User:Sunkhaskasis

Hi, my name is Sunk and I like to datamine Dragon Quest VIII.

Dragon Quest VIII Technical Details

Here, I will try to document some technical aspects of the game based on my own observations and research.

File Structure

Main Archives

The game is split into two main archives, titled DATA and DATA2. The former contains all the files that are necessary for the game to run, while the latter has voice clips and orchestral music. If you are playing the Japanese version, you will not see DATA2 if you extract the files from your disc image. The archives themselves have the .dat extension, but are accompanied by the .hd6 files, with them likely being the file table format Level-5 had also used in their other PS2 games, such as Dark Cloud 1 and 2 and Rogue Galaxy.

MOVIE

If you open your image file in an editor, you'll notice the folder titled MOVIE. It contains all the pre-rendered cutscenes which don't run using the game's engine. The most notable ones include the intro followed by the logo, the opening with Munchie and "The End" screen. If you are playing on an emulator with texture enhancement enabled, you'll most likely notice the shift in quality when the game switches from a pre-rendered cutscene to an in-game one and vice-versa. The files are in Level-5's .mvi format, but can be converted to .pss using a BMS script.

DATA.DAT

File Structure

bin\ - Contains various scripts related to such things as the camera, character and weapon behavior.
bin_ext\ - Also contains script-related data, however seems to be focused on messages and lists instead. For example, the messages that are displayed when the character/enemy attacks in actmsg_text_3_1.txt
btl\ - What appears to be the folder with the scripts and camera motion for all the magic attacks and abilities.
casino\ - Contains data related to the 3 casino games: bingo, roulette and slot machine.
chara\ - Contains the model, texture and motion data for every non-event character. All the main character, NPC and monster models are stored in this folder.
dbg\ - Perhaps the most interesting folder: contains data related to the vast debug menu (from dbgscn_1.txt to fjump_1.str). Unfortunately, it's long gone from the final version of the game and cannot be activated anymore.