Wiimms mkw-ana (tool)

The tools mkw-ana is a new project by Wiimm to analyze the network protocol of Mario Kart Wii.

In Progress

This article is managed by Wiimm will grow slowly. Feel free to edit typos and grammatical or speech issues.

Intention

In November 2012, Wiimm decided to analyze the network protocol of Mario Kart Wii. The main goal was to discover online cheaters. Another goal is to set up his own server if any time Nintendo will shut down its servers.

So the main feature is to dump the packets of a tcpdump (done by tcpdump or wireshark) in a user-friendly format. After first experiments, it becomes also a live racing statistic tool.

The Tool

Built in help:

Usage: mkw-ana [option]...

Commands:

  HELP                  Print this help and exit.
  DEVELOP               Special development tests.
  TEST                  Test options.

  D1|DUMP2 [file]...    Dump all or filtered packets (method 'UDP').
  D2|DUMP2 [file]...    Dump all or filtered packets (method 'record').
  D3|DUMP3 [file]...    New variant of DUMP2.
  DX|DUMPX [file]...    Experimental dump of all or filtered packets.
  D|DUMP [file]...      Use the best dumping method by analyzing the options.

  F|FLOWRATES [file]... Print flowrates. Use --brief for final stat only.
  C|CLIENTS [file]...   List all clients.
  U|USERS [file]...     List all users.
  R|RECORDS [file]...   Print all record names.
  S|STAGES [file]...    Print all stages.
  L|LOG [file]...       Print all stages including tables.
  T|TOTALS [file]...    Print all totals as text dump.

  RACE [file]...        Live dump of the race to the screen.

Options:

  -h --help           : Print this help and exit.
  -w --width          : Define terminal width.
  -O --old            : Enable old features and disable --new.
  -N --new            : Enable new features and disable --old.

     --sleep float    : Sleep seconds after race finished.
     --skip  float    : Skip first seconds if each tcpdump.
                        Negative values are relative to the end (not stdin).
     --term  float    : terminate each dump at timestamp (seconds).
                        Negative values are relative to the end (not stdin).
     --combine        : Combine dumps to one for --skip and --term.
  -W --write file     : Write filtered packets as PCAP to the file.
     --home addr      : Define an IP (or name) as home client.

  -p --no-proxy       : Ignore proxy records.
  -r --receive        : Select received packages.
  -s --send           : Select send packages.
  -L --length ranges  : Select only UDP packages with data len.
  -I --index ranges   : Print only bytes of range list.
  -S --stage list     : Select stage types, print only matched recordss.
  -t --type list      : Select record types, print packet if one record match.
  -T --TYPE list      : Select record types, print only matched records.

  -b --brief          : Suppress header info.
  -l --long           : Extended header info.
     --rel            : Print timestamps as relative seconds.
  -1 --one-line       : Dump one line per record.
                        If set twice, bind race records to one record.
  -a --ascii          : Append ASCII character dump.
  -x --hex-only       : Suppress AI and dump only hex values.
  -f --follow         : Follow last input file like 'tail -f'

     --log  file      : Log into the file. If first char is a '+', append data.
     --md   file      : Create a MakeDoc script with results after each race.
     --mdx  file      : Same as --md, but replace %E, %R, %N and %T by
                        in 'file' by 'event', 'race', 'total race' and 'type'.
     --php  file      : Create a php script with results after each race.
     --phpx file      : Same as --php, but replace %E, %R, %N and %T by
                        in 'file' by 'event', 'race', 'total race' and 'type'.
     --mii dir        : Command USERS: Extract Miis to existing directory 'dir'.


mkw-ana v0.03/x86_64 r1369 -- Dirk Clemens -- 2013-01-29

???

Download

I plan to create a distribution of my tool. It will be available for Linux and as Cygwin version in some weeks.

Live Statistics

mkw-ana can scan the network traffic in real time and can produce makedoc or php data files. Together with ssh and an cgi script, a live statistic is created. Live means that the tables are updates 2-5 seconds after the race have finished.

How it works

• In my home I have manageable switches. I have programmed one port, to copy all data traffic from and to my Wii to the my local Linux server. The Wii will not notice this.
• The Linux server runs the tool tcpdump. The tool is programmed to filter all Wii traffic and to send it tee. tee archives the data into a backup file and sends a copy to my tool. My tool analyze the data stream and create the data files directly if a race has finished.
• A background process on my local Linux server waits for new data file. If available, it is sent to my web server using ssh.
• A CGI script running at my web server uses always the most current data file to serve the tables to the visitors.

To see, what live means, visit the live statistics on Wednesday or Thursday between 19:10 and 20:30 CET (Central European Time).