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Why Modders Mod
by Jim "Twitch" TittleArticle Type: Feature
Article Date: April 23, 2001
Once Upon A Time
In 1990, after having my fill of arcadish games, I got more involved in real simulators the likes of Lucas Art's Battle of Britain: Their Finest Hour and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (SWOTL). In due time, however, you have flown the sim for all it's worth but you still like it and wish there was more. That's where I was.
The First Good Combat Sim
Before you say, "here's another story from a grizzled old-timer aimed at whippersnapper kids," hold on. SWOTL had features where you could change armament making a different sub-model to several of the Luftwaffe planes. Great, but they ALL weren't covered. And each plane had a set group of missions that would have been good to swap planes in but you couldn't. I like custom things just my style and you probably do too. What to do?
Got Me Modding
A friend of mine gave me a copy of a file management program called X-Tree Gold that I played around with. Since there was no Windows, file management programs were a crutch for dummies who could not key in the DOS commands like a pro in selecting different applications. Remember, this was in the halcyon DOS days before Windows. We had to finagle ways to coax more memory from DOS by loading devices into upper memory, enabling expanded memory instead of extended memory and write commands into the config.sys and autoexec.bat files to magically invoke the holy grail of sufficient memory to run certain sims. It was pure "oohga-booga, cross your fingers, cross your eyes."
My First DOS Manual
In some respects things were easier then and I resisted Windows 3.1 a long time. Tongue-in-cheek I still challenge anyone to using key commands in DOS vs. Windows in loading a program, closing it and changing to another in sheer speed. While your HD is still belching and groaning in Windows, DOS is on to the next task. And if you didn't have sufficient memory free the simulator didn't even load unlike today where you can be in the sim and it crashed from probably the same reason. At least DOS told you up-front that you didn't have the memory and didn't wait till you had your best mission ever going when the thing crashes!
AH HA!
But XTG had the ability to hex edit! Once I figured out X-Tree Gold it was a bit easier. I had a through understanding of self-taught DOS and how files worked so I began. Messing with DOS commands was real pioneer stuff at times cause everyone was experimenting really. This was the pre-mouse era when the keyboard was king. It was a time when the word "patch" was something your mom repaired the ripped knee on your jeans with not something to fix faults that should have never been released in a program.
It was mostly trial and error but most of the games and simulations were written just like other DOS programs with directories and sub-directories. If a sub-directory file (this was before "folders") had a logical title you assumed that info for certain things were there. In fact we've come full circle where today's Microsoft's Combat Flight Simulator has a folder named P51.xxx just like SWOTL did. Literally by trial and error, with many errors, you simply typed in different hex codes to see what happened in the sim. If you think Windows crashes a lot the "hexer" or DOS tinkerer then found regular crashes part of the trade. "Hmm. Wonder that this command does? Oops!"
By this blindfolded method I was able to increase round per gun, switch armamnent and increase performance. By renaming ME109.xxx to FW190 .xxx and vice versa I was able to switch the planes' missions. The program was just looking for a file with a certain name just as it is today, so it worked allowing planes to fly the others' missions.
The Internet was an infant then and it cost per minute to be online- not flat monthly fees like now. There were only a couple of sites where you could find info or download files with creaky 2,800 bps modems on a 286 MHz with 4 or 8MB RAM. And 5 1/4" floppies were really floppy!
In BoB You Could Man All The Bomber Guns
No one could change the shape graphics so when someone "built" a Corsair it looked like the P-47 that it replaced from the external view. Files and codes were found for the colors of the planes and terrain so a North Africa scenario was done. And there were no real files that dictated how the plane maneuvered. That was somewhere in the huge .exe file. But if you renamed a file of a plane with higher performance close to what you wanted it worked.
There were no Thrustmaster controllers and hat buttons for quick views but the keyboard number pad was sufficient. This was even before throttle sliders on joysticks. You used the number and the plus/minus keys for that. But surprisingly perhaps, the sims worked well and had no bugs! I literally NEVER had an in-game software crash, ever. Take that Windows!
A Long Wait
So now we had P-51s with four Mk 103 30mm cannons, a P-51 D with the performance of the "H" model and every other variant of the planes that was possible. We pretty much made do with this until Dynamix's Aces of the Pacific and then Aces Over Europe came out years later and it began again. Of course Lucas Arts produced add-on aircraft for some time that flawlessly integrated into the simulation and allowed it to live longer. Let's not talk about that in today's sim world.
SWOTL Had The Wonderful Me 163
In a decade we modders have come a long way. It's easy to share files and find sites with myriad downloads for the game/sim you want. You do not have to be a modder at all to get good add-on stuff for your favorite sim or game today. You can download files from a guy in Australia or Russia. And they are free since they all wish to improve and make the good sims longer-lived. It was five long years from the time Aces Over Europe came out until European Air War was released. Good combat sims come along rarely and it's up to the modders to keep us all going until another arrives.
Microsoft has done the right thing by making add-on mods easy for their flight simulation titles. If you want to "build" a virtual Lancaster and fly it in the civilian-style Flight Simulator with terrain from anywhere in the world, you can. A friend of mine who is the engineering editor at Road & Track has more fun building planes and just flying them than to engage in combat anymore.
This is where the real modder is. Many people enjoy the aspect of the simulated "build" and the modification of features more than they do actually flying their creations. Untold hours are spent changing colors and figuring out what lines of code make them do things. It's tedious and time consuming toil. With today's file structures it's easier than it was but there is still much in the uncharted territory. The countless times of loading the game to see how your mods work are maddening but ultimately rewarding.
Try It
So don't be afraid to follow a tutorial and try your hand at it, after backing things up of course. You may be surprised at your talent and you will certainly by very happy once you make something of your own.
Links & Resources
- Hex Workshop - Hex Editing Application. Trial version available.
- UltraEdit - Another Hex Editor. Trial Available.
- HexEdit - Free Hex Editor (Donations Accepted).
- Unsung Heroes - A series of COMBATSIM articles singing the praises of many combat simming modders.
- MIGMan's Flight Sim Museum - Simply the best website for info on all those early combat simulation titles.
- alt.games.cheat - A good place to meet modders and ask general hex editing questions.
- European Air War Community - Some of the best modders hang out here.
- Fighter Squadron: Screamin' Demons Over Europe Community - Another great community of modders.
- eFalcon - The group dedicated to improving and extending Falcon 4.0 through hex editing and even source code editing.
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