scnf: sead's config, sound/sead.config

Source: docs/formats/scnf.md
SHA-256: ba1350f7…410cbdc6

Contents

Header · Chunk table · How the game reads it · Leads

The settings of Square Enix's sead sound engine: its sound categories, buses, effect presets, events and the like. One file, sound/sead.config (3,008 bytes), with no wrapping (no RotXor or ZIP). It is built like a sound bank (sabf): a 16-byte header, a table of chunks, and chunks that start with a header and a table of offsets to what they hold.


Based on	`sound/sead.config`, 3,008 bytes; the unpacked executable, SHA-256 `7b0230a11498f40396c9048345e7cfe0ef442cb7ca8faffc6f197920d2669599`.
Checked	2026-10-11
Method	A single-file C# program (`scnf.cs`, session scratchpad) that walks the header, chunk table and each chunk's offsets; hex inspection; static analysis with Ghidra 12.1.4 through the decompiled code in `local/exe/decomp/` of the sound system's setup (`0x1401a9020`) and sead's config loader (`0x1405e2560`, and the readers `0x1405dbd50` and its siblings); `ftsound.cs` (the file table's `sound/` records); the R31 review of names (2026-10-11). One file, so every value below is that file's. Not yet decoded or rebuilt by the toolchain, and no in-game tests.

Offset	Size	Type	Name	Meaning	Confidence	Source
0x00	4	raw[4]	`magic`	`scnf`. sead checks it.	confirmed	Hex; checked by `0x1405dca50`.
0x04	1	u8	`unk_0x04`	0. The config reader ignores it and takes the chunk table at `header_size`; in a bank this byte is `version`.	—	`scnf.cs`; `0x1405dbd50`.
0x05	1	u8	`unk_0x05`	0.	—	`scnf.cs`.
0x06	2	u16	`header_size`	`0x10`.	confirmed	`scnf.cs`.
0x08	1	u8	`chunk_count`	13.	confirmed	`scnf.cs`.
0x09	1	u8	`unk_0x09`	0. The config reader ignores it; in a bank this byte is `name_length`.	—	`scnf.cs`; `0x1405dbd50`.
0x0A	2	u16	`unk_0x0A`	0.	—	`scnf.cs`.
0x0C	4	u32	`file_size`	3,008, the file's size. sead copies this many bytes of the file into its own buffer, so it must not be larger than the file.	confirmed	`scnf.cs` (= the size); its use: `0x1405e2560`, likely.

Chunk table

At 0x10, 13 records of 16 bytes, laid out as a bank's (sabf.md): a 4-byte tag, three fields that are 0, 0 and 16, the chunk's offset from the start of the file, and 0. The chunks follow the table back to back, each at a 16-byte boundary, the last ending at the end of the file (confirmed, scnf.cs).

Chunk	Tag	Offset	Count	What it holds
0	`ctgr`	`0xE0`	6	Categories: `music`, `se`, `voice`, `amb_se`, `sys_se`, `mouse_se`.
1	`bus`	`0x1D0`	2	Buses: `Master`, `SpeedChange`.
2	`mcr`	`0x290`	2	Macros.
3	`epsp`	`0x300`	4	Effect preset packs: `Speed_Normal`, `Speed_Double`, `Speed_Triple`, `Speed_Quad`.
4	`eps`	`0x460`	22	Effect presets (bus-effect parameter blocks).
5	`curv`	`0x980`	1	Curves.
6	`expr`	`0x9D0`	0	External parameters (`ExternalParameterChunk`); none here.
7	`hcam`	`0x9E0`	—	Not an offset table: 16 bytes, with 44100 at `+0x4` (HCA-MX settings, by sead's `ConfigFile` names).
8	`evt`	`0x9F0`	4	Events: `Play1xSpeed`, `Play2xSpeed`, `Play4xSpeed`, `Play3xSpeed` (the battle-speed setting).
9	`ctgl`	`0xB10`	1	Category layers (`CONFIGCATEGORYLAYER`): `default`.
10	`spka`	`0xB50`	—	Not an offset table: the speaker angles setting (`CONFIGSPEAKERANGLESSETTING`).
11	`pext`	`0xBA0`	0	Platform extra settings; none here.
12	`zeon`	`0xBB0`	0	Zero-one (sead's "zeroone"); none here.

The names in the last column are the items' own name strings (scnf.cs, hex), and for the chunks' kinds sead's class names in the executable (ConfigFile::CategoryChunk, ExternalParameterChunk, CONFIGBUSEFFECT*, CONFIGCATEGORYLAYER, CONFIGSPEAKERANGLESSETTING, …): likely. sead's list of config tags is at 0x1406a66b0.

How the game reads it

likely: the sound system's setup reads the file whole, by the path Data/sound/sead.config joined to a folder the file manager keeps (at 0x140f6c770 + 0x28), with 0x1401973b0, and passes the buffer to sead's initialize (0x1405b9020). It is not opened through the file table, and has no record there (confirmed, ftsound.cs), so a changed size needs no FileTable.bin change. Source: 0x1401a9020 (Ghidra names it StreamEventHandler::StreamEventHandler; it is the sound system's setup).
likely: sead checks the magic (failing the setup if it's wrong), copies file_size bytes into a buffer of its own, and reads the categories, external parameters and the rest from the copy by their tags. Source: 0x1405e2560, 0x1405dca50.
likely: when it sets up the categories, sead checks each one's parent and limit-parent references, and logs an error (Category::Initialize … Please update configfile!! and others) but carries on when one is missing. Source: 0x1405f0dc0.

Leads

Lay out what each chunk holds; only the names are read here.
What the game's sound IDs, banks or the battle-speed events need from this file: whether adding a category or bus is possible without changing the executable.
expr, pext and zeon are empty; what they would hold.
Whether the 16-byte header is one structure shared by sabf, mabf and scnf (no class shows it: banks are AudioBinaryFile, the config is ConfigFile); if so, bytes 0x04 and 0x09 would take the bank's names.