If I read the thingy I googled correctly you can turn a C++ .exe into ASM... But I don't really understand ASM and DOES NOT WANT to learn it just for a modding project I'd probably never finish anyway.

ASM is assembly. Its how your computer reads the exe. Its kind of hard to read, but its possible. The main use it to find functions in the exe that you can dereference and such.

I know what assembly is. Sort of. I don't have a clue how to do anything with it tho...

Anyway, it seems that all this stuff would be epic overkill for something this minor, especially seeing as I'd probably never finish the mod.

I demand an apology since I am actually right....

you CAN decompile an exe into C++.
This has nothing to do with cooking a hamburger, it's like tranlating english into spanish, then translate spanish back into english...

samething happens here, Blizzard translated human readable C++ code into a comp language that only comps can understand,
and what we need to do is translate that computer language back into C++

and after a pretty long research, Starcraft is written in C++.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Nov 25 2008, 12:51 pm by Angle Lock.

Then the burden of proof lays upon you. It's REALLY obvious SC is written in C++ if you look at the ASM code. Make a program that converts an exe back into C++ and I'll apologize.


EDITTED: KILLER_KOW's editing removed the plusses in my post.

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t281300-exe-to-c-source-code.html
http://bytes.com/groups/c/129408-exe-c-source-code
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-224751.html <- this one says its possible, but you need to know what compiler they used. Since Starcraft was made back in the 1990's they may have had their own special compiler. I've heard there are some wierd functions Blizzard had in their exe.
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/showtopic16364.htm <- Once again, its possible, but it gains complexity, asn speaking that SC has over 50 .cpp files in it, your going to get raped if you decompile it.
http://www.cpp-home.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15352&sid=9eae168225f0187b2422f867e93015db -> "Decompiling into machine code is easy but not always very useful. Decompiling into source code edges towards impossibility for C and C programs. "
http://www.codeguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=441352 -> Thats the third internet site that has said "Hamburger into cow"

Post has been edited 4 time(s), last time on Nov 25 2008, 11:44 pm by A_of-s_t.

Starcraft is written in C++. It uses several C++-only libraries, and the debug information contained in the .exe has filenames ending in .cpp

As far as decompling goes, there are several very buggy alpha programs that can decompile simple C programs back into something similar to their source code (stripped of comments and variable names).
e.g. http://boomerang.sourceforge.net/

In order to create new upgrades that are similar to existing upgrades, e.g. extra comsat energy, you would only have to find the code for the current upgrades, and either replace one or add a new one if you can. It would be a good idea to look at the EXE edit list in Firegraft (it's in data.mpq). Yes, it does require extensive knowlege of assembly language.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Nov 25 2008, 11:25 pm by Doodle77.

Apparently, like most of my ideas this seemed like a good idea at first but turns out to be fail and makes me wish I had never posted it. I should just GTFO the modding section, I suck at modding anyway. Actually, I suck at everything relating to SC...

Anyway, can someone lock this? Topic has served its purpose.

Don't give up. Just fool around with the tools we have to see what is possible before you start making your grand ideas But I'll lock it for you if you'd like.