VPAK (likely short for "vault pack") files are made out of vaults. These vaults contain AttribSys databases, each containing BIN and VLT sections. VPAKs are used in Need for Speed Most Wanted, Carbon, ProStreet, Undercover and World.

The files may be compressed with JDLZ (.lzc).

Format#

On PC, all integers are little endian, 32-bit and unsigned. On Gamecube and XBOX 360, endianness of some or all numbers may be different.

Important: The sorting of vaults matters. Original VPAKs seem to have vaults sorted by their name, using C's strcmp.

Section 1 - Header#

The file's header.

• Magic: The string VPAK
• NumEntries: Number of vaults in file
• StringBlockOffset: Where the block of global strings begins
• StringBlockSize: The size of the string block, without following padding

Section 2 - Metadata#

Each vault has a metadata entry, describing it. Repeat this sequence NumEntries times.

• NameOffset: Local offset from StringBlock, string naming this block
• BinSize: Size of the bin section, without padding
• VltSize: Size of the vlt section, without padding
• BinOffset: Global offset of vault's binary section start
• VltOffset: Global offset of vault's VLT section start

At the end, there are nulls, padded to the nearest multiple of 64.

Section 3 - Global string block#

Contains strings.

• A list of null-terminated strings
• Nulls, padded to the nearest multiple of 128

Section 4 - Vault data#

Contains the actual data for the vaults. Repeat this sequence NumEntries times.

• BIN data
• Nulls, padded to the nearest multiple of 128 (16 might be more accurate)
• VLT data
• Nulls, padded to the nearest multiple of 128

Notes#

• On PC, having all paddings be set to 16 worked for Most Wanted.