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1994-03-20
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***************************************************************************
* Formula One Grand Prix Editor *
***************************************************************************
© Steve Smith, March 1994, Version 1.0
This is dedicated to all Amiga Formula One Grand Prix addicts!
***************************************************************************
** 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 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 be ignoring the Amiga. 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 suprising
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
· Car colours
THIS UTILITY WILL NOT:
~~~
· Remove the manual protection
FUTURE VERSIONS SHOULD ALLOW:
· Changing the colour/pattern used for drivers crash helmet (it would
be nice to give Damon Hill his proper black and white stripes!).
· "Switching" on and off drivers.
· Editing the default settings (e.g. skill level, race length etc.) so
you don't need to fiddle with the race set-up everytime you load the
game.
(I know how to do the first two, the last one is proving tricky to
find).
SIMILAR UTILITIES ALREADY IN EXISTANCE:
None on the Amiga, but there is a similar utility, also known as "F1ED", on
the PC.
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 1678 byte file. We have
included two 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. 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.
(2) SAVE DATA
This option will allow you to save the settings you have just edited to a
data file of your choice. A 1678 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.
(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.We cannot
be held responsible for any damage this editor may cause.
First of all, a warning, we purchased our 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).
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 three 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 options
"<" and ">" cycle through the team names.
THE EDIT SCREEN:
When you click on "Edit Team" a different screen appears. Central to 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.
To change the colour of each segment (or polygon if you prefer), simply click
on it. For every mouse click the palette is advanced by one colour (you can
hold the mouse button down to "cycle"). This is a bit of a messy way to do
it, but it works and was easy to program ;-)
You can also change the text in the black boxes. Click on the box you wish
to change, and then make the 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.
Finally, 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.
We've included a box next to each scale displaying the actual value currently
set. For the teams, the highest performance level is 255, the lowest is 0.
For each driver, 1 is the best setting down to 34 for the worst. "Qual" and
"Race" signify the seperate settings for Qualifying sessions and the Race
itself.
Click on "O.K." to finish editing.
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 2 to 3 seconds a lap quicker at some circuits in Ace
mode.
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?
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 us 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! Alternatively, just 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.