FFE - Hex a Savegame to get the medals?
Hilmar Johannsen
I have a little FFE Hacking Question. I like to hack a FFE Savegame to
activate the missing medals. I have decompressed a savegame and I have
an Editor. I also used Hexcomparisson to try to find out the adresse,
but there are too many issues. Do anybody know where the medals are
stored in the Savegame an how to unlock them? Or any method to find it
out?
Hilmar
John Jordan
Method to find out, sure. The code is somewhere in the F270-F320 region
along with a lot of the other mission-related game logic. For some
reason this is one of the few chunks I never got around to decoding,
although I believe at least two people did.
Not sure what you used to decompress a savegame. I wasn't aware of one
for FFE, only FE2, which has a simpler system.
--
John Jordan
Hilmar Johannsen
Hi John, thank you for the answer!
I took this tool to decompression:
http://binaryfrog.lostmypants.net/ffe/fesge01b.zip
I try to hexcompare two savegames one directly before an after a medal
was given. But the savegames had about 20 different changingpoints, so
that I cannot find the medal specific adress. Are they locked up in
the area between f270-f320?
I try too look and hexcompare, if this gives a hint an post again.
Thanks
@John: Aren't you motivated to fix this bug?
Hilmar Johannsen
I looked with Hex Comparison and the blocks f270-f320 seem to have
something to do with the Newspapers. They are in block 5 but before
and after a medalgiving they are simmilar. Any other hints?
@ John: Who are the two persons? Perhaps they have an answer?
John Jordan
> OK,...
>
> I looked with Hex Comparison and the blocks f270-f320 seem to have
> something to do with the Newspapers. They are in block 5 but before
> and after a medalgiving they are simmilar. Any other hints?
I'm referring to the disassembled code, functions FUNC_000270 to
FUNC_000320 in ffe.asm. Not much use unless you read x86 assembler though.
> @John: Aren't you motivated to fix this bug?
Not really. It's a bit of a fake reward and I can't be arsed to install
MSVC6 to do a proper release.
> @ John: Who are the two persons? Perhaps they have an answer?
The guy who did AnisoFFE and some other dude who emailed me once with a
bunch of fixes which I lost. It's a long time ago now.
--
John Jordan
Hilmar Johannsen
So it isn't possible to edit the savegame file to get the medals? :-(
Ok, then I give up,...
Thank you John!
John Jordan
>
> So it isn't possible to edit the savegame file to get the medals? :-(
Oh, it may well be. I just wouldn't know how without reading the code.
--
John Jordan
Cmdr Ton
>
> So it isn't possible to edit the savegame file to get the medals? :-(
>
> Ok, then I give up,...
don't quit so easily... knowing medals and permits are in the same
category,
you could have tried accepting a parcel mission to a planet with
permit
interdict, and compare the unmangled saves directly before and after
accepting (and I mean directly... within 1 sec). Block 3 was the most
likely candidate, so I found the relevant part within 1 minute...
Block3 starts with file offset 0x99CE = 39374 which is offset 0x0 at
gmstruct.txt
(DATA_009091: resb 4 ;0x50d8 are bitmapped medals and permits in
gmstruct.txt)
Medals and permits are bitmapped in two bytes at unmangled FFE
savegame offset
EAA6: all Federal and first two Imperial Medals (01,02,04,08,10,20=
Fed1-6 and 40,80= Imp1-2)
EAA7: Imperial Medals/Permits (01,02,04,08= Imp3-6, 10=Supreme Knight,
20=Ross 128 Prison, 40=Guardian's, 80=Commune Visitor's)
01 00 Certificate of Valour ; Federal
02 00 Starburst
04 00 Purple Omega
08 00 Vermillion Crest
10 00 Blue Excelsior
20 00 Frontier Medal
40 00 Crimsom Brassard ; Imperial
80 00 Black Polygon
00 01 Golden Spike
00 02 Platinum Cross
00 04 Legion of Honour
00 08 Celestial Warrior
00 10 Supreme Knight of the Shining Arc ; non-implemented special
00 20 Ross 128 Prison Permit ; permits
00 40 Guardian's Permit
00 80 Commune Visitor's Permit
Sidenote: Now I am the first commander (I know of, at least) bearing
the
pompous title of "Supreme Knight of the Shining Arc" and I'm really
glad
I got it by cheating and not by fulfilling the broken mission of
destroying the whole Thargoid homeworld :)
Hope that helps, thank you very much for the link to the FFE savegame
editor, and of course thanks to John for giving us the FFE experience
within Windows while protecting us from most of its bugs.
Too bad AniFFE isn't developed further, I like it and I'm trying to
have
a complete standard FFE storyline within Aniso, but have to switch
back
to JJFFE from time to time to get around its persistent bugs...
The main thing I love from AniFFE is the removal of the nasty and
totally
unnecessary combat fudge idiocy... would be nice to get an option to
turn
it off in JJFFE, too. But even without that, hopefully John will
continue
working on JJFEE some day ;)
greetings,
Cmdr Ton
Steve
Steve
--
www.frontierastro.co.uk
FrontierAstro - Dedicated to Elite, Frontier and Astronomy
Rebekka Johannsen
> Hilmar Johannsen schrieb:
>
>
>
> > So it isn't possible to edit the savegame file to get the medals? :-(
>
> > Ok, then I give up,...
>
> don't quit so easily... knowing medals and permits are in the same
> category,
> you could have tried accepting a parcel mission to a planet with
> permit
> interdict, and compare the unmangled saves directly before and after
> accepting (and I mean directly... within 1 sec). Block 3 was the most
> likely candidate, so I found the relevant part within 1 minute...
>
> Block3 starts with file offset 0x99CE = 39374 which is offset 0x0 at
> gmstruct.txt
> (DATA_009091: resb 4 ;0x50d8 are bitmapped medals and permits in
> gmstruct.txt)
Didn't found this bit of info in the gamestruct.txt? How you did?
Is this an INRA Title??
> Hope that helps, thank you very much for the link to the FFE savegame
> editor, and of course thanks to John for giving us the FFE experience
> within Windows while protecting us from most of its bugs.
>
> Too bad AniFFE isn't developed further, I like it and I'm trying to
> have
> a complete standard FFE storyline within Aniso, but have to switch
> back
> to JJFFE from time to time to get around its persistent bugs...
I liked Anisos too, but there where a lot of anoying bugs, for
example, the medalsystem were a totally chaos! But I liked the
delivery enemies it felt a lot more alive!
> The main thing I love from AniFFE is the removal of the nasty and
> totally
> unnecessary combat fudge idiocy... would be nice to get an option to
> turn
> it off in JJFFE, too. But even without that, hopefully John will
> continue
> working on JJFEE some day ;)
I hope so too ;-)!
> greetings,
> Cmdr Ton
Amazing, thank you for this!!! Now I can complet my Commander
Profile!
Many thanks :-)
Hilmar
Hilmar Johannsen
why don't you put the savegame editor an a short faq to it how to edit
it? This will be a nice completition to this issue!
Nice site, I love Frontier Astro!!!
PS: By the way, I played frontier until now and like to try out
original elite. My question: Which Elite is the best one? I heard Arc
Elite or NES Elite seem to be best. What is the difference to Elite
plus on PC? Any sugesstions for me?
Cheers
Hilmar
Steve
"Hilmar Johannsen" <hilmar.j...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:e10a6e60-23d4-48f1...@j19g2000vbp.googlegroups.com...
> @steve: you are a real fast one ;-). I looked at your updated page,
> why don't you put the savegame editor an a short faq to it how to edit
> it? This will be a nice completition to this issue!
I'm a bit unsure of whether to do so, as it's all essentially other people's
work. It was just nice to obtain all the medals and show them on the page.
My FFE editor of choice is B.U.F.F.E.T. (Big Universal Frontier First
Encounters Trainer)
I have a page about it at http://www.frontierastro.co.uk/Buffet/buffet.html
and it lets you change most things in FFE apart, ironically, from the
medals.
> Nice site, I love Frontier Astro!!!
Thanks! :-)
> PS: By the way, I played frontier until now and like to try out
> original elite. My question: Which Elite is the best one? I heard Arc
> Elite or NES Elite seem to be best. What is the difference to Elite
> plus on PC? Any sugesstions for me?
>
Personally? NES Elite.
Hilmar Johannsen
> Sidenote: Now I am the first commander (I know of, at least) bearing
> the
> pompous title of "Supreme Knight of the Shining Arc" and I'm really
> glad
> I got it by cheating and not by fulfilling the broken mission of
> destroying the whole Thargoid homeworld :)
I have another challenge, if someone like to try. I've read, in the
broken missions text, that you shoud get the Elite Rating HERO after
the broken mission of destroying the thargoid homeworld. Any ideas to
set this feature free (by hex editing a savegame)?
;-)
PS: We get to the core of it, didn't we (cmdr ton did, of cause :-)?
Simon Challands
ups.com>
Hilmar Johannsen <hilmar.j...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> PS: By the way, I played frontier until now and like to try out
> original elite. My question: Which Elite is the best one? I heard Arc
> Elite or NES Elite seem to be best. What is the difference to Elite
> plus on PC? Any sugesstions for me?
The main difference between ArcElite and the others is that ArcElite
is the only one to have other ships shooting at each other (not
counting some non-commercial versions like Oolite).
--
Simon Challands
imipak
wrote:
> In message <e10a6e60-23d4-48f1-91b3-d1fc5713b...@j19g2000vbp.googlegro
> ups.com>
> Hilmar Johannsen <hilmar.johann...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> > PS: By the way, I played frontier until now and like to try out
> > original elite. My question: Which Elite is the best one? I heard Arc
> > Elite or NES Elite seem to be best. What is the difference to Elite
> > plus on PC? Any sugesstions for me?
>
> The main difference between ArcElite and the others is that ArcElite
> is the only one to have other ships shooting at each other (not
> counting some non-commercial versions like Oolite).
You could also have fuzzy dice. Don't forget the fuzzy dice!
Graham Thurlwell
wrote:
> I have another challenge, if someone like to try. I've read, in the
> broken missions text, that you shoud get the Elite Rating HERO after
> the broken mission of destroying the thargoid homeworld. Any ideas to
> set this feature free (by hex editing a savegame)?
Hex editing is probably your only shot. From my own reading of the
'Broken Missons' (http://www.jades.org/brokmiss.htm) there was
supposed to be quite a lot of stuff assosciated with the
Argent/Turner/INRA missions tree that we'll never get to see.
The firstenc.exe included a lot of raw text for missions (see
http://www.jades.org/files/exemiss.txt) and general happenings in FFE.
From what's there, some in-game events could have triggered wars
between the Empire, Federation and Alliance - or any combination of
them. IIRC, there are also a lot of unseen Journal entries too which
would've added colour to what may have happened.
The real tragedy of FFE is that it could well have been the ultimate
space game but circumstances conspired against the full possibilities
ever being realised.
--
Jades' First Encounters Site - http://www.jades.org/ffe.htm
The best Frontier: First Encounters site on the Web.
nos...@jades.org /is/ a real email address!
Graham Thurlwell
> On Jun 27, 1:59�pm, Simon Challands <simon_use...@helvellyn.plus.com>
> wrote:
<snip>
>> The main difference between ArcElite and the others is that ArcElite
>> is the only one to have other ships shooting at each other (not
>> counting some non-commercial versions like Oolite).
> You could also have fuzzy dice. Don't forget the fuzzy dice!
Who could? I admit I did turn off the 'bumper sticker' - it kind of
got in the way.
Graham Thurlwell
wrote:
<snip>
> The main difference between ArcElite and the others is that ArcElite
> is the only one to have other ships shooting at each other (not
> counting some non-commercial versions like Oolite).
And asteroids. Oh, and space stations.
I'm still not Elite, BTW. Really should play it a bit more.
imipak
> ups.com>
> Hilmar Johannsen <hilmar.johann...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> > PS: By the way, I played frontier until now and like to try out
> > original elite. My question: Which Elite is the best one? I heard Arc
> > Elite or NES Elite seem to be best. What is the difference to Elite
> > plus on PC? Any sugesstions for me?
>
> The main difference between ArcElite and the others is that ArcElite
> is the only one to have other ships shooting at each other (not
> counting some non-commercial versions like Oolite).
Also forgot. The BBC version of Elite uses a byte value to establish
weapons strength, energy unit strength and cargo hold size.
0xFF lasers were listed as "pulse lasers" on the console, but were
much more powerful than military beam. (I'm not sure how damage is
calculated, but military beams were only 0x7F.)
Lasers with a strength of 0x01 or around that were incapable of
destroying anything - including cargo, asteroids, escape capsules,
tooth picks... Because these were also considered pulse, it meant that
if you wanted to make a REALLY difficult commander, you rigged the
ship with these and would then be forced to trade (no combat) until
you could afford beam lasers. The only way to escape pirates, in such
a ship, was to ram them.
An energy unit of 0xFF was powerful enough that you could glide into
the side of a space station, collide with it all the way through, and
emerge the other side. Your shields would be shot to hell, but you'd
be unscathed. It wasn't considered an attack, so you could still dock.
The main thing I used a mega-powerful energy unit for was to scoop
alien items. You can scoop tharglets during combat, though it is hard.
A huge energy unit simply guaranteed you could tour the combat zone
long enough to stock up.
A cargo hold of 0xFF was nothing special - you could carry 255 tonnes
of cargo but that's about it. (I still think shipping 255 tonnes of
firearms to a tech 1 anarchy world should have done something
interesting.)
Hilmar Johannsen
> On the 27 Jun 2009, Hilmar Johannsen <hilmar.johann...@googlemail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I have another challenge, if someone like to try. I've read, in the
> > broken missions text, that you shoud get the Elite Rating HERO after
> > the broken mission of destroying the thargoid homeworld. Any ideas to
> > set this feature free (by hex editing a savegame)?
>
> Hex editing is probably your only shot.
From my own reading of the
Yes because there is no other posibility I can handle with!
The first and only thing I was interested where the missing medals,
and how to get them. Hex Editing is therefor the only easy way,
because I cannot programm!
> 'Broken Missons' (http://www.jades.org/brokmiss.htm) there was
> supposed to be quite a lot of stuff assosciated with the
> Argent/Turner/INRA missions tree that we'll never get to see.
>
> The firstenc.exe included a lot of raw text for missions (seehttp://www.jades.org/files/exemiss.txt) and general happenings in FFE.
> From what's there, some in-game events could have triggered wars
> between the Empire, Federation and Alliance - or any combination of
> them. IIRC, there are also a lot of unseen Journal entries too which
> would've added colour to what may have happened.
Ah, does this mean, that the journal entry with the hero and the
Suprem Knight medal don't show up in the basic game?
> The real tragedy of FFE is that it could well have been the ultimate
> space game but circumstances conspired against the full possibilities
> ever being realised.
Yes, still today I think, that a new FFE with all potential would get
kult status in space gaming!!!
Perhaps Elite 4 make it? But what I read about the spacefeeling it
will get more like Elite than Frontier. The realistic spacefeeling was
the most exiting about FE2 and FFE, I think!
I look forward to E4
Simon Challands
ps.com>
imipak <imi...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Lasers with a strength of 0x01 or around that were incapable of
> destroying anything - including cargo, asteroids, escape capsules,
> tooth picks... Because these were also considered pulse, it meant that
> if you wanted to make a REALLY difficult commander, you rigged the
> ship with these and would then be forced to trade (no combat) until
> you could afford beam lasers. The only way to escape pirates, in such
> a ship, was to ram them.
I never did much tinkering around with the save game files (despite
writing an Elite-A commander editor), but you could also make things
really nasty by tweaking the data for other ships. I can't remember
the details now, but I did manage to create something that would take
your shields down in a couple of shots.
--
Simon Challands
imipak
wrote:
> In message <248cff16-1244-4bcc-9644-20a1fb175...@z9g2000yqi.googlegrou
I never figured out how to do that, but I =did= manage to accidentally
arm space-stations and have them open fire on me, when trying to
figure out how the spaceship files worked.