I didn't think you are near Elite, i don't know Elite to well but therefore it's sequel FE2 from in and out.
I could already guess thast this counter counts only up to a value and gives then one point to elite, it's pretty like this in FE2.
255 in general for a shot vessel (why is not to clear to me refering to the models data all ships will give you 255 so it could be 1 already but who knows...) = 1 point in FE2. 255 of them you need to get one single elite point in FE2, 1000 points of that will make you elite, i never got to this you need to shoot down many thousends of ships. In fact 1000 ships to get to elite would be far to less 255'000 is quite a lot.
Just by this i assume it's pretty sleek the same for Elite (or Elite plus)
But ask somewhere else Elite and FE2 is something special and there are special dudes who will know it.
Ask Steve: https://www.frontierastro.co.uk/
He knows almost anything about Elite and it's sequels.
Or ask simply at Frontier Forums
Or i can ask in your place because i have full access to the forum and this Q belongs to "off topic / games of frontier dev" whre newbies have no full access to (to avoid spamming).
I decided to do so 😀
Wait erm what about if you hack the savegame? if the value at this adress will make you to elite it will be easy to notice then, i will give it a try.
I compared Hoopers savegame with yours. Hoopers savegame shows 00 02 which shows clearly that it is to read "common" as longword else it would be 02 00 for 2 points
Your Elite rating is based on the number of kills you obtain. The ratings increase quickly at first, then slowly later on. PATIENCE is being tested here, as it takes a lot of kills to become Elite.
the quote let's me smell something sleek one of the values could be a divisor or something which alters the value for a shot ship.
let's see...
looks really like the previous adress is in relation to it Elite doesn't likes if i alter here something so i assume the value at 0x90 0x91 is in relation 0x92 0x93. The Hoopers savegame shows 00 02 00 002 as you see the values are at start the same and alter while you play which explains the above statement that it's harder as longer you play to reach the next point.
But i guess i will ask for it just made me curious.
OK i won't have to ask the solution was to find in frontier forums.
Elite Plus determines the text for for combat rating using two lists. The first list contains the maximum number of hit points a rating applies to (0, 2, 4, 9, 20, 35, 90, 155, 1000, 60000) and the second list contains the text (Harmless, Mostly Harmless, Poor, Average, Above Average, Competent, Deadly, Dangerous, Elite). If you are counting, you will notice the first list has 10 entries, and the second list only 9. So the "Elite" rating only applies up to 60000 hit points. After 60000, the text becomes whatever random gibberish happens to be in memory at the location calculated by looking up random gibberish!
Nonetheless i asked i would like to know how it's to interprete proper.
as i look at it i would say you are a long time deadly but half of the way to elite, i'm not sure i still can't get a grip on it whatever i do it refuses to accept the hacked savegame except i reset that to 0002 0002. number of shot ships and points for ranking aren't the same that's already obvious.
BTW the savegame is else very simple it can't be a very complex game.
But hey why play "Elite plus" if there is FFED3D or even better "Pioneer" or best of all "Phoenix"? 😀
Nah, i understand i neither can't let off the games i played 25 years ago like FE2 or stupid Lords of the Realm.
Or even more stupid my old Intellivision games.
Such addicted to FE2 that i became the first co-dev to Pioneer (but i'm out, i was to egoistic i guess - or vice versa, it depends how you look at it).
And yes i could need some help or support even if that is just a little interest in it or to ask "stupid things" like when we started because the "stupid questions" was the most fertile.
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OFF TOPIC (or not as)!
Could it be closer?
Yes it's simple because it's simply the exact geometry of FE2 and it's made "simple" in the manner of v0 = v(1,0,0) v2 = v(-1,0,0) v3 = v(0,0,0) draw triangle v1,v2,v3. project on texture coordinates so and so and use this material.
As usual confusions prince made some mistakes 😉
Formost i mixed up the two adresses, i assumed the lower value is your rank and the higher the hit count but it's vice versa.
YOU ARE ALMOST ELITE thats true.
I asked like i promised on frontier forums and received the proper answer from AndyJ who maintains FFED3DAJ, we are meanwhile quite close and he helped me a lot in the past weeks (i'm responsible to fill the game with the missing models).
details (ment for hacking the savegames but it will tell you also the meaning of):
1 * * * Elite Plus v3.1 for IBM/PC Savegame Editing * * * 2 3 by George Hooper 4 5Although limited in ship and equipment as compared with later versions 6of the game, Elite Plus still has alot to offer in the editing of the 7savegame files. 8 9The procedure is to edit the savegame file using a standard hex editor 10program. These editors are widely available as freeware and shareware 11on BBSs and the Internet. By editing, you change the code at a 12specific address in the file, using hexadecimal numerical entries. 13 14Conversion between decimal and hexidecimal values is best accomplished 15by using an inexpensive calculator which will convert between decimal, 16hexadecimal, and binary values. 17 18When entering hex values, remember to reverse the most and least 19significant bits. So a hex value of 03 E8 will be typed in as E8 03. 20 21The savegame files use a checksum at the end of the coding to verify 22that the file has not been tampered with. This is defeated by using 23Steve Critchlow's ELCHKSUM.EXE program. Place the checksum files into 24the same directory as the savegame file. After editing a file called 25JAMESON.CDR type: 26 27 ELCHKSUM JAMESON.CDR 28 29The checksum program will edit the file, calculate and enter the 30correct checksum, and save the file. The savegame file will now load 31correctly for gameplay. 32 33Editing is easy, but mistakes will always be made. So copy that 34important savegame file to another directory for safekeeping while you 35edit the original. 36 37Graphics Identification: These colors and descriptions will aid you 38in verifying the settings in your gamesave file when you load it into 39the game. 40 41Pulse Laser Red/yellow, 2 red lines 42Beam Laser Red/grey, 2 red lines, green dot 43Mining Laser Red, 2 brown lines, brown triangle 44Military Laser Blue/white, 2 brown lines 45 46Cargo Bay Extension Brown bumps on bottom of ship 47Extra Energy Unit Two Duracell batteries 48Energy Bomb Red rectangle 49Escape Capsule Gray square 50Docking Computer Two blue/white squares 51Galactic Hyperdrive Added to icon panel 52ECM Blue radio waves 53 54Mission Notes: A few key facts about the missions. I don't reveal all 55as I don't know some items, and don't want to spoil the mission on 56others. 57 58-5000 cd Offer to sell you some Tribbles. They will overrun the ship. 59 4000 cd Destroy stolen Police ship - galaxy? 60 1000 cd A star is going supernova and a ship is needed to transport
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61 refugees to the nearest system. Accepting the mission will 62 dump all cargo to make room for the refugees. 63 5000 cd Deliver Thargoid invasion plans - galaxy? 64 6000 cd Destroy asteroids before they reach a planet - galaxy? 65 Destroy a masked ship - obtain the masking device. 66 Destroy a Thargoid Base (A Coriolis station) and obtain 67 the Anti-ECM device and Archangel status. A fuel leak will 68 develop which drains all the hyperspace fuel. 69 70 * * * The Hacks * * * 71 720015-001D "COMMANDER " portion of the player name at the top of the 73 status screen. Values are for ASCII characters. This will 74 change to "ARCHANGEL " upon the completion of the Invading 75 Thargoids mission. It can also be changed to any other title 76 using 10 ASCII characters (includes a space). 77 780020-002A Credit display upon start of a savegame, and is updated with 79 a transaction. Values are for ASCII characters. 80 81008C-008F Credits. Maximum value is FF FF FF FF = 429,496,749.5 82 credits. Add 1 to this and the credits = 0. 83 840090 Legal status. 00 = Clean, 01 or greater = Offender. As you 85 can only save a game while docked, and cannot get a Fugitive 86 status while docked, no value will = Fugitive. 87 880091-0092 Number of kills, entered at both addresses. The game will 890093-0094 calculate your Elite Rating from these values. Here are the 90 values required for each rating. 91 92 Hex Dec Rating 93 94 00 02 2 MOSTLY HARMLESS 95 00 04 4 POOR 96 00 09 9 AVERAGE 97 00 14 20 ABOVE AVERAGE 98 00 23 35 COMPETENT 99 00 5A 90 DANGEROUS 100 00 9B 155 DEADLY 101 03 E8 1000 ELITE (NICE GRAPHIC!) 102 1030095-009B "JAMESON" portion of the player name at the top of the 104 status screen. It is also the name of the savegame file. 105 Values are for ASCII characters. It can also be changed to 106 any other title using 7 ASCII characters. Hacking also 107 allows the next two addresses (009C, 009D) to be used as 108 characters in the name. However, only the first 7 will be 109 used as the filename. 110 11100C5 Activate Special Missions - Note that certain missions will 112 require the ship to be in a specific galaxy. 113 114 00 = default value 115 01 = Sun going Supernova. Transport refugees. 116 02 = Retrieve Masking Device. 117 03 = Invading Thargoids, destroy Coriolis station. 118 04 = Destroy stolen Police ship. Galaxy? 119 05 = Transport Thargoid invasion plans. Galaxy? 120 06 = Destroy asteroids before they reach a planet. Galaxy? 121 12200C9 01 = Activate Witch Space. Upon exiting the station, the 123 ship will enter Witch Space, where a group of Thargoids 124 await. 125 12600CF 01 = Activate Thargoids. Upon exiting the station, a group 127 of Thargoids await. This seems to coincide with the 128 Thargoid Base mission as the Coriolis station can be 129 destroyed. 130 13100D3 01 = Max out cabin temperature. Upon exiting the station, 132 the cabin temp goes to max and the ship is destroyed. 133 13400D4 01 = Max out cabin temperature. Same as above, but a occurs 135 slower with a few seconds before destroying the ship. 136 Suspect 00D3-D4 are a combined value. 137 138Equipment: The following list gives the addresses for each item, and 139their addition to the ship will be listed on the equipment page. Note 140that you can have more than one item as is normal for lasers. However, 141this also applies to all the other items as well, although you will 142not see a quantity listed on the equipment page. Some changes do not 143work as buying more than one Galactic Hyperdrive results in 0 drives 144while in flight. 145 146 Addr Item Notes 147 148 007B Fuel hex 00-FF = 0 - 7.0 ly of fuel 149 007C Missile hex 00-04 = number of missiles 150 007D Cargo Bay Extension 151 007E ECM System 152 0081 Fuel Scoops 153 0082 Escape Capsule 154 0083 Energy Bomb 155 0084 Extra Energy Unit 156 0085 Docking Computers 157 0086 Galactic Hyperdrive 158 159 007F Pulse Laser hex 00-04 = number of pulse lasers 160 0080 Beam Laser hex 00-04 = number of beam lasers 161 0087 Mining Laser hex 00-04 = number of mining lasers, 162 also requires a fuel scoop 163 0088 Military Laser hex 00-04 = number of military lasers 164 008A Laser positions hex 00-0F = inputs all 16 laser 165 position combinations on the ship 166 008B Laser graphics hex 00-FF = inputs all 255 laser 167 graphic combinations on the ship 168 169 Note: All three laser addresses must be set correctly, 170 or the game will crash when you buy or sell them. 171 172 0089 Masking Device adds "square frame" icon to F8. Uses 173 alot of energy, but good for dealing 174 with Thargoids. 175 00D1 Anti-ECM device adds "A-ECCM" icon to f12. Toggles on 176 and off. Suspect it dumps all the fuel 177 on nearby ships, but not sure. 178 179Commodities: Values from hex 00 - FF (0-255). As the ship cargo space 180is limited, the values would never be exceeded with commodities 181measured in tons. However, items in grams and kilograms can exceed the 182values, and you can lose the original 255. For example, you have 183255 kg of gold. Buying one more kg results in your ship quantity = 0. 184 185When the game is saved, the Market quantities for all the commodities 186are also saved. Reloading the game will return the same quantities as 187previous. The prices are not saved, so it appears they can change 188upon a reload. 189 190The selling of Slaves, Narcotics and Firearms will change the Legal 191Status at address 0090. The value will equal the quantity of illegal 192items you sell. 193 19400C1 = Total cargo space used in the ship (tons). Items not measured 195 in tons are not counted. 196 197 Ship Market Ship Market 198 Commodity Unit Qnty Qnty Commodity Unit Qnty Qnty 199 200 Food t 009E 009F Firearms t 00B2 00B3 201 Textiles t 00A0 00A1 Furs t 00B4 00B5 202 Radioactives t 00A2 00A3 Minerals t 00B6 00B7 203 Slaves t 00A4 00A5 Gold kg 00B8 00B9 204 Liquor/Wines t 00A6 00A7 Platinum kg 00BA 00BB 205 Luxuries t 00A8 00A9 Gem-Stones g 00BC 00BD 206 Narcotics t 00AA 00AB Alien Items t 00BE 207 Computers t 00AC 00AD 208 Machinery t 00AE 00AF Refugees t 00C0 209 Alloys t 00B0 00B1 Tribbles ea 00DA 210 211Refugees: The 00C0 address will display "Additional Cargo: Refugees" 212on the status screen. Accepting the mission adds 14 tons of refugees, 213although the amount will not be displayed. All cargo onboard will also 214be dumped to make room for the refugees. 215 216Tribbles: The 00DA address will display "Additional Cargo: 1 Tribble" 217on the status screen. The number = the hex value at 00DA. 218 219Stuff not worth hacking: Both the System and Hypersystem information 220are stored in the file, but it appears alot easier just to goto the 221system, and save the file. 222 223Clock: It appears that no internal clock information is saved in the 224savegame file. This is important in that special missions are not 225triggered by a time setting. 226 227More Hacks: Hacking a game is a never ending quest. There is always 228another secret to be revealed. Most of the time hacking ends when the 229time expended on the code is high and few additional discoveries are 230found. However, a fresh look from another hacker has uncovered many a 231hex code, so feel free to e-mail me with your discoveries. Here are a 232few items to look for in both the savegame and EXE files: 233 234 How to gain access to the 9th galaxy. 235 What "initiates" a special mission? 236 Is there a built-in hex editor? (Some previous versions had one.) 237 Is there a master password? 238 239 George Hooper 240 elite@hooplatec.com 241
Nah it's not very hard to get used to a hex-editor, if i'm able to do that....
The very first i used "a couple of years ago" was for the miggy and you edited the data directly on the floppy this needed anyway after each editing a generation of the checksum for the file, a very difficult procedure one mistake and the file was broken.
In despite that i posted this already "Tiny Hexer" is a quite comfortable hex editor i use no else since many years, mostly because you can send files to it with rightclick "send" this is very comfortable if you often hack, examine or compare files.
Hacking games is a game of it's own and i'm not sure what i like better playing games or hacking them.
You wouldn't be the first which came from a simple hack to developing or co-developing.
An interesting fact you can read in hoopers text above, "certain releases was shipped with a hex editor" also for FE2, they liked to advice hacking. https://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Miscella … iny-hexer.shtml
Or wherever else, "although its development is halted for some years now" but i see no reason to develop it further.
"any flawless working program is obsolate" 😀
Cough, mostly you get away because you do this only for research purposes...
Literally or legally i would be a criminal, i derived a couple of my conversions of models directly from the games data but no i never ran into troubles with Frontier. A third party could start a lawsuit nonetheless, but lucky me i live in switzerland where no third party can start a lawsuit. Also we didn't agreed to the U.S copyright act because it counteracts to our constitution (and literally seen also to their own (yours) we have almost the same constitution).
It's a shame how we mistreat our founders, it is even in switzerland a lot not like it was planned by them and they would start a civil war if they still would live imho.