https://github.com/holdmybeer-gg/rustydemon
Cross-Platform CASC Explorer for exploring games.
https://github.com/holdmybeer-gg/rustydemon
blizzard blizzard-games casc cross-platform diablo4 games linux macos rust rust-lang steam-os windows world-of-warcraft
Last synced: about 1 month ago
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Cross-Platform CASC Explorer for exploring games.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/holdmybeer-gg/rustydemon
- Owner: HoldMyBeer-gg
- License: other
- Created: 2026-04-11T16:27:54.000Z (2 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-04-17T01:46:33.000Z (about 2 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-04-17T02:03:43.301Z (about 2 months ago)
- Topics: blizzard, blizzard-games, casc, cross-platform, diablo4, games, linux, macos, rust, rust-lang, steam-os, windows, world-of-warcraft
- Language: Rust
- Homepage:
- Size: 10.8 MB
- Stars: 7
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Rusty Demon - Cross-Platform CASC Explorer
A fast, cross-platform explorer for CASC (Content-Addressable Storage Container)
archives, written entirely in Rust.
> **Rusty Demon adds first-class support for the Steam distribution of
> Diablo IV's CASC archives** alongside the existing Battle.net format. The
> Steam build's key-layout flag bits, zlib-wrapped VFS roots, and split
> meta.dat / payload.dat scheme are a layout the established Battle.net-era
> libraries don't yet cover — rustydemon handles them natively. See
> [Steam D4 Support](#steam-d4-support) below.
> **For personal and educational use only.**
[](https://github.com/HoldMyBeer-gg/rustydemon/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://www.rust-lang.org)
[](https://doc.rust-lang.org/edition-guide/rust-2021/index.html)
[](./LICENSE)
[](#preview-plugins)
[](#steam-d4-support)
---
## UI Preview
*Three-panel layout: archive tree (left) · search results (centre) · file details with live 3D preview (right). Shown here previewing a WoW M2 character model.*
---
## Preview Plugins
| About modal | D4 `.tex` texture |
|-------------|-------------------|
|  |  |
| D4 `.pow` skill data | WoW `.m2` model |
|----------------------|-----------------|
|  |  |
---
## Features
- **Regedit-style global search** - searches *every* entry in the archive manifest,
not just the currently selected folder
- **File tree navigation** - browse archives by folder with expand/collapse, Expand All / Collapse All
- **Pluggable preview panel** - formats register themselves through a
[`PreviewPlugin`](rustydemon/src/preview/mod.rs) trait. Built-in plugins
cover BLP textures (WoW), `.tex` BC textures (D4), `.pow` skill data (D4),
`.vid` Bink Video 2 movies (D4), and a generic UTF-8 text fallback. Add a
format by dropping one file into `rustydemon/src/preview/`.
- **Pluggable export buttons** - each preview plugin can register its own
export actions (e.g. *Export As PNG* for textures, *Export As BK2* for
movies). Raw export is always available as a fallback.
- **Deep search** - optionally search *inside* container files via a parallel
[`ContentSearcher`](rustydemon/src/deep_search/mod.rs) plug-in interface
(`.pow` D4 skill data supported out of the box).
- **Glob path search** - search bar and CLI accept literal paths *or* glob
patterns (`*.wmo`, `textures/*.tex`, `**/cinematics/*.vid`); matching is
case-insensitive and `**/` is auto-prepended for convenience.
- **Headless CLI exporter** (`rustydemon-cli`) - batch-extract files from a
local CASC install without launching the GUI. Supports path/glob/FDID
selection, parallel workers, dry-run, flatten, and overwrite. See
[CLI](#cli) below.
- **Auto product detection** - reads `.build.info` so you never need to know internal product codes (`fenris`, `wow`, etc.)
- **Cross-platform** - Windows · macOS · Linux · Steam Deck (touch-ready via egui)
- **Steam Diablo IV support** - native reader for the Steam-distribution
static container format (no `.build.info`, no encoding file, location
encoded directly in each EKey)
- **Diablo II: Resurrected support** - reads D2R 3.1.2's TVFS-based layout,
including the multi-storage `Data/data` + `Data/ecache` split and
archive-style `.index` files, with an optional CDN fallback fetcher
(behind the `cdn` cargo feature).
---
## Steam D4 Support
Rusty Demon opens the Steam distribution of Diablo IV's CASC archives out
of the box. The Steam build ships with a fundamentally different storage
layout than the Battle.net client, and we wrote a dedicated backend for it
because the existing CASC libraries (which predate the Steam release) focus
on the Battle.net format:
| | Battle.net D4 | Steam D4 |
|---|---|---|
| Manifest entry point | `.build.info` | `Data/.build.config` |
| Archive files | `data.NNN` | `{chunk}/0x{archive}-{meta,payload}.dat` |
| Location lookup | `*.idx` index files | Bits inside each EKey |
| Encoding table | `encoding` file | *(none -CKey ≡ EKey)* |
| VFS root wrapper | BLTE | Raw zlib (`espec = z`) |
| Data header | 30-byte prefix | None |
Rustydemon auto-detects which layout is in use and picks the right backend.
Point **File → Open Game Directory…** at either
`C:\Program Files (x86)\Diablo IV` (Battle.net) or
`…/steamapps/common/Diablo IV` (Steam) and it just works.
> [CascLib](https://github.com/ladislav-zezula/CascLib) and
> [TACTLib](https://github.com/overtools/TACTLib) were our primary references
> for the CASC ecosystem, and TACTLib's static-container handler in particular
> guided rustydemon's understanding of the `key-layout-*` bit-extraction
> scheme used by Overwatch. The Steam D4 build extends that scheme with a
> few additional pieces — the 4th flag value in each `key-layout-*`, a
> zlib-wrapped VFS root, and a split `meta.dat` / `payload.dat` path layout —
> which rustydemon's `static_container` module in `rustydemon-lib` adds on
> top, verified against a real Steam install.
---
## Quick Start
### Prerequisites
| Platform | Requirement |
|----------|-------------|
| All | [Rust stable toolchain](https://rustup.rs) (1.80+) |
| Linux / Steam Deck | `libgtk-3-dev` (or equivalent) - see below |
| Windows / macOS | Nothing extra; eframe bundles everything |
**Linux / Steam Deck system deps:**
```bash
# Debian / Ubuntu / Kali
sudo apt install libgtk-3-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev \
libxcb-xfixes0-dev libxkbcommon-dev libssl-dev
# Arch / Steam Deck
# Note: Just try to run rustydemon first. SteamOS probably has these already.
# If not, you'll have to `sudo steamos-readonly disable`, install, then
# `sudo steamos-readonly enable` immediately after the install is done.
sudo pacman -S gtk3 libxcb xkbcommon openssl
# Fedora
sudo dnf install gtk3-devel libxcb-devel libxkbcommon-devel openssl-devel
```
> **Steam Deck (Desktop Mode):** SteamOS has very limited space outside `/home`, so install
> [Homebrew](https://brew.sh), `rustup`, and `gcc` to your SD card rather than the internal drive.
> Once Rust is available, install the Arch deps above via `pacman` and build normally.
> Game files live at `/home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/` -
> point **File → Open Game Directory…** there.
### Build & Run
```bash
git clone https://github.com/jabberwock/rustydemon.git
cd rustydemon
cargo run --release -p rustydemon
```
The first build downloads and compiles all dependencies (~3–5 minutes).
Subsequent builds are incremental and much faster.
---
## Usage Guide
### 1 -Open a game directory
**File → Open Game Directory…** and select your game's installation root
(the folder that contains `.build.info` for Battle.net installs, or
`Data/.build.config` for Steam installs).
The product UID is detected automatically:
| Game | Detected as |
|------|------------|
| World of Warcraft | `wow` |
| Diablo IV | `fenris` |
| Diablo II: Resurrected | `osi` |
| Diablo III | `d3` |
| Hearthstone | `hs` |
| Heroes of the Storm | `hero` |
| StarCraft II | `s2` |
| Overwatch | `pro` |
### 2 -Load a listfile *(optional but recommended)*
Without a listfile, files are shown by hash only.
With one, the full virtual path is resolved and the tree is populated.
**File → Load Listfile…** and pick a community listfile (CSV or plain text).
A maintained listfile can be downloaded from the
[wowdev community listfile](https://github.com/wowdev/wow-listfile) project.
### 3 -Search
Type a filename fragment in the search bar and press **Enter** or click **Search**.
Results are drawn from the *entire* root manifest, every locale and content
variant, so nothing is hidden behind an unexpanded folder.
The query can be a literal substring *or* a glob: `*.wmo`, `textures/*.tex`,
`**/cinematics/*.vid`. Matching is case-insensitive, and `**/` is
auto-prepended unless the pattern already anchors at `/` or `**/`.
### 4 -Deep search *(optional)*
Check **Deep search** and click **🔍 Find All (Deep Search)** to also search
*inside* supported container files:
| Format | What is indexed |
|--------|----------------|
| `.pow` | D4 skill/power definitions, SF names, damage formulas |
| *(more formats via the plug-in interface)* | |
### 5 -Preview and export
Click any file in the tree or search results to load it into the preview panel.
- **BLP textures** render inline
- **All other files** show a hex dump of the first 256 bytes
- **Export As PNG** saves a decoded BLP to disk via a native dialog
---
## CLI
`rustydemon-cli` is a headless batch exporter for scripting and
server-side extraction. The GUI binary remains the way to browse
interactively.
```bash
cargo run --release -p rustydemon-cli -- \
--archive "/home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Diablo IV" \
--path "base/meta/Sound" \
--output ./out
```
Key flags:
| Flag | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `-a, --archive ` | Game install root (Battle.net or Steam) |
| `-p, --path ` | Literal folder, literal file, or glob (`*.wmo`, `**/cinematics/*.vid`) |
| `--fdid ` | Extract a single WoW file by FileDataID (no listfile needed) |
| `-l, --listfile ` | Listfile for WoW (required to resolve paths) |
| `-o, --output ` | Host directory; created if missing |
| `--flat` | Drop files into `--output` instead of mirroring virtual dirs |
| `--dry-run` | Print matches without writing |
| `--overwrite` | Replace existing files (default: skip) |
| `-j, --parallel ` | Worker thread count (defaults to CPU cores) |
| `-q, --quiet` | Suppress progress bar |
D4 and other TVFS-based archives self-describe, so `--listfile` is not
needed there. For WoW, pass either `--listfile` or `--fdid`.
---
## Workspace Layout
```
rustydemon/
├── rustydemon-blp2/ BLP0/1/2 texture decoder (palette, DXT1/3/5, ARGB, JPEG)
├── rustydemon-lib/ CASC library (config, index, encoding, BLTE, root, search)
├── rustydemon-cli/ Headless batch exporter (clap + rayon)
└── rustydemon/ egui/eframe GUI application
```
---
## Contributing
1. Fork and create a feature branch
2. `cargo test --workspace` must pass
3. `cargo fmt --all` and `cargo clippy --workspace -- -D warnings` must be clean
4. Open a PR - CI runs fmt, clippy, tests, and a RustSec security audit automatically
Listfile improvements and new deep-search plug-ins are especially welcome.
---
## Acknowledgments
Built on the shoulders of the CASC reverse-engineering community:
- **[CascLib](https://github.com/ladislav-zezula/CascLib)** by Ladislav
Zezula - the C library for reading CASC archives and our primary reference
for BLTE, encoding, root manifests, MNDX/MARR, and more.
- **[CASC Explorer](https://github.com/WoW-Tools/CASCExplorer)** by the
WoW-Tools team - the original .NET GUI for browsing CASC archives.
Rusty Demon's UI takes cues from CASC Explorer's design.
- **[TACTLib](https://github.com/overtools/TACTLib)** by the Overtools team -
a C# CASC implementation whose TVFS and static-container work was a useful
reference.
- **[SereniaBLPLib](https://github.com/WoW-Tools/SereniaBLPLib)** by Xalcon -
BLP texture parsing and DXT decompression in `rustydemon-blp2` are derived
from this MIT-licensed C# library (see
[`rustydemon-blp2/CREDITS`](rustydemon-blp2/CREDITS)).
- **[wowdev.wiki](https://wowdev.wiki/CASC)** and the datamining community -
for documenting CASC/TACT formats and maintaining the community listfiles.
---
## License
Source licensed under [AGPL-3.0](./LICENSE) with the Commons Clause -
free to read, build, and use for personal and educational purposes.
Commercial distribution (e.g. Steam store builds) is reserved to the
maintainers under a separate proprietary license. See
[COMMERCIAL.md](./COMMERCIAL.md) for the dual-licensing details and the
contributor license grant that applies to pull requests.