Nescioquis

Originally Posted By: Dintiradan Originally Posted By: Rowen With the RW is that game of his that was like gemcraft or something. Its been so long I haven't seen it I've forgotten. But that game did have a little following that stuck to that one form mostly. SubTerra. By the way, people I remember being connected to SubTerra are Radiant and The Stew Boy. SubTerra was by Crystal Shard (Pieter Simoons) and was unrelated to Richard White and the RW forum, as far as I know, though.

Googling that MD5 found a nice analysis of the code, written almost a year ago. I wonder how widespread and how proprietary this code is.

Originally Posted By: BMA 1) They would not have doubted it if they had seen this screenshot and the "experiment" which was posted earlier. 2) We won't touch the source code. We'll be creating a new game altogether. So you need to create the following: Damage formulas based on guesses about how G5 works. A database of monsters (with stats, attack options and preferences, etc.) A database of items (with descriptions and stats) A database of attacks, spells, and effects A dialogue system, integrated with your scripting language An AI system, integrated with your scripting language The world, including dialogue for all NPCs, item placing, monster encounters, etc. And, of course, many other mundane problems in both engine creation and world creation - choosing a map format and scripting language to begin with, GUI programming, possibly issues associated with making the game cross-platform? Then you'll need to test the whole thing, find bugs and balance issues, (multiple players should make for some interesting bugs and balance issues, as well as some interesting scripting challenges) and fix them without breaking anything elsewhere. That's a lot of work. Certainly not impossible, but a huge time investment, especially for something that relies on Jeff's graphics and IP and may be shut down based on his whim. And will it be playable without other players around, or can it only be enjoyed when there happen to be fellow Geneforge 5 Fan Game With Multiplayer players who feel like spending their time doing quests with you? (Quests that they haven't already done and grown bored with, and that they happen to have a character of the right level for, etc.) Originally Posted By: (MMXPERT) Spiderweb thinks that failure of this is imminent, and will not grant permission for distribution because they think so. I'm not surprised Jeff seems skeptical; most fan projects of even a fraction of this one's scale fail to come to anything.

Originally Posted By: Vespers at Dawn There's still the major stumbling block: you can't edit any version, because you don't have the source code. Jeff almost certainly won't give it out. Creating an edited version would not require the source code. Disassembling and reverse engineering compiled machine code is entirely within the realm of possibility, and in fact has been done on numerous occasions to add new features to games without the source code.

Recreating the entire game engine from scratch without source code would be prohibitively difficult, but that's not necessary. It would be much easier to create a mod that would hook into/patch the compiled game code to allow a synchronized game world. Even hooking a few script execution functions might be sufficient to handle most of the game synchronization problems.

Fortunately, Wikipedia isn't as off as it could be. Disabling Javascript bypasses their blackout.

Mathematics actually does lead to philosophy if you use the original rules (the first link in the article text not in parentheses or italics.) Mathematics > Quantity > Property (philosophy) > Modern philosophy > Philosophy. Once you reach philosophy, though, you quickly encounter a loop: Philosophy > Ontology > Philosophy.

Originally Posted By: Mod. ... "Medals are stored in preference file as far as I can tell for determining if you have been award them." By preference file I think you mean the AvScenData file? I already tried that. On my (Windows Vista) computer, medals appear to be stored in AvadonSettings.dat, which is located in the {USERNAME}/Documents/Spiderweb Software/Avadon Saved Games folder. Annoyingly, the location of Avadon Saved Games probably varies from OS to OS.

I believe I can set your spellcraft to whatever you want, as long as you are using Windows. If you're using Mac, I'm afraid that (IIRC) Windows and Mac use different save formats, and I can't help due to not owning a Mac If you are using Windows, and could upload your save file somewhere on the internet, I can make the modification, and either tell you what to change in the save file, or upload the modified version for you. Though I'm also pretty sure Earth Empires is correct

You won this thread

And if you're on Windows, do you use the Directx version or the regular (opengl) version?

No problem

You could change the game scripts, but for a slightly simpler (and more temporary) method, I created a little mod which might help you. The Avernum 4 Unencumbrance Mod will create a slightly modified copy of Avernum 4.exe with a different filename. When you run the newly created executable file, encumbrance will not exist. (It should totally remove the effects of encumbrance, but I can only verify that it removes AP penalties.) If you get tired of playing without encumbrance, you can just run the original Avernum 4.exe. Your party won't be changed in any way. The zip file contains instructions for how to apply this mod manually without the use of my exe file in case you're paranoid like I am

I am interested in helping, but I'm not sure how much time I can dedicate to the project.

Just wonderin', how different are the Windows and Mac source codes? It seems like it should be possible to put all platform-specific functions in separate files, and have relatively cross-platform source files otherwise, which would make modifications easier, but I have no knowledge about BoE. Basically, I'm interested in whether the differences are primarily in the rendering portions of the code, or if Jeff practically re-wrote the whole thing for Mac/Windows, whichever came later.

I've wondered often how Jeff made so many great games/scenarios with only 256 terrains... glad you decided to upgrade to two bytes.

Ok, try this: Run the mod again in the Geneforge 2 directory, press the Geneforge 2 button and wait until it says the patching is successfully completed. If it says 'Could not find byte pattern to replace', or gives you some other error, do not bother with the next step. After it says the patching was successful, click ok, and click on the Geneforge 2 button again. Then wait while it patches... At this point I need to know whether it says 'Patching successfully completed', or 'Could not find byte pattern to replace'. Also, are you using a CD version of geneforge 2 and 3, or are you using a registered demo? Thinking of more questions to plague you with, Jedi Nescioquis

So... You are using version 1.1 of the mod You are using Geneforge 2 version 1.0.2 You put the modding program into c:\program files\Geneforge 2 (Or wherever your Geneforge 2 game is installed) You have started the mod, and clicked on the Geneforge 2 button It said 'Patching succesfully completed' You ran the file Geneforge 2.exe And it's still not working? If you haven't done all of the steps above or something is described differently than how you did it, please tell me so I can fix the problem. On my comp I have tested it for Geneforge 2 and 3, and it works fine. Displeased at my newly shaped Thahd's attempts to mod, Jedi Nescioquis

Hmmm ... did you download verion 1.1? (The same link I have above, just updated the file.) If you do have the latest version, did it say 'Could not find byte pattern to replace', or 'Could not load file'? Or, does it finish patching but just not un-encumber you? Also, what version of the game are you using? Sorry for inconvenience and all the probing questions Watching my Fyoras flee in terror while I'm killed by Thahds, Jedi Nescioquis

I just updated the mod to version 1.1 since I found a couple minor bugs, and during patching you had to click 'OK' on about 5 dialog boxes. That is now fixed in addition to a few other small bugs. Also, just wondering ... which strategy central should I add it to? Is there any way to get it added to the Geneforge Resources page, since it fits best into that category? Remembering to sign my post, Jedi Nescioquis

Ok, in case anyone is interested, here is the mod for Geneforge 1-3 (Windows). It works with the most recent Geneforge versions as of now. Click here to Download Mod description: This is a mod for Windows copies of Geneforge which will remove the annoying encumbrance problem during combat when you are carrying too much stuff. To use, place the program into the same folder as the .exe of the game you wish to patch. Then, run the program and select the game you want to patch (the one the program is in the folder for) from the menu. Example: Geneforge 2.exe is by default in "C:\Program Files\Geneforge 2", so to patch Geneforge 2, that is where you should put the program. If you want to remove the mod, just delete Geneforge.exe (or Geneforge 2.exe, etc.), and rename geneforge_backup.exe (It will be called something slightly different) to Geneforge.exe (Or, again, Geneforge 2.exe, or whatever your game is.)

Originally Posted By: Leather Strop Which is apparently what Nescioquis did. It's slightly more elegant and not all a whole of work with find/replace. As a bonus, it means lifecrafters will never have any strength whatsoever. Setting 'em to zero would be one way to do it, but I actually just modded the game code and made a patcher. (A lot quicker, and less ugly.) Failing to shape a servile to mod for me, Jedi Nescioquis

Originally Posted By: sean_lo I played and finished geneforge 4. It was a great game. Then i sat down and decided to go through 1 to 3. Turns out that str influences what you can carry in those series. Long story short, can someone please make a mod for geneforge 1-3 which changes carry limit/str to only influence equipped items? I couldn't bring myself to continue playing geneforge 1-3 because having to drop items repeatedly in every combat is just... incredibly tedious. Thanks in advance! Sean. Hey Sean, Despite the objections raised about the possibility of creating this mod, I decided I didn't really mind it being impossible, so I did it anyway. I'm just weird that way :\ Anyway, if you want I can give you a mod which will take care of encumbrance in Geneforge 1-3. The only problem is that even equipped items will fail to contribute to encumbrance, which might not be fun (though it's convenient in combat - lol). Let me know if you're interested. Basically Nil, Jedi Nescioquis