Hacking exe-file

[waab]

Hi, I am litle inspired about what the Civ III freaks are doing, adding new civilizations and so one. So my question is:

Is it possible to hack the exe-file and make it so that you might play with more than 7 factions? I have SMACx so I would like to play with all 14 factions. If nobody has tried this. How is the terran.exe file made (language(sp?))?

[gwillybj]

a big project if you're up to the challenge

You would have to do a lot more than hack it. You would have to cut, split, deliver, and stack it .
The most basic reason you can't have more factions has been mentioned in these threads before: Binary Numbers, as in decimal 7 = 111 binary. Only three placeholders for faction IDs. There is a zero placeholder, 000, and it is Planet. You would have to force a fourth digit, 1111 binary, or 15 decimal, in order to have more factions in play.
The system would have to keep track of all those additional bases and units. Not a roadblock, but a lot more complexity in their reaction and interaction.
You have a lot more than double the overall complexity, though.
For one example, the game would become quite a bit slower with all the added diplomacy as the turns pass, and all the more so after all Comm Frequencies have been revealed.
With 7 factions, you have 6+5+4+3+2+1=21 pairs, with 42 paths. In single-player, you control only 6. The system has to control the other 36.
With 14 factions, this grows to 13+12+11+10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=91 pairs, with 182 paths. In single-player, you control only 13 of these. The system would have to control 169 paths , almost five times the current number! (edit: math)
Imagine how much longer a multiplayer game would be, especially PBEM, with 13 people to wait for!
Also, what size map would you propose? None of the standard sizes would be anywhere near suitable for every faction to have half a chance of surviving beyond the first 100 turns, if that long. At least half would be eradicated one way or another by then. It would require huge maps of at least 256x256 to give them all the slimmest of chances. More than 500x500 would be needed for epic-length massive-empire-building games, although I would love that option for such humongous 500x500 (or 1000x1000) maps now.

[waab]

Hmm so the bastards only had three binary, that wasn't nice, not at all really. And about pdem don't you think seven player is to much?

But do you think it is possible to force the fourth digit? Because SP would be much more fun I personally think.

[gwillybj]

not impossible, just very difficult

I don't play multi, by choice more than circumstance. I can say, though, that most PBEMs I've read about here and elsewhere have only 3 or 4 human players, so it is not likely the ability to have 14 factions concurrently would result in more humans in one PBEM game.
I agree, yes, that single-player would certainly become more... interesting.
Even if you could find how to force that fourth digit, you still have all the faction informational stuff to deal with:
Colors. You have eight very different colors for the factions now. Can you add eight more that are different enough to see easily? Probably not that hard.
The Dominance graph and chart would need more lines and bars. That's another binary placeholder thing.
The Council interface would need a major overhaul to put everybody in it..
I'm not trying to burst your balloon. I'm just passing along programming info.
Don't give up! Your dream of a "Big Huge Game" might be just around the corner.

[Switch]

Re: a big project if you're up to the challenge

Originally posted by gwillybj
It would require huge maps of at least 256x256 to give them all the slimmest of chances. More than 500x500 would be needed for epic-length massive-empire-building games, although I would love that option for such humongous 500x500 (or 1000x1000) maps now.

Actually, you would probably only need 256x256. In Civ3, all 16 civs fit comfortably (well, as comfortably as 5 people in a Honda Civic sized car) on a 256x256 map, aka a Huge map. With only 14 factions, it would be even better. So don't worry about incresing map size too much.

BTW, what is the current max map size in SMACX?

[Alinestra Covelia]

Would there be any way to hack the behavior of certain elements, such as choppers? I always thought they were too darn powerful. My proposed revision would be -50% vs bases, making them good for clean sweeps but bad for base attacks.

[aaglo]

Alinestra:
you can try to change those attributes from the different txt-files. (perhaps rules.txt or alpha.txt or something else that I cannot remember right now).

[gwillybj]

*bump* (in case anyone reading the related thread in General comes looking)

[Gibsie]

...regarding the council, I think that a maximum of seven members should be allowed on it, no matter how many peple were hacked into the game.

Not that it's ever gonna happen

[Xian]

firaxis should just release the source code

[thinkingamer]

I believe that this is one of the major flaws in SMAC; i always wanted to play against the original 7 faction with my customized fac.

[Barinthus]

*drool*

It'd be so freakin' awesome if I could play SMAX with all 14 factions.

Have anybody been successful at doing this yet?

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by DataAeolus
*drool*

It'd be so freakin' awesome if I could play SMAX with all 14 factions.

Have anybody been successful at doing this yet?

Do you think we would have time for this forum if someone did manage to do it?

[Barinthus]

*chuckle* a good point there.

Still one could always hope...

[laurentius]

I think the project would be massive. Many programmers, testers etc. also im afraid firaxis could come up with some copyright issue with this.