The thread that started it all

[.Victom]

Ever since CJ met Claude, he wanted to look as cool as him. 

Okay, I've just took and a deep breath.. and..

 

HOW THE HELL?!

Have you never played GTA3 or San Andreas?

[Dwayne Phoenix]

Yes, duh, but how is CJ in Liberty City?!

 

I'd say it was during of the Marco's Bistro mission, but I've never been up to that level and I thought the rest of Liberty City had really bad, pixelly graphics..

[Dwayne Phoenix]

Well that sure does suck.

 

So you're telling me that I need to go and buy a game I basically already have, just to get some sound in my car and in cutscenes?

 

[Craig Kostelecky]

The picture with CJ is just from San Andreas. Most of that area was drawn up properly as the camera points to that exact spot during that mission.

[ceedj]

Yes.

 

It's what, 5 years old now? Should be EASY to find at GameStop/EB Games, or eBay for fairly cheap.

 

'Tis the nature of this mod, son. Don't worry, it won't kill you.

[GamerShotgun]

I can create a hungarian translation, with a modified fonts.txd file!

[eminem_d12_]

hi all,it someone check out the x-box graffic like mod for gta vc,i found it in gtamods.de and work 100% with gta-lc,why dont you guys(gta:lc-team) add this mod to the gta-lc unofficial mods list?

[AK-73]

Okay,

 

I'd like to get into memory editing myself in order to enable some features in Vice that GTA3 had (much more frequent insane dirvers, etc).

 

Currently I am working through the memory hacking topic in the Misc forum but I am wondering if there's not a single comprhensive documentation on it out there, especially after having a look at the vc debugging output and seeing all those class names there.

 

So if anyone could point me to any additional information about the general layout of the entities used by the games or has any other helpful hint, I'd be grateful to hear from you. (I'd especially interested in studying the scripting engine and how it translates opcodes into function calls.)

 

Alex

 

[Craig Kostelecky]

The source code for the launcher has been public for quite some time (I just uploaded the latest sources yesterday). You can look in there for anything you need.

[GTAThomas]

I'm sorry, what?

[random_download]

Delfi put quite a few addresses in that topic into a text file a while ago here. You could also try the source for my trainer from here.

[eminem_d12_]

just check it http://www.gtamods.de -> mods -> vice city-> page1-> mod no.3 . installlation is easy, extract the files from archive in your gta vc(gta lc mod) dir.

[Ben]

There isn't a need to. This list is generally only for mods that are made specifically for LC.

 

Obviously a lot of VC mods will work automatically, whereas others won't.

 

As LC progresses, I'm going to compile a full list of changes from VC (and GTA3, in some instances) that will make modding easier - a good example is the updated Vehicles List. When LC has reached the final stage, I'm planning on compiling another list that details info on specific files, rather than areas - to expand on the vehicles example, I'll give a full default.ide comparison .

 

But that's still a fair way off...

[Xx-TiNkLe-xX]

Just an idea: you should split the files up and put them in parts for people with slow connections.

[AK-73]

Thanks for the helpful hints, folks. I had downloaded the source code already and have begun to study it but I figured its better to start with the gtaf thread about memory hacking first, learn about actor blocks, car blocks, etc. I have also begun making up my own excel file, similar to delfi's text file but then I thought it might be wiser to ask about the extent of current publicly available knowledge first. Delfi's text file won't help me much unless I know for sure that *all* significant information from the memory hacking thread are contained in it. Otherwise I have to sift through all the posts and make up my own collection, I fear.

 

I've gathered that the MTA folks are the ones with the deepest knowledge about VC's memory structure? Anyone with good contacts to them? I'd like

to get in touch with them and ask them to release their knowledge to the public, even though it surely has been tried before.

 

Alex

 

PS Maybe you, random_download, can answer me this question: would it be possible to find the code responsible for insane driver behaviour by following how the scripting engine handles the according opcode and then finding all the locations where the VC engine calls the same routine itself? The way I figure there's a percent chance for going nuts after being shot at by drivers that might be able to get uncovered near one of those jumps. Or is it more complicated than that?

[AK-73]

 

That is exactly what happens when you don't load the model. You could have a temporary fix by loading the model at the start of the scm and never releasing it.

 

Well, how does Vice do it? If it doesn't load the model at the start of the scm, there must be a way to load a different model and making the same model get released automatically through memory hacking. Doing it through the scm is kludgy but better than nothing.

 

Anyway, to return to the topic, it occured to me that one might get an even better version of non-prison Claude by using the model from SA. When I

tried importing claude.dff from SA for PS2 though, KAM's script failed on me. If anybody can hand me a .dff that I can import into gmax, I'll see what can be achieved by binding the vertices to Vice's bones. Results should be superior to the latest version. That wouldn't help with prison Claude a bit though.

 

Alex

[Dwayne Phoenix]

Ah, I understand now..

[glenster]

I don't know if this will make any helpful difference to whoever is trying to fix the LC flying train problem,

but sometimes I see something like it happen when C.J. drives a train in SA, too:

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/1346/00gta1wtf33b3lw.jpg

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/2155/00gta1wtf33c4dv.jpg

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/6549/00gta1wtf33d7mv.jpg

[random_download]

@AK-73: Yes you could do that. You will need a dissassembler such as IDA Pro, then you can trace back the code to find what you want. If you need any help on finding the opcode functions and jump tables etc., then just ask.

 

As for people with the deepest knowledge of VCs memory structure, your best bet would probably be the VC-MP team which (I think) is open source.

P.S. Delfi's text file only has the addresses upto a certain point in the topic, I think its only about the first 10 or 15 pages of it.

[random_download]

@AK-73: IMO the GTA3 Claude model looks much better than the SA one, and anyway GTA:LC is supposed to be a straight port into the VC engine.

 

Well, how does Vice do it? If it doesn't load the model at the start of the scm, there must be a way to load a different model and making the same model get released automatically through memory hacking. Doing it through the scm is kludgy but better than nothing.

To actually load the model you would just use an scm hook, or if you wanted I guess you could call the function directly.

[Dwayne Phoenix]

I game has frozen on my twice now, and this message has popped up both times..

 

 

[Ben]

With an installer, I don't think this is really possible.

 

Ideally, we want to have support for all our dial-up users, but with features such as download managers with pause/resume functions, most of the problem is overcome. For example, if you put the package on to download before you go to bed, when you get up, it'll be mostly done. I doubt the entire package will ever be more than 120MB - v5b was 102MB, so that still gives us 18MB extra to play with.

 

If you don't like doing it this way, or can't because you have a low download limit per month, you can get someone who has broadband to download LC for you, or you could time it for the resetting of your download limit - do half before it resets, and half after. I did this a few times when I had dial-up and a 400MB download limit per month .

 

We'll see what happens though - we MAY release a separate rar package, but at this stage, I don't really see a need for it .

[Ben]

I've gathered that the MTA folks are the ones with the deepest knowledge about VC's memory structure? Anyone with good contacts to them? I'd like

to get in touch with them and ask them to release their knowledge to the public, even though it surely has been tried before.

From what I understand, MTA generally don't share much information. I've got the impression from some things I've read that they are quite happy to get information of others, but then generally don't return the favour .

 

By the way, regarding the source codes - the links were only updated last week (for the launcher) and the other day (for the vcopcode).

 

We also have a package online that contains all the VC EXEs for those who may need them with development of the launcher. You'll need to contact Craig or myself for the link and password, but this is ONLY for research/development. Other requests for the package will generally be ignored.

 

However, Hammer has assured us that with the new vcversion.dll module within the launcher, you only need to find the address in 1.0 and then call a function for it to work with all other EXEs. The package is still there in case any problems are encountered though .

[Ben]

Anyway, to return to the topic, it occured to me that one might get an even better version of non-prison Claude by using the model from SA. When I

tried importing claude.dff from SA for PS2 though, KAM's script failed on me. If anybody can hand me a .dff that I can import into gmax, I'll see what can be achieved by binding the vertices to Vice's bones. Results should be superior to the latest version. That wouldn't help with prison Claude a bit though.

What random said ^.

 

You're Claude model is really awesome - apart from the minor issue of sizing which you mentioned in your last email, I don't think there's anything wrong with it .

 

And besides, we've already got an SA Claude for LC in the Unofficial Mods list .

[ModelingMan]

Hey guys, been a while since I posted.

 

Just want to let you know that I haven't forgot about this project. I still plan on completing the menu, and other things that I have planned. Friday is my deadline for all my college work, so hopefully after then I can continue with my work for this project.

 

See you guys soon.

[random_download]

You could have a split rar archive or something, however for people on broadband it would be very annoying to have to download 20 or so separate packages. If the torrent download still exists then I would use that on dialup as pausing etc. is easy.

[harri1990]

when i try to install those mods.. txt files .. with IMGtool .. it says file is tho big to change that txt or smthing how can i change those textures then ??

[AK-73]

Anyway, to return to the topic, it occured to me that one might get an even better version of non-prison Claude by using the model from SA. When I

tried importing claude.dff from SA for PS2 though, KAM's script failed on me. If anybody can hand me a .dff that I can import into gmax, I'll see what can be achieved by binding the vertices to Vice's bones. Results should be superior to the latest version. That wouldn't help with prison Claude a bit though.

What random said ^.

 

You're Claude model is really awesome - apart from the minor issue of sizing which you mentioned in your last email, I don't think there's anything wrong with it .

 

And besides, we've already got an SA Claude for LC in the Unofficial Mods list .

 

Still a comparison of the two might bring an improvement, don't you think? After all the SA Claude is geared towards the skins & bones system. I'll download the mod and compare the two Claudes.

 

Alex

 

[Craig Kostelecky]

If replacing the files does not work in IMG Tool, then delete the originals and add the new ones. Back up first though.

[Analogue]

if you are still willing to help,

 

I think my problem might be because one of the files you gave me are out of date because i get that crash befor the game even starts. now the resion why i was able to take the screenshot was because i only added v6. nothing else.

 

could my problem be because there is not alot of drive space?

could it be my comp?

 

i will love the help.

 

 

Also, if you plan on compiling the scm, you'll need to tell your builder to look at the LC ide files instead of the Vice City ones. That's only a concern if you plan on modifying the scm yourself though

what do you mean by tell my builder? which ide files?

Edited June 15, 2006 by ITBTD