deanolium: ...

SmashManiac: If you're able to fully reverse-engineer the file format used for the crime data, please post it! I would be very interested!

P.S.: I see that this thread has been stickied, nice! :)

CynicalSleuth: Forgive my ignorance but I haven't the slightest clue on how to apply this fix. How can I get to the file I'm trying to replace? Any help is very much appreciated.

deanolium: Hi there,

No problem - sorry for the late reply; work has been crazy!

First, download the file from the dropbox link (it's a binary file, so just right click and use save as... to grab it). Then go to the Covert Action directory where-ever you installed it. Normally it's something like C:\Gog Games\Sid Meiers Covert Action. In there (or a child directory) should be a load of files like CRIME0.DTA, CRIME1.DTA and so on. Find CRIME12.DTA and rename to CRIME12.OLD so you have a copy of the original file. Now grab the file you downloaded from my dropbox and copy it to this directory. And that should work.

Whilst you're at it, also download this file: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/101876491/FAME.DTA

And copy into the same directory if FAME.DTA doesn't already exist. This basically stores your high scores. The original floppy version (which I have) is missing this file, which means no scores are ever saved. This also happens on most versions I've found on the web; so it might also be true of the GOG version (as I have the original, I haven't got the GoG one, so I can't check).

If you have any more problems, just shout and I'll be happy to help.

deanolium: Hey there,

As some of you might know, one of the crimes in the game is broken in that you can never fail it. What's disappointing is that this is a crime that happens at the culmination of several smaller crimes. Instead if you fail this crime, the game tells you off, but then just does that crime again.

Well, after reverse engineering the crimes, I've managed to fix this bug. I've uploaded the file in my dropbox -- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/101876491/CRIME12.DTA -- just replace the old CRIME12.DTA in the Covert Action directory with this one.

If anyone notices any problems after applying this, just message me or post on here.

----------------------------------

For those curious, here's what was happening.

Internally the crimes are made up of several events, which are things like meeting someone, sending messages, and commiting some act. Each of these events can be given a point value, where if you foil that event you can some score (the point value * 20). The game assumes each crime will have 10 points distributed across the events. At the end of the plot, the game checks up these points, and if 10 of them are on events which haven't been foiled, then it counts the plot as being successful. If there were less, then you stopped the crime.

Now for Crime12 (the so called ultimate plot), they messed up on this file; and only distributed 4 points (all to the creation of the bad thing). Hence, the game never sees this plot as being successful. So I've added the remaining 6 points to the person giving the bad thing to the mastermind (which is the last real event of the plot). This now allows this crime to count as being failed, and for the first time since it came out, you can finally get the failure text from the chief. (He's really not happy!)

----------------------------------

There's still some stuff on the crime files that I'm not entirely sure of, but I'm slowly getting there. What I'm hoping to do next is to create some new plots -- either replacing the original ones, or if I can find a way to do it, add them to the original ones. No promises, but it looks doable, though there is some weirdness I'm still getting to grips with.

Anyway -- enjoy this fix, and now be careful of letting Masterminds make nukes!

TheClassicGamer: Hi. Thanks for the help. By the way, which program did you use to open up and edit the crime.dta files?

deanolium: Hey there,

As some of you might know, one of the crimes in the game is broken in that you can never fail it. What's disappointing is that this is a crime that happens at the culmination of several smaller crimes. Instead if you fail this crime, the game tells you off, but then just does that crime again.

Well, after reverse engineering the crimes, I've managed to fix this bug. I've uploaded the file in my dropbox -- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/101876491/CRIME12.DTA -- just replace the old CRIME12.DTA in the Covert Action directory with this one.

If anyone notices any problems after applying this, just message me or post on here.

----------------------------------

For those curious, here's what was happening.

Internally the crimes are made up of several events, which are things like meeting someone, sending messages, and commiting some act. Each of these events can be given a point value, where if you foil that event you can some score (the point value * 20). The game assumes each crime will have 10 points distributed across the events. At the end of the plot, the game checks up these points, and if 10 of them are on events which haven't been foiled, then it counts the plot as being successful. If there were less, then you stopped the crime.

Now for Crime12 (the so called ultimate plot), they messed up on this file; and only distributed 4 points (all to the creation of the bad thing). Hence, the game never sees this plot as being successful. So I've added the remaining 6 points to the person giving the bad thing to the mastermind (which is the last real event of the plot). This now allows this crime to count as being failed, and for the first time since it came out, you can finally get the failure text from the chief. (He's really not happy!)

----------------------------------

There's still some stuff on the crime files that I'm not entirely sure of, but I'm slowly getting there. What I'm hoping to do next is to create some new plots -- either replacing the original ones, or if I can find a way to do it, add them to the original ones. No promises, but it looks doable, though there is some weirdness I'm still getting to grips with.

Anyway -- enjoy this fix, and now be careful of letting Masterminds make nukes!

deanolium: Hey there,

As some of you might know, one of the crimes in the game is broken in that you can never fail it. What's disappointing is that this is a crime that happens at the culmination of several smaller crimes. Instead if you fail this crime, the game tells you off, but then just does that crime again.

Well, after reverse engineering the crimes, I've managed to fix this bug. I've uploaded the file in my dropbox -- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/101876491/CRIME12.DTA -- just replace the old CRIME12.DTA in the Covert Action directory with this one.

If anyone notices any problems after applying this, just message me or post on here.

----------------------------------

For those curious, here's what was happening.

Internally the crimes are made up of several events, which are things like meeting someone, sending messages, and commiting some act. Each of these events can be given a point value, where if you foil that event you can some score (the point value * 20). The game assumes each crime will have 10 points distributed across the events. At the end of the plot, the game checks up these points, and if 10 of them are on events which haven't been foiled, then it counts the plot as being successful. If there were less, then you stopped the crime.

Now for Crime12 (the so called ultimate plot), they messed up on this file; and only distributed 4 points (all to the creation of the bad thing). Hence, the game never sees this plot as being successful. So I've added the remaining 6 points to the person giving the bad thing to the mastermind (which is the last real event of the plot). This now allows this crime to count as being failed, and for the first time since it came out, you can finally get the failure text from the chief. (He's really not happy!)

----------------------------------

There's still some stuff on the crime files that I'm not entirely sure of, but I'm slowly getting there. What I'm hoping to do next is to create some new plots -- either replacing the original ones, or if I can find a way to do it, add them to the original ones. No promises, but it looks doable, though there is some weirdness I'm still getting to grips with.

Anyway -- enjoy this fix, and now be careful of letting Masterminds make nukes!

TanaraKuranov: I second this request, if anyone has the files (CRIME12.DTA and FAME.DTA), please let me know! The Dropbox links are dead. I'll certainly be happy to host them on my own Dropbox (and make sure I put the files in a safe place in case they're needed again!)