Hex Editor on SE IV?

[Fyron]

Originally Posted by Urendi Maleldil

Maybe we could have a game with *gasp* more than 20 empires.

I think that might be a rather large undertaking, depending on how exactly Aaron coded the data and the UI. Think programming arrays/lists of data and UIs to fit precisely what is needed, instead of a more flexible and adaptable, if more complex, method. The Scores UI component, for example, has two tabs which show 10 empires each. These are not accessed via next/prev buttons (as on the empires screen), but rather explicitly coded "1-10" and "11-20" buttons. The same sort of thing exists for weapon damage at range tables, and many other places. Increasing the number of empires allowable is probably going to require reworking a large number of code blocks, rather than just toggling some sort of internal limit variable.

[GeorgiaBoy]

Since it may be a difficult task, anybody think of ways to spark interest in the folks who have a background?

GB

[capnq]

Originally Posted by Urendi Maleldil

crack open the SEIV.exe

Which is probably why no-one who has done it has replied in a public forum.

Everyone whom I know of who did hex-edit the .exe was kicked off the old PBW site for cheating.

I suspect the 255 limit is due to that value being stored as a "short integer". If I'm right, changing that would require decompiling the .exe , not just hex-editing it.

[Urendi Maleldil]

Originally Posted by Fyron

I think that might be a rather large undertaking, depending on how exactly Aaron coded the data and the UI...

I was part of the SEIV beta, and I remember when Aaron expanded the list to 20 empires. I remember him saying something to the effect that it was a matter of changing a few numbers, although I could be mistaken.

Originally Posted by capnq

Everyone whom I know of who did hex-edit the .exe was kicked off the old PBW site for cheating.

I'm usually a single-player person, and I didn't even think about cheaters. I don't see it as a problem for simultaneous games, since they're processed by the game host using a single .exe, but round robbin style games might be tricky. Maybe some sort of flag could be set in the turn file if a person is using a modified .exe, but that's pretty advanced.

I just really want to see some bugs squashed and some abilities that were requested but never delivered added in. (I'm big into modding). It would be great to bring some of the modability of SEV to SEIV. Plus as a writer and editor, that spelling mistake in the Vehicle types field (Vechicle) drives me nuts.

I still believe an AI helper program that would run alongside SEIV is possible, though I'm not a programmer, so I don't know how difficult it would be.

[capnq]

Originally Posted by Urendi Maleldil

I'm usually a single-player person, and I didn't even think about cheaters. I don't see it as a problem for simultaneous games, since they're processed by the game host using a single .exe

I can assure you that hex-editing in order to cheat in simultaneous games can be and has been done. (I didn't think it was possible, either, until I saw it happen on PBW.)

[Urendi Maleldil]

I would love to see the restriction of one space yard per planet removed. I'm building a mod right now in which I'd prefer to have a planet's construction rate determined by its level of industrial development. So instead of one big Space Yard facility, I would have multiple "Factory" facilities that only give a small construction rate.

Early in the beta you could build multiple space yards on a planet and it would add to that planet's build queue (rather than give multiple queues as in SEIII). Obviously that's unbalancing since space yards are rather powerful, but if balanced right, I think having many small space yard facilities could work well. The capacity in the .exe is there, we just need to find a way to remove the restriction.

[GeorgiaBoy]

It would be nice to have 1 facility per empire as well as other modifiers...More than 255 systems and 20 players would be a blast. Oh well.

GB

[dumbluck]

Originally Posted by Urendi Maleldil

I would love to see the restriction of one space yard per planet removed. I'm building a mod right now in which I'd prefer to have a planet's construction rate determined by its level of industrial development. So instead of one big Space Yard facility, I would have multiple "Factory" facilities that only give a small construction rate.

SJ found a way around that in his CB mod. Look at the Legacy Infrastructure. It's an upgrade of a non-SY facility to a SY facility.

[Urendi Maleldil]

Yeah, but that involves the SY upgrade trick, which the AI can't do. It also makes it more complicated for players who are unfamiliar with it.