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I am trying to figure out how Football Manager reads its save games. The files have .fmc extension and if I run the file command it just returns data.

I suspect the save game file is a database of sorts, but other than I don't have much to go on. Without knowing what kind of database it is I'm not sure what application to use to open it. Are there tools available for analysing files to determine how to open them?

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What you're trying to do used to be called hacking a long time ago. Now it's a bad word, but back then it was good! (Trying to take things apart.)

The three most important tools in a computer programmer-hacker's toolbox are:

  1. His brain
  2. A Hex Editor like ghex
  3. a disassembler (ask another question once you're up to this level)

Go to a terminal (If you don't know what that is: give up all hope, you're missing item 1) and type the hex editor command followed by the fully qualified file name (if you don't know by now what command to type: give up all hope as you're missing item 1 as well) ;-)

This post is your course and your graduation in one!

Welcome to the world of computer programming-hacking!

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  • Thanks, I actually attempted to look at the file with bless hex editor after posting this, but wasn't able to learn much new. Jan 19, 2015 at 1:37
  • Do you know how to program in assembler? (or: can you read it?) Oh, and if this all works, don't forget to click the grey check-mark under the "0" at the left of this text, which means "yes, this answer is valid"! ;-)
    – Fabby
    Jan 19, 2015 at 1:41
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    @Fabby looking at machine code in hex is not recommended, use a disassembler instead (which is still hard if you have just a linear view of the assembly). In OPs case, the disassembler is unlikely going to produce meaningful results for the save file. Instead, he could run it on the Football Manager program to understand how the save file is written.
    – Lekensteyn
    Jan 19, 2015 at 10:43
  • @Lekensteyn :) You're absolutely correct! I was just asking about what the OP knew. ;)
    – Fabby
    Jan 19, 2015 at 10:48
  • @Lekensteyn thanks, that's actually a really good suggestion. Jan 19, 2015 at 21:13
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binwalkInstall binwalk can be used to find patterns in files. This is in particular helpful for firmware and filesystem images, but can also be helpful if your file format stores compressed sections with a clear marker.

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