Editing .dat files

Sarevok · Civilian **Joined**: 09 Sep 2011

Hey guys, is it possible to edit .dat files? I'm trying to see if I can fix the serious error messages that crop up when playing with loads of AI players.

The-Light · Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:45 am Post subject:

The no-cd for ZH is a .dat file, so someone not EA could technically create one, editting however is treacherous. Turning the .dat into editable code is where you'd need a decompiler for, but i dunno if they exist for .dat files, seccond problem is that decompilers give pure code that does (or should do) the same as the original code without it's comments and that could mean it's not usable with generals anymore when recompiled.

Another thing i'm wondering is whether these errors aren't just script errors? If so it'd probably be better/faster/easier to just edit the scripts.

Either way good luck in trying.

Sarevok · Civilian **Joined**: 09 Sep 2011

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure it's not a scripting thing at this point. I've seen crashes where they involve the ini scripts being broken. But this seems to be at the heart of the game itself.

Another reason I feel it's not the script, is that I've also tried with a mod that re-wrote many/most of the scripts, and it was still crashing.

Any idea what language the .dat files were compiled from?

FurryQueen · General **Joined**: 24 Jul 2010 **Location**: Liyue

Oh, it's a sure bet that EA used C++ since, if I'm remembering correctly, that's what the W3D engine was written in. SAGE is just an extension to W3D, which powers E: BFD and Renegade.

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Dutchygamer · Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 4:36 pm Post subject:

I found references to .cpp files in the comments (in ini files), so I can only assume that SAGE was written in C++.

Sarevok · Civilian **Joined**: 09 Sep 2011

Cheers guys. You're far more helpful then the people on the other site Rolling Eyes

FurryQueen · General **Joined**: 24 Jul 2010 **Location**: Liyue

It's not like you get anywhere since I've already tried this and found little success. Oh sure, I disassembled the game.dat but it's a mess right now.

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