The next Step

[dreadylein]

Well, we have made some awesome progress, what do you guys think would be the next step ?

[Daemonjax]

An Unreal Editor would be nice. ;)

 

I vote we pick a script that looks easy, modify it, and have the effects show up in the game.

 

 

Here's XGStrategyActorNativeBase, from the file: XComStrategyGame... looks simple enough:

 

/*******************************************************************************
* Decompiled by UE Explorer, an application developed by Eliot van Uytfanghe!
* Path XComStrategyGame\Classes\XGStrategyActorNativeBase.uc
* 
* Stats:
*	Constants:23
*
*******************************************************************************/
class XGStrategyActorNativeBase extends Actor
hidecategories(Navigation)
native
notplaceable;

const START_DAY = 1;
const START_MONTH = 3;
const START_YEAR = 2015;
const LOSE_CONDITION_NUM_DESERTERS = 8;
const NUM_STARTING_INTERCEPTOR_BAYS = 4;
const INTERCEPTOR_MISSION_LIMIT = 1;
const INTERCEPTOR_FLIGHT_TIME = 43200.0;
const INTERCEPTOR_TOTAL_LIMIT = 4;
const FOUNDRY_VEHICLE_REPAIR = 0.5f;
const NUM_CODE_PIECES = 1;
const NUM_TERRAIN_WIDE = 7;
const NUM_TERRAIN_HIGH = 5;
const BASE_REMOVAL_DAYS = 0;
const Paused = 0;
const ONE_MINUTE = 60;
const TEN_MINUTES = 600;
const FIFTEEN_MINUTES = 900;
const THIRTY_MINUTES = 1800;
const ONE_HOUR = 3600;
const TWELVE_HOURS = 43200;
const TWENTY_FOUR_HOURS = 86400;
const MAXIMUM_TIMESLICE = 60;
const SCAN_TIMESLICE = 1800;

 

Let's try to change the year... so... I extracted all the resources using gildor's extract tool, and I go into the folder to pull up the START_YEAR.Const file in my hex editor:

 

04 00 00 00 9F 1F 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 32 30 31 35 00 

which looks like:

....Ÿ...............2015.

 

Searching the uncompressed file I for the entire thing (04 00 00 00 9F 1F 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 05 00 00 00 32 30 31 35 00), I found it no problem.

 

Changing it to 2050, and we'll see how it goes...

 

Renamed to the old one to XComStrategyGame.upk!, and also changed XComStrategyGame.upk.uncompressed_size to XComStrategyGame.upk.uncompressed_size!, then pasted the modified uncompressed XComStrategyGame.upk into the cooked folder.

 

Now I go ahead and run XSHAPE... it fixes the SHA hash (pretty sweet :D) in the exe, and... crossing fingers...

 

UPDATE: NOPE... date ingame remains unchanged... even started a new game, still nope.

Edited October 19, 2012 by Daemonjax

[dreadylein]

allready done, partial reactivatet the console function :P patched out the isretailgame checks

 

Think we are stuck in modifying the bytecode for the moment

 

we could make realy many mods with this allready

but the distribution is kinda a problem if we dont want to reinvent the wheel

 

easiest way would be

make a gui which handels decompress, sha patching, ini patching , unpacking of the decompressed upks, overwirting the bytecodefile for the specific function, repacking

 

Should be pretty easy doable as all the tools support comandline args, but we would need at least permissions from the creater of the decompressor (maybe we could rebuild this quick, but asking first cant hurt;) ) and the unpacker/repacker tool (this wont be trivial i guess)

 

Edit: Do yourself a favor, use the unpacker/repacker tool :D

It will make a folder where the functions, classes etc. are seperatet and nicely orderd

change the desired function and repack

works like a charm and speed the editing up quite a bit

Edited October 19, 2012 by dreadylein

[Daemonjax]

Edit: Do yourself a favor, use the unpacker/repacker tool

It will make a folder where the functions, classes etc. are seperatet and nicely orderd

change the desired function and repack

works like a charm and speed the editing up quite a bit

 

That's what I did, except I didn't know I could repack.

 

Where do I get this repacker tool?

[dreadylein]

link

 

man i miss a function for referencing where the selected variable is used :o

Maybe the const isnt used ? Its confusing because changing jumps worked flawless

Edited October 19, 2012 by dreadylein

[Daemonjax]

link

 

man i miss a function for referencing where the selected variable is used :o

Maybe the const isnt used ? Its confusing because changing jumps worked flawless

 

Yeah, that const must not be used.

 

Hate that. ;)

 

On the plus side... XSHAPE worked great ;)

 

 

make a gui which handels decompress, sha patching, ini patching , unpacking of the decompressed upks, overwirting the bytecodefile for the specific function, repacking

 

 

Honestly, what you were talking about is just making a GUI frontend for packer/repacker/XSHAPE/Modpatcher/Decompressor.... You definitely don't need anyone's permission to do that. As long as you're not redistributing the original applications, then no one can say a damn thing.

 

 

patched out the isretailgame checks

 

^ What does that do, exactly?

Edited October 19, 2012 by Daemonjax

[dreadylein]

if the engine gets the key for opening the console it makes a check for IsRetailGame()

If it returns true it just returns without opening the console

 

its usable after that but there is a seconde check, which sets the widht and heigh of the consol window

Not pretty without seeing what is typed yet, but usable :P

[dreadylein]

Ya, sure ;) The Point is, support would be hell if the people also need to get the tools by themself :o

 

Yeah, XSHAPE is just sexy atm, saving so much time :)

Edited October 19, 2012 by dreadylein

[Daemonjax]

Gotcha.

 

Hmm... I'll try a different file and try to mod anything... anything at all.

[dreadylein]

Good luck