Datasets:
Devilishcode
/
hacking

Dataset card Data Studio Files
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repeat-expr: 10
doc: Track block nodes
track_block_node:
seq:
- id: unk1
type: u1
- id: direction
type: u1
doc: Track block node direction
- id: unk2
type: u2
ground:
seq:
- id: x
type: u1
doc: Ground tile X position
- id: y
type: u1
doc: Ground tile Y position
- id: id
type: u1
doc: Ground tile id
- id: background_id
type: u1
doc: Ground tile background tile
track:
seq:
- id: unk1
type: u2
- id: flags
type: u1
doc: Track flags
- id: x
type: u1
doc: Track X position
- id: y
type: u1
doc: Track Y position
- id: type
type: u1
doc: Track type
- id: lid
type: u2
doc: Track LID
- id: unk2
type: u2
- id: unk3
type: u2
icicle:
seq:
- id: x
type: u1
doc: Icicle X position
- id: y
type: u1
doc: Icicle Y position
- id: type
type: u1
doc: Icicle type
- id: unk1
type: u1
The previous Kaitai Struct file representing the course format can be found
on HuggingFace [43].
Returning to one of the most important missing features in SMM2; the
inability to view courses, the ability to render courses from course files
would be even more powerful than the feature we lost from SMM1. Rendering
courses externally would let a player view courses without disrupting their
progress in-game. Luckily, as a 2D platformer, SMM2 is easy to render into
an image given the correct assets and understanding of the file format.
By the time the API had been made public a course viewer project based upon
the course format was being developed in C# [27], shortly followed by a
browser implementation [28]. This course viewer was developed by dumping the
savefile of the game, so it only benefitted players capable of running
custom firmware. The API endpoint `/level_data` returns the same format,
complete with the same encryption scheme, so it can serve as an alternate
data source for a course viewer. Once API integration was built into the
course viewer it became possible for the average player to view courses.
So, besides saving time, what does being able to view courses do for
players? In-game you can only see in a small rectangle around Mario. A
player is unable to pan their screen independent of Mario's position, so a
sufficiently sneaky creator could design a route visible in their editor but
invisible or difficult to find in-game. For example hidden blocks, which are
only revealed in-game when the player hits them from below, are as clear as
any other block in a course viewer.
Oftentimes creators do this in order to upload courses, which must be beaten
at least once, beyond their own skill level. Sometimes creators actually do
wish to upload "impossible" courses for the shock factor. In both cases
players will try to complete the legitimate route and find it more difficult
than expected or even impossible. As the competitive scene of SMM2 is
largely about beating extremely hard courses the fine line between extremely
hard and impossible is extremely important.
As a result, developer exits, as they are known, were exposed across many
existing hard courses. No longer a viable strategy to artificially inflate
a course's difficulty, creators had to build routes with the expectation