What a WinOLS map pack is, and how to import a CSV map pack

Open an ECU file in a hex editor and you see bytes. Somewhere among them are the maps — torque requests, boost targets, rail pressure, injection limits — but nothing in the file says where they are or how to read them. A map pack is exactly that missing information: a list of map definitions for one specific software version. This guide explains what is in a map pack, what it is not, and how a CSV map pack is imported into WinOLS.

WinOLS in one paragraph

WinOLS, by EVC electronic, is the most widely used program for viewing and editing ECU data. It shows a binary as hex, as 2D curves and as 3D maps, keeps several versions of a file in one project, compares versions, and works with map properties: for each map, its name, position, size, data organisation, factor, units and axes. Once a map is defined, WinOLS shows it as a table of physical values instead of raw bytes.

What a map pack contains

A map pack is a collection of map properties made on one particular original. For every map it states:

• Name and folder — what the map is and which group it belongs to (torque, turbo, rail, injection, limiters…).
• Position and size — the address of the data in the file, the number of columns and rows.
• Data organisation — 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit or floating point; byte order; signed or unsigned.
• Factor and offset — how raw numbers convert into physical values, and the unit.
• X and Y axes — where the axis values are stored and how to read them, with their own factor and unit.

What it does not contain are changed values. A map pack does not tune anything: it makes the existing calibration readable. Every value stays exactly as it is in the original.

Map pack, damos, tuned file: the difference

A damos describes everything the manufacturer's engineers work with, but only exists for some software versions and is not something tuners can normally obtain. A map pack covers the maps relevant to calibration work, made and checked for one version.

File formats: KP and CSV

WinOLS has its own format for map packs (.kp) and can also export and import map properties as CSV: a plain-text table with one map per line and its properties in columns, separated by semicolons. CSV has two advantages — it can be opened in any text editor or spreadsheet to see what is inside, and it imports into WinOLS directly.

What is in a OriginalECU map pack

Each map pack comes as one ZIP file:

• the original .bin of that software version — the file the pack was made on;
• the map pack as .csv, with the maps sorted into folders by category;
• a short README with the import steps and the result of the axis check for this file.

The X and Y axes and factors are checked against the original before the pack is offered, and the axis check runs again on the exact file you receive. The packs contain the maps used in performance calibration — torque, turbo, rail pressure, injection, limiters and similar. They do not contain maps for switching off emission systems or fault codes. You can see the name of every map on the pack page before you buy. Prices: €54 or €63 for cars (depending on how old the ECU type is), €72 for motorcycles and boats and €81 for trucks and agricultural machinery, original included.

Importing a CSV map pack into WinOLS

The general workflow is the same in current WinOLS versions; menu wording differs a little between versions.

1. Create a project from the original. Start a new project and choose the original .bin from the ZIP. WinOLS asks for project details such as vehicle and ECU; fill in what you know.
2. Import the map properties. Use WinOLS's import function for map properties and select the .csv file. The maps appear in the map list, sorted into their folders.
3. Check a few maps. Open several maps from different folders in the 3D view. The axes should run in order (engine speed rising from left to right, for example), the values should be plausible for what the map is, and the surface should be smooth rather than noisy.
4. Save the project. From here on you work as with any WinOLS project. If data is changed, checksums are handled by your WinOLS checksum modules or your writing tool.

Import onto the original firstAlways import the pack onto the original it was made for. That way any problem is a problem of the definitions, not of a mismatch between files.

Using the pack with your own read

A map pack fits one software version. If your own read is the same version as the pack's original, the maps sit at the same addresses — compare your read with the supplied original first (see how to check you have the right original). If the layout of your read differs, for example because it is a partial OBD read or saved with a different offset, the addresses will not line up; why ECU file sizes differ explains the usual reasons.

If your read is a different software version, the pack does not apply. WinOLS can try to locate maps in another version from a reference project, but every map found that way has to be checked by hand, and that is outside what a map pack covers.

When something looks wrong

• Axes jump around or show huge numbers — usually the wrong byte order or the pack imported onto a different file. See how map axes and factors work.
• The shape is right, the numbers are not — a factor or unit question; the raw data is fine.
• Every map looks like noise — the project file is not the pack's original, or it has a different layout.

Browse all WinOLS map packs or search one by HW or SW number — from €54, with the original included.