Presence flag

KMP

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• KMP File Format & Sections
• AREA type
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• ENPT Settings
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Lists

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Tutorials

• KMP Editing
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• Start Position
• Check Point
• Respawn Point
• Cannon
• Presence flags
• Enemy routes in battle arenas
• Testing a Track
• Visual Review with »wkmpt DRAW«

Tools

• KMP Cloud
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• Wiimms SZS Tools

Overview

Presence flags are 16-bit parameters of the GOBJ section in KMP files and define when objects load for a certain amount of players.

Wrong First Analysis

The first analysis of these flags were derived from /Race/Course/koopa_course.szs/course.0:

<ObjDefine>
    ...
    format    sepa1_SW  user_data  1  Bool  1
    format    sepa2_SW  user_data  1  Bool  1
    format    sepa4_SW  user_data  1  Bool  1
    format    sepaW1_SW  user_data  1  Bool  1
    format    sepaW2_SW  user_data  1  Bool  1
    format    sepaW4_SW  user_data  1  Bool  1
</ObjDefine>

As the usual presence flag has a value of 0x3f, the first analysis was wrong:

First Analysis

Bit number	Hex value	Enables during/with
0	0x01	Offline single player Time Trials
1	0x02	Offline two players
2	0x04	Offline three or four players
3	0x08	Online single player
4	0x10	Online two players
5	0x20	Online three or four players

Correct Second Analysis

In 2016, Wiimm tested all 16 possible bits of the flags and discovered only the three least significant bits are used and others get ignored:

Second Analysis

Bit number	Hex value	Enables during/with
0	0x01	Offline or online single player Time Trials
1	0x02	Offline or online two players
2	0x04	Offline three or four players
3	0x08	—
4	0x10	—
5	0x20	—

It is important to note that objects should be disabled for two or more players if they are only decorative. When this is not the case, online players using split-screen will get an advantage because objects that affect gameplay have been disabled. To avoid this, simply set bit 0 and 1 to equal values.

Functions of Values

The following table shows the effect certain values have. The second column (Same as) reduces the value to the three least significant bits:

Functions of Values

Value	Same as	Function	Usage
0x00	0	Object is always disabled.	Can be used to disable objects temporarily.
0x09	1	Object is only enabled for online or offline single player. Do not use this value for objects with gameplay impact.	Can be used to reduce the Slow Motion Bug when using Multiplayer split-screen. This value is only used for decorative objects, like WLscreenGC and dkmonitor.
0x39
0x3f	7	Object is always enabled.	The standard value.

Alternative Multiplayer Files

Each track file with the name *.szs has an alternative file with the name *_d.szs, which is loaded for two, three and four players, but only offline. Theoretically, it can be a totally different track. The idea is to allow fewer and simpler animations to reduce the Slow Motion Bug, but it does not help for online racing.

Extended Presence Flags

As of LE-CODE build 15 (2020-02-14), full implementation of extended presence flags has been completed.