Outpost Universe Forums

Projects & Development => Outpost 2 Programming & Development => Topic started by: Simpsonboy77 on February 15, 2009, 11:57:09 AM

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Simpsonboy77 on February 15, 2009, 11:57:09 AM

I was thinking of adding a nuke to plymouth as my mod, but I have never modded OP2 so I don't know where to start. I would make it available at the same time as the EMP, and of course made at the spaceport. I'm not sure of the price, damage or blast radius, but for ease of making I'll make it the same gfx as the emp missle. To balance it a bit eden will have a ~85% chance of killing it with the meteor defense.

Thoughts ideas hints? Thanks

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Hidiot on February 15, 2009, 01:53:59 PM

1st off, you will get killed if you succeed, as adding super weapons to OP2 gets you frowned upon by some...

2nd, you cannot add any new objects, let alone units, to the best of my knowledge. The best you can do is overwrite some existing entries.

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Sirbomber on February 15, 2009, 03:26:18 PM

Do it and I'll rape you in, every sense of the word.

Besides, it's impossible anyways.  Certainly doesn't require editing only one value in a text file.  Might as well forget the whole idea.

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Simpsonboy77 on February 15, 2009, 07:39:28 PM

I would never use it against anyone, I would just try it in colony games.  Also I had a typo in my first post. I would make it available at the same time as the EMP MISSILE.

@ Hidiot
Thanks for the info, I thought it would have been possible to add a new unit and just link it internally.

@Sirbomber
Alright idea killed.

As for a new idea how hard is it to make a map? Is there some API in outpost 2 where I can ask if there is a specific unit at a specific location, and if so do something? I want to see how hard it would be to make a defense kind of map. If anyone has played Starcraft one of the ums maps.

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Sirbomber on February 15, 2009, 08:05:43 PM

Depends on what you mean by "map".  Do you want to make a physical terrain, or a mission file, which determines unit placement, disasters, objectives, and other various information?

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: fallenleader on February 15, 2009, 08:22:47 PM

yes, we shall never nuke other countries, just use them as threats...  don't make things you shouldn't use. unless that data never leaves your pc.

otherwise there will be nukes everywhere. the skill inept will see it as a way of winning to make themselves feel better, instead of actually learning how to play.

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Simpsonboy77 on February 15, 2009, 08:30:32 PM

I guess it would have to be a mission type of map. Just setting terrain probably would not be sufficient.

@fallenleader
I was never planning on having it leave my computer. Also say for instance if I modded the game so I could have a super good weapon at the start. Would this carry over to multiplayer?

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Sirbomber on February 15, 2009, 08:50:22 PM

If you didn't have two versions of OP2 (regular for multiplayer and modded for single player) then it would carry over to multiplayer, but it would only effect you.  However, it would cause desyncs.

For mission coding, get the SDK:
http://wiki.outpostuniverse.net/SDK (http://wiki.outpostuniverse.net/SDK)

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Hooman on February 15, 2009, 11:20:00 PM

Hmm, last survivors of the human race, and nuclear weapons. Yeah, no, I don't really see that happening.

As for making mods, maybe try baby steps first.

I suppose something like that could be implemented for a colony game, but it's far from easy. You'd almost certainly need to know assembly language, and spend a lot of time understanding how the game works. Plus, it'd be easier to replace a weapon, such as the EMP missile, rather than add a new weapon.
 

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: fallenleader on February 16, 2009, 12:19:26 AM

i was joking in my post. maps are always cool though.

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Simpsonboy77 on February 16, 2009, 10:02:42 PM

Its cool fallenleader, I'm just brainstormnig some ideas, and getting some input from more experienced members on how viable a mod would be. I stole an old turbo assembler book from my dad and im about half way through it. I also found Hex Rays decompiler so I might see what C code it generates from the entire OP2 game. No matter how well I teach myself assembly, I still won't know how the game works internally. I looked it up and the source code is not released/leaked. This is correct right?

Is it possible to dynamically change the terrain, like if a earthquake occurs then a cliff would form? Or have the tan ground oxidize to become the orange terrain? I know this is a bit hard to implement but is it possible given the framework?

Is it easier to look at the original game (fresh from the CD) or the OPU modded one?

EDIT: Typo made me look stupid.

EDIT2: Is it possible to mod the population growth model to take into account food and residence?

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Hooman on February 16, 2009, 11:33:25 PM

Hmm, some interesting ideas.

First of all though, decompilers are often terrible. The general problem of decompiling a program is actually an example of a non-computable problem. However, compilers produce far from "general" code, so you can usually at least get partial results. However, most decompilers pretty much fail with anything more complicated than a "Hello World" program. It might be alright for a single function, but I doubt you'd be able to decompile the whole exe, and get source that could be recompiled to do anything useful.


Apparently the source code was destroyed. It was never leaked.

You can easily change terrain mid game. I believe the Map class has the functions you'd need to set the new terrain tiles (and cell types).

I'm going to recommend the OPU version for modding work. I've done most of my disassembling using something pretty close to a base official Sierra install. A few mods were applied to make running the game under a debugger a little easier (no-CD, GDI draw), but I usually didn't use the latest release. Mind you, that's mostly because I didn't want to bother upgrading my working copy to whatever the latest release was. I also didn't want to get confused by stuff other people edited. I also liked being able to open level DLLs with OllyDbg without it complaining because of op2ext.dll that got added in one of the modded releases. If you're just working with the main executable, then that really doesn't matter though. At any rate, you'll probably want a no-CD, GDI draw patched exe to work with at minimum, which means non-Sierra released.


I suppose you could mod the population growth model using code overwrites, or code hooks. It's not exactly a trivial mod, or something I would recommend for a beginner, but we at least know the relevant addresses. Perhaps also as important, what would you change it to?
 

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: fire team zu on June 24, 2009, 05:06:24 PM

:yawn: can you make a cargo train :yawn: needing like 9 trucks to rach ore is boring
 

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Hidiot on June 24, 2009, 05:09:38 PM

You can either shut up and live with it or build smelters closer to the mine.

To put it simple: learn to play.

And check around before asking the impossible. Units can not get added to the game. Actually, objects can't be added. Under current circumstances at least.


EDIT: Forgot to mention necro posting with no contribution whatsoever.

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Kayedon on June 25, 2009, 12:56:39 AM

Anyone with me for just BANNING that newbie?

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: fire team zu on June 25, 2009, 10:30:31 AM

jeze you sound like a pranked telemarketer
 

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Kayedon on June 25, 2009, 02:43:13 PM

And you spell like 6 year old.

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: fire team zu on June 30, 2009, 09:41:23 AM

well u begin sentinces like a 6 year old
 

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: Sirbomber on June 30, 2009, 10:03:47 AM

Enough already!  You're both acting like children!

Kayedon, act your age.
Fire team zu, grow up.

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: CK9 on July 01, 2009, 12:12:54 AM

they're lucky I can't mute...actually, I'm not sure if I can or not...never had reason before to look it up

Title: First Op2 Mod
Post by: fire team zu on July 13, 2009, 09:07:17 AM

but still here are some mod ideas

http://lynxsmods.freeservers.com/photo.html (http://lynxsmods.freeservers.com/photo.html)