Bundle (original)

The Bundle container is the core file format of Criterion's 7th-gen titles with the exception of Burnout Revenge (X360). Each Bundle holds one or more resources (assets) and contains information about each resource, such as its size, type, compression, alignment, and so on.

The Bundle format has two major versions: the original, using the  magic, and Bundle 2, using the   magic. The first Bundle format underwent at least five iterations during its use from early 2006 to early-mid 2007, but it was never used in a retail game and can only be found in development builds of games such as Burnout Paradise. It was succeeded by Bundle 2, which ultimately saw use in the retail versions of Burnout Paradise (version 2), Need for Speed Hot Pursuit (version 3), and Need for Speed Most Wanted (version 5).

At present, only files using Bundle version 3, 4, and 5 have been discovered. Those versions, plus Bundle 2 version 2, are described below. For information on later versions, see the Need for Speed Wiki.

= Overview = Bundles are used for nearly every asset in Burnout Paradise, with the only exceptions being the  text file and   binary file (both in the   folder), the non-RAM portion of sound assets, and video files. This makes it one of the most important formats to understand when attempting to parse assets.

While the header contains some valuable data, such as the flags and chunk offsets, the majority of relevant information is in resource entries, which store the ID, uncompressed and compressed size, alignment, relative offset, and type of each resource in each chunk. These also store the import offsets, which enable importing specific data from other resources.

Bundle debug data is also important to understand. Sometimes called Bundle imports, this was originally only available in development builds but shipped with every Bundle in the game in Remastered. Consisting of XML data headed by the  element, it contains the ID, name, and type name of every resource in a respective bundle. This means that effectively every resource name in the game is known. Despite this, the resource names given by the debug data sometimes do not match the hash when encoded. In some cases, such as with Registry resources, this means the name is hardcoded.

= Memory types = Across all Bundle versions, a common theme is the use of separate data chunks to define what memory type resources are loaded into. These chunks are as follows:

Bundle:
 * 1) Main Memory
 * 2) Disposable
 * 3) Physical
 * 4) Uninitialized
 * 5) Disposable uninitialized

Bundle 2 V2:
 * 1) Main Memory
 * 2) Graphics System
 * 3) Graphics Local

Keep these in mind when viewing the specs below.

= Bundle Layout = The original Bundle format's versions were treated more like additions to the previous version. Thus, rather than a full structure for each, only their additions are described here.

Unknown0
This structure contains fields for size and alignment, though alignment sometimes goes unused.

Bundle
= Bundle 2 Layout =