waza_p.bin/waza_p2.bin File Format
The "/BALANCE/waza_p.bin" file and the "/BALANCE/waza_p2.bin" files contains both the data for every moves in the game, and the movesets for every Pokemon in the game. Its a SIR0 wrapped format.
The "waza_p2.bin" file is found only in Explorers of Sky, and its purpose remains unknown. It contains mainly a perfect copy of all the move data in waza_p.bin. Only some Pokemon movesets differs between both files. Erasing the waza_p2.bin file from the game's files causes no immediate issues, as the game seems to use exclusively data from the waza_p.bin file inside and outside dungeons. The file is referred to in a string within the arm9.bin binary. Thus, it must be used eventually by the game in some way.
"waza" is the Romaji equivalent of "わざ", which means technique/art.[1]
File Structure
Overview
The format is pretty straightforward. Its made up of 3 major parts. The moveset data, the move data, and a table of pointers to regroup and access individual Pokemon moveset data.
| Offset | Length | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 16 | SIR0 Header | A SIR0 header wrapping the item data. |
| 0x10 | varies | Movesets Data | A block containing the moveset data for most Pokemon. |
| After Movesets Data | 0-15 | Padding Bytes | Some 0xAA padding bytes to align the next block on 16 bytes. |
| After Padding Bytes | varies | Moves Data | A block containing the data for all moves in the game. |
| After Moves Data | 0-15 | Padding Bytes | Some 0xAA padding bytes to align the next section on 16 bytes. |
| After Padding Bytes | varies | Moveset Data Pointers Table | A table containing pointers stored in groups of 3 for every Pokemon's moveset stored in there. |
| After Moveset Data Pointers Table | 0-15 | Padding Bytes | Some 0xAA padding bytes to align the next section on 16 bytes. |
| After Padding Bytes | 8 | Waza Header | Two pointers, one to the Moves Data, the other to the Moveset Data Pointers Table. |
| After Waza Header | 0-15 | Padding Bytes | Some 0xAA padding bytes to align the next section on 16 bytes. |
| After Padding Bytes | 3 | SIR0 Pointer Offset List | A list of encoded offsets to the pointers in the file. Since there are only the 2 pointers of the SIR0 header, those three bytes are always 0x04, 0x04, 0x00. |
| After SIR0 Pointer Offset List | 13 | Padding Bytes | Since all entries have a fixed size, and the SIR0 Pointer Offset List is 3 bytes long, 13 0xAA bytes are used as padding to align the end of the file on 16 bytes. |
Waza Header
Not really a header in the traditional sense, but more like the entry point to the data the file contains. Its made of two 4 bytes pointers, one to the beginning of the Moves Data block, and the other to the beginning of the Moveset Data Pointers Table.
| Offset | Length | Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | 4 | uint32 | PtrMoveDataBlock | Points to the beginning of the Moves Data block. |
| 0x4 | 4 | uint32 | PtrPtrTable | Points to the beginning of the Moveset Data Pointers Table. |
Moves Data
This block is very simple. Its made up of 26 bytes entries containing data for all the moves used in the game. The first entry is always a dummy move. The order the moves appears in this block is the same order as the move names strings are stored inside the text*.str file. The same goes for the moves' description strings.
| Offset | Length | Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x00 | 2 | uint16 | Base Power | The base power of the move. |
| 0x02 | 1 | uint8 | Type | The type of the move. See the types list below, for the possible values. |
| 0x03 | 1 | uint8 | Category | What kind of move is it.
|
| 0x04 | 2 | uint16 | Bitfield#1 | A bit field not fully understood yet. It does however changes what enemies are hit at close range. See Bitfield 1 for more details. |
| 0x06 | 2 | uint16 | Bitfield#2 | Another bit field that's not fully understood yet. This one seems to alter long-range attack. See Bitfield 2 for more details. |
| 0x08 | 1 | uint8 | Base PPs | The base amount of PP for the move. |
| 0x09 | 1 | uint8 | Unk#6 | Unknown. |
| 0x0A | 1 | uint8 | Unk#7 | Unknown. |
| 0x0B | 1 | uint8 | Move Accuracy | The percentage indicating the chances the move will succeed. 100 is perfect accuracy. Anything higher than 100 is a never-miss move. |
| 0x0C | 1 | uint8 | Unk#9 | Unknown. |
| 0x0D | 1 | uint8 | Unk#10 | Unknown. |
| 0x0E | 1 | uint8 | Unk#11 | Unknown. |
| 0x0F | 1 | uint8 | Unk#12 | Unknown. Possibly related to critical hits calculation? |
| 0x10 | 1 | uint8 | Unk#13 | Unknown. |
| 0x11 | 1 | uint8 | Unk#14 | Unknown. |
| 0x12 | 1 | uint8 | Unk#15 | Unknown. |
| 0x13 | 1 | uint8 | Unk#16 | Unknown. |
| 0x14 | 1 | uint8 | Unk#17 | Unknown. |
| 0x15 | 1 | uint8 | Unk#18 | Unknown. Possible bitfield. |
| 0x16 | 2 | uint16 | Move ID | The move's ID, possibly used by the game code for allocating resources and etc.. |
| 0x18 | 1 | uint8 | Unk#19 | Unknown. |
Types List
| Value | Type |
|---|---|
| 0x00 | None |
| 0x01 | Normal |
| 0x02 | Fire |
| 0x03 | Water |
| 0x04 | Grass |
| 0x05 | Electric |
| 0x06 | Ice |
| 0x07 | Fighting |
| 0x08 | Poison |
| 0x09 | Ground |
| 0x0A | Flying |
| 0x0B | Psychic |
| 0x0C | Bug |
| 0x0D | Rock |
| 0x0E | Ghost |
| 0x0F | Dragon |
| 0x10 | Dark |
| 0x11 | Steel |
| 0x12 | Neutral |
Bitfield 1
Not much is known about this field, except that setting some of its bits to 1 changes the way moves target entities.
0001 0000 (16)= Hit everything next to the user on 180 degrees forward 0010 0000(32) = Hit everything next to the user on 360 degrees 0011 0000(48) = Hit everything in the same room 0111 0011(115)= Hit user
Bitfield 2
Not much either is known about this field. Changing some of its bits seems to alter ranged moves.
0101 0000(80) makes the move a long range straight line attack
Moveset Data Pointers Table
A table made of a series of groups of 3 pointers. Each groups of 3 pointers is assigned to a Pokemon that has the same index in monster.md as the group of pointer.
| Offset | Length | Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | 4 | uint32 | PtrLvlUpLst | Points to this Pokemon's level-up moves list. Only null for the first dummy Pokemon. |
| 0x4 | 4 | uint32 | PtrHmTmLst | Points to this Pokemon's list of teachable HM/TM moves. Only null for the first dummy Pokemon. |
| 0x8 | 4 | uint32 | PtrEggLst | Points to this Pokemon's list of possible egg moves. Only null for the first dummy Pokemon. |
Movesets Data
This block is made of null terminated lists of encoded integers. Each lists are pointed to by a pointer in the Moveset Data Pointers Table.
The block always begin with 3 null bytes. Those are the lists for the dummy first Pokemon.
Every 3 lists belongs to a specific Pokemon, and each have a specific content/purpose. An empty list is represented by a single null byte.
| Offset | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0x0 | Level-Up Moves List | This list of integer is particular. Its not just a list of moves, like the two others. Each move ID is followed with the level at which the Pokemon learns the move. So essentially, every 2 integer decoded from this list form a pair indicating the move ID and then the level. |
| After Level-Up Moves List | HM/TM Moves List | A simple list of integer where each value correspond to a HM/TMs move ID the Pokemon can learn. |
| After HM/TM Moves List | Egg Moves List | Another simple list of integer where each value correspond to a move ID of a move the Pokemon may get if it hatches from an egg. |
Encoding
The encoding for the lists is the same used for the SIR0 format's encoded pointer list. However, each values decoded is not relative to the previous one, and you must keep in mind that there are several lists, not a single one, unlike the SIR0's encoded pointer offsets list. Also, the move IDs are 16 bits integers, not 32 bits integers like the pointer offsets are.
Here's an example of decoding Bulbasaur's 3 lists. This only shows the raw bytes, then the decoded raw values, then the corresponding move to the move ID that was decoded:
First List: 0x81 0x1A 0x01 => 0x9A, 1 => Tackle lvl 1 0x81 0x59 0x03 => 0xD9, 3 => Growl lvl 3 0x82 0x49 0x07 => 0x149, 7 => Leech Seed lvl 7 0x81 0x36 0x09 => 0xB6, 9 => Vine Whip lvl 9 0x81 0x47 0x0D => 0xC7, 13 => Poison Powder lvl 13 0x81 0x67 0x0D => 0xE7, 13 => Sleep Powder lvl 13 0x81 0x4B 0x0F => 0xCB, 15 => Take Down lvl 15 0x81 0x7B 0x13 => 0xFB, 19 => Razor Leaf lvl 19 0x0A 0x15 => 0x0A, 21 => Sweet Scent lvl 21 0x81 0x14 0x19 => 0x94, 25 => Growth lvl 25 0x81 0x0C 0x1B => 0x8C, 27 => Double-Edge lvl 27 0x83 0x78 0x1F => 0x1F8, 31 => Worry Seed lvl 31 0x5E 0x21 => 0x5E, 33 => Synthesis lvl 33 0x83 0x66 0x25 => 0x1E6, 37 => Seed Bomb lvl 37 0x00 Second List: 0x12 => 18 => Cut 0x18 => 24 => Swagger 0x1D => 29 => Rock Smash 0x30 => 48 => Return 0x32 => 50 => Strength 0x38 => 56 => Double Team 0x43 => 67 => Facade 0x4C => 76 => Giga-Drain 0x68 => 104 => Endure 0x81 0x17 => 151 => Solar Beam 0x81 0x23 => 163 => Bullet Seed 0x81 0x35 => 181 => Swords Dance 0x81 0x45 => 197 => Toxic 0x81 0x5F => 223 => Sunny Day 0x81 0x63 => 227 => Sleep Talk 0x81 0x68 => 232 => Rest 0x82 0x07 => 263 => Secret Power 0x82 0x11 => 273 => Flash 0x82 0x18 => 280 => Sludge Bomb 0x82 0x2D => 301 => Protect 0x82 0x30 => 304 => Substitute 0x82 0x44 => 324 => Hidden Power 0x82 0x46 => 326 => Attract 0x82 0x48 => 328 => Frustration 0x82 0x68 => 360 => Wide Slash 0x83 0x0A => 394 => Vacuum-Cut 0x83 0x3B => 443 => Energy Ball 0x83 0x4A => 458 => Grass Knot 0x83 0x57 => 471 => Natural Gift 0x84 0x16 => 534 => Captivate 0x00 Third List: 0x0B => 11 => Charm 0x54 => 84 => Grass Whistle 0x77 => 119 => Nature Power 0x81 0x06 => 134 => Safeguard 0x81 0x57 => 215 => Amnesia 0x81 0x69 => 233 => Ingrain 0x81 0x6D => 237 => Curse 0x81 0x7D => 253 => Petal Dance 0x82 0x03 => 259 => Light Screen 0x82 0x29 => 297 => Magical Leaf 0x82 0x5C => 348 => Skull Bash 0x84 0x19 => 537 => Leaf Storm 0x00