From PinataIsland.info, the Viva Piñata wiki

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Organization of encoded data 1.2 Precedence of payload types 2 Encoded data 2.1 Payload type 2.1.1 Decoding 2.1.2 Encoding 2.1.2.1 Sample encoded data 3 001 PlaceTag 3.1 Accessory 3.1.1 Decoding 3.1.2 Encoding 3.1.2.1 Sample encoded data 3.2 Date 3.2.1 Decoding 3.2.2 Encoding 3.3 Name 3.3.1 Decoding 3.3.2 Encoding 3.4 Use cost 3.4.1 Decoding 3.4.2 Encoding 3.5 Variant 3.5.1 Decoding 3.5.2 Encoding 3.6 Wildcard 3.6.1 Decoding 3.6.2 Encoding 4 100 Reference 4.1 Appear Mate subtype 4.1.1 Decoding 4.1.2 Encoding 4.2 Journal UnlockArt subtype 4.2.1 Decoding 4.2.2 Encoding 5 110 Callback 5.1 Dinosaur color 5.1.1 Decoding 5.1.2 Encoding 5.2 Terrain type 5.2.1 Decoding 5.2.2 Encoding 5.3 Weather type 5.3.1 Decoding 5.3.2 Encoding

Overview

Encoded data are packed bits of information, such as a piñata's name, its variant color, or the cost to use (scan) the card.

Some of this data is optional. For example, cards that are freely reusable do not have a use cost encoded on the card. Likewise, piñatas that aren't named do not have an encoded name on the card.

Other data only exists on certain types of cards. For example, a date-locked card would have date data. Likewise, a card which wasn't date-locked would not have an encoded date at all.

Organization of encoded data

If a card can contain all different kinds of data (some optional, some not), how does the game recognize what specific type of information is encoded on a particular card?

It does this by encoding the type of data (referred to as the payload type), in addition to the data itself. For example, this illustration shows a card with three types of information -- ID, name, and use cost -- each followed by a value for that particular payload type:

ID

Cluckles

Name

Claudia

Use cost

500

Each card, regardless of how little (or how much) is encoded on that card, uses that same payload type:data payload type:data format. The game can easily identify each piece of information on the card, first by examining the payload type (to learn what type of data follows), then processing the payload (the actual encoded data).

Precedence of payload types

Beyond the Start of data and End of data information, it's unknown if the remaining order matters or not.

The general order (for PlaceTag) cards seem to be:

• Start of data
• ID
• Accessory (optional)
• Start date (optional)
• End date (optional)
• Reuse (optional)
• Name or cost (optional)
• Wildcard (optional)
• Variant (optional)
• End of data

Encoded data

Payload type

Payload type
Optional:	No
Parent:	N/A
Offset:	Varies
Size:	5 bits
See also
?

The payload type indicates the type of data that immediately follows.

A card can contain several payload types (such as for a pinata that's both a variant and a wildcard).

Decoding

• ?

Encoding

• ?

The payload type is a 5-bit value.

Payload type	Payload size	Payload	Description
00000	4	0000	End of data. No further encoded data follows. Remaining bits pad the data to a barcode row boundary. Padding is filled with specific bits copied from the encoded data, to help obscure what little data may be encoded within the last row.
		0001	Start of data. This payload marks the start of the encoded data. It's also found later in certain cards, such as date-locked cards. (They drop a special pinata on that date, or a normal pinata if scanned on any other day. E.g., Start of data, Date, Special pinata, Start of data, Normal pinata, End of data.)
00001	12	ID data It can also be found later in accessorized (themed) cards, with each successive ID specifying an accessory. Using the 11101 (Accessory) payload type is preferred to this method, as its data takes less space (and also supports encoding accessory colors).
00010	12	Trick stick reskin ID data (PlaceTag IDs for reskins are from 2207 to 2218.)
00011	12	(Starting) date data
00100	12	(Ending) date data
00101	5+?	? No apparent difference with pinatas or eggs, with or without this payload type. (No existing cards use this payload type.)
00110	5+?	? No apparent difference with pinatas or eggs, with or without this payload type. (No existing cards use this payload type.)
00111	5+	Name data, variable-length. Each character in the name takes 5 bits, plus 5 trailing 00000 bits that (NUL) terminate the name, making the payload size 5 x (name length + 1).
01000	30	Gamertag data
01001	2	Wildcard data
01010	4	Variant data
01011	3	nn0	Normal size, will not cocoon
		nn1	Small size, will cocoon
01100	?	? Flashes red. (No existing cards use this payload type.)
01101	?	? Flashes red. (No existing cards use this payload type.)
01110	8	? No apparent difference with pinatas or eggs, with or without this payload type. (No existing cards use this payload type.)
01111	?	? No apparent difference with pinatas or eggs, with or without this payload type. (No existing cards use this payload type.)
10000	16	0000000000100nnn	Terrain Dirt = 0, Grass, Long Grass, Snow, Sand
		0000000001000nnn	SparseCallback_Send_in_Ruffian Ruffian1 = 1, Ruffian2, Ruffian3, Ruffian4, Pester, Yellow card (Ruffians), Red card (Pester and Ruffians)
		0000000001010001	UnlockArt_Animal, UnlockArt_Helper
		0000000001010011	ViewTagInJournal_Animal
		0000000100nopqrs	Player-created plant card n = size (0 = sprout, 1 = fully grown) o = ? (set to 0) pqr = fertilization (apple tree: 000 = 0 extra branches, 100/101 = 1 extra branch, 001/010/011/110/111 = 2 extra branches) s = water (0 = will need water, 1 = watered)
		0000001100001001	SparseCallback_Set_player_credits_balance_to_1000000000 (10^9)
		0000010100000001	Learn_Primary_Trick
		0000010100000010	Learn_Secondary_Trick
		0000010100000100	Perform_Primary_Trick
		0000010100001000	Perform_Secondary_Trick
		0000011110101010	View_Mate_Cutscene_Forced
		0000100100000100	SparseCallback_Adjust_player_credits_balance_by_10000 (10^4)
		0000100110000100	SparseCallback_Adjust_player_credits_balance_by_-10000 (10^4)
		0000101110101010	View_Appear_Cutscene_Forced
		0000110101010101	View_House_Interior_If_Present
		0000110110101010	View_House_Interior_Forced
		00010011000000nn	SparseCallback_Change_dinosaur_to_colour Blue = 0, Green, Red, Elite Neon
		1111000000000000	? (One card, labeled HelpersPV)
10001	4	Timewarp data
10010	3	Weather type data
10011	8	Weather duration data
10100	12	ID data (subject for actions like learn/perform trick, unlock art, view tag in journal, view cutscene)
10101	8+?	? No apparent difference with pinatas or eggs, with or without this payload type. (No existing cards use this payload type.)
10110	5	00000	Immediately reusable Typically encoded on cards from Rare that have no use cost.
		00001	Not immediately reusable Typically encoded on player-created cards (which have a use cost)
10111	7+?	? No apparent difference with pinatas or eggs, with or without this payload type. (No existing cards use this payload type.)
11000	10	Use cost data
11001	4?	Related to romance music track?
11010	38?	Romance music (jukebox) track
11011	?	? (1 card - Coupon)
11101	16+	Accessory data, variable-length. Color accessory count, color accessory items, accessory count, accessory items. Each count is 4 bits. Each color accessory item takes 12 bits (an 8-bit item value followed by a 4-bit color value). Other accessory items take 8 (item) bits. This makes the total payload size 4 + (12 x color count) + 4 + (8 x count).

Sample encoded data

The encoded data for the 02-GoobaaPV card looks like this:

Payload type	Payload
00000	0001 (Start of data)
00001 (ID)	108 (Goobaa)
11101 (Accessory)	3 (items) 43 103 80
00111 (Name)	Bigsheep
01010 (Variant)	2
00000	0000 (End of data)

001 PlaceTag

Accessory

Accessory
Optional:	Yes
Parent:	PlaceTag
Offset:	0
Size:	Varies 4 + (12 x color count) + 4 + (8 x count)
Color count Optional: No Parent: Accessory Offset: 0 Size: 4 bits Accessory item 1, 2, 3, ... Optional: Yes Parent: Color count Offset: 0, 12, 24, ... Size: 8 bits Color for item 1, 2, 3, ... Optional: Yes Parent: Color count Offset: 8, 20, 32, ... Size: 4 bits
Count Optional: No Parent: Accessory Offset: 4 + (12 x color count) Size: 4 bits Accessory item 4, 5, 6, ... Optional: Yes Parent: Count Offset: 0, 8, 16, ... Size: 8 bits
See also
?

The accessory items are normalized 8-bit values which correspond to PlaceTag accessory IDs. (E.g., item 1 is PlaceTag ID 1905, item 2 is 1906, and so on.)

Decoding

• Read a count, then read that number of 12- or 8-bit values that follow to determine what (color) accessories a pinata is wearing.

Encoding

• ?

A sample of encodings for accessory items. Other item values can be obtained (by subtracting 1904) from the accessory's PlaceTag ID.

Item	Description	PlaceTag ID
1	Retro Disco Wig	1905
24	Yee-Haw Spurs	1928
91	Reading Glasses	1995
96	Non-Resident Scarf	2000
122	Cook Hat	2026
123	Tail Bow	2027
183	Jokduri	2087
184-255	No such accessory

Color values for accessories with color choices

Value	Color	Value	Color
0	Default1	8	Light Green
1	Red	9	Blue
2	Orange	10	Cyan
3	Yellow	11	Violet
4	Brown	12	Black
5	Pink	13	White
6	Purple	14	?
7	Green	15	?

¹If an accessory was its default color (or had no color choices), it would be encoded in the second half of the accessory payload, since no 4-bit color value would need to be encoded.

Sample encoded data

Accessory data for a pinata wearing two items (Non-Resident Scarf, and Von Ghoul Helmet):

Color count	Count	Item 1	Item 2
0	2	96	135

The same items, if the Non-Resident Scarf is red:

Color count	Item 1	Item 1 color	Count	Item 2
1	96	1	1	135

Date

Date
Optional:	Yes
Parent:	Payload type
Offset:	0
Size:	9
Day Optional: No Parent: Date Offset: 0 Size: 5 bits Month Optional: No Parent: Date Offset: 5 Size: 4 bits
See also
Payload type

This optional date data is present if the card is date-locked.

Two sets of dates are encoded -- a start date and an end date -- to provide a date-locked interval when the card will scan as a special pinata. Both sets of dates appear to be required, even if the start date and end date are for the same date.

The card appears to scan with options (e.g., name, accessories, wildcard trait, variant color) if the game date is within the date-locked interval, and without options (i.e., a normal pinata) if the game date is outside the date-locked interval.

Decoding

•  ?

Encoding

• Day is encoded as a 5-bit value from 1 to 31.
• Month is encoded as a 4-bit value from 1 to 12.

Name

Name
Optional:	Yes
Parent:	PlaceTag
Offset:	0
Size:	Varies 5 x (length + 1)
Name character 1 Optional: No Parent: Name Offset: 0 Size: 5 bits Name character 2 Optional: No Parent: Name Offset: 5 Size: 5 bits Name character 3, 4, 5, ... Optional: Yes Parent: Name Offset: 10, 15, 20, ... Size: 5 bits
See also
?

This data is present if the pinata has an encoded name.

Unlike the accessory data, it does not contain a count (length) preceeding the name characters. The name is null-terminated (NUL).

Decoding

• ?

The game likely auto-capitalizes the name, by capitalizing the first letter of the name and any letter that follows a space (SP) character.

Encoding

• ?

The name character set is 5-bit, with no shift bit to distinguish between upper and lower case.

Char	Bits	Char	Bits	Char	Bits	Char	Bits
NUL	00000	G/g	01000	O/o	10000	W/w	11000
SP	00001	H/h	01001	P/p	10001	X/x	11001
A/a	00010	I/i	01010	Q/q	10010	Y/y	11010
B/b	00011	J/j	01011	R/r	10011	Z/z	11011
C/c	00100	K/k	01100	S/s	10100	?	11100
D/d	00101	L/l	01101	T/t	10101	?	11101
E/e	00110	M/m	01110	U/u	10110	?	11110
F/f	00111	N/n	01111	V/v	10111	?	11111

Use cost

Use cost
Optional:	No
Parent:	PlaceTag
Offset:	0
Size:	10 bits
Use cost value Optional: No Parent: Use cost Offset: 0 Size: 7 bits Use cost magnitude Optional: No Parent: Use cost Offset: 7 Size: 3 bits
See also
?

The use cost holds the cost to scan the card (if the card is not flagged as free to scan).

Decoding

• Use the encoded use cost as the cost to scan the card.

To obtain the use cost, multiply the value by the order of magnitude (power of 10). For example, a use cost value of 18 and a use cost magnitude of 2 would be a use cost of 18 x 10² = 18 x 100 = 1800.

Encoding

• If the card will have a chocolate coin cost per scan, encode the use cost value and magnitude.

There does seem to be some variance on how a use cost of 1000 is encoded. Some cards have it stored as 100 x 10, while others have it encoded as 10 x 100. It's uncertain whether the representations are interchangeable or not, although a particular representation may affect other fields such as a checksum.

Variant

Variant
Optional:	Yes
Parent:	PlaceTag
Offset:	0
Size:	4 bits
See also
?

This optional variant data is present if the pinata is a variant.

The variant identifies the variant color of the pinata being scanned.

Decoding

• Outside of value 15, which is always black, it's not possible to determine whether a value is a specific in-game variant color, or even distinguish between in-game and other variant colors. (E.g., 2 may be a GoodVariants color for one species, but in-game variant color 1 for another species.)

Encoding

• Lookup the value for the color to be encoded onto the card.
  • Known GoodVariants have a variant value between 2 and 10 (but values vary between species).
  • In-game variants have a (non-conflicting) variant value between 2 and 9 (and values also vary between species).
  • Known Blackariants have a variant value of 15.

Variant values for the Quackberry

Description	Color	Encoded value
Sick/ill-looking	Mint green	1
GoodVariants	Orange	2
GoodVariants	Red	3
GoodVariants	Purple	4
GoodVariants	Light blue	5
In-game variant 1	Blue	6
In-game variant 2	Pink	7
In-game variant 3	Orange	8
GoodVariants	Light pink	9
Blackariants	Black	15

• Note that GoodVariants colors and in-game variant colors differ (slightly) so Quackberry variant color 2 is not the same orange as Quackberry variant color 8.

Wildcard

Wildcard
Optional:	Yes
Parent:	PlaceTag
Offset:	0
Size:	2 bits
See also
?

This optional wildcard data is present if the pinata is a wildcard.

The wildcard identifies the trait of the pinata being scanned.

Decoding

•  ?

Encoding

• Known wildcards have a trait value between 1 and 3.

100 Reference

Appear Mate subtype

Appear Mate subtype
Optional:	No
Parent:	Reference (AM)
Offset:	36
Size:	1 bit
See also
?

The Appear Mate subtype differentiates between View Appear Cutscene and View Mate Cutscene cards (which both share the same card type).

Decoding

• If the Appear Mate subtype is 0(?), the card is a View Appear Cutscene card.

• If the Appear Mate subtype is 1(?), the card is a View Mate Cutscene card.

Encoding

•  ?

Journal UnlockArt subtype

Journal UnlockArt subtype
Optional:	No
Parent:	Reference (JU)
Offset:	45
Size:	1 bit
See also
?

The Journal UnlockArt subtype differentiates between ViewTagInJournal and UnlockArt cards (which both share the same card type).

Decoding

• If the Journal UnlockArt subtype is 0(?), the card is an UnlockArt card.

• If the Journal UnlockArt subtype is 1(?), the card is a ViewTagInJournal card.

Encoding

•  ?

110 Callback

Dinosaur color

Dinosaur color
Optional:	No
Parent:	Change dinosaur
Offset:	37?
Size:	3 bits?
See also
?

The dinosaur color identifies what reskin color will be applied to the Choclodocus.

Decoding

•  ?

Encoding

•  ?

Type	Description
000	Color 0 (blue)
001	Color 1 (green)
010	Color 2 (red)
011	Color 3 (black/neon green)

Terrain type

Terrain type
Optional:	No
Parent:	Terrain
Offset:	37
Size:	3 bits
See also
?

The terrain type identifies what type of terrain will be applied to the entire garden surface.

Decoding

•  ?

Encoding

•  ?

Type	Description
000	Dirt
001	Grass
010	Long grass
011	Snow
100	Sand

Weather type

Weather type
Optional:	No
Parent:	Weather
Offset:	37
Size:	3 bits
See also
?

The weather type identifies what type of weather will go into effect.

Decoding

•  ?

Encoding

•  ?

Type	Description
000	Clear sky
001	Stormy
010	Misty
011	Rainbow
100	Cloudy

• Weather types 5 through 7 are invalid values.