31cc Game Piece Spec Codes!

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Col.Kell
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31cc Game Piece Spec Codes!

Post by Col.Kell »

Hello to all,

I just came up with what I thought could be a somewhat useful tool, these are most of the GPS (Game Piece Spec) codes for MW2:31cc.
A GPS tells the sim what type of chassis a certain player will be, and what MEK file will be used.
Ever wanted to be an aerotech? A dropship? Or a hoverlimo? What about a bulldozer?
GPS_CODES.zip
31cc Game Piece Spec Codes
(1.11 KiB) Downloaded 980 times
In this zip file contains a text file made by me on GPS codes, since you are able to pick your mech in every mission except for the Trials of Position, you are limited to that and changing the campaign enemy GPS codes sad to say.

But try it out and have fun! Anything related to this feel free to discuss here. :)
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Re: 31cc Game Piece Spec Codes!

Post by Skyfaller »

Hi Kell,

Please share some more details on this:
  • What file must I edit to use this? BWD's?
  • Do I need special command line arguments to use this?
  • Which versions of MechWarrior support this?
  • Will controls really work in the expected manner, i.e., can I fly an aerotech controlling roll/pitch/yaw/speed?
Thanks!
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Re: 31cc Game Piece Spec Codes!

Post by Col.Kell »

Thank you for the question Skyfaller, I guess I do need to clarify.
What file must I edit to use this? BWD's?
What you edit is any "GPS.d" referance in the PRJ, it is located above the name and MEK file name of any targetable mech on a hex editor.
What it looks like is kinda like this on a hex editor "GPS . d . . . x . x . " Where "x" stands for a certain character. The first "x" refers to a MEK file, the second refers to the chassis.
Do I need special command line arguments to use this?
No, all this list is on the text file is just the codes you would replace in a GPS.d to play as a certain chassis. (e.g., you would just look at a aerotech code and say "okay, so that is the code I'll be inserting over the current GPS.d referance to play as this aerotech.)
Which versions of MechWarrior support this?
ALL MW2 games referance different BWDs even thought the codes may be the same. As far as I know, this is only accurate for MW2:31cc, not GBL or Mercs, they will refer to different mech/vehicle/aerotech chassis.
But to answer your question, these codes were proven accurate for the Pentium edition of 31cc, I am not sure if it will work on Titanium or the Battlepack versions, but feel free to give it a try, they should work.
Will controls really work in the expected manner, i.e., can I fly an aerotech controlling roll/pitch/yaw/speed?
I regret to anounce to everyone that you will NOT be able to control an aircraft by the means of either roll or manual pitch. Basicly it works the same way a mech works, except you can't go in reverse. Your aircraft will always fly at a fixed altitude, so if you start at the hieght of say... 65 meters, and begin to fly over the top of a hill, the aircraft will ALWAYS be 65 meters over the top of whatever it is flying over. So again, it's a fixed altitude.

Thank you again for your question!
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Re: 31cc Game Piece Spec Codes!

Post by Skyfaller »

Great find, I always wanted fly aerotechs, even if I can't do fancy maneuvers.

I can't test that right now, but it might be possible to apply these patches to the UserStar.BWD and launching over command line (DOS only), as described in this thread.
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Re: 31cc Game Piece Spec Codes!

Post by Col.Kell »

Oh, Duh! I forgot all about the userstar.bwd in the mech2 directory...
Yeah, I've done the "MW2 xxxxSCN1.BWD" command prompt before on Mercs and GBL, but since I found out about Slug's patch, Windows has been my choice format for 31cc gameplay.

To those who would prefer something a little more visual, the two characters you mod are 4 and 6 spaces away from GPS.d, here the example is highlighted:
GPSd.png
GPSd.png (143.17 KiB) Viewed 14273 times
I also forgot to mention that the TURRET BWDs are not in there just yet, but I figured that people would rather be an aerotech or dropship rather than an object that can't move. ;)
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Re: 31cc Game Piece Spec Codes!

Post by Skyfaller »

I'm checking the UserStar.BWD GPS tags. While the size for the GPS tag in the PRJ is 64h=100 bytes, in UserStar.BWD (DOS and Win95 versions of MW2:31stCC) it's 5Ch=92 bytes. The number to enter at offset Bh=11 in the GPS tag is the number of the vehicle's BWD in the BWD directory of the PRJ, plus one. Only the mech codes currently work for me under DOS, others crash the sim. I can pilot the Elemental, Battlemaster and Tarantula.

I'm actually a bit surprised that it works for you. The shell should copy your edited BWD into UserStar.BWD. If you make any changes in the MechLab, does that change the vehicle you use to launch into the mission? Or do these changes crash the mech lab?

I'm also unsure about which occurence(s) of the GPS tag to edit - all of them? Wouldn't that change all enemies into vehicles of the same type?
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Re: 31cc Game Piece Spec Codes!

Post by Col.Kell »

You say you're running under DOS? I've heard that Merc saved games are incompatible between DOS-Windows difference, but I've never heard of BWD referances being incompatible. That may explain why the Battlemaster was able to run under DOS but not Windows...

And no, the character at offset 9, "0D", is just the .MEK referance tag. ANY chassis be it aircraft mech or vehicle can use ANY .MEK file, it has absolutly no effect on the chassis. And, any mission that lets you choose what mech and loadout you can use won't be bound by a GPS ref anyway.
I'm also unsure about which occurence(s) of the GPS tag to edit - all of them? Wouldn't that change all enemies into vehicles of the same type?
Let's take a look at the above screenshot. As seen, the GPS.d, MEK and BWD ref are highlighted, and these two referances control this Direwolf shown below. The titles below, "direwolf" and "drw00std", have absolutly no effect on the mech, they just provide an easy glimpse view of what BWD and MEK this is. Below it is the name of the mech when it is targeted, and the contents of the mech when inspected.
Changing the MEK and/or BWD in the GPS.d will effect ONLY this one mech, in this situation, a "Falcon Direwolf". You don't need to change anymore than one GPS.d, just alter the GPS.d of the one or more mech(s) you would like to change.

I'll still be here should anyone ask any questions.
If you can, try these codes under Windows. But if you would like, I can try and make a list of DOS BWD referances. :)
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