LE-CODE/Distribution Tutorial

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File:Lecode-circ-160x160.png

This is the LE-CODE Distribution Tutorial. It explains how to create a custom track distribution based on LE-CODE. As addition, Distribution FAQ explain details, that are not covered here.

Introduction

Slots and filenames

In LE-CODE, 4028 slots (slot range 68..4095 = 0x044..0xfff) are reserved for custom racing tracks. Additionally, slots for 32 original racing tracks and 10 custom battle arenas are reserved. Including special slots, a total of 4096 slots are available. See »LE-CODE Slot Usage« for details.

For each slot, 3 bytes are reserved:

• Property index
• Music index
• Flags (new marker, random group header, random group member)

This is a total space of 12 KiB for 4096 slots. In contrast, CT-CODE needs 256 bytes for each used slot. This are 64 KiB for 256 slots. The main reason for the less memory is, that LE-CODE uses generic file name instead of a string list with filenames. The filename of each track, this includes original tracks and special slots, is created by 3 lower case hex digits and the extension .szs:

std_file = sprintf("%03x.szs",slot);
d_file   = sprintf("%03x_d.szs",slot);

If a _d file should be laded but does not exists, the standard track file without _d is loaded instead. To minimize the space of a distribution, a _d file should only be added if it and the standard file differ.

Special random slots

Some slots have a predefined random functionality. To activated it, put the slot id to the track list of cup. The titles are defined by BMG messages 0x703e–0x7041 (0x7000+slot).

0x03e: All Tracks

Select a racing track by random.

0x03f: Original Tracks

Select one of the original tracks (slots 0–31) by random.

0x040: Custom Tracks

Select one of the custom tracks (all used slots beginning from slot 68 = 0x044) by random.

0x041: New Tracks

Select a track, that is marked by flag NEW, by random. If no track is marked, an internal fallback is used.

Common files

The track files are placed in directory ./files/Race/Course/*.szs. Some of the track files contain the sub-directory ./Common/ with private versions of different files. These file must be extracted to ./files/Race/Common/%N, where %N is the slot number. See »Distribution FAQ: Common Files« for details.

Track flags

Besides the standard properties property slot and music id, LE-CODE support a third property: flags. Each of the 3 properties is stored as a byte array of 4096 elements (3*4096 = 12288 byte total).

flags is a bit field with following features:

New (Bit 0 = 0x01)

This track is marked as NEW. It has only impact to the random selection at slot 0x041.

Random header (Bit 1 = 0x02)

Begin of a random group. The group ends, if either the Random group flag is not set or the next random group starts. If such track is selected (directly or by random), one of the following group members is selected by random. If the group header itself is group member too (both bits set), then it is included into the random selection; otherwise it is excluded.

Random group (Bit 2 = 0x04)

Track is member of the current random group. See Random header above.

Cups

Currently LE-CODE supports 2 battle cups with 5 arenas each and 1024 racing cups with 4 tracks each.

For battle cups and arenas, the standard defiition of slots and properties are predefined. The maintainer can exchange the SZZ files and arenea names, but not the property and music id. This will be changed in the future.

For racing cups, a CT-CODE configuration file is used to define and assign tracks and slots. It optional supports and additional flag member. See section below for details.

BMG

???

to do

• Wiimms SZS Tools
  • Option --lecode

Modified flies

• Menu
• Korean version
• BMG

Special Features

• 4 special random slots
• flags
  • New
  • Head (random)
  • Group (hidden)
  • Alias

Tips and Tricks

• Hardlinks
• Aliases

Debugging

Verify the lecode file

Command wlect dump LECODE_FILE dumps the settings of a lecode file as human readable text file. For terminal output, the dump is colored. To force colors, use cdump instead of dump.

Dump example (MKW-Fun 2019-06)

# wlect dump patch-dir/files/rel/lecode-PAL.bin

DUMP LE-BIN:patch-dir/files/rel/lecode-PAL.bin
  LE-CODE binary, valid=FVKfvk, file size: 11520/hex = 70944

    File header:
      Magic:             LECT
      Version:           4
      Build number:      8
      Base address:      808dd400/hex
      Entry point:       808dd478/hex
      Total size:           11520/hex = 70944
      Offset param:            40/hex
      Region code:       P  (PAL)
      Debug flag:        R  (Release)
      LE version/phase:  2
      Timestamp:         2019-05-31 13:35:39

    Parameters:
      Magic:             LPAR
      Version:           1
      Param size:        35/hex = 53
      Engine chances:    8 + 62 + 30 = 100 (100cc,150cc,mirror)
      200cc:             0 (disabled)
      Perform. monitor:  0 (disabled)

    Sections (offset,n/max):
      Cup parameters:     5380/hex
      Racing track cups:  5390/hex,   92 / 1024
      Battle arena cups:  9390/hex,    2 /    2
      Course parameters:  93c0/hex
      Property list:      93d0/hex,  680 / 4096
      Music list:         a3d0/hex,  680 / 4096
      Flags list:         b3d0/hex,  680 / 4096
      End of data:        c3d0/hex
      End of file:       11520/hex

    Cup and course parameters (n/max):
      Cup magic:         CUP2
      Racing track cups:   92 / 1024
      Battle arena cups:    2 /    2
      Course magic:      CRS2
      Total track slots:  680 / 4096
      Used racing slots:  644 /  644
      Used battle slots:   10 /   10

If adding option --long (short -l), a cup and slot reference is added:

Dump example if using option --long

# wlect dump patch-dir/files/rel/lecode-PAL.bin --long
....

    2 cups with battle tracks (id[prop,music,new+head+group+alias]):
      Cup  0:  21[A11,A11,----]   20[A12,A12,----]   23[A13,A13,----]   22[A14,A14,----]   24[A15,A15,----]
      Cup  1:  27[A21,A21,----]   28[A22,A22,----]   29[A23,A23,----]   25[A24,A24,----]   26[A25,A25,----]

    92 cups with racing tracks (id[prop,music,new+head+group+alias]):
      Cup  0:   8[T11,T21,----]    1[T12,T12,----]    2[T13,T13,----]    4[T14,T14,----]
      Cup  1:  10[T51,T51,----]   14[T52,T52,----]   19[T53,T53,----]   1a[T54,T54,----]
....
      Cup 21: 184[T71,T72,----]  185[T43,T43,N---]  186[T72,T72,----]  187[T72,T72,----]
      Cup 22: 188[T72,T72,----]  189[T72,T72,-H--]  18c[T43,T43,----]  18d[T43,T43,----]
....

    279 track slots reserved for random groups (id[prop,music,new+head+group+alias]):
      Slot   69/dec :  45[T43,T43,--G-]
      Slot   70/dec :  46[T32,T32,--G-]
....

If adding option --verbose (short -v, can be combined with --long), a slot usage map is added:

Dump example if using option --verbose

# wlect dump patch-dir/files/rel/lecode-PAL.bin --verbose
....

    Slot usage map for 680 slots
      A=Arena, r=Random Arena, a=Hidden Arena,  W=Wiimm Cup (random), >=Alias,
      T=Track, R=Random Track, t=Hidden Track,  n=Network, s=Special, -=unused.

        0: TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT AAAAAAAA AA------ ------ss sss---WW
       40: WWsnRttt tttttttt tRtttttR ttttttRt tttttttt ttttRttt tttttttt tttttttR
       80: tttttttt ttRttttt tttttttt tRtttttt tttttttt tRtttttt tttttttt ttRttttt
       c0: ttttRttt tttttttt tRtttttt tttttttt ttRttttt tttRtttt tttttttt tttttttt
      100: ttRttttt tttttttt tttttttt tttRtttt tttttttt tttttttt tttttttt tRtttttt
      140: tttttttR tttttttt ttttRttt tttttRtt ttttttTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTRtt TTTTTTTT
      180: TTTTTTTT TRttTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT
      1c0: TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTRttTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT
      200: TRttTTTT TTTTTTTT TTRttTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT
      240: TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT
      280: TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT TTTTTTTT

The dump of above with colors:

to do

• Slot list
• BMG