G2Ext

G2Ext revision 32 is out!

2010-05-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

The G2Ext revision 32 binaries are now available for download.

This is a bugfix release. It is highly recommended to update to this revision.

Changes:
- ICoreIngame:: Get*() crash fixed (I hate static_cast(obj) now)
- vtable member var fix for all classes that inherit zCObject
- Event trigger function hook G2EXT_CB_ON_INGAME changed (diverse zero ptr AVs...)

- Added functions to headers that have been used in GothicX

You can grab the binaries from our Google Code project page.

The sources can be grabbed from our subversion repository @ Google Code.

G2Ext revision 29 is out!

2010-04-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

The G2Ext revision 29 binaries are now available for download.

This is a bugfix release. All users of revisions 18-28 should update due to a crash that leads to unusability of G2Ext!
You can grab the binaries from our Google Code project page.

The sources can be grabbed from our subversion repository @ Google Code.

G2Ext revision 28 is out!

2010-04-27T10:12:00.001-07:00

The G2Ext revision 28 binaries are now available for download.

This is a minor bugfix build.
You can grab the binaries from our Google Code project page.

The sources can be grabbed from our subversion repository @ Google Code.

G2Ext revision 23 is out!

2010-04-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

The G2Ext revision 23 binaries are now available for download.

This build features vob, mob, item and npc lists, a function to determine the exact type of a vob and a major fix on zCObject (vtable placeholder was missing).
You can grab the binaries from our Google Code project page.

The sources can be grabbed from our subversion repository @ Google Code.

G2Ext revision 17 is out!

2010-04-05T03:47:00.000-07:00

The G2Ext revision 17 binaries are now available for download.

I have worked a bit more on the (not yet working) Spacer support.
Binaries for Spacer support are not included!
There have been some changes on usability, stability and performance.

You can grab the binaries from our Google Code project page.

The sources can be grabbed from our subversion repository @ Google Code.

Resistance is futile!

2010-04-05T03:05:00.000-07:00

It seems like the Spacer (Gothic's world editor) doesn't want to be assimilated by G2Ext...
If remember correctly, I've already had the same issue at the beginning of the whole project with Gothic...

Spacer, I will break your will! (...somehow!) Resistance is futile!

(Image by xkcd.com under CCPL 2.5)

G2Ext revision 13 is out!

2010-03-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

The G2Ext revision 13 binaries are now available for download.

I've added a few Spacer api headers, btw. Spacer support will be coming soon (due to lots of compatibility reasons).
We've also worked a bit on stability and fixed some bugs.

You can grab the binaries from our Google Code project page.

The sources can of course be grabbed from our subversion repository @ Google Code.

Is it an airplane? Is it an UFO? No...

2010-03-10T06:05:00.001-08:00

... it's just G2Ext that has just been released!

http://code.google.com/p/g2ext/

The G2Ext homepage is now live, too:

http://g2ext.paindevs.com

Just something ...

2010-03-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

... interesting to mention:

"Direct access to ZenGin objects" @ WoG (german language - use Google translate)

NicoDE and Sektenspinner are doing really crazy stuff with Gothic's crappy 'Daedalus' script language, like accessing memory, playing with Daedalus's stack, etc.

Its really worth having a look at.

(Image by xkcd.com under CCPL 2.5)

Getting close to releasing it...

2010-03-07T07:38:00.000-08:00

G2Ext has finally reached a "releaseable" status, completely ignoring the fact that it is actually just beta, yet.

DaDummy and I will have to work out something to release it without getting any problems.

Thats all for now.

yes! yessss! YES!!!

2010-02-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

I've just finished up the rewrite of G2Ext (including mod starter). The code is now way more structurized and cleaner than ever.
There are still some small bugs which need to be taken care of.
The only thing that still has to be redone is the hooking system, as still I have to wait for the new libinject version.
Now I have to write the API documentation.... *stereotype-movie-scream*

Thats all for now^^

Bam!

2010-02-07T23:00:00.000-08:00

The G2Ext core is finally working again (more or less).
And Zerxes is currently doing a new version of libinject.
*hooray*

Not acutally much new stuff...

2010-01-31T10:14:00.000-08:00

I spared the last days with writing the content management system of the new G2Ext homepage which will go live soon.
The G2Ext rewrite has also made progress (75%).

Thats all for now^^ Stay tuned.

Happy holidays

2009-12-24T02:35:00.000-08:00

I wish you happy holidays and a happy new year.

There are also good news about the G2Ext project. We finally managed to get rid of our differences. There is still some things to discuss (mostly formal stuff).

The development will continue in the beginning of 2010.

There will also be a release in mid-2010. And we will have a project site.

Just for info: G2Ext will be released under GPL.

(pic kinda unrelated)

The ways part...

2009-11-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

After some team-internal trouble with PainDevs, I have decided to leave the team. The production on G2Ext has been stopped, because of that. I don't really know whether I will continue the project or not. Also, continuing the project will cause a lot of work, because I have to rewrite big parts of G2Ext...
Its really hard to have to think about abandoning so much work...

Just to let you know: I'm not working on Gothic II: Invasion any more, as it is a PainDevs project (DaDummy actually did most of it).

I think I'll go and start over with Zerxes to get GothicX done.

At this point, I want to thank all the people that supported me and the World of Gothic community. You're great, folks.

This is the end... for now.

(this actually won't be my last entry to this blog.)

Monthly heartbeat

2009-10-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

Its already octobre and the project is now running for ~8 months. Wow.

This month it has been quite quiet around G2Ext. We had to put the G2Ext project on hold, because we have to wait for the next version of libinject and our "Gothic II: Invasion Mod", but be sure, that we always make some progress on G2Ext, because we have to fix up and test a s...load of stuff for the mod^^

(I should also get the next version of libinject in the next weeks. A big thanks to Zerxes on this point for providing us with that great hooking lib)

Jeez! I did it!

2009-09-26T09:02:00.001-07:00

I implemented a new console into Gothic.

Now I'm asking you folks: Which features do you want to become real with this new console?

Post your ideas, suggestions, requests, etc. here @ WoG!

Hardcor...coded IEEE floats for daedalus

2009-09-10T16:42:00.001-07:00

I just implemented John R. Hauser's SoftFloat as Daedalus Externals in G2Ext.

(The text on the pic to the left means: "Black coffee, dude!")

// Creates a float out of a specified integer
func int ex_fmk(var int a);
 // Converts a specified float to an integer
func int ex_ftoi(var int a);
 // Adds the specified floats (a + b)
func int ex_fadd(var int a, var int b);
 // Subtracts the specified floats (a - b)
func int ex_fsub(var int a, var int b);
 // Multiplies the specified floats (a * b)
func int ex_fmul(var int a, var int b);
 // Divides the specified floats (a / b)
func int ex_fdiv(var int a, var int b);
 // Returns the remainder of the specified floats
func int ex_frem(var int a, var int b);
 // Returns the square root of the specified float
func int ex_fsqrt(var int a);
 // rounds the float (all after comma digits will be zero)
func int ex_frnd(var int a);
 // Returns 1 if float 'a' is equal the corresponding value 'b', and 0 otherwise.
func int ex_feq(var int a, var int b);
 // Returns 1 if float 'a' is less than or equal the corresponding value 'b', and 0 otherwise.
func int ex_fle(var int a, var int b);
 // Returns 1 if float 'a' is less than the corresponding value 'b', and 0 otherwise.
func int ex_flt(var int a, var int b);

Announcing... The first G2Ext based mod!

2009-09-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

Prepare for the invasion!

We, the PainDevs are announcing our newest mod with the name "Invasion". This mod is the first mod to use our engine-modding toolkit G2Ext. Actually we just wanted it to be some kind of tech demo... but... you know. We had so many ideas and brainfarts, so that it ended up as full modification.

Gameplay:

Hit n' run - over 60 waves of undead are waiting for you to slaughter them! But watch out, so that you don't get killed yourself!
Attack! - you have right one spell to defend yourself: The "fatboy"-spell.
Quick gameplay - kill all enemies before the next wave rolls on.
Collectable items - they are giving the hero health, mana and temporary abilities (all quake style).
Slow motion mode for dangerous situations.
Level up! - by killing enemies, the hero gains exp to upgrade his abilities.

Features:

"Fatboy"-spell - enemys blow up when they get damaged.
New interface with slo-mo bar, exp bar and wave infos.
Graphical tutorial.
New keyboard layout.
A new world. Custom made for the mod.

And progress we did...

2009-08-30T15:13:00.001-07:00

We're currently working on something special, that we will announce in the next weeks.
And: Of course it has something to do with G2Ext. *g*

We also made a lot of progress with G2Ext this month. Now its running more faster and stable than ever before, but there is still a lot to do.

Gone fishi.... err.... beta!

2009-07-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Yep, G2Ext reached the beta status. All really important features (core-features) are implemented and working (yay!), but there is still a lot to do (Gothic II headers, bugfixing, etc.).
At this point, I want to thank all our testers for keeping calm and reporting bugs^^.

Implemented features:

Hook system (using libinject by Daniel Diepold [Zerxes])
Callback system (registration of various callbacks)
Parser interaction (needs testing)
GUI stuff
NPC stuff
and a lot more^^

The story of... C++ calling conventions, Google and needed informations...

2009-06-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

I was googling a long time about C++ calling conventions and that what happens there in detail.
MSDN is almost always the first station to stop by. They have good references, but often they aren't really detailled, so I have something for you. (Found it per Google..... *cough*)

So I found this interesting blog, with a lot of interesting stuff in there:

Nyaneve - Adventures in Windows debugging and reverse engineering

and nice review about Windows calling conventions up there (yeah, its detailled!):

http://www.nynaeve.net/?p=66

So thx to Ken Johnson aka. Skywing sharing this nice blog and informations with us :)

dllmain(...) + usage of delete operator = argh!

2009-06-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Since its beginning, the G2Ext Starter (CMD/GUI) had a problem with loading the g2ext.dll. I was always wondering why?

With some infos about errors-while-loading-dlls from NicoDE, I finally managed to fix the bug.

Never use the delete [object] operator in a dllmain function. Never! Or anything else what could make the dllmain fail.

Here is some good doc about best practice in DLLs (even if its from MS... its useful):
Best Practice in DLLs (@ microsoft.com)

Quick news...^^

2009-06-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

I think screens say more than anything^^

Aaaaand: Current release builds are now being given to chosen testers. If you want to get involved in our "testing-program" just drop a message to DaDummy.

Legal or not - That is the question...

2009-05-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

...that lots of people have been bugging DaDummy and me about, so we just went to PiranhaBytes and JoWood and asked for allowance. And then... the unimaginable! We got the allowance from PB and JoWood!
Yeah! No more being-bugged about legality stuff!

Man, I'd really like to have a Guinness about that!
But I have none... D:

By the way: If you still think that this project is not really legal and/or just want to make a drama, then drop a private message for DaDummy at the World of Gothic forum!

Parser interaction

2009-05-12T12:09:00.001-07:00

As you all know, we're doing quite devious and sadistic things with Gothic's engine, but.... wow... we managed to make Gothic register a external script function, which can actually be used. *weeeeee*

G2Ext + zCWorldPerFrameCallback = weee

2009-05-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

After playing a bit with Gothic's "per frame callback"-system, I implemented added a wrapper for the zCWorldPerFrame callback system into G2Ext. No more hooks (and their stupid limitations) needed to perform any actions in the main loop!
You just register your function in to the callback system and you're done! G2Ext does all the annoying stuff with zCWorldPerFrameCallback for you.^^

Lets make a short example:

// foobar() is the function which shall be registered
// and called each rendering cycle
void __stdcall foobar(void* world, void* camera)
{
MessageBox(0, L"hello world :)", 0, 0);
};

// a random init function which will be called at program start
void init(void)
{
// Register callback to function "foobar"
g_callback->registerPerFrameCallback("foobar", &foobar);
// Globally turn on rendering callbacks
g_callback->enableCallbacks();
};

// a random shutdown function which will be called when the program
// is being closed
void shutdown(void)
{
// remove "foobar" from the callback list
g_callback->unregisterPerFrameCallback("foobar");
// globally disable callbacks
g_callback->disableCallbacks();
};

By the way: callbacks can be registered at any time.

Another example for callback usage is on-screen output:

void __stdcall Callback(void* World, void* Camera)
{
// Get the zCView instance
zCView* screen = (zCView*)GetScreen();
// Create a zSTRING (actually a wrapped std::basic_string.....)
// with text
// Oh, how i hate zSTRINGS! They caused so much trouble...
zSTRING text("G2Ext Pre Alpha");
// Print everything on screen (x, y, text)
screen->Print(200, 200, text);
};

A shot on the new starter

2009-05-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

The new starter has been finished so far and it works^^
At the moment, it doesnt have many features, but its planned to give it at least the same functionality as the GothicStarter by Nico.

If you're interested in G2Ext and want to participate in our project or contribute something to it, drop a private message to DaDummy at the World of Gothic forum.

Sooooo.... wt* is G2Ext actually?

2009-05-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

G2Ext is a engine modding toolkit for Gothic II, which allows you to write and use your own engine plugins for Gothic II.
The toolkit can be used to implement f.e new features or modify existent features of the engine, without modifying the actual data of the engine itself, by using code injection.

The actual reason why we make G2Ext is, because there are lots of people which actually want to use some features for their mods, which can only be implemented by modifying the engine.
The thought behind it was to make a unified code injection toolkit for Gothic II to make it easier for people to implement their stuff to the engine by plugins, so that they don't have to do the whole code injection stuff themselves.

G2Ext will also have some features that will make your like easier (f.e a callback system for the main application loop, interaction with Gothic II's script parser, etc.) and also some other stuff to play with.

If you now think that G2Ext is some wonder toolkit which makes everything possible, you're only partially right. You can make everything, but it depends on your skills and knowledge about how to do it.
By the way: You will need knowledge about reverse engineering, gamehacking and good C++ skills to work with G2Ext.

Heyhey!

2009-05-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our new G2Ext-dev-blog^^
We (DaDummy and Thunderhawk) will post our progress more or less regularily up here.

Have fun.

Sig.
The G2Ext devs.