Game Resources. How does it work?

[vasyaslife]

Can you say me, how can I protect data files (music, textures and other) in my game. For example, in good games there are so many files with strange format and i cant open them with my archiver or Notepad++.

[Jesper Juhl]

What exactely do you mean by "protect"?
DRM/encryption? Put resources in archives for easier management and then access via something like PhysFS? Something else?

[eXpl0it3r]

You just can't open them, because you don't have the proper tool for it. Resource files are usually just binary files that follow a custom specification and then most game development companies will have their own internal tools that can pack/unpack these files.

If you're just starting with a game, you shouldn't bother thinking about such details and instead create a finished game first.