I was wondering if it's possible to define new upgrades like Singularity Charge and that sort of thing. For example, creating an upgrade that increases a ComSat Station's energy to 250, or one that makes increases Lurker's attack speed or a Corsair's vision range. Or if I can re-purpose an upgrade (probably one of the Unknown upgrades) for the same effect.

EDIT: Also, can you change the requirements for upgrades? Eg. making Terran Vehicle Weapons require a Physics Lab to research Level 3.

You can change the requirements for the upgrades. But redefining the upgrades is impossible unless if you like to go really deep into SC's code.

How do you go into SC's code, especially "really deep" into it? You'd like have to decompile it or something, I thought...

Hex editing, ASM injection, recoding parts of Starcraft....


Unless if you have uber l33t skillz you won't get too far with this.

I was asking, how do you do those things?

I don't have uber l33t skillz, but if you give me a tutorial that explains the basics then I can figure out the rest. That's just how my brain works.

The problem is, almost no one has delved into the coding of SC.

I could figure out at least some of it if I knew how to get started... eg. How would you open SC to recode it?

EDIT: What I'm asking is if there is any way to decompile the .exe into C++ or whatever SC is written in.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Nov 24 2008, 11:32 pm by TassadarZeratul.

The SC Source Code hasn't been released...so I highly doubt there is a way.

uh... just tear up all sc files 1 by 1, u will find it someday...
prolly when u're in ur 50's

I think there is a way to turn a .exe back into source code. But actually now that I think about it, I don't think that's legal... Does anyone know if it's legal to decompile something if you aren't doing it for money, and make sure that the only people who can use your decompiled-recompiled program have purchased the software? (In other words, would it be legal to decompile SC, modify the source, recompile it, and distribute the modified .exe for free, but make sure it will only run if Brood War is installed on the computer you're trying to run the modded .exe on?)

Of course, I'd still need to find a way to decompile the program first, this is all hypothetical until I do...

Things that can currently be changed about upgrades:
- Button requirements (FireGraft)
- Research cost, time, repeats (weapons, armor), and factor (Upgrades.dat)
- The value of certain upgrades (FireGraft EXE edits)


Things that cannot currently be changed about upgrades:
- The value of any other upgrade not listed among Firegraft's EXE edits.
- The unit or weapon ID that benefits from the upgrade.
- Completely new upgrades.
- If you can map out Starcraft's offsets and what they do, and know how to program with memory patching, you could do a whole lot more, but that requires a lot of technical knowledge that few possess, and those who do are at work on the very tools that make our lives as modders so much easier.


Fun with Requirements:
- A unit, building, or spell can require that a certain upgrade be completed first.
- The reverse is also doable, where an upgrade requires the player to have a certain unit, building, spell, or other upgrade.

To add on to Mr.Hercanic

An upgrade can also depend on another upgrade

Starcraft is written in C++, right? (Or maybe just C?) Knowing which language will help me find a decompiler thing.

And can anyone answer my other question about if this would be legal? If it is and I can pull this off...

Well, if this is going to have anything to do with legal issues, then all of us in here would be in jail wouldn't we, we modded the game basically inside out already.

My point is, what is the difference if you try to use C++ (suppose SC is written in it) to break in and change the hard-coded stuff..

We already changed a lot of stuff...

I think the main point is do NOT sell your mod...

So come into the conclusion, ur all good to go, just do whatever ur pleased...

Thank you for reading this long bullcraps... I am just trying to earn some minerals ^_^

Your probably right. People distribute .exes of SC all the time and Blizztard hasn't done anything about that yet, either. I still need to know what language it is in tho...

decompile it using C++, C, and Java...

it can't be in some random old fasioned language like BASIC or FORTRAN... lol...

if it's in Java, maybe I can help... but I doubt it...

But I need to know which language it it is in so I can find a decompiling program/tutorial...

And it could very well be in FORTRAN, or at least par ts of it. Actually, some of it's probably in assembly language... *groans*

I'm guessing the previous part will be editted from this post, so I'll explain. You CANNOT decompile an exe into its original source code -- which is C for Starcraft, and I mean pure C , no usuage of Visual C . Let me resay that, just in case: you can't revert an .exe back to C .

How DO you recode starcraft then?

Easy. Plugins.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Nov 25 2008, 10:42 pm by Killer_Kow. Reason: You're damn right it'll get edited. Flaming.

For a second I thought you were calling me a fucking idiot. Lolfail.

Why do you say you can't decompile something? Couldn't you justfdo everything that happens when you compile something in reverse? Or am I missing something...

So, tell me more about these plugins of which you speak.

EDIT: I realize it might sound like I was trying to be rude, I'm sorry. I don't really know what happens exactly when you compile something. (Well, I know that it turns the source code into something readable by an intetpreter...) If you're a software engineer who does know, then I won't challenge your judgment tho.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Nov 25 2008, 5:30 am by TassadarZeratul.

As someone put it: "Trying to decompile an exe into C++ is like trying to turn a hamburger back into a cow." Its just changed so much as its converted from C++ to ASM.

As for plugins. Plugins are C++ written .dlls that you inject into SC via Firegraft or MPQDraft. There's a certain format that you need to follow that only a few people have -- Farty, Poiuy_qwert, doodle77, DoA, and myself. You mainly dereference certain pointers and pop in your own functions. I believe poiuy_qwert released his code with Location Unlock. And I still have my code for my Rage Plugin and Expansion Finder.