Smaller Projects
The majority of these projects are focusing on reverse engineering of data types and executables, with some tools being written to utilise the knowledge gained from reverse engineering.
SigEngine (2019)
This project includes the research into the datatypes and structure of the engine developed by Signal Studios, which is used for the 'Toy Soldiers' games. Research into these games begun because of the possiblity of modding, thus I started to learn more of the engine. As of January 2020, no tools exist for these games. Currently, the project can unpack archives and read formats which contain different localisations and some geometry. A 'hook' was also developed which enabled the ability to utilise Discords Rich Presence, and displaying which level was currently being played, which was achieved by hooking into level loading events at runtime.
Vision Engine (2019)
This engine was developed by Trinigy, and was released in 2003. By 2011, it was discontinued after Havok acquired Trinigy. However, some developers still use this engine, such as Firefly Studios, the developers behind the Stronghold games.
My particular interest lies with the file formats and how the engine works; Stronghold games utilize many DLLs or 'plugins' which could have used 'hot-reloading' technology during the games development which I have interest in due to my disseration. For the file formats, I have managed to unpack its archives and manage to export some geometry. I hope to develop this project further when the new Stronghold game is released.
Quest3D Engine (2019)
Another game engine which certainly peaks my interests because of it's unique functionality. It uses a 'graphical programming' language, which enables developers to modify their games without needing for constant recompilations. Games are developed using 'channels' which link together to form a directed graph and can be built as objects.
Even though 'Ship Simulator' games do not peak my interest, These games are the only ones I managed to find to view the progression of the Quest3D engine. A small program was developed to parse these files; It allows the exporting of geometry, and the analysis of the contents. No repository exists to respect their license, as it was only done to improve my knowledge.
RW.NET (2019)
A library written in C# for deserlizing RenderWare files. This library was developed for batch converting maps to work in Mafia II, which currently works with Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. As of January 2020, I have managed to add support for Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, San Andreas and The Godfather.