Newbie questions

[CujoQuarrel]

A few trivial questions. Note: I'm playing on a Linux machine under DosBox.

1) Could someone point me to installation instructions. I have 1.5 downloaded (And an Official MoM) so how to I get it to work.

2) In general curiosity do you have the source code for the game or are you hand editing the binaries? Either way it's an impressive accomplishment.

[Seravy]

1. Extract the contents of the file and overwrite the original game files with that. Then if you also want the additional anime portraits, overwrite again using the "optional" folder, otherwise ignore it. It doesn't matter if you use the 1.31 (original) or any later version (insecticide, 1.5, 1.51) as the files are going to be all replaced anyway.
2. No source code, only hex editing.

[CujoQuarrel]

1. Extract the contents of the file and overwrite the original game files with that. Then if you also want the additional anime portraits, overwrite again using the "optional" folder, otherwise ignore it. It doesn't matter if you use the 1.31 (original) or any later version (insecticide, 1.5, 1.51) as the files are going to be all replaced anyway.
2. No source code, only hex editing.

Hand editing the binaries is insane. My hat goes out to your. Or off to you. Or something like that with a hat.

How much control do you have? Can you use config files at all? Any way to tunnel out data to another process?

[namad]

famous examples of other hand edited binaries in old games that I'm aware of are master of orion3 and wizardry7, there's a full custom game engine system put together by someone who combed the binaries for wizardry7.

[Seravy]

In theory I could probably call the file handling procedures to read from/write to files but haven't tried it yet, if you mean that for tunneling data.

[Domon]

not that i have any skill useful for doing something like that, but would an executable able to mess with the game in real time by adding features or automated commands be feasible in theory? is it something even remotely alike this tunneling thing?

[Domon]

famous examples of other hand edited binaries in old games that I'm aware of are master of orion3 and wizardry7, there's a full custom game engine system put together by someone who combed the binaries for wizardry7.

any link?

[Seravy]

In theory I could add a "pause" into the main game where it saves data to the disk, waits until that data changes, then loads it back and continues. So yes, an external executable is not impossible. But for most of the existing features it would be more work than it's worth. I considered doing this for AI turns but...we've already implemented everything needed without it and the external executable would have no access to the internal unit rating procedures so that would cause redundancy (the exact same unit rating procedures would need to be in the external executable).

[CujoQuarrel]

In theory I could add a "pause" into the main game where it saves data to the disk, waits until that data changes, then loads it back and continues. So yes, an external executable is not impossible. But for most of the existing features it would be more work than it's worth. I considered doing this for AI turns but...we've already implemented everything needed without it and the external executable would have no access to the internal unit rating procedures so that would cause redundancy (the exact same unit rating procedures would need to be in the external executable).

Being retired I'm thinking of picking up a project and I do love this game. Not enough to try to do what you are doing though :-)

 Thinking of looking at what a decompiler would do to the executable.

[Domon]

if there is any possibiloty of someone adding competence and skill to the already impressive ones of seravy, i'm going to heaven.