One of the very best things about Federation Booker is that it's totally customizable. Between the in-game editor and the access you've got to the outside media, you can completely alter the "Federation Online" world. A prime reason to do so is if you have your own wrestling federation - electronic or otherwise - because you can finally bring it to life! It's not as straight forward as you might think though, so here's a reliable guide...

Brand Awareness
Your first step should be to decide how you're going to portray each of the 4 main promotions (the remaining 3 are rather unconventional and shouldn't be changed too drastically). You should do this outside of the game because you're going to need to change some graphics. Head over to the "Gfx" folder and paste your own logos into files logo_fed01.bmp through to logo_fed04.bmp - always making sure the new logos are roughly the same size. These are the most important badges, because they'll be used to indicate the promotions on almost every screen. While you're at it, paste tiny diagonal versions of each logo into files data00.bmp (for Federation Online), inter_aaw.bmp, inter_rsp.bmp, and inter_ukw.bmp - again keeping the same size. DO NOT change the filenames to suit the promotion's new name - that's not necessary! As a rule, never change ANY of the filenames because the computer will always be looking for the originals. These tiny logos aren't terribly important, but they'll keep things like the "Calendar" screen in tune with your new world...

Know Your Role
Now you can load up the game and do some in-game editing. Head over to the main editing screen (accessed by pressing E at the main menu), and update the names of each company. You hold Backspace to change the long name and Delete to change the short pseudonym. I'm afraid this section isn't very well designed and you may find yourself accidentally accessing the roster upon pressing Enter to confirm the name! If it helps, I find it can be avoided tapping the Enter key very lightly. In any case, do remember to change the SHORT name as well as the long. It'll be used in most of the news reports so it's very important. At this point you should also adjust the qualities of each promotion. As it says as the bottom the screen, you use Q/W to change the Bank, A/S to change the Popularity, and Z/X to change the Reputation. Remember that Popularity is what you're playing for in the main game, so the lower you set it the more challenging the game will be. Do try to make the world a diverse place, with the token garbage federation and their respectable counterpart, etc. As ever, you may want to leave the 3 unusual companies as they are...

Interior Design
At some point you're going to have to update the arena graphics to match your new logos, and now is as good a time as any. If you don't like playing with graphics this is the worst job, so it's good to get it out of the way. Simply head over to the "Arena" folder and replace all instances of the Federation Online, AAW, RSP, and UKW logos with their replacements. You may have to start from scratch on the blank apron. The most important ones are the first 4 - they're the ones you'll have access to every week, and should be dedicated to the player's promotion. Incidentally, apron04.png (together with focus.png) is supposed to be a kind of chat show set. You may also want to adjust the video screens that your company displays. Files video01.bmp, video04.bmp, video05.bmp, and video18.bmp are the standard videos that appear every week. You may also want to bear in mind that video14.bmp is dedicated to the "Federation Focus" chat show. One last job to do here is to update the fan signs (signs.png) with messages and logos that tie in with your world. Again, it's not an enjoyable job but it has to be done. Try not to adjust the hands and signs themselves - simply blank out the old message and paste something new over it. Remember that the surrounding pink colour (255,0,255) will be transparent in the game (that goes for all graphics). Another thing to take note of is the new file type: "PNG". Always save graphics in the same format as the originals - otherwise the game will crash. Unless you want to adjust the remaining scenery you're pretty much done here. All that's left is to head over to the "Items" folder, open announce.bmp, and replace the "Federation Online" logo on the front of the desk...

The Greatest Show On Earth
If you haven't already, you may want to draw up your own calendar of PPV's. It's a nightmare of a job though - requiring you to think up 12 suitable titles and then draw them up with a cool logo. Go back to the "Arena" folder, where your first job should be to draw up the PPV's logo as a video screen. Then take this logo and paste it into the centre of the PPV apron you want to replace. Do make sure the videos and aprons match up (I.e. replace the Big BumpZ video and the Big BumpZ apron with the same PPV). That's not quite all. Once you've got all your logos you then need to revisit the "Gfx" folder and replace files date01.bmp through to date12.bmp with the corresponding miniature. You don't need to change the PPV names within the game itself, because it never actually refers to them...

The Big Draft
The next job is perhaps the biggest and most important. You've got to trade wrestlers between federations and get the default rosters as you want them. By pressing keys 0 to 6 over a wrestler you can send them to the corresponding promotion. The only rule here is that company's can't have more the 95 wrestlers, or fewer than 3. Of course you'll no doubt want to make a plethora of new characters, and that's what really eats up your time - especially if you're a perfectionist. I do have some good time-saving tips though. First, remember to make good use of the cloning feature (Shift key). Rather than appearances, it's always a good idea to copy from wrestlers that have similar moves/attacks to what you're looking for - because that's what takes the longest to do. You don't want to be setting them up from scratch each time. Also, try to make good use of the randomizing options (Space or Button 2) - not only is it good for making decisions for you but it's also a good shortcut, as you often skip closer to what you want. Speaking of shortcuts, remember you can often press Backspace to go back to the default option. One of the biggest pains is selecting "Real Friends/Enemies" from hundreds of possibilities. A handy time-saver here is the numbers that accompany each name - if you press D over a wrestler's slot you can display their number ("wrestler???.dat"), then in the editor you can happily rush towards that ballpark! One final tip is to make good use of the "reciprocation" feature in character profiles. Simply press the R key over someone's Friend, Enemy, or Manager selection and that relationship will be reciprocated. For instance, if you want Chris Jericho and Goldberg to hate EACH OTHER, simply set Chris Jericho's "Enemy" to Goldberg and then press R - Chris Jericho will then automatically become Goldberg's enemy too! A similar shortcut for costumes is the "equalize" feature. If you press the E key over someone's "Wrestling" head then the remaining two will become the same - so you only have to find it once. One final shortcut, that affects the whole promotion, is the "means-tested salaries" cheat. If you want all the wrestlers to have the exact salary that they deserve then go back to the main Editing screen, highlight the promotion in question and press Ctrl and C. It will go through every wrestler in the company and give them a salary based on their skills!

We Are The Champions!
You're not done yet. It's a good idea to set the default booker/champions for each major promotion. Simply press B to make someone the booker, W to make a World champion, I to set an Inter champion, and T/Y to set each Tag champion. It's not the end of the world if you forget to do this - the computer will crown any missing champions once the game starts. One final thing you may want to do is set up the default roster layout. Very few people have noticed this, but you can switch wrestler slots by using the clone command on the "Roster" or "Study Federations" screens (NOT in the Editor). This is good for placing the booker or key players at the very top, and for placing tag teams or factions next to each other...

Listen Up
That's all the essential stuff covered. You should have a world comprised of your own companies, inhabited by your own wrestlers. One final thing that editors often wish to change is the entrance themes - especially if your real-life fed has their own. Personally, I don't recommend this (for file size reasons) but if you must then here are a few pointers. Always make replacement themes the same FREQUENCY as their originals. Most of them are 8000kHz, but there are a few 11025kHz and 22050kHz tunes in there too. Yes, 8000kHz is very low quality but that's necessary - with over 30 different themes to load into memory it's best not to play with large files! Another reason is that the character editor is designed to adjust theme speeds around the 8000 mark - and if yours are different you'll have to find the right frequency all over again...

Backing Up
Technically you're done, but if you want to back-up your new world - or distribute it to friends - then there are a few important things to do. First, make sure your rosters are in PERFECT shape. Make sure all wrestlers are free and healthy (press Backspace to make it so), and make sure they've still got the skills you wanted them to have (remember they'll change if you play the game too much!). If you're confident that you're done then close the game at this stage. Now go into the "Data" folder and COPY the feds.dat file and ALL the wrestler.dat files into the "Reset" subfolder. Leave the others - they're not necessary. That has made sure that your new world can always be restored by using the "Resetting" options - I.e. you can happily mess it up by playing!

Just Bring It
If you're making your new world public then you'll now have to pack everything up into a nice download. Because of all the different files in different directories you have to be careful about this. First, on your desktop, make an empty mock up the Federation Booker game folder - containing empty versions of all the folders you've tinkered with: Gfx, Arena, Items, and Data. Now go through each of the edited folders and carefully copy each file you've changed into its mock-up folder. The one you have to be most careful with is the "Data" folder, because there are some files that you definitely don't want to inflict on other people. Make sure you just copy the feds.dat file, the wrestler.dat files, and of course the "Reset" folder. Make sure you DON'T copy the config.dat, controls.dat, data.dat, and worldpivot.dat files - you could end up ruining somebody's game preferences!!! Once that's sorted all that's left is perhaps a "readme", explaining what your patch is all about and any other comments. Now that's the blueprint for your download - just open a new WinZip session, select all the folders and files, and drag them into it. Now when you EXTRACT that WinZip file into a Federation Booker directory it should deliver all your new files to the right folders! All that remains is to upload your patch, tell your audience how great Federation Booker is, credit MDickie, and link to www.MDickie.com so much that the name makes you sick...