I have been searching and asking about modding map files, what to change and in what way is the big question as well as how to do it. Its seems to be a closed shop by the tuners and there is always a tuner on whatever site you go on that does mapping so if you ask about mapping you get nowhere.

After much searching I have found that winOLS is available as a demo download and there is a guide to map files around that someone has done to help get started. I have had a play with winOLS and some stock map files and have managed to be able to identify the maps for the main functions by looking at the 2s and 3d views. Such as the egr map and drivers wish map are quite easy to spot in the code as winOLS will section and find what it thinks looks like suspect maps in the code for you so you can look at a chunk of code and view it.

I have an idea to get some of my tested modified maps and compare them to the same standard map to see exactly what has been played with and more to the point what has been left alone. It all very interesting so far. I have managed to figure out how to turn EGR off in a couple of minutes and I am looking forward to learning this black art. I know that tuners will not be happy when the secrets are out as they make money form this but things have to move on.

Well, best of luck, but I wouldn't be surprised if you end up somewhere like Shark having your ECU flashed back to standard.

The money you pay for a map with a tuner represents the time and development they put into it, IMO.

For example, when the 1.4 twincharged engine first came out, I believe it was a bigger leap forward in engine tech than previously and it came with a new ECU. Tuners have to work out how to read/write to it while keeping the protection to make sure there are no management issues, and at any point in that process they could brick the ECU making it totally worthless. They'd then have to go out and buy a new one and start again, at several hundred pounds a pop. This takes at least a lot of manhours, and possibly several replacement parts. Then once they've got into it and can upload maps safely, there's more manhours working out what's possible on the hardware side and what will blow a car up. Plus then more hours of testing, and if something does end up damaged, more replacement parts.

Yes, some people tune cheaply. But they're usually the ones that have had very little (or even none at all) development, and even less testing. You're literally on your own, trusting Billy Byteshooter from eBay to not screw up your car, there's no warranty so if anything goes pop you're on your own, etc.

Compare that to the likes of Forge/SEAT Sport, who just need to measure a space and design an intercooler to fit into it with much less risk of damaging an engine (since the design will just make it more/less efficient, rather than running anything out of factory tolerances) and I would say that it's things like that which don't represent value for money, and that in the case of proper tuners charging a few hundred quid to "just flash a map" you should probably ease up on them...

Well, best of luck, but I wouldn't be surprised if you end up somewhere like Shark having your ECU flashed back to standard.

I can flash my ecu back to standard myself. I could even buy another stock one from ebay for 60 quid if it all went wrong but at least I had a go and I learned some things along the way instead of just how to pay money out for tuning.

If you have a lot of original files (I do) and the modded files (I do also) it wont take long to see patterns in the tuning and alterations.

If you dont have a go there is one certain thing you will never learn anything.