Need help with .tac files for TT&F Tactics Builder... please

Hey guys, sorry about the long wait over here. The good news is that Beta 2 is out now and is available here: http://www.mediafire.com/?e0j1fnxiczs

UPDATE: Beta 2 now out.

BETA 2 Updates

Fixed numerous bugs, added support for specialist roles, added passing styles, passing patterns automatically generated, D-Line no longer just for looks. Autom-Complete now on all boxes that should have it (I think, let me know if I missed any).

Program Summary

This program has been designed to let you quickly and easily create tactics based on the marvellous Tactical Theroms & Frameworks documents. At the moment you can create but not save those tactics, but I do plan to enable that in the future. For now all it really does is let you tool around and see how some things from TT&F might translate into a formation you like.

http://www.mediafire.com/?e0j1fnxiczs

There's Beta 2. Download at will. I suspect you'll need Microsoft's C# redistributable which can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/cc378097.aspx (2nd Link).

I have only tested this on Windows Vista but it should work just fine on Windows XP. This will not work on Mac unless you use VirtualPC (google it ). I could probably have used Java instead of C# for platform independence, however I have only one platform to test on myself and Java apps tend to behave differently on every machine (despite it's whole purpose being avoiding that exact problem).

Known Bugs (don't tell me about these, I already know and with one exception they are mostly intentional):

Save & Load disabled <-- Will probably not be going until the final release or at the earliest the last Beta

Interface <-- For this version I'll stick with this general layout. There are numerous issues I have with the interface already, but it is reasonably servicable and will do for now. Once this version is completed I plan to rebuild it from the ground up with a slicker interface. That'll probably not be out until next year however I do welcome feedback in this area as I am definitely looking to change it up.

Other bugs and general feedback

All feedback is quite welcome, negative or positive. If you are being negative, please be constructive. If posting about a bug, please be precise and try to, if possible, see if the bug is repeatable. Describe in as much detail as you can the process by which the error is produced as well as the outcome. That will aid me greatly in eliminating said bugs.

I will post this on the SI Forums later, but for now I must be off .

Cheers.

Hello to SI and all forum members.

I am in the process of creating the following utility for use with FM09:

It's a tactics builder that I am in the process of creating because I tend to get kinda frustrated when setting up tactics due to how damned long it takes to create a set of five or six tactics in the in-game editor). After I had this idea I then thought it'd be good if this utility could load presets based on TT&F and so I pitched the idea over at FM-Britain (creators of the brilliant TT&F documents) and in the 15 minutes since I had the idea it was met with some enthusiasm so I thought I'd pop over here to request help on the one part of the program I have absolutely no idea how to work: Saving and loading .tac tactics that can be read by FM09.

I would appreciate some help from SI in this area, but equally if anybody knows about how you read totally unknown files (incidentally, there are descriptions contained within the tactics files themselves that are visible in wordpad, do these show up anywhere in the game?), help in that area would be most appreciated.

I'm creating the program in C# as I've been wanting to learn that language for some time and this gives me the perfect excuse.

Ideas and, once I publish a version of the program (probably next week), feedback are of course welcome.

For more information I'll refer you to this thread over at FM-Britain: http://www.fm-britain.co.uk/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=8967&pid=132337&st=50entry132337

Cheers,

Althaz.

sounds like a great idea to me and this is something id love to use.

unfortunately i cant help with what your asking but best of luck with it mate..

nice idea Good Luck

Moving this to the Tactics forum.

Appreciate the vote of confidence. Stay tuned for some sort of Beta out next week and should be 100% done within a week of that release, at the very least sans .tac saving ability.

EDIT: Cheers, skorp. I wasn't sure if this belonged in that forum or not because it's not strictly about tactics . Thanks for moving it for me.

Wow, that that a great tool, love to have that..looks so easy to use, even I could use it. good work.

Looks cool. Lets hope it will be released soon

I've always wanted something like this, but have no programing experience. Thanks for creating it, I have no doubt it will be downloaded a lot haha.

Great idea mate.

what do you mean by saving and loading .tac files. Once a tactic is saved as a tac file in the tactics folder, its available for selection via the drop down for archived tactics. The folder you can save it in is C:My documents/SI/Tactics...which is one folder...another one is also in the c:Programfiles location under data for the FM program.

Indeed, this is a great idea and am looking forward to using it. Good work.

ooh man!

this is a dream come true!

i was actually going to request something like this just the other day when i was going to make my own set of tactics and did 6 of them...

something like this will give a nice controll in what you are doing, and it would really be sweet if we could get an official tool like this with the Fm10

hope you get it to work and realease it soon... i would surely use it alot.!!

Yihaa great tool, will really look forward to this!

Come on SI help him out!

what do you mean by saving and loading .tac files. Once a tactic is saved as a tac file in the tactics folder, its available for selection via the drop down for archived tactics. The folder you can save it in is C:My documents/SI/Tactics...which is one folder...another one is also in the c:Programfiles location under data for the FM program.

As in how to read and write .tac files which is what he hopes his editor will be able to do.

This sounds awesome

@Althaz,

Drop me a PM if you need an extra hand. I've been toying with a similar idea for quite some time, and C# is my language of choice. I have a few ideas you might be interested in.

Mate I think he means he needs help with the internal format of these files, so he can load them into his editor and after editing, save them with his editor.

As in how to read and write .tac files which is what he hopes his editor will be able to do.

Indeed, this is the problem I have too. I essentially want to output .tac-files from the application when the user saves his or her choices. In order to do that I need to learn the structure of the .tac files. I assume this is what the OP is after too.

Yeah, the GUI he has knocked up can be done in 30 mins but it is the reading of SI's .tac file so that you could read it in an editor and then save it out that is the difficult part.

A good idea, will need help from SI on how to read/convert the .tac file though.

Yeah, the GUI he has knocked up can be done in 30 mins but it is the reading of SI's .tac file so that you could read it in an editor and then save it out that is the difficult part.

A good idea, will need help from SI on how to read/convert the .tac file though.

PaulC seems welcoming enough when it comes to this. I haven't contacted him yet, but it does seem doable at least. There is great potential here I feel. Not just in terms of quickly whipping up TT&F based tactics.

Wow! What a fantastic tool!

Althaz,

Have you had any luck in deconstructing the .tac file yet?

Excellent idea this Althaz. Looks like this could be a really helpful tool.

Seriously impressed and I look forward to trying it out in the future once finished.

Ok Guys, There seems to be a Beta version out now on FM-britain!

We should all download it and test it, giving the guy all the help we can throu feedback and tips, cuz this is a super idea for a reaaally good tool that will save the players ALOT of time, AND give the player a better overlook of the tactics..

And also, i really think SI should help him out as much as they can, and they should also look at the chances of making something like this a official standard tool in future versions/patches of the game, because i think most players would prefer this type of program for creating tactics, rather than the normal version that the game offers now.

Of course the official version shouldn't contain set player instructions like the one being built for the TT&F frameworks, but it could contain an option to load such files.. as it would be nice to be able to share succesfull "player instructions" and implement them in your on tactics..

Ok Guys, There seems to be a Beta version out now on FM-britain!

We should all download it and test it, giving the guy all the help we can throu feedback and tips, cuz this is a super idea for a reaaally good tool that will save the players ALOT of time, AND give the player a better overlook of the tactics..

And also, i really think SI should help him out as much as they can, and they should also look at the chances of making something like this a official standard tool in future versions/patches of the game, because i think most players would prefer this type of program for creating tactics, rather than the normal version that the game offers now.

Of course the official version shouldn't contain set player instructions like the one being built for the TT&F frameworks, but it could contain an option to load such files.. as it would be nice to be able to share succesfull "player instructions" and implement them in your on tactics..

Totally agree. It's better for SI to make more official tools.

Ok Guys, There seems to be a Beta version out now on FM-britain!

I don't see it on FM Britain. :confused:

Can you provide a link?

Here is the link mate

http://www.fm-britain.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=8967&view=findpost&p=132486

I hope posting this link isn't going to get me banned or anything?

Thanks for that K-oTiC, I didn't realise it was on the forum under TT&F. I was looking on the homepage and on the forum pages but couldn't see it.

And, no, you won't get banned for putting up links to FM Britain. Don't worry.

Simply great....we didnt have this thing since CM 01-02.....amazing news for us who like to spend our time in tac. screen

Ok guys, sorry I took so long to get over here. The good news is Beta 2 is out now . I'll update the OP with a link. But, if you can't be bothered scrolling up, here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?gjtmynjb2ng

@ Paul: I'll send you some sort of enquiry about .tac files soon .

I think I am just dumb, but making sure.....when I make a tactic here, based on my own ideas, but using some presets as a framework....I can't save anything? I have been looking that the thread in the other forum, there is some mention of it being able to save, but all I get is a greyed out box? Should it be like that?

As it says in the first post, this is a Beta version and at the moment it is unable to save or load tactic. That functionality will be added before the final version however .

is there a mistake with the 5x5 tactic?

i thought 5x5 meant 5 players defensive or same mentality

and 5 players attacking with same mentality

using the tactic builder, the whole team is on the same mentality, like all 10 for standard.

apart from that, this is a great bit of software good idea, really helpful.

Looks brilliant, and can't wait until the full version is out

It does look a very good tool but servers no purpose whatsoever for FM09 unless it can load/save tactics.

I hope Althaz can figure out what format the .tac file is.

Ok guys, sorry I took so long to get over here. The good news is Beta 2 is out now . I'll update the OP with a link. But, if you can't be bothered scrolling up, here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?gjtmynjb2ng

@ Paul: I'll send you some sort of enquiry about .tac files soon .

Hello

wonderfull thing !!!

But theres a bug about the tool windows resolution, the left border is alf cut.

I know i could resolve with modify my own PC Screen resolution, but its boring ...

Can u resolve it for classical 1024 x 768 ?

Thx so much

Edit : Actually its only work with a 1280 / 720 pixel

Thx

I can`t wait to use this tool. The beta-version looks like wet dream and will probably make me spend hours developing tactics Great work, dude.

Looks promising!

Will keep checking back and see how things progress. C# should at least make it possible to some extent for a Mac port in the furture (Mono (based around c#) runs on Mac).

Mate this is looking very promising and I wish you all the best in trying to figure out the last details to making it complete

I can imagine plenty of people using it at their office instead of working! As the saying goes work only gets in the way of FM.

Isnt`t there anyone here who knows this #hit, and can help him out with the .tac files?

great tool and cant wait to use it but i have 1 issue

something needs to be done about the resolution size as said in a previous post i use 1024x768 and the app doesnt show all as shown in pic below

great tool and cant wait to use it but i have 1 issue

something needs to be done about the resolution size as said in a previous post i use 1024x768 and the app doesnt show all as shown in pic below

I have the same problem.

My laptop can't go any higher than 1024x768, and i can't see the entire right side of the appilcation (assign specialist roles).

is there a mistake with the 5x5 tactic?

i thought 5x5 meant 5 players defensive or same mentality

and 5 players attacking with same mentality

using the tactic builder, the whole team is on the same mentality, like all 10 for standard.

apart from that, this is a great bit of software good idea, really helpful.

Isn't that correct? Shouldn't 5 players get attackign mentalities and 5 defensive?

Hello

wonderfull thing !!!

But theres a bug about the tool windows resolution, the left border is alf cut.

I know i could resolve with modify my own PC Screen resolution, but its boring ...

Can u resolve it for classical 1024 x 768 ?

Thx so much

Edit : Actually its only work with a 1280 / 720 pixel

Thx

Actually its only work with a 1280 / 720 pixel

@jobnik

hello mate, i posted about the 5x5 tactic using the builder

seems to be something wrong but no-one has replied about it.

the tactic builder puts all players on the same mentality and not 5def mentality and 5 att mentality as it should be?

or am i the only 1 getting this?

@jobnik

hello mate, i posted about the 5x5 tactic using the builder

seems to be something wrong but no-one has replied about it.

the tactic builder puts all players on the same mentality and not 5def mentality and 5 att mentality as it should be?

or am i the only 1 getting this?

No, i'm getting that too.

I'm sure theres a still a few missed issues/bugs with the application, except the resolution issue, which I hope will be fixed in the next version.

As many people test this, and specially people like wwfan, who wrote the TT&F '09, the sooner this could be perfect, and help a lot of people, like me, who are struggling with tactics.

seriously cannot wait for this to be released and that we can save tactics - such a great tool - well done. By the way any chance of an update and idea for the final version release date?

Ditto all of the praise. Can't wait.

This is great tool and I'm really waiting final version. Any idea when it's released? Also what I'd like to see is possibility to print created tactics.

Althaz: any progress, mate?

Sometimes the strikers Mentality is lower than that of an attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 formation - is that normal - I am talking about the template formations that will generate a tactic. AMC are on 12 mentality, the stiker is on 10.