3 replies to this topic

[Althaz]

Hey guys. I started using C# today because a) I wanted to create a program and b) I wanted to do it in a new language.

I've created this program:
img508.imageshack.us/img508/5870/fm09ttftbiw2.gif
(Picture)

Which is a tactics creator for Football Manager/World Wide Soccer Manager 2009.

Now the program is working great so far (although I haven't finished it yet), however I want the program to save and load tactics in the format the game uses. Currently my program saves and loads in a plain-text format of my own devising just so I could have those buttons do something.

If the game's files were in a plain-text format I'd probably have it working, or at least have figured out how to get it to work, alas they are not.

My problem is that I have no idea what sort of format the files are in and hence no idea how to read them.

rapidshare.com/files/165943497/4-4-2_Attacking.tac.html

That's an example of said file (I tried opening it in Word Pad but is mostly gibberish).

So, my question is this: "Is there a way to extract meaningful information from that file so I can load it into my program and then save it?"

Is there some sort of program you can download that helps you with this sort of stuff or is there a well-known method in C# (or any other language I guess, I can always convert code form one language to another) for extracting information piece by piece then examining it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S.
The program will be completely free but hopefully it's something that will help the FM community out a bit as the tactics editor in the game is painfully user un-friendly.

[Xav]

You are going to have to find out how the data is stored, and then parse it out.

Can you post a .tac file's contents for us?

[wahid]

unless you can find somebody who will reverse engineer this format for you you're screwed.

Can you maybe post a couple more tac files?

img227.imageshack.us/img227/5161/28829406ud0.jpg

[Althaz]

Appreciate the feedback guys.

I attached a link to one file in the first post, but here's another few:

Link(can't post 'em propperly yet): rapidshare.com/files/166744619/tactic_examples.zip.html

I also found this document

Link: rapidshare.com/files/166745213/Tactics_format.doc.html

Which details an older version of the .tac format. I believe it would still be mostly valid as the in-game tactical editor is quite the same (and older .tac files are still read just fine by the game).

However, I have no idea what that means. In some ways with programming I am still a complete n00b.