Resource Container (RCO)
Description
The file extension in PSP and PS3 is RCO that seems to be the acronym of Resource Container Objet
The file signature (aka magic number) from PSP (in little endian) is PRF that seems to be the acronym of Playstation Resource File
RCO contents are loaded by other firmware functions as XMBML setting files, and XMB modules (also known as .sprx plugins), see Plugin Interfaces and VSH
Contents
- RCO contents (See Multimedia Formats and Tools):
Text for all languages, textures, sounds (for cursor navigation, trophy unlocking, etc...) and models
| RCO format | Embedded code | Text | Textures | Sounds | Models | Script |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generic | RCOXML | utf8, utf16, utf32 | gim, png, jpg, tif, gif, bmp | vag, unknown0x0 | gmo | PlayStation JavaScript |
| PS3 specific | RCOXML | utf16 | gim, png, jpg | vag | n/a | n/a |
Versions
| RCO version | Firmware | Release date | RCO format specifications | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toc trees | Toc compression | Other Notes | |||
| 0x55 |  0.6.5 |
pre-retail | 9 | uncompressed | archaic rco format, header is 16 bytes smaller |
| 0x70 | 1.00 |
2004 / 12 / 12 | 10 | uncompressed | |
| 0x71 | 1.50~2.50 |
2005 / 3 / 24 | 10 | uncompressed | normal toc up to this version |
| 0x90 | 2.60 |
2005 / 11 / 29 | 10 | zlib compressed toc implemented | |
| 0x95 | 2.70~2.71 |
2006 / 4 / 25 | 10 | rlz compressed toc implemented | |
| 0x96 | 2.80~3.40 |
2006 / 7 / 27 | 10 | the toc seems to be compressed in parts | |
| 0x97 |  1.00~1.54 |
2006 / 11 / 11 | 10 | ||
| 0x100 | 3.50~6.61 |
2007 / 5 / 31 | 10 | ||
| 0x102 | 1.60~1.70 |
2007 / 3 / 22 | 10 | ||
| 0x104 | 1.80~1.82 |
2007 / 5 / 24 | 10 | ||
| 0x105 | 1.90~1.94 |
2007 / 7 / 24 | 10 | ||
| 0x106 | 2.00~2.17 |
2007 / 11 / 8 | 10 | ||
| 0x107 | 2.20~2.80 |
2008 / 3 / 25 | 10 | ||
| 0x108 | 3.00~3.01 |
2009 / 9 / 1 | 10 | ||
| 0x110 | 3.10~3.74 |
2009 / 11 / 19 | 10 | ||
| 0x120 | 4.00~4.25 |
2011 / 11 / 29 | 10 | ||
| 0x130 | 4.30~4.76 |
2012 / 10 / 24 | 10 | ||
RCO Structure
Based on RCO File Format (outdated) and rcomage source
Header
| Offset | Length | Example | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 0x04 | 46 52 50 00 | prf_signature | In PS3 is "FRP" (big endian). In PSP is "PRF" (little endian) |
| 0x04 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 97 | prf_version | See Discussion page |
| 0x08 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | prf_unk | |
| 0x0C | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | prf_compress | 0x00=uncompressed, 0x10=ZLIB, 0x20=RLZ, see Discussion page |
| 0x10 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 A4 | toc_main_tree_offset | |
| 0x14 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | toc_script_tree_offset | |
| 0x18 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | toc_text_tree_offset | |
| 0x1C | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | toc_sound_tree_offset | |
| 0x20 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | toc_model_tree_offset | |
| 0x24 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | toc_image_tree_offset | |
| 0x28 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | toc_unk | |
| 0x2C | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | toc_font_tree_offset | |
| 0x30 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 CC | toc_object_tree_offset | |
| 0x34 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | toc_anim_tree_offset | |
| 0x38 | 0x04 | 00 00 01 D4 | str_text_table_offset | |
| 0x3C | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | str_text_table_length | |
| 0x40 | 0x04 | 00 00 01 D4 | str_label_table_offset | |
| 0x44 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 1C | str_label_table_length | |
| 0x48 | 0x04 | 00 00 01 F0 | str_event_table_offset | |
| 0x4C | 0x04 | 00 00 00 04 | str_event_table_length | |
| 0x50 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | ptr_text_table_offset | |
| 0x54 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | ptr_text_table_length | |
| 0x58 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | ptr_image_table_offset | |
| 0x5C | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | ptr_image_table_length | |
| 0x60 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | ptr_model_table_offset | |
| 0x64 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | ptr_model_table_length | |
| 0x68 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | ptr_sound_table_offset | |
| 0x6C | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | ptr_sound_table_length | |
| 0x70 | 0x04 | 00 00 01 CC | ptr_object_table_offset | |
| 0x74 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 08 | ptr_object_table_length | |
| 0x78 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | ptr_anim_table_offset | |
| 0x7C | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | ptr_anim_table_length | |
| 0x80 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | dat_image_table_offset | |
| 0x84 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | dat_image_table_length | |
| 0x88 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | dat_sound_table_offset | |
| 0x8C | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | dat_sound_table_length | |
| 0x90 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | dat_model_table_offset | |
| 0x94 | 0x04 | 00 00 00 00 | dat_model_table_length | |
| 0x98 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | dat_unk_1 | |
| 0x9C | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | dat_unk_2 | |
| 0xA0 | 0x04 | FF FF FF FF | dat_unk_3 |
- All offsets in the header are absolute
TOC
The TOC (table of contents) works as an index of all the .RCO contents, is composed by entries that follows a hierarchy of parent/children/siblings, it can be represented as an .XML file composed by elements and its attributes (see XML Tree)
This .XML file that represents the RCO contents is also known as an RCOXML and is the main file generated by rcomage when extracting the contents of a .RCO. Contains all the important info from the original .RCO file and some more info added by rcomage needed to rebuild the .RCO file accuratelly keeping the original settings
Every entry starts with an area of 0x28 length that represents an XML element, it specifyes the entry_type, a label identifyer for this entry (optional) and some info related with the TOC internal structure and its hierarchy relationship with other entries
| Offset | Length | Type | Name | |
|
Example (TOC) | Example (XML) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 0x04 | int | entry_type | Yes | Yes | 01 01 / 00 00 | <Element name="label"/> |
entry_type[2], padding[2] |
| 0x04 | 0x04 | int | entry_label_offset | Yes | Yes | 00 00 00 00 | label_string_table_offset[4] (optional) | |
| 0x08 | 0x04 | int | attributes_offset | Yes | Yes | 00 00 00 00 | represents XML hierarchy | Attributes offset relative to the start of this entry (optional) |
| 0x0C | 0x04 | int | children_offset | Yes | Yes | 00 00 00 28 | First children offset relative to the start of this entry (optional) | |
| 0x10 | 0x04 | int | children_number | Yes | Yes | 00 00 00 00 | Number of subentries | |
| 0x14 | 0x04 | int | next_sibling_offset | Yes | Yes | 00 00 00 00 | Next sibling offset relative to the start of this entry (optional) | |
| 0x18 | 0x04 | int | prev_sibling_offset | Yes | Yes | 00 00 00 00 | Previous sibling offset relative to the start of this entry (optional) | |
| 0x1C | 0x04 | int | parent_offset | Yes | Yes | 00 00 00 00 | This entry offset relative to the start of the parent entry | |
| 0x20 | 0x08 | unk | toc_entry_unk | Yes | Yes | 00 00 00 00 .. . | no XML representation | Unknown |
After the common area (at entry relative offset 0x28) appears the attributes, the attributes are different for every entry_type and are explained in detail in other wiki pages, see the links in the table below
The entry_types wich name contains the word tree (as example MainTree) are special and doesnt uses attributes, MainTree is always located as the first entry, doesn't have a parent, and doesn't have any previous or next "sibling", the maximun number posible of childrens for MainTree is 8 (containing all the other "trees"). The other "trees" (as example imageTree or soundTree) are siblings and are the childrens of "MainTree", Every one of those "trees" contains a variable number of entry_types that are its childrens
An special mention is needed to the RCOXML Objects (entry_types starting with 0x08) and RCOXML Animations (entry_types starting with 0x09) where the attributes can be grouped in standard attributes (used by most entryes of this type) and specific attributes (different for every entry_type). The standard attributes are always located before the specific attributes
| Second byte | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 0x01 | 0x02 | 0x03 | 0x04 | 0x05 | 0x06 | 0x07 | 0x08 | 0x09 | 0x0A | 0x0B | 0x0C | 0x0D | 0x0E | 0x0F | 0x10 | 0x11 | 0x12 | 0x13 | 0x14 | 0x15 | 0x16 | 0x17 | 0x18 | 0x19 | 0x1A | 0x1B | 0x1C | 0x1D | 0x1E | 0x1F | ||
| First byte | 0x01 | unk | MainTree | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0x02 | ScriptTree | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0x03 | TextTree | Text | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0x04 | ImageTree | Image | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0x05 | ModelTree | Model | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0x06 | SoundTree | Sound | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0x07 | FontTree | Font | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0x08 | ObjectTree | Page | Plane | Button | XMenu | XMList | XList | Progress | Scroll | MList | MItem | unk | XItem | Text | ModelObject | Spin | Action | ItemSpin | Group | LList | LItem | Edit | Clock | IList | IItem | Icon | UButton | unk | CheckboxGroup | CheckboxItem | Meter | EditBox | |
| 0x09 | AnimTree | Anim | MoveTo | Recolour | Rotate | Resize | Fade | Delay | FireEvent | Lock | Unlock | SlideOut | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Supported by and |
Supported by only
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- The entry_types with the suffix Tree (as example MainTree) are special and doesnt uses attributes, MainTree is always located as the first entry, doesn't have a parent, and doesn't have any previous or next "sibling", the maximun number posible of childrens for MainTree is 8 (containing all the other "trees"). The other "trees" (as example imageTree or soundTree) are siblings and are the childrens of "MainTree", Every one of those "trees" contains a variable number of entry_types that are its childrens
- The attributes of the RCOXML Objects (entry_types starting with 0x08) and RCOXML Animations (entry_types starting with 0x09) can be grouped in standard attributes (used by most entryes of this type) and specific attributes (different for every entry_type). The standard attributes are always located before the specific attributes
- First two bytes are swapped based on architecture (PSP in little endian, PS3 in big endian). The table shows the values in big endian
Some of the attributes are a reference to load other entry, are composed by two values, the first is the reference_type that indicates the "tree" of the entry that is going to be loaded, and the second is a pointer to a text string with the label of the entry that is going to be loaded. The reference_type event doesnt loads an entry from a "tree" though, it runs a code function from either a .sprx (by storing the text native:/ as part of the text string inside the RCO) or from a VSMX script (by storing the text script:/ as part of the text string inside the RCO)
| reference_type | pointer | Method | Loader | Loads | From | Example (XML) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0xFFFF0000 | 0xFFFFFFFF | n/a | All | Nothing | None | <Entry reference="nothing"/> |
|
| 0x04000000 | relative | event: | RCOXML Objects RCOXML Animations |
Code function | Associated .SPRX | <Entry event="event:native:/runFuctionX"/> |
|
| ScriptTree/Script | File inside RCO | <Entry event="event:script:/main/runFuctionX"/> |
|||||
| 0x04010000 | # (0-based) | text: | RCOXML Objects XMBML Code |
TextTree/Text | Strings inside RCO | <Entry text="text:msg_mytext"/> |
|
| 0x04020000 | absolute | image: | RCOXML Objects XMBML Code |
ImageTree/Image | File inside RCO | <Entry image="image:tex_mytexture"/> |
|
| 0x04030000 | absolute | model: | RCOXML Objects | ModelTree/Model | File inside RCO | <Entry model="model:mymodel"/> |
|
| 0x04040000 | absolute ? | sound: ? | associated .SPRX | SoundTree/Sound | File inside RCO | <Entry sound="sound:mysound"/> ? |
speculation |
| 0x04050000 | absolute | font: | RCOXML Objects | FontTree/Font | File inside RCO ? | <Entry font="font:fontstyle_sanserif"/> |
|
| 0x04060000 | absolute ? | anim2: ? | RCOXML Objects ? | AnimTree/Animation ? | RCOXML code ? | <Entry anim2="anim2:myanimation"/> ? |
speculation |
| 0x04070000 | absolute | object2: | RCOXML Objects | ObjectTree/Object | RCOXML code | <Entry object2="object2:plane_myplane"/> |
|
| 0x04080000 | absolute | anim: | RCOXML Animations | AnimTree/Animation | RCOXML code | <Entry anim="anim:myanimation"/> |
|
| 0x04090000 | absolute | object: | RCOXML Animations | ObjectTree/Object | RCOXML code | <Entry object="object:plane_myplane"/> |
- A reference attribute is composed by two values, the first is the reference_type that indicates the "tree" of the entry that is going to be loaded, and the second is a pointer to a text string with the label of the entry that is going to be loaded
- The reference_type event doesnt loads an entry from a "tree" though, it runs a code function from either a .sprx (by storing the text native:/ as part of the text string inside the RCO) or from a VSMX script (by storing the text script:/ as part of the text string inside the RCO)
- First two bytes are swapped based on architecture (PSP in little endian, PS3 in big endian). The table shows the values in big endian
- Example here following the other example of the header at top of the page, using color codes like the examples in Discussion page
- With MainTree-AnimTree-Animation-Fade (because i think is the minimal example that shows how trees are made and the entry_type "fade" that uses "standard" and "specific" attributes)
- And MainTree-ObjectTree-Page (because the animation needs to be linked to an object by using a reference, otherway rcomage will return an error when trying to compile it)
- All offsets in the TOC are relative
String tables
This area stores the text strings used by the TOC entries, is composed by 3 tables in this order:
- text_string_table (to store localized language texts from TextTree entries)
- label_string_table (to store the labels of all the entries that uses labels)
- event_string_table (to store the values of the attributes used by some entries, either "native" or "script" events)
- Strings are null terminated (ends in 0x00)
- Strings are aligned to 4 bytes boundary (padding at the end of every string when needed)
Pointer tables
This area works as an external index of the TOC, stores absolute pointers to all the chiildren of the "tree" TOC entries, is composed by 6 tables in this order:
- text_tree_pointer_table
- image_tree_pointer_table
- model_tree_pointer_table
- sound_tree_pointer_table
- object_tree_pointer_table
- anim_tree_pointer_table
- Every pointer is 0x04 bytes length
- The other "trees" children that doesnt uses a pointer table are: MainTree (is not needed because its children are the other "trees"), ScriptTree (because doesnt have children), and FontTree because ?????
- The existence of this area with pointers seems to be related with the fact that is posible to use a whole file compression (by setting it in the header at offset 0x0C) that compresses the TOC. Also when loading the .RCO file in the RAM of the console probably is "cropped" in parts, the TOC is decompresed and kept in a memory area with the other TOC's from the other RCO files (for fast selective access to the .RCO contents, and for performance) and is posible to read the relative offsets directlly from the TOC's and deprecate the absolute offsets from the pointers tables
Data tables
This area stores files that can be compressed individually (or not) as specifyed by the attributes of some entries in the TOC, is composed by 3 tables in this order:
- image_data_table (to store the files used by ImageTree entries)
- sound_data_table (to store the files used by SoundTree entries)
- model_data_table (to store the files used by ModelTree entries)
- Files are aligned to 4 bytes boundary (padding at the end of every file when needed)
RCO compression methods
When the TOC table is compressed at beginning there are 3 values related with the compression (otherway if the table is not compressed this 3 values doesnt exists)
| Offset | Length | Name | Example | Notes | Speculation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 0x04 | lenPacked | Packed size of all the table sections | ||
| 0x04 | 0x04 | lenUnpacked | Unpacked size of all the table sections | ||
| 0x08 | 0x04 | lenLongestText | length of the longest language's text data (unpacked) if the compressed area doesn't contains any language text the value is 0 |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
