Ultimate Editor

Basics

Introduction

Ultimate Editor is a Java based program designed by DCER. UE will edit most values within Birth of the Federation.

This will be a basic tutorial to explain what file UE will edit and how to navigate though the program.

Java

Java software is required before using Ultimate Editor, Java is a free application And can be found HERE

Java software is property of Sun Microsystems

getting started

Settings

stbof.res

trek.exe

alt.res

English.snd/German.snd

Music.snd

Sfx.snd

TOOLS

HELP

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Getting Started

After You have Java installed and up to date you can get started.

Create a new folder and Extract all files from the downloaded UE zip into new folder. New folder should look something like this after extraction;

Note; "UE.jar" may be shown as "UE" if system is set to not show known file extensions.

Double click on UE.jar to open UE interface.

Once open select file tab and then open.

Default path for UE is set for C:/botf and you should have window like this;

select stbof.res and open. You now have an open file (stbof.res) in UE ready to edit.

Return to index 

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Setting

With UE still open select edit tab and settings.

 

Return to index 

 

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Open stbof.res with UE as shown before.

This section will cover the "Edit" tab with stbof.res loaded. And a brief description of most common uses for sub-categories.

The stbof.res is a compressed file holding over 6013 different files. And is the main file Birth of the Federation uses During game play along with the trek.exe

Most of the files that are compressed inside the stbof.res are images that are displayed during game play. Other file in stbof.res control ships used, text, buildings, and many more. So this is main file edited while modding BOTF.

• AI

   

  • AI building requirements

     

    • Used to adjust building requirements to allow AI to build systems more effectively
  • Colony values

     

    • Edits colony values for all major races.
  • Major empire tolerance

     

    • Edits Major empire tolerance for all major races.
  • Minor race attitudes

     

    • Edits minor races attitudes toward each major races, if ships move on map, minor race personalities.
• Buildings

   

  • Building stats

     

    • Edit building cost, energy needed, population needed, bonus output, bonus type, ect
  • Building overview

     

    • this will allow you to create a html document with stats of building in game.
  • Group edit of building stats

     

    • Edit groups of building by using formula by bonus, cost, race, ect.
• Galaxy

   

  • Environments

     

    • Edit the % of each planet type seen in-game
  • Maximum planet population

     

    • Edit planets population bonuses for all types and sizes
  • Planet Bonuses

     

    • Edit planets universal bonuses for all types and sizes
  • Planets

     

    • Edit planets names, types, bonuses, atmosphere, size, animation.
  • Star names

     

    • Edit star systems names.
  • Stellar objects

     

    • Edit anomalies % seen in-game and graphic file used
• Graphics

   

  • Add/remove ship models  TUTORIAL

     

    • Add new ship model from ship packs, create ship packs, edit scale of models, change prefix used by ship models
  • Animations

     

    • View animations and extract frame images
  • HOB files

     

    • Edit texture used by hob file, combat/placement of model.
  • Textures TUTORIAL

     

    • Register textures, adjust palettes, trim palette list
• Others

   

  • Check integrity

     

    • Check integrity of all files loaded
  • Files

     

    • Add files to stbof.res, extract copies of files in stbof.res,
  • List of modified files

     

    • This will allow extraction of file UE has edited and or any file you have added to to list of modified files. Add file names to list when file are edited manually. extract all edited files, extract single edited file.
• Race

   

  • Morale penalties

     

    • Edit morale penalty point for major races
  • Races info

     

    • Displays races images used, race names, home planets, combat multiplier, if race is space faring (has dilth), starting population of minors,
• Ships

   

  • Group edit of ship stats

     

    • Editing multiple ships and set stats of ships selected
  • Ship names

     

    • Edit ship names
  • Ship stats

     

    • Edit, add, remove, move change stats and types, speed, range, production, ect
• Starting conditions

   

  •  Major empire home systems

     

    • Edit home system Owners, systems used, and if planets are terraformed/colonized.
  • Starting buildings

     

    • Allows setting of starting building for each tech start for all races and amounts of each building or orbitals.
  • Starting technology

     

    • Allows for adjustments for edited or changed buildings for correct techs
• Technology

   

  •  Technology fields

     

    • Allows adjustment of tech tree to speed up or slow down advancements
•  Text

   

  • In-Game text

     

    • Edit 22 different text files used in game for minors, Intel, treaties, ect
  • Lexicon

     

    • Main most common text, Must edit when changing race names for minors and majors

 

Return to index 

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Open trek.exe with UE as shown before.

This section will cover the "Edit" tab with trek.exe loaded. And a brief description of most common uses for sub-categories.

The trek.exe is the executable that runs botf. There are many things that can be hex edited. But here is a few things UE can do.

• AI

   

  • AI ship building sets

     

    • Used to adjust AI ship building requirements to allow AI to build ships more effectively
• Game

   

  • Galaxy generation  TUTORIAL

     

    • Used to edit galaxy size and shape when games are started.
    • Also can edit amount of minors at start of game
    • Edit Average amount of space objects
  • Ship Building

     

    • This will edit trek.exe to allow building of minor ships

       

      • Basic setting no change to trek.exe
      • simple modification to allow build of minors with restrictions of every minor must have at least one ship available to build
      •  major code modification allows building minor ships only if minor is a member.
  •  Ship Map Range

     

    • Allows editing ship map range at all tech levels
  • Starting conditions

     

    • Used to edit credit given at start of games and starting population for all tech starts.
• Other

   

  • CD protection

     

    • Allows to remove or add cd protection to trek.exe. Also edit cd path and install path within stbof.ini
  • Check integrity

     

    • Checks integrity of trek.exe

Return to index 

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Open alt.res with UE as shown before.

This section will cover the "Edit" tab with alt.res loaded. And a brief description of most common uses for sub-categories.

 

• Other

   

  • Check integrity

     

    • Checks integrity of alt res
  • Files

     

    • Add or extract files for alt.res
  • List of modified files

     

    • List of file user has changed or added to alt res.

Return to index 

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Open english/german.snd with UE as shown before.

This section will cover the "Edit" tab with english/german.snd loaded. And a brief description of most common uses for sub-categories.

The english/german.snd is a compressed file with 1363 different sound files used during game play. The files are wav format

• Other

   

  • Check integrity

     

    • Checks integrity of english/german.snd
  • List of modified files

     

    • List of file user has changed or added to english/german.snd
• Sounds

   

  • .Switch race voices

     

    • Allow switching of major races in-game voices
  • Voices

     

    • Extract, add, get descriptions of voices in  english/german.snd

Return to index 

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Open music.snd or sfx.snd with UE as shown before.

This section will cover the "Edit" tab with music.snd or sfx.snd loaded. And a brief description of most common uses for sub-categories.

both files are edited with same type of interface.

• Other

   

  • Check integrity

     

    • Checks integrity of music.snd or sfx.snd
  • List of modified files

     

    • List of file user has changed or added to music.snd or sfx.snd
• Sounds

   

  • .Game sounds or music

     

    • Allow changing by adding new files to snd files

 

Return to index 

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 The tool tab has many useful tool you may use while editing with a hex editor or to calculate values for map generation among other uses.

• Graphics

   

  • Convert image to 16-bit tga

     

    • Used to convert images to be used in game
• Network

   

  • Supervise a multi player game

     

    • Once all IP addresses are entered multi player game may be supervised though UE
• Other

   

  • Calculator

     

    • This is a simple tool to convert decimal to hex
  • Convert Address

     

    • This is used to convert assembly code to hex within trek.exe

Return to index 

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 The help tab can give information on UE, Page help when available and general help.

First always make backup of trek.exe before starting

Note; if editing other than 800 x 600 resolution you will need to patch the trek.exe with botfrespatch

 

You also must use  UE 0.7.0dev12 or above.

Before starting decide on Galaxy size you want to use from chart below. This chart will also be used to add new galaxy variables

 Map sizes above 52×39 are unstable and may crashes.

 

So lets get familiar with new interface for map generation in UE.

open the trek.exe you want to edit.

Select edit/Game/Galaxy Generation

 

Page 1 of Galaxy Generation

Note examples used is preset 30×22, 40×30, 52×39 galaxies all values

Enter your map sizes in blue area.

DO NOT change order of map sizes when entering values

DO NOT edit values in red area these values auto adjust.

If you only have html file here is link to "zoom-in.zip" These file make viewing small view much better when sector size set to "25" this is optional

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Using chart above add the values from the line that has the galaxy size you are using to the correct box of the green areas.

NOTE: on min empire distance area if value is too large this will cause galaxy hang up when generating galaxy.

NOTE: on avg number of space objects if value is higher than used in chart above other changes would be needed

If larger values are used the irregular galaxy density should be set to 1.0 to allow more systems

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next use tab button on bottom right of page 1 and go to page 2

Same as before add values from chart above to green area.

The blue area is user defined.

Max number of minor races has max of 29 for any value.

star/anomaly ratio star ratio should be set to max of 1.0. This would give no anomalies.

The red area will be the hardest area to explain here is post by Gowron

Vanilla values are;

inner arc 1.5

middle arc 1.0

outer arc 0.5

As my personal preference to look of all 3 sizes of spiral galaxy. The setting I used above in image looked the best to me.

But as a rule of thumb double all 3 values then test small changes in s,m,l spiral galaxies. and set to your preference.

Note; During my test if inner and middle are close to same value you get a ring galaxy

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Use tab button again on bottom right of page 2 and go to page 3

Same as before add values from chart above to green area.

Save trek.exe then reopen trek.exe and double check values.

That's it you should now be able to play in a galaxy size of your choice.

For any question please post here. Or PM me. thunderchero

This Topic shows you how you can reduce the number of palettes used in BotF. As Dcer figured out quite a while ago the maximum numbers of palettes that trek.exe can use is 127. here’s a small example how your ships look like when you use more than the maximum number of Palettes allowed:

In vanilla botf 122 palettes are already in use, so after adding 5 custom ships to the game you will run into this problem.

this little how to will show you how you can make 2 (or more) textures using one palette together.

here i am using a model of a cardassian hutet(it can be found in the downloads somewhere), the model uses 3 textures, and they have 3 different palettes. but all the textures look quite similar so it makes sense to make them use the same palette.

nr1:

 

nr2:

 

nr3:

as you see the texture nr2 has the widest spectrum of colors while nr3 only uses brown, white and orange colors, so if we’d use the palette of texture nr3 we would never be able to display the red spots in nr2 or the black ones in nr1…similar applies to nr1 too. so we use nr2’s palette.

here i have loaded all three texture files into adobe’s photoshop (this is CS 3 but i am sure it works with older versions as well, i have tested it sucessfuly with CS 2)
i highlighted the one i selected before (nr2), now i go to the the color table… menu :

and save the color table of this texture:

now i highlight the next texture, this texture is indexed as well, so i change it to RGB

and then back to indexed color…

Note: Don’t go to the color table… menu again as photoshop doesn’t recompute the picture again in this menu but simply replaces one palette by another which makes the picture look quite funny after it’s done.

once i change back to indexed color… a menu pops up where i select the custom… option:

in the following menu i load my palette i saved from nr2 before.

now the texture uses the palette of nr2…the problem is that the texture also used colors that nr2 doesn’t have…photoshop tried to recompute these colors as good as possible with the colors avaiable in the new palette. the diffusion option in the indexed color menu allows you to tell photoshop how exactly these colors should match the old ones…here you can experiment around as sometimes high values are good and in other times a low value looks better.

i have zoomed in a little bit to show you the difference of high and low values:

100% diffuse:

1% diffuse:

in this case i’d choose a low value it looks better but as i wrote before this is individual for every picture. as a rule of thumb the diffusion value must be higher when the palettes differ more from each other. so if you want a galaxy texture use the palette of a warbird texture (not really recommended) you should use a very high value, on the other hand if you make a galaxy texture use a nebula texture’s palette a low value will do fine.

Hi Everyone,

 

Getting Started

first tutorial; How to do simple replacement

Second tutorial; Adding model using 2 models on same phaser slot

third tutorial; adding new not used model to shiplist

Fourth tutorial; How to edit ship scale

Fifth tutorial; How to change what ships are seen in screensaver

Sixth tutorial; How to uses of behave as if built by

Sixth "a" tutorial; How to select What special ships are used

Seventh tutorial; How to lower palettes used

This is a tutorial for importing and exporting ship models using DCER's Ultimate Editor (UE).

The new function can be found here;

 

This is the screen we will be working with the most.

Back to index

 

first tutorial; How to do simple replacement.

Select "Open Ship Pack" and locate the ship packs you have created or downloaded.

 

Now just select the model on right you are wanting to import. And on left select the model you want to replace. And click on import. And save.

NOTE; You may get a warning message that palette is over 127 if you get this message you will need to reduce palettes manully. if this is not done model will not display properly.

 

Now, new model has been added and is using all the same info as the model you replaced. (ship stats, upgrades, cost, mantinace, ect) And should have no problem using and building this model in game.
 

Back to index

Second tutorial; Adding model using 2 models on same phaser slot.
(Note: this all works the same if tring to put 3 models on same phaser slot).

Open UE and open Ship Pack you want to use. (see images above)

Before we begin just some rules;

No model can share a phaser slot with any Vanilla models. There phaser slot numbers are random so errors would be common.

Before a ship can be imported both models (imported model and model selected to share phaser slot) must use same scale and amount of phasers.

You must plan out what models you plan on using before making any changes.

Example 1;
Using Oberth we just added this will be the slot that will be used for next model imported and will share phaser slot.

click on "rename" in new window input new prefix for model (if 2 models on same slot use 2 characters like "H1" here) (if 3 models on same slot use 1 characters like "H")

 

Now you will see under renamed model "H1" and "Not used" spot named "H1_"

Next, I need the scale model to match scale for both models. With the first model of shared phaser slot selected click on "edit Scale" In new window change scale to the same as model you plan on importing from Ship Pack.

 

Now that phasers amount and scale match you can select not used spot "H1_" and model you want to import from ship pack "HU". And click on import.

 

and save.

 

Now H1 model is in game working but H1_ model files are in game but model is not in uses.

Note; you have also changed scale of H1 model from 75% to 95% so you could change scale as before to even out both models and split differance to scale of 85%for both models.
 

Back to index

third tutorial; adding new not used model to shiplist.

There are many ways to add new models to shiplist I will show 2 ways of added to shiplist

Example 1 "basic" using an upgrade slot.

Open UE and open ship stats.

 

Now select the slot you want to use and in dropdown list find the not used model you want to add. and edit name, class, and any stats and if it is an upgrade ect.

 

And save.

Now you have 2 models sharing the same phaser slot and working in game.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Example 2 "Advanced" Adding model by extending shiplist

Open ship stats as before (see above)

Select a used model that is close to the model you are adding then click on "Create Copy"

 

Next you will see an exact copy of that model. now it is time to edit everything. First open drop down menu and locate the new ship file you just added and select the tga file that use that model. And then edit all stats, so that model will be unique.

 

 

 

And save

Now you have increased shiplist and added a new model.
 

Back to index

Fourth tutorial; How to edit ship scale.

This is now a lot easier to do just go to Edit->Graphics->Add/Remove Ship Models then select the ship you want to edit scale on and select Edit Scale. In the new window change scale value to scale you want.

 

And save

now you have edited scale for that model.
 

Back to index

Fifth tutorial; How to change what ships are seen in screensaver.

This also been made much easier to do go to Edit->Ship stats You will find a check box Appers in Screensaver Just check this box. only catch is there is a limit to how many ships that can be used by screensaver so you might have to uncheck a model you do not want to see in screensaver.

 

and save

Back to index

Sixth tutorial; How to uses of behave as if built by.

This option will be rarely used by most people and has limited testing. UDMIII will use this to add assault command to all major races colony and troop transports by selecting built by Klingons.

 

and save

Back to index

Sixth "a" tutorial; How to select What special ships are used.

With the use of this option you can select what ships are considered special ships. this was only for federation but with a little hex editing this also can be changed. for more info on how to edit read this post.
Special ship post

 
 

Back to index

Seventh tutorial; How to lower palettes used.

this will reduce used palette from 119 to 102. By all races and minors using the same explosions textures.

Fisrt you will need to download these files;

palette.zip

Download and unrar to location of your choice.

Next open UE and add files to res file from editOtherFiles.

 

Next use add button and browse for the file you just downloaded. Then add all file from "gifs and hobs" folder.

If you have made no changes to res file you can also add palette.lst from "vanilla palette.lst" folder.

If you added palette.lst you are done. and save.

If you did not add palette.lst you will need to set palette for gifs.

With UE from editGraphicsTextures.

 

Next select cbboom.gif from drop down menu and select "use own palette"

 

next repeat last step with cgndexp.gif, csboom.gif, cshock.gif from drop down menu.

Next select fbboom.gif and click on remove.

 

next repeat last step for fgndexp.gif, fsboom.gif, fshock.gif, hbboom.gif, hgndexp.gif, hsboom.gif, hshock.gif, kbboom.gif, kgndexp.gif, ksboom.gif, mbboom.gif, mgndexp.gif, msboom.gif, rbboom.gif, rgndexp.gif, rsboom.gif, rshock.gif.

Next click on trim palette list and save.

Back to index

That is all I have for now, I hope this tutorial helps

thunderchero