43 ms·

Love it. Any pointers for an easier old (or new) game to have a go at pulling apart like this?

PublicEnemy111 12y ago
I'd definitely check out Halo 2. The modding community was massive. In fact, modding Halo 2 was what introduced me to programming :) The maps have a very basic encryption(checksum). Map signers are all over the internet if you don't feel like doing the work yourself. There's also many high level tools to play with the maps. I remember taking an a vehicle from one level and placing it in another was a trivial process. Youtube has a plethora of videos where modders show off what they could do
- voltagex_ 12y ago
  For anyone else looking - Halo 2 is hard to get legitimately now. eBay copies are looking like upwards of $90AUD!
  - jdboyd 12y ago
    That must be an Australian issue because on eBay and in local stores, it is still $10ish.
    - voltagex_ 12y ago
      I'm not sure - http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/Video-Games-Consoles-/1249/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=halo+2+pc&LH_PrefLoc=2&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1 http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/Video-Games-Consoles-/1249/i.html... Amazon has a (used?) copy for ~$17 - AFAICT it requires online activation so this may not work well.
      - PublicEnemy111 12y ago
        I was referencing the xbox version of the game. If I remember correctly, the pc version of the game actually allowed cheaters, which takes all the fun out of it IMO Im sure you could find an old xbox and the game for less than $90AUD. Or, you could buy an xbox, flash the disk drive, download a halo .iso and burn it to a verbatim disk. Thats what I usually do
tdicola 12y ago
Doom's WAD format is very well documented but still a fun binary format to write a parser to read. I remember writing a parser for it in QBASIC when I was a teen!
coldpie 12y ago
NES games are pretty easy to tear apart, and emulator tools are pretty good. I use fceuxdsp, running in Wine because I'm too lazy to build it natively. The 6502 was too slow to do any complex compression, and there was really no need to encrypt an NES ROM. Later consoles, of course, get more complex, but the NES is a good place to start.
- boomlinde 12y ago
  I don't think that the lack of compression is a matter of speed. After all, C64 games did it all the time. The reason is more likely that it is convenient to store graphics and code plainly in the ROM since it can then be mapped direcly. The NES didn't have enough RAM.

I'd definitely check out Halo 2. The modding community was massive. In fact, modding Halo 2 was what introduced me to programming :) The maps have a very basic encryption(checksum). Map signers are all over the internet if you don't feel like doing the work yourself. There's also many high level tools to play with the maps. I remember taking an a vehicle from one level and placing it in another was a trivial process. Youtube has a plethora of videos where modders show off what they could do

voltagex_ 12y ago
For anyone else looking - Halo 2 is hard to get legitimately now. eBay copies are looking like upwards of $90AUD!
- jdboyd 12y ago
  That must be an Australian issue because on eBay and in local stores, it is still $10ish.
  - voltagex_ 12y ago
    I'm not sure - http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/Video-Games-Consoles-/1249/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=halo+2+pc&LH_PrefLoc=2&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1 http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/Video-Games-Consoles-/1249/i.html... Amazon has a (used?) copy for ~$17 - AFAICT it requires online activation so this may not work well.
    - PublicEnemy111 12y ago
      I was referencing the xbox version of the game. If I remember correctly, the pc version of the game actually allowed cheaters, which takes all the fun out of it IMO Im sure you could find an old xbox and the game for less than $90AUD. Or, you could buy an xbox, flash the disk drive, download a halo .iso and burn it to a verbatim disk. Thats what I usually do

tdicola 12y ago

Doom's WAD format is very well documented but still a fun binary format to write a parser to read. I remember writing a parser for it in QBASIC when I was a teen!

coldpie 12y ago

NES games are pretty easy to tear apart, and emulator tools are pretty good. I use fceuxdsp, running in Wine because I'm too lazy to build it natively. The 6502 was too slow to do any complex compression, and there was really no need to encrypt an NES ROM. Later consoles, of course, get more complex, but the NES is a good place to start.

boomlinde 12y ago
I don't think that the lack of compression is a matter of speed. After all, C64 games did it all the time. The reason is more likely that it is convenient to store graphics and code plainly in the ROM since it can then be mapped direcly. The NES didn't have enough RAM.