Using ghost files to customize a race [NFS4]

[dandresden]

Nice info....(but im stuck at HEX)
Go ahead for further info, Zalcus.

[Zalcus20]

 Hi 
I haven't been able to do anymore testing (busy with other stuff).

   @VEG: If you see this message, can you let me know if it is possible to implement these codes in your modern patch as a user-friendly interface so that it can be easier to use by all HS users? Please?   

[XJ220]

That would be too awesome. I'd donate more just for such options.

[FranknFurter]

 ... hah, that's obsolutely my and Nils' thoughts if maybe Evgeny could implement your code lines into the Modern Patch! GO ON!
There's something happening concerning NFSHS here and right now, I can almost feel it.
That's the way also LINUX came on its way, if anyone can remember those days ..

Guys, keep it on like that, you'll have our support, even if things don't work out for the moment, someone within the community MIGHT have a solution ..

Greetings to all HEX tinklers!
Frank, and as I might assume, Nils, too!

P.S.: if you are overwhelmed for the moment, send us the source codes for subordinate tasks for searching certain entries...
That's e.g. how the SETI project is being done, outsourcing capacities ... 

[DrSpeed]

That would be sweet, if it's not too complex to make it of course.
Anyway, found the starting positions. It turns out, it's quite finicky to change it. This will also work for Hot Pursuit, so you don't have to use the trick Zalcus20 wrote down.

00001860 (+4 for the next player)

In the base game, the value for first place is 07. For Player 1, this value is always 00, which means you'll always start last. But if you have 15 racers at the same time, you're gonna have to change the numbers for those extra drivers. Otherwise everyone will spawn at the same place as you, and that will cause the game to build a tower of cars. Police and traffic seems to ignore this address.

00001880 = 08
00001884 = 09
...
00001898 = 0E

Note how I didn't add 0F on the address 0000189C. That's because the game doesn't know where to put the 16th car and will crash on the loading screen. So 15 racers at once is the limit. Also something that I need to add, when you return to the Race Results screen, the game doesn't have proper text for: 13th, 14th and 15th.

Now we need to tell the game how many AI drivers that's going to be participate in the race. This address is at 00001150. We're 15 drivers in total (-1 because humans doesn't count here), which means it's going to be 14 (0E).

I did say it's quite finicky. If this value is too low, the cars will spawn at the starting line, forced to do an extra lap. If it's too high, the game will crash after you do 1 lap.

00001150 = Number of AI Drivers
00001154 = Number of AI Cops (Dunno if this actually change anything)
00001158 = Number of AI Traffic (Same thing here, maybe it helps the game to spawn them correctly?)

Something else I encountered, I manage to move the entire starting grid. So everyone started at the forest area in Celtic Ruins (around half a lap forward). I have no idea how I did it and didn't get a picture of it unfortunately. 

[FranknFurter]

.. fascinating development .... as I said, participate the community if necessary for subordinate tasks which you might have to outsource, searching for entries and that stuff.

And... keep going, the big crush on the NFS source code will happen, right here and now! With your and Evgenies ingenuitiy!

Greetings
Frank

[Zalcus20]

@DrSpeed: Glad you were able to find the info for the starting lines. I was getting tired of doing my trick over and over again.  Much thanks. 

Yeah. I can feel it, too. I can see it now: the dawn of the NFS Revolution. GO FOR IT!!! 

[AJ_Lethal]

Any chance to implement this as ASI scripts?

[FranknFurter]

ASI? Do you mean ASCII scripts? That's what I might be able to understand .. quite a bit .. LOL

[VEG]

http://veg.by/z/2016-03-28-19-35-13-c3199b98.jpg

I had done similar things for the NFS3 by patching its exe file. 12 opponents
But it was just an experiment, I'm not planning to include this thing in the patch because it is far from release quality. There are many small things that have to be fixed and extended for adding such features. So, maybe sometimes in the future... but not now.

[Zalcus20]

Hi Veg. 
Thanks for replying. I really appreciate you're modernizing this awesome game that's still being played by many after 2 decades!!!
  I want thank you for your continued effort in improving this game. That's ok if these codes cannot be done now. This gives us some hope for the future. At least we know now it's totally possible to implement these codes.

In the meantime, maybe there is someone who could make a standalone user-friendly interface that could be used to manipulate these codes without the need for raw hex editing (like how NFSStrings and NFSMixer are made?). If I could figure out a way to do this I would try it out.

Thanks again Veg! 

[DrSpeed]

That's very cool VEG, I do hope that'll be a fully functional feature someday. Did a quick test with Cheat Engine and managed to achieve a somewhat similar result.

Which reminds me, I've done a Cheat Engine Table for NFS3 that does pretty much the same thing that I've done here (Cheat Engine doesn't work with NFS4 that well). I've also set it up so it's using regular numbers instead of HEX.
I'll create a topic about it when I've added enough stuff. 

[FranknFurter]

Guys, if you manage to, is there a chance to race in 'teams' then one day? Such as already the cops do in Hot Pursuit? Don't know if the Cops there are really considered as being a 'team', but just wondering ...

Having maybe two or three teams with several customizable team members? Think that would also be great fun in multiplayer. Collecting points like in a tournament (Think of for example the Formula One Championship) and then calculating who is the winning team.

Greetings
Frank

[DrSpeed]

Don't think it's possible to have a team race. The closest is to make a Le Mans type of race with different classes (AAA vs AA and so on).

[FranknFurter]

O..ok so would that also work in a whatever customized Pursuit mode? Like two cars in ONE Team against the cops? I am asking that because of my 'Smokey and the Bandit' setup.

As I understood it, a 'customized' Pursuit allows to have several different Police cars since they are simply different opponents.
What if, as you said, maybe the cops (thus being in one 'team') would 'race' against another team of several players/racers? Would that be possible?

I would have liked 'Snowman' (the Semi-truck ) as well as 'Bandit' not to be 'treated' or start as opponents (against each other) rather than them being in ONE team like the cops are.

Or, like NFS' gameplay lets assume you, will different racers always be 'opponents' if they are NOT cops?
Just reminding of the possibility e.g. to call for support by other cops (if you are playing as a cop) and so on...