Issues with 360 sabs/sabl

[NuclearDisco]

First of all, great piece of software, it works exceptionally well

However, I have an issue with opening BO2 sabs/sabl files with sound studio. Everything that has an XMA format works, however everything with a PCM format is just pure static. Is this something wrong on my end or do you guys still need to do some work with it?

[master131]

It's been a long time since I've touched the app; can you tell me which file has the issue?

[NuclearDisco]

It's multiple files, mpl_common.all, default_mp.all, default_sp.all

Pretty much every file has faulty PCM snd files. Also, these aren't regular BO2 files, these are from the Pre-Alpha

[master131]

Unfortunately without samples I won't be able to understand why it's happening - I wouldn't even know where to find pre-alpha/pre-production builds of the game given that it was so long ago now.

[NuclearDisco]

I can link them if you want

[master131]

Yes, can you please provide a link so I can have a look.

[NuclearDisco]

Sure thing: http://www.mediafire.com/folder/a9xc2zw4nz71a/BO2+Prealpha

default_mp is completely broken, with everything having static, the common files have some working ones, but mostly static mess. If you need more, let me know

also, please turn down your volume if you want to play the broken files, I learned this the hard way

[master131]

Thanks for those, it looks like they are actually XMA audio (not surprised since these are from an X360 build).

It's possible that at this stage they hadn't finalised the format ID value in the file structure yet as the value 0 refers to PCM audio (at least in production builds), whereas here they've used that value also for this XMA data.

I will see what I can do; perhaps I'll add an option under the Tools menu to force another format for these situations.

[NuclearDisco]

Thanks mate! I really appreciate it

[master131]

I've uploaded v1.6.0; give that a try with the new override option from the Tools menu.

[NuclearDisco]

Oh my god dude, you made an amazing job!

I thought since this was long untouched I wouldn't get a response, but by some way, you responded! Thank you so much. Remember, I have more Pre-Alpha sound files saved and if you need any, let me know!

[NuclearDisco]

Also, just a little suggestion you don't have to do this, but is there a work around the generic sound names?

The thing with these early sound files is that it's inconsistent with the sound names. They either have a generic name or a full name like hurt.01.SN65.xenon.snd

[master131]

I will need a full rip of all the *.ff files to extract the sound names and update the name database because that information is not stored in the SABS/SABL files.

[NuclearDisco]

Ah I see, well luckily I have those ff files, let me know if you want any of them

[master131]

Can you please upload all of them if you can?

[NuclearDisco]

Sure thing man, it's the best way that I can repay you for fixing my issues

[NuclearDisco]

Done! Now, I'm not sure how mediafire works but I posted all of the fast files available in my copy to the same folder so I think you could just click on that same link again to download them

[master131]

Thanks for those; unfortunately it looks like they've been encrypted using a different key compared to the production build fast-files. Usually these keys are retrieved by dumping them from the PC/Console memory while the game is running but since these are from a pre-alpha build I am not sure that is possible anymore...

[NuclearDisco]

let's make our own decompiler 😂

[master131]

If only it were that easy.. Maybe there's something useful in the game executeable? Do you have an .xex perhaps from the pre-alpha that you can share?

[NuclearDisco]

yes, I have the entire build

[master131]

Could you please drop it in the same folder as the previous files? Maybe I can decompile it and see if I can find the key floating around.

[NuclearDisco]

Fuck it, I might as well drop everything in

[NuclearDisco]

After I upload them, can you teach me a bit about coding? I want to know more about programming

I already know the basics of reversing, I have IDA pro

[NuclearDisco]

I uploaded the entire build aside from a couple of sabs files

[master131]

Thanks again for the files - I will have a look when I get the chance.

I don't think this is the place (on a Github issue) to be teaching how to code - but the internet is a treasure trove of information, it's where I learnt everything I know. Google is honestly your best friend. I don't have a lot of free time or capacity these days outside of my full-time job anyway.

[NuclearDisco]

No worries

[master131]

Managed to decrypt those fastfiles from the pre-alpha and have updated the tool to v1.6.1. Note that files like mpl_survival_dockside.all.sabs will continue to have the generic sound names since the .ff was missing.

For future reference for other coders, the Salsa20 key for the XBOX360 Pre-alpha build of BO2 is: 0x1A, 0xC1, 0xD1, 0x2D, 0x52, 0x7C, 0x59, 0xB4, 0x0E, 0xCA, 0x61, 0x91, 0x20, 0xFF, 0x82, 0x17, 0xCC, 0xFF, 0x09, 0xCD, 0x16, 0x89, 0x6F, 0x81, 0xB8, 0x29, 0xC7, 0xF5, 0x27, 0x93, 0x40, 0x5D

Each block is compressed using standard deflate (rather than XMemCompress/LZX used in the production release specifically for XBOX360).

[NuclearDisco]

good stuff, thanks mate!