5 replies to this topic

[Lockdown]

Hey guys I'm very new to programming but I have a unique problem that sprang up. I want to read a .bin file out of a updater program. There is a .exe that uses 3 .bin files for updating but I want to view or change the .bin files because they are a direct tune for my truck.

Anyway if you can help me I can send you one of the bin files and see if what I'm asking is possible.

[WingedPanther]

Those files probably include all kinds of data, not just music. Also, the audio that is included in them could be in almost any format. It may be in a compressed format, or not.

[Lockdown]

WingedPanther said:

Those files probably include all kinds of data, not just music. Also, the audio that is included in them could be in almost any format. It may be in a compressed format, or not.

They arent music or video. These files change the programming on the cars computer to enhance performance, mileage etc.

But how would I start to figure out how the data is used? Compile it in c++ ?? Any help is appreciated.

[WingedPanther]

In that case, it's already compiled. What it does will depend on the firmware it's running on.

[iLike]

You're going to need to decompile the .bin files to some readable(-ish) format. If it are compiled, non-compressed bin files you can try to load them up in a debugger and by that try to read asm. Or load them up in a HEX-editor and see if you can find readable strings giving away a clue as to what it is.

[gregwarner]

The extension ".bin" typically means "binary". (I use italics on "typically" because there's always the odd case.) This is what's known as unformatted data in the I/O world. In other words, you're not likely to be able to make any sense of the data without additional external documentation.

When programs store their data in binary format, they are storing the raw 1's and 0's of their program variables onto the hard drive. To complicate matters, programs may store any arbitrary variables at any arbitrary offset within the file, and the data could be compressed, encoded, or otherwise manipulated. There is no universal format governing the .bin extension, so there's no way to say, "I have a .bin file," and automatically know the structure of the file, especially if what you're trying to do is an undocumented "feature" (hack) of the original program.

Getting into that file to read data would require either documentation from the software's author on the structure of the file, or extensive analysis of the program using a debugger to find out what values it's writing and where it's writing them. Or you could try Google to see if anyone else has done what you're trying to do before.

It would offer a bit more context if you mentioned the name of the software, and what specifically you're trying to do with it. Perhaps someone familiar with it could give you some tips.