Computer games are vast and many, however most computer games have something in common – they need a place to store all their important files like images, movies and sounds. To do this, computer game developers typically store their data into a big archive file.

There are many reasons for storing all your data files in one big archive, some reasons include reducing the number of files on a CD, hiding the data files to stop people hacking the game, and so that all data files can be accessed using a single data stream.

This brings us to the focus of the tutorial – how to explore the archives and grab the files from within them. This tutorial will attempt to make it easy for anyone to explore a new format, with the aim of promoting game modifications and enhancements by the community.

From there, we will explain the fundamentals of cracking a file format, including the tools you use, and the patterns to look out for.