What is EchoView ?

Do I need EchoView ?
If you play VGA Planets, then you probably need EchoView. It has been rated as best VGAP utility (41 votes out of 95) in The Official Favourite VGAP3 Utility Poll (offline now) and got the highest score (score 9.24 of 10 max, average program ratings voted upon by players and hosts) in the Neutral Zone VGAP archive (offline now). One more reason to get EchoView: The newest beta version of EchoView supports Tim Wisseman's HOST999 and PHOST 4.

Download the old official version 1.1 of EchoView here : echov11.zip (330005bytes)
Even though still in beta version, it is recommended to use the latest versions of EchoView which can be found below .The official version has some minor bugs, and does no longer reflect the current status of VGAP.
For a review of EchoView 1.1, see Will Koehler's article at the Planeteer Resurrection Site .

The new EchoView 1.2 beta versions
The last official beta version 1.2.15 beta was released in 1999. After almost 2 years of development and testing (many thanks to all the testers!), a new series of beta versions has been released, starting with version 1.2.20a beta . Major new features of these versions include:

• a built-in battle simulator supporting both HOST and PHOST
• battle results can be seen from within EchoView
• complete turn prediction up to 20 future turns (includes planet development, ship movement, minefield simulation etc.)
• support for external client utility simulation (via EVSIM.BAT)
• new utilities such as a waypoint calculator
• support for new HOST .27 movement math (automatic version detection)

Note: EchoView beta version usually still have bugs, and due to the growing complexity of the program, these bugs are sometimes not easy to find. Therefore, use at your own risk!

EchoView beta versions and related stuff

• get the newest EchoView beta version here .
• you are programming utilities for VGAP and you need the file format of EchoView's database? Get it here .

The PHOST3 host add-on PQBOOST now released for Unix !

• What is QBOOST?

The current implementation of the PHOST3 build queue favors strong players who already have a large number of ships. Weak players cannot build ships if the stronger players have accumulated a high player activity level (PAL) and get turn activity level points (TAL) each turn. QBOOST is aimed to to adjust the effect of TAL and PAL for starbase priorities so that weak players get a higher build boost for the same activity than strong players, and thus a better chance to build ships after the 500 ship limitis reached.
Download the latest version 1.0 of QBOOST here: qboost.zip (16626 bytes, compiled 06/11/99)
 
• What is PQBOOST?

PQBOOST is the PHOST PDK version of QBOOST. See the docs for differences to QBOOST.
PQBOOST comes with the source code (for Unix and for DOS) so that you can compile it together with the respective PDK for your version of operating system.
PQBOOST rewritten as PDK version by Heiko Schlenker. Thanks to Heiko!
Download the latest version 2.04 of  PQBOOST here: pqboost.zip (218461 bytes, compiled 11/23/03) or go to the Vagabund page to look for more recent versions (http://www.geocities.com/the_vagabund/addons/#pqboost)

Other spin-offs from the EchoView programming:

• GiveRace: a small host utility (HOST or PHOST) to give all belongings of one race to another. Downnload Version 1.0 here: giverace.zip

 
• OneAlly: a small host utility (only PHOST3!!!) to prevent players from having more than one single alliance. Download Version 0.1 here: oneally.zip

 
• Unpack35: a small command-line client utility to extract the WINPLAN files KORE*.DAT, SKORE*.DAT and RACE.NM from a WINPLAN format RST file. See documentation for more info. Download Version 1.1 here: unpack35.zip

Related third party utilities

• READAUX.EXE :A small DOS host-addon for PHOST3 written by Oliver Korn . READAUX reads the player activity levels and starbase build priorities and reports them. It does not change any of the host files. Use this add-on in the AUXHOST2 phase to get the real picture.
• PBP : A small DOS add-on forPHOST3 written by Robert Dejournett . PBP removes the PB? priority build friendly codes from all planets. Usethis add-on in the AUXHOST1 phase.
• More info concerning PHOST build queue settings can be found on the Vagabund homepage !
• SANITISE (written by Roger Burton West) for hosts to get rid of the homeworld information in mastered XYPLAN.DAT files
• See add-on page on Vagabund for even more useful add-ons !!!

NOTE : The EchoView Beta versions may contain severe bugs resulting in data loss. The risk that a beta version may crash and cause havoc on your harddisc is greater than for the official version. See also the disclaimer in the help file.

32-bit versions

Download the latest beta version 1.2.24 of EchoView here : ev1224bv32.zip (632442 bytes, compiled 08/10/04)
This version supports PHOST 4.

The previous beta version 1.2.23: ev1223bv32.zip (633727 bytes, compiled 06/23/03)
The previous beta version 1.2.22: ev1222bv32.zip (611440 bytes, compiled 03/29/02)
The previous beta version 1.2.21: ev1221bv32.zip (601094 bytes, compiled 07/31/01)

16-bit versions

Due to a problem with compiling a 16-bit version of the PHOST combat DLL (pcombat.dll), 16-bit EV does not longer support PHOST4 battles. Use the 32-bit version instead. Otherwise, the 16-bit version is still supported and contains the same functionality as the 32-bit version.

Download the latest beta version 1.2.24 of EchoView here : ev1224b.zip (554200 bytes, compiled 08/10/04)
   This version supports the new HOST999 (shiplimit 999 ships) and HOST version .27
The fleet summary window of EchoView now contains the VGAPlayer Index (VPI) developped by Degi !!!

The previous beta version 1.2.22: ev1222b.zip (539359 bytes, compiled 03/29/02)
The previous beta version 1.2.21: ev1221b.zip (533440 bytes, compiled 07/31/01)
The previous beta version 1.2.20a: ev1220ab.zip (533251 bytes, compiled 03/23/01)
The previous beta version 1.2.15: ev1215b.zip (397265 bytes, compiled 04/13/99)
The previous beta version 1.2.14b: ev1214bb.zip (373321 bytes, compiled 11/30/98)
The previous beta version 1.2.14a: ev1214ab.zip (368589 bytes, compiled 10/11/98)
Beta version 1.2.14 is still available (no HOST999 support) : ev1214b.zip (368264 bytes, compiled 08/23/98)
Beta version 1.2.13a is still available : ev1213b.zip (346938 bytes, compiled 03/18/98)
If you have version 1.2.13 beta, make sureto upgrade immediately to 1.2.13a beta or higher !!!
These beta versions provide support for PHOST3 .
For those who use RandMax together with EchoView: The Randmax Binary page.

Note that the help file documentation for beta releases is probably incomplete. See the included TXT files for more info.

Programmers: Get the EchoView file formats here : EVFormat.txt

Other related software :

New version of SCANMESS.EXE (this file is NOT necessary for EchoView): scanexe.zip
ScanMess is a simple DOS-commandline program which scans through the incoming messages and generates a UTIL*.DAT file (see PHOST docs for more information) and a text file called SCANMESS.LOG which gives a summary of all scanned messages. The ScanMess message parser is inbuilt to EchoView, therefore users of EchoView don't need this program.

Last changed : 08/10/04