BOL (File Format)

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A BOL file contains information about a course's setup. A variant of the BOL format has been used in Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii. This article describes the Mario Kart: Double Dash!! BOL format.

File Header

File header of a BOL file
Offset Size Description
0x00 4 File magic, always '0015' in ASCII
0x1A 2 Number of Section 1 entries.
0x1C 2 Number of Section 2 groups.
0x1E 2 Number of Section 5 entries.
0x20 2 Number of Section 7 entries.
0x22 2 Number of Section 8 entries.
0x24 2 Number of Section 3 routes.
0x40 4 Start of the file, always 0x00.
0x44 4 Section 1 offset, always 0x7C.
0x48 4 Section 2 offset.
0x4C 4 Section 3 offset.
0x50 4 Section 4 offset.
0x54 4 Section 5 offset.
0x58 4 Section 6 offset.
0x5C 4 Section 7 offset.
0x60 4 Section 8 offset.
0x64 4 Section 9 offset.
0x68 4 Section 10 offset.
0x6C 4 Length of the file in bytes.
0x70 12 Padding.
0x7C End of this file header

Sections

The file consists of a series of sections, each describing a different aspect of the course setup:

Section 1

Section 1 describes enemy/item points; the routes of CPU racers and items such as red shells. The CPU racers and items attempt to follow the path described by each group of points. Each entry is a 0x20 byte structure as follows:

Offset Size Description
0x00 float[3] A 3D position vector of the position.
0x0C short Point setting.
0x0E short Link of current group if start of group.

Link to next group if end of group. Otherwise -1.

0x10 float Scale.
0x14 short Group setting if start of group. Otherwise 0.
  • 0: Enemy and items can enter group.
  • 1: Items can enter group.
0x16 byte Group.
0x17 byte Point setting.
0x18 byte[8] Padding.

Section 2

The first part of Section 2 describes checkpoint grouping; how the routes of checkpoints link together. Each entry is a 0x14 byte structure as follows:

Groups
Offset Size Description
0x00 short Point length. The number of points in this group.
0x02 short Group link.
0x04 short[4] Previous group. The indices of up to 4 group links that follow to this one. Unneeded slots are set to value -1.
0x0C short[4] Next group. The indices of up to 4 group links to follow after this one. Unneeded slots are set to value -1.

The second part of Section 2 describes checkpoints; the routes players must follow to count laps. The racers must follow the path described by each group of points (as determined by the first part of Section 2). Each entry is a 0x1C byte structure as follows:

Points
Offset Size Description
0x00 float[3] A 3D position vector of the start of the check point line.
0x0C float[3] A 3D position vector of the end of check point line.
0x18 byte[4] Padding.

Section 3

Section 3 describes routes; these are routes for many things including cameras and objects. Each entry is a 0x10 byte structure as follows:

Offset Size Description
0x00 short Point length. The number of Section 4 entries in this group.
0x02 short Point start. The index of the first Section 4 entry in this group.
0x04 byte[12] Padding.

Section 4

Section 4 describes route points. Each entry is a 0x20 byte structure as follows:

Offset Size Description
0x00 float[3] A 3D position vector of the route position.
0x0C byte[20] Padding.

Section 5

Section 5 decribes objects. Each entry is a 0x40 byte structure as follows:

Offset Size Description
0x00 float[3] A 3D position vector of the start position.
0x0C float[3] A 3D scale vector of the start position.
0x18 int[3] A 3D rotation vector of the start position.
0x24 short Object ID
0x26 short Route ID. Links to Section 3. 0xFFFF if no route is used.
0x28 byte[24] Unknown. Probably object settings.

Section 6

Section 6 describes kart points; the starting positions of racers. Each entry is a 0x28 byte structure as follows:

Offset Size Description
0x00 float[3] A 3D position vector of the start position.
0x0C float[3] A 3D scale vector of the start position.
0x18 int[3] A 3D rotation vector of the start position.
0x24 byte 0: Pole position is left.
1: Pole position is right.
0x25 byte Player ID. In courses with multiple start positions (such as battle courses), this determines which players start here. Otherwise set to 0xFF to set all players start positions to this point.
0x26 short Padding.

Section 7

Section 7 describes areas; used to determine for example which camera to use. Each entry is a 0x38 byte structure as follows:

Offset Size Description
0x00 float[3] A 3D vector of the area's position.
0x0C float[3] A 3D vector of the area's scale.
0x18 int[3] A 3D vector of the area's rotation.
0x24 short Unknown.
0x26 short Unknown.
0x28 byte[16] Unknown.

Section 8

Section 8 describes Cameras. Each entry is a 0x48 byte structure as follows:

Offset Size Description
0x00 float[3] A 3D position vector of the first view point.
0x0C int[3] A 3D rotation vector.
0x18 float[3] A 3D position vector of the second view point.
0x24 float[3] A 3D position vector of the third view point.
0x30 byte Unknown
0x31 byte Camera Type
0x32 ushort Start Zoom
0x34 short Camera Duration (in 1/60 second units)
0x36 ushort Unknown
0x38 ushort Unknown
0x3A ushort Unknown
0x3C short Linked Route ID (-1 if none)
0x3E ushort Route Speed?
0x40 ushort End Zoom
0x42 short Next Camera (-1 if none)
0x44 char[4] Camera Name? (Most of the time "null" or "para")

Section 9

Section 9 describes Jugem points; the respawn positions. Each entry is a 0x20 byte structure as follows:

Offset Size Description
0x00 float[3] A 3D position vector of the respawn position.
0x0C int[3] A 3D rotation vector of the respawn position.
0x18 short Respawn ID?
0x1A short Unknown
0x1C short Unknown
0x1E short Unknown

Section 10

Rotation Vector

The Mario Kart: Double Dash!! rotation vector consists of 3 Int32 values. The first two values form a two-dimensional direction vector with the first pointing in x-direction and the second pointing in z-direction. The third value represents the length of the vector (it is quite inaccurate, though). Its value is usually 0x27100000 (655360000 in base 10). Using trigonometry, the rotation angle around the y-axis can be calculated as follows:

angle (in degree) = sign(value1 + 0.5) * arccos(value2 / value3) * (180 / pi)


Tools

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