- I've tried the free version of IDA 5.0, but I'm not certain that's the best tool. Are there other recommendations that still translate the EXE into assembly? This may just be user error of a complicated tool. For example, I can't jump to A6221 in IDA, which makes no sense.
- What is the best way to find the starting point of a change? Are there some techniques for setting break points or catching mouse events? (see Areas of Interest below)
- If I make a change that increases/decreases the EXE size, does that present additional issues that need to be resolved, or does the patcher handle that?
- Are the offsets mentioned like A6221 (dos / 140) just the byte offset in hexadecimal into the DOS 1.40 EXE version?
- If I create a patch for the EXE, what's the preferred format? Binary block and offset into the 140 EXE?
Here are the areas I'm interested in making some changes to. Any help in how to start tracking down where in the code I need to start looking for any of these would be great.
Main Screen:
Add tax % to the BC box when tax rate is greater than 0. I'm assuming this is the easiest of all of these and probably what I'd start with. I'd need to find the code for displaying text in the boxes and the location of the current tax rate.
Build Queue:
I want to make a change on the build queue screen so that CONTROL+Click puts the item on top of the queue, pushing the rest down.
Update all ships pop-up after designing a ship (update all ships in all queues if you answer yes). Similar concept to the pop-up for when you make androids on a nearly full planet.
Colony List:
Add a Cloning Center icon next to each colonies name if it has a Cloning Center and is at max population.
Diplomacy:
Add a spy icon to opponent portrait if they are spying, along with a count.
Add a spy count to all stacks of spies, along with the % spying modifier the stack confers.