SharkPort SPS file specification

SharkPort .SPC file Structure:

Note: GameShark and SharkPort are trademarks and property of InterAct. Information in this page has no connection with and has not been authorized by InterAct.

Note: All numeric values are LONG INTEGERS (VB) or DWORDS (C++) and consume 8 bytes of file space and are in LSW(LSB,MSB), MSW(LSB,MSB) format. As an example the number 6 would be the following 8 bytes in the file: 06, 00,00,00.

I have not tested or experimented with the maximum length of the various strings. I am quite sure there is a limit imposed by SharkPort and I am positive there is a size limit imposed by the GameShark dongle & software.

The SPC file can support multiple games. If more than one game is contained within the file, each game block will contain the same structure as listed below except for the main header.

As an example:

Header

Game Block

Code Block

Hack

Code Block

Hack

Hack

Code Block

Hack

Hack

Hack

Hack

Hack

Code Block

Hack

Hack

Game Block

Code Block

Hack

Hack

Code Block

Hack

Hack

Hack

Hack

Code Block

Hack

Hack

The above example file contains 2 games. The first game has 4 codes each having a different number of hacks per code. The second game has 3 codes, again having different numbers of hacks. The sections laid out below can repeat to comprise any number of hacks, codes or games (up to 2.1 billion, the max number a DW can hold so we can, for now, consider this unlimited).

Header Section
This is always present and so far as I have seen, fixed in nature

HeaderLen	dWord	(Only seen 0x0e)
Header	String	(Only seen "SharkPortCODES")
0x00	dWord	Unknown usage
0x00	dWord	Unknown usage
0x00	dWord	Unknown usage
GameCount	dWord	(0x01 for one, 0x02 for two etc..) This represents the number of games stored within the file.

Game Section
This is repeated for each game in the file

GameNameLen	dWord	This is the length of the text of the game name
GameName	String	This is the actual title of the game
CodeCount	dWord	Count of codes for the game This represents the number of codes stored for this game

Code Section
This is repeated for each code for the game

CodeTitleLen

dWord

Length of the code title text

CodeTitle

String

Text of the title for the code

If there is NO notes to be included then the following block is inserted
0x00	dWord	End of Code Header Block
0x01	dWord	End of Code Header Block

If there ARE notes to be included then the following block is inserted
NotesLength	dWord	Length of notes
NotesLength	String	Actual notes text
0x00	dWord	End of Code Header Block

HackCount

dWord

This is the number of Hack codes *2. Ie if there are 2 hacks, this will be 8. There is one address block and one value block for each Hack which is why this # is the hacks *2

Hack Section
This is repeated for every hack entry for this code.

HackAdrLen	dWord	(0x08, this is always 8 as there are 8 hex digits to follow)
HackAdr	String	Always a string of 8 hex digits (making a dWord Address)
HackValLen	dWord	(0x08, this is always 8 as there are 8 hex digits to follow)
HackVal	String	Always a string of 8 hex digits (making a dWord value)

As you can see in this primitive example, the pink areas are long integers (dWords) and the blue areas represent string values. This file has one game (named "fred"), one code (named "code") and that code has a notes area (containing "notes") and has one hack conisting of the two required parts (address and value).

I have not seen any file that uses the 3 dw spots following the header text thus far. If someone else sees data here, please contact me and I will see if I can trace its use.