Any chance of a decompile of Grand Prix Manager Two please?

[Voxcon]

Season 5 start we opted to sign with Ford HB power/685hp/weight130kg/$3500000/*** again being are best option.From race 1 we had good result with me scoreing a 5th.Then you claiming your first pole converting that into another 5th place.Later i scored another 5th postion totaling all points too 6 points for the end of the season.Also you claimed 3 poles beating fastest laps for those 3 tracks so your stats go up again


You had three of those one of them turning into a 5th place good show


3 way battle for 5th in standings




We came so very close snacthing 5th place by 1 single point


Same result as last year but the points are not enough for any other engine supplier to talk too us



For the start of season 6 i feel we have no choice to leave Ford HB power as we had been with them 2 years collecing the same result.Because of our low points nobody else will talk too us.So we are takin a super gamble with Honda Power/740hp/weight153kg/$2250000/****

irata5 rar in this order

irata11.gps start of season
irata11 point in first race.gps
irata11 point 2nd race.gps
irata11 last race.gps
irata12.gps start of season 6

Edit:

Start of season 6 with Honda Power/740hp/weight153kg/$2250000/****
an excellent season and i shall explain why

3 5th places

1 4th place

3 6th places

1 2nd place

1 1st place

Total of 28 points for this season and a huge jump from 7th team place too 5th

You qualfied 1st a total of nine times with fastest laps and broke lap records for those tracks.Two of them went on to 1st place win and a 4th place

That should be 28 not 26 points but this was a older screenshot


Our fist ever 1/2 finish congrat screens belows

[Voxcon]

Ok im back and there are a few things ive noticed in terms of ai teams having a bigger advantage this i can prove.Because on rookie mode you start with $20000000 no matter which team you pick,bearing this in mind now let's look at rival top team like benetton and thier driver line up below:

As you can see thier budget claims to be $20000000 but we can see they spend $15000000 on drivers all ready and top team like this would have factroys so lets take that into account too



Well i make it $55000000 in total for factroys with out inculding the cost to maintain them



So we are talkin a total figure of $75000000 if not more that i suspect the ai team use's,but if you was too play as the same team you only get $20000000 as default

This is were i hope a new editor would kick in the choice to edit ai team budgets and factroys and price too for maintence costs

The other things i noticed was evey time you qualify well i think in the top six you get prize money same for finishing results it would be nice if could edit those also.

Also i know for a fact when a ai team is caught cheating they get penaltys and fines also from the FIA so editing these too would be nice

The reason for so much editing in a new editor would be because f1 rules often differ greatly from season too season.So modders with more option to edit could make better more realistic mods

The other things is ai teams rarely look at the the experienced or rookie driver pools.So im told ai teams only look in first 48 driver slots and will avoid drivers with DNF(did not finish) Just how true and accurate that information is i dont know?Also it might be possible to edit the 12 team slots for team strength because your notice top teams allways have the fastest cars.I guess you could swap team slots but better would be to edit those slots individually.So for example you could have full grid of shit teams in strength.

I wonder if you have found the built in secret track editor yet(im guessing this is far too much work to make it useable?)

The one last other things is driver retimment age wonder this could be edited also? This could be a bug but ive often seen drivers sometime retire then a few season they come back qite odd

Anyway next post i shall upload the most recent saves

[Voxcon]

irata 6 rar relate to this season just gone which is 6.Sorry these on'es are a little mixed up but you can work out which is which by the engine contract length.


Anyway on too more inportant news with Honda Power/740hp/weight153kg/$2250000/**** with have just taken are first constuctor title and you winning our first driver title

Congrat screens below



This should read Iratatek takes first title but it's messege bug as the other screens below comfirm the result


Our best result ever

Cormfirming the results



Iratatek celebrate our silverware with champagne whilst France is goes crazy with Pascalmania




Because we now have both titles Peugeot will now supply us with one of best engines on the grid free of charge becuse your now a french champion

Bonus for up comming season 8 Peugeot will now get better from 720hp too hp730 Were as Renault still only 710hp for season 8.



More driver stats for start of season 8 French champion gets number 1 driver status


Irata7 rar relates to season 7 just gone
irate14 save relate to start of season 8

Start of season 8 with Peugeot Power/730hp/weight133kg/$free/**** I could have signed with Renault Power/710hp/weight135kg/$free/***** but the engine is down 20hp and more heavy despite have having five stars.So this should work nicely for us the only drawback is that Jordan use the same eninge too

[xot]

I don't have anything useful to add, but I must say, this is very interesting stuff.

[Voxcon]

Yes should be intresting too see what sort of results Pascal brings back.Im very curious to know which simple things we could realisticly do that could make the game more dynamic and challenging.Not that it isnt hard enough on rookie mode. You break one single driver or any other contact on the ace mode your fucked very fast.Plus any team you pick starts out on default
$6000000 budget while ai teams i suspect get considerbly more

[Kroah]

Hi all,

Xot, nice to see you wandering around. As you can see, i'm taking a look at gpm2.

Voxcon, thank you for your feedback, still a great story. I think i have enough data to understand memory locations.

I've made a little utility to read the EDY files. Those files only contains image in raw format (color indexed). There aren't any palette or width/height information inside. So i have used the pal on gpm2 fansite (which doesn't seem to be fully accurate). And to try to find the width/height, i've coded a little image entropy/variance algo, better than nothing. You can't export/import image actually.

Concerning the track editor, i've found it by tweaking the exe and i've executed some dialogs. But i think authors have removed more than the entry points because it doesn't seem to work correctly. I'll look deeper tomorrow.

Cheers,
Kroah

[Voxcon]

Hi all,

Xot, nice to see you wandering around. As you can see, i'm taking a look at gpm2.

Voxcon, thank you for your feedback, still a great story. I think i have enough data to understand memory locations.

I've made a little utility to read the EDY files. Those files only contains image in raw format (color indexed). There aren't any palette or width/height information inside. So i have used the pal on gpm2 fansite (which doesn't seem to be fully accurate). And to try to find the width/height, i've coded a little image entropy/variance algo, better than nothing. You can't export/import image actually.

Concerning the track editor, i've found it by tweaking the exe and i've executed some dialogs. But i think authors have removed more than the entry points because it doesn't seem to work correctly. I'll look deeper tomorrow.

Cheers,
Kroah

Excellent work m8 im gonaa mess around with the ulility later on thank you.I don't really think theres not much more that can be done with gpm2 graphics as we can inport new driver portraits and splash screens others may moan but i think it's a matter of acppeting this game is pretty old anyway.As for the track editor i suspect with bits missing as you said not much would come from it? The bugs a you would have to know the game inside out back to front so realisticly fans will have to just live with the few bugs and accpet them i would have thought?.The biggest impact on the game i feel would be possibly finding the limtations on what could be edited easily.Im guessing if we can place more limtitations and changes on what ai teams can spend and start out with in a editor,the gameplay should change qite abit hopefully meaning they will look more at the rookie and expericed driver driver pools that's the theroy.Just out of intrest not that it's inportant did we learn anything usefull from gpm1?

[Monty]

i'm wandering around too (trying to bridge the time to the anticipated release of the coconet beta ).
i don't know gpm2 either, but your postings are a very nice read, voxcon.
and i'm still fascinated about how fast pascal is able to get access to those old games (this time to an unknown one)
greetz,
monty

[Kroah]

Hey, nice to see you Monty!

i'm wandering around too (trying to bridge the time to the anticipated release of the coconet beta ).

You know, i become really angry not to have enough time to work on my hobby (reverse engineering). If only i could split myself... On top of CoCoNet, Time Bandit and Alternate Reality website to finish, i have Axel's Magic Hammer, Dragon Riders of Pern, Pandora, Phantasie 3 and Ranarama to write down. Everything is done beside the website...

and i'm still fascinated about how fast pascal is able to get access to those old games (this time to an unknown one)

Thank you for you kind words, but IDA is doing the main work.

Concerning Gpm2, i have found some hidden screens. I'll post soon how to access them, even if they don't seem to work as intented.

I've still not found how to execute the track editor correctly. For information, it allows to edit the track segments speed and the cars start position, not the track itself. I'll post some screenshots.

Have a nice day,
Kroah

[Voxcon]

Hey, nice to see you Monty!

i'm wandering around too (trying to bridge the time to the anticipated release of the coconet beta ).

You know, i become really angry not to have enough time to work on my hobby (reverse engineering). If only i could split myself... On top of CoCoNet, Time Bandit and Alternate Reality website to finish, i have Axel's Magic Hammer, Dragon Riders of Pern, Pandora, Phantasie 3 and Ranarama to write down. Everything is done beside the website...

and i'm still fascinated about how fast pascal is able to get access to those old games (this time to an unknown one)

Thank you for you kind words, but IDA is doing the main work.

Concerning Gpm2, i have found some hidden screens. I'll post soon how to access them, even if they don't seem to work as intented.

I've still not found how to execute the track editor correctly. For information, it allows to edit the track segments speed and the cars start position, not the track itself. I'll post some screenshots.

Have a nice day,
Kroah

Wow this is great can't wait for the screenshots.I think there was a guy on gpm2 forums who some how made some small edits to tracks.I will go and find the post.Also i wrote a small email to one of the known progammers who worked on gpm2 about the track editor.I doubt i will get a reply let's wait and see.There should be three types of tracks for example Cannada is low downforce long straights and some sweeping corners.Sliverstone i think is medium downfoce track.Monaco is high downforce track tight and very twisty.Each track has it's own car setup requiments.So someware in code relateing tracks there should be a near or perfect racing line for all tracks and race length.That not inculding the amount of pit stops.Some times a 3 stop stratergy is quicker then a 1 or 2 stops depending on track and conditions/drivers/setups/fuel/tires.Then even if you use perfect carset ups some drivers will react very diffrently often rookies asking for setup changes.And a dry perfect car setup if condition are wet needs changeing again.I added some usefull links so these may give you a better understanding

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downforce

http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/Racecar/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One_cars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia: ... ormula_One

http://www.howstuffworks.com/search.php ... ne&x=0&y=0

Edit: I would take with a pinch of salt any information found on wikipedia

Just a side note about testing and car design as far as i know most ppl never use it in gpm2 because nobodys qite shure what to do or the impact it should have on car design in gpm2.We know testing can be a aid to making your own car set ups from scratch and improving driver skills/stats.But as far as a aid too car design it's bit of a complete mystery just how this works?

The only other question i keep forgeting to ask you is do you also plan a gpm2 section on your site also?Im thinking this is only a small diffrent project?I sort of feel guilty too distracting you with your other projects even when i know theres's not much meaningfull i can do too help.I guess you was pretty surprised seeing my first post but i knew by your other projects you have some L33t decompilation and reverse engineering skills

[Kroah]

Hi all,

Voxcon, i take note of your questions even if i can't answer now (or ever ).

Here're some screenshots from the track editor, the hidden "system security" and how to access it.

I'll post more instructions soon.

Enjoy,
Kroah

[Voxcon]

Holy shit m8 this more then i could hope for i'm really excited you truly are a master at what you do best thank's.You tease what's the password m8?

[Kroah]

The following instructions is only working with version 1.02b of Grand Prix Manager 2.

To edit gpm2.exe, you need an hexadecimal editor (like Ultraedit) and search for the given hexadecimal numbers, then replace them by the needed values.

Some statistics:
- 115 windows
- 76 subwindows

Code: Select all

A. Remove 256 colors check
==========================

Search: FF 15 F0 08 72 00 89 45 F8 83 7D F8 00 0F 84 45 00 00 00 6A 26 8B 45 F8
Change: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- EB 49 90 90 90 90 -- -- -- -- --

B. Remove CD check
==================

Search: E8 67 17 13 00 83 C4 08 83 7D FC 00 0F 85 F5 01 00 00 0F BE 05 08 50 71
Change: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- E9 F6 01 00 00 90 -- -- -- -- -- --

C. Play 1 fli
=============

bugged: can't enter '\' or '.'.

- "Quick Start" -> "Rookie"
- Enter "flitest" instead of "Benetton"
- Enter (for example) "flis\aapal.fli" instead of "Flavio Briatore"
- Click on "Select Team"
 
D. Play all flis
================
   
- Edit gpm2.exe:
         ( f  :  \  g  p  m  2  \  f  l  i  s  \  %  s  %  c  p  a  l  .  f  l  i)
  Search: 66 3A 5C 67 70 6D 32 5C 66 6C 69 73 5C 25 73 25 63 70 61 6C 2E 66 6C 69
  Change: XX -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

XX: ASCII letter of your cdrom drive (Example: 56='V')

- "Quick Start" -> "Rookie"
- "flitest" instead of "Benetton"
- Click on "Change Logo"

E. Cheat mode
=============
   
- Enter "iamacheat" on the main ingame main screen
- Click on "Cheat Mode: Off"

a) "Main Screen" -> "Test" -> "Ok":
  The results are available without having run a single test.
 
b) "Main Screen" -> "Test" -> "Ok" -> "Start Test":
  When clicking on "Driver", there's a fading (3 different one, useless).

c) "Main Screen" -> "Sponsors" -> "Sponsor Deal":
  Type a letter ('a' to 'z') to test the sponsors.

d) "Main Screen" -> "News":
  - Type 'a': all news A.
  - Type 'd': all news B.
  - Type 't': all news C.
  - Type 'c': Restore the initial news.
  - Exit and come back to see the effect. Restore the initial news before testing another letter.

F. Option 13 - System Security
==============================

- "Main Screen" -> "News"
- Click on the left of the bottom left day of the date.
- Enter one of the following strings in "ENTER PASSWORD":

a) "win":
  All effects are disabled.
   
b) "debug":
  Show information on teams, designers, engineers, commercial, mechanic, drivers (3 pages).
  ("Next" button is above "Next" string)
   
c) "import":
  Show EDY files.
  Enter the name of the file without the extension in "Filename", then click on "Import"
   
d) "drivers":
  Show drivers parameters (bugged).
   
e) "tracks":
  Show tracks parameters (bugged).
   
f) "spin":
  Search: A1 F4 D4 6D 00 89 45 DC E9 70 02 00 00 C7 45 E8 C7 45 EC C7 45 CC
  Change: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 90 90 90 90 90 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  Make spin the screen (useless).
   
g) "wash":
  Erase some working files (bugged).
   
h) "it":
  Test client/server sync (bugged).
   
G. Track editor
===============

/!\ BACKUP ALL YOUR GPM2 DATA /!\

a) Link the track editor A to the icon "PitOrder":
  Search: 8B 45 F8 50 68 A0 87 71 00 6A 19 E8 5A DB FC FF
  Change: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0E -- -- -- -- --

b) Link the track editor B to the icon "SpecialDriverOrders":
  Search: 8B 45 F8 50 68 A4 87 71 00 6A 1C E8 39 DB FC FF
  Change: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 7B -- -- -- -- --

H. Cheat mode B
===============

There are 2 ways to enable those cheats:
1) Edit gpm2.exe
2) Edit the runtime memory of gpm2, for example with Immunity Debugger:
   - Launch the game.
   - Set 01 to the memory address located at 0x71505C.

a) See other teams driver aids:
   Search: A0 5C 50 71 00 85 C0 0F 85 10 00 00 00 0F BF 05 02 5D 64 00
   Change: -- -- -- -- -- -- EB 23 90 90 90 90 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

  - "Main Screen" -> "Design" -> "Driver Aids"
  - Click on "Look" and choose another team.

b) Enable the customise option after the first race of the first year.
   Search: A0 5C 50 71 00 85 C0 0F 85 21 00 00 00 0F BF 05 24 EB 69 00
   Change: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- EB 25 90 90 90 90 -- -- -- -- -- -- --

  - "Main Screen" -> "Options" -> "Customise"

c) Set race parameters (bugged):
  Search: A0 5C 50 71 00 85 C0 0F 84 29 00 00 00 C7 05 88 E1 53 00
  Change: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 90 90 90 90 90 90 -- -- -- -- -- --

  - "Main Screen" -> "Race" -> "Ok" -> "Ok"



[Voxcon]

Omg look at all this info you gave

Edit i just found this info i'm quoteing from a guy called dj_bytedisaster the last person too look into gpm2.I'm not shure if it's of any help too you?

quote:

As for the progress - I dug out my old GPM 1 disks and started working on that one - it shares about 60% of the code base with GPM2, but unlike GPM2's disassembly it reveals all type names, which helps decrypting all the difficult code segements - who'd have thought that thy multiply a value by 27 using that sort of thing :

Code:

LEA ECX, [ECX+ECX*2]
LEA ECX, [ECX+ECX*8]

quote:

[Kroah]

Hi Voxcon,

As for the progress - I dug out my old GPM 1 disks and started working on that one - it shares about 60% of the code base with GPM2, but unlike GPM2's disassembly it reveals all type names, which helps decrypting all the difficult code segements

I've followed DJ's posts on gpm2 forum. Too bad he dosen't give any news.

It seems gpm1 was built in debug and not in release mode. So it includes some information about the source code like variable names. I don't think i'll look at it for now.

who'd have thought that thy multiply a value by 27 using that sort of thing :

Code:

LEA ECX, [ECX+ECX*2]
LEA ECX, [ECX+ECX*8]

quote:

This is an easy one.

Most of pointers are accessed like this:

Code: Select all

movsx   eax, ds:_selectedTeamIndex
mov     ecx, eax
shl     eax, 9           // *512
add     eax, ecx         // *513
add     eax, ecx         // *514
lea     eax, [eax+eax*2] // 1542 = 514*3
mov     ecx, ds:_pTeams
movsx   eax, word ptr [eax+ecx+6] // eax = [_pTeams + _selectedTeamIndex * 1542 + 6]

is the same as:
Team team = _teams [_selectedTeamIndex]; // with size of team = 1542
eax = team.var_6;


Beside that, i'm actually working on a C# utility. I'm thinking of what can be done to edit/create tracks. Don't wait for anything right now (or ever). Anyway, i'll post the good or bad conclusion here.

Concerning the simulation of the race (the core engine moving the cars, ...), the same is used when you're looking at the race or waiting for the final result (to speed up).

Cheers,
Kroah