2010-07-30, 09:02 AM
This is pretty neat. The bulk of the memory wasn't exactly where I expected to find it, but then I've never done this sort of thing before. The memory inspector may need to be a lot more sophisticated to make it useful. Or it may be that all of Som's uninitialized memory is all in one place (section 13) ...it seems like most stuff is stored in static records maybe even byte identical to the files in the PARAMS folder.
I can see the main player stats and the player's spatial orientation. I can also see all of the enemies I think. So maybe already I can do some interesting stuff like display the monsters HP/MP over its head and even display damage numbers as they happen, both for diagnostics and if you wanted to integrate something like that into your game. I can definitely see all of the magic spells / could change their characteristics on the fly I reckon. I can see numbers for the players swing and magic I think... probably just the gauges come to think of it. There might be a way to use that to fix the no magic equipped gauge bug.
And of course there is enough there to work out a fall damage extension. It might be better to set the calculated damage in a counter so an event can decide whether to deal the damage or not or how to generally proceed. I also want to work out a way to describe formulas in the extension file so you can do it that way.
It's actually easiest to detect the player and monsters because you can see the numbers churning when they move around. Finding all of the less obvious stuff is going to require some sleuthing and clever map setups. I hope some of you really get into that.
The way I have this setup right now is kind of centric to my keyboard, which is not really standard. The keys can be remapped however, and eventually we can work out a better arrangement maybe to suit a standard full size keyboard. Basically backspace opens/closes the overlay, but you can open it with any button that it uses also. I'm surprised backspace doesn't have the same function as the esc key in Som. I'm seriously considering disabling the Enter key from Som's pov so it can be used exclusively for Ex stuff. You can use the spacebar to do everything enter does afaik (at least with the patched exe files)
Then from there each F key (like F1) not already used by Som brings up different information. Originally I was going to have the function keys switch between different layouts with different functions, but now I think they will all just go up on the screen and the F keys will just be toggles. The Ex.ini file will let you setup the layouts you like and tie F keys together so if you press one others get out of the way. Eventually I'd like to replace Som's clunky F1 and F2 keys because they don't always even work, and can't be accessed outside of som_db.exe. Might as well do the same for "god" mode etc. I'd like to integrate a mouse eventually. The backslash/pipe key acts like a tab key for input and moving to different fields on screen. And enter presumably commits the input data. I'm considering also making you use numlock to choose which set of arrows you'd like to not use with Som. And another key to kill all keyboard input to Som... which if you're using a joypad anyway you might just leave on permanently. Only prob is most of the keys I like for that are beside keys you use to play with. Maybe it should be an odd sequence like ctrl+alt+del (but not that one!!)
EDITED: Oh yeah, more about keys. The plus/minus and brackets keys are also reserved for use, but I'm not sure how exactly. Atm +/- scrolls the first column of memory and [/] moves the second. Might use the arrow keys or something to choose what function you want to manipulate.
I can see the main player stats and the player's spatial orientation. I can also see all of the enemies I think. So maybe already I can do some interesting stuff like display the monsters HP/MP over its head and even display damage numbers as they happen, both for diagnostics and if you wanted to integrate something like that into your game. I can definitely see all of the magic spells / could change their characteristics on the fly I reckon. I can see numbers for the players swing and magic I think... probably just the gauges come to think of it. There might be a way to use that to fix the no magic equipped gauge bug.
And of course there is enough there to work out a fall damage extension. It might be better to set the calculated damage in a counter so an event can decide whether to deal the damage or not or how to generally proceed. I also want to work out a way to describe formulas in the extension file so you can do it that way.
It's actually easiest to detect the player and monsters because you can see the numbers churning when they move around. Finding all of the less obvious stuff is going to require some sleuthing and clever map setups. I hope some of you really get into that.
The way I have this setup right now is kind of centric to my keyboard, which is not really standard. The keys can be remapped however, and eventually we can work out a better arrangement maybe to suit a standard full size keyboard. Basically backspace opens/closes the overlay, but you can open it with any button that it uses also. I'm surprised backspace doesn't have the same function as the esc key in Som. I'm seriously considering disabling the Enter key from Som's pov so it can be used exclusively for Ex stuff. You can use the spacebar to do everything enter does afaik (at least with the patched exe files)
Then from there each F key (like F1) not already used by Som brings up different information. Originally I was going to have the function keys switch between different layouts with different functions, but now I think they will all just go up on the screen and the F keys will just be toggles. The Ex.ini file will let you setup the layouts you like and tie F keys together so if you press one others get out of the way. Eventually I'd like to replace Som's clunky F1 and F2 keys because they don't always even work, and can't be accessed outside of som_db.exe. Might as well do the same for "god" mode etc. I'd like to integrate a mouse eventually. The backslash/pipe key acts like a tab key for input and moving to different fields on screen. And enter presumably commits the input data. I'm considering also making you use numlock to choose which set of arrows you'd like to not use with Som. And another key to kill all keyboard input to Som... which if you're using a joypad anyway you might just leave on permanently. Only prob is most of the keys I like for that are beside keys you use to play with. Maybe it should be an odd sequence like ctrl+alt+del (but not that one!!)
EDITED: Oh yeah, more about keys. The plus/minus and brackets keys are also reserved for use, but I'm not sure how exactly. Atm +/- scrolls the first column of memory and [/] moves the second. Might use the arrow keys or something to choose what function you want to manipulate.