Changing spell particle effects

[azxten]

Originally Posted by August [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Why would it be difficult to determine where these are being referenced? What method is passing in the data to the DirectX particle emitter function. Is the DirectX particle emitter function well-defined? Are there references? How did the original EQ devs know how to create the DD surfaces? We should be able to locate calls into directx. We then should be able to see how these files are deserialized, or find the entry point into the DirectX method call and see what gets passed in as a parameter. If it's just the DDS surface, then we should be able to look up the member definition of that DX interface and understand the serialization format. If it's passing actual parameters, then our custom function is defined in source and we should be able to tell what we're pulling from the files.

In either case we own the code that deserializes or we know which method is decoding the files - and that method, if DirectX, is public domain.

Its not really difficult, just very time consuming. Go do it. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[August]

Like I said - I am more than willing. I have some expertise in this exact area, so somewhat exciting just to be able to contribute. I just need source access.

[Furinex]

Originally Posted by August [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Like I said - I am more than willing. I have some expertise in this exact area, so somewhat exciting just to be able to contribute. I just need source access.

August, I guess what we're confused about is... what source? No one here can give you anything you already dont have access too. We're all using the same files out of the EQT/p99 directory. Have at it!

Azxten, You see your PM?

[August]

I think I get the confusion, now.

Source refers to the actual lines of code that create the eqgame.exe and .dll files. For the modifications that have been made to this game, I am assuming that we have in our possession for this server the actual C++ code and headers that accompany it. I know at some point the PEQ stuff was leaked on a torrent and I downloaded it then.

Your EQ Install folder has only the object files that are created after compilation. As such, you are forced to do black-box modifications to those files. With only these objects you have literally no options besides opening hex editors and marking files.

Furthermore, when you edit these files there's usually a checksum that accompanies them that will check for modifcations - mainly corruptions. that will prevent them from loading - it's risky business. The kind of access I would require would be to see the true source directory and dive into the code to see where these things get parsed.

If that's not possible, Furinex, then what you are doing is the best hope we have.

Cheerio!

August

[azxten]

Originally Posted by August [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I am assuming that we have in our possession for this server the actual C++ code and headers that accompany it. I know at some point the PEQ stuff was leaked on a torrent and I downloaded it then.

Unfortunately we don't have any client source code. EQEmulator (which P99 uses a heavily modified code base) was written from the ground up by reverse engineering the communications protocol between client/server.

Thus we use the actual Sony client with a completely rewritten server. All of the changes to client side things are done via patches which overwrite some of the client files with modified versions. Similar to what we are doing now with spellsnew.edd/.eff. The idea is eventually this modified file will be provided to Nilbog and he will approve it to be put into an official patch which really just means a zip file where the file overwrites the standard client file from Sony.

Azxten, You see your PM?

Yes, I'll assist on the weekend. I'm very busy during the week, sorry for not responding and letting you know earlier.