18,700
edits
History of Oni modding: Difference between revisions
m
actually, just found a reference to OniTools 1.0.1 on a Japanese blog entry from 2/3/01; IanPatt didn't waste any time!
(well, I'm sure I made a mistake somewhere, so someone will just have to correct it and not give me back-talk; also, yes, it says "0 years", deal with it for the next two days) |
m (actually, just found a reference to OniTools 1.0.1 on a Japanese blog entry from 2/3/01; IanPatt didn't waste any time!) |
||
| Line 16: | Line 16: | ||
[[Image:OniTools.jpg|thumb|225px|right|Ian Patterson was probably the most influential early binary hacker, and his trail-blazing program [[OniTools]] for the Mac was quickly ported to Windows. It had support for "CMPO" delta patches, and the earliest binary mods were probably based on this method.]] | [[Image:OniTools.jpg|thumb|225px|right|Ian Patterson was probably the most influential early binary hacker, and his trail-blazing program [[OniTools]] for the Mac was quickly ported to Windows. It had support for "CMPO" delta patches, and the earliest binary mods were probably based on this method.]] | ||
Fans with some expertise in parsing files with hex editors found that the binary data (i.e., the files ending in .dat and .raw, not to be confused with "binary" as a term for an application) held four-letter codes, indicating the start of each resource within that file. Within | Fans with some expertise in parsing files with hex editors found that the binary data (i.e., the files ending in .dat and .raw, not to be confused with "binary" as a term for an application) held four-letter codes, indicating the start of each resource within that file. Within a week of the street date for Oni, the community had its first resource modding tool. While the author did not yet know how all the data worked, his program could at least parse it, and allow the modder to more easily edit each resource without having to think in hexadecimal. It also supported user-friendly replacement of texture maps and allowed in-line viewing of the game's 3D models. | ||
There seems to be little evidence that this knowledge was put to use in modding the game resources beyond simple mods such as texture replacements, no doubt due to the lack of a complete understanding of how Oni's 65 resource types were inter-related. As time went on, though, modders increasingly yearned for more control over the game than BSL could afford them. Serious efforts in "hacking" the binary data began, as far as the modern community is concerned, in the fall of 2004 when [[User_talk:Ssg|ssg]] started a site on the newly-opened [http://www.oni2.net oni2.net]. A year later, this pool of knowledge was painstakingly moved by [[User:Geyser|geyser]] and ssg to its [[OBD|current home]] on the wiki to allow collaboration; at this point, [[User_talk:Neo|Neo]] appeared on the scene, adding his own knowledge that he had been acquiring independently until then. Today at least 90% of the binary resources are documented byte for byte thanks to their hard work. | There seems to be little evidence that this knowledge was put to use in modding the game resources beyond simple mods such as texture replacements, no doubt due to the lack of a complete understanding of how Oni's 65 resource types were inter-related. As time went on, though, modders increasingly yearned for more control over the game than BSL could afford them. Serious efforts in "hacking" the binary data began, as far as the modern community is concerned, in the fall of 2004 when [[User_talk:Ssg|ssg]] started a site on the newly-opened [http://www.oni2.net oni2.net]. A year later, this pool of knowledge was painstakingly moved by [[User:Geyser|geyser]] and ssg to its [[OBD|current home]] on the wiki to allow collaboration; at this point, [[User_talk:Neo|Neo]] appeared on the scene, adding his own knowledge that he had been acquiring independently until then. Today at least 90% of the binary resources are documented byte for byte thanks to their hard work. | ||