Level Data Format

Pointer Tables

Address	Description	Format
$05E000	Layer 1 data	0x200 levels, 3 bytes each (1,536 bytes)
$05E600	Layer 2 data	0x200 levels, 3* bytes each (1,536 bytes)
$05EC00	Sprite data	0x200 levels, 2** bytes each (1,024 bytes)

* If the long byte of the Layer 2 data is #$FF, it will get replaced by #$0C and the data will be interpreted as a BG tilemap rather than object data.
** All sprite data is located in bank 07.

Primary Level Header

The first five bytes of object data for Layer 1 is the primary level header, which dictates various information about the level. Layer 2 object data also contains this header, but it is skipped over and ignored.

Format
BBBLLLLL	CCCOOOOO	3MMMSSSS	TTPPPFFF	IIVVZZZZ

BBB	BG palette
LLLLL	Length of level (number of screens, -1)
CCC	Back area color
OOOOO	Level mode
3	Layer 3 priority
MMM	Music
SSSS	Sprite GFX setting
TT	Timer setting
PPP	Sprite palette
FFF	FG palette
II	Item memory setting
VV	Vertical scroll setting
ZZZZ	FG/BG GFX setting

Secondary Level Header

The secondary level header consists of four bytes, spread across four seperate tables with one byte per level.

Format
$05F000	$05F200	$05F400	$05F600
SSSSYYYY	33AAAXXX	MMMMFFBB	IUVEEEEE

SSSS	Layer 2 scroll setting
YYYY	Level entrance Y position
33	Layer 3 setting
AAA	Level entrance Mario action
XXX	Level entrance X position
MMMM	Midway entrance screen number
FF	FG initial position
BB	BG initial position
I	Disable No-Yoshi Intro flag
U	Unknown/unused vertical position flag
V	Vertical positioning flag
EEEEE	Level entrance screen number

Sprite Header

The first byte of sprite data is the sprite header, which handles some miscellaneous sprite-related information.

Format
SBMMMMMM

S	Sprite buoyancy
B	Sprite buoyancy (disable sprite-Layer 2 interaction)
MMMMMM	Sprite memory*

* Although values up to #$3F are possible, only up to #$12 are actually intended for use.

Object Data

Object data is used to define Layer 1 and Layer 2 foreground data. The Z order of the objects is determined by the order they're written; an object earlier in the data, for instance, will appear below an object written later.

The data consists of a five byte header, followed by a list of all the objects. If the first byte of an object is #$FF, it indicates the end of the data has been reached.

The "new screen" flag described in most of the below formats increases the high X position of all following objects by one. In order to decrease it or increase it by a larger amount, a screen jump must be used.

Standard Objects

Standard objects are 3 bytes long. The 'settings byte' usage varies depending on the object, but generally specifies the height and width of the object.

Format
NBBYYYYY	bbbbXXXX	SSSSSSSS

Standard Object List
ID	Object name	Settings byte usage
00	(Extended Objects)	Extended object ID
01	Water (Blue)	Height	Width
02	Invisible coin blocks	Height	Width
03	Invisible note blocks	Height	Width
04	Invisible POW coins	Height	Width
05	Coins	Height	Width
06	Walk-through dirt	Height	Width
07	Water (Other color)	Height	Width
08	Note blocks	Height	Width
09	Turn blocks	Height	Width
0A	Coin ? blocks	Height	Width
0B	Throw blocks	Height	Width
0C	Black piranha plants	Height	Width
0D	Cement blocks	Height	Width
0E	Brown blocks	Height	Width
0F	Vertical pipes	Height	Type
10	Horizontal pipes	Type	Width
11	Bullet shooter	Height	Unused
12	Slopes	Height	Type
13	Ledge edges	Height	Type
14	Ground ledge	Height	Width
15	Midway/Goal point	Height	Type
16	Blue coins	Height	Width
17	Rope/Clouds	Type	Width
18	Water surface (ani)	Height	Width
19	Water surface (not ani)	Height	Width
1A	Lava surface (ani)	Height	Width
1B	Net top edge	Height	Width
1C	Donut bridge	Unused	Width
1D	Net bottom edge	Height	Width
1E	Net vertical edge	Height	Type
1F	Vert. Pipe/Bone/Log	Height	Unused
20	Horiz. Pipe/Bone/Log	Unused	Width
21	Long ground ledge	Width
22	LM - Direct Map16 page 0	Special handling
23	LM - Direct Map16 page 1	Special handling
24	LM - Old FG/BG/SP bypass	Special handling
25	LM - Old AN2 bypass	Special handling
26	LM - Music bypass	Special handling
27	LM - Direct Map16 object	Special handling
28	LM - Time limit bypass	Special handling
29	LM - Reserved	N/A
2A	LM - Reserved	N/A
2B	LM - Reserved	N/A
2C	LM - Reserved	N/A
2D	LM - Reserved	N/A
2E	Tileset Specific 1	Various
2F	Tileset Specific 2	Various
30	Tileset Specific 3	Various
31	Tileset Specific 4	Various
32	Tileset Specific 5	Various
33	Tileset Specific 6	Various
34	Tileset Specific 7	Various
35	Tileset Specific 8	Various
36	Tileset Specific 9	Various
37	Tileset Specific 10	Various
38	Tileset Specific 11	Various
39	Tileset Specific 12	Various
3A	Tileset Specific 13	Various
3B	Tileset Specific 14	Various
3C	Tileset Specific 15	Various
3D	Tileset Specific 16	Various
3E	Tileset Specific 17	Various
3F	Tileset Specific 18	Various

The above list shows the usage of the settings byte for each standard object; when an object has two columns for the usage, the right column is the lower nibble while the left is the higher nibble (i.e. #$HW for most objects). The usage can also be seen in Lunar Magic's object window, next to the object ID, though LM displays them in reverse order.

Extended Objects

Extended objects function as standard object 00, and are also 3 bytes long.

Format
N00YYYYY	0000XXXX	BBBBBBBB

N	New Screen flag
YYYYY	Y position
XXXX	X position
BBBBBBBB	Extended object number

In vertical levels, the X and Y position values are swapped.

Extended Object List
ID	Object name
00	Special - Screen Exit
01	Special - Screen Jump
02-0F	Unused
10	Small door
11	Invisible ? block (1-UP)
12	Invisible note block
13	Top left corner edge tile 1
14	Top right corner edge tile 1
15	Small POW door
16	Invisible POW ? block
17	Green star block
18	3-UP moon
19	Invisible 1-UP #1
1A	Invisible 1-UP #2
1B	Invisible 1-UP #3
1C	Invisible 1-UP #4
1D	Red berry
1E	Pink berry
1F	Green berry
20	Always turning block
21	Bottom right of midway point (unused)
22	Bottom right of midway point (unused)
23	Note block (flower/feather/star)
24	ON/OFF block
25	Direction coins ? block
26	Note block
27	Note block, bounce on all sides
28	Turn block (Flower)
29	Turn block (Feather)
2A	Turn block (Star)
2B	Turn block (Star 2/1-UP/Vine)
2C	Turn block (Multiple coins)
2D	Turn block (Coin)
2E	Turn block (Nothing)
2F	Turn block (POW)
30	? block (Flower)
31	? block (Feather)
32	? block (Star)
33	? block (Star 2)
34	? block (Multiple coins)
35	? block (Key/Wings/Balloon/Shell)
36	? block (Yoshi)
37	? block (Shell)
38	? block (Shell)
39	Turn block, unbreakable (Feather)
3A	Top left corner edge tile 2
3B	Top right corner edge tile 2
3C	Top left corner edge tile 3
3D	Top right corner edge tile 3
3E	Top left corner edge tile 4
3F	Top right corner edge tile 4
40	Transculent block
41	Yoshi Coin
42	Top left slope
43	Top right slope
44	Purple triangle, left
45	Purple triangle, right
46	Midway point rope
47	Door
48	Invisible POW door
49	Ghost house exit
4A	Climbing net door
4B	Conveyor end tile 1
4C	Conveyor end tile 2
4D	Line guide, top left 1/4 large circle
4E	Line guide, top right 1/4 large circle
4F	Line guide, bottom left 1/4 large circle
50	Line guide, bottom right 1/4 large circle
51	Line guide, top left 1/4 small circle
52	Line guide, top right 1/4 small circle
53	Line guide, bottom left 1/4 small circle
54	Line guide, bottom right 1/4 small circle
55	Line guide end, for horizontal line
56	Line guide end, for vertical line
57	Switch palace bottom right corner tile
58	Switch palace bottom left corner tile
59	Switch palace top right corner tile
5A	Switch palace top left corner tile
5B	Bit of brick background tile 1
5C	Bit of brick background tile 2
5D	Bit of brick background tile 3
5E	Bit of brick background tile 4
5F	Large background area
60	Lava/mud top right corner edge
61	Ghost house clock
62	Ghost house top left to bottom right beam 1
63	Ghost house top right to bottom left beam 1
64	Ghost house cobweb, top right
65	Ghost house cobweb, top left
66	Ghost house top right to bottom left beam 2
67	Ghost house top left to bottom right beam 2
68	Cloud fringe, bottom and right edge
69	Cloud fringe, bottom and left edge
6A	Cloud fringe, bottom right
6B	Cloud fringe, bottom left
6C	Cloud fringe on white, bottom and right edge
6D	Cloud fringe on white, bottom and left edge
6E	Cloud fringe on white, bottom right
6F	Cloud fringe on white, bottom left
70	Bit of canvass 1
71	Canvass 1
72	Canvass 2
73	Canvass 3
74	Canvass 4
75	Canvass tile 1
76	Canvass tile 2
77	Canvass tile 3
78	Canvass tile 4
79	Canvass tile 5
7A	Canvass tile 6
7B	Canvass tile 7
7C	Bit of canvas 2
7D	Bit of canvas 3
7E	Bit of canvas 4
7F	Torpedo launcher
80	Ghost house entrance
81	Water weed
82	Big bush 1
83	Big bush 2
84	Castle entrance
85	Yoshi's house
86	Arrow sign
87	! block, green
88	Tree branch, left
89	Tree branch, right
8A	Switch, green
8B	Switch, yellow
8C	Switch, blue
8D	Switch, red
8E	! block, yellow
8F	Ghost house window
90	Boss door
91	Steep left slope (vert. lev.)
92	Steep right slope (vert. lev.)
93	Normal left slope (vert. lev.)
94	Normal right slope (vert. lev.)
95	Very steep left slope (vert. lev.)
96	Very steep right slope (vert. lev.)
97	Switch palace right and bottom edge tile
98-FF	Unused

Screen Exits

Screen exits function as extended object 00. Unlike the rest of object data, they're 4 bytes long rather than 3.

Format
000PPPPP	0000WUSH	00000000	DDDDDDDD

PPPPP	Screen number
W	Water flag* (secondary exit)
U	LM-modified flag**
S	Secondary exit flag
H	High bit of destination level / secondary exit ID*
DDDDDDDD	Low byte of destination level / secondary exit ID

* Added by Lunar Magic; not used in the original game.
** Indicates the screen exit uses the secondary exit flag added by LM rather than SMW's default functionality.

In an unmodified SMW, if the last screen exit in the data has the secondary exit flag set, all screen exits in the level will be interpreted as secondary exits.
In an unmodified SMW, the high bit of the current level is used as the high bit of the destination level / secondary exit ID.

Screen Jump

Screen jumps function as extended object 01, and change the high X position of proceding objects to a specified screen. They can be used to skip over screens if no objects exit on them, or to move back a screen to change the Z ordering of an object crossing over a screen boundary. Like standard and extended objects, they consist of three bytes.

Format
000PPPPP	0000----	00000001

PPPPP	Screen number
----	Currently unused

Lunar Magic Objects

Lunar Magic adds some additional objects under standard IDs 22-28, with 29-2C additionally reserved for future use, and object 2D reserved for user-defined objects.

Object 22/23

Object 22 and 23 are used for direct tiles from Map16 pages 0 and 1 respectively. They're four bytes long rather than three.

Format
N10YYYYY	001BXXXX	HHHHWWWW	bbbbbbbb

N	New Screen flag
Bbbbbbbbb	Map16 tile number
YYYYY	Y position
XXXX	X position
HHHH	Height
WWWW	Width

In vertical levels, the X and Y position values are swapped.

Object 24/25

Objects 24 and 25 are deprecated objects used to handle the old GFX bypass system, which used a list system for specifying ExGFX files. The new Super GFX bypass renders these unnecessary.

Format
Object 24	N10-SSSS	0100ssss	FFFFFFFF
Object 25	N10-UUUU	0101uuuu	AAAAAAAA

N	New Screen flag
SSSSssss	GFX list to use for sprite GFX, plus 1
FFFFFFFF	GFX list to use for FG/BG GFX, plus 1
UUUUuuuu	Unused? Stored to $FA.
AAAAAAAA	GFX file for AN2, plus 1 (values greater than FE can't be used)
-	Currently unused

Note: the GFX list for FG/BG graphics does not include the extra files BG2 and BG3.

Object 26

Object 26 handles the music bypass.

Format
N10-UUUU	0101uuuu	MMMMMMMM

N	New Screen flag
MMMMMMMM	Song ID to use, plus one.
UUUUuuuu	Unused? Functions identical to the M bits.
-	Currently unused

Object 27

Object 27 handles Map16 objects other than those handled by object 22/23. There are four different forms of the object, depending on how the tiles are selected and stretched.

Format
Single-screen, single tile	N10YYYYY	0111XXXX	HHHHWWWW	00BBBBBB	bbbbbbbb
Multiple tiles unstretched	N10YYYYY	0111XXXX	hhhhwwww	01BBBBBB	bbbbbbbb
Single-screen, multiple tiles	N10YYYYY	0111XXXX	HHHHWWWW	10BBBBBB	bbbbbbbb	hhhhwwww
Multi-screen	N10YYYYY	0111XXXX	WWWWWWWW	11BBBBBB	bbbbbbbb	hhhhwwww	HHHHHHHH

N	New Screen flag
BBBBBBbbbbbbbb	Base Map16 tile number
YYYYY	Y position
XXXX	X position
HHHH(HHHH)	Height*
WWWW(WWWW)	Width*
hhhh	Height of Map16 selection
wwww	Width of Map16 selection

In vertical levels, the X and Y position values are swapped.

* Although the height and width of multi-screen objects are 8-bit, only values up to #$80 are valid due to the way their routine is coded.

Object 28

Object 28 handles the time limit bypass.

Format
N10-BBBB	0001CCCC	R---AAAA

N	New Screen flag
AAAA	Ones
BBBB	Tens
CCCC	Hundreds
R	Force timer reset flag
----	Currently unused

Object 2D

Object 2D is reserved by Lunar Magic for 5-byte custom user-defined objects. Although it's parsed by LM's hijacks, it's not actually tied to any routines normally.

Format
N10YYYYY	1101XXXX	SSSSSSSS	AAAAAAAA	BBBBBBBB

N	New Screen flag
YYYYY	Y position
XXXX	X position
SSSSSSSS	Settings
AAAAAAAA	Extension byte A
BBBBBBBB	Extension byte B

ObjecTool uses extension byte A as the custom object number, while byte B is left free for use.

In vertical levels, the X and Y position values are swapped.

Background Data

When Layer 2 is stored as a background tilemap (see the note on the pointer table), it's written as a raw tilemap with no header, compressed in the LC_RLE1 format.

Format
RLLLLLLL	...

R	RLE flag
LLLLLLL	Length
...	If the RLE flag is clear, the following (length + 1) bytes are intepreted as direct tile data. If the RLE flag is set, the following byte is repeated (length + 1) times.

The entire left half of the BG is stored first, then the right half. A command of FF FF indicates the end of the data.

Sprite Data

Sprite data consists of a single-byte header, followed by a list of all the sprites. If the first byte of a sprite is #$FF, it indicates the end of the data has been reached.

Format
yyyyEESY	XXXXssss	NNNNNNNN

Yyyyy	Y position
EE	Extra bits
XXXX	X position
Sssss	Screen number
NNNNNNNN	Sprite ID

In vertical levels, the X and Y position values are swapped.

Secondary Entrances

Secondary entrance data consists of four bytes, spread across four seperate 512-byte tables with one byte per secondary exit ID.

Format
$05F800	$05FA00	$05FC00	$05FE00
DDDDDDDD	BBFFYYYY	XXXSSSSS	L---HAAA

DDDDDDDD	Low byte of destination level
BB	BG initial position
FF	FG initial position
YYYY	Entrance Y position
XXX	Entrance X position
SSSSS	Entrance screen number
L	Slippery level flag*
---	Currently unused
H	High bit of destination level*
AAA	Entrance Mario action

* Added by Lunar Magic; not used in the original game.