Well, after a number of weeks of busting my ass off trying to make some sense out of FM2005 game files, Sports Interactive finally released the database structure files!
Now I can leave this hex hacking stuff behind and concentrate on finding the info I really need to build my Assistant Trainer utility.
My many thanks to the SI team for the courage to post the database structure files. With this attitude they only achieve to gather even more and more fans around the FM2005 scene.
For those interested, here is the SI post. You can download the files there.
Keep posted for more news in a near future.
Cheers.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Day Four!!! Back In Bussiness!
Hi All!
Sorry about the last few days, but I got no time at all to work on my utility for FM 2005.
I've left where I already could read Awards, First Names, Second Names and Common Names, Regions and Stadiums based on Stefan de Vogelaere's structures.
I will redesign the initial architecture of the utility as I now have access to much more information than I thought I would have. I'll try to relate all of this on a more efficient way.
Expect some news from me only a few days from now, as I will have lesser time to blog on the next weeks. But keep posted and PLEASE contribute on my blog and on Stefan's also (http://fm2005objects.blogspot.com/).
Cheers.
Sorry about the last few days, but I got no time at all to work on my utility for FM 2005.
I've left where I already could read Awards, First Names, Second Names and Common Names, Regions and Stadiums based on Stefan de Vogelaere's structures.
I will redesign the initial architecture of the utility as I now have access to much more information than I thought I would have. I'll try to relate all of this on a more efficient way.
Expect some news from me only a few days from now, as I will have lesser time to blog on the next weeks. But keep posted and PLEASE contribute on my blog and on Stefan's also (http://fm2005objects.blogspot.com/).
Cheers.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Day Three! Hex Hacking is HELL ON EARTH!
Hi all!
Ok, let's review day two...Yesterday, I got home with a migrane headache. Why? Because staring at an hex file for at least 6 hours has this weird effect on people... :S
Well, at the end I understood and read the Awards structure with a little (HUGE) help from Stefan. I've ran some tests and managed to get the info from the hex file into my test application. And with Stefan's structure info, the data starts to make sense.
Now you may wonder, "But Pedro, why on earth you need the Awards info to build an assistant manager program?", to which I reply "Wouldn't you like to be able to search your game and find out that striker that scores 100 goals a season, costs 1K AND has won the FIFA World Player award 15 times?". I believe your answer will be..."Yeah, sure! But there's no such player!"...Ok, but imagine he exists. This effort has the purpose of allowing you to search players and sort them by awards received, for instance. And you might check WHICH awards did he receive. So, i'm cool with awards. You people should also be... :D
Moving on to Day Three!
Today I'll try to give some time to this, but it seems I'll have just a few hours to dedicate to this.
Nevertheless, I'll try to understand the Clubs structure. So, stick with me, feed some info if you have it, and don't forget to check out Stefan's blog (http://fm2005objects.blogspot.com/).
Oh, and by the way, did you see the game between my Sporting and Celtic yesterday? Man, I believe this season we're gonna rock seriously!
Well, you guys go and have a nice day. It's party time! Today's friday, ffs!
Ok, let's review day two...Yesterday, I got home with a migrane headache. Why? Because staring at an hex file for at least 6 hours has this weird effect on people... :S
Well, at the end I understood and read the Awards structure with a little (HUGE) help from Stefan. I've ran some tests and managed to get the info from the hex file into my test application. And with Stefan's structure info, the data starts to make sense.
Now you may wonder, "But Pedro, why on earth you need the Awards info to build an assistant manager program?", to which I reply "Wouldn't you like to be able to search your game and find out that striker that scores 100 goals a season, costs 1K AND has won the FIFA World Player award 15 times?". I believe your answer will be..."Yeah, sure! But there's no such player!"...Ok, but imagine he exists. This effort has the purpose of allowing you to search players and sort them by awards received, for instance. And you might check WHICH awards did he receive. So, i'm cool with awards. You people should also be... :D
Moving on to Day Three!
Today I'll try to give some time to this, but it seems I'll have just a few hours to dedicate to this.
Nevertheless, I'll try to understand the Clubs structure. So, stick with me, feed some info if you have it, and don't forget to check out Stefan's blog (http://fm2005objects.blogspot.com/).
Oh, and by the way, did you see the game between my Sporting and Celtic yesterday? Man, I believe this season we're gonna rock seriously!
Well, you guys go and have a nice day. It's party time! Today's friday, ffs!
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Ok. Day two!
I will continue to discover the pre-game file structure (server_db.dat) of Football Manager. Most of it is already done by Stefan, LittleBlue and Allan, so I'm just trying to keep up with them. I'll continue to check out Stefan's Blog since this is the place where we all are converging our efforts's results. Starting with Database Class and Awards.
Enough talk! Let's get to work!
I will continue to discover the pre-game file structure (server_db.dat) of Football Manager. Most of it is already done by Stefan, LittleBlue and Allan, so I'm just trying to keep up with them. I'll continue to check out Stefan's Blog since this is the place where we all are converging our efforts's results. Starting with Database Class and Awards.
Enough talk! Let's get to work!
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Football Manager 2005 Assistant Trainer
One of my all-time favorite games is Championship Manager. It is, as far as I am concerned, the best game I've ever played. And I've played it since the old Championship Manager 93/94 for my (very) old Amiga. One day, I was playing one of my Sporting Clube de Portugal's memorable seasons in CM00/01 and stumbled across an utility for CM called CM Scout (http://www.nygreen.net). From this point forward my life really changed... :D
This utility allowed me to find a 16 year old striker in the botswana premier league which would have the ability to become the best player in the world! And it got better! He's price was only something like 1.000€!!! All I had to do is to buy him and keep him in the B-Squad for a year or two and the promote him to the A-Squad and he scored 50 goals a season! :D:D:D Ok, the player was not from Botswana, but from Argentina, and he costed 100.000€, but nevertheless it was a good deal.
At the same time I realised that when I searched a player in CM he returned far less results matching my criteria than CM Scout! And in CM the argentinian striker (the 50-goals-a-season-one) wasn't there! There I pledged that I would ALWAYS play CM only if I had a copy o CM Scout with me! I really never looked into this kind of tools 'cause I didn't like to use editors. With editors I feel like I'm changing the one thing that distinguishes CM from other games: it is SO REAL! But CM Scout was different! I wasn't adultering the game's database! I was just using the database at it's full power!
But soon I figured out CM Scout was only the starting point for something greater, more powerfull! Since I became a developer I decided I was going to develop some application to use with CM (now with FM) that extended the CM Scout's abilities! And I will!
Today I was thriving through the SI Forums to see if I could find some usefull info and stumbled across a post from a fellow named Stefan de Vogelaere (Bless you Stefan!). He intends to do something similar to my project, or at least, I thought his work might be the basis of my own project. So, I will begin serious development on my project and stay in touch with Stefan's work. Both of us can only benefit from the mutual contribution on eachother's work, right?
So, let's get to work now! ;)
This utility allowed me to find a 16 year old striker in the botswana premier league which would have the ability to become the best player in the world! And it got better! He's price was only something like 1.000€!!! All I had to do is to buy him and keep him in the B-Squad for a year or two and the promote him to the A-Squad and he scored 50 goals a season! :D:D:D Ok, the player was not from Botswana, but from Argentina, and he costed 100.000€, but nevertheless it was a good deal.
At the same time I realised that when I searched a player in CM he returned far less results matching my criteria than CM Scout! And in CM the argentinian striker (the 50-goals-a-season-one) wasn't there! There I pledged that I would ALWAYS play CM only if I had a copy o CM Scout with me! I really never looked into this kind of tools 'cause I didn't like to use editors. With editors I feel like I'm changing the one thing that distinguishes CM from other games: it is SO REAL! But CM Scout was different! I wasn't adultering the game's database! I was just using the database at it's full power!
But soon I figured out CM Scout was only the starting point for something greater, more powerfull! Since I became a developer I decided I was going to develop some application to use with CM (now with FM) that extended the CM Scout's abilities! And I will!
Today I was thriving through the SI Forums to see if I could find some usefull info and stumbled across a post from a fellow named Stefan de Vogelaere (Bless you Stefan!). He intends to do something similar to my project, or at least, I thought his work might be the basis of my own project. So, I will begin serious development on my project and stay in touch with Stefan's work. Both of us can only benefit from the mutual contribution on eachother's work, right?
So, let's get to work now! ;)
Blog Up and Running!!!
Hi there!
Yup! That's right! I finally have decided to create a blog of my own! Me! The guy who is a developer for 4 years now (mainly in web applications), the guy who attends to almost every Software Development Conference available in Lisbon (Microsoft and Sun mainly), the guy who comments 1 million blog post a day (well, almost) and the guy who surfs the web much better than the real waves finally has a blog of his own!
Ok, cut the crap! What is this blog's purpose!?
The objective is to post the main ideas and difficulties I go through in my life as a developer! And some other interesting stuff aswell! At least interesting stuff to me ;), eheheh...
Well, let's get into it then!
Your help as a reader will be crucial, so PLEASE, contribute! :D:D In portuguese or in english, doesn't matter! Just contribute.
Yours Faithfully!!!
Yup! That's right! I finally have decided to create a blog of my own! Me! The guy who is a developer for 4 years now (mainly in web applications), the guy who attends to almost every Software Development Conference available in Lisbon (Microsoft and Sun mainly), the guy who comments 1 million blog post a day (well, almost) and the guy who surfs the web much better than the real waves finally has a blog of his own!
Ok, cut the crap! What is this blog's purpose!?
The objective is to post the main ideas and difficulties I go through in my life as a developer! And some other interesting stuff aswell! At least interesting stuff to me ;), eheheh...
Well, let's get into it then!
Your help as a reader will be crucial, so PLEASE, contribute! :D:D In portuguese or in english, doesn't matter! Just contribute.
Yours Faithfully!!!
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