Save editing

You load the multi.bin file with a hex editor. To create the file you just choose a level and save it out before actually playing the game. The game data starts at position $768 or $1768 $2768 etc.. I only deal in HEX not decimal for such things.

Each item in the game is 5 bytes. And the 1st 5 bytes are the Level info I think.

Each 5 bytes after that is a single object and its characteristics.

pos0 is the X axis co-ordinate in the map. Each X is 1 square and not the usual pixel position.

pos1 is the Y axix

pos2 is the type of object

pos3 is flags to tell who it belongs to.

pos3 flags low bits 00 means player 1, 01 is player 2 GREEN, 02 is player 3 YELLOW, 03 is player 4 RED.

pos3 flags low bits 04-07 are special alternate colors that you can select for the players.

pos3 flags high bits 08 means Character move is done. 00 means Move still left, 08 means move done. 40 means UNmovable object. 20 means an item inside the factory. (havent figured all this out yet)

Pos4 is the number of Lives left and Experience level of the object. 07 means Full life. 70 means Fully experiened (pretty easy, higher means better and more)

Pos2 Objects are Values from 00 to 3F. So they must be using 40 and 80 bits for something else.

00 being the mines.

01 falcon

02 eagle

03 hunter

04 grizzley

05 polar

06 bison

07 slagger

08 titan

09 giant

0a lenet

0b hadrian

0c octopus

0d rabbit

0e lynx

0f seeker

10 hawkey

11 atlas

12 charlie

13 killroy

14 panther

15 mule

16 pelican

17 dragon

18 goose

19 hornet

1a nextor

1b turtle

1c firefox

1d thunder

1e piranha

1f seagull

20 storm

21 dolphin

22 galaxy aircraft carrier

23 vulcan

24 shark

25 whale

26 invader

27 sealion

28 factory

29 factory

2a factory

2b urchine sea mine

2c orcer

2d flytrap

2e typhoon

2f warhawk

30 bussard

31 hellcat

32 mustang

33 havok

34 door-2-factory

35 factory.... extra objects not used in current game

36 factory

37 factory

38 factory

So replacing a 01 in the map with an 03 will convert your falcon to a hunter...

I figured out the Save format for the file, so now I can design level charasteristics if I want. Which is different from Level design since you can not change the map. Only the items in the level itself. So you can change an insignificant item to something significant.

All you do to use the new Level charasteristics is to copy the file into c:\nectaris\maps\multi.bin, replacing the old save file multi.bin with the new one and load the saved game. So each file could hold 21 new levels/cheats but I made it into single small files.

Joe made these for us to try out. All are maps from the Pacifica campaign

Rename the files to *.bin and replace it in the directory.

The max number of items in a level is around 240 total including all enemies and friends. There seems to be a couple of extra unused items in the game which are not used or usable because they ran out of bits. Its a heavily compact game.

Although some tough levels like AIRPOT can be beatten using stealh and cunning, other levels seems beyond winnable without cheating. (I know what he's talking about here, could not beat that level for shit, had to skip it after a few weeks of trying to beat it with different strategies, Mike)