Aces of the Pacific: What we have found out, Up to Now. UP2NOWAP.TXT Version 7 Revision Date 10-23-93 TABLE OF CONTENTS: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Section 0000: GENERAL INFORMATION & DATA TYPES Section 0001: HOW I HEX EDIT & OTHER EDITORS Section 0002: PURPOSE OF THIS FILE Section 0003: AIRCRAFT MODELED IN THIS GAME Section 0004: FLIGHT MODELING DATA (*.FMD) Section 0005: THE FMD MAP Section 0006: WHAT THE FMD MAP POSITIONS CONTROL Section 0007: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE FMD DATA Section 0008: GUN LOADS (*.GL) Section 0009: THE GL MAPS Section 000a: WHAT THE GL MAP POSITIONS CONTROL Section 000b: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE GL DATA Section 000c: GUN LOAD TEXT (*.GLT) Section 000d: DATA (*.DAT) Section 000e: THE DAT MAP Section 000f: WHAT THE DAT MAP POSITIONS CONTROL Section 0010: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DAT DATA Section 0011: PILOT (*.PLT) Section 0012: THE PLT MAP Section 0013: WHAT THE PLT MAP POSTIONS CONTROL Section 0014: GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE PLT DATA Section 0015: DAMAGE (*.DMG) Section 0016: THE DMG MAP Section 0017: WHAT THE DMG MAP POSITIONS CONTROL Section 0018: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DMG DATA Section 0019: BOX LOCATION (*.BXL) Section 001a: THE BXL MAP Section 001b: WHAT THE DMG MAP POSITIONS CONTROL Section 001c: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE BXL DATA Section 001d: CAUTIONARY NOTICES Section 001e: PLAY BACK OF VCR TAPES Section 001f: UP2NOW REVISION DATES Section 0020: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Section 0021: POINT OF CONTACT Section 0000: GENERAL INFORMATION & DATA TYPES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ During Dynamix's development of the game all the files that control every aspect of the game are stand alone files. A stand alone file is a file like any other DOS file. It has a name and an extension and can be dealt with like any other DOS file. But before Dynamix ships out the game they combine all the stand alone files into a couple of select and specific files, a sort combined library of files. These library files I'm referring to are all the *.DYN files. Now when viewing the contents of these *.DYN files with a hex editor you will see all the original stand alone files combined one after the other inside the *.DYN files. They are not encrypted so you can still see the name of the file along with it's extension, and the data that follows that name and extension is the data that was once contained inside that stand alone file. Now note that not only is the original data from the stand alone files now contained inside these *.DYN files, but also the name and extension of those stand alone files. In other words the name and extension of the original stand alone files are now part of the rest of the data in the *.DYN files. And that is the very reason why you do not include the first seventeen bytes. That is when you are extracting data from the *.DYN files to make (recreate!) a stand alone file you must not include the first seventeen bytes of that data. Because the first seventeen bytes is just the old name and extension and some other crap that is no longer needed! Below I have listed all the *.DYN files contained in the game. I listed them under the headings of where they came from. As you can see the M1*.DYN files refer to the WWII: 1946 expansion disk and contain not only the new data but also some new versions of old data. AOTP AOTP WWII: 1946 AOTP RAF ==== =============== ======== COMMON1.DYN M1CMN.DYN NOT SHELL1.DYN M1SHL.DYN NOT SIM1.DYN M1SIM.DYN NOT SIM2.DYN NONE NOT Below is a listing of all the stand alone file extensions along with what they control. This data is preceded by the names of the aircraft that are listed in the AIRCRAFT MODELED IN THIS GAME section. *.BXL: BOX LOCATIONS: The location/size of target hit boxes which work in conjunction with the DMG data. *.DAT: DATA: The *.DAT file contains code which determines the types of manuevers an aircraft will perform under various circumstances It also controls the alignment of the cockpit's gun-sight with the tracers, type of engine sounds and it also affects the type of send message board that will be displayed. *.DMG: DAMAGE: The *.DMG data determines the amount of damage a plane can absorb before it will show degradation in performance. It works in conjunction with the BXL data. *.EDG: EDGE: Think of the *.EDG data as the background where the *.TTM's data is displayed. The *.EDG's work kind of like the projection screen at a theater. The *.EDG data determines the "edge" of the background and because of that it controls the display of the *.TTM cockpit view. And with all that it should be clear now that to change the views out of the cockpit you must not only change the *.TTM data (Cock pit views) but also the *.EDG data to achieve a undistorted cockpit view. NOTE: that the name of each *.EDG file is preceded with F,L,R & B for the four cockpit views. *.FMD: FLIGHT MODELING DATA: The *.FMD data controls the flight performance of the aircraft. *.GAU: GAUGE: The *.GAU data determines the arrangement, how many, what type of gauges are displayed on the dash board. *.GL: GUN LOAD: The *.GL data determines the type, quantity, and location of guns on the plane. It also controls the amount of ammo loaded onto the plane. *.GLT: GUN LOAD TEXT: The *.GLT controls the message displayed at the top of the screen when you toggle the gun selection. *.TBL: THE BODY LAYOUT: The *.TBL data controls the exterior view of the aircraft. *.TTM: _______________: The *.TTM data controls the cockpit views, note that this data must be match with their corresponding *.EDG files. Note that the extensions DAT, DMG, GL & TBL are used not only by the aircraft! Things like historical mission data is contained in *.DAT files. The damage that a ship or building can take is stored in *.DMG files. The gun load of a ship or bunker is contained in the *.GL files and even the display of tents, ships and other things are contained in the *.TBL files. An interesting TBL file is the ALWAYS.TBL file. It can not be used as an external view but it can be viewed in the VIEW THE AIRCRAFT section, that is if you copy it to a stand alone file and rename it as one of the aircraft in the game. Check it out and think BB0! Now from this point on I will refer to these once stand alone files that are combined into these *.DYN files as just DATA. Because actually that is what they are now. They are no longer stand alone files, they are just data contained in the *.DYN files! But they can be extracted and saved as stand alone files again for the program to use. That is the real beauty of it all. The thing that make's it all possible is the fact that Dynamix's games still contain the routine in their program that directs it to first check in the game's directory for a stand alone file matching the name of the file/data it is looking for. Then if the stand alone file is not found it will check inside the *.DYN files for the file (now data) that it needs. Now what all this means is that the program will use stand alone files before using the data stored in the *.DYN files. So you can preempt the program from using the original data contained in the *.DYN file and force it to use the data contained in the stand alone file you created. The best thing about all this is now you can avoid the possibility of messing up your original data files by first extracting the data of interest and saving it as a stand alone file. Then make all your modifications to the stand alone file. Section 0001: HOW I HEX EDIT & OTHER EDITORS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Keep in mind while your looking at the games hexadecimal data that the hexadecimal data itself is stored in a High Byte/Low Byte format. Don't worry if you aren't sure what this means, I didn't know either at first. High Byte/Low Byte format means that a hexadecimal number like 0c e4 would be reversed and stored in the data file as: e4 0c. The "High Byte" comes first, thus the name High Byte/Low Byte format. Note that the value of byte has nothing to do with this reversal. The high byte refers to the byte's address. I personally use Norton Utility's DISKEDIT.EXE, there are many good hex editors out on the market (PCTOOLS, XTREE and share ware!) but this is the one that I have chosen. Keep in mind that all reference in this file pertain to Norton's Utility's Diskedit view of the data and that you may have to account for some differences in your hex editor. For me I found that an easy way to compare data is to make extract the data in question and save it as a stand alone file. Then do a Hex print out the stand alone file you made. Then with that you can set up a kind of "flash card" book of the stand alone files you made. Now it is quick and easy to compare all the files to see where the data is changing. Now here is how to make (recreate!) a stand alone file that you can use, or I should say a stand alone file that your program can use. Once you have located the data of choice in one of the *.DYN files all you have to do is copy that data and save it as a separate file (stand alone file!). But remember as mentioned in the GENERAL INFORMATION & DATA TYPES section, when you wish to make (recreate!) a stand alone file from the data contained in a *.DYN file you do not include the first seventeen bytes. Now you have a choice, you can name this new stand alone file with the same name as the plane you got it from, or name it as one of the other plane listed in the AIRCRAFT MODELED IN THIS GAME section. If you save it as a flyable aircraft, and then fly that aircraft, you will find that it now has the same attributes of the plane that you got it from. Or if you give it a name of one of the non-fly able aircraft in the game. You will find that when you come across that aircraft in the game you will notice that it has the same attributes as the plane that you got it from. Now if you don't have Norton's DISKEDIT.EXE, but you do own some type of Hex Editor then don't worry! Thanks to a new program that can be downloaded from FSFORUM you can now do even more than what DISKEDIT allowed you to do. This new and powerful tool provided in FSFORUM and was made specifically for editing AOTP. Tim Kilgore (72760,1022) has produced a program called ACE-OUT.EXE. ACE-OUT extracts the data from the *.DYN files and IT AUTOMATICALLY REMOVES THE FIRST SEVENTEEN BYTES OF DATA FOR YOU! This is a wonderful tool and in many cases is much better than using DISKEDIT to extract a file! For example DISKEDIT is limited to how much data it can copy and paste. This was one of my biggest hang ups in trying to extract the *.TBL files. The *.TBL files were too big for DISKEDIT and I had to go through a four step process to extract a complete TBL file. But now with Tim's ACE-OUT it is easy! I highly recommend that you download Tim's ACE-OUT program! Tim only talks about extracting historical missions data, but I tried it and it works fine on all the data types listed in the GENERAL INFORMATION & DATA TYPES section. Tim's program is well documented so I wont explain how to use it. ACE-OUT IS NOW CONTAINED IN TIM KILGORE'S AMB.EXE PROGRAM WHICH CAN BE LOCATED IN THE HISTORICAL AIRCRAFT (SECTION 7) OF CIS FSFORUM UNDER THE FILENAME AMB.ZIP. Section 0002: PURPOSE OF THIS FILE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When I first set out to edit the data of this game my goal was to not only figure out the purpose of all the data. But to map out that data in such a way as to allow us to edit the data to fit our needs. But after just a few hours of looking at all the diferent data files I realised one thing "THERES TO MUCH WORK HERE FOR ONE GUY". In the Army I found out the fastest way to learn more about something was to share what you know with others and then they would share their observations with you. And toghether you would figure out new things about the subject at hand. Until finally you knew everything that you set out to learn, only much faster. So I produced this file is to provide all you would be hex editors out there with all the information that I have accumulated UP 2 NOW! You see I basically went through and found out how certain data affects the game. But I did not get into the nitty gritty of how to edit that data. But even though my information is not very detailed, at least it gives you a good idea of where to start! You see it just stands to reason that if you start off where I have left off, that you will be able to go even farther than I because you won't have to waste any time rediscovering what I have already found out. Now keep in mind that I'm human and that I do make mistakes! So remember my info is not biblical or written in stone! Which all in all means that I could be wrong! So the main purpose of this file is to incorage the team work aproach to determinging everything about the data in this game. Because in the long run this info sharing helps all of us! So all I ask is that you pass on any and all new information on any data that you identified! Thank You! Section 0003: AIRCRAFT MODELED IN THIS GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) The Flyable Aircraft: USN & USMC USAAF JNAF JAAF ========== ===== ==== ==== F2G.* P38_F.* B5N.* KI27.* F4F_3.* P38_J.* B6N.* KI43.* F4F_4.* P39.* D3A.* KI45.* F4U.* P40_E.* D4Y.* KI61.* F6F.* P47.* N1K1.* KI84.* F7F.* P51.* KI83.* KI100.* F8F.* P80.* ZERO_22.* TBD1.* ZERO_32.* TBF.* ZERO_52.* SBD3.* J7W.* SB2C.* KIKKA.* 2) The Non Flyable Aircraft: USN & USMC USAAF JNAF JAAF ========== ===== ==== ==== PBY.* B17_D.* EMILY.* G4M.* B17_E.* MAVIS.* KI21.* B24.* B25_D.* B25_J.* B29.* Section 0004: FLIGHT MODELING DATA (*.FMD) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The nice thing about the *.FMD data is that all aircraft (fly able and non fly able) have the same amount of data. Once you have copied the data of choice from one of the *.DYN files and saved it as a stand alone file it should be 215 bytes in size (0-214) or 214 bytes in size (0-213) if you leave off the last zero byte. After comparing all the aircraft I noticed that certain bytes are the same for ALL aircraft, and I marked those positions with XX in the FMD Map. Section 0005: THE FMD MAP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Larry Grill and Brian Sanford have built on ealier versions of Tagert's FMD map and filled in most of the missing FMD data below: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 8 9 a b c d e f ================================================= 0000: UU UU ms -- s1 -- s2 -- - s3 -- s4 -- s5 -- s6 -- 0010: s7 -- s8 -- s9 -- g1 -- - g2 -- g3 -- g4 -- g5 -- 0020: g6 -- g7 -- g8 -- g9 -- - ep -- ge -- d1 -- ge -- 0030: ge -- d2 -- ge -- ge -- - d3 -- ge -- ge -- d4 -- 0040: ge -- ge -- d5 -- ge -- - ge -- d6 -- ge -- ge -- 0050: d7 -- ge -- ge -- d8 -- - ge -- ge -- d9 -- ge -- 0060: gd -- a1 -- a2 -- a3 -- - a4 -- a5 -- a6 -- a7 -- 0070: a8 -- a9 -- ri -- rr -- - pi -- pr -- rm -- pm -- 0080: yr -- UU UU yt -- xx -- - vv -- ww -- UU UU UU UU 0090: ne -- UU UU UU UU UU UU - UU UU ra -- UU UU UU UU 00a0: UU UU tq -- tq -- yy -- - td -- ts -- tw -- si -- 00b0: ce -- -- -- sc -- tr -- - tr -- id -- wl -- ps -- 00c0: co -- ld -- fd -- al -- - ab -- zz -- md -- UU UU 00d0: mp -- UU UU UU UU 00 Section 0006: WHAT THE FMD MAP POSITIONS CONTROL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Note that -- following a key indicates the 2d half of a high/low byte integer. d = Decimal Offset h = Address in Hex Address Key Description =========== === ===================================================== d 0-2 UU Unknown h 0000-0001 d 3-4 ms Master stall h 0002-0003 d 5-22 s# Wing stall effect by altitude band h 0004-0016 Band Thru Altitude OR Thru Altitude 1 2k 4k 2 6k 8k 3 10k 12k 4 15k 16k 5 21k 20k 6 26k 24k 7 29k 28k 8 34k 32k 9 38k+ 36k+ (see notes below for discussion of altitude bands) d 23-39 g# G effect by altitude band. h 0016-0027 d 40-41 ep Engine Power Rating h 0028-0029 d 42-43 ge Horizontal G effect h 002a-002b d 44-45 d1 Drag Factor by altitude band h 002c-002d d 46-49 ge Horizontal G effect h 002e-0031 d 50-51 d2 Drag Factor by altitude band h 0032-0033 d 51-55 ge Horizontal G effect h 0034-0037 d 56-57 d3 Drag Factor by altitude band h 0038-0039 d 58-61 ge Horizontal G effect h 003a-003d d 62-63 d4 Drag Factor by altitude band h 003e-003f d 64-67 ge Horizontal G effect h 0040-0043 d 68-69 d5 Drag Factor by altitude band h 0044-0045 d 6a-73 ge Horizontal G effect h 0046-0049 d 74-75 d6 Drag Factor by altitude band h 004a-004b d 76-79 ge Horizontal G effect h 004c-004f d 80-81 d7 Drag Factor by altitude band h 0050-0051 d 82-85 ge Horizontal G effect h 0052-0055 d 86-87 d8 Drag Factor by altitude band h 0056-0057 d 88-91 ge Horizontal G effect h 0058-005b d 92-93 d9 Drag Factor by altitude band h 005c-005d d 94-95 ge Horinzontal G effect h 005e-005f d 96-97 gd Ground Drag h 0060-0061 d 98-115 ae Aileron response by altitude band h 0062-0073 d 116-117 ri Initial Roll rate h 0074-0075 d 118-119 rr Roll recovery rate h 0076-0077 d 120-121 pi Initial pitch rate h 0078-0079 d 122-123 pr Pitch recovery rate h 007a-007b d 124-125 rm Master roll rate h 007c-007d d 126-127 pm Master pitch rate h 007e-007f d 128-129 yr Yaw rate (rudder effect in level bank) h 0080-0081 d 130-131 UU Unknown h 0082-0083 d 132-133 yt Yaw rate (rudder effect in banked turns) h 0084-0085 d 134-135 xx Unknown. All fighters=00 00 All level bombers=c8 00 h 0086-0087 SB2C, TBF, TBD=96 00 SBD and all Japanese DB/TB=64 00 d 136-137 vv Affects manueverability. Always 70 17 h 0088-0089 d 138-139 ww Affects manueverability. Always 00 00 h 008a-008b d 140-143 UU Unknown h 008c-008f d 144-145 ne Number of engines h 0090-0091 d 146-153 UU Unknown h 0092-0099 d 154-155 ra Angle/Rake of the plane, ie: a tail dragger or not! h 009a-009b d 156-161 UU Unknown h 009c-00a1 d 162-163 tq Engine torque effect (right) h 00a2-00a3 d 164-165 tq Engine torque effect (left) h 00a4-00a5 d 166-167 yy Unknown. AOTP v1.0 = 44 fd v1.2 = e6 fb h 00a6-00a7 d 168-169 td Tail down rate. Effects how fast tail settles on landing h 00a8-00a9 d 170-171 ts Take off speed. Effects speed at which tail lifts off h 00aa-00ab ground and speed of aircraft takeoff. d 172-173 tw Tail weight/drag. Affects drag of tail wheel on ground. h 00ac-00ad d 174-175 si Structural Integrity. Speed at which aircraft structure h 00ae-00af begins to fail. Higher value is higher speed. However, indestructable a/c (eg P-47) have no value. (00 00) d 176-179 ce Ceiling, Take Hex # convert to Decimal and divide by 4 h 00b0-00b3 d 180-181 sc Star Ceiling (?) You'll have to ask Brian Sanford what h 00b4-00b5 he means! d 182-183 tr Turn rate without backstick pressure (right) h 00b6-00b7 d 184-185 tr Turn rate without backstick pressure (left) h 00b8-00b9 d 186-187 id Induced Drag in turns h 00ba-00bb d 188-189 wl Wing Leveling. When altered the wings will snap back to h 00bc-00bd level when they get close to level d 190-191 ps Pitch Shift. Affects a/c y-axis centering effectiveness h 00be-00bf in turns. d 192-193 co Compressibility speed. At this speed all controls become h 00c0-00c1 very heavy. d 194-195 ld Landing gear drag when extended h 00c2-00c3 d 196-197 fd Flap drag (affects both settings) h 00c4-00c5 d 198-199 ae Aileron High Speed Lock Effect. At this speed roll rate h 00c6-00c7 is reduced by approximately half. d 200-201 ab Air Brake. Note you can take away but not add. h 00c8-00c9 d 202-203 zz Original AOTP = 78 00 (120) v1.2 = 3c 00 (60) h 00ca-00cb d 204-205 md Master Drag. Effects all drag values. h 00cc-00cd d 206-206 UU Unknown h 00ce-00cf d 207-208 mp Master Power. Effects power value. h 00d0-00d1 d 209-210 UU Unknown h 00d2-00d3 d 211-212 mm Master manuever. Effects roll, pitch and yaw rates. h 00d4-00d5 d 213 00 End of file null. h 00d6 Section 0007: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE FMD DATA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Higher values equal higher rates and speeds and lower rates in turn reduce rates and speeds, except in the case of all drag factors. For example: Top speed at a given altitude band is controlled by the relationship between the engine power factor and the drag factor. Increasing the power factor will increase speed, acceleration, and climb. Lowering the drag factor will also increase speed, acceleration and climb, but at a much faster rate than increasing the power factor by the same value. Speeds for compressability, aileron lock, structural failure, etc seem to be based on a sliding formula. Here are some examples from test results: 20 0d (3360) = 300 mph 94 11 (4500) = 375 mph 24 13 (4900) = 400 mph 7c 15 (5500) = 475 mph Atitude band width applies for all btyes designated as being affected by altitude. The problem arises in determining where the break occurs, thus the two columns. These represent differing opinions/observations of where the break occurs. Also be aware that aircraft speed can behave rather oddly around these altitude breaks, increasing and decreasing beyond normal parameters. This occurs even in unmodified a/c, and isn't noticeable unless you are climbing very slowly and watching the speed/rpm gauges. Section 0008: GUN LOADS (*.GL) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Basically there are three types of Gun Load data's (GL). One of the three types is for aircraft with only one type of guns, and the other is for aircraft with two types of guns. And the third is for aircraft with rear-gunners. Now I didn't check out any of the non-flyable aircraft's GL files, so this information only pertains to flyable aircraft. NOTE: there are a varying amount of zeros between one GL data section and beginning of the next data section. This is not a problem thought because the zeros at the end of the stand alone file will not effect it. Just for your info I did notice that the last three bytes of all the fighter aircraft without rear gunners ends with 02 EE 02. Section 0009: THE GL MAPS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below is a text representation of the data positions of a Hex View of a *.GL file. You will not actually see underlines (__) or X's (XX). What you will see is numbers and letters. I made the GL MAP to give you a feel of what data is changing (__) and what data is not changing (XX). Note as mentioned in GENERAL INFORMATION & DATA TYPES section the first seventeen bytes of data are not included in this stand alone file. Note that this one is for aircraft with only one type of gun, i.e.: no toggle of weapons. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 8 9 a b c d e f ================================================= 0000: xx XX XX __ __ XX __ __ - __ __ __ __ __ __ __ XX 0010: XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX Below is a text representation of the data positions of a Hex View of a *.GL file. You will not actually see underlines (__) or X's (XX). What you will see is numbers and letters. I made the GL MAP to give you a feel of what data is changing (__) and what data is not changing (XX). Note as mentioned in GENERAL INFORMATION & DATA TYPES section the first seventeen bytes of data are not included in this stand alone file. Note that this one is for aircraft with two types of guns. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 8 9 a b c d e f ================================================= 0000: xx XX XX __ __ XX __ XX - __ __ __ __ __ __ __ XX 0010: XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX - __ XX __ XX __ __ __ __ 0020: __ __ __ XX XX XX XX XX - XX XX XX XX Section 000a: WHAT THE GL MAP POSITIONS CONTROL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ d Decimal h Hex Description = ========= ======================================================== d 0 How many gun types/mounts: h 0000 01 for one 02 for two 03 for planes with rear gunners d 1-2 No Change (XX) h 0001-0002 d 3 Unknown h 0003 d 4 Type of the First Set of Guns h 0004 d 5 No Change (XX) h 0005 d 6 How many of the First Set of Guns h 0006 d 7 No Change (XX) h 0007 d 8-9 Number or Rounds for First Set of Guns h 0008-0009 d 10-14 Location on the plane of the First Set of Guns h 000a-000e d 15-23 No Change (XX) <= Note this will be the end h 000f-0017 of the file if you are dealing with a single type of gun, i.e. no toggle. d 24 Type of Second Set of Guns h 0018 d 25 No Change (XX) h 0019 d 26 How many of the Second Set of Guns h 001a d 27 No Change (XX) h 001b d 28-29 Number of Rounds for Second Set of Guns h 001c-001d d 30-34 Location on the plane of the Second Set of Guns h 001e-0022 d 35-43 No Change (XX) h 0023-002b Section 000b: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE GL DATA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Types of Guns: There are eight different types of guns in this game. The Hex code for each type is listed below. CODE ==== ========================== 00 7.7mm & 7.9mm Machine Guns 01 .30 Caliber Machine Gun 02 12.7mm Machine Gun 03 13mm Machine Gun 04 .50 Caliber Machine Gun 05 20mm Cannon Version 1 06 20mm Cannon Version 2 07 30mm Cannon 08 37mm Cannon 2) Number of rounds: Take the decimal number of rounds that you desire and then convert that number to it's hex equivalent. Next using the high bit low bit format that is described in the GENERAL INFORMATION & DATA TYPES section enter that number into the position of the ammo count position that you wish to change. Section 000c: GUN LOAD TEXT (*.GLT) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the data that will determine what is displayed at the top of your screen when you toggle the weapons. It is just a text file that you can edit with a text editor. Section 000d: DATA (*.DAT) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The nice thing about the *.DAT data is that all aircraft (fly able and non fly able) have the same amount of data. Once you have copied the data of choice from one of the *.DYN files and saved it as a stand alone file it should be 131 bytes in size (0-130) or 130 bytes in size (0-129)if you leave off the last zero byte. After comparing most the aircraft I noticed that certain bytes are the same for ALL aircraft, and I marked those positions with XX in the DAT Map. Section 000e: THE DAT MAP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below is a text representation of the data positions of a Hex View of a *.DAT file. You will not actually see underlines (__) or X's (XX). What you will see is numbers and letters. I made the DAT MAP to give you a feel of what data is changing (__) and what data is not changing (XX). Note as mentioned in GENERAL INFORMATION & DATA TYPES section the first seventeen bytes of data are not included in this stand alone file. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 8 9 a b c d e f ================================================= 0000: UU UU xx xx xx xx xx xx - xx xx __ __ __ __ __ __ 0010: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ - __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 0020: __ __ xx xx xx xx xx xx - UU xx UU xx UU xx UU xx 0030: __ xx __ xx __ xx __ xx - __ __ __ __ __ __ mc mc 0040: mc mc mc mc mc mc mc mc - mc mc mc mc mc mc mc mc 0050: mc mc mc UU UU xx xx UU - UU UU xx UU UU UU UU xx 0060: UU UU UU xx UU UU UU UU - UU UU UU UU UU UU xx UU 0070: UU UU UU xx xx __ xx xx - xx xx xx UU xx UU xx UU 0080: xx UU xx Section 000f: WHAT THE DAT MAP POSITIONS CONTROL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ d Decimal h Hex Description = ========= ======================================================== d 0-1 Unknown (UU) h 0000-0001 d 2-9 No Change h 0002-0009 d 10-33 Name of plane used by the LBM's and info screens h 000a-0021 d 34-39 No Change h 0022-0027 d 40 Unknown (UU) h 0028 d 41 No Change h 0029 d 42 Unknown (UU) h 002a d 43 No Change h 002b d 44 Unknown (UU) h 002c d 45 No Change h 002d d 46 Unknown (UU) h 002e d 47 No Change h 002f d 48 Part of Gun Sight & Tracer alignment h 0030 d 49 No Change h 0031 d 50 Part of Gun Sight & Tracer alignment h 0032 d 51 No Change h 0033 d 52 Part of Gun Sight & Tracer alignment h 0034 d 53 No Change h 0035 d 54 Part of Gun Sight & Tracer alignment h 0036 d 55 No Change h 0037 d 56-61 Style of flying, ie: fly like a fighter or bomber h 0038-003d d 62-82 mc Manuever Code. Maneuver guidelines for a/c. h 003e-0052 28 = Manuever to engage at same altitude 64 = Gain altitude 50 = Dive Apparently strings of these values determine the length and freqency of the manuever. Also the order in which these values occur affects in which sequence the a/c performs them. d 83-86 No Change h 0053-0056 d 87-89 Unknown (UU) h 0057-0059 d 90 No Change h 005a d 91-94 Unknown (UU) h 005b-005e d 95 No Change h 005f d 96-98 Unknown (UU) h 0060-0062 d 99 No Change h 0063 d 100-109 Unknown (UU) h 0064-006d d 110 No Change h 006e d 111-114 Unknown (UU) h 006f-0072 d 115-116 No Change h 0073-0074 d 117 Engine Type Sound h 0075 CODE ==== ================= 00 Corsair Sound 01 P51 Sound 02 P38 Sound 03 *Jap Bomber Sound 04 *US Bomber Sound 05 P80 Sound d 118-122 No Change h 0076-007a d 123 Unknown (UU) h 007b d 124 No Change h 007c d 125 Unknown (UU) h 007d d 126 No Change h 007e d 127 Unknown (UU) h 007f d 128 No Change h 0080 d 129 Unknown (UU) h 0081 d 130 No Change h 0082 Section 0010: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DAT DATA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The DAT data controls the style of flying for the particular types of aircraft. Not the AI but the style, for example the style of flying for a jet is different than a prop or even a bomber. For example bombers fly in tight formations when being attacked and fighters will break up the formations and attack the enemy fighters. Now if you give a fighter a DAT file from a bomber you will notice that the fighters will act like bombers when attacked. The DAT data also controls the alignment of the cockpit's gun-sight with the tracers, type of engine sounds and it also affects the type of send message board that will be displayed. Also note that you can not use the 03 or 04 engine sounds for a flyiable aircraft. Well you can use it but it will not sound like you expect it too! As for the rest of the info I noted everything that I have found out along with the data in the WHAT THE DAT MAP POSITIONS CONTROL section. SECTION 0011: THE *.PLT FILE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Information below as been provide by Larry Grill. SECTION 0012: THE *.PLT MAP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 8 9 a b c d e f ================================================= 0000: ac -- ag -- 00 00 sa -- - sa -- sa -- sa -- 00 00 0010: 00 00 hh -- 00 00 00 00 - dd -- 00 00 00 00 00 00 0020: 00 00 UU UU fa fa fa fa - UU UU UU UU mc mc mc mc 0030: mc mc mc mc mc mc mc mc - mc mc mc mc mc mc mc mc 0040: mc mc UU UU UU UU UU UU - 00 00 00 00 UU UU UU UU 0050: UU UU nn nn nn nn nn nn - nn nn nn nn nn nn nn nn 0060: nn nn nn nn nn nn nn nn - nn nn nn nn nn nn nn nn SECTION 0013: WHAT THE *.PLT MAP POSITIONS CONTROL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dec HEX KEY Definition offset 0-1 00-01 ac Shooting accuracy 2-3 02-03 ag Willingness to shoot 4-5 04-05 00 Null 6-7 06-07 sa Situational Awareness--Six o'clock See notes. 8-13 08-0D sa Situational Awareness other angles? 14-15 0E-0F 00 Null 16-17 10-11 UU Uncertain (Possible aggressiveness tied to 18-19 DEC) 18-19 12-13 hh Head to head aggressiveness (Affected by plane *.dat.) 20-23 14-17 00 Null 24-25 18-19 dd Dive duration or dive initiation. (Higher dives more.) 26-33 1A-21 00 Null 34-35 22-23 UU Unknown (01 00 For most Japanese, null for most US aces) 36-39 24-27 fa Firing angle preference? (6400 most JP, 5E01 most US aces) Quantity of fire? 40-43 28-2B UU Uncertain. (0100010 most JP, 0200000 or 0200010 most US.) Affects quantity of fire? 44-67 2C-43 mc Escape maneuver pattern. Fairly certain: 28=U turn 14=scissors 0A=wingover 08=dive 03=climbing turn 04=sharper turn at same alt as opponent. Uncertain: 06=frontal attack 05=submission to plane *.DAT maneuver pattern? 68-71 44-47 UU Uncertain. More of maneuver pattern? (Most have 28000100.) 72-75 48-4B 00 Null 76-81 4C-51 UU Unknown. Most have 9001 2C01 0300, some 1946 have 2602 2C01 0300. 82+ 52+ nn Name. SECTION 0014: GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE *.PLT DATA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The two pivotal portions of the *.PLT data are closely intertwined: The SA or reactivity value in bytes 6-13 (dec), and the escape maneuver pattern in bytes 44-67 (& 68-71?). Bytes 6-7 typically vary from a value of 300-1000, with the higher value representing the greater SA and therefore reactivity to an approach from six o'clock. I have yet to decide conclusively whether the higher reactivity is better. When the simulated pilot becomes fearful, he launches into the beginning of the escape maneuver pattern in 44-67. The pattern will always run it's full course (unless an easy stern shot presents itself?) and the maneuver pattern is seldom useful for offensive action. I believe that 8-13 represent the SA quotient involving reactivity to attack from other attack angles, but they could just as well do something completely different. My experience indicates that the flight pattern in bytes 62-82 in the aircraft *.DAT files are at least as important to improving the opposition's quality as are any mods in the *.PLT files. This is because the maneuver pattern in the AC dat takes over when the pilot has no perceived threat. This is probably based on the distance to and the frontal angle of the opposition AC(s). I haven't deciphered everything yet, but hex 28 seems to correspond to a strong desire to get on somebody's 6, hex 64 seems to lead to gaining altitude, and hex 50 leads to diving. No idea yet what hex 3C & 14 do, but overall effectiveness seems to improve radically by setting most everything to 28 and putting a lot of 05s in the pilots' maneuver pattern. Don't hope for too much improvement in the *.PLT files--especially for the Japanese. There is no throttle control in the *.PLT and this hurts the Japanese alot. This is best evidenced by the following test flight: Your plane: F4F4, enemy ace: KI-84. Altitude: Medium. Advantage of surprise: He. Simply start the mission, don't touch the controls at all and time your death with a stop watch. Top American aces will flame you within 10 seconds, but the best Japanese will take at least 17 & most take over 20! Try substituting all the *.PLT data from an American to a Japanese pilot--no change! This is not an exe problem because it varies from pilot to pilot. Section 0015: DAMAGE (*.DMG) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The nice thing about the *.DMG data is that there are only three different types of aircraft single, twin and four engine. Once you have copied the data of choice from one of the *.DYN files and saved it as a stand alone file A single engine planes file should be 26 bytes in size(0-25) and a twin engine plane file should be 46 bytes in size (0-45) and last but not least a four engine plane should be 66 bytes in size (0-65). The following information is provided by Nicholas Bell. Section 0016: THE DMG MAP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SINGLE ENGINE AIRCRAFT 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 8 9 a b c d e f ================================================= 0000: bb ft dd dd ee ee ZZ ZZ - ZZ ZZ UU UU UU UU cI cI 0010: cx cx cy cy cz cz xx xx - xx xx TWIN ENGINE AIRCRAFT 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 8 9 a b c d e f ================================================= 0000: bb ft dd dd ee ee ZZ ZZ - ZZ ZZ UU UU UU UU cI cI 0010: c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 xx xx - xx xx c2 c2 c2 c2 c2 c2 0020: xx xx xx xx cF cF cF cF - cF cF xx xx xx xx FOUR ENGINE AIRCRAFT 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 8 9 a b c d e f ================================================= 0000: bb ft dd dd ee ee ZZ ZZ - ZZ ZZ UU UU UU UU cI cI 0010: c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 xx xx - xx xx c2 c2 c2 c2 c2 c2 0020: xx xx xx xx c3 c3 c3 c3 - c3 c3 xx xx xx xx c4 c4 0030: c4 c4 c4 c4 00 xx xx xx - cF cF cF cF cF cF xx xx 0000: xx xx Section 0017: WHAT THE DMG MAP POSITIONS CONTROL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xx = No Change (always 00) bb = Second value matches number of "boxes" in *.BXL file and number of fire/smoke origin points in aircraft *.DMG file. 01 Single engine 03 Twin engine fighter 23 Twin engine bomber 25 Four engine bomber Bombers have 3 and 5 damage boxes respectivily. Meaning of '2' unknown. ft = Fuel tank protection. Probably better described as the target's ability to absorb damage before beginning to smoke, burn, or explode. 01 Single engine unprotected 02 Twin engine unprotected 04 Four engine unprotected 81 Single engine protected tanks 82 Twin engine protected tanks 84 Four engine protected tanks Note that if the fT rating is increased to a that for a plane with more engines (eg setting a single engine plane to an ff of 82) makes the plane indestructable, although it will burn. There is also no hit indication sound. dd dd = Damage capacity in High-Low byte format. The lower the value the greater the ability of the aircraft structure to take damage before it starts to smoke or burn. CA 08 (2250) A6M2 A6M3 KI27 KI43 9E 07 (1950) A6M5 KI100 B5N D3A KIKKA TBD 9A 06 (1690) D4Y B6N 72 06 (1650) KI45 46 05 (1350) KI61 KI84 N1K1 KI83 J7W P39 P40 P51 P80 F4F-3 F4F-4 F8F 92 04 (1170) SBD SB2C 1A 04 (1050) F2G F4U F6F F7F P38F P38J P47 10 04 (1040) KI21 G4M H6K 8E 03 (910) TBF D0 02 (720) H8K B17D B17E B24 30 02 (560) PBY B25D B25J B29 ee ee = Engine damage capacity in high-low byte format. The lower the value more damage the target's engine take before smoking or burning. ALL aircraft have a value of B8 0B (3000) except the B-29, which is DC 05 (1500). Noticeable improvement in engine damage capacity occurs when engine value is set to values below 500. Increasing the value above 3000 has no noticeable effect. zz zz zz zz = Unknown. The 4 bytes always occur in the following pattern, and changing the values of a "strong" plane (eg P47) to that of a "weak" plane (eg Ki27) make the "strong" plane easier to destroy. WEAK 00 02 99 01 Ki27 Ki43 A6M2 A6M3 B5N D3A | (512 - 409) TBD | | 99 01 33 01 Ki100 A6M5 KIKKA B6N D4Y H6K Ki21 G4M | (409 - 307) | | 66 01 00 01 Ki45 | (358 - 256) | | 00 01 CC 00 N1K1 J7W Ki83 Ki61 Ki84 H8K | (256 - 204) F4F_3 F4F_4 F8F P39 P40_E P51 P80 | SBD3 SB2C B17_D B17_E B24 \|/ STRONG CC 00 99 00 F2G F4U F6F F7F TBF P38_F P38_J P47 (204 - 153) PBY B25_D B25_J B29 UU UU = Unknown. c_ c_ = Coordinates for fire and smoke start points. Coordinates in 2 btye format. 1st byte is the value. 2d byte is either 00 (positive) or FF (negative). Each "box" that burns/smokes gets an 8 byte group of coordinates DEFINITION OF COORDINATE POINTS SINGLE ENIGINE AIRCRAFT: X axis parallels wings Y axis parallels fuselage Z axis runs perpendicular to x - y plane I Moves ALL fire/smoke origin points along the y axis - in effect it relocates the x,y,z intercept point on the y axis. Intersection of x, y, and z axis is usually near the top of the nose of the aircraft. Normally a higher value on any axis places the point farther away from the x, y, z intercept point (usually described as 0,0,0). This is only true in AOTP with positive values (EXAMPLE: e8 00). Negative values are reversed-lower values indicate a point farther away from 0,0,0. HIGHER negative values (up to a maximum value FF) indicate a point CLOSER to the 0,0,0 point. TWIN AND FOUR ENGINE AIRCRAFT COORDINATE INFORMATION Individual coordinate information is the same as for single engine aircraft. Following defines flame/smoke origin point described: c1 to c4 Engine numbered from left to right cF Fuselage Section 0018: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DMG DATA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ None Section 0019: BOX LOCATION (*.BXL) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This file controls the number of target "boxes" on an aircraft and their size. The size of the target box seems to be controlled by a group of 12 btyes. (Information provide by Nicholas Bell) Section 001a: THE BXL MAP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This file controls the number of target "boxes" on an aircraft and their size. The size of the target box seems to be controlled by a group of 12 btyes. SINGLE ENGINE AIRCRAFT 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - 8 9 a b c d e f ================================================== 0000: nn XX uu XX XX XX cc FF - cc FF cc FF cc 00 cc 00 0010: cc 00 XX Section 001b: WHAT THE BXL MAP POSITIONS CONTROL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ nn = The number of 12 byte boxes XX = No Change (always 00) uu = Unknown. Increasing/decreasing value has no effect on hitting the target. cc = Coordinate value controlling box size FF = Makes the preceding cc value negative. 00 = Makes the preceding cc value positive. The negative/positive functions similar to the coordinates in the DMG file. A LOWER negative value increases the size of the box. A higher positive value increases the size of the box like normal. I have not yet determined which coordinate controls which axis, but decreasing all the negative values (Example: 10 FF) makes it possible to damage the aircraft WITHOUT the tracers getting anywhere near the aircraft if one aims BELOW the aircraft. It works the same with the positive values, ie increasing all the values to F0 00, enables the player to damage the plane without actually hitting it by firing ABOVE the target. Of course decreasing the negative values and increasing the positive values together enables the player to fire randomly around the target and destroy it with ease. Obviously then, in order to make an aircraft a more difficult target to hit, increase the values of all negative coordinates and decrease all positive value coordinates. TWIN AND FOUR ENGINE AIRCRAFT - EXAMINATION PENDING Section 001c: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE BXL DATA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This goes to show that one can achieve an effect without understanding how it really works! Section 001d: CAUTIONARY NOTICES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It is always a good idea to make backup copies before applying any non Dynamix modifications. Note that the utilization of these files and information is at your own risk! I assume no responsibility for any modifications you make to these or any of the original program data. Section 001e: PLAY BACK OF VCR TAPES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is one side effect to using modified data files that "change the performance" of the aircraft in this game. When I say "change the performance" I'm not just refering to the aircrafts speed and agility (*.FMD's). Performance also includes such things as the weapons and ammo count (*.GL's). And such things as the aircrafts damage ratings (*.DMG & *.BXL's). The reason there is a problem is due to the way the VCR tapes works. Prior to playback the VCR tapes scans the tape and loads all the pertinent data (*.FMD, *.GL, *.DNG & BXL's etc.) for each aircraft that is in the VCR. If this data is different then the data that was used during the original recording of the VCR then you will get a different play back of the VCR. An example of this would be after you added the modified files you noticed that your aircraft appears to shoot at a targets that's not there. So if you or anyone else wishes to view your VCR as it was originally recorded then you must insure that the same modified data files that were present during the recording of the VCR, are also present during play back. Note: Due to this it will be very easy to tell if anyone is cheating during a FSFORUM Tournament! So if you were thinking of giving your self an edge during the next tournament then just forget it because all tournaments are flow with the original "performance" data files! There is no problem in playing back a VCR using modified data files that change an aircrafts "appearance" or "ordnance load". If you change an aircrafts appearance via a modified *.TBL file. And then record a VCR tape with that modified data file present, and then later remove or change that data file there will be no problem during playback except for the fact that the planes appearance will change. If you change an aircraft's ordnance load via a modified ORDNCE*.DAT file. And then record a VCR tape with that modified data file present, and then later remove or change that data file there will be no problems during play back. Section 001f: UP2NOW REVISION DATES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1ST UP2NOWAP.TXT Dated 12-28-1992 2ND UP2NOWAP.TXT Dated 03-20-1993 3RD UP2NOWAP.TXT Dated 03-23-1993 4TH UP2NOWAP.TXT Dated 05-05-1993 5TH UP2NOWAP.TXT Dated 06-16-1993 6TH UP2NOWAP.TXT Dated 08-01-1993 7TH UP2NOWAP.TXT Dated 10-23-1993 Section 0020: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below is a listing of all the people who have, in one way or another, contributed to the hex editing ability of AOTP. With this kind of team work it wont be long before we have all the unknowns figured out! THANKS TO..... 1) Grant "Tagert" Senn: The "Father of AOTP editing." He is responsible for making all of this possible by discovering what each AOTP file controlled and building a foundation of which bytes controlled what. How he did this without having any framework to build on is amazing. Obviously, Tagert is superhuman. 2) James "Jaybird" Johnson: For his inspirational and pioneering work on Red Baron. Especially for his personal help in getting Tagert started in editing Dynamix data. We all 2ant to thank Jaybird for all the DOC's he has posted on AOTP & Red Baron. His detective work on Dynamix Code is unsurpassed! 3) Keith Heitmann: For his inspirational and pioneering work on Red Baron. 4) Bill "Samuri" Ciciora: For his inspirational and pioneering work on Red Baron. 4) Joe "The Maverick" Scoleri: For his inspirational and pioneering work on Red Baron. And for his extensive document on how to edit Red Baron. It proved to be very helpful in the development of the format of this document. One can only hope that with everyone contributing to this document that we can achieve a document as detailed as Joe's. 5) Kevin M. Fritz: For his FMD Map corrections. 6) Tim Kilgore: For his wonderful AOTP editing utility programs! And for his extensive work in the development of his mission builder programs. He has made the cumbersome task of creating a custom mission into a relatively easy process. His method of editing the HIS*.DAT's instead of old VCR method has added a whole new dimension to creating FSFORUM AOTP Tournaments. Basically he has given us a mission builder way before Dynamix has! 7) Nicholas Bell: He's worked on the FMD, DMG, BXL, and TBL files. 8) Uwe Serf: For his extensive work on the TBL data files. Due to his efforts we can color the planes to just about any color we desire. 9) Larry Grill: For his extensive work on the FMD files! He has figured out many of the unknowns in the FMD data, including stall effects and aileron response effects at various altitudes. Larry is also wholly responsibile for discovering the manuever codes which control a/c AI in the a/c DAT and PLT files, and for the mapping of the PLT file. His outstanding efforts have greatly improved the realism of AOTP aircraft tactics. 10) Brian Sanford: For his great work and perserverence in mapping the rest of the FMD file. Practically all the new FMD information in this revision is the result of Brian's work. His discoveries has made it possible to really give aircraft unique and more realistic flight performance. Section 0021: POINT OF CONTACT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Although this is really Tagert's file, he has "passed the banner" on to me while he does other nonessential things, like go to school and study. So while it's my "term" please contact me if you have any new information or corrections to this file and I will incorporate or correct the next version. I fully concur with Grant's credo of sharing information in order to increase everyone's understanding and enjoyment of this simulation. Hopefully much of what we learn and share here will be useful in editing AOE. Please note that as "editor" of this beast, I have done my best to correct any errors and have attempted to put the information in the best useable format possible without rewriting Tagert's entire document. So if you don't like it or see some obvious typos, blame me, not the contributors. NICHOLAS BELL 72162,1667