But isn't the content baked in some form? If you have the UDK it doesn't mean you can modify Unreal Tournament. It means you can build something similar using the Unreal3 Engine.

If it comes to building a new sub sim from scratch there are open source engines, like Ogre3D.

So, is there such a thing as Silent Hunter SDK in the first place?

UT3 is slightly different. The tool used there is a limited one released by the studio.

Silent Hunter does have a SDK, the Devs built it using the Granny SDK/API from RAD Games.

Therefore, if you have the original code used to create the SH5 tools, then you can deconstruct anything created in that format. Some people have already proved it so BUT nothing can be released for fear of prosecution. Indeed even contacting the creators of Granny (the coder not the studio) has told them that it's a big NO NO.

You can reverse engineer a lot of things. But it's still tampering with software and illegal. It's just that for a moment I thought there *was* a publicly available SDK for SH.

edit: lol, please do not discuss decompilation. Even if it's not in the rules I don't think the mods will like the idea and I had my share of infraction on my first post :DL This time it was to point out there is no actual SDK to buy out there. Shikata ga nai

And just what have we been doing since the release of SH2? LOL

There is, I linked it. SH5 was built using that and SH5 can be modded using that. Anyone owning the Granny Tools License will be able to create their own tools and create new content for the SH5 environment. Reverse engineering is only one method and usually only tells you the make up/structure of the content you wish to emulate.;)

From what I could find GR2 files are used to hold mesh data, textures, animations. So yeah you could create tools to create SH content with that SDK.

Content creation is one thing, but let's say I want to override path-finding. Wouldn't I need some interface to SH and not Granny3D, more like a SH API? The functionality needs to be exposed to be able to do that. I think that thorn69 had in mind more than just content creation.

Curious. How then is this the most moddable game ever (or whatever words they actually used to describe it)?

Can these values be gotten at using tools like S3D?

JD

Th values can be edited with the Granny Editor that's included with the game. What cannot be done is entirely new items added to the game using the Granny SDK, as I understand it.

The Granny SDK is only one part of many SDK's/tools needed to fix the bugs in SH5. With the Granny SDK one can fix the 3D models but not the AI errors, the program logic errors, the network code errors, etc.

For all that, the complete source code is needed and all other inhouse tools for the 3D GDS-Systems (3D-Engine and dev-tools). The 3D GDS-Systems is the system mainly used at Ubisoft Romania to develop games. It's a highly scalable game engine wich runs on PC and consoles. SH3, SH4, SH5, HAWX and other games are developed with this engine. I assume the new HAWX2 will be also developed with this engine and therefore Ubisoft will never released an SDK for the 3D GDS-Systems to the public, because that would gave access to almost all games by Ubisoft Romania. That would be the same if Coca Cola published their recipe on the Internet.;)

QFT++++ In short we need to create a new submarine game developed from within this community. I been waiting a long time for Neal to step up and make it happen. Shoot, with all his "sim" domains going I figured it would be a natural.

Here's an excerpt from the Granny 3D SDK Features (source: http://www.radgametools.com/granny/sdk.html)

If the format is not hard coded they coud've made a version just for SH5, meaning that with an SH importer you would be able to create GR2 files compatible just with SH and not other games.

If you can make your own file writer without the Granny API then I don't see the problem with distributing a tool to allow player generated content in as long as this tool will not be compatible with any other games. It would be for their own game, for which they already paid the license. It's not like it would be a generic exporter to compete the Granny 3D editor.

Otherwise using a proprietary format sounds like a bad idea for a moddable game to me, from the start.

As far as I understood someone talked to those at RAD Game Tools. Can someone point me to the discussion if it's on the forum, please?

If Subsim was to get the SDK I'd pitch in up to $200, we could get SH5 fixed and much more!!, I think the same SDK covers SH3 and 4 as well, if SH5 is the end of the Silent Hunter series it might be up for grabs!:D

Why pay them?

I bet there are many talented people around here and there are sure people who know a lot of stuff about submarines (a lot more than the developers at UBI for instance). Let's create the Subsim Submarine Physics Engine. Forget about graphics for now, we could just create a module to do submarine physics that can be plugged in any 3D Engine. This can be made available as payware for companies wanting to develop submarine games or free for open source projects.

edit: I'd work on this too

Danlisa - BUT WE'RE ALL FAMILY HERE! If I buy a game for my PC and my wife or daughter plays it - it's not a crime. Why? Because they're FAMILY and I can let whoever I want play my game on my computer anytime I want.

Neal could run a donation box on his site to purchase the program and donate it to anybody he wants. He just can't charge anybody for using it or make extra copies of it to distribute out. He could donate his lease/license to a dedicated mod group (the GWX team for instance). Of course it would have to be utilized on only one computer. Each member can't have a copy of it unless Neal bought multiple licenses. What are the rates for that? Sometimes you can buy licenses in bulk for a HUGE discount!

Even if all he could buy with donated money from this community we'd be better off than not having it at all! Neal could donate the community bought copy of the program to the best programmer/modder on this site who we all have 100% faith would put it to good use.

Neal could run a vote on the forum for the community to judge on who we want to have the program. That way we'll feel confident in who gets it and will put it to good use. The rest of the mod team members, if any, could send feedback in to the programmer with the program so that new ideas could be implemented.

Unless Seeadler is mistaken, it seems as though ownership/access of the SDK is only part of the solution and that access to a complete copy of the source code is necessary to correct all the problems with SH5. Am I missing something here?

The sdk , you mean this one .
http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/6...ipwakefoam.jpg