GameData

This page is in progress and may contain incomplete information or editor's notes.

In Super Mario Galaxy, save data is stored on the Wii's NAND, inside the file GameData.bin.

SMG1

The file starts with a 16-byte long header.

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	4	Checksum	A checksum of the file's contents.
0x4	4	Version	Always 2.
0x8	4	Save Entry Count	The number of save entries inside this file. In SMG1, this value is 19.
0xC	4	File Size	The size of this file, in bytes.

This is followed up by a list of entry headers, each one with this structure:

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	12	Name	The name of this entry.
0xC	4	Offset	The offset to this entry's data.

In SMG1, the following entries can be found:

Name	Description
mario1 - mario6	Mario save data.
luigi1 - luigi6	Luigi save data.
config1 - config6	Config save data shared between mario and luigi data.
sysconf	Game save data shared across all save entries.

mario/luigi Data

The data starts with a Binary Chunk Holder Header with the following values:

Name	Value	Notes
Unknown	1
Chunk Count	6

GameDataPlayerStatus Section

This section stores information about the story progress, the star bit count, and the life count.
This section starts with a Binary Chunk Header with the following values:

Name	Value	Notes
Signature	PLAY
Hash	0x27C90F	Unknown hash.
Size	19

The actual data is structured as follows:

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	1	Story Progress	The story progress value. Corresponds to the progressvalue of Unlabeled Table 1.
0x1	4	Star Bit Count	The number of star bits owned.
0x5	2	Life Remaining	The player's life count.

NOTE: The Life Remaining value is not used to set the mario's life count, but is instead used for 1-Up mail calculation. (This needs more research)

GameEventFlagStorage Section

This section stores game event flags. A complete list of events can be found in the Progress Checks page.
This section starts with a Binary Chunk Header with the following values:

Name	Value	Notes
Signature	FLG1
Hash	0x65020442	Hash code of the string "2bytes/flag"
Size	126

This section's data is made up of multiple 2-byte numbers:

Offset	Bit Count	Name	Description
0	1	Value	If this flag is enabled or not.
1	15	Hash	A shortened hash code of the flag's name.

StarPieceAlmsStorage Section

This section stores information about hungry lumas.
This section starts with a Binary Chunk Header with the following values:

Name	Value	Notes
Signature	PCE1
Hash	0xF5DE1DC0	Hash code of the string "StarPieceAlmsStorage" multiplied by 32.
Size	44

The data is an array of 16 2-byte values, each one corresponding to the amount of star bits fed to hungry lumas.
TicoFat and TicoGalaxy use their Obj_arg7 to indicate what index they get/set their star bit count from, although TicoGalaxy uses Obj_arg7 + 8 for the index.
Due to TicoFat and TicoGalaxy having 7 occurrences each, this means that the values at index 7 and 15 go unused.
Furthermore, due to theTicoFat in StarEggRoadZone having an Obj_arg7 of -1, index 0 also goes unused.

SpinDriverPathStorage Section

This section stores information about launch star paths.
This section starts with a Binary Chunk Header with the following values:

Name	Value	Notes
Signature	SPN1
Hash	0x12345679	Unknown hash.
Size	998

Todo.

GameEventValueStorage Section

This section stores game event values. A complete list of events can be found in the Progress Checks page.
This section starts with a Binary Chunk Header with the following values:

Name	Value	Notes
Signature	VLE1
Hash	0x564C4531	The string "VLE1".
Size	112

This section's data is made up of key-value pairs:

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	2	Hash	The hash of the event's name.
0x1	2	Value	The value of this event.

GameDataAllGalaxyStorage Section

This section stores galaxy information, such as the collected power stars.
This section starts with a Binary Chunk Header with the following values:

Name	Value	Notes
Signature	GALA
Hash	0xBF0640EE	Unknown hash.
Size	874

This section uses the Binary Data Content system to write its data.
This section starts with a galaxy count:

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	2	Galaxy Count	The number of galaxies. In SMG1, this value is 42.

Followed by a Binary Data Content header:

Name	Value	Notes
Attribute Count	4
Data Size	20

The Binary Data Content contains the following attributes:

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	2	mGalaxyName	The name of the galaxy.
0x2	1	mPowerStarFlag	The power star collection flags. Each bit corresponds to a power star.
0x3	1	mFirstPlayFlag	Todo.
0x4	16	mMaxCoinNum	Todo.

SMG2

Todo.

Binary Chunk System

To write save entry data, a system was created to read, write, and manage writing sub-sections of the data.

Binary Chunk Holder Header

A 4-byte header used throughout all save entries.

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	1	Unknown	Always 1.
0x1	1	Chunk Count	The number of chunks in the data.
0x2	2	Padding

Binary Chunk Header

A 12-byte header used for identifying the sub-sections of data.

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	4	Signature	A 4-byte long ASCII string
0x4	4	Hash	An additional identifier for the chunk.
0x8	4	Size	The size of this chunk, in bytes, from the start of this header.

NOTE: The Hash value is not always a hash code, as some chunks simply use 1 as the value.

Binary Data Content

The save file's dynamic data serialization system. The data starts with a 8-byte long header.

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	2	Attribute Count	The number of attributes in the data structure.
0x2	2	Data Size	The size of the data structure.

This is followed by multiple attribute headers.

Offset	Size	Name	Description
0x0	2	Hash	The hash of the attribute's name.
0x2	2	Offset	The offset from the start of the data structure.

As for the data, its structure is dinamically created by the attributes. Furthermore, multiple data structures can be written to the data buffer.

Tools

• TKSaveEditor - A currently WIP tool by VTXG.