Space Empires III Data Files Editor
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Welcome to the Space Empires III Data Files Editor! With this
editor, you will be able to add to or edit the data files
that come with Space Empires III. These data files comprise
all of the information detailing the components, facilities,
troops, fighters, and mines in the game.


- Disclaimer - 

This editor is provided AS IS. There is no warranty or support 
for this editor of any kind (though we may answer questions sent to
us at malfador@crl.com). If you somehow generate an error in 
the game itself by using this editor, don't tell us about it.
There are a large number of ways you can crash the game by
feeding in crazy data. We are not about to make the game 
completely protected from all user data files. If we did, we'd
have to charge for this editor!


- General Info - 

This editor will only work with version 1.13 or later of 
Space Empires III. We had to make a number of changes to the
game itself to support this editor. 

Only registered owners of Space Empires III will be able to 
use this editor. In addition, the data files that you 
edit will be marked as such. Only registered owners will 
be able to use the data files in the game. 

The files themselves reside in the Files directory under the
main Space Empires directory. They are named comps.dat, 
facility.dat, mines.dat, fighters.dat, and troops.dat. You
don't really need to know this as the editor will 
automatically edit these files for you.


- Before you use the Editor - 

We strongly recommend that you make a copy of all of the files
in the Files directory. This way, if you make a mistake, you can
always restore these files. If something catastrophic happens,
come to our web site where you can download the originals.


- Using your new Data Files - 

For the most part, everything is automatic. When you edit the
data files, they will immediately be available for your next
game. This does not necessary apply to games in progress
however. We recommend that when you make changes to your 
data files, you should start a completely new game. 


- Data Files and Savegames - 

When using your edited data files be careful! If you always
add on to your current data files, there will be no problem 
with your savegames. However, if you move items around in the 
data files, then your savegame will look a little funny as your
items will have changed as well. And don't try to load a savegame
that used data files that you no longer have (files that were
larger, had more items). The game will give you an "Access 
Violation" because it is trying to reference items in the 
data files that are no longer there. 

As a general rule of thumb, if you want to make sure your savegames
still work, only add on to your data files or make a copy of them.
If you only add new items, and don't modify the existing items, your 
savegame will still work correctly. 


- Techs -

As you edit and add items to the data files, you may find that
you want to add more techs to accomodate your inventions. To support
this we have made some of the Tech properties external to the game.
In the Files directory, you will find a file called "tech.txt". This
file is loaded by the game to tell it what the Max Techs and Tech
Costs are. You can edit this with any standard text editor and 
change things as you see fit. You cannot add new Tech Areas to the
game, but you can change the number of tech levels within the
existing Tech Areas. 


- Pictures -

As you use the editor, you will be able to call up the pictures of the
components and the facilities. In creating your own items, you may want
to add pictures to these bitmaps for the game. You can do this by editing
the bitmaps in the Pictures\Game directory. They are named "comps.bmp"
and "facility.bmp". We strongly recommend that you do not edit the palette
in any way or you may get strange colors from the game. Follow the 
instructions given for editing Ship Styles and you should be fine. 

Component pictures are 24x24 pixels, and Facility pictures are 32x32 pixels. 


- Limits - 

You can add new items to your hearts content, but there are limits. The 
following are the limits imposed by the game. Please do not pass these
limits.
   Components:    1000
   Fighters:      255
   Troops:        255
   Mines:         255
   Facilities:    255


- Data File Specifics - 

Accompanying this editor are a number of text files. In addition to this
file, there are also text files for each of the data files you can edit.
Please see these for specific information on what each field in the data
structures means. 


- General Usage -

Main Window:
The main window allows you to access each of the data files. 

Data Edit Windows:
In each window you will be editing a specific data file. When the window
comes up, it automatically loads the data file and displays its items in 
a list. When you press OK on the window, you will be saving the data file 
back to your hard drive. If you press Cancel, you are throwing away any 
changes you have made. 

General Controls on the Edit Windows:
OK                      Commits the changes you have made to this data file
                        and saves the data file to disk.                   
  
Cancel                  Cancels any changes you have made to this data file.

Item List               Lists each of the items in this data file. The list
                        is composed of a unique id followed by a dash and then
                        the item name. When you select an item in the list,
                        its values will be displayed in the right-hand portion
                        of the Edit Window. Be careful when doing this! If you
                        have made changes to an item you need to press the 
                        Commit Changes button to save the changes back to the list.
                        If you click on the list it will display the new item
                        regardless of whether the old has been commited or not.

Up/Down Arrows          When an item is selected in the list, pressing these will
                        move the item up or down in the list. NOTE: this movement
                        does not retain the unique id for the item. The arrows are 
                        performing a switch operation, and the ids will remain tied
                        to the slot it occupies. For example, if you select component
                        204 and press the up arrow, you will move that component to
                        id 203, and the former 203 will now be 204.

Move Up button          Same as the up arrow.

Move Down button        Same as the down arrow.

Switch button           When an item is selected, it allows you to switch it with 
                        another item in the list. A dialog will come up prompting
                        you for the position to switch this item with.

Commit Changes button   This button commits the changes you have made to this item
                        back to the list. If you do not press this button before 
                        clicking on a new item, your changes will be lost. This
                        function does not save anything to disk, it merely updates 
                        the changes you have made to the master list of items.

Add button              When you press this button, you will add a new blank item
                        to the bottom of the list. You will then need to click on 
                        the new item, edit its values, and then press the Commit
                        button. 

Copy as New button      This will copy the currently selected item to the bottom of 
                        the list as a new item. 

View Bitmap             Pressing this button will display the bitmap which holds 
                        the picture for this type of item. You will need to count
                        along each square in the bitmap to find the picture number
                        you are after. 

Delete?                 There is no delete button. If you add something you don't 
                        want, just press the Cancel button and it will not be 
                        saved to disk. If you find that you really need to save,
                        but still don't want that new item, just leave it there.
                        Set its tech level to above the max for that tech area, and
                        no one in the game will ever see it. 


- Cool New Stuff - 

If you develop some new weapons or units which you think the world should
know about, please email them to us at malfador@crl.com. We will post them 
on our web site so that everyone can experience these incredible new devices 
you have created. 


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These are freeware. Distribute as you wish except on any 
commercial disks or CD-ROMs without permission of the authors.

Space Empires III is Copyright 1997, by Malfador Machinations
Website:  http://www.crl.com/~malfador/
