I understand and accept the RFG modding community (and community in general) is hugely dead. I also understand and accept that a large amount of the game is still unexplored, backend-wise. However, I would like to try the following anyways:
I want to find out how to open/extract the contents of xwb_pc files (and by probable association xsb_pc, which I'm guessing are header/table/etc. files).

I have no prior experience with RFG under-the-hood -- I can't even run it with my computer's specs -- but I need some game audio for a project I'm working on. (While I'm at it, I was thinking of compiling some of the music tracks into a soundtrack because I really liked RFG's music score and I felt that all the albums out there are of lesser quality (both in production and in sound quality) than I would like.

So, has it been done? If it has, I'd appreciate if someone pointed me in the right direction.

I'm not sure whether or not it has been done but I would lean towards no (at least not publicly). I believe the "xwb" may be referring to an Xbox wavebank... that filename may be more or less an artifact from the console version, or it may indeed be in that particular format, I don't know. "xsb" might be soundbank? I'm not sure why the distinction would be made, unless the soundbanks are intended for things like weaponfire and would have loop points and stuff defined.

You might try running a few files through a program like Jaeder Naub to see if it finds anything inside.

If there are a few small-ish xwb/xsb files upload them to mediafire/mega or something and shoot me a PM with the link. I'll take a quick look at the format but can't promise anything

I honestly didn't expect this thread to be answered. Dayum digi, you're dedicated.

Attempting to open the music-based xwb files raw (as signed 16 bit PCM RIFF Wave at 32000Hz) returns very static-y music. I was able to get it to sound the best with those settings. I think it's the right format but the blockyness of the sound waves seems like it was compressed somehow.

Here:
mus_frontend.xwb_pc (actual content file) [removed]
mus_frontend.xsb_pc (probably some kind of header) [removed]
No mtbl for this one.

It appears they are using some modified Xbox wavebank format. See http://wiki.xentax.com/index.php?title=XBOX_XWB3. I haven't looked too closely to see what is different but the version number is different at the very least

Game Extractor sees five separate files in it. I don't know if that's right. It did say it extracted the files successfully, although I don't know what kind of error checking it does...

It's possible the audio is bad/broken because they're using Xbox ADPCM or some other codec besides standard pcm. I tried running parts of the file (and some of the extracted files from Game Extractor) through an Xbox ADPCM converter that Luigi Auriemma made. I tried a few different settings and all I got was mostly noise but I can recognize the music slightly, it's not just random noise

Will take a further look later

I appreciate all the help.

Just FYI, the Psychonauts Explorer doesn't work. It seems the file information is stored differently; most files either displayed completely irrational numbers or 0 for their filesize, and when trying to extract as WAV, all failed. Tried for eight archives before I gave up.

Yeah, I looked at that too thinking it would be an easy solution to play the files but I guess it needs the headers and everything.

Hey guys, I've actually been wanting to work out how to do this for a while. I'm working on a machinima show using RFG and would like to be able to extract the sounds form the game to incorporate into my sound design.

I've gotten as far as using the Gibbed unpack tool to extract the .xwb_pc and .xsb_pc files from the sounds_r.vpp_pc file installed with the game. But then extracting the audio files from these .xwb_pc files has me stumped.

I've tried using XWB Extractor v1.1 but it doesn't recognise the _pc files. Renaming the file extension allows me to unpack the .pcm files, but just like you experienced, they are all either 0kb or rediculous file sizes and just data noise.

I've also tries using both eSEX and EkszBox ABX to try and extract the xwb_pc files but both of them refuse to open them. So it seems the _pc files are quite different from the standard .xsb files. It's very frustrating as I can see all the files there, I just can't seem to extract the audio.

I have an old tech demo of the show if anyones interested in seeing where I'm going with this: http://vimeo.com/69959934

Any further help on this much appreciated

Like has been stated, RFG is dead. Which sucks, because it's a great game. All of the tools used to extract sounds and henceforth are mainly targeted at the Saints Row series, which uses better versions of the engine file formats. The PC version is different from the console version, so that doesn't help either (any research done on the console version can't be directly applied here; I know there was a little bit).

Just FYI as to why those tools don't work if it wasn't cleared up by past posts/this one already, the PC version uses an unknown codec/compression method/XWB version, and as such no tools have been developed for it.

Pretty much anyone left on the "scene" is either not interested in such things as extracting sounds or doesn't have the expertise to accomplish it; I fall into the latter category. There was an old thread on that super-l33t-hax0r-pay-to-download-forum-that-shall-not-be-named related to file headers and extractors, but it died off with little more than a few test files. I'd pay to download them, but I have no money and I'd not give it to them anyway.

So we're basically stuck. Sorry m8.

(PS: The original project I was working on for this has since died off so I have no more reasons to even bother continuing with this.)

Edit: Neato video. How'dyadoit?

I know this is a huge bump, but I just wanted to share my experience.
Some time ago, I read this forum post, and helped me alot in getting to the point were you have the xwb_pc files. From here I was stuck, until, as a last ditch effort, I tried Audacity.
It worked, easier than I thought.

You can import the xwb_pc files by going to File > Import > Raw Data, then the parametres are:
Signed 16-bit PCM, Little Endian, 2 Channel Stereo, 0 Offset bytes, 100% import, 44100Hz.

This is the same for all the mus_XXX.xwb_pc. For other files, It does work, kind off. For the weapons sounds (wep_rfg.xwb_pc) it mostly works, even if some sound effects sounds quite bad, but for the rest of the files (voices, other sound effects) its basicly unplayable, you might discern a voice, a sound effect, but it is heavily distorted. I havent fiddle with all the settings avaible with Audacity, so it is still possible to make it audible.

In anycase, in regards to the music, apart from the mus_briefings, mus_multiplayer, mus_frontend and mus_sting.xwb_pc, the rest of the music is segmented in chunks of music, which you will need to edit it together with audacity.

For example, mus_progression_01 (1:57:17 hours of audio), has segments of Uprising Ambience, Uprising Combat, the individual mission OST (Mission Final, Evade, etc), BUT it also has audio not released in the OST, most importantly the eerie ambiental music you normally hear (different from Uprising Ambience, there are some youtube videos of it, probably recorded in-game) and extra segments not used in the released OST.

As I said, the music is segmented, for example, Uprising Ambience has 25 segments, while Uprising Combat has 59 segments. 27 for the COMBAT_LIGHT (YELLOW alert) and 32 for the COMBAT_HEAVY (ORANGE and RED alert). This is not counting the TRANSITION segments, for example, the beginning of Uprising Combat, the first seconds is a transition segment that goes from the ambience to the combat, and also the transitions between the light combat to the heavy combat.

Also included are some segments from the COMBAT_LIGHT/HEAVY not included in the OST, and also the COMBAT_LULL, which are segments played while still in Yellow/Orange/Red alert, but haven't fought for a while, so the alert degrades until the green alert.

The names that I use, like COMBAT_LIGHT and the like, are from the mtbl files you extract with the xwb_pc files. By changing the extension from .mtbl to .txt, you can use a notepad to access a markup language type file (kinda like XML), with which the most important part are at the bottom, from where you will extract the name of each segment and how they are connected with each other. I.E

<CLIP>
<NAME>MUS_PROG1_COMBAT_LIGHT_01</NAME>
<TEMPO>120</TEMPO>
<INTEGRAL_BEATS>4</INTEGRAL_BEATS>
<CUE_NAME>MUS_PROG1_COMBAT_LIGHT_01</CUE_NAME>
<STATE>MUS_PROGRESSION_01_COMBAT_LIGHT</STATE>
<LOOP>0:0</LOOP>
<WEIGHTED>5:MUS_PROG1_COMBAT_LIGHT_02</WEIGHTED>
<WEIGHTED>5:MUS_PROG1_COMBAT_LIGHT_01A</WEIGHTED>
</CLIP>

NAME/CUE_NAME is self-explanatory.
TEMPO and INTEGRAL_BEATS I just ignore.
STATE is, as it implies, the state where this segments play in, in this case, COMBAT_LIGHT (yellow alert).
LOOP, it seems that some segments can be looped (they have different values as opposed to 0:0) but haven't tried it, might in the future.
WEIGHTED, this basicly means the next segment that can be played after this one. This opens up so many variations that you can make, being the UPRISING COMBAT from the OST only one variation (this also the same with the transition segments, as there are bunch of different ones with different combat segments "weighted" in.
Only one of these "weighted" segments can be played, I.E, if we choose MUS_PROG1_COMBAT_LIGHT_02 as our next segment to be played after MUS_PROG1_COMBAT_LIGHT_01, then the next segment must be a "weighted" segment from MUS_PROG1_COMBAT_LIGHT_02.


As a side note, if you only use the first weighted segments, you will get the exact same variation as the OST. Also, the mus_dust/oasis/parker.mtbl files are of no use, at least for me, instead of using names like MUS_PROG1_COMBAT_LIGHT_01, it uses names like MUS_DUST_YELLOW_1. I am not sure if its actually different from the other mtbl files apart from the names, but I haven't used it so.

So, with Audacity, the mus_XXX_xwb_pc and the mtbl, you can extract, assemble and listen the whole RF:G music. It will take some patience and some knowlegde of Audacity, but it is well worth it if you want all the music.

Some tips and instructions to help you out:

1.In every mus_XXX.xwb_pc, the segments have a tick just at the beginning of each segment (a perk from importing raw data , who knows how the audio data will be imported in ). Just zoom in, drag select, delete.

2.For the most part, the order of the segments in audacity is numerical (as in, MUS_PROG1_AMB_MELODIC_01 is the first segment in the audacity, MUS_PROG1_AMB_MELODIC_02 is the second, etc). There are some exceptions, but you can hear them out and correctly give its name.

3.Should first identify the group of segments pertaining to certain states (I.E as said before, the 27 segments from the MUS_PROG1_COMBAT_LIGHT state) and make timestamps in a notepad. Also, make sure the number of segments of each state is the same number as in the corresponding mtbl files, which includes the mus_progression_XX(01, 02, 03) and mus_progression_XX_XXX(day, night, marauder). In the case of progression_01.xwb_pc, also includes the mus_mission_XXX.mtbl files.

4.Knowing the last three tips, extract the segments by STATE (as in, first extract all the MUS_PROG1_AMB_MELODIC, then the MUS_PROG1_AMB_NEUTRAL, etc). I've extracted each segment individually, so I can name them also individually. Helps when I want to assemble them to a single track.


Hope this helps people who wanted the whole soundtrack of this wonderful game.

And lastly, wanted to thank this website, I wouldnt've found the tools I initially needed to get the xwb files if it weren't of this website, and for the other mods uploaded.

I registered there to say huge thanks to all the community. And especially to Allanmaster for my final step:

I wanted briefing music loop - I got it! Thank you a lot!

No worries, I did the post to help others like you to gain access to the entirety of the RFG music/sound ^^ Glad I could be of service.