[raynor]

Originally posted by Shadowstar:
[QB]Well, what I was thinking was going with something similar to the mods that exist for games like Unreal Tournament, Quake(s), etc. Those mods all change the code of the programs but do so using a patch system. You can't do squat with the mod patch without the game itself. The patch simply alters the game code, but doesn't contain any actual executable code. However, because those games support mods, they have options within them that allow someone to play with the default code or to "activate" a mod. SEIV doesn't have this feature. The mod feature that it does support is limited to the configurable data files only (through the use of seperate folders), and not actual game code. If we were to do something like this, we would need to give the mod a function that allows players to quickly and easily turn it on or off, allowing someone to play using the default SEIV code or the Starscape code as they wish.

That's pretty interesting about the Quake/Unreal Tournament Mods. I didn't know such a thing was possible. I did know that companies could pay to license the engine itself to create new games. I think I read that it cost about a million bucks to license the Quake engine vs. about half that for the Unreal engine. I'm not sure if each company also demands a share of the sales percentages as well.

Hmm... I wonder if I can create an analogy. In a Quake III mod, you could change any of the graphics or sounds and probably tweak different parameters. But I wonder if you could code it so that there was such a thing as ghosts that could walk through walls? And, could you create creatures, such as ghosts, that can only be harmed by magical weapons. Well, maybe you could on that Last one. I think it might let you give limited immunity to certain weapon types. But I don't know that it would let you have a player character play as a ghost with the ability to materialize and dematerialize, would it? That might be something that we think is really cool but that they didn't code into the game.

I hope that is almost an adequate analogy to explain the difficulty of modding SE4 to do what you want. Your idea is incredibly cool--I think I played Starflight I & II? I know I played Star Control I, II and III.

Well, anyways, cool idea but just not possible even if you had a team of programmers available. It would require enough work that you'd be better of writing your own game.

Of course, if you ever get access to the source code for a game like Star Control II, drop me a line.