Outpost 1.5?

[docwho83]

I don't play much but I would like to edit/mod files to make the game better.

Anyone figured out how to open up files so that the code is changeable?

Outpost is old. Window 3.1/dos build. So I would guess C is what it was written in. But I can not compile the files nor have I figure out what files I need to look at. Fresh install had no dll in it, two dat files, and the exe.

Dat file I could not find anything to read them.


If anyone has figured out how to read the files. Please reply.

Thanks,
DocWho

[nighthalk1]

those dat files only have the cost per turn for all of the buildings (for construction or operation) everything else is hard coded in the exe.  

[Truewolf12]

Have u tryed notepad++ or eclipse?

[docwho83]

Yes to notepad++. Will give the other a shot once I get home. Really looks like I will have to rebuild from the ground up. Since the exe has all the information.

Has anyone decompiled the exe?

[leeor_net]

For fear of being called out on necro'ing an old topic, I may as well respond if anybody is looking into this.

Outpost was built... very badly. I've never seen the source code but I can only imagine how awful it must be. That stated, you can't open an EXE in a text editor and hope to do anything with it. And even if you had a C/C++ compiler, you still wouldn't be able to do anything with any of the binary files. Your best bet would be to use a disassembler or decompiler if you could find one for Windows 3.1 programs and modify the resulting code but the likelihood of getting anything readable or anything that makes any sense at all is slim to none.

The data files are just that, data files. There isn't much you can do with them that would be of any value. Unfortunately the original game is a lost cause. Had Sierra On-Line provided the source code before their demise we may have been able to do something about it.

[Leviathan]

Its such a shame source code like this gets lost over the years, all the work, gone. For someone to improve on the original work we have to start over, which we are doing now

I think its happening less with new projects (code being lost), the internet and online communities. Code is being released years later for the internet to do what they want with it, its so much better than it just going in the bin.

I wonder if anyone still has the source code to either Outpost 1 or 2...

[leeor_net]

Outpost 1, doubtful. This is Sierra we're talking about... They're alive in name only.

Outpost 2, as I recall, was stored on tape drives that were left in a storage locker. After failure to pay the lease, they were destroyed.

So yeah... that's the legacy of Outpost 2. Developed, published and ultimately forgotten about by the original IP holders. Only way to get the source code now is to start fresh.