Skyfire

The version number supports at least two extra characters. I tested that... 1.5601 worked fine. I do not know how many more digits it can handle though. There are quite a few blanks after the 1.56. Someone else posted in this thread on how to fix this. I'll repeat it here since I do not know which post it was and do not feel like looking through the whole thread to find it. The relevant offsets are 0x79602 – 0x79609, which are indeed in the middle of the EXE file. I tested it and, yes, it does work. I set it to 1973 and everything worked fine. I have no idea why the dates are there.

Oh, and I also tried to look into that really annoying bug where the AI begins to replace all trains over the age of 25 and continues to replace them every year (eventually resulting in bankruptcy). This is really annoying in really long games. In the save games there is a table near the end of the file with the trains in (333 bytes long... you can identify it by searching for the names of any named trains you have). It seems trains have three dates associated with them. One is the age of the train (given by a year that it first came into being) and one is the age of the locomotive (given by a year that it first came into service)... the other, I have no idea (also a year). These must be mixed up somewhere in the code and not likely something we can fix. However, it is easy to identify the two columns that are the age of the train and the age of the locomotive. When the AI replaces trains it must look at either the wrong one or update the wrong one because when it updates trains only one of these values changes. If you set the two values equal to each other, it will not replace the same train the following year. So at the very least, every year in january, you can save the game, fix the dates and play for another year. This does work and the AI won't just die after 25-30 years. Kind of annoying though... Now if only someone could actually fix this! Or write a program to do it in a single click even! If there's any programmers reading this, there's your challenge. :)

Ok, here is a spreadsheet with the extra tables I have found (and only the extra tables or those that I have added to significantly). There are about 10 of them and I identified some of them (about half). If jeffryfisher wants to add this to his spreadsheet, go for it (I would do it myself, but since this is your thread it's best if you keep everything coordinated). I hope some of this is useful to you. The list of manager abilities is in the "ed,man" table. I tested some of these and that is also shown in the table by colour coding. There is also a table related to bridge costs that someone posted about earlier in this thread. I found tables related to station graphics, tycoons, (managers, but I wasn't the only one to find this!), the campaigns, and the verification list for the .lng file when using the /D2 switch as outlined in the header of the .lng file. As I said above, the version number is stored as plain text at offset 0x15B0F8. This would be useful to identify your modified version of the game. Maybe call it version 1.57jf or something. That way it will be obvious when you start up the game which version you are using. It will help keep track of any modified version of the game. Perhaps we could work on an unofficial patch that fixes some of the glaring errors like the misplaced numbers in the conversion table, the ridiculously incorrect availabilities of the Class 232 and TGVx, and the insane speed of the F9 and reliability of the GG1. Whatever the community can agree upon as mistakes maybe? I'm just throwing the idea out there. Other notes regarding various small things I found in jeffryfisher's tables (additions mostly): in the “cars” tab the string seems to imply graphics to use in the “bldg prices” tab the string refers to graphics while the 1 byte integer that follows refers to a thumbnail in the “managers” tab, the first integer refers to the image of the manager in the “stabuilds” tab the string refers to the thumbnail In playing around withthese graphics it seems that they are stored as .imb files, but since I am not a computer programmer I do not know how to decode the .pk2 files. I took a look in the hex editor but couldn't see anything that I could identify. If anyone could identify anything else, we'll really be making progress! EXE Data Skyfire.zip

I have compiled a partial list (I tested some and inferred others) and I will upload it tomorrow when I am at home. I'll also upload the tables I mentioned, as well as some other tables I have found but can't identify their function. I could not find the "Stock Liquidity" ability. I guess the developpers originally meant to include it but never did or took it our during testing. Where I would have expected to appear on the list is actually the "fewer robberies" ability that Bat Masterson has... and the .lng reference is significantly out of synch with the others. I actually found that searching for numbers from the .lng file to be very useful in identifying the tables. At the end of the EXE file there is a list of .lng reference numbers. I assume this list is when you use the /D2 switch to test the file (this is described in the header of the .lng file).

P.S. I didn't find any discrepancies in the managers table when I looked through it.

I actually worked through this over the christmas holidays but didn't post it until now. The first 5 bytes in the manager table are references to the .lng file. The first two bytes are the manager name (1456 for Ames Oakes). The second two bytes are for the "description" (1457 for Ames Oakes). The 5th bytes is a reference to the image for that manager. All of this can be tested by switching the numbers around. Likewise, all of the featurs available in the editor seem to be manager skills. Switching an ability to "0D" gives a reduction in building buying and it does work! Though the game lists the price the same, when you actually buy it, the amount of money spent is reduced. I'm not sure the significance of some of these abilities though and how they relate to managers. I tested several. Indeed you can set it so a certain manager makes a train immediately available (or not at all)... but this doesn't seem to be useful. There is another table starting at offset 0x150550 that is 16 bytes wide and 350 entries long that also has something to do with manager abilities and editor functions. I added my own tab to the spread sheet and will share it with everyone once my account is approved. :) Other things I found was the table of the tycoon abilities starting at offset 0x151E88. It is 35 bytes wide and has 41 entries (1 for the generic unassigned player and 40 for the tycoons in the game). It contains a reference to the tycoon's image, their tendencies, location (us,euro,world) and references to the .lng file with their names and descriptions. There is also a table at offset 0x152421 that relates to the campaigns (the maps to use, the text, the choices, etc...) I also found where the version number is stored (as text near offset 0x15B0F8) and how to reassign some of the graphics (for example taking ONE of the commerical buildings and making it into a specific type of factory), but I am still testing that. I'll post more later when things are more well sorted and tested.