Missed oppertunities

stainy · 06 January 2009, 21:53

I find it weird... in this day of age... that we can`t do more with the old Amiga games..

I`m just looking through an .adf with a hex editor... With my very limited knowledge.. I can only change a few things...
We can`t dissasemble the games... only a select few people I know can do some good stuff..

I know someone who`s working on the competition version of Kick off 2.. adding lots of stuff.. fixing things in the game.. finding things that were hidden away...

Just wish I had the knowledge to delve... I can hex edit and I`ve used the dinodini tools to unpack adfs change stuff and re-package it.. thats it..

Annoying

Dastardly · 06 January 2009, 22:01

To be honest I never thought I'd see the day where custom versions of games like Gods and Stunt Car Racer was possible. I always thought that because of the man hours that went in to making these games originally, it would be far too much to expect a single person to go to all that effort.

It amazes me.

alexh · 06 January 2009, 22:01

The thing is that most games are compressed, usually with custom packers. You have to start by disassembling the bootblock and working out how the loader works.

Or you could just use the WinUAE debugger.

You really have to be a good software engineer (or at least an enthusiastic one) with plenty of time to read the Amiga Hardware Reference Manuals and the MC68000 instruction set manual. Once you've got a good feel for the address map of the Amiga, and you can separate code from data in the disassembler it gets easier.

Retro1234 · 06 January 2009, 22:15

What kind of things is it you want to do?

:Although you can do a lot of tricks with a Hex editor like alter maps you realy need to understand assembly language to dissasemble a the games engine and I for one find it hard to understand.

StingRay · 07 January 2009, 10:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by stainy

I`m just looking through an .adf with a hex editor... With my very limited knowledge.. I can only change a few things...
We can`t dissasemble the games... only a select few people I know can do some good stuff..

And how do you think these "selected few people" got that knowledge? Right, by examining, trying, spending a lot of time etc. It's not that you are born with such knowledge...

Quote:

Originally Posted by stainy

Just wish I had the knowledge to delve... I can hex edit and I`ve used the dinodini tools to unpack adfs change stuff and re-package it.. thats it..

Where's the problem for you to try to learn how to do these things? I don't really see the point why you complain that you aren't able to do things like that when it seems you didn't even try to learn it...

stainy · 07 January 2009, 14:01

I don`t know where to start.. to be honest...

StingRay · 07 January 2009, 14:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by stainy

I don`t know where to start.. to be honest...

You could grab a copy of ReSource (or IDA Pro if you want to do it on PC) and just start with disassembling a very small file (maybe a command in the C: dir f.e. or something similar). However, for that you need at least basic understanding of 68k asm, otherwise you won't be able to do much I'm afraid. But as there are a lot of 68k tutorials available, that shouldn't be a problem if you are really serious about learning all that stuff. You will need a long time until you'll be able to disassemble a game and modify it as that's absolutely no beginner's stuff.

Apollo · 08 January 2009, 22:41

Most of the time I find it boring staring at the code from other programmers. Except for the few times where I really wanted to know how something special works. I admired people who re-engineer complex code like games or applications.

06 January 2009, 21:53	#1
stainy Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Concord, NC, USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,712	Missed oppertunities I find it weird... in this day of age... that we can`t do more with the old Amiga games.. I`m just looking through an .adf with a hex editor... With my very limited knowledge.. I can only change a few things... We can`t dissasemble the games... only a select few people I know can do some good stuff.. I know someone who`s working on the competition version of Kick off 2.. adding lots of stuff.. fixing things in the game.. finding things that were hidden away... Just wish I had the knowledge to delve... I can hex edit and I`ve used the dinodini tools to unpack adfs change stuff and re-package it.. thats it.. Annoying

06 January 2009, 22:15	#4
Retro1234 Phone Homer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: 5150 Posts: 5,773	What kind of things is it you want to do? :Although you can do a lot of tricks with a Hex editor like alter maps you realy need to understand assembly language to dissasemble a the games engine and I for one find it hard to understand. Last edited by Retro1234; 06 January 2009 at 22:35.

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06 January 2009, 22:01	#2
Dastardly Into the Wonderful Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: England Age: 49 Posts: 2,335	To be honest I never thought I'd see the day where custom versions of games like Gods and Stunt Car Racer was possible. I always thought that because of the man hours that went in to making these games originally, it would be far too much to expect a single person to go to all that effort. It amazes me.

06 January 2009, 22:01	#3
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	The thing is that most games are compressed, usually with custom packers. You have to start by disassembling the bootblock and working out how the loader works. Or you could just use the WinUAE debugger. You really have to be a good software engineer (or at least an enthusiastic one) with plenty of time to read the Amiga Hardware Reference Manuals and the MC68000 instruction set manual. Once you've got a good feel for the address map of the Amiga, and you can separate code from data in the disassembler it gets easier.

07 January 2009, 14:01	#6
stainy Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Concord, NC, USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,712	I don`t know where to start.. to be honest...

08 January 2009, 22:41	#8
Apollo Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Germany Age: 49 Posts: 137	Most of the time I find it boring staring at the code from other programmers. Except for the few times where I really wanted to know how something special works. I admired people who re-engineer complex code like games or applications.

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