POPULOUS LEVEL EDITOR by Jim Nalewick and Thad Cousino I) Introduction. This program was written to allow you to modify the Populous LEVEL.DAT file so you can change how the games are set up. Once changed, you will play the game with the new options. When you win the game you will go to the next level and get a new Game Name. The original game lets you make "Custom Games" but when you win them, you do not get a new Game Name. We wrote this program to help us in our effort to make a list of all the Game Names. If you find a certain game too hard, use it to modify the options how you want them. 2) Getting Started. Make a new DATA DISK that you will modify. First, make a copy of your original Populous Disk for use with this program. DO NOT USE THIS PROGRAM ON YOUR ORIGINAL DISK! This program will modify the file LEVEL.DAT. If you use it on your original disk, it will be changed forever. Copy the files from the original disk to a new disk. The files you need are as follows: GMUSIC1 LAND0 SPRITES0.DAT SPR_320.DAT GWORDS LAND1 LORD.PIC LAND2 MOUTHS.PIC LAND3 QAZ.DAT FONT.DAT LEVEL.DAT If you have the Promised Lands Disk you can also copy it to the new disk. The files you can use from that disk are as follows: GMUSIC1 LAND4 SPRITES4.DAT SPR_324.DAT GWORDS LAND5 SPRITES5.DAT SPR_325.DAT LORD.PIC LAND6 SPRITES6.DAT SPR_326.DAT MOUTHS.PIC LAND7 SPRITES7.DAT SPR_327.DAT QAZ.DAT LAND8 SPRITES8.DAT SPR_328.DAT If you have the One's Final Final Frontier Disk you can use it's data also. Rename LAND4 to LAND9. Rename SPRITES4.DAT to SPRITES9.DAT Rename SPR_324.DAT to SPRITES9.DAT Then copy the files "9" files to your new disk. 3) Using the new DATA DISK. 1) Boot the computer with your Original Populous Disk. 2) Start the game. 3) Click on the Globe to use Game Setup. 4) Insert the your new DATA DISK in Drive A. 5) Click on the Conquest Button to load in the new DATA DISK. You will now be playing the game using the new data. 4) Using the program to modify the LEVEL.DAT file. 4.1) Load the program by double-clicking on POP_EDIT.PRG. 4.2) Next, pull down the FILE menu and click on LOAD FILE. The data will then load into the program so you can change it. 4.3) Pull down the PROGRAM menu and click on SET LEVEL NUMBER to set what level you want to modify. To set the level by Game Number: Enter the Game Number you want to edit. Then set the Level Number to 0. When you click on OK the Level Number will be set to the right value for the Game Number you wanted. To set the level by Level Number: Enter the Level Number to the value you want. When you click on OK, you will go to the Level. 4.4) Pull down the PROGRAM menu and click on EDIT DATA to start the edit for the level you wanted. Click on the options as you want then. At the top, you can enter the following items: The number of Your People (1 - 99) The number of His People (1 - 99) His Aggression (1 - 10) His Rating (1 - 10) In the center, chose the following items: Earthquake (On or Off) Swamp (On or Off) Knight (On or Off) Volcano (On or Off) Flood (On or Off) Armageddon (On or Off) At the bottom, click on GAME OPTIONS to set the general game options. (See Item 4.5) Click on OK to Save the Changes. Click on CANCEL to Exit without saving the changes. 4.5) GAME OPTIONS. Use this to set the general game options. In this box you can set the following items. Water is fatal/harmful. Swamps shallow/bottomless. Can/Cannot build. Build up and down/Only build up. Build near people/towns. In addition, you can enter the LANDSCAPE NUMBER and the LANDSEED NUMBER. The LANDSCAPE NUMBER is the number that goes with the land and sprites you have. Original Disk lands are as follows: 0 Grass 1 Desert 2 Snow 3 Rock The Promised Lands are as follows: 4 Computer Land 5 Wild West 6 Block Land 7 Silly Land 8 French Revolution The One's Final Frontier: 9 The One's Final Frontier The LANDSEED NUMBER is a number that is used to generate the landscape. It is a number from 1 to 65536. (In Hex 0001 - FFFF). Changing this number will change the landscape. Click on OK to Save the Changes. Click on CANCEL to Exit without saving the changes. 4.6 When you are all done, Save the Data back to Disk. Pull down the FILE menu and click on SAVE FILE. The modified information will be written to the file. 5) How it works. The file LEVEL.DAT is the list of game options. Every 5 games is a level. The game level are as follows: Game Numbers Level 0 - 4 1 5 - 9 2 10 - 14 3 and so on up to... 485 - 489 98 490 - 494 99 Each level uses 10 Bytes of information. (10 Bytes x 99 levels = 990 Bytes in the file) Byte 0 = His Aggression. Values are from 1 - 10 (Hex 1 - A) The lower the number, the higher the aggression. Byte 1 = His Rating. Values are from 1 - 10 (Hex 1 - A) The lower the number, the higher rating. Byte 2 = His Options. Bit 0 = Earthquake 0 = Off, 1 = On Bit 1 = Swamp 0 = Off, 1 = On Bit 2 = Knight 0 = Off, 1 = On Bit 3 = Volcano 0 = Off, 1 = On Bit 4 = Flood 0 = Off, 1 = On Bit 5 = Armageddon 0 = Off, 1 = On Bit 6 Not Used Bit 7 Not Used Byte 3 = Your Options. Same as Byte 2. Byte 4 = General Game Options. Bit 0 = Water 0 = Harmful, 1 = Fatal Bit 1 = Swamp 0 = Shallow, 1 = Bottomless Bit 2 = Build 0 = Can, 1 = Can Not Bit 3 = Build 0 = Up and Down, 1 = Up Only Bit 4 = Build Near 0 = People, 1 = Towns Bit 5 Not Used Bit 6 Not Used Bit 7 Not Used Byte 5 = Landscape Number Byte 6 = Number of Your People at Start of Game 1 - 255 (Hex 1 - FF) NOTE: I only allow 1 - 99 (Hex 1 - 63). 99 people at the start is more than enough to allow you to win. Byte 7 = Number of His People at Start of Game 1 - 255 (Hex 1 - FF) Byte 8 = High Byte of Landseed Number Byte 9 = Low Byte of Landseed Number