Common Structures

In every type of sound file, you are bound to come across at least one of these structures. Rather than redefining them for each file, it would be better to define them all here for simplicity.

Primitive Types

Every structure is made of the following primitive types. You will come across the following:

Type	Description
u8	8-bit Unsigned Integer
u16	16-bit Unsigned Integer
u32	32-bit Unsigned Integer
s8	8-bit Signed Integer
s16	16-bit Signed Integer
s32	32-bit Signed Integer
f32	32-bit Floating Point Number
string	Since NintendoWare was coded in C++, every string is null terminated and includes ‘\0’ at the end. This null terminator is included in the length of the string
char[Array Size]	Char Array. This is like a string, except that it does not have a null terminator, and always has a fixed size

References

In order to point to another structure stored in some location, NintendoWare uses references in order to jump to them. All references have offsets, which are relative to the start of the structure. Any type of reference itself does not count as a structure in this sense. For example, if a structure begins at 0x20, and there is a reference within the structure at 0x30, and the offset to another structure is 0x70, then the absolute address of the other structure is 0x90. The reference takes the position of the structure it is in, and adds its offset to it in order to reach the destination. If a reference has an offset of -1, then it is null, and does not point to any data (the data is null).

Reference

A basic reference to data.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	u16	Type specifier for the data that this reference points to (Usually 0 if null reference, but can be different in special cases)
0x02	u16	Padding For Alignment (Always 0)
0x04	s32	Relative offset to data (-1 if the reference is null)

Sized Reference

It’s like a reference, but it also contains the size of the data it points to.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	u16	Type specifier for the data that this reference points to
0x02	u16	Padding For Alignment (Usually 0 if null reference, but can be different in special cases)
0x04	s32	Relative offset to data (Always 0)
0x08	u32	Size of the referenced data (Always 0 if the reference is null)

Main Structures

These are the main structures used within the files. Each one counts as its own structure, with the exception of Ids, Wave Ids, BitFlags, and Enumerations.

File Header

This is essential for the game to know how to read the data in the file. It is always padded to 0x20 bytes.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	char[4]	Magic identifer for the file. The first char specifies the type of file. ‘F’ for ‘F’ type, and ‘C’ for ‘C’ type
0x04	u16	Byte order. 0xFEFF for big endian, and 0xFFFE for little endian. Note, that these values are in big endian
0x06	u16	Size of this header
0x08	Version	Version of this file
0x0C	u32	Size of this file
0x10	u16	Number of blocks in the file
0x12	u16	Padding for alignment
0x14	SizedReference[Number of blocks in the file]	Sized references to the blocks contained in this file
—-	—	Padding for alignment

Version

Weirdly, this is read as a u32, meaning how it’s read varies on the endianess of the file. What is also weird is that this is different for ‘F’ and ‘C’ type files. For ‘F’ type files, the form is 0x00MMIIRR, but for ‘C’ type files, it is 0xMMIIRR00. This is after reading in the proper endian. M is the major version of the file, I is the minor version of the file, and R is the revision version of the file. These values determine how the file is to be read, if the file’s format varies due to its version.

Block

A block contains data for a certain purpose of its file. Every structure except the file header has to be within a block.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	char[4]	Magic identifier for the block
0x04	u32	Size of this entire block structure
0x08	BlockBody	The block body that contains data specific to the file. Note that this is its own structure, so References within the Block Body add to the absolute address of the start position of the Block Body

Id

When referencing an entry in the main Sound Archive, an Id is used to provide both the type of entry, and the index of that entry. An Id is a 32-bit value in the form 0xTTIIIIII, where T is the Sound Type, and I is the index.

Wave Id

When referencing a wave within a Wave Archive, a special type of id is used.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Id	Id pointing to the Wave Archive entry in the main Sound Archive. The Sound Type is always 5
0x04	u32	Index of the wave within the wave archive

Sound Types (Enumeration)

A sound type, and its value.

Value	Sound Type
0	Null Type
1	Sound (Sequence, Stream, Wave Sound Data)
2	Sound Group (Sequence Set, Wave Sound Data Set)
3	Bank
4	Player
5	Wave Archive
6	Group

Table<Type T>

This contains a collection of whatever the Type T is. For example, a table could contain u8s, References, or anything else. Tables are always padded to 0x4 bytes.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	u32	Number of entries
0x04	T[Number of entries]	An array of Type T, with the number of entries set to the value above
—-	—	Padding for alignment

Bit Flags

These present an efficient way to add optional data to a parameter but only increasing the size when needed. The Bit Flag is a u32 in which every bit specifies a bit that is set. Each set bit represents an additional u32 to read for that corresponding flag. For example, for a Bit Flag value of 0x00000301, that u32 is followed by 3 more u32s. The first one for flag 0, the next for flag 8, and the last one for flag 9. The bit number corresponds with the flag number, and the values appear in that order.

ADSHR Curve

Represent how to play a particular sound. Padded to 0x8 bytes. If the reference containing this ADSHR data is null, then the values are all 127 by default.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	s8	Attack value, always positive
0x01	s8	Decay value, always positive
0x02	s8	Sustain value, always positive
0x03	s8	Hold value, always positive
0x04	s8	Release value, always positive
—-	–	Padding for alignment

More will be added when needed.