PAK (Tropical Freeze)
See PAK (File Format) for the other revisions of this format.
The PAK format in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is the third version of the .pak format, with another layout overhaul, file IDs being extended from 64 bits to 128 bits (as they now use a new GUID system that is used to associate IDs with various objects across the entire game), and the addition of an extra metadata section.
Contents
Format
The Tropical Freeze pak format contains three main header sections: the resource directory, metadata, and name tags.
| Offset | Type | Count | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | Form Descriptor | 1 | Package Form Descriptor | Data type is PACK
|
| 0x20 | Form Descriptor | 1 | Table of Contents Form Descriptor | Data type is TOCC
|
| 0x40 | Header data sections (ADIR, META, and STRG) begin | |||
Asset Directory
The asset directory contains a list of every asset in the pak, associating a GUID with an offset/size in the file. Assets are sorted by their GUID in numerical order, which is often not the same order that they actually appear in the file.
| Offset | Type | Count | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | Chunk Descriptor | 1 | Asset Directory Chunk Descriptor | Data type is ADIR
|
| 0x18 | u32 | 1 | Asset Count | |
| 0x1C | Asset Entry | Asset Count | Asset Directory | |
End of ADIR section
| ||||
Asset Entry
| Offset | Type | Count | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | char | 4 | Asset Type | This is an abbreviated fourCC that doubles as the asset's cooked file extension. |
| 0x4 | GUID | 1 | Asset ID | |
| 0x14 | u64 | 1 | Offset | This is an absolute offset relative to the start of the pak file. |
| 0x1C | u64 | 1 | Size | |
| 0x24 | End of asset entry | |||
Metadata
The metadata section lists extra metadata for some asset types, which are associated with them via their file ID. The structure and contents of a META entry varies depending on the asset type; check that type's page on the Wiki to check the structure of its META entries.
Note that a lot of formats don't have any extra metadata. If there's no assets with extra metadata in the entire pak, then the META section won't appear in the file at all.
| Offset | Type | Count | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | Chunk Descriptor | 1 | Metadata Chunk Descriptor | Data type is META
|
| 0x18 | u32 | 1 | Metadata Entry Count | |
| 0x1C | Metadata Entry | Metadata Entry Count | Metadata Entry Table | |
End of META section
| ||||
Metadata Entry
| Offset | Type | Count | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | GUID | 1 | Asset ID | This is the ID of the asset that this metadata entry is associated with |
| 0x10 | u32 | 1 | Metadata Offset | Relative to the start of the META section.
|
| 0x14 | End of metadata entry | |||
Name Tags
The name tags section associates certain assets with string names. These are the "main" assets of the pak; any asset that does not have a name is a dependency of one of the ones that do.
| Offset | Type | Count | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | Chunk Descriptor | 1 | Name Tags Chunk Descriptor | Data type is STRG
|
| 0x18 | u32 | 1 | Name Tag Count | |
| 0x1C | Name Tag | Name Tag Count | Name Tag Table | |
End of STRG section
| ||||
Name Tag
| Offset | Type | Count | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | char | 4 | Asset Type | |
| 0x4 | GUID | 1 | Asset ID | |
| 0x14 | string | 1 | Asset Name | Zero-terminated. |
| End of name tag | ||||
Tools
- PakTool by Aruki; can extract and decompress files from Tropical Freeze paks, but doesn't support repacking or recompressing them
