IRC logs for #opendune on OFTC at 2012-08-31
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20:40:55 <TrueBrain> bit late, but wassup Tomaz? :)
22:19:16 <glx> that's a fast conversation ;)
22:19:24 <Tomaz> i wanted to know the deal with that awesome tool you made
22:19:39 <Tomaz> well, i took 2 hours, he took like 4 days :P
22:23:53 <TrueBrain> the deal is on the webs; I posted enough about it I believe? Not sure wha tI wrote over time :)
22:24:17 <TrueBrain> it was an awesome idea I had, I wrote a proof-of-concept, made OpenDUNE with it, and now it is in the attic gaining dust :P
22:26:14 <Tomaz> so it could not be used for other games?
22:26:30 <Tomaz> im currently working on ThemePark doing the same as you guy has done with Dune
22:26:53 <TrueBrain> it only works on 16bit realmode DOS applications
22:26:58 <TrueBrain> although it can be extended, but ..
22:27:07 <Tomaz> how do i tell if its 16bit realmode?
22:27:07 <TrueBrain> ThemePark is not 16bit, nor real mode
22:27:17 <TrueBrain> besides, ThemePark open source is already being done
22:27:48 <TrueBrain> wait, that was theme hospital
22:27:57 <TrueBrain> ThemePark .. hmm .. let me dig my memory for a bit
22:28:14 <Tomaz> how do i tell if the exe is 16 bit real mode tho?
22:28:24 <TrueBrain> does it use dos4gw?
22:28:34 <TrueBrain> then it is 32bit protected mode :D
22:28:42 <TrueBrain> it is a bootstrap to get applications in that mode in a safe way
22:28:53 <TrueBrain> I never found an easy way to decompile those applications, as dos4gw is a complete library
22:29:35 <TrueBrain> my tool never managed to decompile a lot btw
22:29:39 <TrueBrain> alleyCat kinda worked
22:29:40 <glx> and IIRC there are different versions of dos4gw
22:29:43 <TrueBrain> some other weird games do work
22:29:55 <TrueBrain> glx: there are, all doing the same, but newer versions
22:30:00 <TrueBrain> like any library ;)
22:30:25 <Tomaz> is there a way to identify in the exe if its 16 bit real mode?
22:30:53 <TrueBrain> a .EXE ... no dos4gw is a good clue
22:31:03 <Tomaz> Desert Strike might be 16 bit then
22:31:08 <TrueBrain> glx: all EXEs are still MZblabla, not?
22:31:19 <TrueBrain> ah, I remember Desert Strike :D
22:31:30 <Tomaz> old enough to be 16 bit!
22:31:33 <glx> yes but IIRC there are some things in the header too
22:32:00 <TrueBrain> main issue is, the 32bit CPU supports 16bit completely
22:32:05 <TrueBrain> and the assembly is identical
22:32:05 <Tomaz> DS was made in 92 just like dune2
22:32:13 <TrueBrain> so basically, you have to read till you find a 32bit instruction :P
22:32:17 <TrueBrain> I did add support for some
22:32:18 <Tomaz> so there is a high chance its 16bit then
22:32:24 <TrueBrain> but 32bit memory allocation is a bitch
22:32:29 <TrueBrain> well, protected mode is
22:32:36 <TrueBrain> what normally happened in those old days
22:32:39 <TrueBrain> they were all real mode
22:32:42 <TrueBrain> unless some library was used
22:32:58 <TrueBrain> it was only later, with real OSes (Win3.1, ...) that they all went protected mode
22:33:06 <TrueBrain> protected mode was more work, so many just took the easy real mode
22:33:17 <TrueBrain> so yeah, DesertStrike might be real mode
22:33:23 <TrueBrain> that said, I havent touched my tool in years
22:33:28 <TrueBrain> I have it in storage somewhere ......
22:33:41 <Tomaz> desert strike was weird tho, the exe is just a decompressor, then like 95% of the "executable" is in the .DAT file along with all gprahics, music and so on
22:34:14 <Tomaz> we managed to RE that decompressor so I have this extra exe and all the data files extracted
22:34:28 <TrueBrain> normally also they encoded in some way
22:34:33 <TrueBrain> and tried to fool decompilers
22:34:42 <TrueBrain> which made static decompilation impossible
22:34:44 <Tomaz> but my skill in re'ing is non-existant as of now
22:34:48 <TrueBrain> the old way of protecting your exe against modifying
22:35:05 <TrueBrain> it was 0.0000 for me before I started with my tool, 3 months before OpenDUNE was there :P
22:35:45 <TrueBrain> matter of a lot of reading
22:35:54 <Tomaz> well i have re'd all data files for Theme PArk except the save games,
22:36:03 <Tomaz> but executables, cant do it :/
22:36:22 <TrueBrain> even more as compilers werent stable back then
22:36:25 <TrueBrain> lot of compiler errors
22:36:28 <glx> oh there is a DOS/32 to replace DOS/4G and DOS/4GW
22:36:38 <TrueBrain> glx: failed horribly, not?
22:36:51 <TrueBrain> anyway, I have to go out now .. will be back tomorrow around this time to chat some more if you like
22:37:01 <Tomaz> that would be very much appreciated
22:37:03 <TrueBrain> might see if my storage can recover my tool somewhat, so I can give DesertStrike a go?
22:37:14 <Tomaz> that would be, beyond awesome
22:37:16 <TrueBrain> if you can make me a .zip with the game in it .. 1 condition: it has to be 1 single .EXE
22:37:28 <Tomaz> the entire game is 2 files
22:37:42 <TrueBrain> owh, euh, that is fine
22:37:53 <TrueBrain> my tool does not support 1 exe starting another exe
22:37:59 <TrueBrain> amount of datafiles doesnt matter :)
22:38:06 <TrueBrain> (it doesnt implement OPEN of DOS syscalls :P)
22:38:22 <TrueBrain> euh, upload it somewhere, and give it to me tomorrow when we are both here :)
22:38:37 <TrueBrain> dont get your hopes up
22:38:45 <TrueBrain> the output of the tool is at first stages not useful
22:38:49 <TrueBrain> how often did we rerun it glx?
22:38:56 <TrueBrain> it is a long and painful process :D
22:39:19 <Tomaz> im the master of long and painful processes!
22:39:32 <TrueBrain> anyway, off for a beer
22:39:35 <glx> even worse I needed to run it in a VM
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