KCL flag

Overview

In Mario Kart Wii, collision data is stored as a list of triangles in a KCL file. Each triangle in the file is associated with a 16-bit KCL flag, which determines the effect that the triangle has on players or items that collide with it. A KCL flag consists of 5 components, each corresponding to a bit group:

Base Type:
Ranges in value from 0x00 to 0x1F. This component represents the main effect that the triangle will have, e.g. road, offroad, fall boundary, etc.. Descriptions of each value's effect can be found below.

Variant:
Ranges in value from 0 to 7. This component determines the variant of the base type. The possible variants of each base type are described below.

BLIGHT Index:
Ranges in value from 0 to 7. This component is the index of posteffect.blight that the triangle should use. For drivable surfaces, this refers to the lighting that is applied to any character, vehicle or item that is touching it. For most non-drivable surfaces such as walls, it appears to have no effect. Some variants of 0x10 and 0x1A repurpose this component to index into the KMP.

Wheel Depth:
Ranges in value from 0 to 3. For drivable surfaces, a higher value will cause the player's wheels to "sink" further into the road. This is used by Nintendo on surfaces such as snow or sand. This likely has other subtle effects on wheel physics; exact details are unknown.

Collision effect:
This component consists of 3 bits that each have a different effect when set:

Bit	Effect
0	Affects drivable surfaces. If set to 1, the surface becomes trickable. NOTE: For base types that are trickable by default, e.g. boost ramps, this bit should remain as 0 to avoid inconsistent trick types.
1	Affects drivable surfaces. If set to 1, the surface becomes reject road, which forces a player to change direction when attempting to drive on it.
2	Affects walls. If set to 1, the wall becomes a soft wall, also referred to as "barrel roll" collision. This is used by Nintendo on walls below ledges to prevent players from hanging on them.

Example

To manually calculate the KCL flag for grass offroad (base type = 0x03, variant = 4) that is trickable (collision effect bit 0 = 1) and uses BLIGHT index 3: First insert the components into the correct bit groups, then convert the resulting binary number to hexadecimal.

Cheat Sheet

This image sums up the base types and variants for finding them more quickly (although it is a bit outdated).

Base Types & Variants

Road (0x00)

Default road. The variant controls the terrain type, i.e. the sound effects (SFX) and particles (GFX) generated by driving on it.

Variant	Effect
0	Normal road
1	Dirt, GFX on slots 7.3 and 8.3
2	Dirt, no GFX
3	Smooth
4	Wood
5	Snow with GFX
6	Metal grate
7	Road, but the sound cuts off and returns immediately when triggered

Slippery Road 1 (0x01)

A type of road that is slippery, but does not slow you down.

Variant	Effect
0	White sand
1	Dirt
2	Water (unused)
3	Snow (unused)
4	Grass (unused)
5	Yellow sand
6	Sand, no GFX (unused)
7	Dirt, no GFX (unused)

Weak Off-road (0x02)

A type of road that slows the player down a small amount.

Variant	Effect
0	Orange sand
1	Dirt
2	Water
3	Grass, darker GFX
4	Sand, lighter GFX
5	Carpet
6	Gravel
7	Gravel, different impact SFX

Off-road (0x03)

A type of road that slows the player down a moderate amount.

Variant	Effect
0	Sand
1	Dirt
2	Mud
3	Water, no GFX (unused)
4	Grass
5	Sand, lighter GFX
6	Gravel, different impact SFX
7	Carpet

Heavy Off-road (0x04)

A type of road that slows the player down a large amount.

Variant	Effect
0	Sand
1	Dirt
2	Mud
3	Flowers
4	Grass
5	Snow
6	Sand
7	Dirt, no GFX

Slippery Road 2 (0x05)

A type of road that is slippery and slightly slows you down.

Variant	Effect
0	Ice
1	Mud, no GFX (unused)
2-5	Water, no GFX (unused)
6-7	Normal road, different sound (unused)

Boost (0x06) [DASH]

(Boost Panel) Applies a boost when you drive over it.

Variant	Effect
0	Default
1	If used in course.kcl and casino_roulette is present, this surface will rotate around it counterclockwise. Used in Chain Chomp Wheel.
2-7	Unknown. Unused

Boost Ramp (0x07) [DASHJ]

Applies a boost and is trickable by default. The variant controls the trick animation, and by extension the duration of the trick boost you get upon landing. The duration is listed in frames for karts/bikes. Generally, more flips mean longer airtime and more landing boost time. Note that you should not use the collision effect "trickable" with this KCL flag, otherwise the trick type will be semi random. Additionally, if used in course.kcl and casino_roulette is present, this surface will rotate around it counterclockwise.

Variant	Effect	Trick Boost (Karts)	Trick Boost (Bikes)
0	Double flip trick	85 frames	95 frames
1	Single flip trick	70 frames	80 frames
2-7	Stunt trick, unused	40 frames	45 frames

Jump Pad (0x08)

Bounces the player into the air, and locks their speed until they touch the ground. Trickable by default. The variant controls the speed lock and the amount of Y velocity applied (both in units/frame). Values in parentheses are used if the player is in a boost when they touch this surface.

Variant	Speed Lock	Y Velocity	Description
0	50.0	35.0	Used in GBA Bowser Castle 3
1	50.0	47.0	Used in SNES Ghost Valley 2
2	59.0	30.0	Used in GBA Shy Guy Beach
3	73.0 (100.0)	45.0 (70.0)	Ramps in Mushroom Gorge
4	73.0 (100.0)	53.0 (65.0)	Bouncy mushrooms in Mushroom Gorge
5	56.0	50.0	Used in Chain Chomp Wheel
6	55.0	35.0	Used in DS Yoshi Falls and Funky Stadium
7	56.0	50.0	Unused, seems to be identical to 5

Item Road (0x09)

A type of road that is solid for items only. Items that land on it will despawn after 3 seconds (180 frames). The purpose of the variant is unknown.

Variant	Effect
0	Unknown
1	Unknown
2	Used on metal grates
3	Unknown. Used on wooden paths/grass/mushrooms
4	Unknown. Unused
5	Unknown. Used on grass/bushes
6-7	Unknown. Unused

Solid Fall (0x0A)

A solid surface that counts the player out of bounds. The variant controls the terrain type.

Variant	Effect
0	Sand
1	Sand/Underwater
2	Unknown
3	Ice
4	Dirt
5	Grass
6	Wood
7	Dark sand with GFX

Moving Water (0x0B)

A type of road that moves the player along a route, used in Koopa Cape and DS Yoshi Falls. It is only active while inside an AREA type 0x3. The exact functionality depends on the variant. For more information, see: Moving Terrain

Variant	Effect
0	Moving water that follows a route, pulling the player downwards.
1	Moving water that follows a route and strongly pulls the player downwards, making it hard to drive.
2	Moving water that follows a route from the start of the path to the end of it. Uses 2 AREA settings: Setting 1: Acceleration modifier. Setting 2: Moving speed.
3	Moving water that follows a route from the start of the path to the end of it and disables player's acceleration. Uses 2 AREA settings: Setting 1: Current player's speed modifier. eg. value of 100 will keep current player's speed. Values below 100 will slow down player until full stop. Setting 2: Moving speed.
4	Moving asphalt, unused. Functions the same as variant 0.
5	Moving asphalt, unused. Functions the same as variant 0.
6	Moving road, unused. Functions the same as variant 0.
7	Moving road, unused. Functions the same as variant 0.

Route Settings:

Setting	Description
1	Moving speed.
2	Value of 1 changes moving water direction 90 degrees to the right. Value of 2 changes moving water direction 90 degrees to the left.

Wall (0x0C)

Default wall, solid for both players and items. The variant controls the sound played when colliding with it.

Variant	Effect
0	Normal
1	Rock
2	Metal
3	Wood
4	Ice
5	Bush (with GFX)
6	Rope
7	Rubber

Invisible Wall (0x0D)

A type of wall that is solid for players only, and is typically invisible in-game.

Variant	Effect
0	No spark and no character wall hit voice
1-2	Spark and character wall hit voice (unused)
3-7	Unknown. Same as 0? (unused)

Item Wall (0x0E)

A type of wall that is solid for items only. Items that land on it will despawn instantly. The purpose of the variant is unknown.

Variant	Effect
0	Unknown
1	Unknown. Used on rock walls
2	Unknown. Used on metal walls
3	Unknown
4	Unknown. Unused
5	Unknown. Used on grass/bushes
6-7	Unknown. Unused

Wall 2 (0x0F)

Solid for players and items. The difference between this and Wall (0x0C) is unknown.

Variant	Effect
0	Normal
1	Rock
2	Metal
3	Wood
4	Ice
5	Bush (no GFX, unused)
6	Rope
7	Rubber

Fall Boundary (0x10)

A non-solid barrier that counts the player out of bounds. The variant controls the animation and sounds to play when it is triggered. For variants 1-3, the BLIGHT index is instead used to reference a pocha object in the KMP, which is used to determine the height of the splash effect. The BLIGHT index should match Setting 1 of the corresponding pocha object.

Variant	Effect
0	Air fall
1	Water
2	Lava
3	Icy water, (ice on respawn)
4	Lava, no GFX
5	Burning air fall
6	Quicksand (used in object quicksand)
7	Short fall

Cannon Trigger (0x11)

Used to implement cannons. Upon contact, the player will be launched to a destination cannon point. The variant determines the KMP index of the cannon point to launch to. Subsequently, a track cannot have more than 8 distinct cannons.

Variant	Effect
0	To point 0
1	To point 1
2	To point 2
3	To point 3 (unused)
4	To point 4 (unused)
5	To point 5 (unused)
6	To point 6 (unused)
7	To point 7 (unused)

Force Recalculation (0x12)

A trigger that forces an enemy/item route recalculation when a player or CPU passes through it. This is typically used in areas where players or CPUs can fall to a different route. It is only active while inside an AREA type 0x4. Variants are never used and likely have no effect.

Variant	Effect
0	Default
1-7	Unknown. Unused

Half-pipe Ramp (0x13)

A special type of ramp that functions like a half-pipe jump. Trickable by default. This type is best used in combination with Invisible Wall (0x0D), although this is not strictly necessary.

Variant	Effect
0	Default
1	Applies a boost, used in Bowser's Castle
2-7	Unknown. Unused

Player-Only Wall (0x14)

Allows items to pass through it like Invisible Wall (0x0D), but produces sounds upon collision similar to Wall (0x0C). Used by Nintendo below open ledges to prevent players from hanging on to them.

Variant	Effect
0	Normal (unused)
1	Rock (unused)
2	Metal (unused)
3	Wood
4	Ice (unused)
5	Bush (unused)
6	Rope (unused)
7	No SFX/GFX

Moving Road (0x15)

A type of road that moves players in a specified direction, used in Toad's Factory and Coconut Mall. Unlike moving water, moving road is not controlled by routes in the KMP, but rather by specific objects. For more information, see: Moving Terrain

Variant	Effect
0	Moves west with BeltCrossing and escalator. The latter only works with escalator.kcl
1	Moves east with BeltCrossing and west with escalator. The latter only works with escalator.kcl
2	Moves east with BeltEasy
3	Moves west with BeltEasy
4	Rotates around BeltCurveA clockwise
5	Rotates around BeltCurveA counterclockwise
6-7	Unknown. Unused

Sticky Road (0x16) [ATTACH]

A type of road that attaches players to the road if they are within 200 units of the road with a correction of up to 200 units/frame. Moving water shares this code internally. The game logic does not care if player is also colliding with a different surface; as long as the player within 200 units of a surface with this attribute, the player's position will be corrected. This effect does not stack; layering on moving water will not make it more intense. The variant controls the terrain type.

Variant	Effect
0	Wood.
1	Gravel, different impact SFX.
2	Carpet.
3	Dirt, no GFX.
4	Sand, different impact and drift SFX, no GFX.
5	Normal road, SFX on slot 4.4.
6	Normal road.
7	Mud with GFX.

Road 2 (0x17)

An alternative to Road (0x00) with different variants.

Variant	Effect
0	Normal road, different sound
1	Carpet
2	Grass, GFX on 8.3
3	Normal road, used on green mushrooms
4	Grass
5	Glass road with SFX
6	Dirt (unused)
7	Normal road, SFX on slot 4.4

Sound Trigger (0x18)

A trigger that activates/deactivates sound effects or music channels when the player passes through it. The effects of each variant are different for every track slot and are described below.
Show text

Slot 1.1 (Luigi Circuit)

Variant	Effect
0	No audience cheering
1	Quiet audience cheering
2 (Default)	Audience cheering
3	Loud audience cheering

Slot 1.3 (Mushroom Gorge)

Variant	Effect
0 (Default)	Wind SFX
1	Cave ambience + weak echo
2	Cave ambience + strong echo
3	Cave ambience + very strong echo(?)

Slot 1.4 (Toad's Factory)

Variant	Channel	Effect
0	1	No SFX (factory entrance)
1	1	Hydraulic press area SFX
2	1	Shipping dock area SFX
3	2	Quiet siren + echo (curved conveyor area)
4	2	Loud siren + echo (steam room)
5	1	Restart music + audience cheering
6	1	No SFX (bulldozer area)
7 (Default)	1	Audience cheering

Slot 2.1 (Mario Circuit)

Variant	Effect
0 (Default)	No echo
1	Weak echo
2	Loud echo

Slot 2.2 (Coconut Mall)

Variant	Effect
0	No SFX
1	Weak shopping mall ambience + no echo
2	Loud shopping mall ambience + strong echo
3	No SFX, prevents variants 1 and 2 from playing mall ambience
4	Loud shopping mall ambience + no echo
5 (Default)	No SFX, prevents variants 1, 2 and 4 from playing mall ambience

Slot 2.3 (DK Summit)

Variant	Effect
0	No audience cheering
1	Quiet audience cheering
2 (Default)	Audience cheering
3	Loud audience cheering
4	Enables cheering when going off half-pipe ramps.

Slot 2.4 (Wario's Gold Mine)

Variant	Channel	Effect
0 (Default)	1	No echo
1	2	Weak echo
2	2	Moderate echo
3	2	Strong echo

Slot 3.1 (Daisy Circuit)

Variant	Effect
0 (Default)	No echo
1	Weak echo
2	Strong echo

Slot 3.2 (Koopa Cape)

Variant	Channel	Effect
0	1 + 4	No SFX
1	1 + 4	Weak echo
2	-	Enable strong echo for any channel
3	3	Music change (underwater), water ambience enabled when entering from 0, 5 or 6, disabled otherwise
4	-	Enable water ambience for any channel
5	1 + 4	Music change (normal), strongest echo, water ambience enabled when entering from 3
6	2 + 4	Music change (riverside)

Slot 3.3 (Maple Treeway)

Variant	Effect
0	Deactivate echo and wind ambience.
1	No effect.
2	Weak echo.
3	Loud echo.
4	Enables wind ambience, deactivates echo.

Slot 3.4 (Grumble Volcano)

Variant	Effect
0	Deactivate echo.
1	Weak echo, toggles after two seconds.
2	Loud echo, toggles after one second.
3	Loud echo, toggles after two seconds.

Slot 4.1 (Dry Dry Ruins)

Variant	Effect
0	Music change (normal)
1	Music change (indoors, where the bats come from the sides)
2	Music change (indoors, where the half-pipes are)
3	Music change (indoors, where the Pokeys are)
4	Unknown
5	Unknown
6	Unknown
7	Unknown

Slot 4.2 (Moonview Highway)

Variant	Effect
0	Deactivate city ambience, default music.
1	Stage 2, weak city ambience, adds flute to music.
2	Stage 4, louder city ambience, disable echo.
3	Stage 5, loudest city ambience, disable echo.
4	Stage 3, loud city ambience, enable echo.
5	Stage 1, weakest city ambience, enable echo.

Slot 4.3 (Bowser's Castle)

Variant	Effect
0	Disable one-time use sound trigger (like Bowser's howl)
1	Bowser's howl + echo. Put 7 at the end of a turn to be able to reuse Bowser's howl
2	Sound distortion + echo
3	Deactivate sound distortion + echo
4	Add drums + echo on music + koopaBall/koopaFigure SFX
5	Deactivate koopaBall/koopaFigure SFX
6	Add drums without echo
7	Back to normal. Allow reuse for one-time use sound trigger

In order to have Thwomp SFX, just disable every sound trigger (put 003 then 007).

Slot 4.4 (Rainbow Road)

Variant	Effect
0	Deactivator
1	Gate sound 1 (add a deactivator before and after if you use only one gate)
2	Star ring sound 1
3	Star ring sound 2
4	Star ring sound 3
5	Star ring sound 4
6	Tunnel sound (add a deactivator to stop it)

Sound triggers are easy to use if you know how to use them.

Here's a good example:

• 0 → 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 0
  • That's how the original Rainbow Road uses the triggers. All the triggers will play once and won't replay until you reach a deactivator.

Here's a way to play the first gate more than once:

• 0 → 1 → 0 → 1 → etc.
• Note that 0 → 2 won't play, and 1 → 1 will only play once. Every sound trigger must be one more time than the one before it, in order for it to work.

The tunnel trigger works similarly. Use a deactivator to stop it.

Slot 5.4 (N64 Mario Raceway)

Variant	Effect
0	Deactivates cheering.
1	Loud cheering.
2	Louder cheering.
3	Weak cheering.

Trigger 1 fades in when trigger 0 is toggled

Slot 6.1 (N64 Sherbet Land)

Variant	Effect
0	Deactivate all.
1	Cave echo.
2	Cave SFX.

Slot 6.3 (DS Delfino Square)

Variant	Effect
0	Unknown. In a position such that a player may collide with this trigger if they complete the dock shortcut.
1	Very, very distant whistles, cheers and chatter from spectators.
2	Very distant whistles, cheers and chatter from spectators.
3	Distant whistles, cheers and chatter from spectators.
4	Whistles, cheers and chatter from spectators.
5	Single wind gust just before the dock section.
6	No spectator ambience.
7	The same as 6? Used between triggers of type 6.

Slot 7.3 (N64 DK's Jungle Parkway)

Variant	Effect
0	No jungle ambience. Used near water sections.
1	Jungle ambience (bird squawks, insect hum, animal roar). Used as a buffer between types 0 and 2.
2	Intense jungle ambience, used in areas of deep forest.
3	Cave ambience.

Slot 7.4 (GCN Mario Circuit)

Variant	Effect
0	No echo.
1	Weak echo.
2	Loud echo.

Slot 8.3 (GCN DK Mountain)

Variant	Effect
0	Deactivate all.
1	Jungle SFX (animals).
2	Water + wind SFX.

Slot 8.4 (N64 Bowser's Castle)

Variant	Effect
0	Disable one-time use sound trigger (like Bowser's howl)
1	Turns lava SFX off + disables echo
2	Bowser's howl. Put 0 at the end of a turn to be able to reuse this
3	Turns lava SFX off
4	Turns lava SFX off + echo
5	Echo
6	Strong echo

Weak Wall (0x19)

Nintendo uses this type in Wario's Gold Mine and Rainbow Road. It acts as a wall that pushes players away when driving at low speed, but it can easily be trespassed when accelerating. They seem to be originally used below flat road to prevent players from hanging on the edges. Variants are never used and likely have no effect.

Variant	Effect
0	Default
1-7	Unknown. Unused

Effect Trigger (0x1A)

A trigger that activates when the player passes through it; it can have several different functions depending on the variant.

Variant	Effect
0	Change BLIGHT to specified index. Useful when a lighting change is needed in mid-air.
1	Change BLIGHT to specified index. (Different from 0?)
2	Trigger a water splash (pocha) without respawning the player. The BLIGHT index references a pocha object in the KMP, which is used to determine the height of the splash effect. The BLIGHT index should match Setting 1 of the corresponding pocha object.
3	Activate starGate object. Used in tournaments only.
4	Half-pipe cancellation; forces the player out of half-pipe state.
5	Coin despawner; despawns any coins that touch it. Used in battle mode only.
6	Unknown. Used on top of the chimneys in Delfino Pier. Possibly related to truckChimSmkW?
7	Unknown. Unused

Item State Modifier (0x1B)

Nintendo uses this type only in Toad's Factory. It stops stationary items once leaving the curved conveyor belts. Variants are never used and likely have no effect.

Variant	Effect
0	Default
1-7	Unknown. Unused

Half-Pipe Invisible Wall (0x1C)

An invisible wall that is only solid for players in the air after a half-pipe jump, used in Bowser's Castle and Funky Stadium. Variants are never used and likely have no effect.

Variant	Effect
0	Default
1-7	Unknown. Unused

Rotating Road (0x1D)

If casino_roulette is present, this road slowly rotates around it counterclockwise. Without casino_roulette, it acts like ordinary road. For more information, see: Moving Terrain

Variant	Effect
0	Carpet, different impact SFX
1	Normal road, different sound, different impact SFX (unused)
2	Normal road
3	Glass road
4	Carpet
5	No sound, star crash impact SFX (requires starGate for SFX) (unused)
6	Sand (unused)
7	Dirt (unused)

Special Wall (0x1E)

Variants consist of wall types that have special functionality and/or are used in very specific situations.

Variant	Effect
0	Cactus. Touching this will cause the player to spin out. Used in Dry Dry Ruins and Thwomp Desert.
1	No SFX/GFX. Used behind the lavafalls in Grumble Volcano.
2	Bouncy wall (unused). Driving into it at slow speed will cause the player to be pushed backwards.
3	No SFX/GFX. Used for the finish line banners on Wario's Gold Mine and Koopa Cape.
4	Rainbow Road railings. SFX only work on slot 4.4.
5	The sides and stalk of mushroom pads, used on Mushroom Gorge.
6	Metal SFX. Used for the statue in Luigi Circuit and the top of the underwater section in Koopa Cape.
7	The sides of the gates from competitions. Requires starGate object for SFX.

Invisible Wall 2 (0x1F)

Solid for players only. The difference between this and Invisible Wall (0x0D) is unknown.

Variant	Effect
0	No SFX/GFX
1-7	Unknown. Same as 0? (unused)

Additional Info

Wiimm has made a statistical analysis about the usage of flags in all 32 tracks: kcl-types.txt

Type	What is it?	Speed factor[1]	Handling factor[1]
0x00	Road	1.0	0.7
0x01	Slippery Road 1	1.0	0.050 – 0.105
0x02	Weak Off-road	0.550 – 0.909	0.080 – 0.157
0x03	Off-road	0.325 – 0.712	0.050 – 0.105
0x04	Heavy Off-road	0.185 – 0.422	0.050 – 0.105
0x05	Slippery Road 2	0.881 – 0.999	0.030 – 0.074
0x06	Boost Panel	1.0	0.7
0x07	Boost Ramp	1.0	0.7
0x08	Jump Pad	1.0	0.7
0x09	Item Road	1.0	0.7
0x0A	Solid Fall	0.1	0.7
0x0B	Moving Water	1.0	0.7
0x0C	Wall	1.0	0.7
0x0D	Invisible Wall	1.0	0.7
0x0E	Item Wall	1.0	0.7
0x0F	Wall 2	1.0	0.7
0x10	Fall Boundary	1.0	0.7
0x11	Cannon Activator	1.0	0.7
0x12	Force Recalculation	1.0	0.7
0x13	Half-pipe Ramp	1.0	0.7
0x14	Player-Only Wall	1.0	0.7
0x15	Moving Road	1.0	0.7
0x16	Sticky/Gravity Road	1.0	0.7
0x17	Road 2	1.0	0.7
0x18	Sound Trigger	1.0	0.7
0x19	Weak Wall	1.0	0.7
0x1A	Effect Trigger	1.0	0.7
0x1B	Item State Modifier	1.0	0.7
0x1C	Half-pipe Invisible Wall	1.0	0.7
0x1D	Rotating Road	1.0	0.7
0x1E	Special Walls	1.0	0.7
0x1F	Invisible Wall 2	1.0	0.7

[1] : Notes for Speed factor

• Each vehicle and driver combination has its own basic speed. The Speed factor is always ≤1.0 and defines the relative KCL type dependent speed.
• The values are calculated after analyzing different Mario Kart Wii files. The ranges depends on the possible driver and vehicle combinations.
• The different basic speed of the vehicles (75.00 – 85.07) and the driver modifications of the basic speed (add 0 – 0.53) are not part of these speed factor calculations.
• Some values are senseless (e.g. walls, fall down, effects), but the values are available in the Mario Kart Wii tables.