modding with DLLs in games
Hey guys,
first of all I wanna ask if you are allowed to mod games by injecting DLLs, like it's done in GTA 5...Only modding the game, not cracking it!
In GTA 5 you inject the DLL with a Trainer, or do you? And I wanna ask if there is any way to inject DLLs into other games to make mods.
If I inject a DLL, do I have to activate/initiate it?
Thx to all answers
Pls no hater comments, I wanna just have a nice little talk with u guys
first of all I wanna ask if you are allowed to mod games by injecting DLLs, like it's done in GTA 5...Only modding the game, not cracking it!
In GTA 5 you inject the DLL with a Trainer, or do you? And I wanna ask if there is any way to inject DLLs into other games to make mods.
If I inject a DLL, do I have to activate/initiate it?
Thx to all answers
Pls no hater comments, I wanna just have a nice little talk with u guys
Replies
There's nothing stopping you from having a dig around the source files of your favourite games though -- it's how a lot of us learn i.e looking at what game artists do in real production scenarios. Just use common sense and stay offline with your edits, save yourself getting banned and save everyone else from extreme frustration and annoyance.
As to how to do it, that's not something I or anyone else here should talk about. It's disrespectful. Remember you're talking to the very people who make these games, asking how to tear them apart.
edit: what exactly do you want to do with these mods?
Ask the Russian folks that made the CS mod Paranoia and decided they wanted to use a modified .dll to add normal mapping, and it got people VAC banned which Valve refused to hear appeals over. They're lucky they were in Russia... they very well could have gotten legitimately sued and possibly worse if they'd been in reach of Western legal systems.
I don't necessarily concur with the notion of it being "disrespectful". There are games I play (or played) which were long abandoned by the developers that have been kept alive with modding to ridiculous levels using .dll additions (Total Annihilation STILL has an active player base almost 20 years later because of it). We've also seen multiplayer experiences in games get essentially destroyed by jackasses hacking up an otherwise fun game. Counter Strike is the landmark example of that.
Bottom line... you get very, very far out into the wild country and badlands with what you're suggesting. You are fully and solely accountable for everything you unleash, good or bad. If something goes wrong and people get upset or the lawyers hit the warpath, it is entirely, wholly, irreversibly, your ass.
Up to you to decide if you want that kind of risk hanging over you every night you go to sleep after you cross that line.
However I also see the value in dissecting software to learn how it works. It's a fairly common practice. A great way to learn. The trouble only comes when sharing what you've done. If you keep it internal only, no biggie.
As far as art goes, reverse engineering to make an asset viewer or exporter is a great way to learn how the assets for a particular game were made. Again, when you get to releasing those tools, that's where the legal trouble can arise. But doing it for your own knowledge is certainly a wide practice, and actually a good thing, for personal learning.
Isn't it a little bit overreacting? I know that basically you want to tear apart work created by a lof of people for a long time and they are propably attached to their "child", but on the other way if you dont want to cheat or ruin others experience that way but just be a better artist with personal work then why would it be disrespectful? I'm not mad when people can learn something usefull from my work. Creating negative vibe around it makes no sense for me, no one gains anything that way.
So i would love to get more info how to tear apart someones child (ʘ‿ʘ)
That sounds worse than it should -_-
I don't quite get Chimp's mention that it's disrespectful as a blanket statement. (I do get irked when I see modders name their stuff "Better xyz", that's just a slap in the face for no reason.)
But it also depends on what you're doing too. Cheating in multiplayer is always a no-no. Modders have added all kinds of cool stuff to Diablo II via dll edits on the other hand.
I think there's a common conceit that art is an "appearance" thing only in a game, where code "actually changes how stuff works". So there's this long running notion that only changing how the game looks doesn't mess with the game mechanics.
It's stupid, but my impression is that's the root of it.