CovertActionTools

Ever wanted to mod the classic Sid Meier's Covert Action? Of course not, but here you go just in case.

Tools for inspecting/modifying game files for the 1990 MicroProse video game Sid Meier's Covert Action. Repository does not include any game assets or functionality from the game itself, you must provide a valid game install to load the game data files.

Features

• Modify most images in the game
• Modify all animations in the game
• Modify some text in the game
• Modify all crime data
• Modify all clue data
• Modify all world data
• Modify fonts
• Modify mission set data including crime victim/location strings (see issue #1)
• Modify other text in the game including menu options (see issue #1)
• Modify some images including telegram/bulletin background (see issue #7)
• Modify sounds (will likely never be done, very complicated)
• Modify almost all game logic (would require a complete rebuild of the game)
• Modify some game data including room layouts in combat mode (would require a complete rebuild of the game)

Screenshots

Obtaining the game

This repository does not include the game data! You must have a copy of the game in order to use this project.

You should obtain the game legally via one of the licensed distributors. For example:

• GOG.com
• Steam

Usage

To use the editor:

1. Download the latest release and run CovertActionTools.App.exe
2. Click File > Parse Game Install and select the game install MPS folder as the Source Path, and an empty folder as the Destination Path, then click Load; once the load finishes successfully, click Save
3. Click File > Open Package and select the folder you used as the Destination Path, then click Load
4. You have now loaded the package, make any changes you want, then File > Save Package to save the package, and File > Publish Package to export any changed files to a new folder for distribution/using in a game install.

Important to note: published packages will only contain files that have been changed in the package, you can see this list by clicking the top-level element in Package Explorer.

Building/Downloading

To build the project yourself, download the project and run dotnet build, or open the .sln file with any relevant IDE (Visual Studio Community, Jetbrains Rider). The built project will be in the bin folder. Dependencies will be automatically downloaded, which is managed by NuGet.

To get the pre-built binaries, use the releases page. A Github pipeline will automatically publish new versions when changes are made.

Components

A .NET library called CovertActionTools.Core is included which is used for the actual data parsing/exporting, as well as including some convenient processors to produce at least debug output based on the data. This library can be used to build custom scripts/applications that modify files programmatically.

CovertActionTools.App is a desktop application which you can use to parse a game install, modify, or inspect assets from it, and then publish a set of files that have been modified, to distribute as a mod. Because the files potentially contain some retail game data, these files should be modified to be distributed as a binary patch instead of directly uploading the files (an internal implementation of this is tracked in issue #2).

Documentation

There are a number of documentation files available that explain some of the file layouts/game quirks/formats:

• CRIME File Format
• More TODO

Acknowledgements

• CanadianAvenger.io for lots of patient help in figuring out the PAN file format, as well as confirming/correcting some of the PIC file quirks.
• Jari Komppa's git repository for giving me a place to start on some of the formats.