To Edit the original Darwinia, click here.

[prophile]

(as I said, I think nihil is the only person who could, at this point, aside from those intimately involved in the production of Darwinia).

xander

I don't know, xander, I can think of a few people around who could probably hack around with the asm other than nihil. Like mozillagodzilla for instance, or Kyuu.

[xander]

(as I said, I think nihil is the only person who could, at this point, aside from those intimately involved in the production of Darwinia).

xander

I don't know, xander, I can think of a few people around who could probably hack around with the asm other than nihil. Like mozillagodzilla for instance, or Kyuu.

Yes, they could probably do it, but there is no public evidence that they have. While Kyuu probably already has hacked it to death, he has not been forthcoming with his results.

xander

[The GoldFish]

While Kyuu probably already has hacked it to death, he has not been forthcoming with his results.

A wise precaution since of course, WE ARE ALL GOING TO STEAL HIS IDEAS :OOO

AND MAKE MONEY OUT OF THEM :OOOO

[Major Cooke]

Do you think it would have to involve unpacking the .exe to try to fix it? (kinda like modifying the colors of darwinians)

What do you mean "fix it?" Are you talking about units moving faster downhill than up? I don't see that as a problem... I go slower uphill than down...

You could probably hack the .exe to "fix" the problem, but you would have to have a lot of talent and knowledge about ASM, and a fair number of tools to do it. I think that nihil is the only person who has really dissected Darwinia in that fasion. Also, any changes that you made could not be included in a mod without distributing the modified .exe, which would probably be illegal, and would be single platform (i.e. would support only Windows, not Mac or Linux). Given your other postings, I am inclined to believe that you do not have the knowledge or tools to pull it off (as I said, I think nihil is the only person who could, at this point, aside from those intimately involved in the production of Darwinia).

xander

Ok... You know how Engineers can go right up hills at the same speed down hill? They just glide over them. I want the squaddies to act like the engineer and go uphill just as fast as they go downhill... I also want to make the squaddies like engineers so that way they dont stop on terrain thats too steep... they can glide over it... THAT's my goal

[xander]

Ok... You know how Engineers can go right up hills at the same speed down hill? They just glide over them. I want the squaddies to act like the engineer and go uphill just as fast as they go downhill... I also want to make the squaddies like engineers so that way they dont stop on terrain thats too steep... they can glide over it... THAT's my goal

You can't do it. It is not possible, unless you are willing to hack the .exe, and understand that you will be the only one capable of playing the mod, unless you illegally distribute the hacked .exe, or expect people to hack their own copies of Darwinia. Within the confines of the modding system, it can't be done. Sorry.

xander

[Major Cooke]

dammit....

[nihilesthetics2]

I can see how you might think that this would be a fairly simple change if you hacked the exe, but in actual fact, it would be very complex. You would have to understand how the main loop of the program deals with movement, how terrain affects movement, and probably many other factors that wouldnt become apparent until you had looked around a bit. Well, its just too complex. Even with the C code it would not be a trivial task to change the way this works. You shouldnt be afraid of rolling your sleeves up and delving into the exe, but you need to stick with simple things.

You should start from 'handles' like external function calls and strings and get an idea of whats possible to do, rather than starting with a specifiv goal in mind. Once you have a feel for whats going on and whats possible, then you can focus on something specific.

Forget all this nonsense about changing speed uphill and downhill. The logical thing to do is to flatten your terrain so your squads can traverse it

[xander]

I can see how you might think that this would be a fairly simple change if you hacked the exe...

If you were addressing me, specifically, with this comment, I didn't mean to say that it should be a simple hack, only that the only way to do it would be to hack the exe; i.e. it can't be done via the modding system.

xander

[nihilesthetics2]

Not at all. I was addressing Major Cooke. You had pretty much already said what I said, which is to forget the whole idea The reason I posted was

1. To encourage people to look at the exe and have a go at hacking it
2. However, to be realistic about whats possible if they do so.

N2

[prophile]

I can see how you might think that this would be a fairly simple change if you hacked the exe...

If you were addressing me, specifically, with this comment, I didn't mean to say that it should be a simple hack, only that the only way to do it would be to hack the exe; i.e. it can't be done via the modding system.

xander

Release a program to patch the code in the executable?

[nihilesthetics2]

Releasing your 'hack' as a patch is possible, but you still have the problem of people not being able to play your mod if it they are not on the same platform, as xander has pointed out. In addition, future official patches will break your patch.

Having said that, if anybody does come up with a worthwhile 'hack', Ill help them create an inline patch to distribute it.

In fact, although I may regret this in the morning, I will give a copy of Defcon to the first person to modify the exe to include any of request in the unofficial requests thread other than anything Ive already done. I think my copy of Defcon is pretty safe, but maybe not...

N2

[NeoThermic]

In fact, although I may regret this in the morning, I will give a copy of Defcon to the first person to modify the exe to include any of request in the unofficial requests thread other than anything Ive already done. I think my copy of Defcon is pretty safe, but maybe not...

N2

Does that include people who have access to the source of Darwinia?

NeoThermic

[nihilesthetics2]

Well, Im assuming thats only IV, who arent going to bother, but for the record, nobody from IV need apply If anybody else has secretly been sitting on the source code while everybody is crying out for a Dev CD - shame on you!!

Seriously, anybody can enter this little competition, but you have to provide an exe 'hack' adding of one of the requested features.

N2

[Major Cooke]

So yeah, the request of making the squaddies, darwinians to be like the engineer and not slow down/stop at a very steep part of a hill IS impossible without hacking it... i would like help.

[nihilesthetics2]

I think we need to apply the KISS principle here. If you want squads to be able to traverse terrain, modify the terrain, not the exe.

Its just really not feasible even if you hack the exe.

You would be better aiming for some of the ideas you put forward in your other post : 'Next darwinia patch versions'. Most of them are much more realistic.


N2