2-Player Battle stage parameters

In Pikmin 2, one file controls how each 2-Player Battle stage works. That file can be found in /user/Abe/vs/stages.txt.

Format

The file starts with one property, and then afterwards, a series of blocks. Each block represents a stage's data. In the vanilla game, the header property and most of the stage info properties are followed by a developer comment.

Header

The file starts with a number that states how many 2-Player Battle stages are defined in the game. This line is commented with num stages.

Stage

Each stage block contains the following properties, one per line:

Number	Purpose	Description	Dev comment
1	Version[unsure]	Probably represents the format version of this stage info block, but it could well be unused.	version
2	Cave generation parameters	Name of the cave generation parameters file to use. The layout data will not be read from that file, unless property 28 explained further below is set to random.
3 - 23	Unused[unsure]	From the looks of it, it would have controlled how many Pikmin exist, by type and maturity. There's usually an empty line before these properties with just the comment PikiCounter, and each of these lines is followed by a comment along the lines of colX happaY (X and Y being a number, and happa being a Romanization of "leaf").	colX happaY
24	Unused[unsure]	Looks like it would've been some timer.	time
25	Ultra-bitter sprays	Number of ultra-bitter sprays each player starts with.	dope black
26	Ultra-spicy sprays	Number of ultra-spicy sprays each player starts with.	dope red
27	Thumbnail/name	Index of the thumbnail and name to use. 0 will make the 2-Player Battle menu use the Battle Field thumbnail icon and name for this stage, 1 will make it use Colosseum's, etc.	2d index
28	Fixed layout file	Name of the fixed layout file, or random. If random, then the stage will be generated like a regular Story Mode cave (see property 2). Otherwise, it will create a fixed layout reading from whatever layout file is specified here. These fixed layout files are in the /user/Abe/vs folder.
29	Buried yellow marbles	Number of yellow marbles buried out in the open. The game will always try to place 7 yellow marbles in the stage, and will just place whatever marbles are not in the open inside of an enemy. If you write too small a number, the game will generate a stage with too few marbles for players to win via yellow marble victory. Any number you write here that's larger than 7 will result the same as if you had written 7.	start yellow num