Magic Carpet 2: The Netherworlds

This page contains notes for the game Magic Carpet 2: The Netherworlds.

To do: Most of below is just copied from MC1 notes, need to update to be MC2 specific and get more level structure info from REMC2 project's level editor which has most of this figured out but not documented. The BASF demo includes level manifests that reveal the original name/function of lots of Thing Subtypes

Level.Dat Data Structures#

Magic Carpet 2 uses a very similar basic level data structure to the original, which slowly deviates from the original until the later parts of the level files are completely different.

Map Header and Generation Parameters#

To do: Figure out purpose of rest of starting bytes

Magic Carpet 2 begins with very different data here compared to the original game. There is now a header on all levels of 02 00 - 02 for the second version of the level format, and for Magic Carpet 2.

The original MC1 mapgen paramters still exist, but now start at 17. Names below are again mostly from the GAM00088.DAT file found on the original Magic Carpet CD, which only begins from the Seed attribute. Note most of the later attributes only seem to work with one byte, higher values seem to crash the game (like rivers). There are likely more attributes that are not yet identified yet.

There is then a lots of zeroed data until position 457. This seems to be fixed across all levels as the start of Thing data.

Thing Definitions#

These always begin at position 457 in a level file. These include everything the player can see and interact with in the game, from enemies to collectables to switches. Each entry is 20 bytes long, and there are 1199 entries (condsierably less than MC1's 1999).

To do: Work out new variable purpose

Each entry contains the above variables. Each entry is numbered 1 - 1999, but this is implicit from their order and used for things like the Parent and Child values, it's not explicitly recorded in the entry.

Thing Types#

To do: Think there is one more new type

These go in the "Class" field. They define the basic Type of a Thing. Weather effects are totally removed now (if they weren't already), and spells now use a different number.

Once a Thing type is set, the Thing Subtype (e.g. if a creature, what kind of creature it is) is then set in the "Model" field:

Scenery Thing SubTypes#

Player Spawn Subtypes#

To do: Not even started

These are wizard (player) start positions. If the wizard (other than the player) has a castle level set above zero, they will build their castle here on level start

Creature Thing Subtypes#

Creatures with a SwiId value are spawned by triggering the switch with the corresponding SwiId value

Effect Thing Subtypes#

To do: Not even started

"Effects" range from all objects that are not creatures or scenery (buildings, Craters, walls, etc) to one-off effects like explosions and traps usually triggered by switches

Switch Thing Subtypes#

To do: Not even started

More research is needed on switches. Essentially they behave as outlined below, and the SwiId (Switch ID) field is used to give each switch a unique ID, and also to assign Effects to trigger by giving them the same ID. However, there is more at play, the DisId field is also used in some cases, this seems to be to link other switches to be triggered by the first one, or more likely to work in sequence (so they will only trigger after the previously linked switch has been fired). Switch areas are always circular, and the SwiSz (Switch Size) field determines the radius of this circle.

Object Thing SubTypes#

To do: Likely lots more of these

A new subtype for MC2.

Spell Thing SubTypes#

Spell jars. In MC2 these are now a totally different Class and in a different order to the original game. MC2 uses different values in the SwiId field that are not understood yet. If a spell jar is spawned by a switch, the DisId field is used to mark which one it is, NOT the SwiId field (which still marks what kind of jar it is).

Wizard Stats Block#

To do: Confirm some of these once custom levels are possible in REMC2

From here MC2 files are very different. The APK stats are still there, and spells are still represented by booleans, but the structure is different.

Each Wizard definition is 110 bytes long.

Player 1 stats always begin at position 6207. Wizard 2 is then at 6275, Wizard 3 at 62E3, etc. Unlike the original game, if a wizard is not in the level, they simply won't have a definition here.

Level Objectives#

A new addition for MC2. Each level has a maximum of eight objectives that need to be completed. These seem to need to be completed in order, there doesn't seem to be logic in place to AND or OR objectives.

This data is always found at position 6574. Note one byte before at position 6573 is the number of objectives used in the level. Objectives are 7 bytes long and there are always 8 objectives per level. Ones that are unused are marked with Objective Type FF. Some seem to have other data in despite being FF, so this needs to be looked into.

Objective Types are as follows. Note these are confirmed from cut text in the ETEXT.DAT file from the BASF demo: