TARGETx.EXT - VPUnpack/VPUtil - More enemy ships
This file contains visual scan information for ships.
- Host 3.00 packs many (all?) ships into this file, even those that can't be seen because they're orbiting a planet. Visibility is determined by PLANETS.EXE, via SHIPXYx.DAT (ships not in SHIPXYx.DAT are not visible).
- Host 3.20 and later pack only ships you actually see here and in SHIPXYx.DAT.
- Host 3.22.039's "FF allies" are only stored here, but not in the SHIPXYx.DAT file. Modern client programs (including Winplan and all 3rd party things) will happily display Host 3.00's "invisible" ships. They must do so, otherwise they would not support "FF allies" :-/
The standard UNPACK program can't handle TARGETx.DAT files with more than 50 targets.
- in DOS-style RSTs, the host will put the 50 nearest targets here and drop the rest.
- in Winplan-style RSTs, THost will put 49 targets here (no matter how far they are), and the rest goes in KOREx.DAT. PHost packs up to 50 targets.
- VPHost and PHost can be told to allow more than 50 targets in the RST file ("BigTargets"). VPUnpack will split the file into TARGETx.DAT (50 targets) and TARGETx.EXT (rest); PCC and CCUnpack can do that, too.
+0 WORD Number of ships +2 n BYTEs Records or 34 bytes each +m 10 BYTEs Signature 2
A ship record:
+0 WORD Id Number
+2 WORD Owner
+4 WORD Warp (zero if ship doesn't have fuel, no matter what its
real speed is)
+6 WORD X position
+8 WORD Y position
+10 WORD Type of starship hull (might differ from real ship type
if the RacePlus Chameleon Device is used)
+12 WORD Heading in degrees, 0=North, 90=East, 180=South, 270=West,
-1=unknown (i.e., not moving)
+14 20 BYTEs Ship name.Remote-controlled ships have the remote-control player in the Owner field, the original owner is marked by appending a signature such as '*2' to the name. UTILx.DAT contains this information in a more readable form.
If PHost is used with AllowShipNames restrictions, and you are not allowed to see a particular ship name, the name will be 'Ship 345', where 345 is the ship Id, possibly amended with a remote-control signature. Otherwise, there is no sign saying whether the name you're seeing is the true name or not.
