Extracting Yakuza 0 audio files for personal use

(i.e. not modding them back into the game later)
written by PSP (@amalgamidol)

The process for other Yakuza games is similar, including both DE (6+) and OE games, but there may be easier or different ways to access the same files (i.e. many games have a folder for streaming audio named things like strmen or stream, which are much easier to sift through than the CPKs and PARs.)

Tools needed:
foobar2000 with the vgmstream plugin installed
(Click on "Download" and open the file, it'll automatically install itself if you have foobar set up)
Optional, but very useful: the foobar2000 Free Encoder Pack
VGMToolbox
ParManager

The files you're likely looking for are in Yakuza 0/media/data/soundcpk and Yakuza 0/media/data/soundpar. We'll go through these in order.

1. bgm.cpk

  1. Open up VGMToolbox and go to VGMToolbox → Misc Tools → Extraction Tools → Common Archives → CRI CPK Archive Extractor.
    example
  2. Drag and drop bgm.cpk and wait for it to extract.
  3. Go into the folder it generates (for me it was VGMT_CPK_EXTRACT_bgm.cpk/ITOC/)
  4. Rename the extension of each file from .bin to .hca.
    4a. The fastest way to do this is to type cmd.exe into the Explorer toolbar and hitting enter.
    example
    4b. Then, type the command ren *.bin *.hca into the window that pops up and hit enter.
  5. You should now be able to play these files in foobar2000.
    To convert them to other formats, right-click the file while it's open in foobar2000 and go to Convert → Quick Convert.
    example
    If you didn't install the encoder pack listed above, you will be able to convert to WAV but not many other formats.
    These .hca files are already lossy, so exporting them as WAVs to keep the quality "lossless" is a waste of space.
    For more practical formats like mp3 or ogg, install the encoder pack.

The file names aren't very helpful, sadly. This spreadsheet has an index of what each file is, but it isn't complete, so you'll need to figure out what certain files are on your own.

2. se.cpk

  1. Open up VGMToolbox and go to VGMToolbox → Misc Tools → Extraction Tools → Common Archives → CRI CPK Archive Extractor.
    example
  2. Drag and drop se.cpk and wait for it to extract.
  3. Go into the folder it generates (VGMT_CPK_EXTRACT_se.cpk/ITOC/)
  4. Rename the extension of each file from .bin to .awb.
    4a. The fastest way to do this is to type cmd.exe into the Explorer toolbar and hitting enter.
    example
    4b. Then, type the command ren *.bin *.awb into the window that pops up and hit enter.
  5. You'll need to extract these .awb files in VGMToolbox to be able to listen to them.
    Go to VGMToolbox → Misc Tools → Extraction Tools → Common Archives → CRI ACB/AWB Archive Extractor, and drag and drop some of the awb files. You can try to extract all of them at once but the program will likely stutter for a while, so I recommend doing it in chunks.
  6. Rename the extension of each extracted file from .bin to .hca.
    6a. Open the command prompt in \VGMT_CPK_EXTRACT_se.cpk\ITOC\ like you did in step 4.
    6b. Then, run for /R %x in (*.bin) do ren "%x" *.hca.
  7. You should now be able to play the .hca files nested within the folders using foobar2000.
    To convert them to other formats, right-click the file while it's open in foobar2000 and go to Convert → Quick Convert.
    example
    If you didn't install the encoder pack listed above, you will be able to convert to WAV but not many other formats.
    These files are already lossy, so exporting them as WAVs to keep the quality "lossless" is a waste of space. (However, this matters less for voice lines and other SFX because of how short they are.)
    For more practical formats like mp3 or ogg, install the encoder pack.

The file names aren't very helpful, sadly. This spreadsheet has an index of what each file is, but it isn't complete, so you'll need to figure out what certain files are on your own.

3. sound.par

  1. Drag and drop sound.par onto ParTool,exe, the file that should've been downloaded from the Releases tab for ParManager. Wait for it to extract.
  2. Open up VGMToolbox and go to VGMToolbox → Misc Tools → Extraction Tools → Common Archives → CRI ACB/AWB Archive Extractor.
    Drag and drop some of the acb files and wait for them to extract.
    You can try to extract all of them at once, but the program will likely stutter for a while, so I recommend doing it in chunks.
    Certain ACBs have accompanying .mfp (sometimes .mfb) files of the same name and will not be able to extract properly. I investigated a bit and I don't think anyone has figured out how to work with these or what they are; they might not be anything given the small file size.
  3. You should now be able to play the .hca files nested within the folders using foobar2000.
    To convert them to other formats, right-click the file while it's open in foobar2000 and go to Convert → Quick Convert.
    example
    If you didn't install the encoder pack listed above, you will be able to convert to WAV but not many other formats.
    These files are already lossy, so exporting them as WAVs to keep the quality "lossless" is a waste of space. (However, this matters less for voice lines and other SFX because of how short they are.)
    For more practical formats like mp3 or ogg, install the encoder pack.

The file names aren't very helpful, sadly. This spreadsheet has an index of what each file is, but it isn't complete, so you'll need to figure out what certain files are on your own.

Edit Report
Pub: 22 Feb 2021 03:28 UTC
Edit: 22 Feb 2021 03:36 UTC
Views: 479