!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING !!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! The OBREADER utility was designed for development use, ! ! and was not originally intended for use by end users. Since! ! players have requested it, I've made it available. ! ! ! ! For the record: ! ! ! ! 1) This is not an SSI product. ! ! ! ! 2) It is provided free of charge, and may be freely ! ! distributed - as long as this file is included. ! ! ! ! 3) I will be available for questions through GEnie, but ! ! I make no promises that this package will be supported in ! ! any way by myself or SSI. ! ! ! ! 4) SSI and I assume no liability for any damages caused ! ! by use of this package. ! ! ! ! 5) SSI customer service will not accept questions ! ! regarding OBREADER. ! ! ! ! 6) If you encounter program difficulties while using a ! ! database modified by this utility, you should assume that ! ! the problem is caused by the modified database and restore ! ! the original database before contacting SSI for help. ! ! ! ! I strongly suggest that you make a second copy of your ! ! TANKS directory and use that for your experimentation with ! ! the database. If you don't do this, and you encounter ! ! difficulties, you'll have to reinstall from the disks that ! ! came from the game. ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!! WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING !!!!!!!!!!! As promised, this is the OBREADER database compiler which was used to create the database for TANKS! In addition to this file, you should have OBREADER.EXE and FISTDATA.ASC. OBREADER.EXE is a command line utility that reads the FISTDATA.ASC file and creates the various data files used by TANKS! FISTDATA.ASC is a standard text file, which can be modified using any ASCII text editor. To use: Put this package in your TANKS directory. It expects to find certain files in fixed locations, and will fail if run outside of a TANKS directory. Using a text editor, make your modifications to the FISTDATA.ASC file and save it. From the command line, type "OBREADER" and press return. Game data files DATA\H_UNITS.DAT and DATA\WEAPONS.DAT will be modified, and two new files will be created: DUMP.ASC and NUMBERS.ASC. Because of these files, you must have at least 100K of free disk space to run OBREADER. NUMBERS.ASC includes information regarding the number of units and silhouettes indexed by the modified database. You should examine each force listing in this file for the following: WWII Germans can have a maximum of 53 silhouettes. All others can have a maximum of 35 silhouettes. All forces can have a maximum of 66 units. If you exceed any of these maxima, you will encounter difficulties in using your modified database. Please eliminate enough units to bring your numbers within the limits. DUMP.ASC includes a complete listing of all units in your new database. You should load this file into a text editor and search for the words "warning", "error" or "not found". If you encounter any of these, there is something flakey in the database. In any case, it is wise to thoroughly examine DUMP.ASC for any indications of problems before using your modified database in the game. The phrase "not used" is OK and doesn't indicate a particular problem. Database modification: Data organization is described in the comment lines (set off by "!" symbols) in FISTDATA.ASC. Please take note of any maxima specified in the comments and do not exceed them. To include a new unit in a force, insert it at the end of the unit list for that force, before the "@" symbol. Do not delete or add any "@" symbols. Avoid spaces except in names. Don't insert new lines unless you are adding units to a force. If you want new units in your modified database to be included in random scenarios, stick with the existing name conventions. The random scenario generator specifically looks at unit names when picking units, and it won't pick anything it can't recognize. So you should stick to names like "Tank Plt", "Gun Bty", etc. A unit named "Tank Bn", for example, would not be picked by the random scenario generator. The number of weapons and equipment types in the game are fixed: To add a weapon, an old weapon must be deleted. In addition, any equipment types that mount that weapon must be deleted or changed so that they no longer mount that weapon. I suggest that if you decide to add/delete weapons, you should be careful to delete only weapons used in one historical period - preferably 1918. To add an equipment type, an old equipment type must be deleted. In addition, any units that include the old equipment type must be deleted. As with weapons, you should probably limit your deleted equipment types to one period - preferably 1918. If you make changes to silhouettes assignments, you can change the silhouettes in the GRAPHICS\ICONS??.LBM files. You will need to use a paint program (such as Deluxe Paint 2e) that is capable of handling LBM files. When you save your modified LBM file, make sure that the stencil is OFF! (See your paint program documentation.) Silhouettes are arranged from top to bottom, left to right, and in order of file number. For example, silhouette 143 is ninth from the top, fourth from the left, in files GRAPHICS\ICONS?2.LBM. If you add / delete any weapons or equipment types, any old scenarios which use those systems will cause problems. And any new scenarios you create with your modified database will be unplayable on a computer using another database. Same goes if you delete any units. That's why I recommend making all of your adds / deletes to systems belonging to one isolated historical period or force. Adding units is safe, as long as you stay inside the maxima. Modifying information within individual units, systems, or weapons is also safe. Norm Koger 2.0 EMAIL addresses- GEnie: n.koger Internet: n.koger@genie.geis.com (_NO_ "attached files" please!)