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[Zetta]

A really nice discovery you've done here Hero of Chaos ! That's already interesting if we want to make challenges...
I'll try to add all of the stuff written here in the guide as soon as I get back from a holiday week. See you all soon !

[Hero of Chaos]

Good. We remember that part where you can edit the current city HP, right?

It seems I have found out what that whole part is for: buildings.
Here are all buildings coded. The list is very long as it applies to all coordinates on the game map. Again, you'll only find that bit (except for cities, ports and gates of course) in save files, not in scenario files. So it's not possible to add any buildings to that map beforehand.

http://s1.directupload.net/images/110822/slbera7x.png

Here is an excerpt from the buildings-part (trust me, it truly is long). I have framed red two buildings so you can see where they start and where they end.

http://s7.directupload.net/images/110822/m2tydegh.png

Here's the edited part of the upper box.

01 is what I don't get. It seems to be 01 all the time, but in the codes of the real cities, gates and ports, it's always 04, combined with 00 in the building type. Using this combination on "buildable" buildings doesn't work, the game will still crash.

06 is the building type. Here's a list...

00=Crash (don't use it)
01=City (Yes, you can actually place cities everywhere. But can't use them.)
02=City again...
03=Camp
04=Outpost
05=Fort
06=Archer Turret
07=Crossbow Turret
08=Embankment
09=Stone Wall
0a=Catapult Platform
0b=Drum Platform
0c=Band Platform
0d=Eight Pillars
0e=Citadel 1
0f=Citadel 2
10=Embers
11=Fires
12=Fireball
13=Inferno Ball
14=Nothing (You can't see anything but you can't build there anymore)
15=Hell's Fireball
16=Hell's Embers
17=Boulders (Those rocks you can throw off the edge of a cliff)
18=Dam (I'll test if you can flood any city with that)
19=Sand Bar (It has the model of a City. Weird)
1a=Mountains (Again City Model)
1b=Great Wall (Again City Model)
1c=Ruins
1d=Shrine
1e=Pheasent Tower
1f=Market
20=Farm
21=Barracks
22=Smith
23=Stable
24=Workshop
25=Shipyard
26=Mint
27=Granary

Using Markets or Farms doesn't seem to increase the revenue/harvest. I have yet to see if it has an effect when building barracks or so.

04 is the force.

Domestical buildings (Markets, etc.) will always belong to the force the territory belongs to, so you can't place your markets in your enemy's territory, as it will become his.

bc 02 01 is the building's current HP.

Yes, you can raise it above its max. HP.

08 00 80 00 are the building's coordinates.

That way, you can place buildings underwater or so, as I have seen in a few screenshots in the forum Zetta had posted, as well as place them right besides cities.

Well, I somehow can't get the day limit to work. No matter what I insert, I don't lose the game when the limit is reached. There must be something else hidden in these files which determines the loss...

[Zetta]

I'll have a lot of things to add in the next issue of the guide about save files. But that's interesting and it explains why we have screenshots of buildings everywhere. Thanks for this contribution !


EDIT : Some news here : I discovered how to disable some game commands. Only works with save files (and maybe challenge files) :

To activate this, you must be in "Tutorial" mode : replace ff ff ff ff at offset 966991 with anything else.
Offset 968030 : each city command can be enabled or disabled by a simple addition of numbers:
1 disables "Develop"
2 disables "Recruit"
4 disables "Outfit"
8 disables "Inspection"
16 disables "Merchant"
32 disables "Research"
64 disables "Drill"
128 disables "March"
example : I want to disable the commands "March", "Outfit", "Merchant".
128 + 4 +16 = 148 to convert into hexadecimal which is "94"
Note : to disable all of these, the code is ff (256) and not fe (255)

Next commands at Offset 968031
1 Transport
2 Move
4 Summon
8 Search
16 Employ Officer
32 Reward
64 Award
128 Goodwill

Disable Goodwill + Search + Move + Reward = 128 + 8 + 2 + 32 = 170 or "aa" in hexadecimal.

Next commands at Offset 968032
1 =Alliance
2 = Annul Alliance
4 = Ceasefire
8 = Solicit Surrender
16 = Exchange
32 = Request Reinforcements
64 = Disrupt Relations
128 = Collaborate

Next commands at Offset 968033
1 = Rumor
2 = Council
4 = District
8 = Establish (District)
16 = Edit (District)
32 = Dissolve (District)
64 = Strategist
128 = Ranks

and last city commands at Offset 968034
1 = Mediate
2 = Sworn Siblings
4 = Marriage
8 = Banish
16 = ??
32 = ??
64 = ??
128 = ??

Offset 968038
Allows to disable Unit's commands like above:
1 = Wait
2 = Attack
4 = Surround
8 = Tactics
16 = Duel
32 = Strategy
64 = Build
128 = Repair

[Hero of Chaos]

Great, just great. This should disable other forces to interfere in our challenges.

Maybe those 4 numbers after "Banish" refer to unit commands as well. At least I see that the "Supply" command seems to be missing. "Move", "Annihilate" and "Expell" are missing, too.

[s s0den]

I am trying to follow a long, but when I open a file in Notepad ++ every value has NULL on it. Hex Editor Neo looks nothing like your values listed and one wrong move and the file is no good.

[Zetta]

I suggest not using Notepad++ alone, but with a plugin called Hex-Editor. In the beginning, I tried to edit scenarios without it but found that writing 00 bytes was rather complicated. Otherwise I've never used Hex-Editor Neo, I can't help you about this program. Nowadays I am using Frhed which is a really simplistic hex-editor. (All of the above considering you're trying to edit files under a Windows system.)


What I find wierd is that when you open your files you see nothing but NULL bytes... Of course, if you add or remove just one byte, your file won't be recognized by the game or it will bug.

[Hero of Chaos]

I don't remember if it has been spotted already, but the two bytes between the officer rank and the loyalty are some kind of "Dependence" byte. Inserting any officer there will cause the officer to join the force the inserted officer is in as soon as he reaches his debut age. A perfect example (and the only one I have seen so far) is Ma Dai, who has Ma Teng's code in these bytes (and thus joins the force Ma Teng is in).

I have inserted Cao Cao's bytes into the dependence part of Xiahou En, Xiahou De and Xiahou Shang and, instead of becoming searchable officers in Chenliu, they automatically join Cao Cao.

I am not quite sure how it works with family members (those who have the same clan byte). The Xiahous won't join Cao Cao's force (as they're technically not his family), but any relatives of Cao Cao will join Cao Cao's force. However, what I don't know is if they'll still join the force Cao Cao is in another force, such as He Jin's in the Yellow Turban Rebellion. It is possible that they'll become searchable officers instead (except for his children of course). I hope someone knows more than I do.

To sum it up, these bytes ensure that the officer will follow the inserted officer, no matter if he's a ruler or just a mere officer.

[El Jefe]

That's really interesting that they have something like that. I'm trying to think of some non-ruler uses for it, like two officers that were pretty tight friends but not exactly sworn brothers or anything.

I don't think the Cao Zhens and Cao Xius of the game join Cao Cao if he's not the ruler of a force.

Okay, I can think of one situation where officers need a dependence byte - or different clan byte. All those late Suns, as well as Sun Shao, always have to be searched for, I think. Kind of odd since, for many of them, the only reason they don't have direct ties to the force is because a bunch of the Sun clan is missing.

[Hero of Chaos]

An update considering save games.
We all know that the code of each officer is extended in save files compared to our usual scenario files.
After the byte which determines the age at which the portrait of the officer changes, we have the two "Action" bytes as it is called in Zetta's guide.

After that, the officer code stops in scenario files. But in save files, you see that it continues even further. You'll notice a "64" or "d" byte after the Action bytes.
At the beginning of a scenario, all of the bytes from the "64" byte up to the "ff" byte are coded as "00", but as you proceed in the game, you may notice that these bytes change. These bytes determine the stat and APT experience of an officer.
Each stat is coded with two bytes, resulting in 10 bytes for stats. The remaining 6 bytes up to ff are the ones for the APT.

LDR --> WAR --> INT --> POL --> CHR --> Spears --> Pikes --> Crossbows --> Cavalry --> Weaponry --> Navy

I have no time at the moment, otherwise I would have provided a screenshot. I hope you still get what I mean.

I'll do some tests later that day and see what numbers are needed for the stats to increase. I think they are raised in 100 point steps (100 points are needed for a stat/APT increase). Zhuge Liang is the only one who has got a stat increase in my current game yet and is the only one to have the experience for that stat (INT) raised above 100 (it's "9f 00", so 159).
So far, I have noticed that the APT seems to increase by one point for each attack with that unit type. I've tested it with Fa Zheng. Starting with 0 EXP, the byte was 04 after 4 attacks in a Spear unit.
I'm not sure how much the actual stats like WAR increase per attack, yet. I guess that tactics will increase it more than a regular attack.

Remembering my PUK days, the limit for stat experience is 30 points on that stat... so an officer with 57 LDR could get to 87 at a max. But I think one could work around that with hex editing.

Of course, officers with 100 in a stat or S in an APT won't gain any stat experience.

[Zetta]

I knew there was some kind of "experience" byte somewhere. Now that you have located it, we only need to know how it works.

On my side, I've worked again on event file (aka 00000064.eve) and found all adresses of events, in case you'd like to see one. Replace Yellow Turbans event with a copy of the bytes of the event you'd like to see. Then launch Yellow Turbans game and the first event you see (YTR) should be replaced with the one you have copied.
0 - 152557
152558 - 161889 Yellow Turbans Rebellion
161890 - 171253 Dong Zhuo changes the Emperor
171254 - 179737 Coalition vs Dong Zhuo
179738 - 189385 Yuan Shu declares himself Emperor
189386 - 200549 Yuan Shao declares war to Cao Cao
200550 - 205981 Cao Cao strikes South
205982 - 216281 Liu Bei becomes regent of Shu ? (part 1)
216282 - 229765 Emperor Ling is deposed
229766 - 242557 Shu is made (part 2)
242558 - 253901 Someone takes the name of regent (Wu ?)
253902 - 262221 Zhuge Liang launches northern campaign
262222 - 271733 Sun Quan becomes emperor of Wu
271734 - 279465 Peach garden Oath
279466 - 302081 Lu Bu kills Dong Zhuo (part 3)
302082 - 311853 Dian Wei is recruited by Cao Cao
311854 - 330973 Xu Zhu debuts
330974 - 337777 Guo Jia debuts
337778 - 348069
348070 - 354445 Sun Ce declares his independence
354446 - 368073 Recruiting the two Zhangs
368074 - 386657 Sun Ce is "The Little Conqueror"
386658 - 399225 Qiao sisters marry
399226 - 403329 Zhao Yun goes back to Liu Bei
403330 - 424753 Recruiting more people for a faction (?)
424754 - 431961
431962 - 439985 Guo Jia dies
439986 - 458125 Yu Ji debates Sun Ce
458126 - 462533 Gan Ning joins you
462534 - 486665
486666 - 491837 Xu Shu joins Liu Bei
491838 - 500677 Three visits (part 1)
500678 - 511301 Three visits (part 2)
511302 - 525913 Three visits (part 3)
525914 - 533349 Ma Liang and Ma Su employed
533350 - 543673 Lu Meng and Jiang Qin study
543674 - 562005 Liu Bei marries Sun Shang Xiang
562006 - 571753 Zhou Yu's death
571754 - 578009 Cao Cao's death
578010 - 589701 Guan Xin and Zhang Bao sworn brothers
589702 - 598733 Lu Xun's war
598734 - 604561 Liu Bei's death
604562 - 612313 Zhuge Liang's death
612314 - 621549 Five Tiger Generals
621550 - 626049 Bronze Pheasant Tower
626050 - 641273 I have an intellect to recruit...
641274 - 654873 I have a warrior to recruit...
654874 - 665049 There is a traitor among us...
665050 - 666289 AARRGGH I can't do this (Liu Bei tutorial defeat)
666290 - 667809 I am ashamed (Liu Bei tutorial defeat 2 ?)
667810 - 669513 Defeat tutorial (Liu Bei 3 ?)
669514 - 673205 Lu Kuang is making its move (tutorial, creates a unit with Lu Kuang)
673206 - 674577 AAAgghh I can't do this (Liu Bei looses tutorial 4 ?)
674578 - 676145
676146 - 688641 Lu Bu kills Dong Zhuo (part 1)
688642 - 698413 Lu Bu kills Dong Zhuo (part 2)
698414 - 698669
698670 - 698925
698926 - 721317 Game Victory !
721318 - 745333
745334 - 766985
766986 - 797597
797598 - 825005
825006 - 839769
839770 - 845101
845102 - 847933 Country Basics victory
847934 - 852485 Military Basics Victory
852486 - 855433 Going to Battle Victory
855434 - 857385 Going to Battle Defeat
857386 - 860385 Traps and facilities victory
860386 - 862645 Traps and facilities defeat
862646 - 866169 Techniques victory
866170 - 868133 Capturing Cheng Du Victory
868134 - 869473 (end) Capturing Cheng Du Defeat

[foosoomin]

This is one of the most important parts, and also maybe one of the hardest. But if you persevere, you will be able to add or delete any force, with any leader and strategist.

After all characters and items, there is a part of the code with a lot of "2222222" or "32 32 32 32 32 32 32". You can't miss it, there is something like 40 lines of them, it's near the end of the file. It is from there that we may find what interests us.



COLOR, RULER, STRATEGIST

The code for one force is made of 68 characters: it begins with "ÿÿÿÿ" or ff ff ff ff, then 42 bytes of "2" (but it's not always "2"), then 22 bytes until the next line. One line codes one color and force. Choose your force's color depending on the LINE you choose. You may try to change the color, using the table given previously, but not all combinations work.

ff ff ff ff 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 64 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 00 00 00 00 00 09 ff 0d ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Now, how does the code work ? The two first "ff ff" codes for the leader of the force. Then, we have the strategist. For example, compare those lines taken from “Liu Bei in Shu” scenario here:

No force:
ff ff ff ff 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 d3 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 00 00 00 00 00 09 ff 0d ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Cao Cao's force:
57 01 3c 00 64 0a 0a 00 28 32 32 32 32 28 32 32 50 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 00 00 3c 00 00 03 ff 00 00 ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 01


The color is determined with the ff 0d ff ff . Use the officers list to put the leader and strategist you want. They are not in alphabetical order.
For example, you should try to modify a line, so that we have a new force, with Sun Shi as a leader (73 01) and Cao Rui (48 01) as a strategist :
ff ff ff ff becomes 73 01 48 01
Now, you may select this new leader. However you still have to give it a force number.


ALLIANCES

This is pretty logic: the 2 codes for your relationship with other forces, and that "d" or 64 that seems to travel in the code (if you look at it, it just goes from the left to the right) codes for your "relationship" with you. Meaning you shouldn't change it. So 32 codes for neutral. The rest still needs to be discovered. The first "2" for example, is your relationship with blue force (here Cao Cao for example). This is why Cao Cao has a "d" or 64 here, as he is the first force that is coded.


ADDING A FORCE

This is very important for you to create a new force. After all those "222222" we have some lines that seem to be constant in all files. And then we have:

64 09 29 36 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 57 01 01 02 03 11 00 02 3b 00 04 ff 01 ff 00 03 55 00 04 ff 00 ff 00 04 b7 01 04 ff 00 ff 01 01 7b 02 01 04 00 ff 01 02 14 02 04 ff 00 ff 02 01 6f 01 01 03 00 ff 02 02 fb 00 04 ff 00 ff 03 01 03 02 00 00 00 ff 04 01 p 02 04 ff 01 ff 09 01 ba 01 04 ff 01 ff 0c 01 b2 00 04 ff 00 ff ff 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff etc...

Finally, we found where forces are coded. It's between two ff 00 ff. You really can see a shape and regularity here. One force is coded with five bytes between two ff 00 ff. And it seems that the districts are also coded here. If you want to add your force, you'll have to put:

(force colour) (district number, better 01) (Ruler name in TWO bytes) (one byte: I don't know what it codes for, put 00 if you want)

You can recognize it because we have already seen those letters previously in the colour / ruler lines. THE POSITION is very important as it gives you a code for changing officers and city alleageances. There is room for 42 forces. For example, if you put your force in the 6th place, it will be 05. Cao Cao is in the first position, so he has 00, but he also has districts like 01 02 03.

Note: be very careful here in where you place your force. One byte shifted and the game won't recognize your force number.

Threadstarter,


Can you teach me how to create a new force for Emperor Xian, with no officers, start at Dong Zhuo Rise scenario, placed him at Jian Ning ?


I totally do not understand the above post at all

[Hero of Chaos]

Well, seems that tactics increase the APT experience by 4.
This weekend, I'll take some time and look what actions increase which stats by what amount. That may be irrelevant for editing save games (and especially scenarios), but it may help if you want to increase an officer's stats quickly.

Of course, officers with 100 in a stat or S in an APT won't gain any stat experience.

I have to revise this statement. Officers do gain stat experience even when it's 100. I guess this is due to stats decreasing as the officer grows older. Should your officer's LDR drop from 100 to 99 after some time, you should be able to increase it to 100 in no time with high stat experience, so you don't have to start at 0 stat experience (which would take longer to get to 100 again, obviously).

@Zetta: When you have time, you should edit that "Adding a force" part in your guide. The constant "ff 00 ff" bytes at the end of each district code is not accurate anymore, as these bytes and the byte before determine the district's target.
Keep in mind, the "Adding a force" part actually doesn't add forces but districts (which are, however, necessary for making a force work in the first place).

That might help a bit:

You'll find "04 ff 00/01 ff" as the district's target for those Liu Biao/Zhang Lu/Liu Zhang forces... so basically the ones who don't seem to do anything besides taking free cities. Or when a force like Cao Cao has more than one district in the later scenarios, you'll find that code often as well.

"00 xx 00 yy" is the destruction of a force, xx stands for the force's colour and yy for a city (it's ff most of the time, though). Most of the alliance forces in Dong Zhuo's rise have "05" for "xx", so their priority is to destroy Dong Zhuo as soon as they get near him.

"01 xx 00 yy" is the conquest of an area. The force will strive to conquer a particular area on the map, xx being the area and yy again a possible city (which is ff most of the time).
The possible bytes for xx are:
00 = Hebei (the cities north of the Yellow River)
01 = Zhongyuan (the heartland of Cao Cao's domain. Look at the cities like Luoyang or Xuchang which have the same city model)
02 = Xibei (Ma Teng and Dong Zhuo area... the brown cities )
03 = Jiangdong (all those cities in the southern area)
04 = Bashu (Shu territory in Nanman Rebellion)
05 = Nanzhong (self-explanatory)

Liu Bei has "05 ff 00 ff" in the early scenarios. No idea what this is... but seeing that Liu Bei tends to become active only lately in those scenarios (when he has gathered a high troop count in the single city he has...), it may be because of this.

Dong Zhuo's 2nd district has "02 06 00 ff" here in Dong Zhuo's Rise. Hard to guess as this is the only time I've seen it so far. Dong Zhuo's usually an expanding-machine in this scenario especially in the west, so it might be because of this coding.

You can tell by that formular that "03 xx yy zz" is possible as well, but I have not seen it yet. I might create some districts manually in a save and watch what will happen if I set different goals for each district. I guess it should be similar to the pre-coded districts at the start of a scenario.

Keep in mind that the set district targets at the beginning of a scenario won't change if the goal has been achieved. For example, Zhang Jiao's district 1 in YTR is coded to destroy the force 1d (He Jin) and additionally has the priority city 06 (Ye) in the yy part. If He Jin is destroyed, however, the goal to destroy He Jin and take Ye will remain. I have no idea why this is the case, but the district still manages to keep going and won't veg out.

@foosoomin: You should download Zetta's guide and take a look at the extended example part (VIII).
You must edit the officer named "Historical 03", edit his name to Liu Xie and edit the officer code itself so that it maches Emperor Xian. Then, you have to switch Zhou Cang in the example with Liu Xie.

[Lifeng]

It's so long for me to return to creat a new scenario...So, maybe I forgot many things... And now i have some problems...
I try to creat a new scenario....But when i created Lu Bu's force, i put this force into Chen Liu. The force can be see in switch view but have no city, and Chen Liu still an empty city....I can't find the mistake....Please help me to check it, This is the scenario:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bxocvjx7tgbd9tu

[Hero of Chaos]

It's so long for me to return to creat a new scenario...So, maybe I forgot many things... And now i have some problems...
I try to creat a new scenario....But when i created Lu Bu's force, i put this force into Chen Liu. The force can be see in switch view but have no city, and Chen Liu still an empty city....I can't find the mistake....Please help me to check it, This is the scenario:
http://www.mediafire.com/?bxocvjx7tgbd9tu

You have not created any district at all... you know, a force can not exist in the game if there is no district. Every force needs at least one district.
The part where you have created your Lu Bu force with the relationships (22222222222 bytes) is not enough. Below the last force here, you have that huge ff block where you code the districts. It is explained how to do it in the guide as well, the "Adding a force" part. All you have to do is replacing the first

ff 00 ff ff ff ff ff ff

part with

00 01 94 02 01 01 00 ff

This creates district number 1 of the first force (which is Lu Bu) with Lu Bu as the district's viceroy (the viceroy of district 1 is always the ruler of the force), which is coded to conquer the area of Zhongyuan with no priority city.

Really, if you forget something, take a look at the guide and try to remember it. Zetta did a great work with it and explains everything in a good way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dong Zhuo's 2nd district has "02 06 00 ff" here in Dong Zhuo's Rise. Hard to guess as this is the only time I've seen it so far. Dong Zhuo's usually an expanding-machine in this scenario especially in the west, so it might be because of this coding.

I have seen this one again in "Nanman Rebellion" in Meng Huo's district. "06" is replaced by "0a" here.
I think it was Louwhak who has discovered the byte which codes the birthplace area an officer usually returns to when being a free officer. This "06"/"0a" byte is exactly this.

06 contains Wuwei, Tianshui and Anding.
0a contains Yunnan and Jianning.

The two districts of Dong Zhuo and Meng Huo which contain this code are located in exactly these regions. The code could either mean to strive for unification of this region or to simply administrate it... I don't really know.
It may simply be a weakened version of the "conquer a whole area" code (01 xx 00 yy).

[Lifeng]

Thanks Hero of Chaos....It is so long, so i forgot..