6 replies to this topic

[smoothly91]

Hey guys,

I need some help with finding a couple of tools to modify a game. This might sound like a waist of time, but together with a couple of other people I'm going to update the old game 007: Nightfire to a brand new 2007 game. Everything was going very well untill we tried to get into the engine and the models of the game. One problem is we can't find a dll extractor/editor to get into the engine.dll to modify it the way we want. Another problem is that we can't find ANY model viewer, opener or editor for the Nighfire .mdl models. We've already tried it with Quake tools, Half-Life model viewers, plugins for 3ds max etc etc. The Half-Life .mdl files are not the same as the Nightfire .mdl files, which is a big problem.

Does anyone here know a tool or software for the dll (engine) problem and/or the mdl (Nightfire model) problem? Or does anyone know another way to get into the engine or to change the .mdl into a file extension that can be opened properly?

Thank you very much in advance!

[dave_]

Sounds like you dont really understand what a DLL is. You can't 'extract' it; atleast not in a reasonable way anyway.

The same is true for the rest of the data you want. Its in a proprietary format.

Mdl is a common abbreviation for model.

You can't mess with these formats unless the original authors release specifications and or tools.
Or someone very clever reverse engineers them for you, which is very unlike since its an uncommon format, with few (or one) games.

[cnflkt]

This post makes me sad.

Anyway dave_ is right.

I would suggest instead of hacking a seemingly closed and un-editable game (thank EA), why not focus your attentions on a game that is editable, namely the series of games you mentions in your post, Quake and Half-life series.

Other editable games include the Unreal series. Probably best to go with quake 3 or quake 2 since the engine source code is fully available (kudos Id).

It would be far a more fruitful venture that's for certain, if you're serious about making something new, hell Goldeneye has be re-made using the HL2 engine although this is a total rebuild, not a modification of the original N64 game.

Anyway my 2?pence? worth

[smoothly91]

Thank you for your reply dave_, I understand what you mean. It wasn't my idea to 'extract dll's', but a friend of me kept holding on that it was possible to change the extension of the models and all the other things, by getting into the dll file. But now I know that's not a possibility, I think I'll buy one of the games cnflkt mentioned in the reply. (thank you too cnflkt for the games you mentioned). Anyother thing that you should know is that I'm just a enthusiastic 16 year old boy, and not a man of 30 who's trying to modify a game without knowing anything about it.

Well anyway, thank you both for helping me, and I hope I'll have more succes with Quake III or Half-Life.

[dave_]

For ease of use and the best tool chain, I'd recommend going with Unreal. You don't need to have a proper IDE, and you can make your games (of any sort, but its best for FPS) very easily.

You wont be able to add the top-of-the-range engine features to your game; you're stuck with the same as whatever version of unreal you pick, but its probably easiest for your level now.

[gekido]

Technically you can open the Dll with any hex editor and modify it all you want - whether this will be useful to you depends on your 'l33t h4x0r' ability, but it's definitely possible to edit dll's if you know what you're doing.

With that said, the other responses are much more valid for what you sound like you're attempting - use an engine that actually supports modding, or use a stand-alone engine and create your own game...

[mr_yeahman]

my question is; WHY???
why even spend time to mod a crappy closed game like 007:unerfire???
Make ur own stuff, or remakes of old goodies like goldeneye N64 or why not a mod to hl2?