Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Immelmann
Is there a list somewhere of the items can and cannot be altered by SH4 modders? I see a bunch of different things and I'm sure that many of them are hard coded into the game core engine. I would love to have a list to check before posting a bug to this forum that nothing can be done about.  |
No list, we've just figured it on our own....trial and error. Could be why no "list" will ever be made, no one is sure (even after looking at these files for years) what's what? Or, how they all go together??
But, I can show you where the modable game files are:
The
blue circled "Data" folder is pretty much what we can work with. Within it are folders/files we were allowed to modify. Using tools like Text Editors (NotePad, or Word) we can easily open change parameters in lots of areas of the game. However, not all folders in "Data" are easy to open without special tools. In the "Data/Agora" folder there are .xml files that won't open with just any tool....you'll need programing equipment to open them and a knowledge to go along with it. There are the "Data/Shaders" folders that have .fx file extensions.....these can be opened with a text editor, but you better know what you're doing before messing around there too.
Then there are the files that require "hex editors" to open......the ship/plane/environment units have these. These are the .dat; .sim; .zon type of files that contain the variables of the model size, makeup, speed, image file that gives it the appearance it has, etc. etc. S3D (Silent 3ditor) can be used on these files to open as well as a hex editor, but it too has it's limitations.
So basically, the modable files are in the "Data" folder.
Outside of the "Data" folder are the Hard Coded files...the .dll, and the .act files which not only takes special editors to open them but are essentially "Off Limits" to us...
..mainly because of infringement rights. As you can see above, there are several (I've highlighted the JSGME files/folders in
red, so ignore them). I've also marked in
green the SI.bin file
..it's made in the "main" game folder when ever you first run the game. What's in it, I don't know, something the game wants to keep track of I suppose. So, the remainder of what you see are the hard coded files that are unmodable by us unless you have permission to start meddling around, or have special programing tools to open them, and the knowledge to go along with it.
So, here's the thing. We can change parameters in the "Data" folder fairly easily. We can change the color of the sea from grey to blue, we can change how the waves look, but we can't change how the water "interreacts" with the objects that's set upon it.....those are hard coded. We can change the capabilities of a ship unit, give it a different look, a faster speed, a different piece of equipment...
.but what the game does with that ship unit, how it interreacts with other ship units, how it deals with finding something in the environment like a land segment, is hard coded. We can't change it.
How do we know this...
... by trial and error. We test, we play, we come to the conclusion that if we can't make something work correctly, it must be due to some "behind the scenes" controller. What really throws a ringer into the mix is when something is set incorrectly, it's backwards to what's expected. There are a
lot of these things in the files we
can work on, but it's really a shame when we determine it's in something that's hard coded. Only a "System Patch" from the developers can fix
THAT. Those ended with this game's fifth patch in 2007!!
And, just like guys that will look at this post and say
"I'm not reading all that!!" they will complain about something that we have no control over and expect us to fix it for them.