Extracting .DAT files

[Harry97]

I am trying to extract the contents of the .DAT files in Madden 2005 / NCAA Football 2005, the gamecube versions. using madden dat file replacer (DFR) v 4.3.1.0, i am able to open each of these .DAT files and can view a long list of unnamed files. when i extract the .DAT files into a folder, each file has the extension .copy001 and each of these copy001 files have a size of 0KB and appear to have no information in them. so what am i supposed to do with these .copy001 files? they don't seem to contain any information. i have tried many other programs to extract these .dat files but they freeze or crash when i try to open it.

there's also a file called STRMDATA.DB but it doesn't seem to open in any of the madden or fifa db editors. is STRMDATA.DB the default database of the teams / players in the game?

[devilish]

Im also looking to extract .dat?
How did you do so?Please tell me

[mike9472]

As far as I know, the current editors will only work with the PS2 version of Madden since they're the most compatible with the PC version.

[Harry97]

As far as I know, the current editors will only work with the PS2 version of Madden since they're the most compatible with the PC version.

i think most of the files are the same. it's a matter of successfully extracting those .DAT files and reading the STRMDATA.DB file. there may be slight differences between the PS2 version and the gamecube version, or between NCAA or Madden. but each game use the same engine and i would think that the compression of the .DAT files are the same.

i was able to extract the .DAT files via madden dat file replacer (DFR) v 4.3.1.0. the problem was each dat extracted tens of thousands of 0KB files with the file extension .copy001. i'm not sure how to get actual files from those .copy001 files. i was hoping someone would know how to. what i'm trying to do is extract the DB of players / teams within the gamecube versions of madden 2005 / ncaa 2005. i'd also like to find any configuration files, logos, uniforms, things like that from the gamecube versions. i could try the PS2 version also. unlike madden, the PS2 / GC ncaa football games did not come out on the PC, so it would be fun to try to mod those old PS2 / GC gems. (or even original xbox)

as a matter of comparison, i tried to do the same thing for fifa 2005 / 06 on gamecube, and for those games its structure was very similar to the PC versions of fifa 2005 / 06. i downloaded the MadModX collection of tools for madden PC. are there any other editors that better extract the .DATs or can open the STRMDATA.DB file? i'd like to know. or maybe there's another program that can read those .copy001 files and unpack them further.

[devilish]

Thats about as far as i've gotten were looking for the same things.
Im trying to edit the game permanently so that i can travel with it
Can this be done?Jerseys,Stadiums,etc same as with nba live 08?Most stuff from the basketball game goes inside of 1 folder?
Couldnt this be the same?

[Harry97]

Thats about as far as i've gotten were looking for the same things.
Im trying to edit the game permanently so that i can travel with it
Can this be done?Jerseys,Stadiums,etc same as with nba live 08?Most stuff from the basketball game goes inside of 1 folder?
Couldnt this be the same?

we need to figure out how to extract the actual files of the game from the .DAT files. whether or not those copy001 files can be repacked or whether there is another program that can decrypt the .DATs to extract the actual files. the .copy001 files that are created when i extract the .DATs contain 0KB, and have no information when i load it up in a hexeditor. that makes me skeptical that those copy001 could contain that data, but that is what DFR v4.3.1.0 was extracting from those .DAT files. maybe there is another program to successfully extract the .DATs. there is got to be a way to edit jerseys, stadiums, etc that you can do in other games like fifa, nba live, etc. and why not for games like NCAA Football 2005 on gamecube or the later PS2 games like 06, 07, 08. these are some of the greatest sports games of all time. and they weren't released on PC. it is in everyone's interest to share knowledge on this.

there might be some differences between the console and pc versions, and what you can edit, what if there are, then what? and lets say the compression of the console .DAT files are at a different compression. well has the compression been recognized? does anyone know what to make of those copy001 files? how about that STRMDATA.DB file? can that be opened in a DB editor? and if it can't, then has anyone tried hex editing this file? opening up that file in a hex editor reveals what appear to be some editable options. i'm thinking maybe this file could be kinda like the fifa.db file in older FIFA PC games. this could be a really fun project and i think many old school sports gamers would get a kick out of it. and besides, the developers spent so much time making these games great. we spent our hard earned money buying these great games, yet i find it interesting that games like fifa are moddable, from gameplay, to DBs, yet the last-gen ea football games have not been modded in the same way. it would be very worthwhile if we could edit that .DB file in spreadsheet format, in the way the DB Master program reads the fifa.db in the older pc fifa games.

[devilish]

Yea that would be awesome,Its kinda what i've been doing with the Nba Live series.
I've taken Live 09 and extracted as much data as i possibly could and injected it into nba .live 08
Some files will work some wont thats just the way it is.
PC versions use .fsh files
PS2 use .ssh
I've tried everything i could think of to try to change these files format i dont think it can be done.
But xbox one the other hand i've heard is pretty possible.The xbox uses .xsh files which i've heard to be possible to change.
I still havent figured it out,about how to do so but i read plenty that its pretty possible
Im working on Nba Live animation and aiact which are player movement,dribble passing dunk animations,im still learning but i would like to do something like that with the madden series as well.If possible i would be able to add different moves as nba live had hidden moves that were later then discovered.But now i want to take it up a notch with a HD mod for Nba Live or Madden which ever one i can get help on first.
I have tones of ideas to share and plenty of time at nights.....But ok Completely off topic but heres a tool maybe this one can help i havent used it yet but check it out and let me know how it goes.It looks useful
http://ffmadden.wikia.com/wiki/Extracted_Dat_Reader

[Harry97]

Yes I have tried Extracted Dat Reader. all that program does is output a text file based on the folder full of .copy001 files. it doesn't actually convert those .copy001 files into actual files. the issue i am having is that the text output states that each of my extracted .copy001 files are "null". and the text output from that program doesn't provide anything other then each file is null. the issue i think is that the .copy001 i have extracted do not have any information, and therefore are all labeled as null by both DFR and EDR.

i think the issue is the .copy001 files, that once i have extracted them via DFR v4.3.1.0 are null, without any size (have a size of 0 KB) and do not contain any information when viewed through a hex editor. therefore, i think EDR might have worked properly in correctly stating that all the .copy001 files are null without information. but why? why are those files not full of information waiting to be extracted? or why wouldn't actual files be extracted directly from the .DAT? is there a program that coverts the folder full of .copy001 files into actual files? even if we had .copy001 with a bigger filesize, we would still need a program besides EDR to convert the .copy001 files into actual files. that's why i'm thinking maybe it was the way DFR 4.3.1.0 extracted the .DAT. maybe there was an extra level of encryption that made the files appear to be null. maybe there's another version of that program that would extract actual files instead of null, blank .copy001 files. and if we could do that, then we'd need to be able to put the modded files back into the .DAT. which apparently DFR v4.3.1.0 can do, but would it work? it would be useful to compare the structure of the PC versions of Madden to the console (PS2/GC/OrigXbox) versions. do the PC versions of madden have the same .DAT files that the console verions do? have you been able to successfully extract stuff from the PS2 versions of Madden?

you say PS2 uses ssh. well i don't see any of that in the gamecube disc. just a lot of .DAT files like GAMEDATA.DAT and that one .DB file. i'd like to hear your ideas. i just discovered this great site. i am an old school gamer who prefer the PS2 era sports games from EA to the current gen games. i have time at night too. this is a great opportunity and i hope we can work together to share knowledge and ideas.

[elguapo]

If you open a .dat file with DFR4 and you extract a file with data but the file that is extracted is 0 bytes, it could mean that DFR4 cannot read the .dat correctly. Possibly because of a different .dat format.

[Harry97]

If you open a .dat file with DFR4 and you extract a file with data but the file that is extracted is 0 bytes, it could mean that DFR4 cannot read the .dat correctly. Possibly because of a different .dat format.

yes this is what i am experiencing attempting to read and extract the .DAT files from the gamecube version of Madden 2005 / NCAA Football 2005. is this an issue with the PS2 versions and is there a way to convert the .DAT format to something that DFR4 can read and extract correctly?

and one more thing. lets say we manage to extract the copy001 files correctly with bytes. then what? how do you then convert the .copy001 files into actual game files? EDR just outputs a text file listing the type of each copy001 file. it doesn't convert them into actual files. is there another program that converts the .copy001 files?