Trying to do the impossible... Or the insane.

[Prince of Kitties]

Newbie that I am, I am attempting to port as much of Classic BoE as a I can to Java, starting with the character editor.

 

(Or rather, attempting to rewrite it in Java, because the code looks like an untranslatable procedural mess to me.)

 

I don't necessarily expect it to reach any level of functionality even this year, especially if I get another job sooner rather than later (and I'm fervently hoping I do). But I figure I'll at least learn something, even if I fail miserably.

 

One concession I'm giving myself: I won't maintain savefile compatibility unless I absolutely have to. I will maintain scenario compatibility for obvious reasons, assuming I actually get that far. Which is looking less likely by the minute. But in the worst case I learn more about Java, so I figured, why not?

 

Anyway I just thought I ought to mention this (probably ill-fated) venture to the people here, on the off chance I might get some useful advice out of it, or something.

[Celtic Minstrel]

Insane indeed. I don't really think it's a good idea myself, but it's not like I can stop you.

[Thaluikhain]

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel

but it's not like I can stop you.

Well, that's not stopping the OP from trying...

[Prince of Kitties]

Well, so far I've got the PC and Item classes mostly done for the PC Editor, as well as a "Retriever" class to fetch stats and other variables by name. The big hurdle seems to me to be file IO, since I haven't done much of that before and BoE savefiles are...weird.

 

I may never get the actual game port (let alone the scenario editor) done. However, even failing that, a really powerful CLI interface for editing PCs and items (which is what I intend for the PC Editor replacement) would be cool, so for now that's what I've set my sights on.

[Celtic Minstrel]

Originally Posted By: Miramor

BoE savefiles are...weird.

In what way?

[Niemand]

Originally Posted By: Miramor

The big hurdle seems to me to be file IO, since I haven't done much of that before and BoE savefiles are...weird.

They aren't really weird but they are not handled in a very Java-like style. For extra fun, they are (traditionally, at least) also not portable.

[Prince of Kitties]

Ugh. Looking at the layout of the savefiles, I doubt there's any way I'm going to get any of the file IO part done.

 

I think it is time to call it quits.

[Zalatar2]

Well, in that case,

HOSE THE OLD SAVE FILES!

I'm into Java much more than C++ now.

Yeah. It would be a good idea. Imo.

I'd totally work with you. If I have spare time.

Which I do not. But it sounds like a good idea.

Then again, I think a lot of ideas are good

and the ideas either sink or quagmire.

I'm not sure if that's a verb, but it gets the idea across.

Hmrmh.

 

Java would be easier. Or harder. Or both.

Or all 3.

 

Huh.

[Celtic Minstrel]

Porting the game from C to Java would be too much work. Moving it to C++ is still a lot of work, but it's not quite as much work since any valid C is also valid C++.

[Prince of Kitties]

In retrospect, I think giving up was the right decision. I can code, but I'm still very much a novice when it comes to design and whatnot, and design is half the work (and would be a major issue when porting a procedural program to Java).

 

Maybe I'll attack it some time down the road, when I know more about the design aspects of programming, because it would be cool to have BoE in a web applet... But probably not.