Resources/Master Level

Master Level

Resource Type	Levels
File Extension	.mlevel
Used In Games	Sonic Frontiers Shadow Generations
Container Format	BINA
Editing Tools	Restoration Issue Pocketknife KnuxTools
Reverse Engineering Status	Done

Starting with Sonic Frontiers, HE2 includes the Levels system to automatically and dynamically load resources when they are needed. Master Level is a resource type that contains information on which resources should be loaded to load a level, and also describes the dependencies between different levels. Master Level is stored in a Binary File container.

Structure

struct DependencyData {
	const char* name;
	unsigned long long unk1;
};

struct ResourceData {
	const char* path;
	const char* resourceType;
	unsigned long long unk1;
};

struct LevelData {
	const char* name;
	int resourceCount;
	int dependencyCount;
	ResourceData** resources;
	DependencyData** dependencies;
	bool isPublic;
	bool hasResources;
};

struct MasterLevelData {
	unsigned int magic;
	unsigned int version;
	int levelCount;
	LevelData** levels;
};

LevelData

The structure of the Master Level resource is fairly simple. At the top level, it simply consists of a list of level definitions. Each of these definitions contains the following data within them:

• The level name. This name is a unique identifier that's used whenever the game refers to the level, e.g. when it submits a "LoadLevel" request.
• A list of resources that must be loaded to load this level.
• A list of dependency levels, which will automatically be loaded when this level is loaded.
• A boolean isPublic flag. If this flag is true, the level will be registered as a loadable level. If it is not, then the level can only be loaded as a dependency of other levels.
• A boolean hasResources flag. If this flag is false, the game will not try to load the resources associated with this level. It is unclear what the purpose of this flag is.

DependencyData

Every dependency of a level is described by a DependencyData structure. It contains a pointer to the name of the dependency level. It also contains a second 64 bit zero value unk1. It is possible that the whole of name + unk1 is actually a csl::ut::VariableString object.

ResourceData

Every resource associated with a level is described by a ResourceData structure. This structure contains the following:

• The path to the resource. This is a standard ResourceManager URI.
• The resource type. This is an engine internal resource type name like ResReflection. If this property is a null pointer, the resource type is deduced from the filename extension.
• A 64 bit zero value property unk1. It is possible that the whole of resourceType + unk1 is actually a csl::ut::VariableString object.