Hi I've been playing battlezone since the first one came out and have been in the community for a long time. (I just don't post very often) I am a programmer... well I program robots not games. But I think I can catch on fairly quickly. I know a couple programming languages and I would love to take a shot at fixing some problems in the game! Could anyone just give a quick run down on which files I should look in, how I can open those files to get at the code, and what stuff needs fixing. Thanks! The battlezone games are the best games I have ever played and I just wanna help keeping the community moving forward. I feel like I haven't been pulling my weight all these years and just enjoying other people's work....so....gimme a start.....and I'll take a stab at it.
People like you make me want to give out free hugs
Quote from: robotman0Hi I've been playing battlezone since the first one came out and have been in the community for a long time. (I just don't post very often) I am a programmer... well I program robots not games. But I think I can catch on fairly quickly. I know a couple programming languages and I would love to take a shot at fixing some problems in the game! Could anyone just give a quick run down on which files I should look in, how I can open those files to get at the code, and what stuff needs fixing. Thanks! The battlezone games are the best games I have ever played and I just wanna help keeping the community moving forward. I feel like I haven't been pulling my weight all these years and just enjoying other people's work....so....gimme a start.....and I'll take a stab at it.
Well i've got some good news & some Bad News for those who want to help out. The bad news is that most of the bugs are hardcoded & can only be fixed if you have the source code which will never be release by the company due to copywrite issues. The Good news is you can help the Public Beta Patch by finding away to reproduce certain bugs & report them to the 1.3 Forums so they can get put under a microscope by GSH or Ken Miller since they are the only ones who actually have the source code & are willing to fix the bugs.
So you are telling me that it really doesn't matter how many amazing and talented programmers we have in the community. (and we have quite a few of them.... a big thanks for all your work over the years!) In the end it doesnt matter cuz we're not allowed to fix any bugs because we're not allowed to see the source code?!?!?! There aren't any bugs that can be fixed in the files we do have? Or are all the problems in the source code...?
Perhaps the best thing to do is hook into mod thats been done, or if your talented enough see if you can come up with some way cool stuff that can be patched into the game somehow, where there is a will there is a way
Imagination
Cheers
all right... if i want to patch stuff....
1) what needs patching (any suggestions?)
2) what files should i start in
3) and how do i open those files to get to chewy caramel center...errr i mean code.....yeah chewy caramel code :D
thx!
Heck, if you want to program in C++ I can put you to work pretty easily. I make utilities for BZ2 such as a modeling exporter (at the moment) and such...
That would be awesome overmind! C++ is my favorite language and also the one i'm best at since I use it on a regular basis.
robo just make sure youve got VC++ 6.0 or higher, because lower versions cant read the DLLs.
Goto my website >here (http://www.overminddl1.com)< and sign up first.
Fox - thanks for the info... luckily my version is exactly vc++ 6.0 *whew*
Overmind - i registered on ur site... whats next?
Well, post in the software forum with what you know and how to do.
uhhh... i couldnt post in the software forum overmind....
but really the only thing i need to know is what needs work, what files to use, and how to open those files...
btw, thx for everyone's input, for some of you i'm sure these seem like silly questions but i program robots, not games.... so i'm a good programmer but..... well for one thing, robots dont have dll's :o and i know they are really important to games
so what ever help you can give me, it is greatly appreciated, and i'll do my best to fix stuff
thx
what you do not seem to understand: there is nothing you can *fix* in the game.
What you can do, is modify it (thus modding).
Or you do what Overmind does, he builds helper programs for modders.
If you want to go into modding, I suggest you read some tutorials on modifer. the maps and mods forum has links in the sticky thread.
It's too bad too, because even kids like me know c++ but cant do anything to help.
yea I admit it, even though im not a minor im still a kid ;)
I know OM is working on all sorts of sick applications that are bz2 related, that are just as important as 1.3 patches.
Just simple things, I am just workin on many things at once, many RL programs as well soak up a large portion of my time, as they actually generate income.
:( man i hate feeling helpless
i guess i'll read some some stickies and try my hand at some modding...
well thx for all of your help... and fish i knew what ya meant when ya told me the first time, i guess i just didnt want to believe that there was no way i could help
There are loads of ways you can help, just that inititive is a great start. It just you cannot help in the exact way you thought you would be.