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Delta Force 2 modding projects

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Delta Force 2 modding projects

Postby Q-dad » Fri Nov 25, 2005 12:32 am

I've got several DF2 projects on my list, some of them already started, like for instance a 3di viewer, i.e. a 3d model viewer for the game items (buildings, vehicles, etc...). The 3di file format is not officialy known, since Novalogic in general doesn't want people to mod their games. With some great help from other modders in the DF modding community, I'm close to having figured out most of the 3di format, so if I only could get some more experience with Delphi and GLScene, the 3di Viewer should have a fairly good chance of being released early next year or thereabouts, maybe even sooner...

The next step would of course be to create a 3di Editor, making us able to add new items to the game. Also a 3di Converter would be a priority, making us able to convert 3d items from older and newer Novalogic games to DF2. We probably wouldn't want to release an Editor and a Converter to the public, though, since there are still a lot of cheaters out there who would get silly ideas with the extra knowledge those two tools would provide... Maybe there won't be a lot of them around when we've finished the tools :wink:

Another project started is a DF2 Terrain Viewer. That's a project based on a C++ Builder voxel terrain engine made by Leo Sutic, and hopefully we will be able to recreate the DF2 voxel terrain "look", with grass and all... The only problem is that working with other people's advanced code is sometimes very confusing, at least when it's written in a language that I don't know very well... :wink:

One of my finished projects is a decryptor/encryptor tool for the encrypted item definition file in DF2, i.e. the file which includes descriptions for how the game items will behave inside the game. I learned the very basics of Delphi while making that one. I even had to learn to use some reverse engineering tools and code some internal Delphi ASM in order to figure out the decryting/encrypting algorithm. Undescribable feeling when I finally nailed it, lol...

Anyway, the most relevant project for these forums would be the planned DF2 terrain utilities. I don't plan to make a DF2 Terrain Generator, since most of the DF2 terrain files can be made with any of the many terrain tools out there. However, among the DF2 terrain files are some detailed color and height maps which I don't understand how were made by Novalogic, and my goal is to figure how they did it, and possible use L3DT in the process. If not, maybe try making my own utility for creating them. I can't imagine Novalogic made them manually, since that would have taken ages to do. I'll post a description of the DF2 terrain files later, and hopefully someone around here can make sense of it.
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Postby Hinklemister » Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:13 am

That's an interesting project. Modding is always fun to do, but I finally decided that it'd be better just to make my own game. I wish you luck in your modding and terrain creation. If someone stole their source code then maybe someday you'll be able to see it yourself. So, anyway, good luck.

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Postby Q-dad » Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:19 pm

Well, I don't think anybody actually stole their source code... The rumor rather says they deleted it by accident, hehe... Oh, well - the rumor could be false, or planted, I guess.
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Postby Hinklemister » Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:25 pm

That'd be pretty funny if they deleted their source code. :lol: It'd really be too bad if true because it means that lots of hard work was lost. But good luck on your modding anyway.

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Re: Delta Force 2 modding projects

Postby Aaron » Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:25 am

Q-dad wrote:...since Novalogic in general doesn't want people to mod their games.


I think it's a real shame when game studios take that view; it's sort of like a vote of 'no confidence' it the creativity of the fans. It's a promising trend that that more big-name games are being designed with 'modability' in mind, possibly due (in part) to the runaway success of mods like Counter-Strike.

Q-dad wrote:One of my finished projects is a decryptor/encryptor tool for the encrypted item definition file in DF2, i.e. the file which includes descriptions for how the game items will behave inside the game. I learned the very basics of Delphi while making that one. I even had to learn to use some reverse engineering tools and code some internal Delphi ASM in order to figure out the decryting/encrypting algorithm. Undescribable feeling when I finally nailed it, lol...


Yeah, I think can imagine. From the other side of the fence, I can say that it's really rewarding when writing program-protection code to know that you've created something exquisitely devious; a puzzle that’s going to take a lot of hard work and ingenuity to solve. I've read about programmers including self-modifying ASM code, just to make would-be crackers pull their hair out.
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