DMX/PenZ battle DigiROM format

The DMX/PenZ battle DigiROM format corresponds to the DigiROMs generated by both the Digital Monster X and the Digimon Pendulum Z during battle in their corresponding battle formats. Despite both being the same format, Pendulum Z devices are programmed to fail if they detect the device at the other end is a DMX.

Practical example

Let's take the following DigiROM as an example: (placeholder)

Packet number	Data
Packet 1	0	0100	0	11	0000	1110
Packet 2	100		0011110		00	1110
Packet 3	011001		001000			1110
Packet 4	00	10110		10101		1110
Packet 5	00	01		10101000		1110
Packet 6	1111	000		11111		1110

Packet number	Data
Packet 1	Order	Level	Sick	Attack	Version	EOL
Packet 2	Stage		Index		Attribute	EOL
Packet 3	Shot S		Shot W			EOL
Packet 4	COU	HP		Shot M		EOL
Packet 5	COU	Buff		Power		EOL
Packet 6	Check	COU		Hits		EOL

Meaning of each field

• Order: Shows whether a device initiates battle or not, or in other words, which device pressed the button to start battle. The initiating device will have a 1 for order, while the second device will have a 0.
  • Example Value: Did not initiate

• Level: Your current experience level. Level 1 displays as 0, and maximum is level 10, which displays as 9.
  • Example Value: Level 5

• COU: Stands for Constant Or Unknown. This is a value that is the same across all signals we’ve analyzed, and may just be something that doesn’t get used. The possibility may exist though that it’s just a value we haven’t discovered the purpose of yet.

• Sick: Whether or not the Digimon is Sick. If it is, the enemy Digimon will become sick after the battle.

• Attack: In this context, Attack is how much damage will be dealt for each successful hit. This is generally some kind of pattern, and the signal will instruct how much damage will be dealt each round. Usually you will get stronger attacks when you do better at the Pre-Battle Minigame. Attack Pattern is determined by a combination of your Level and the outcome of the Pre-Battle Minigame. Possible values are Bad (0), Good (1), Great (2) and Excellent (3)
  • Example Value: Excellent

• Version: This value will identify which specific version of a device series is being used. Each Battle System has its own range of version numbers, generally in sequence starting with the first released device. This is how the device determines whether special content, such as Area SP, should be unlocked.
  • Example Value: Version 1 - Black

• EOL: In most Battle Systems, the final 4 bits of each packet will be a constant value that doesn’t really mean anything on its own. In other words, you can ignore these bits when interpreting signals.

• Stage: Your current Evolution Stage. Baby I is not considered, values range from Baby II (0) to Super Ultimate (5).
  • Example Value: Ultimate

• Index: The number by which the device refers to a specific Digimon. Each device has its own internal index that is referenced to determine which Digimon is being used. Note that each version set has its own index, so 30 on a Version 1 will not be the same as 30 on a Version 2. Colors within the same Version do use the same index. This value will only display a unique value when connecting to a Color of the same Version, otherwise it will display 0.
  • Example Value: 30 (War Greymon)

• Attribute: All Digimon on modern virtual pets are categorized into one of four Attributes: Vaccine (0), Data (1), Virus (2) or Free (3). Generally speaking, Vaccine is stronger than Virus, Virus is stronger than Data and Data is stronger than Vaccine. Free does not have strengths or weaknesses. Having an Attribute Advantage gives roughly the equivalent of being 32 Power Points stronger.
  • Example Value: Vaccine

• Shot: This value determines which sprite gets used for attacks. Generally speaking there would be two sprites, one for stronger attacks (Shot S) and one for weaker (Shot W). The Digital Monster X also includes a sprite for Mega Hits (Shot M). The number itself is an index value specific to that device.
  • Example Value: 53

• HP: How much HP your Digimon has
  • Example Value: 22

• Buff: Additional damage dealt for each successful hit, on top of the base damage set by Attack. Maximum value is 2
  • Example Value: +1 Damage

• Power: This number determines the likelihood of whether hits will connect or not. The larger your power is compared to your opponent’s, the higher the chance that a hit will connect. This calculation is based on trial and error, and may be flawed. Without having access to the source code, it is sadly not possible to know the true calculation used. On the Version 1, it is possible for Power to exceed 255 when using Diablomon X, Lord Knightmon X or Minervamon X. Because this would exceed the allotted 8 bits, their power will look much lower than it should. In these cases, rather than just being more likely to lose, the device seems to just award the win to whomever initiated battle. This problem was solved on the Version 2 by reducing the Strength Heart Bonus to 15 instead of 16, and reducing the highest possible base power to 210, meaning that a fully leveled Digimon at full strength would have 255 power.
  • Example Value: 168

• Hits: How many successful hits you will deal against your opponent, represented as a 0 for a miss, 1 for a hit. The direction the hits and misses are read from in the signal can vary from device to device. For example, if the device requires that hits are read from right to left, and the Hits value is 10100, this means that your shots will miss, miss, hit, miss and hit, in that order. 5 bits long, read from right to left. At the end of 5 rounds, the battle will end and whomever has more remaining HP will be the winner. Player and Opponents appear to always be inverse, and ties are not programmed into the device. If a tie would occur, the device will freeze and will need to be reset.
  • Example Value: Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit, Hit

• Check: The Check is a value that will frequently change to help ensure a certain remainder is achieved on a finished code. As such, the Check will always be in the final packet. This value is used to tell the device that the incoming code is in fact legitimate. The Check itself does not equal the intended remainder, but rather ensures the intended remainder is reached. So if the intended remainder is 11, and the current sum without the Check is 71, then the Check will be 4 (because 16 goes into 75 4 times with a remainder of 11). Remainder should always equal 8. The way it works is like this:
  • The signal is divided into 4 bit groups
  • Each group of 4 bits is added together
  • The sum is divided by 16
  • The remainder is checked
  • Example Value: 15