Legend of Grimrock DAT File Extractor

[cromcrom]

I have had this issue with other mod (Mount and blade) too. These ppl are bitches bullies who think might makes right, and won't respect anything. I wish sometimes they get harshly sued for raping ppl's will.

[JohnWordsworth]

An interesting thread to read as an outsider, although I understand it might be frustrating for petri!

I've got to say that my motivation last week was the complete opposite of raptor, I was eager to retexture some assets and get them back in the game. Releasing the asset pack last week made me stop work on my extractor and start work on a .model <-> generic 3d model converter.

[Raptor]

Yes, I fully understand you, petri. It is you game and you have all rights. My extractor is not open source and I never telling ppl about encryption etc. It is just tool to help modders with modding (there were no way how to mod this game before editor). You should be happy there are pppl interrested in mods for Grimrock. Mod community means more interrests in game. And about encryption etc. It is sometimes better not try to encrypt data. Encrypted things means that reversers will try to figure out how to extract them And about original dat modification? Simply put CRC check in exe and all will be fine. Modders will use mod archives with original version and other ppl with cracked exe are the other group. You cant do anything with them. I like this game, I bought it and that's why I just made extractor. I wish you all the best with next development, really.

[cromcrom]

Right, you understand, but you do it anyways, even if the AH team clearly expressed they don't want you to. That's arrogant and disrespectfull.

[Neikun]

I see. We have tried to do everything we can to make extractor tools unnecessary by releasing everything but the actual source code of the game. We should have the right to choose what to release and whether to keep the code open or closed. Extractor tools are making it hard for us to have this choice.

There is probably nothing I can do to help you understand how I feel about this. The bottom line is that I don't want to be worried about this, so that's why I'm politely asking you to not post about your findings on this forum. That way at least it's not something that catches my eye so easily and I can sleep better. Hope you understand!

Here here, Petri!

[Raptor]

Right, you understand, but you do it anyways, even if the AH team clearly expressed they don't want you to. That's arrogant and disrespectfull.

Really? They said they don't want to distribute modified dat file. Sorry but it is NOT my problem. Everything depends on extractor's users. Everybody is able to create mod using provided assets etc. As I said, I made my tool BEFORE editor was made. Do you know what I mean? Yes, you can call me arrogant. I have no problem with it. But providing tools for personal modding have nothing to do with sharing modified resources. There should be official extractor from developers with eula like existing with statement about modding and distributing original files and nothing is different from current situation. There is my tool (not working with beta), and there is python script etc. So you think everybody is hacker or bad person? I don't think so. I'm just a fan of this game. Arrogant one, as you said? Maybe, but I don't think so. It is difficult. My extractor has nothing to do with piracy or selling issues. How many ppl is using it? Do you know? For what purposes? Personal? Public? Distributing mods for ppl? Again, do you know? No? So don't call me arrogant and disrespectful. Every developer is able to try reverse archive format and made extract tool. It is normal. I'm not one who is trying to crack game to provide pirated version. I paid for this game on developer web site, so all my money was transferred to developers. Think about it. I did nothing wrong. I just made modders life easier. Hard to understood? Maybe. So again, think before post any hate posts against me.

Petri, if you think it is wrong to advert my tool in this forum (but I think you splitted threads when I posted 1st time), write some official words and delete everything about this. I don't want to make you angry or anything like this. I like this game. That's all I can say.

[cromcrom]

write some official words and delete everything about this.

'nuff said.
If your so smart, try to identify and isolate bugs, instead.

[Raptor]

May I ask why you're interested in hacking the dat file?

And there is one other thing why to "hack" dat file and it is localization. You simply forgot to provide any easy way how to localize this game. All strings are hardcoded in lua scripts, so if someone want to translate this game, he must get scripts and hexedit strings or decompile them. Not so easy and friendly. So Please add localization support and all will be fine

[Phitt]

Personally I didn't know about the source code/legal issues with the extractor, I guess like most people here. I simply wanted to have a look at the models and textures to start my own mods and the extractor was a very useful tool, in fact the only tool to allow this. Now that the asset pack is released, someone is working on an exporter (for .model files)/model viewer and there is a modding documentation available the extractor isn't that much needed anymore, but I think it's very unfair to bash Raptor for his work. I'm sure he didn't do it to harm the devs, he simply provided a useful tool for modders. I've modded a few other games before and there were always tools like this available which didn't cause any problems. Now that I read about it I can understand the point of view of the devs and of course I respect it, but I think it's a bit like making mountains out of molehills. If someone really wanted to rip off your code, don't you think he would be able to extract the dat file anyway? I wonder of what use is advanced code to someone who doesn't even know how to 'hack'/access some kind of custom archive file.

Anyway, the best we can do is respect the devs and do what they want us to do (regarding their game that is ). Personally I won't talk about the extractor anymore, neither will I link to it. But Raptor didn't do anything wrong from my point of view when he did what he did. In fact he did help me to get started on my own mods with his tool, so thanks for that. End of story (for me at least).

[petri]

May I ask why you're interested in hacking the dat file?

And there is one other thing why to "hack" dat file and it is localization. You simply forgot to provide any easy way how to localize this game. All strings are hardcoded in lua scripts, so if someone want to translate this game, he must get scripts and hexedit strings or decompile them. Not so easy and friendly. So Please add localization support and all will be fine

We didn't forget localization. We have only 1 programmer, we had a budget for about 6 months of dev time and it took us 10 months to get the game released. Localization was one of the things that had to be cut.

Translating the game by modifying the dat file is a bad idea. It will break when the game is updated and makes it impossible to apply delta patches.