How to Extract Files for Modding

Full process of extracting content of the game for modifications, and adding them back in.

Prerequisites

There are 2 methods that will be explained:

RECOMMENDED

Method 1
Noesis

• Noesis automates almost the entire process, and can preview and export various files such as 3D models. Although its vast capabilities it cannot be used to repack archives with your modded files, thus that must be done through the tools described in the second method. Noesis is not currently configured to use PC files, so manual renaming of archives and filelist's is required (couple second step); Otherwise if you are using console files this is unnecessary

Method 2
ff13crypt/tool Scripts

• This method should only be used for extracting files if for some unique reason, Noesis is giving you trouble. It requires manual assembly of simple batch scripts as the programs themselves do not have their own GUI, which is particularly inconvenient. This way does not require any renaming of game files. These programs have to be used if you intend of repacking archives

Downloads

Noesis:
Official Website[richwhitehouse.com]
Direct Download[richwhitehouse.com]
Created by Rich Whitehouse[richwhitehouse.com]

ff13crypt and ff13tool:
ff13crypt Forum[forum.xentax.com]
ff13tool Steam Community Topic
ff13tool Direct Download[www.tzarsectus.com]
ZIP file I made that contains both these programs[www.dropbox.com] (saves some time and registry to xentax)

Credits of ff13crypt (from ff13crypt.exe):
ff13crypt - created by unknown v2.
Modified by fairchild for ffxiii-2 save files.
Modified by Echelo for ffxiii-2 resources, ffxiii-3 resources, and ffxiii-3 save files.

ff13tool:
Created by Developed by FluffyQuack

(Method 1) Preperation

Since game files will be directly modified, its good to make a backup of these to be handled. These can generally be found at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\LIGHTNING RETURNS FINAL FANTASY XIII\weiss_data
If they aren't in there you may have them under a different lettered drive, or you could set a different library folder

For now, copy and paste the "filelist" and "white_img" files to a folder that is easily accessible with a short path (ex. your desktop.)

If you haven't done already, extract the files from the noesisvxxxx.zip you have downloaded to a different folder.

(Method 1) File Renaming

One of the way Noesis determines if it can open the file is the name of it. Not just what extension it has, but the full name of it. Noesis has all the filenames of the console files, but not the PC ones. So, in order to get each file to be read you have to rename it to a console file.

Fortunately, you do not need to match the numbers and such that indicate what 'version' filelist it is. For example, there is the "white_img2a.win32.bin" and the "white_imga.win32.bin". Both of these can be renamed to "white_imge.ps3.bin" and it will be read by Noesis (as opposed to having to rename the img2a to white_imge.ps3.bin). It is a bit tricky to explain, but I imagine it will become more clear as more is done.

(Method 1) Unpacking

For each archive you unpack (white_img, moviev, white_z0100, etc) you have to use an associated filelist. It's very simple to know which ones to use, as their endings will match. You will see a filelist2a, and that will be used to unpack white_img2a, for example. Or movielist3a will be used to unpack movie3a. Just in case, I will include a list in this guide that shows which lists go to which archives.

To keep it simple I will be using filelist2a.win32.bin and white_img2a.win32.bin

Start by renaming these "fileliste.ps3.bin" and "white_imge.ps3.bin", and open Noesis (of course, if you are working with console files there is no need to rename these). Inside Noesis there are 3 main windows. On the left is your file explorer, the middle is a similar thing that shows the files inside the folder you selected from the file explorer, and the right is a preview windows for images and models you unpacked. Using the left side window, navigate to the directory in which you backed up your files to. Click the folder holding your filelists and archives and they will show up in the middle window.

Continue to double click the filelist you renamed to have the ps3 extension and a window will pop-up (in this case, the fileliste.ps3.bin).

Source file lists the filelist you selected, and Destination file(s) is the location of the folder the program will create to dump the files to. It will name the folder based upon the name of the filelist. Feel free to change this directory. Click export to pull up a new file explorer window and select the archive to unpack. I will select white_imge.ps3.bin.

That's it. Look for the exported files within the directory you selected. This process is the same for the rest of the archives.

You may now skip all of the Method 2 sections of the guide.

(Method 2) Preperation

Since game files will be directly modified, its good to make a backup of these to be handled. These can generally be found at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\LIGHTNING RETURNS FINAL FANTASY XIII\weiss_data
If they aren't in there you may have them under a different lettered drive, or you could set a different library folder

It would be a good idea to organize these to look something like this:

• C:\Users\(User)\Desktop\LR
  
• filelists (folder)
  
• white_img (folder)

You made add more folders for the other archives, I just showed those two as that is what I will be using for this guide.

Inside this LR folder, make another one called "Tools" and place the ones you got from the downloads section in here. Alternatively in the zip I made the "Tools" folder is already set up and can be added to the directory by itself.

(Method 2) Script Creation

I HIGHLY recommend getting Notepad++[notepad-plus-plus.org] if you don't already have it installed. It will be useful here and in general is nice to have.

Two scripts will be created:

• One to decrypt files
  
• The other to use the decrypted files and unpack the content of the game

Script 1 - Decrypting

Start by going in the folder you created (LR is the name I used in the last section) and create a new text document named "decrypt.txt". Open the new file in Notepad++ (or whatever text editor you decided to use).
This will contain 3 lines:

.\Tools\ffxiiicrypt.exe -d "path to filelist.bin" 3
.\Tools\ffxiiicrypt.exe -d "path to file that will be unpacked.bin" 3
pause

Be sure to include the quotations around the path!

A breakdown of the script:

• ".\Tools\ffxiicrypt.exe" - the pathway to the ff13crypt file. .\Tools\ tells the script to go into the tools folder located in the current working directory. If your folder containing the crypt tool is located elsewhere, rewrite this part
  
• "-d" - tells the program to decrypt the listed file
  
• "path to filelist.bin" - the location of the filelist that will be decrypted. This could be for example: ".\filelists\filelista.win32.bin"
  
• "3" - the crypt tool is compatible with all 3 Final Fantasy XIII games, the 3 just tells that Lightning Returns is the game that will be worked with

The same format is used for the second line, but instead of a filelist that will be decrypted, it is the bin with the game content. "pause" prevents the command prompt from automatically closing so you may see the results.

When you finish writing the script, be sure to go to File --> Save As... and save your text document as a ".bat" file. Alternatively, change the extensions through renaming the file from "decrypt.txt" to "decrypt.bat"

Here is what your directory may look like:

And a sample script:

Script 2 - Unpacking

Create another text document, this time I will name it "unpack.txt" and it will be included in the same folder as your decrypt script. This script will contain:

.\Tools\ff13tool.exe -x -ff133 "decrypted filelist.bin" "decrypted archive.bin"
pause

A breakdown of the script:

• ".\Tools\ff13tool.exe" - again, this tells the directory of ff13tool located within the Tools folder of the current directory
  
• "-x" - tells ff13tool that it will be extracting the contents of the archive
  
• "-ff133" - this tool is also compatible with all the FF13's, but since LR is being used it will be ff133
  
• "decrypted filelist.bin" - location of the filelist that was previously decrypted
  
• "decrypted archive.bin" - location of the decrypted bin that holds the game content that will be unpacked, again the one decrypted by the previous script

Again, save the script as a .bat

Here is a sample script:

To run the scripts, simply double click the ".bat" files, starting with the decrypt script then using the unpack script.

To change which files you will use, simply open the scripts within your text editor and change the paths to different files


IMPORTANT: Make sure you do not decrypt the same file twice, or you will will get the "Unable to handle encrypted/decrypted file" error. You may use the same decrypted filelist multiple times

Determine Which Filelist to Use

Here is the list of the filelists and their associated archives

PC

white_img

• filelist_scra.win32.bin - white_scra.win32.bin
  
• filelist_scrv.win32.bin - white_scrv.win32.bin
  
• filelista.win32.bin - white_imga.win32.bin
  
• filelistv.win32.bin - white_imgv.win32.bin
  
• filelist2a.win32.bin - white_img2a.win32.bin
  
• filelist2v.win32.bin - white_img2v.win32.bin

Movies

The movie bin's are found under weiss_data/movie

• movelista.win32.bin - moviea.win32.bin
  
• movielistv.win32.bin - moviev.win32.bin
  
• movielist2a.win32.bin - movie2a.win32.bin
  
• movielist2v.win32.bin - movie2v.win32.bin
  
• movielist3a.win32.bin - movie3a.win32.bin
  
• movielist3v.win32.bin - movie3v.win32.bin

Zones

I was only able to locate the zone filelists for the PS3 version... It seems that they were packed under white_img2.ps3.bin, so you must unpack that first. If anyone finds these for PC please say where you found them in a comment, thanks!

PS3

white_img

• fileliste.ps3.bin - white_imge.ps3.bin
  
• filelist2e.ps3.bin - white_img2e.ps3.bin

Movies

• movieliste.ps3.bin - moviee.ps3.bin
  
• movielist2e.ps3.bin - movie2e.ps3.bin
  
• movielist3e.ps3.bin - movie3e.ps3.bin

Zones

Unpack white_img2e.ps3.bin first, then go into the folder that you unpacked it into and you should find the filelists within that zone folder

• filelist_z0100e.ps3.bin - white_z0100e_img.ps3.bin
  
• filelist_z0110e.ps3.bin - white_z0110e_img.ps3.bin
  
• filelist_z0120e.ps3.bin - white_z0120e_img.ps3.bin
  
• filelist_z0121e.ps3.bin - white_z0121e_img.ps3.bin

XBOX coming soon

Viewing Files

• Models are packed into .trb files, you can export these to obj right from Noesis so you may view them in other 3d modeling programs
  
• Weapon models can be found in the white_img bin under chr/weapon
  
• Many character models, included all of Lightning and her various garbs are found in the white_img bin's, and in the directory chr/pc
  
• More of the npc's models are found in the zone_0100 bin, under chr/npc
  
• Also in z0100 is the environmental models found in chr/fa
  
• Animations will be found in the "mot" folders
  
• Sounds can be found in white_img bins and then under sound/pack and are catagorized into numbered folders; the wpd files can be renamed to mp3 and listened to directly
  
• Models of the world can be found in the zone_0100 bin and under bg/loc100 and in the m folders

This list will be updated as I explore more

Known Issues and Solutions

Method 2 Exporting with a filelist will only work once
This seems to be a result of trying to decrypt the same filelist multiple times. Replacing it with an untouched one from the game directories worked for me.

Noesis gives me the a "File could not be previewed" error when opening a filelist

1. Ensure that if you are using PC files that you renamed them to a ps3 name
   
2. At the top of Noesis under the "Tools" menu, make sure "Safe Types" is UNCHECKED
   

Noesis doesn't show all/any files in a folder

You have either selected a folder on the left that contains exclusively other folders (click the + next to it on the left box), no files at all, or Noesis doesnt recognize the file type. To enable viewing of unknown filetypes, go to the middle box and click the menu that will probably read "All Known Formats" (if you accidentally changed this it will list a filetype and its extension enclosed in parentheses), change this to the option under it: "All Files (*)".

Conclusion

Thank you for using this guide. I will have quick responses to any comments/questions you have so feel free to leave them. If something requires extensive help you may add me and I can assist you.

If you have any new discoveries, please let me know so I may improve the guide (I will give you full credit for it of course)

[SquallLeonhart]

I was trying that but it didn't work, I even tried to open PS3 and Xbox360 game files and the recent versions of Noesis don't open them. Only one version that I found of Noesis, v40953, could open the 360 game files but not the PS3 files.

[you just got goobed]

Joined, thanks for the invite Surihix. This guide is probably pretty out of date at this point then.

[Ozan_im_laden]

Thanks, have a greatful day.

[Surihix]

@Halbe_Portion
There is a modding discord server for the XIII trilogy where modders have been able to mod the game's character models to some extent. they might be able to help you out with this.

Here is the server invite from which you can join the server:
https://discord.gg/NZzNVesvsB

Also letting the guide author and those who read this guide know:
An mod manager called Nova Chrysalia is available in the server I linked. this allows the PC version's game files to be modified a lot more and I recommend anyone wanting to mod the game to use this manager as well as join the server.

[you just got goobed]

Unless there have been tool updates in the last couple of years, as far as I can recall there is nothing to convert back into trb.

[Ozan_im_laden]

Hello, i don't know how to convert a obj or a fbx file back to an trb file. I did change the model of one of the monsters and wanna see my work. Cann any one help me.

[xxpillowhugxx]

Does anyone have the alert theme for The Wildlands? or know which files i'd need to extract to find it? Could use a kick in the right direction

[mjuarbe19]

its an old Thread but i wanted to say i couldnt get this to work on the PC version but noesis works fine on the PS3 Version the only problem is idk how to repackage the files back into .trb

[Surihix]

the environments r stored in white_z0100 and white_0110 bins. the 100 one stores all the environment models of Yusnann, Luxerion, Wildlands, and the Dead Dunes. while the 110 one stores the environment model of the ark alone.
this is stored inside multiple files inside the following folder bg/loc100 in the white_z0100 bin and
the ark environment models r stored in multiple files inside the bg/loc110 in the white_z0110 bin file. again there r (a) and (v) copies present.

[Surihix]

Unpacking the movie bins is the issue now. I am guessing its stored as a bink file as the other two games were using the bink videos format. again there is a copy of English (a) and the Japanese (v) languages. It cannot be extracted with the crypt tool as well as Noesis. I hope someone can tell me the method to extract them.
Now the zone filelists was extracting right under our noses all the time. when we unpacked the white_img2a.win32.bin, the zone filelist was also extracting, but will not be present inside the main extracted folder but outside the location of the entire folder itself.
Like this small ex. C:/Documents/LR modding/unpacked (a)/ here If I unpacked the white_img2a.win32bin, a separate zone folder will be unpacked in the Documents folder. inside this zone folder all the filelists for the zone bin's (a) will be present. similarly when u unpack the img2v one u will get the zone filelists for the zone bins with (v).