />FURY.PSARC<BR />HECA.PSARC<BR />HRTN.PSARC<BR />LAN.PSARC<BR />PHI.PSARC<BR />STAT.PSARC<BR />STINT.PSARC<BR />TEM.PSARC || ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || Contains not-compressed audio, and other compressed files<BR />game levels, and game levels soundtracks

| God of War. Ascension || INTROCIN.PSARC || || ||  ||  ||  ||  || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || Intro video

| God of War. Ascension || RESOURCES.PSARC || || || || || || || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || Game resources, included not-compresed audio

| God of War. Ascension || SHELL.PSARC<BR />TPPS.PSARC ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  || || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || Main menu<BR />Game updates stub (dummy file)

| God of War. Ascension || <LANGUAGE>.PSARC ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  || || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || Contains not-compressed audio, and other compressed files

| God of War. Ascension || GAME.PSARC<BR />(or all others ?) || 00010004 || zlib || 0000001E || 00010000 || 00000002 || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || Game settings

| God of War III ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  || ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  

| ICO & Shadow of the Colossus HD ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  || ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  

| Killzone 3 || data_ps3.psarc || 00010004 || zlib || 0000001E || 00010000 || 00000001 || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || created from 3 working directories, lot of duplicated paths

| Mass Effect 3 || AUDIO.PSARC || 00010004 || lzma || 0000001E || 00010000 || 00000003 || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || Contains not-compressed audio

| Mass Effect 3 || MAIN.PSARC || 00010004 || lzma || 0000001E || 00010000 || 00000003 || {{yes}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || {{no}} || Per-file compression!!!, see notes below

| Mass Effect 3 || TEXTURES.PSARC || ||  ||  ||  ||  || || || || || ||