The character files are either compressed or encrypted (I think they are encrypted) so until someone figures this out, the way I've been doing it is with a memory hacker once a player is loaded. Find the values you want to change and then save the character. You can change ship, reputation, credits and equipment no problem this way; I haven't figured out any others. You need to do this either in a single player, or from the server. You can't change these values as the client in a multiplayer game, THANK GOD!