gamemd.exe hacked - new country added!

pd · 01-14-2005, 09:47 AM

Yep,
exactly what the title says:
I hacked YR's gamemd.exe and managed to add a new country

But unfortunately, you can't play with it (yet).
It's just added to the side list in the Skirmish menu and a flag for it is loaded.

For those who don't believe, a screeni:

And for those who are interested (or for those who still don't believe), a small page I made where you can download the hacked .exe:

http://www.geocities.com/gantaicha/yrhacked.htm

I'm currently trying to find out how I can make it possible to play with this new country, but I didn't find a solution yet

But I'll try...

DCoder · 01-14-2005, 10:05 AM

This is really interesting stuff, dude.

The archive is corrupt :S So I couldn't check out what exactly you modified, but I do know there are more country-related hardcodings in the exe than those you listed (country name, lscreen, flag). Check out this page for more detailed information.

pd · 01-14-2005, 10:15 AM

Corrupt? Damnit!
Hm...

It works fine for me so that's confusing.
I'll just re-upload it maybe it works.

The loading screen stuff is what I'm trying to do currently.
But the filenames like "ls800ustates.shp" don't appear anywhere in the code, so it seems to be a bit more complex.

The names aren't really hardcoded.
You can change the "Americans" to "Aliens" or something, can't you?
Of course you'd have to do that in the entire ini file.

Their string table entries are hardcoded, but I managed to change them.

As for the ZIP file, I'll re-upload it now.
Should be ready in about 10 minutes (damnit it MUST work).

EDIT: Hm I packed and uploaded it again, but it's exactly the same file as a few minutes ago.
It should work... :scared:

DCoder · 01-14-2005, 10:22 AM

No, but they do appear in the hexeditor. Jump to offset 0x4298DC and see.

pd · 01-14-2005, 10:29 AM

Actually, a disassembler reads everything what's in the exe file (including strings etc).

If that string's really there, I should reload the file because then it's easy to make the game load a new one.
Thanks very much for the information!

DCoder · 01-14-2005, 11:03 AM

You're welcome. BTW, why don't you upload just a patcher instead of a whole file? Something like 99% of it is unchanged, so why bother u/l&d/ling it?

AlliedG · 01-14-2005, 11:39 AM

isn't this just graphical display stuff like the renabling of tutorial missions?

i'm sure stuff like baseunit, etc won't allow it.

There picture is of questionable quality too...

also hack isn't really a good name more like modify, it somes less illegal ...

pd · 01-15-2005, 10:00 AM

@ DCoder:
A patcher is a good idea.
But I changed lots of stuff and I dunno where what byte is I changed...
comparing should help... I'll see.

And thanks for that hex adress.
I found the procedure which builds the loading screen and I started modifying it.

@ AlliedG:
You may have read that I was only able to make the game list up a new country and to load its flag.
I'm still working on the rest it's not an easy job.

If you don't like the quality gimme your eMail and I'll send the pictures in bmp format if you want.

Stuff like baseunit isn't a problem:
The new country (TestCountry) is on ThirdSide that means base unit is YMCV.
If I was to add a side that would be a problem, yes. But I'm just adding a country.

I think it's a hack because I modified (hacked) the exe file.
If you make a no-CD-crack it's also modifying the exe - it's not a mod, but a hack.
No mod modifies the game's exe file, so this can't be a mod.

And why should it be illegal?
Modders modify the ini files, mix files etc.
Why should it be more bad to modify the exe? It's just a file.

DCoder · 01-15-2005, 10:52 AM

Actually, The Project mod does modify the exe (ResHacker, reenabling a third campaign button).

And, there are automatic patchers, like Clickteam Patch Maker.
(bah, I really need to start using it myself, on my own software.)

Renegade · 01-15-2005, 08:07 PM

@pd:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westwood Studios, Inc. End User License Agreement

2. COPYRIGHT AND RESTRICTIONS.

[...]

You also may not copy, modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works of, publicly perform, publicly display, distribute, transmit, decompile, disassemble or otherwise reverse engineer or attempt to reverse engineer or derive source code from, all or any portion of the Product or anything incorporated therein, including any screen display, sound or accompanying documentation, or permit or encourage any third party to do so. [...]

...that's why it is illegal.

Not discouraging you from doing it, just thought you should know about this. (And not encouraging you either, as that would be against the license as well

)

Note that this, at least for RA2, theoretically also makes mods illegal.

EDIT: POST 1600! WOHOO!

God, I'm a junkie...:lol: