[AB2.2] Automatic model cost adjustment

[MilitaryCoo]

I'm currently running a large campaign where the price of models is adjusted according to their availability and in-campaign events.

In order to make writing lists easier, a lot of us use AB2.2, and I was hoping to produce adjusted data files for the repriced units and items.

The problem is that there are so many items and units to reprice each campaign turn its almost impossible. I was hoping to automate the process, and have succeeded in reading the current cost from a datafile and writing a new one. Unfortunately, there appears to be some sort of checksum applied to the file and the edited files won't open in ABCreate or ArmyBuilder itself. Editing the files back to their original state makes them work again.

I've tracked the checksum down to bytes 18-21 of the datafile but obviously without knowing the checksum algorithm, I can't change it to a working value. Has anyone any ideas? I've contacted support and they directed me here.

 

[MilitaryCoo]

Any help?

 

[rob]

We eliminated issues like this with the switch to a purely XML-based approach in V3.x. Unfortunately, the only supported way to modify V2.x data files is via ABCreator, which precludes the ability to modify the files via home-brew tools.

 

[MilitaryCoo]

Surely the checksum is documented somewhere?

I appreciate it is old software, but "we know but we aren't prepared to tell you" isn't the sort of answer I was hoping for.

I should probably note that I own AB3, but given the superior quality of support for the 2.2 datafiles, I tend to use that in preference.