HOWTO: Comparing files and using parameter files

[Roland@pcmtec]

If you are regularly tuning vehicles that have similar mods you may find yourself constantly re-using the same or very similar injector/spark/speed density tables (or many others).

To speed this process up you can utilise the file compare feature and also parameter files.

First we will show how to use the compare feature and what the various options do.

Compare Window

Step 1 is to open a file for a vehicle you are tuning.

Step 2 click Compare/History

If the file that is open is already tuned you will be greeted with a list of parameters that you have modified and their difference from factory/stock.

In this example you can see the injector changes that have been made. 

From this page you can tick items manually and return them to stock in bulk by selecting the checkbox and pressing "Apply"

Or you can use Ctrl + A to select all, then press space to tick the items

You can also use Ctrl + Left Click and Shift + Left Click to select multiple items at once.

Load Compare File

Next you can compare the current file to another file by loading in a compare file via "Load Compare File"

You will then be greeted with a "Partial Load" prompt.

Partial load is asking do you want to see all differences between the two files regardless of if they have been "tuned" or not.

No Partial Load:

An example of when you would want to do this is you are comparing two stock files and you want to see everything that Ford changed from the factory. In this case press "No"

Partial Load:

The example where Partial Load is beneficial is if you are comparing a BF and an FG file and you know that the FG file you have modified the injector scalars. If you showed all differences the list would be huge. If you click "yes" you will only be shown the differences on values that have been modified. In this example you would only see the injector scalars which makes your job much easier.

Now that you have loaded your compare file if you wanted to copy all values over quickly you can click anywhere in the compare window. Press Ctrl + A to select all items, then press space to select them.

You can then use the keyboard to navigate (up/down/left/right) and press space to select/unselect items you want.

Once you are happy you have selected all items you can press "Apply" to copy them across.

Table History/Compare

Next item we will visit is manually viewing these changes. For example if you have compared two tunes and the spark tables are different you can view these differences (and also the stock difference) by clicking the dropdown menu on the table.

You can then press "apply" here to copy the differences over.

Note to quickly navigate these changes press the page up/page down keys to toggle between stock/compare/current.

If you decide you only want half of the changes for that table you can select the cells you are not happy with, right click and press "Return to Stock"

Parameter Files

Now we will discuss how to create parameter files and their uses.

One common use case here is injector data. For example lets say you commonly use a specific injector and you want to quickly load this data in.

First step is to open the base file with the injector data you want to save.

Next select the checkboxes next to these injector values and press "Export To Parameter File"

You will then be able to import these values into any tune file using "Import from Parameter File"

There are variations on the above.

Export All Changes To Parameter File

This will export all values that you have modified in the tune to a parameter file. Eg any values that are different to stock. To check which values will be exported you can right click on the navigator and click "Only Show Parameters That Are Different To Stock"

Your navigator will then hide all stock/factory values so you can see what has been changed (and hence what will be exported).

Finally we have "Import Checked Items From Parameter/Tec File"

If you click this it will only import the selected items assuming those items exist in the parameter file. If you load a tec file instead of a parameter file providing the file is of the same OSID it will always have the parameters available to import.

Hopefully these tips help demonstrate how you can very quickly tune a vehicle by taking advantage of an existing database of parameter files for different parts.