Modding Darkside / WotN without the Editor

[jahes64]

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Man! I can't believe I keep screwing this up! Okay, I now updated the ZIP file to contain both the Russian and English README file - sorry about that!

Ok, thanks for uploading that file.

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Yes and no - you can use it to edit save game files, but there is a checksum that I don't know where it is stored and so if you edit it, recompile, and continue, when you finish the game it will label you a cheater when you get your final score.

However, you can use it to create cheater save games if you want to try out stuff!

Then I won't bother with editing saves.

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

Okay, you have the GOG version of the game and I have the Gamer's Gate version. It looks like they store stuff in different places, but it looks like you have it figured out...

By the way, the STRG files I could never get to work properly with KB_DB_EDIT - they seemed to hang it so be wary of that if you try to mess with them.

Before finding updated files I changed extension of that file from .strg to .loc and put it on mods folder, which resulted at receiving error when I tried to run the game. Guess those are some temporary files that are useless.

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

I'm not sure how to fix the texture problem as I think that is something to do with the editor - you'll have to check the editor threads and see if someone ran into a similar problem.

But now that you have a new LOC file, you can do a file compare by decompiling both the old one and new one with KB_DB_EDIT (hopefully the file doesn't change massively, but if it does, just find the stack and compare the data). You should then manually be able to edit the decompiled LOC TXT file and then recompile it and you shouldn't have to worry about the texture problem.

By the way, the fact that more than one LOC file is generated could mean that the position of the unit is stored in a different file - that EMBRYOS file has info on the game's "embryos", but I don't know if it stores their position. One thing you can do, though, when you find the stack in the decompiled LOC file is note the various ID's associated with it and you can search on those (typically) and find that ID in the other decompiled text file(s).

Well, it sounds like you're starting to get dangerous and figuring stuff out on your own!

Keep plugging away at it and you'll be a pro in no time! Then you can school us!

Matt

Ok, I decompiled all those 4 files and then compared them with "total commander", and it found at least 100 differences in each file!

After some testing I figured out that {X}{p} is dealing with position of stacks! Probably x,y and z along with their decimals make that number.

So a simple replacement of that number did the job and now everything is alright.

Now I am off to read modding forum and play previous installment a few times before trying to mod the game. Developer really have abandoned the game midway! Warriors of the north along with its expansion was the best in series (though companion part of it was its biggest flaw).
Read my post here:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=229563

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by jahes64

Ok, thanks for uploading that file.

Shubetcha!

Originally Posted by jahes64

Ok, I decompiled all those 4 files and then compared them with "total commander", and it found at least 100 differences in each file!

After some testing I figured out that {X}{p} is dealing with position of stacks! Probably x,y and z along with their decimals make that number.

So a simple replacement of that number did the job and now everything is alright.

Now I am off to read modding forum and play previous installment a few times before trying to mod the game. Developer really have abandoned the game midway! Warriors of the north along with its expansion was the best in series (though companion part of it was its biggest flaw).
Read my post here:
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=229563

Fantastic find here! So {X}{p} is the position - that is good to know! I tried to see if the number of hexadecimal values was divisable by 3, but it has 16 values, so I'm not sure how the x, y, and z coordinates are generated from that number. That's where the editor came in handy for you though, since it generates those numbers for you.

Great job figuring all this out - I think you now see that using KB_DB_EDIT for small changes works wonders as long as you know what to change!

The editor can help with figuring things out or if you want to do a big mod like the Red Sands people did, then you pretty much have to use the editor.

Keep plugging away and post your progress from time to time!

Matt

[jahes64]

The Legend has been created with another engine, thus extension of its files differ, do you know how can I load its files inside Crossworlds' editor???

Fantastic find here! So {X}{p} is the position - that is good to know! I tried to see if the number of hexadecimal values was divisable by 3, but it has 16 values, so I'm not sure how the x, y, and z coordinates are generated from that number.

Guess some special formula is involved in generating this strange number!

[MattCaspermeyer]

Originally Posted by jahes64

The Legend has been created with another engine, thus extension of its files differ, do you know how can I load its files inside Crossworlds' editor???

There is a post in the editor forum where someone stated that they had indeed loaded the "The Legend" files into the editor. There were some things not working, but for the most part they were imported okay.

I'm not sure how to do that, but you may be able to post in there or PM the person who did it to see if they are still around and hopefully they'll get back to you.

I don't know the exact post, but if you go through the editor topics you should be able to find it since it is only a few pages.

Good luck!

Matt

[jahes64]

Originally Posted by MattCaspermeyer

There is a post in the editor forum where someone stated that they had indeed loaded the "The Legend" files into the editor. There were some things not working, but for the most part they were imported okay.

I'm not sure how to do that, but you may be able to post in there or PM the person who did it to see if they are still around and hopefully they'll get back to you.

I don't know the exact post, but if you go through the editor topics you should be able to find it since it is only a few pages.

Good luck!

Matt

I had already read that topic, thing is that they simply mentioned their success in loading TL maps inside the editor, but never mentioned how they did it!

Unfortunately they are not around currently. (According to their profile pages last time they visited this site was years ago)

So it seems that my only hope is to ask it over the editor forum.