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Mario Kart >> Mario Kart Double Dash >> Race Codes
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Message started by WillD on 10/02/14 at 23:30:04

Title: Race Codes
Post by WillD on 10/02/14 at 23:30:04

It's (relatively) common knowledge that after finishing a time trial and coming to the screen where you have the option to restart, that if you press a certain combination of buttons, a code of 16 characters will appear.

The assumption is that the code was for a Japanese contest when the game was first released, and is now virtually useless. However, I found a site which can decode the aforementioned code. Within each code is information containing the track played, characters used, total time, and fastest lap.

Here's the site:
http://megaswf.com/serve/2586426/

The button combination to get your code is: L, R, L, R, X, Y, X, Y, Z

Thought this was an interesting tidbit of information that was relatively unknown previously. In some of Alex Penev's old YahooGroup submissions from Feb. 2004, he included his code. It's interesting to look back and see some of the splits and best laps the best players from that day were getting.

Cheers [smiley=beer.gif]

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by Chris on 10/03/14 at 02:57:24

Looool :o this is the ultimate way to prove new records... seriously :o

POSQ7GZJBGIVJB87

This is what I just did first try, with a broken controller, tired, and absolutely rusty xD

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by TheFrigz on 10/03/14 at 06:27:17

Wow, I never knew this..pretty cool! :o

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by Aron Langerak on 10/03/14 at 10:14:16

Very bad time Chris :P

But seriously.. that's awesome :)

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by Chris on 10/04/14 at 07:11:51

Haha I know :D. I will definitely use this for future PRs, seems to be a 100% safe proof...

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by @ndrew on 10/04/14 at 11:05:25

So is this gonna be the new way to submit times then? :P

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by Andreas Rudmarker on 10/07/14 at 01:47:13

if you dont have any video proof its a good choice ^^

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by TvL on 10/07/14 at 23:22:58

I would advise caution. For instance, if I change the P at the start of Chris's code into an A, it gives me 1'06"868. Obviously that is unrealistic (it is in fact impossible with a fastest lap of 26"942), but with some more trial and error one might be able to find something that is not beyond the realm of possibility. Perhaps one could even drive a certain poor time on purpose if one knows how to subtract a certain amount of time, in order to get something that is just below the WR.
Also, the fact that changing this one character only changed one of the data makes me suspect that the code is not that sophisticated and could be broken.

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by IsThatAGoodTime on 10/12/14 at 08:04:18

04383F3D31230F261C500 wrote:

Also, the fact that changing this one character only changed one of the data makes me suspect that the code is not that sophisticated and could be broken.

Quite true. If someone was able to create a decoder program, it must not be too secure a code.

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by theyounggun on 10/13/14 at 07:00:46

I've got some mkdd times to submit! Although mk64 keeps calling me back so I haven't had time yet.

This is quite awesome, and this cool code thing might give me the motivation to finally join here. ;)

Edit: our sites are on a trust system anyway for the most part... so I really don't think a decoder would matter.

Double edit: I would only count it as a form of proof up to the top 100

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by Itamor on 10/13/14 at 15:26:03

1D27003C352015133B3B30003C3D3A33540 wrote:

[quote author=04383F3D31230F261C500 link=1412321404/0#7 date=1412752978]Also, the fact that changing this one character only changed one of the data makes me suspect that the code is not that sophisticated and could be broken.

Quite true. If someone was able to create a decoder program, it must not be too secure a code.[/quote]

But all you'd need to back it up would be a photo or a video showing you bring the code up, and the two would surely work together to make solid proof? Or would that not work?

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by Aron Langerak on 10/14/14 at 12:08:46

Lol, that's genious and true.. I still don't see the reason why the hell people would cheat in mariokartgames :)

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by TvL on 10/14/14 at 13:28:00

One thing we haven't thought of yet: it doesn't catch TAS.
I'd say it's good for a yellow tick, and maybe to validate new PRs after having already provided video proof.

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by IsThatAGoodTime on 10/15/14 at 20:56:36

Proof standards here are pretty lax compared to some other sites. Tricks like this just give people excuses to "test" the trust system. :-/

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by theyounggun on 10/17/14 at 03:48:46

I don't even like submitting proof because it takes extra time, but some sites will make you after a certain point. So I think we can do the same here, race codes can be a form of proof to a certain extent. Say top 100 maybe

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by Henke37 on 07/31/15 at 12:41:43

I am the one who wrote the flash version of the decoder. I wish that I could claim credit for figuring out the code format, but that was a random guy I met on IRC.

All I did, aside from porting his C code, was compiling the character and map name lookup tables as well as identifying two fields he didn't.

Here is some info on the security of the codes: nonstandard character numbering, 5 bit checksum and a rng scrambler for all the data with a 16 bit seed.

It lacks redundancy and bit juggling, making it easy to figure out which characters in the code carry which data by getting lucky with the too small checksum.

In short, it's nothing like the animal crossing codes, those used multiple layers of real crypto.

Still, it is better than a pure honor system, since it is at least a little work to bruteforce the checksum and the scrambler makes it impossible to pick arbitrary times.

But it's rather useless when it's so easy to just share a ghost savefile.

There is however two mystery values I never figured out. One 2 bits large and one 1 bit large. I checked, it doesn't appear to be the 50/60 Hz status.

Title: Re: Race Codes
Post by Henke37 on 06/22/18 at 08:58:16

So, about a month ago a pal of mine got this one ported to his discord bot. Results so far have been that throwing random garbage at it is useless. Likewise, any attempts at manipulating codes have been failures.

Turns out that the checksum is more than enough to stop dumb luck. Besides, the bot has a few extra checks just in case.