formats
ARC Format
Archive structure notes for Silent Hill 3 ARC containers.
Silent Hill 3 uses a simple archive format for storing grouped file data in .arc files.
The actual archive data and the filename metadata are split across two different formats:
*.arc— the raw file containerarc.arc— index file that maps archive entries to real filenames
A normal SH3 archive like pic.arc, msg.arc, or bgam.arc contains:
- a fixed-size header
- a fixed-size entry table
- a padding region
- raw file data blobs
Endianness
All fields are little-endian.
Header
The archive begins with a 16-byte header:
| Offset | Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
0x00 | u32 | magic | Archive magic, always 0x20030507 |
0x04 | u32 | fileCount | Number of entries in the archive |
0x08 | u32 | paddingSize | Size of the padding region after the entry table |
0x0C | u32 | field_0C | Unknown / usually 0 |