----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // Formula One Grand Prix Editor _ \X/ © Steve Smith, April 1994, Version 2.0 []/ |o__ ------------------------------------------------------------------ O[____o\ - This is dedicated to all Amiga Formula One Grand Prix addicts! Especially all of the F1GP fans who sent me Fidonet messages asking for version 1.0. Enjoy this editor and F1GP! *************************************************************************** ** PLEASE READ THE IMPORTANT DISTRIBUTION NOTICE AT THE END OF THIS TEXT ** *************************************************************************** *Formula One Grand Prix, published by Microprose, is © 1991 Geoff Crammond* *************************************************************************** PURPOSE: This utility allows you to edit the various team/driver characteristics within Geoff Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix. The changes that are made are written directly to the executable file "F1GP" so there is no need to mess around with Loading driver names or altering settings before you start the game. WHY? Formula One Grand Prix was the most innovative Amiga game for a very long time when it was released back at the beginning of 1992. However since then Microprose seem to have ignored the Amiga version, whilst at the same time, the P.C. version of F1GP was released and updated four or five times to add such wonderful features as head to head modem link. If you haven't played the P.C. version, try and take a look, it's awesome. The Amiga version could have been just as good, but to my knowledge Microprose never bothered to update it. To go someway towards compensating for this, I decided to have a hack at the file to see what could be changed. The answer was a surprising amount of stuff. Obviously, I couldn't add features like the head to head modem link, but what you can change has, in my view, improved the long term playability of the game. Let me know what you think. THIS VERSION WILL ALLOW YOU TO ALTER: · Team/Engine names. · Driver names. · Team performance levels. · Driver performance levels in both qualifying and race trim. · Car colours. · Crash helmet colours (this only takes effect whilst you are on the track, and not on the Driver Selection screen). · Switch each driver on and off (you must have at least 26 drivers, or else the game will crash). · Editing of the default settings: - Race length - Qualifying session length - Practice length - Skill level (also effects quick race). · Supplied with 1993 and 1994 data files. THIS UTILITY WILL NOT AT ANY TIME: ~~~ · Remove the manual protection FUTURE VERSIONS MIGHT ALLOW: · The ability to select the car which the human player uses. · Edit the quick race settings (circuit, qualifying position etc. It should be possible). (Please note, the above two future features are "vapourware",I cannot find out how you do either, but I will keep looking). SIMILAR UTILITIES ALREADY IN EXISTENCE: None on the Amiga, but there is a similar utility, also known as "F1ED", on the PC. However, for the ultimate "one-up-manship", this editor can do much more than the PC version! HOW TO USE THIS UTILITY: F1ED will take advantage of the ASL file requester on any Amiga fitted with Kickstart 2.0 ROM or above. Make sure you install the ASL library on your boot disk where appropriate. When the ASL library can't be opened, a much more basic file requester will be substituted. Run F1ED from Workbench or CLI, an about screen will be displayed, click on "O.K.". The main menu will then appear. If we first look at the middle box on the screen, you will see four menu items: (1) LOAD DATA This option will request the name/path of the file which contains driver/car settings which you wish to edit. This should be a 2309 byte file. We have included three of these files: The first called "Standard.F1ED" contains the default settings as supplied with the game. The second called "1993Data.F1ED" contains the data for the 1993 Grand Prix season. This includes new teams/drivers/colours as well as performance data. Finally, we have included a preliminary release of the 1994 data file "1994Data.F1ED". This is only based on the figures from one race, so may not be 100% accurate. You can of course create your own data files using the next option. See the section at the bottom of the file for information about the 1993 figures. NOTE: F1ED V2.0 will NOT open data files created by an older version.To get round this problem, use your old copy to write the changes to the executable file, and then read them back in from the executable using this version. (2) SAVE DATA This option will allow you to save the settings you have just edited to a data file of your choice. A 2309 byte file will be created. This file can opened at a later date using the "Load Data" option. (3) READ DATA FROM EXECUTABLE The settings used in the game are stored in the main executable file "F1GP". This is a 582992 byte (582k) file which can be found on disk 2 (or in the main directory if you have installed the game to your hard disk). Rather than load the, whole file into memory, the editor will read the information it needs from the appropriate places. When you have finished editing the settings, you will need to write them back to the same executable file in order to use them in the game. If you are reading F1GP from a floppy disk, this is quite a slow process ... please be patient. (4) WRITE DATA TO EXECUTABLE WARNING: This option will make changes to the executable file "F1GP". NEVER USE THIS EDITOR ON THE ORIGINAL DISKS,ALWAYS USE A BACKUP. I cannot be held responsible for any damage this editor may cause. First of all, a warning, I purchased my copy of Grand Prix when it was first released (February 1992). As far as I know Microprose never updated Formula One Grand Prix (despite the fact that there have been at least 4 updates to the P.C. version which was released a year later!). However, if there are any different versions of Grand Prix out there, the editor will not work with them (unless the main file is the same). We have included primitive version checking, if the executable is not exactly 582992 bytes long, you will not be allowed to read from/write to the file. This will probably also mean that you will be unable to edit "cracked" versions of the game. Come on guys, F1GP is a great game, go out and buy it. The 168 page manual is a great read! I will try to contact Microprose to ask them to confirm there have been no changes made. Does anyone know there fax/phone number (I think they have recently moved offices). If you are reading F1GP from a floppy disk, this is quite a slow process ... please be patient. O.K., so now you know how to open/write files using this utility. When you have opened a file for editing, your attention should then turn to the top box, which contains four buttons. The first "Edit Team" opens the editor screen for the team name which is currently displayed in the black box directly below. The other two buttons "<" and ">" cycle through the team names. The final option "Edit Global Game Options" allows you to alter the default settings (eg. Race distance, skill level etc.). THE EDIT SCREEN: When you click on "Edit Team" a different screen appears. At the bottom of this screen is a picture of a formula one racing car. You will notice that Team 1 has a slightly different shape at the front of the car. Geoff Crammond did this to allow for the Marlboro logo on the front of the McLaren. For this reason, even though McLaren currently don't have the 1 and 2 numbers for their cars, we suggest you leave them as the first team. Directly beneath this picture is the palette of the colours available to you. To change any part of the car, click on the colour you wish to use on the palette (the currently selected colour is shown to the right of the palette), and then click on the polygon to which the colour is to be applied. If there is at least one driver in the team you are currently editing, you will also be able to edit helmet colours. To the left of the picture, you will see buttons labelled "Helmet 1" and "Helmet 2". When you click on either of these buttons, the picture will change to the crash helmet of either driver 1 "Helmet 1", or driver 2 "Helmet 2". Change the colours of the crash helmet in the same way as you would the car. Above the picture, you can change the setup of the team and drivers. First, you can change the text in the black boxes. Click on the box you wish to change, and then make alterations using the keyboard. When you press return, the cursor will appear in the next box. You can also use the up and down cursor keys to move the cursor from box to box. You can change the settings for the team, and for each driver within that team. Simply click the mouse at the point on the scale which you want. I've included a box next to each scale displaying the actual value currently set. For the teams, the highest performance level is 1279, the lowest is 0. For each driver, 1 is the best setting down to 34 for the worst. "Qual" and "Race" signify the separate settings for Qualifying sessions and the Race itself. To allow the removal of teams/drivers no longer competing in the Championship, you can click on the "Turn Off" button. Alternatively, if you wish to "switch" back on any teams/drivers you click on the "Turn On" button. There are two circumstances when you will not be able to "Turn Off" drivers: - Car number 5 is the default human driver. You cannot turn this car off. - When the number of currently selected drivers falls below 27 (you must have at least 26 cars or else the game will crash). Click on "O.K." to finish editing. A WORD ABOUT TEAM PERFORMANCE FIGURES If you have already used version 1 of my editor, you will notice that the range of team performance figures has been increased. If you use a number of more than 900, the game begins to get impossible on the faster circuits. The performance of the human controlled cars cannot be altered. The maximum figure of 1279 will make the computer drivers impossible to beat. Nice if you like a challenge! - lets all pretend we drive for Simtek ;-) If you want to globally reduce team performances, see Edit Global Options on the main menu. 1993 FIGURES These figures are based on each driver's performance figures for the British, German and Hungarian grand prix. The figures were put together by someone called Craig (sorry, that's all I know), and were originally designed for the P.C. version of the game. We had to fiddle with the Team performance figures a bit because the P.C. version uses a slightly different range of figures. The figures for some teams seem a little high (Footwork for one), but I wanted to get the thing finished to upload, so you can make your own alterations. If you found F1GP too easy, you'll love this! The highest performing teams are now much quicker. If you find the game just that little bit too hard, do a global reduction on the team performance figures (see Edit Global Options below). V2.0 Note: We modified a couple of the values to make things a bit more realistic. I'll attempt to dig out all my Autosports from 1993, and enter the lap chart data for a really accurate data file for a future version. 1994 FIGURES Hmmm, its April 3rd and we've only had one Grand Prix so far this year, so these figures might not be 100% accurate! This time, I made my own spreadsheet to calculate the figures from each drivers fastest lap in both race and qualifying. However, I've never been one for statistics, if you think you can make a more accurate set of figures, please feel free (send me a copy of the data file). It was a bit more difficult to do the colours of the cars (especially Simtek and Pacific). Olivier Panis has a white helmet because I don't know what colours he uses (no picture in Autosport). EDIT GLOBAL OPTIONS When this option is selected from the main menu, a separate screen will appear. Using the mouse you can change the following options: · DIFFICULTY LEVEL: As in the Race setup menu in the game, from Rookie to Ace. This was put in to save you having to fiddle with the game settings each time you play Grand Prix. · OPPOSITION TYPE: Ditto the above. When using "1991 Level", the figures actually correspond to those you set using the edit team option. · LENGTH OF PRACTICE SESSION: Set the length of the practice session, as Race Setup Menu in game. (from 5 minutes to 120 minutes). · LENGTH OF QUALIFYING SESSION: Set the length of the qualifying session,as Race Setup Menu in game. (from 15 minutes to 120 minutes). · PERCENTAGE RACE DISTANCE: Set the percentage of the race distance to be covered, as Race Setup menu in game (10% to 100%). · GLOBAL TEAM PERFORMANCE LEVEL If you find the game too hard (or too easy), you can increase or reduce the Team Performance figure for all teams by 10 (10 each time you click on the button). 60Hz SCREEN MODE SWITCHER We released this editor to improve F1GP on the Amiga. Another way to improve the way the game plays and looks, is to run your Amiga in 60Hz mode. Geoff Crammond must have designed the game with the NTSC market in mind, as there is a large black border at the bottom of the screen, and the cars and scenery look "squashed". We've included in this archive, a short 60Hz mode switcher. This one is particularly good as it has a go at emulating the ECS hardware on a non-ECS Amiga (unfortunately this emulation won't work on F1GP, but does on some other games like Test Drive). However, If you have an ECS or AGA chipset Amiga (which is basically any Amiga from the A500+ upwards), you'll be able to play the game in fullscreen mode. Is it my eyes, or does the game also run slightly quicker/smoother in this mode? NOTE: You will have to run this utility from CLI, it crashes from Workbench. IMPORTANT DISTRIBUTION NOTICE: This utility may be distributed provided NO charge is made (that includes any fee which Public Domain libraries decide to charge for duplication). This means that NO PUBLIC DOMAIN LIBRARIES are allowed to distribute this utility, with the following exceptions, who may distribute it at their normal rates: P.D. Soft Visage Computers Barkman Computers Public Domain Range (Which I administrate) If we are maligning your own perfectly good P.D. Library, please send us an example of your work, and if we believe you are providing good value for money, your name will be added to the list. Feel free, in fact we encourage you, to upload this utility to any BBS, providing they don't operate on a premium rate number (eg. 0898). This documentation must always be included. SHAREWARE/FREEWARE: Although this utility took me a long time to devise and write, its not something which could be useful enough to be called shareware. However, if you are a complete Grand Prix nut (like me), and do feel that my work is worthy of a small contribution, I won't say no! You can write or mail me your comments on the program. If you have a modem, there is a very good area on FidoNet for Grand Prix fans. You can send me a FidoNet message addressed to "Steve Smith". If you want to write to me, my address is: 34 Wolsey Drive Kingston Upon Thames Surrey KT2 5DN U.K. I have an email address where I work: steves@bmtech.co.uk Finally, thanks to my brother Phil who made the picture of the car on the edit screen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // Formula One Grand Prix ... _ \X/ ... Not so much a game, but a way of life! []/ |o__ ------------------------------------------------------------------ O[____o\ -