MBIN Format

MBIN File Format

MBIN Files use a binary data format to store different types of Game Components. It includes a 96-byte header structure that is common to all MBIN files as well as a data structure that is specific to the type of data template that is defined in the MBIN header.

There are approximately 1100 different data templates. Some are only used internally within other templates.

The Vanilla MBIN Header Format:

Offset	Size	Type	Name
0x0000	0x0004	byte[4]	MagicID
0x0004	0x0004	uint32	FormatID
0x0008	0x0008	uint64	Timestamp
0x0010	0x0008	uint64	TemplateGUID
0x0018	0x0040	char[64]	TemplateName
0x0058	0x0008	byte[8]	Padding

MagicID:

Always 0xCCCCCCCC for *.MBIN files. Always 0xDDDDDDDD for *.MBIN.PC files.

FormatID:

Always 2500 (integer).

Timestamp:

0x0 for most files. 0xFFFF.. for TkGeometryData files. Timestamp eg. 201607201542 (decimal) on global files and older MBINs, likely removed the code that set it at some stage.

TemplateGUID:

Unique across templates (files using the same template share the same GUID). Doesn't appear to be used/required.

TemplateName:

The name of the template for the type of Game Component data that is stored in the MBIN file.

Padding:

Used for alignment of the following MBIN data to 16-byte boundaries.

The MBINCompiler MBIN Header Format (v1)

MBINCompiler re-purposes some of the data within the header that NMS doesn't actually used in the game.

Offset	Size	Type	Name
0x0000	0x0004	byte[4]	MagicID
0x0004	0x0004	uint32	FormatID
0x0008	0x0008	char[8]	MbinTag
0x0010	0x0008	char[8]	MbinVersion
0x0018	0x0040	char[64]	TemplateName
0x0058	0x0008	byte[8]	Reserved

MagicID:

Same as vanilla.

FormatID:

Same as vanilla.

MbinTag:

Always "MBINCver". This is planned to be changed in the new format.

MbinVersion:

A version string in the format "XX.YY.ZZ" matching the MBINCompiler version that was used.

TemplateName:

Same as vanilla.

Reserved:

Not currently used.