[Demarest]

new release on 13 Aug 2005 16:20 EST
This corrects an issue that made Darkpact crash games some of the time.
With SAPC as hot as it is both for newness and other irreputable light, SA interest is as high as it will ever be. As large as it is however, we are faced with the uphill challenge of appealing to the crowd as most aren't necessarily willing to start a new game time and time again just to add a few toys. Darkpact as you may already be aware, subverts the need to start a new game through a process that's relatively painless for us. It is now available for SA. Download link here and readme here. From the readme:

Attention script authors: You are encouraged to release your work with a DARKPACTOR option. This would include two SCM files and a short readme like so (Coordinator SA v1 used as an example):

CODE

1 Backup your /data/script/main.scm file. 2 Put DARKPACTcoordinatorSA.SCM in /data/script/ and rename it to main.scm 3 Load your game. You will immediately be prompted to save. 4 Save (different slot is recommended). 5 Put mainORIGpluscoordinatorSA.SCM in /data/script/ and rename it to main.scm 6 Load the save you made in step 4 to continue your game with Coordinator SA installed.

Depending on the size of your mod, this equates to a near 1100 KB ZIP file and will increase not only the amount of people that can use your mod, but also the amount of people willing to since they will not have to start a new game. Should you decide to do so, I ask that you leave the words Darkpact in the name of the files somewhere and refer to this process and that version of your mod as a Darkpactor. Thank you and enjoy.

This post has been edited by Demarest on Saturday, Aug 13 2005, 20:16

[KungFuJebus]

so i can use this with my 100% complete game save on any main.scm mod????????? you freaking RULE!!!!!!!!! if this is what i think

[Demarest]

You can add any SCRIPT mod to your SCM and keep your 100% save, yes. Just make sure you follow the instructions imlicitly

[KungFuJebus]

Ok let me understand when i start out do i need to have the main.scm and script.img from the mod in the data folder? ok i did everything the read me said but i started the save i made in step 4 but when i started the mods werent on the save... im trying to do it with all in one version 7 i dont understand so far

This post has been edited by KungFuJebus on Saturday, Aug 13 2005, 00:44

[Demarest]

Step 4? The steps at the bottom of the readme were there for other authors if they decide to offer DARKPACTOR versions of their releases.

All In One is a CODE mod, not a SCRIPT mod. This is covered first thing in the readme.

[KungFuJebus]

so how do i use this stuff then??

[superglitch]

Ok so if I use DarkPact to patch my gamesave for my XYZ mod, then later i want to use it to patch my gamesave for the PackerAttach mod, do i have DarkPact+XYZ+PackerAttach for the patching scm or do i have DarkPact+PackerAttach?

[Demarest]

@KungFu: Um... it's pretty well explained in the instructions. If there's a particular part of it you're not sure about, ask a question about it. For me to sit here and restate everything in the instructions sort of negates my having invested time in making it as clear as possible.

This is a new technique. It's going to take time to get used to it and I'm more than happy to help. But I have to know what part isn't clear for you to help.

EDIT
@SuperGlitch: Darkpact is what is injecting your mods. So let's say you're using it to inject 1 mod. Then you're going to have one create_thread in mision 0. As far as main is concerned, good question. It has to be Darkpact + whatever your current save is running below the original main + whatever it is you're adding on. I wish I could say it as easily as it has to be main + mods, but that's not true and that's what makes it hard. Darkpact was modified in a way that will auto-launch your code to make it as widely usable as possible with the least amount of side effects.

This post has been edited by Demarest on Saturday, Aug 13 2005, 02:06

[KungFuJebus]

Sorry i just dont understand wich im suppossed to use, do i have to learn how to insert the code or use the darkpactor? its just kind of cunfusing lol

[Demarest]

QUOTE (KungFuJebus @ Aug 13 2005, 00:00)

Sorry i just dont understand wich im suppossed to use, do i have to learn how to insert the code or use the darkpactor? its just kind of cunfusing lol

Well which is it? Are you trying to add Coordinator SA to your SCM or some other mod? If it's Coordinator, you're in the wrong topic altogether. If it's to put All In One into your SCM, All In One is a code mode and therefore inelligible for Darkpact insertion.

[chaosgeneral]

Thanks demarest this will let me mod the main.smc. Ive been resisting untill i get 100%

[superglitch]

currently 100% don't work right now or it was my code i tried to put in, dema spent a long time trying to fix it

[badGoo]

i understand you have to edit 2 parts of the txt right? the one in main and the one after mission 0.

in the 1 in main, do i have to put just the beginning label like ":Mod_01" and nothing else? then in the create thread in mission 0 i will replace the label with "Mod_01". so i just changed 2 lines? is that correct?

and how do i compile this? it asks for tables. i assume i have to decompile the original and instead of using the "main.txt" that came from the decompile, i would use this darkpactv1.txt?

i tried the process i did above and it didnt work...

[KungFuJebus]

QUOTE (Demarest @ Aug 13 2005, 05:52)

QUOTE (KungFuJebus @ Aug 13 2005, 00:00) Sorry i just dont understand wich im suppossed to use, do i have to learn how to insert the code or use the darkpactor? its just kind of cunfusing lol Well which is it? Are you trying to add Coordinator SA to your SCM or some other mod? If it's Coordinator, you're in the wrong topic altogether. If it's to put All In One into your SCM, All In One is a code mode and therefore inelligible for Darkpact insertion.

yeah i wanted to add one of the really big mods to my scm.... are all of the big mods like that code mods? back to reality and etc?

[random_download]

QUOTE (badGoo @ Aug 13 2005, 11:26)

i understand you have to edit 2 parts of the txt right? the one in main and the one after mission 0. in the 1 in main, do i have to put just the beginning label like ":Mod_01" and nothing else? then in the create thread in mission 0 i will replace the label with "Mod_01". so i just changed 2 lines? is that correct? and how do i compile this? it asks for tables. i assume i have to decompile the original and instead of using the "main.txt" that came from the decompile, i would use this darkpactv1.txt? i tried the process i did above and it didnt work...

Basically you do the same as you normally would with an scm mod. You find mission 0 and put your code before that. But with darkpact, put your create_thread line not with the other create_threads but where it is indicated to do so in mission 0. then, you take the original scm and add your mod to it (but without the create_thread line). Then you load a save using darkpact, save again and thn load that using your modified original scm and you mod will be running.

[DemolitionMan™]

OMFG this is realy great. U rule

[random_download]

Hmm... using this without changing anything crashed the game when I loaded one. I added the external scripts back in and used:

CODE

:INITIAL_1   ;Don't touch this ;-------Put your create_threads here 004F: create_thread ££loop ;-------End of create_threads @0 = -1 :DARKPACT 0001: wait 0 ms   @0 += 1 00D6: if 0 00FE:   actor $PLAYER_ACTOR  0 ()near_point  $SAVEPOINTX(@0,18f) $SAVEPOINTY(@0,18f) $SAVEPOINTZ(@0,18f) radius  15.0  15.0  15.0 004D: jump_if_false ££DARKPACT 00A1: put_actor $PLAYER_ACTOR at  $SAVEPOINTX(@0,18f) $SAVEPOINTY(@0,18f) $SAVEPOINTZ(@0,18f)   :DARKPACTDONE 0001: wait 0 ms 00D6: if 0 03D9:  save_done 004D: jump_if_false ££DARKPACTDONE 0004: $ON_MISSION =  0 ;; integer values 004E: end_thread

In the mission and:

CODE

:GYM_2 0001: wait  70 ms 0004: $ON_MISSION =  1 ;; integer values 0417: start_mission  0  ; Originally: Initial 1 0002: jump ££GYM_16 ;00D6: if  0 ;0038:   $ON_MISSION ==  0 ;; integer values ;004D: jump_if_false ££GYM_47 00D6: if  0 0038:   $1348 ==  1 ;; integer values 004D: jump_if_false ££GYM_16 00D6: if  0 0038:   $2416 ==  0 ;; integer values 004D: jump_if_false ££GYM_16 07FB: set_interior 'GYM1' accessible  1 07FB: set_interior 'GYM2' accessible  1 07FB: set_interior 'GYM3' accessible  1 0004: $2416 =  1 ;; integer values :GYM_16 0001: wait  127 ms 0002: jump ££GYM_16 ;00D6: if  0 0256:   player $PLAYER_CHAR defined ;004D: jump_if_false ££GYM_46

To start the mission and it worked fine :s

[Demarest]

QUOTE (KungFuJebus @ Aug 13 2005, 08:29)

yeah i wanted to add one of the really big mods to my scm.... are all of the big mods like that code mods? back to reality and etc?

Honestly, I'm at a loss as to why we keep going over this. The instructions say that mods that require you to fully replace your SCM are code mods while those available as text that you can add to any SCM are script mods and that Darkpact injects script mods only. Now I imagine with something like All In One, you COULD inject it if you had the source. I'm assuming it's just a pile of script mods though and if I'm wrong, then you wouldn't be able to.

Thank you, random, for answering goo's question so succinctly. Basically guys, we can't just add code mods because the create_thread line stuffs up the addressing. Darkpact puts that create_thread into a mission where spacing is irrelevant. Why not just create_thread instead of start_mission 0? Mostly because doing it in a mission gives us all the room to add as much code there as possible. This was necessary in VC because of all the warp code that went with it. In SA, it's slimmer due to the predefined arrays, but still necessary in a mission.

@random: I'm assuming there's already a wait in the GYM thread. Otherwise you'd be off by 4 bytes. I'll have to try that out. Last night, I spent 5.5 hours trying various things because Glitch revealed to me that this doesn't work with games that are highly developed. I took a lot of reading and all I can think of is that as you gain more properties, the save thread's timing expands and eventually causes a conflict with Darkpact. SO many variations I tried and the best I could do was no crash, code inserted, save thread recovers, but you could never save again I'll keep at it though.

[random_download]

QUOTE (Demarest @ Aug 13 2005, 14:41)

@random: I'm assuming there's already a wait in the GYM thread. Otherwise you'd be off by 4 bytes.

Yes, there is a loop there to check if the player is in the gym, so unless they save whilst inside the gym the mission etc. will start

QUOTE (Demarest @ Aug 13 2005, 14:41)

SO many variations I tried and the best I could do was no crash, code inserted, save thread recovers, but you could never save again I'll keep at it though.

Using the code I posted above, I can load save and load again no problem. I have only tested it with one save though, and as you said conflicts may arise with saves that are further on in the game
I injected some code I posted in another thread using darkpact and it seems to work fine for me: link

EDIT: Fixed link

This post has been edited by random_download on Saturday, Aug 13 2005, 16:33

[Demarest]

QUOTE (random_download @ Aug 13 2005, 11:05)

I injected some code I posted in another thread using darkpact and it seems to work fine for me: link (right-click save as)

And so it begins This is exactly what I wanted. Finally the bane of code modders bested! Although right-click, save as gave me a corrupt ZIP. But going to the site and clicking on storemod.zip worked fine.

Funny story: I went to post on parked vehicles in VC. So I first used Fastbond to unlock all vehicles (Fastbond is a VC Code Tool that uses the Darkpact insertion process). Then I went to insert Coordinator to help me locate the ones I wasn't familiar with. It didn't work! It's because I used two Darkpacting mods back to back and the Firefighter pointer was trapped in the loop. So anybody trying to use Darkpactors in succession, you'll need to load up your game with non-Darkpacting code and save again before going on to the next Darkpactor. Or use random's proposal the 2nd time through to use a different thread to initiate it.