Actua Soccer Team Editor
Copyright 1997 Alan Harding

YOU USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK!  I WILL NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
FOR LOSS OF DATA RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM.

Here's a handy little program that's been hanging around on my hard disk 
for a while, which I've decided, prompted by the budget re-release of 
Actua Soccer, to release to the public.


What does it do?

It allows you to edit all the information relating to the teams in Actua 
Soccer, such as names, positions and attributes of players, as well as 
allowing you to fiddle with league positions and details.  


What do I need to run it?

It should run on any PC running Windows 3.1 or later (I've no idea about 
Windows 3.0, or OS/2 or any other 'Windows compatible' operating 
systems/emulators).  I'm not sure about memory requirements, but it needs 
a fair percentage of system resources to be free.  It will run on a 640x480 
pixel display by not displaying the logo when a file is loaded.  However if 
you start it in a larger screen mode and then switch to 640x480 this feature 
will not be enabled unless you restart the editor.  You also need a saved 
game file to edit, which in turn requires Actua Soccer (Well there's the 
obvious pointed out).

Simply execute the ACTUA-ED.EXE file which accompanies this 
document using the Run option from the Start Menu/Program Manager, 
double click on it's icon in Explorer/File Manager, or create a icon for it in 
the Start Menu/Program Manager.  (See Windows help if you can't do 
any of these)


How does it work?

It works by loading in a saved game file, performing some voodoo magic 
and saving the result to be loaded into Actua Soccer.  Actua gives you 8 
save game slots to save, named SLOT_0.ACT to SLOT_7.ACT.  The 
editor allows you to load and save .ACT files with different names, but if 
you want Actua to notice them you must save them in the Actua Soccer 
directory on your hard disk with a name in this range.  When you load a 
file into the editor the name you gave it in Actua Soccer is displayed on the 
title bar of the window along with the filename.

Although it is usually possible to reverse the effects of the editor 
please back up any important save game files - I will not be held 
responsible for damage to save game files.


What's on the menu?

The editor has a standard menu bar with three menus and an 'About' 
option.

The File Menu

	Open - Reads a saved game file into the editor to be 
	altered using the standard Windows file dialog.  (See above 
	for info on filenames)

	Save - Saves the current file, once again with the Windows 
	dialog (this always acts as a 'Save As'; that you are always 
	asked for a filename to save to).

	Cheat Mode - Actua has a cheat mode that is activated by 
	running it with the command-line 
	'SOCCER -01142475549'.  This allows you to play as (or 
	against) the Gremlin Showbix XI, a pretty good team.  
	Unfortunately if you load a game which was saved
	without the cheat mode on, it will be turned off.  This menu 
	option allows you to select whether the cheat mode should 
	be activated when the file is loaded.

	Exit - I'm through pointing out the obvious.


The Team Menu

	Import - Loads in a team saved as an .ATE file by the editor.  
	This allows you to save individual teams separate from a 
	saved game file (team files can't be loaded by Actua Soccer).  
	The currently selected team is overwritten by the saved data.

	Export - Saves the currently selected team as a separate file. 
	(See above)  Note: league information is NOT saved in a 
	team file.

	Copy & Paste - These work like the Windows clipboard 
	and allow you to copy the currently selected team to a 
	'clipboard' (an internal one, not the Windows one) and paste 
	as many copies as you like.  Pasting overwrites the currently 
	selected team.

The Player Menu

	All the options on the Player menu are the same as the Team 
	menu (See above), except they deal with just the currently 
	selected player, not the whole team.

	About - Displays a nice little 'About' dialog window, like any other boring 
	Windows program.


What do all these buttons do?

Once you've loaded a file the window will expand to give you a wealth of 
options.   The window is split into two sections; at the top is the team 
section that allows you to pick which team to edit and contains all the team 
info such as league information, and at the bottom is the player section that 
allows you to pick players and change their details.


Selecting a team

Teams can be selected from the drop down text box.  Once a team is 
selected the window shows the information relevant to that team.  You can 
change the name of the current team by typing one into the drop down text 
box; make sure you press TAB or click on another button or text box 
when finished - if you Save the file, export the team, or choose another 
team before doing this, the changed name won't be stored.  There is a 
short name for the team as well (which is used most of the time), so 
change that as well.  You can also change the name of the coach (you can 
do it in Actua too), change the current and default formations for the team, 
and change which flag is used to represent the team by picking from the 
drop down selector. (Note: any name changes to (short) team names is 
reflected in this selector).


How to play dirty!

So far the features covered are merely cosmetic; but you can use the 
editor to cheat as well.  In the middle of the window is the league statistics 
for the selected team (if no league game was in progress when the file was 
saved it is meaningless).  Here you can edit the wins, draws and losses the 
team has had, as well as the goals for and against.  The games played, goal 
difference and points are automatically calculated and can't be edited 
directly.  This allows you to boost your team to the top or sabotage a 
competitor.

If this isn't enough for you, the Swap button allows you to swap positions 
with any other team, allowing you instant promotion to a higher league 
group.  Simply select a team from the drop down box (the group each 
team is in is shown before the team name) and press the Swap button (the 
Group X label above the league details will change to reflect the swap).  
The swap feature will work even if there is no league game currently 
started - the swap will affect the default groupings for the next started 
league game, however it won't work if a cup competition is in progress.


Editing your players

This is the real reason I wrote this program - the changing of player 
attributes.  This is because I tried to update the England team from within 
Actua Soccer, and although I could change the names, I couldn't specify 
that Robbie Fowler (who replaced Andy Cole) was white!

Players are selected in the same manner as teams, and there names 
changed in the same way (you have to press TAB here too).  The 
currently selected player's attributes are shown and can be changed either 
by using the plus and minus buttons, or by clicking on the numbers and 
using the keyboard.  Actua usually has a limit of 100 on these attributes, 
although the editor allows you to go up to 255.  Warning: setting attributes 
(especially Pace) above 100 can have some strange effects (try it and 
see!).  You can also set which position the player plays in and his skin 
colour - Robbie Fowler is white again!


Notes

Although it is possible to produce a team full of players with hyped up 
attributes, it isn't recommended - Actua Soccer subtly changes the 
effective attributes of computer teams by looking at your team to even the 
teams up a little.  This can have a big boost on the computer team when 
you field a line up of supermen!  To counter this I find it helpful to have 16 
special players (for the starting 11 and the substitutes bench) and then fill 
the rest of the team with crap players with low attributes (ideally all set to 
1).  This seems to balance things out a little when playing a computer team 
(it can sometimes penalise the computer even though you're playing as a 
far superior team!).

Here's another little cheat for Actua Soccer - it works on my version (1.4) 
but as it is a bug it may have been fixed in later versions.  When a player is 
sent off, you can still substitute him!  Simply select the offender as the 
player to go 'off' and make the substitution - the 'on' player simply strolls 
on to the pitch, unnoticed by the referee!

This program has been tested with save game files from the English version 
1.4 of Actua Soccer.  I doubt the save game format differs for any other 
version (I'm not aware of what's available, although I know there have 
been some special versions for 3D accelerators, but I don't have one!), 
but if you have a different version, and you get an 'Invalid File Format' 
error, this is what's happened.  Sorry there's nothing I can do about it.


Bugs

Unfortunately I can't fix any bugs in the program because I left college 
(where I wrote the editor in Visual Basic).  There are no major ones that 
I'm aware of (touch wood) but if you find any just live with them.  One bug 
is that if you try to load an invalid save game file after editing a valid one, 
the window won't resize properly.  This is purely cosmetic, so it's not too 
bad.

The only other problem I've had with it is that sometimes the player names 
are mucked up when loaded into Actua Soccer.  This doesn't affect the 
attributes and such, and can be remedied by renaming the players again 
using Actua's built in Customise option.  Files with this problem will still 
load into the editor without any problems.


Is this wonderful program free?

Not exactly.  I intend it to be 'giftware' - that is I give the program to you 
as a gift and although it's not necessary, kindness says that you should give 
me a gift in return.  I would prefer a monetary gift of as much as you feel 
the program is worth (in English pounds please) and can afford - a tenner 
will do, but I won't stop you sending more!  Otherwise send me whatever 
you think appropriate.  (See address below)

You are free to distribute this program in any way you want (as long as no 
profit is made) - Internet, shareware CD-ROM, magazine cover disk etc. 
- as long as ACTUA-ED.EXE and this document are kept together 
(CMDIALOG.VBX and VBRUN300.DLL are generic system files and 
do not have to be distributed with this program even though they are 
required - if your copy of this program doesn't include these files, and they 
aren't on your PC, try the Microsoft Internet page, or look around your 
CD-ROMs and disks; they are common files, odds are you have them 
somewhere).

Post:
	Alan Harding
	123 Reading Road South
	Fleet
	Hampshire
	GU13 9TD
	ENGLAND

e-mail:
	big-al-harding@geocities.com

WWW:
	www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Horizon/6364/

Actua Soccer is Copyright 1995 Gremlin Interactive Limited

REMEMBER: YOU USE THIS PROGRAM AT YOUR OWN RISK!  I WILL NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY 
FOR LOSS OF DATA RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS PROGRAM.
