FF7/Kernel/Kernel.bin
Contents
Important Files
The KERNEL.BIN Archive
The file KERNEL.BIN archive is in BIN-GZIP format. It consists of 27 gziped sections concatenated together with a 6 byte header for each. This file is the same both on the PC and PSX versions. This holds all the static data and menu text for the game, with a look up table at the beginning of the section. Sections 10-27 are FF Text files.
The KERNEL.BIN file consists of the following sections.
| File | Data | Offset |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Command data | 0x0006 |
| 2 | Attack data | 0x0086 |
| 3 | Savemap | 0x063A |
| 4 | Character starting stats | 0x0F7F |
| 5 | Item data | 0x111B |
| 6 | Weapon data | 0x137A |
| 7 | Armor data | 0x1A30 |
| 8 | Accessory data | 0x1B73 |
| 9 | Materia data | 0x1C11 |
| 10 | Command descriptions | 0x1F32 |
| 11 | Magic descriptions | 0x2199 |
| 12 | Item descriptions | 0x28D4 |
| 13 | Weapon descriptions | 0x2EE2 |
| 14 | Armor descriptions | 0x307B |
| 15 | Accessory descriptions | 0x315F |
| 16 | Materia descriptions | 0x3384 |
| 17 | Key Item descriptions | 0x3838 |
| 18 | Command Names | 0x3BE2 |
| 19 | Magic Names | 0x3CCA |
| 20 | Item Names | 0x4293 |
| 21 | Weapon Names | 0x4651 |
| 22 | Armor Names | 0x4B02 |
| 23 | Accessory Names | 0x4C4B |
| 24 | Materia Names | 0x4D90 |
| 25 | Key Item Names | 0x5040 |
| 26 | Battle and Battle-Screen Text | 0x5217 |
| 27 | Summon Attack Names | 0x5692 |
KERNEL.BIN Section formats
The first 9 sections of data (i.e. The non-text related items) have a typical BIN file format. The text sections (10-27) do not have the typical 6 byte header. The text sections have a header of pointers to the text block. The text is in FF text format.
Section 4: Initialization data
This contains the starting stats for the characters and related game states. On "New Game", this data is copied directly into the Savemap (from offset 0x0054 to 0x0BAF) which is explained in the "Menu" section. This data has the same format as the data explained in that section.
Section 9: Materia data format
This contains the Materia data. Each record is 20 bytes long.
| Offset | Length | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 8 bytes | Level-up AP limits | Multiples of 100 (4x WORD) |
| 0x08 | 1 byte | Equip Effect | [See table below] |
| 0x09 | 3 bytes | Status Bitmask | |
| 0x0C | 1 byte | Element | |
| 0x0D | 1 byte | Materia Type | |
| 0x00 | Unknown | ||
| 0x08 | Master Command: All commands are available | ||
| 0x0A | Master Magic: All spells are available | ||
| 0x0C | Master Summon: All summons are available | ||
| 0x12 | Command: Command at offset 0x0E to 0x12 is available, depending on AP level | ||
| 0x16 | Command: Commands at offset 0x0E to 0x12 become available as you level up | ||
| 0x19 | Magic: Spells 0x0E to 0x11 become available as you level up | ||
| 0x20 | Booster%: 0x0E is boosted by offset 0x0F to 0x13 depending on AP level | ||
| 0x21 | Unknown | ||
| 0x25 | Unknown | ||
| 0x30 | Unknown | ||
| 0x33 | W-Command: Command at 0x0E is added to the battle menu | ||
| 0x35 | Unknown | ||
| 0x3B | Summon: Summon: Spell at 0x0E can be used from offset 0x0F to 0x13 times depending on AP level | ||
| 0x57 | Enemy Skill: Enables command 'Enemy Skill' | ||
| 0x0E | 1 byte | Materia attributes | [See Above] |
| 0x0F | 1 byte | Materia attributes | [See Above] |
| 0x10 | 1 byte | Materia attributes | [See Above] |
| 0x11 | 1 byte | Materia attributes | [See Above] |
| 0x12 | 1 byte | Materia attributes | [See Above] |
| 0x13 | 1 byte | Materia attributes | [See Above] |
Equip Effects
| Byte | STR | VIT | MAG | MDEF | MAXHP | MAXMP | LUCK | DEX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | ||||||||
| 0x01 | -02 | -01 | +02 | +01 | -05% | +05% | ||
| 0x02 | -04 | -04 | +04 | +02 | -10% | +10% | ||
| 0x06 | +01 | |||||||
| 0x07 | +01 | |||||||
| 0x08 | +01 | |||||||
| 0x0A | +02 | |||||||
| 0x0B | -01 | +01 | -02% | +02% | ||||
| 0x0C | +01 | -02% | +02% | |||||
| 0x0D | +01 | +01 | -05% | +05% | ||||
| 0x0E | +02 | +02 | -10% | +10% | ||||
| 0x0F | +04 | +04 | -10% | +15% | ||||
| 0x10 | +08 | +08 | -10% | +20% |
The KERNEL2.BIN Archive
On the PC version there exists a secondary kernel archive called KERNEL2.BIN. This archive contains only sections 10-27 (Text data) of KERNEL.BIN. The data was ungzipped from the original archive, concatenated together, and then LZSed into a single archive with a 4 byte header giving the length of the file. See the section on BIN types and LZS compression later in this document for more information.
