Ambrosia Garden Archive
    • Pilot Files


      Can they Be edited?

      Has a program been written or is it even possible to change your pilot file outside of EVN. I have a great idea involving pilot file sharing, manipulation, ect.. that would make a good alternitive to EVN online.

    • As far as I know, there is not...but that's just as far as I know...

      I would guess that there is a program or method out there for this, seeing as there is a pilot file sharing network of sorts...I don't remember where, but you can buy interesting premade files with good ships, lots of money, whatever you want...pretty much a made-to-order situation.

    • Matt and seant, possibly people at Ambrosia excpeted, are the only ones who know the structure of pilot files. seant even only knows maybe half of it, and once you get past that it's specially encrypted with an algorithm that is I believe different from the EV/O algorithm (double SimpleCrypt). Anyhow, seant did make a pilot file editor for EV/O, and you can download pilot files made within EVN by others at the Pilot File Trade Network.

      Outside of that, you could learn to develop plug-ins, which, unlike plug-ins for EV/O, can change virtually any aspect of your pilot - from ships to outfits to even the date. Heck, they can even change your combat rating!

    • I once started to have a go at cracking, and I managed too edit my pilot to a certain extent. I only figured out stuff likes ships, system, and cash

    • Just design a plug that lets you get whatever you want - a plug that creates a mission which stes bits, clears bits - whatever. I would think that it would be easier to do that than to try to screw with the pilot file.

    • Yes it is, but if you know what to look for in the pilot file it can be a hell of a lot quicker. you only need to change on byte of data to give your self 87.1Million from 25000. I never worked out all the much of it, but i got enough of it to just quickly do some quick "fixes" 😛

    • If you're on a mac, try using The Cheat. Here's a cheat I managed to make to change your ship type. Change all the values to the index of the ship you want.

    • Maybe you are thinking about something like this:

      http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php...topic=20027&hl;=

      I stopped work on the idea because using such a application would be a bit of a pain. Maybe I'll start work on it again.... It would be neat to get an example working.

      This post has been edited by seant : 02 March 2005 - 01:59 PM

    • Wow that seems like quite a cool idea, seant. Did you ever complete a proof-of-concept? Would it possible to make the program update data stored in ram while you're playing, like The Cheat does?

    • Guy, on Mar 3 2005, 03:48 AM, said:

      Wow that seems like quite a cool idea, seant. Did you ever complete a proof-of-concept? Would it possible to make the program update data stored in ram while you're playing, like The Cheat does?
      View Post

      Can you point me to the thread talking about this? I have no idea what you are talking about.

      I never finished work, though I did get a prototype working. The problem was update lag. I won't go into it now, but because of the way the EVNgine loads data, it is unpossible to get it to take into account changes that other players might have caused after the local player started the game.

      -STH

    • seant, on Mar 3 2005, 04:27 PM, said:

      Can you point me to the thread talking about this? I have no idea what you are talking about.

      I never finished work, though I did get a prototype working. The problem was update lag. I won't go into it now, but because of the way the EVNgine loads data, it is unpossible to get it to take into account changes that other players might have caused after the local player started the game.

      -STH
      View Post

      If you're asking about The Cheat, it's a utility found on macgamefiles that can change things while the program is running. See my most above - it will change your ship type in-flight.

    • Guy, on Mar 3 2005, 08:23 PM, said:

      If you're asking about The Cheat, it's a utility found on macgamefiles that can change things while the program is running. See my most above - it will change your ship type in-flight.
      View Post

      Whoa! I downloaded it to play with, and am glad to see it is open source.

      Something like this could really make my idea of a Shared Universe happen. Before, because of the way the EVNgine loads data, there was an update lag. Player 1 could do some things that change the universe, but the changes wouldn't show up for player 2 unless player 2 quit their game and reloaded.

      Something like The Cheat could solve this problem.

      -STH

    • seant, on Mar 4 2005, 07:31 PM, said:

      Whoa! I downloaded it to play with, and am glad to see it is open source.

      Something like this could really make my idea of a Shared Universe happen. Before, because of the way the EVNgine loads data, there was an update lag. Player 1 could do some things that change the universe, but the changes wouldn't show up for player 2 unless player 2 quit their game and reloaded.

      Something like The Cheat could solve this problem.

      -STH
      View Post

      That's exactly why I suggested it. 😉

    • I've been working for six months on just figuring out how to change between strict and lenient play. Have I had any luck? No...

    • Agent_Vast, on Mar 4 2005, 06:44 PM, said:

      I've been working for six months on just figuring out how to change between strict and lenient play. Have I had any luck? No...
      View Post

      Do you mean trying to alter the pilot file to change strict play? As i know some parts of editing pilot files, as i had a look in to around april time of 2003, but didn't get that far

      This post has been edited by DaGekkoMan : 07 March 2005 - 08:16 AM

    • I think the way to go might be to edit the pilot file out of Nova in simple/textedit, and re-complie it. AS far how easy/difficult this would be, I don't know.

    • I spent 3 weeks looking atg it and only found out how to move the ship on top of different spobs, edit fuel levels and change the amount of credits you have. Oh and to set the pilot to dead, which is kinda of pointless, but hey there is a bit in the file that says that.

      Editing in SimpleText, Or TextEdit would be very difficult, as not all of the characters will show, and then editing the hex in them would be insane as it would all merge together, and whoa, lets not go there.

    • DaGekkoMan, on Mar 7 2005, 10:02 AM, said:

      Oh and to set the pilot to dead, which is kinda of pointless, but hey there is a bit in the file that says that.
      View Post

      Maybe not so pointless -- will switching this bit revive a pilot that died during Strict Play?

    • I thought a pilot that died in strict play is deleted? Hmm may be not. Well to set a pilot to be dead do the following

      in ResEdit, in the Hex Edit for the Pilot Data resource (NpďL 128) find:

      000000: #### ??## #### ####
      

      Replace the ?? with either of the following:
      21 - Alive
      22 - Dead

    • Guy, on Mar 1 2005, 05:37 AM, said:

      If you're on a mac, try using The Cheat. Here's a cheat I managed to make to change your ship type. Change all the values to the index of the ship you want.

      Attached File(s)
      Nova_Ship.zip ( 720bytes ) Number of downloads: 5View Post

      Sorry for bringing this up but I've been doing some more fiddling with The Cheat and wanted to know: Did this cheat actually work for anyone? I've got a suspicion that the addresses aren't necessarily static.

      This post has been edited by Guy : 15 March 2005 - 12:48 AM