Kingdom Hearts II - BAR (Binary ARchives)

Most of the game’s information is stored within these files in order to keep everything organized and easily accessable by the game. These files are kind of like ZIP files, with certain limitations.

Those limitations include the file’s limitations, like the 4 character file names, file types having to be declared within the header, not all file types being declareable, but it also includes PS2’s limitations, like the offsets of the files within having to be divisible by 16, even though the size of the previous file is not, file names being unable to contain some characters, etc.

BAR Structure

BARs can come in all shapes and sizes and forms. Some have the “.bin” extension, meaning it is a system file. Some have the “.mset” extension, meaning it is a moveset file. Some have the “.mdlx” extension, meaning it is a model file. However, no matter the type, it still follows the basic file structure of the BAR.

In this structure, the names do not matter. They can be whatever as long as the PS2 is OK with it. They are just there in order to identify what file it is. This may or may not be the case in 03system, however.

The game seeks the files by their index numbers. For example: An MDLX-BAR seeks index 0 for the VIF information, index 1 for IMGD information, index 2 for the AI and index 3 for the collision in case the MDLX-BAR has 4 files within.

All the values are Little Endian in the PS2/PS4 Versions, while they are Big Endian in the PS3 Version. The “always” values given are in Little Endian.

BAR Header

Offset	Variable Type	Description
0	char[4]	The identifier of the file (Should be always 0x01524142)
4	uint32_t	The sub-file count of the BAR File.
8	uint32_t	Always zero. Padding for a lookup address at runtime.
12	int32_t	MSET type. Can be 0, 1 or 2.

BAR Entry

Offset	Variable Type	Description
0	uint16_t	The sub-file’s type (List given below)
2	uint16_t	Duplicate flag (if the entry is already included in the BAR)
4	char[4]	The name of the sub-file. Empty characters are registered as 0x00.
8	uint32_t	Sub-file’s offset/location. Must be divisible by 0x10. Can be padded.
12	uint32_t	Sub-file’s size. Everything that comes after [ offset + size ] will be ignored for that specific sub-file.

BAR Remains

Offset	Variable Type	Description
BAREntry[index]->fileOffset	byte[BAREntry[index]->fileSize	The sub-file itself in RAW Data (Uncompressed).

Kaitai file structure

meta:
  id: kh2_bar
  endian: le
seq:
  - id: magic
    contents: [0x42, 0x41, 0x52, 0x01]
  - id: num_files
    type: s4
  - id: padding
    size: 8
  - id: files
    type: file_entry
    repeat: expr
    repeat-expr: num_files
types:
  file_entry:
    seq:
      - id: type
        type: u2
      - id: duplicate
        type: u2
      - id: name
        type: str
        size: 4
        encoding: UTF-8
      - id: offset
        type: s4
      - id: size
        type: s4
    instances:
      file:
        io: _root._io
        pos: offset
        size: size

BAR File Types

Keep in mind that this list is still incomplete and will be changed over the course of this project:

Value	Description	General Location/File Type
0	Temporary File (Should not be used)	gummiblock/pxl.bar
1	Binary Archive	Varies.
2	Independent Format (ItemList, TreasureList, StringList, etc.)	03system.bin (Varies) - msg/jp/xxx.bar (Always StringList)
3	BDX scripting	MDLX, ARD, MAG
4	3D Model data (Encapsulated VIF packets containing Vertices, Skinning, Bones for MDLX, etc.)	MDLX - MAP
5	OCD Mesh Occlusion for Culling	MAP
6	OCC Collision Data	MAP
7	RAW Texture	MDLX - MAP
8	DPX effect container	PAX
9	Motion Data	Animation
10	TM2 texture	MAP - minigame/xxx.bar
11	OCH Camera Collision	MAP
12	Spawn Point Data	MAP
13	Spawn Point Script	ARD
14	FOG for Diffuse object coloring	MAP
15	OCL light collision	MAP
16	Animation triggers	ANB
17	Animation Binary Archive (ANB)	obj/*.mset, anm/*
18	PAX Effect	A.FM - MAG - MDLX
19	OWA Map Collision Data	MAP
20	Motionset	MSET - limit/*
21	BOP Background Object Placement	MAP
22	Animation Loader	ARD - A.FM - limit/*
23	Model Collision	MDLX
24	IMD image	Varies
25	Sequence animation (SQD)	2DD, MAP, A.FM, fontinfo.bar
26	Unknown	Unknown
27	Unknown	Unknown
28	Layout animation (LAD)	menu/*, gumi/sprite/*
29	IMZ multi-image archive	Varies.
30	Binary Archive	MAP
31	Sound Effect Block (SEB)	MDLX - A.FM
32	BGM Instrument Data (WD)	BGM - MDLX - A.FM
33	Unknown	Unknown
34	IopVoice Sound (VSB)	Varies.
35	SPRD (This is also a bit unknown)	mg_heft.2ld
36	rgb raw bitmap	fontimage.bar
37	PS2 Memory Card Icon	menu/save.2ld
38	Wrapped Collision Data (Whatever that is)	Unknown
39	Unknown	Unknown
40	Unknown	Unknown
41	Unknown	Unknown
42	Moogle and Minigame Independent Files	minigame/* - 03system.bin/shop.bin
43	Jimminy Journal Stuff	menu/*
44	Unknown	00progress.bin
45	Synthesis Data	menu/mixdata.bar
46	Binary Archive	Unknown
47	Vibration Data	vibration.bar
48	Sony Audio Format (VAG)	Varies.