Piñata Vision barcode/Accessory bits

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Revision as of 14:15, 16 February 2011 by FeralKitty (talk | contribs) (Possible decoded accessory count data)
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Accessory data

Accessories can be found in the 1900-2000s range of the ID table. There appear to be less than 256 accessories in-game, so it's possible that information about what accessories a pinata is wearing is encoded as normalized 8-bit values within the Piñata Vision barcode. I.e., an accessory value of 22 added to an accessory base offset (e.g. 1905) could indicate that the scanned pinata will be wearing caterpillars (1927). On the other hand, there may be no correlation between the PlaceTag IDs and the encoded accessory item values.

Another detail that apparently is encoded is the accessory color. Various cards have scanned with green, orange, and white disco wigs. It's uncertain if the color details are separate from the accessory value, or if there are different accessory values for different colors.

It's also uncertain if there's a cap to the number of accessories a pinata can wear -- 1 for each of the 10 accessory slots? (E.g., head, eyes, ...) -- or the number of accessories that can be encoded on a card. The most seen so far on a (3-row) player-created card is 6 accessories.

Options for possible storage representations

Since no bits have been identified yet, it's uncertain how the data is encoded, or whether the accessory fields are optional, variable length, or fixed.

Accessory flag bit?

Perhaps a (PlaceTag-specific) accessory flag bit indicates the optional presence of accessory data further within the data. The accessory data may be preceeded by an accessory count, indicating a variable number of (8-bit?) accessory values follow:

Accessory flag ... Count Value 1 Value 2 ...
1 ... 2 76 123 ...

Accessory count as flag?

Possibly the accessory count value serves as an indication of whether (optional) accessory data exists. I.e., accessory count of 0 indicates no accessory data is encoded on the card.

Location of accessory bits

After decoding use costs for obfuscation sets 0 and A, it was observed that use costs weren't being read correctly for cards that also had accessories. This makes it likely that the accessory data starts in row 1 (and the obfuscation of the use cost is apparently affected by non-zero accessory bits).

Identifying the accessory bits will help to understand where and how accessory data is encoded on the card. To start, we can try searching for bits that match the count, or that may match values encoded for accessory 1.

Decoding accessory count bits

PlaceTag cards do appear to have an accessory count field in row 1. This field appears to exist even if the item placed isn't a species. (That's reasonable, since there appears to be a single format for PlaceTag cards, independent of what type of item is on the card. I.e., we can turn a PlaceTag_Home card into a species just by changing the ID.)

Further steps involve downloading additional (accessoried) cards from VP.com, both to test against (to verify that the reader accessory count decoding is accurate), and to use in the search for accessory item bits.

An easy way to spot accessoried pinatas at VP.com is to check how many barcode rows are on the card. A player-created card with 3 rows definitely has 5 or more accessories. A player-created non-wildcard non-variant card with 2 rows definitely has accessories. (A normal pinata without accessories has a 1 row barcode.)

Sample of cards with accessories

This is an incomplete list of cards where scanned pinatas are wearing accessories. Most of the cards are official versions released by Rare before the launch of Trouble in Paradise. (Recognized by a SpeciesPV name, and a picture of 3 accessories on the front of the card.) A few of the cards are date-locked, while the remaining cards are player-created from VivaPinata.com.

In addition to having accessories, pinatas may be variants and/or wildcards, or even have pinata names (Rare-only) encoded in the data.

The order of the accessories must exactly match the Journal accessories list, seen when viewing the scanned pinata's information. (Likewise, the variant numbering is from the Journal, not the wiki.)

The more accurate data we can collect for cards from the same obfuscation set, the more likely we can decode the underlying accessory data, and start to read accessory details from future/other cards.

Card name Accessory count Accessory 1 Accessory 2 Accessory 3 Accessory 4 Accessory 5
3F5A88CD1408B374C1EA.jpg
Use cost: ?
3 Conga's Top Hat Toff Monocle Secret Agent Bowtie
B23F27AE1408B344E767.jpg
Use cost: 9500
WC trait: ?
5 Halo of Hardness Disco Shades Lucky Earrings Sheriff's Badge Ballet Shoes
Banjo-Banjo_Kazooie-PV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Banjo
GoodVariant: ? (brown)
2 Shark Tooth Necklace Breegull Carrier
BunnycombPV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Aaron
3 Beaded Wig Big Jolly Lips Butcha's
DoenutPV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Louie
3 Tail Bow Eighties Watch Edo Wig
Eaglair-TiP-Variant1-PV.jpg
Use cost: 5800
Variant: ? (yellow)
1 Yee-Haw Spurs
Easter-04.12.2009-PV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Eggmond
GoodVariant: 4 (peach)
WC trait: ? (6-ears)
1 Bonnet
Jinjo-Banjo_Kazooie-PV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Jinjo
GoodVariant: ? (sick green)
0
Macaraccoon-TroubleInParadise-Wildcard1-PV.jpg
Use cost: 24000
WC trait: ? (large lumps on face)
2 Von Ghoul Helmet Non-Resident Scarf
Moojoo-TroubleInParadise-Russia-PV.jpg
Use cost: 3200
Variant: ? (yellow)
1 Squazzil Hat
Parrybo-TroubleInParadise-Peru-PV.jpg
Use cost: 5600
2 Bling Earrings Bling Nose-Ring
SweetlePV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Brandon
3 Clockwork Key Halloween Bolts Sweaty Wrist Band
Vulchurro-TroubleInParadise-USA-PV.jpg
Use cost: 2800
Variant: ? (blue/purple/pink)
2 Cook Hat Reading Glasses
Vulchurro-TroubleInParadise-Variant3-PV.jpg
Use cost: 5300
Variant: ? (blue/purple/pink)
2 Reading Glasses Cook Hat
10-CrowlaPV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Dark Heart
2 Non-Resident Scarf Gold Medal
BuzzengePV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Henry
3 Fair Dinkum Hat Breegull Waders Breegull Carrier
ClucklesPV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Faith
3 Nurse's Hat Stethoscope Breegull Carrier
DG-asian-YanSuey.jpg
Use cost: 17000
WC trait: ? (large tail fin)
3 Handlebar Mustache Crystal Broach Cook Hat
FF2F6CB11408B42D2B34.jpg ?
Lemmoning-TroubleInParadise-Russia-PV.jpg ?
Quackberry-TroubleInParadise-India-PV.jpg ?
RaisantPV.jpg ?
Robean-TroubleInParadise-Winter-DG-PV.jpg ?
BadgesiclePV.jpg
Use cost: 0
Name: Andrew
3 Doenut Stalker Toff Monocle Caterpillars
Bispotti-TroubleInParadise-Easter-DG-PV.jpg
Use cost: 7200
WC trait: ? (curled feelers)
Variant: 3 (pink)
3 Pendant Necklace Safari Hat Lucky Earrings
DG-asian-HaikuLing.jpg
Use cost: 2900
2 Pointed Hat Breegull Carrier
DG-asian-JadeGalasusu.jpg
Use cost: 7600
Variant: ? (green)
3 Edo Wig Pendant Necklace Bottles' Glasses
GoobaaPV.jpg ?
Hootyfruity-TroubleInParadise-Korea-PV.jpg ?
MousemallowPV.jpg ?
Parrybo-TroubleInParadise-Congo-PV.jpg ?
Parrybo-TroubleInParadise-PV.jpg ?
Pengum-TroubleInParadise-TeamMember-14-PV.jpg ?
Profitamole-TroubleInParadise-Canada-PV.jpg ?
Sarsgorilla-TroubleInParadise-Wildcard3-DG.jpg ?
Sgt._Johnson-Halo-PV.jpg ?
Sweetle-TroubleInParadise-Egypt-PV.jpg ?
Tusk-Killer_Instinct-PV.jpg ?
PonockyPV.jpg ?
JuicygoosePV.jpg ?
PengumPV.jpg ?
TartridgePV.jpg ?
PudgeonPV.jpg ?
CherrapinPV.jpg ?
WhirlmPV.jpg ?
VulchurroPV.jpg ?
NewtgatPV.jpg ?
LackatoadPV.jpg ?
MacaracoonPV.jpg ?
ParmadilloPV.jpg ?
CustaceanPV.jpg ?
BarkbarkPV.jpg ?
FlapyakPV.jpg ?
ReddhottPV.jpg ?
ShellybeanPV.jpg ?
FudgehogPV.jpg ?
CamelloPV.jpg ?
MothdropPV.jpg ?
CocoadilePV.jpg ?
SweetoothPV.jpg ?
SparrowmintPV.jpg ?
ChewnicornPV.jpg ?
MoojooPV.jpg ?
SyrupentPV.jpg ?
SherbatPV.jpg ?
PieenaPV.jpg ?
PeckanmixPV.jpg ?
CrowlaPV.jpg ?
RobeanPV.jpg ?
LickatoadPV.jpg ?
KittyflossPV.jpg ?
SarsgorillaPV.jpg ?
CinnamonkeyPV.jpg ?
FlutterscotchPV.jpg ?
TwingersnapPV.jpg ?
LemmoningPV.jpg ?
BispottiPV.jpg ?
GeckiePV.jpg ?
RashberryPV.jpg ?
SmelbaPV.jpg ?
SquazzilPV.jpg ?
ArocknidPV.jpg ?
BuzzlegumPV.jpg ?
CandaryPV.jpg ?
JameleonPV.jpg ?
HoghurtPV.jpg ?
SmorepionPV.jpg ?
QuackberryPV.jpg ?
JeliPV.jpg ?