14 replies to this topic

[Stone Wolf]

Yeah, CLABMO01.2da determines which abilities and effects are gained at each level.

[Idobek]

Actually the monk fist progression is hardcoded, as is pretty much the entire monk class (HLA's being the exception). IIRC altering clabmo01.2da won't do jack. Changing the actual spells that are referenced from the clab file might have an effect but I have never tried.

On a related note I was browsing the exe the other day and found a section that looked as if it controlled the monk fist progression.

[hlidskialf]

The fists themselves are where the enhancements are. They are the items:
mfist1-8.itm.

[Grim Squeaker]

On a related note I was browsing the exe the other day

Heh... casual reading?

Nah, it can't be casual reading coz you can't read it on the lav. Unless you took your laptop into the lav with you...

[Idobek]

Nah, it can't be casual reading coz you can't read it on the lav. Unless you took your laptop into the lav with you...

Not recently no.

[Idobek]

I would think so. The monk fist entries, for example, are prime candidates. There are 41 entries (levels) referencing mfist1-8. I'm pretty sure I could change the items referenced and or when the fists are upgraded. (Of course, it could crash the game.)

It is all a matter of knowing where in the exe the thing want to change is controlled. If you happened to know the location of a hardcoded strref you could use SAY on it. The problem is finding stuff. To find the monk fist I opened up the exe in hex workshop and searched for 'MFIST'. Handily only one section of the exe contains MFIST entries and the level connection is pretty obvious.

Japhath patches bgmain in Tutu to change the starting movies and starting xp.

I'm sure igi might know a little more about this stuff.

[SimDing0]

Japhath patches bgmain in Tutu to change the starting movies and starting xp.

Hmm? Starting movies don't need any EXE patching, do they?

And I indulged in a bit along with Avenger way back when I was working on BG2 Stripdowns (please, don't ask...it's an embarassment; I was young and innocent). Simple stuff like changing the ToB starting area.

I strongly recommend that anyone who suspects there may be a hardcoded table of anything at all check the EXE for it. You never know what useful results will pop up.

[Idobek]

From iwg2.ml of the BG1Tutu source:

let patch_bgmain () =
   log_and_print "Patching BGMain and backing it up...\n";
   begin
   let buff = load_file "BGMain.exe" in
   let oc = open_out_bin "bg1tutu/backup/bgmain.exe" in
   output_string oc buff;
   close_out oc;
   let size = file_size "BGMain.exe" in
   (match size with
   | 7417902 (* Patched SoA BGMain.exe *)
     ->    if file_size ((config.source_path) ^ "/movies/moviecd1.bif") > 0 then
           String.blit "_INTRO" 0 buff 0x6ddc1c 6; (* Starting movie *)
           write_short buff 0x6ddc22 0; (* Change the remaining bytes to 0 *)
           write_int buff 0x658970 1; (* Set XP to 1 *)
           let oc = open_out_bin "BGMain.exe" in
           output_string oc buff;
           close_out oc

   | 7839790 (* Patched ToB BGMain.exe v24698 *)
     ->    if file_size ((config.source_path) ^ "/movies/moviecd1.bif") > 0 then
           String.blit "_INTRO" 0 buff 0x742b70 6; (* Starting movie *)
           write_short buff 0x742b76 0; (* Change the remaining bytes to 0 *)
           write_int buff 0x6B7258 1; (* Set XP to 1 *)
           let oc = open_out_bin "BGMain.exe" in
           output_string oc buff;
           close_out oc

   | 7843886 (* Patched ToB BGMain.exe v24699 *)
     ->    write_int buff 0x6B6270 1; (* Set XP to 1 *)
           let oc = open_out_bin "BGMain.exe" in
           output_string oc buff;
           close_out oc

   | _ -> log_and_print "Unknown version of BGMain.exe, skipping XP patch & movie renaming\n"
   );
end

IWG2 would have no reason to patch BGMain at all.

[CamDawg]

Japhath patches bgmain in Tutu to change the starting movies and starting xp.

Does it? I remember the entire plot being ruined for my wife when the BG2 opening movie started playing when we fired up Tutu for the first time. IIRC it was v4...

I was considering changing this for the Tutu Tweak Pack using a cheesy workaround--just swap the opening movie in the BIFF. Probably as stable as EXE patching.

[hlidskialf]

So long as the movies are in a bif, you can call them via script. I too recall the stripdown that so haunts Sim, ( ) and monsters like BGT use this method as well. The .exe doesn't have to be touched.

[Idobek]

Ooops sorry, I just read that code more carefully. The movie isn't being patched - just the starting xp.

[igi]

Lo,
There are quite a few interesting things in the .exe file, but as idobek mentions, finding them is problem. Theres also the problem that changing the wrong thing can just break the .exe file completely.
But its worth paying attention to.