Sharing a level by hand
What an archive carries, the five shapes it can take, and the tar, zip and gpg lines that make and open each of them
A level is a folder of files. An archive is that folder packed for sending. Everything the level uses travels with it: the song, the images, the cover. Unpacked on another machine, the level plays straight away
Where the other person puts the level - Metadata and sharing a level › Sharing a level today
What stays out of the archive
- a resource the level fetches from a link. The link stays as it was
- a file nothing in the level references
The game's export report lists both. More - Export and protection › Export level
The five shapes
Each opens with tools that already exist on the other side:
| File | What it holds | Opens with |
|---|---|---|
level.json.gpg | the level document alone, behind a password, sitting in the level folder | gpg |
LEVEL_FOLDER.tar.gz | the whole folder as one archive | 7-Zip, Keka, Ark, Explorer |
LEVEL_FOLDER.tar.gz.gpg | the same archive behind a password | gpg |
LEVEL_FOLDER.zip | the same folder as a zip | Windows on a double click, with nothing installed |
LEVEL_FOLDER.zip.gpg | that zip behind a password | gpg |
By default the game puts the password on an archive with the zip's own AES-256. Any archiver but Explorer opens it by asking for the password.
The game writes the .gpg shapes on request
Before running the lines
Replace two things in the lines:
LEVEL_FOLDER- the level's own folder name, which is its id. It is the long string of digits and letters the folder inlevelsis calledYOUR_PASSWORD- the password itself
A password written into a command line stays in the shell history.
Drop --batch --pinentry-mode loopback --passphrase YOUR_PASSWORD from a line, and gpg asks for the password on screen
The level document with gpg
Encrypting writes level.json.gpg beside the original. The original stays where it is: delete it yourself once you have checked the result.
Decrypting writes the document out under its own name again. The encrypted file stays:
gpg -c --cipher-algo AES256 --batch --pinentry-mode loopback --passphrase YOUR_PASSWORD level.json
gpg -d --batch --pinentry-mode loopback --passphrase YOUR_PASSWORD level.json.gpg > level.jsonA tar.gz archive
The folder is packed from the inside: the archive holds the level's own files, with no folder around them.
To unpack, the target folder must already exist, tar will not create it. mkdir works the same in cmd, in PowerShell and in a terminal on Mac or Linux:
tar -czf LEVEL_FOLDER.tar.gz -C LEVEL_FOLDER .
mkdir LEVEL_FOLDER
tar -xzf LEVEL_FOLDER.tar.gz -C LEVEL_FOLDERPacking and encrypting in one pass. An unprotected archive never touches the disk. The second line decrypts and unpacks the archive back into the same folder:
tar -czf - -C LEVEL_FOLDER . | gpg -c --cipher-algo AES256 --batch --pinentry-mode loopback --passphrase YOUR_PASSWORD -o LEVEL_FOLDER.tar.gz.gpg
gpg -d --batch --pinentry-mode loopback --passphrase YOUR_PASSWORD LEVEL_FOLDER.tar.gz.gpg | tar -xz -C LEVEL_FOLDERA zip archive
On Windows - in PowerShell, which every Windows machine has. The star packs what is inside the folder, not the folder itself.
Expand-Archive creates the folder itself, so no mkdir first:
Compress-Archive -Path LEVEL_FOLDER\* -DestinationPath LEVEL_FOLDER.zip
Expand-Archive -Path LEVEL_FOLDER.zip -DestinationPath LEVEL_FOLDER
On Mac or Linux - zip and unzip:
cd LEVEL_FOLDER && zip -r ../LEVEL_FOLDER.zip .
unzip LEVEL_FOLDER.zip -d LEVEL_FOLDERA zip with a password 7-Zip will ask for is made by 7-Zip itself. It has to be installed:
7z a -tzip -mem=AES256 -pYOUR_PASSWORD LEVEL_FOLDER.zip .\LEVEL_FOLDER\*
The game reads them back
All shapes work in both directions. What the game writes, gpg, tar and zip open. What gpg, tar and zip make, the game reads. That is why standard tools were chosen instead of a format of the game's own
The game reads what a file is, not what it is called. So a renamed archive still opens. 7z is the one format it recognises and refuses: it names the format instead of calling the file broken. Re-pack such an archive as a zip
A FORGOTTEN PASSWORD CANNOT BE RECOVERED. No key is kept anywhere: not in the game, not in the file, not by the developers. There is no reset, no recovery and no way in. A level whose password is lost is lost with it. Write the password down before you close the editor