posted 05-18-2004 02:21 AM            

By using the 304 Editing submenu that pops up, you can change the values for each line that corresponds to each stage. Thus, you would change these values, close out the 304 submenu, write the garage and send it back to your memory card.

Boot up your disk and jump to Arcade Mode, select a track and difficulty; and, when you go to select a car.......VOILA!, you'll find more cars available to race than you had to start with.....and all with the simple little tool called '304 Editing'.

Hopefully this will pull you off your current path and send you on a new avenue of wonder and discovery. lol

Of course, it helps to have the latest release version of the 304 Editing file. This can make the task much easier.
------------------
Team Captain, Asphalt Kannibals

Ready to race.....win or lose, the object is to have FUN!! reddog78

posted 05-18-2004 10:06 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by reddog78:
Of course, it helps to have the latest release version of the 304 Editing file. This can make the task [b]much easier.[/B]

---

posted 05-20-2004 06:54 AM            

I wasn’t actually confused about what 304 Editing was for or how to use it. What I don’t understand is how one is expected to know what 304 Editing would be used for by its name.

I only figured out what 304 Editing was through a series of fortunate circumstances. I saw 304 Editing on the Edit drop-down menu, I thought that it didn’t sound like something I wanted to do right now. While the worst that can happen is that you have to reinstall, one shouldn’t just run around hitting buttons as it can lead to undesirable results. While exploring the Help file I saw 304 Edit and took a look at that. It told me that it was for editing some general stuff, as I had already surmised that it was for editing from its name this didn’t strike me a very informative and didn’t inspire me to go explore. I just chalked it up to one of those things that I would perhaps understand in the fullness of time. Neither finding a button that I didn’t know what it did nor a Help file entry that really wasn’t helpful was a unique experience so neither left a big impression.

I had noticed that I hadn’t seen any way to add cash. People had spoken of adding cash but I had also heard mention of “MK’s cash injector” so I thought that perhaps there was another utility I would have to download (for free, amazing) in order to do that. This wasn’t really an area of interest to me and I was having fun with what I already had, so I went on exploring that.

Later, I was investigating the possibility of causing it to use the NTSC car names instead of the EU car names, while I was looking inside some of the ‘ini’ files I saw one named “GT3gE304.ini” and opened it up. It was a list of tags for lines and among them was ‘cash on hand’, now that sounded like something where one might add some cash. Please remember that the previous things hadn’t left an impression, so I went to lookup 304 in the Help file. Now I did recognize the entry in the Help file but I had at this point forgotten about the button on the drop-down menu and the Help file entry didn’t suggest how I might enter 304 Editing. A short exploration later I had relocated the button and I have now played around with 304 Editing some.

So that’s the story of how I came to discover what 304 Editing was and rediscovered how to access it. It’s one of those things that once you know, it’s no problem. But how in the blazes is someone supposed to know? I had come at it from two directions, ‘what is this’, and ‘how do I access this’ and it didn’t answer either question.

Please don’t misunderstand, this is a great utility. It really is easy to use. Right-click on a cell and there’s an option ‘Change Part’, “hay, I’ll bet that I could change the part using that”. On the ‘Change Part’ pop-up there’s a list of parts you could change it to and at the bottom three buttons one of which is ‘Sort 1st Col’, “hay, I’ll bet I can pickup another column and move it to be the first”. It works quite well on the ‘try it out and see what it does’ method. Not only that but if you lookup these topics in the Help file it gives a good accounting of how to use them and where the are. You have solid support whichever way you choose to investigate the operation of your new toy. It is only in a few areas where it seems to almost be copping an attitude. As if it were saying, “If you don’t already know, don’t expect me to tell you”.

For all the ribbing I have given him on this issue I wouldn’t be surprised if MK stopped by to offer to ‘refund’ the great piles of money I had paid for this. I really hope he doesn’t take it that way. This product is as good as or superior to many products that I have paid money for, and been satisfied with having paid what I did. I, and anyone else that has this utility, owe huge buckets of thanks to MK. Anyone that doesn’t have it should go get it and then add their thanks. I will help MK out in any way he asks, beta testing or writing Help file entries, I will wash and wax his car if he asks and is in the area.

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Sometimes you've got to play RUF. \:~

posted 05-20-2004 07:15 AM            

I think that the engine-state, covered in ‘oil1’ line 480, is a log of how far you have traveled on that engine. It starts at a negative value on a new-car and at zero on a prize-car. At a later point when the engine-state reaches worn-HP, this log stops changing. The log stops at 1225948160, which would be entered as ‘408=-1225948161’. Given the similarity between –1149628589 and –1225948161, I think it is likely that what you have done is place the engine-state well into its wear-cycle at a point that it is still at peak-HP but will soon progress downward to its final worn state.

I made a text file with some useful information for ‘oil1’ and ‘oil2’. It isn’t as descriptive as it might be but I did it for my own use. I am pasting it below and I hope that you will find it useful too.

For use in the GT3 Garage Editor utility.
Used to adjust the wear-state of the engine and the state of the oil.

======================================================
For setting oil1, line-480 in a saved-car file.

This produces New.
480=929924095
Line oil1 should read in TXT 'FF83 6D37' and in HEX 'C8927C00'.

This produces Peak.
480=-1
Line oil1 should read in TXT 'FFFF FFFF' and in HEX '00000000'.

This produces Worn.
480=-1225948161
Line oil1 should read in TXT 'FF83 EDB6' and in HEX '49127C00'.

======================================================
For setting oil2, line-484 in a saved-car file.

This produces new-oiled with 5% horsepower gain.
484=-1
Line oil2 should read in TXT 'FFFF FFFF' and in HEX '00000000'.

This produces worn-oiled with no horsepower gain.
484=-1217559553
Line oil2 should read in TXT 'FF83 6DB7' and in HEX '48927C00'.

Note: I imagine that if you enter a positive number it might result in
a car that enjoyed a HP-boost from oil for an extended period.
======================================================
Commonly called for:

This produces Worn with no oil.
480=-1225948161
484=-1217559553
======================================================

P.S. Incidentally, putting a value of –1149628589 into line 476, the ‘travelmeter’ line, of the saved-car file will result in the car having 2299257.176 kilometers, which will only be displayed out to the first decimal.

------------------
Sometimes you've got to play RUF. \:~

posted 05-20-2004 09:07 AM            

At this point you might say, that it’s okay you’ll just pay cash for the parts. This will work for your road-cars but race-cars come with T5 tires and when you create a race-car without using either auto-outfitting feature it doesn’t have T5s for the rear in the fitment registries. This means you are going to have to get into the fitment registries so I am going to try to explain some things that might be useful in doing that.

You can view the information in the registries in three different modes TXT (seen in text view mode), HEX (seen in hex view mode), and what I’ll call INI (seen in the saved-car ‘ini’ file). The only one of these that you can manipulate is the INI, so it is the one that you’ll need to know what it represents. It is only in order to understand it that you will want to understand what the other two represent.

All of the view methods are representing a binary number. In the HEX view you get a proper hexadecimal number, however you don’t get a proper one for the fitment registries (I’ll be explaining this in a bit). In TXT view you see a strangely arranged hex-number that is the inverse of the binary number, all ones are zeros and all zeros are ones. In the INI view you are dealing with the decimal representation of the inverted binary number.

A binary expression of a number is a string of ones and zeros. A string that is only one long can only represent two unique states, ‘0’, and ‘1’. A string that is two long has four unique states, ‘00’, ‘01’, ‘10’, and ‘11’. When dealing with longer strings it is easier to figure the number of unique states by saying 2 to the second power or 2 times 2. So a string that is four long has 16 unique states and one that is eight long has 256.

A hexadecimal expression of a number proceeds like a decimal number 0 through 9 and then uses letters of the alphabet A through F. Each integer has 16 unique states, 0 through F, and two of these taken together has 256. So hexadecimal is useful for representing binary numbers, each package of information being two characters representing one eight-bit byte (a binary string that is eight long).

As described so far the binary and hexadecimal expressions have a huge limitation, they can’t express negative numbers. To deal with negative numbers in decimal we put a flag in front; either ‘+’ or ‘-’, or ‘nothing’ or ‘-’, either way this flag has two states. In binary the most significant digit in the number is used as just such a flag, with ‘0’ meaning positive and ‘1’ meaning negative. This is only for the bit furthest to the left if you wrote out the binary number. If you weld two, or more, 8-bit bytes together to express a larger number only the most significant bit is used as a +/- flag.

To express a decimal number as its negative you only need to change the flag, but this isn’t the case in binary. When dealing in negative binary numbers you should keep in mind that –1 is defined as being that which if you added 1 to it would equal 0. So in an 8-bit byte the number –1 would be ‘11111111’. If you add 1 to it the bit furthest to the right changes to 0 and adds 1 to its neighbor to its left and so on until the last one boots its 1 off into the void, leaving you with ‘00000000’. Now the 256 unique states of our 8-bit byte can be used to express a number between –128 and +127. If you want to deal with a larger number you can weld on another 8-bit byte and read it as one longer number with only the one flag. It would have 65536 unique states used to express numbers between -32768 and +32767.

While the binary –1 (‘11111111’ ) and the binary +1 (‘00000001’) don’t have that nice simple switch the flag relationship that they do in decimal, they do have another keen feature. If you add one to a decimal number (4 becomes 5 and –5 becomes –4) then change the +/- flag (5 becomes –5 and –5 becomes 5) when you convert it to binary it will be the inverted form of its original self, all ones to zeros and all zeros to ones. So 4 in binary is ‘00000100’ and –5 is‘11111011’.

When looking at registries like oil1 and oil2, other than the fitment registries which do something strange in HEX view (I will be getting to this):

In the HEX view you see a proper hexadecimal number that is eight characters long that is representing four 8-bit bytes. You don’t get to directly relate to this number much so don’t get excited about it being so straightforward.

In the TXT view you see a rearranged version of the hexadecimal expression of the inversion of the binary number. The hexadecimal expression of the inversion of the binary number has been broken into four discrete packages of two characters each, each package representing one 8-bit byte. Then the package that represents the most significant byte, the one on the far left, has been displayed on the far right, then the next most significant byte displayed just to the left of the first, and so on. This is only a display because the value, significance, or order that the packages are read in to create the decimal number doesn’t change. What’s that you say, that sounds terribly confusing? Ha, you try figuring out that you are looking at that, then come back and talk to me about confusing.

In the INI view you are dealing with the decimal expression of the inversion of the binary number that was seen as a hexadecimal number seen in HEX view.

Now, when looking at a fitment registry there is a difference (I told you I would get to it). In the HEX view you don’t get a proper hexadecimal number, you get one that has been rearranged just like they are in TXT view, not inverted or anything just rearranged. The TXT view remains the same, so both are rearrangements of a hexadecimal number.

Okay, that about covers what you are looking at. I’ll come back with something on how to manipulate the information.

------------------
Sometimes you've got to play RUF. \:~

Edit: I did the section dealing with how to invert a binary number very poorly, in fact saying some wrong things, and have rewritten it.

posted 05-20-2004 01:52 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by NumbOne:
P.S. Incidentally, putting a value of –1149628589 into line 476, the ‘travelmeter’ line, of the saved-car file will result in the car having 2299257.176 kilometers, which will only be displayed out to the first decimal.

---

The only potentially useful thing I gathered from this post is that

  –1149628589
*          -1 // to convert to positive
=  1149628589
-           1 // some odd conversion from the ini file to the editor program
=  1149628588
/         500
=     2299257.176 // the exact KM of the engine.

Please note:
The fact that this was the only useful information I gained from his post is not due to the information that NumbOne shares being useless, but rather due to the fact he has a much greater grasp on these matters than I do, and subsequently most of his posts fly right over my head.

posted 05-20-2004 05:40 PM            

That is only sort of about “some odd conversion from the ini file to the editor program”. In the ini file you are entering the decimal equivalent of the inverted binary number. If you know what its decimal equivalent is then you don’t need to figure out what the binary number looks like to invert it. You just take the decimal number and add 1 to it then switch the +/- flag.

As to why it wants you to relate to the inverted form of the binary number, I do not know. So the why part is some odd conversion from the ini file to the editor program.

posted 05-23-2004 12:09 PM            

I am pleased to report that I have located it and put an end to my km/h pet hate. Thanks to Silinder who’s initial request lead me eventually to find it.

304Editor

posted 05-23-2004 01:37 PM         

I know for a fact this applies to lines 112, 116, and 120. It may apply to line 124 as well (more on that in a minute), but I am unable to confirm this.

I was poking around in the 304 Editor after reading in Silinder's thread about MPH to KPH conversion, and VB's post about how he discovered a way to change the units. I suddenly had the thought that the player name might be written in Hexadecimal format somehow.

I right-clicked inside the 304 Window, and selected View Type to change to Hex View. My lines 112 through 124 changed to this:

code:

---

112 656D614A  player's name
116 6F592073  continues how far ?
120 00676E75  
124 0000616E  

---

I found a website that can convert Text to and from Binary and Hex formats:

Binary: http://nickciske.com/tools/binary.php
Hex: http://nickciske.com/tools/hex.php

I pulled up the Hex page and entered the value for line 112: 656D614A. It gave me emaJ. I instantly recognized this as the first 4 characters of my name in my game save (James Young), only backwards.

I entered James Young in the Hex conversion page and it gave me 4A616D657320596F756E6700.

I noticed that the first 8 characters of that code were the same as what was in my 304 profile, but it had switched 4A with 65 and 61 with 6D. No problem there, as Hex (and Binary) reverse the bytes (or are they bits?) for some technical reason I don't remember. Same for the second and third sets of 8.

Entering 0000616E into the Hex translator gave me an. I have no clue what that means. I remember that GT3 allows a maximum of 16 characters for filenames and player names, so either:

1 - this has something to do with my player name, heck if I know what it means though
2 - this has nothing to do with my player name, but could if your player name is 13 characters or longer (mine is only 11).

Anyone wanna check that?

posted 05-23-2004 01:39 PM         

Let me know if I've missed anything.

posted 05-25-2004 06:50 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Silinder:
Once again, your ability to suss this stuff out astounds me. Thank you

---

posted 05-25-2004 03:56 PM            

I think the HEX view of the fitments is flipped to make one lead into the next when compared to the listing of what each bit controls. I think it might have been better to make the listing from the most significant bit to the least and most significant byte to least. Then the list would still have the same sort of flow and match a normal HEX view display.

I thank you guys for sharing. I’m going to get some use form the mile/kilometers thing. I do also thank MK but like it or not VB you get my thanks.

posted 05-27-2004 02:30 AM            

Copied, pasted, and updated my copy of your previous version with this new info.

------------------
Team Captain, Asphalt Kannibals

posted 07-05-2004 04:29 PM            

Something I have not tried to date I must admit. Maybe one of the other guys can give a more positive answer to you.

Make it clear fo rus here tickaz, have you actually got the 'port with the MK program to go with it to do all of this or are you just thinking about getting one?? I assume you have the NTSC version of all hardware!? Just so we know who to hook you up with in time.

Finally, how the heck you gonna be playing GT when you got the fantazmical weather outside to have fun in. Or are you outside having fun playing GT or not!??! hehe

Welcome again.

PS

posted 09-20-2004 02:28 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by tickaz:
I have a question my be one of yo uguys cud help with, is it posible to change the stock rim from one car to another, for eg. putting the stock rim of the mines skyline R35 on the spoon civic type R?

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posted 09-20-2004 03:56 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by Old Geezer:
I see this has gone unanswered for a coupla months & I'd like to know if it's possible as well. Any input? THANX

---

It looks like MK's Editor limits you to only changing the wheels to a set available from GT Auto's Wheel Shop. Nothing about doing it from another car.

Then again, this raises the question of if the wheels programmed in the game for each car are all available from the wheel shop, and in that case, that's just a matter of figuring what each car comes with by comparing its wheels to those in the shop.

Load your garage file, Highlight the Wheels cell for the car you want to change, select a set from the window that comes up, save your garage again.

posted 09-28-2004 09:01 PM         

[This message has been edited by Old Geezer (edited 09-29-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Old Geezer (edited 09-29-2004).]

posted 10-07-2004 06:26 PM            

------------------
Team Captain, Asphalt Kannibals

Ready to race.....win or lose, the object is to have FUN!! reddog78

quote:

---

Originally quoted by Darrell Waltrip during the 2004 Pepsi 400: Monkey see.....monkey do.....monkey learn.

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posted 10-07-2004 09:46 PM            

Now... I'm going to curl up in the corner and assume a fetal position...

posted 12-26-2004 10:45 PM         

quote:

---

Originally posted by DarkDragon91490:
Ok, I just stumbled upon this whole hybrid thing last summer and i became very interested. BUT, i have a max drive and it stores files as .MAX files (which isn't a file thant can be used with the garage editor) Is there any way i can convert the files or do i just have to buy an x-port? please help

---

I know that there's a program that you can use on your computer that can convert between .MAX and .SPS/.XPS format, but I can't remember what exactly it's called or where you get it. I know a couple people around here have it, and I'm sure they can help you out with that part.

A little help, guys?