Files

This is about the file object representing a save-file. It has size 21440B (= 0x53C0 = 1340 lines), of mostly blank space.

File Externals

There are 5 files loaded in memory:

File	Address	Description
FA	80955464	“active” file, used in gameplay to store/reflect changes between saves
FB	8095A824‬	“BiT” file, a surrogate active file for title-screen activity
F1	809BE200‬	a copy of file 1
F2	809C35C0‬	a copy of file 2
F3	809C8980‬	a copy of file 3

It’ll also be useful to define these file variables:

Var	Values	Description
FC	FA, FB	“current” file, = FA during gameplay and FB during title-screen
FS	F1, F2, F3	“selected” file, = the file most recently selected on the title screen (including any started file)

Notes:

• F1, F2, F3 are intended to always reflect the actual save data, which is loaded and stored here.
• Precisely, FC is FA if 800115e0: cf.isFileInactive() (see decompilation) returns 0 and FB otherwise. FC is FB during title-screen except that when selecting/starting a file, it switches to FA briefly while an anti-commit happens. It’s always FA during gameplay.
• Precisely, FS is F(n+1), where n is the value of the byte at cf + 0xa83c: cf.selectedFileNo, where cf = 8095545c.
• FA, FB are members of the cf currentFiles object and F1, F2, F3 of the sf saveFiles object; see the page on the CF class. They are contiguous within their objects (i.e. in arrays).

Dynamics

Most operations to do with files are managed by the CF “CurrentFiles” class, which is a singleton whose instance is labelled cf and is located at 8095545c. Some high-level dynamics:

• Resetting blanks FA and FB, commits FB (blank), then initialises FB with some defaults like 24 1/4-hearts.
• Selecting a file sets FS appropriately, then copies FS → FA.
• Saving copies FA → FS.
• Committing copies various bits of static data (from 805xxxxx and 806xxxxx, e.g. current scene-flag array) onto FC.
• Anti-Committing copies FC → static data (as above), and takes place on the title-screen during reset, file selects and file starts.

File Internals

This is the layout of a file object.
First col is the offset in hex from the start of the file.
Third col is the size in hex of that section.
A “line” is 16B (hex editor convention).
The space between a / and the next named address is believed to be empty.
A section labelled _ is believed to be empty (for padding).
☆ denotes something that may be committed from/loaded to static data.
Many bits of data come in triples corresponding to spawn types 1,2,3, which are labelled t1,t2,t3 below. Depending on the spawn type, data for one specific type is read by the game – note the same labels in cf functions. t1 and t3 respectively correspond to save/start and loading-zone/continue.

I	Head	[80]	(8 lines)
0	times	[10]	playtime [8]; savetime [8]. format: 3,645,000,000 = 1min; floor-rounded
10	position	[24]	3 triples of floats (x,y,z for each of t1,t2,t3 rsp)
34	/
70	co‑ords 2	[0C]	1 triple of floats(?): ???
7C	/
II	Global Flags	[420]	(66 lines)
7B0	?	[10]
7C0	adventure pouch items	[20]	int[8]
7E0	item check items	[E0]	int[60]
8D0	file area index	[4]	appears on file-select as area name
8D4	file hero name	[10]	appears on file-select; UTF-16 big-endian, 8 chars
8E4	story flags	[100]	☆ | story flag table covers 8E4–944 [60]
9E4	item flags	[80]	☆ | breakdown below
A64	?	[10]	☆ | “heartbeat” – committed every frame
A74	?	[15C]
BD0	/
III	Scene Flags	[1A4]	(27 lines)
1A60	?	[4]
1A64	scene flags	[1A0]	☆
1C04	/
IV	???	[40]	(4 lines)
2A60	?	[4]
2A64	?	[4]	☆
2A68	?	[38]
2AA0	/
V	Temporary	[394]	(58 lines)
2F60	?	[194]
30F4	temp flags	[8]	☆
30FC	loadzone temp flags	[8]	☆ | treated as part of scratch by anti-commits and certain commits
3104	scratch	[1f0]	☆ |
32F4	?	[2000]	☆ | 2k of nothing, still copied a lot
VI	Tail	[CC]	(13 lines)
52F4	potion timers	[C]	blue, blue+, green, green+, purple, purple+. 2B ints
5300	tail	[C0]	breakdown below
53C0	//		(end of object)

Breakdowns

	Item Flags	[80]	(8 lines)
9E4	inventory flags	[1A]	inv flag table exactly
9FE	?	[36]
A34	counters (menu)	[1E]	treasure, bug, pouch, crystal; counters table starts at A33
A52	?	[9]
A5B	counters (item)	[9]	hp,$,keys,ammo; counters table goes past end

	Tail	[C0]	(12 lines)
5300	_	[2]
5302	total hearts	[2]
5304	?	[2]	heart-related
5306	current hearts	[2]
5308	?	[2]	// t1
530A	?	[2]	// t2
530C	?	[2]	// t3
530E	angle t1	[2]
5310	angle t2	[2]
5312	angle t3	[2]
5314	?	[2]
5316	_	[2]
5318	scene flag index	[2]	picks the row of scene flags (Bob)
531A	_	[2]
531C	area t1	[20]	char[32], e.g. “F000”
533C	area t2	[20]	char[32], e.g. “F000”
535C	area t3	[20]	char[32], e.g. “F000”
537C	_	[20]
539C	sky keep puzzle	[9]	byte[9]; access is modulo 9
53A5	forced layer t1	[1]	// (Bob)
53A6	forced layer t2	[1]
53A7	forced layer t3	[1]
53A8	entrance t1	[1]	// reload to spawn at entrance, not coords
53A9	t1 entrance load flag	[1]	forces entrance during type-1 load (start file)
53AA	entrance t2	[1]
53AB	entrance t3	[1]
53AC	_	[1]
53AD	new file	[1]	set on new file; unset by saving
53AE	?	[1]
53AF	_	[1]
53B0	?	[1]
53B1	shield pouch slot?	[1]	pouch slot number of currently-equipped shield
53B2	?	[1]
53B3	night t1	[1]
53B4	night t3	[1]
53B5	?	[1]	// t1, t3
53B6	_	[6]
53BC	checksum	[4]

Misc:

9D0: selected menu panel (+ other stuff) [1]
30FD: (according to Bob) “if (*file+0x30FD)&0x0A is true in a file, then selecting that file in BiT will automatically flush the cutscene queue”. Something about auto-commits.