MSBT (File Format)

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MSBT (MessageStudio Binary Text) is a text file format used in many Nintendo games such as Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Odyssey, as well as in some mobile games. Though it has been around for many years, the content has changed and new sections have replace older ones.

File Format

Header

The file starts with the following header:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[8]	File magic. Always MsgStdBn in ASCII.
0x08	UInt16	Byte-order-mark. FE FF for big endian, FF FE for little endian.
0x0A	UInt16	Unknown.
0x0C	Byte	String encoding. UTF8 = 0, UTF16 = 1.
0x0D	Byte	Possibly a version number. Games on Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as well as Mario Kart Tour use 3, games on Nintendo Switch and Super Mario Run use 4.
0x0E	UInt16	Number of sections.
0x10	UInt16	Unknown.
0x12	UInt32	File size in bytes.
0x16	Byte[10]	Unknown. Always 0.

LBL1

The LBL1 section stores messages using key strings (labels). Each message has a unique key name which is used to access an message. The section has the following layout:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	Section magic. Always LBL1 in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Section size (starting from 0x10).
0x08	Byte[8]	Unknown. Always 0.
0x10	Int32	Number of entries.

Label Entry

After the header comes the entries. Each entry has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Int32	Number of labels.
0x04	UInt32	Offset to an array of labels, relative to 0x10 in the LBL1 header.

Label

Each label has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Byte	Key string size (K).
0x01	String	Key string used to access this message. The string has the length K and is not null-terminated. The string is always stored in ASCII.
0x01 + K	Int32	Message string, represented as an index into the TXT2 strings.

NLI1

The NLI1 section stores messages using node IDs. Each message has a unique ID which is used by the game to get a specific message. The section has the following layout:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	Section magic. Always NLI1 in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Section size (starting from 0x10).
0x08	Byte[8]	Unknown. Always 0.
0x10	Int32	Number of entries.

Node

After the header comes the nodes. Each entry has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	UInt32	Node ID.
0x04	Int32	Node string, represented as an index into the TXT2 strings.

ATR1

The ATR1 section stores attribute data. It has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	Section magic. Always ATR1 in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Section size (starting from 0x10).
0x08	Byte[8]	Unknown. Always 0.
0x10	Int32	Number of entries.
0x14	UInt32	Entry size in bytes. The entry structure depends on the game.

ATR1 ARMS Entry

In ARMS each entry has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Byte	Unknown

ATR1 SMT Entry

In Super Mario Tour each entry has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Byte	Unknown

ATR1 SMG2 Entry

In Super Mario Galaxy 2 each entry has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Byte	Unknown.
0x01	Byte	Unknown.
0x02	Byte	Dialog type. 0 = Normal, 1 = Shout, 2 = Start when close, 3 = Start when anywhere
0x03	Byte	Unknown.
0x04	UInt16	Unknown.
0x06	UInt16	Unknown. Usually 0xFFFF
0x08	UInt32	String offset, relative to the 0x10 in the ATR1 header. Points to a null-terminated string.

ATR1 TLOZLA Entry

In The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening each entry has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	UInt16	Unknown

TXT2

The TXT2 section contains text strings. It starts with the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	Section magic. Always TXT2 in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Section size (starting from 0x10).
0x08	Byte[8]	Unknown. Always 0.
0x10	Int32	Number of entries.

After the TXT2 header, there are 32-bit unsigned offsets, containing the offsets to the strings.

Control Tag

The strings can also contain tags to modify text and/or rendering consisting of this structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	UInt16	Tag Group magic (0x0E00), 0x0F00 for ending the effects of a previous tag (in newer software).
0x02	UInt16	Tag Type index (0 is System while others are application-specific. If the game use an MSBP file, it's probably possible to find their custom tag structures).
0x04	UInt16	Tag Group index.
0x06	UInt16	Tag Parameters size.

If the size of the tag's parameters is greater than 0, parameters are defined for the given tag type and tag group.

System Tag

The System tag may be modified in games but usually follows this structure:

Tag Type	Parameters	Description
0x00	UInt16 + String	Applies Ruby syntaxing to text.
0x01	UInt16	Changes the face of font.
0x02	UInt16	Changes the size of text. The value can either be usually the text size or size index (Small, Medium, Large).
0x03	UByte[4] / UInt16	Applies color to text. The value can either be 4 unsigned bytes for RGBA channels or usually the color index depending on the application.
0x04	None	Breaks the current text into another page, and usually halts text rendering, requiring user input to advance or terminate the text.

ATO1

The ATO1 section stores attribute offsets.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[5]	Section magic. Always ATO1 in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Section size (starting from 0x10).
0x08	Byte[8]	Unknown. Always 0.

TSY1

The TSY1 section stores text style information.

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[5]	Section magic. Always TSY1 in ASCII.
0x04	UInt32	Section size (starting from 0x10).
0x08	Byte[8]	Unknown. Always 0.

Tools

The following tools can handle MSBT files:

• MSBT Editor Reloaded, by IcySon55