Just a concept I made up when thinking of PC solutions to consoles ages ago, that and the real-time translation too. Then I discovered that emulators already actually exist, lol.

I have a thing for thinking up of general ideas without having all the mathematical knowledge to be able to actually execute them xD kinda silly.

Example of PS2 port to PC I know: Devil May Cry 3

(05-25-2012 04:51 AM)jesalvein Wrote:  well, you just came to understand the difference between a port and an emu...

Hmm...what kind of port? You have me thinking of a drive or a port on my computer or "ports" that my internet connections use, but I know that can't be it right?

So what about these ports? Why has this concept not been put to use yet? Are there big legal issues and that's pretty much it or something?

Edit : Also, what kind of coding language was used to make things like PCSX and PCSX2? I notice that Visual Studio is needed to run it so I'm guessing C++? I could just look it up, but just clarifying.

To compile a game for another architecture, you need the source code.
only the dev studio has it.

The other way is reverse engineering, which is hard, and illegal because those source codes are coyprighted.

So nobody has ever been able to get the source codes? I figured that source code would need to be on the consoles or games themselves somewhere and not impossible to acquire if one was just seriously determined to get them. I don't think the pirates really care about the legal matters that much, especially those in places like Scandinavia and China (see how TPB reacts to any legal claims, haha. Also, here in China pretty much everything is copied to the point that developers have decided to stay out of the country). I'm surprised that they haven't even been just plain leaked yet actually. You'd think guys like Anon would have done it by now if they were actually successful in any of their attacks, but I suppose that in the end most of them are just wannabe hackers running LOIC like the tools of 12 year olds that they are (there's only a handful of them that actually know they're doing).

Well, I guess that about answers it. Thanks.

I'll be posting one more thread including some small bugs I've found, but they're not big ones and would probably be too much trouble to fix small issues in less popular games, haha.

Edit : Sorry if anything I've said raised any alarms or was offsetting. Bad habit I guess.

Source code is human readable text files (and a lot of assets like game art and music).
This gets combined and translated (compiled) into the game files you see on the discs.
This compiling process can not be reverted, so unless you have the original sources, reading
the code is (nearly) impossible now.

Like I said, I'm surprised it hasn't slipped out.

I'm guessing that the compiler exists mostly so that console games and PC games are different things. Without it, consoles really would just be weird looking PCs and their being special would be destroyed - meaning they would have more trouble competing with PC games, correct? They pay off game companies sometimes to provide games only for their game consoles, and then if the end user wants to play the game he MUST get said console.

So, in other words, it's all just business ah?


Btw, good job guys. Sounds to me like reverse engineering is a lot like learning a new and difficult language. I'd join you if I ever get into serious programming, but I think that if I stay in the computer business I'll be working with either web design or hardware. English and Business is are my top fields though, secondary being Psychology and Sociology. Computer tech comes in at third or at least that's how it is to the extent of what I've been actually tested on, which isn't much. I could do some translating if you'd like to have a Chinese version of your emulator though, haha!

You got this all wrong. Compilers translate human-readable code into code that can be executed by machines. Basically, the "machine language" that is understood by the processors varies wildly depending on their architecture and design.
In general, the human-readable code is written with a specific architecture in mind as well - it can be possible to compile the same source code into machine-readable code for different architectures, but unless it was specifically designed for that, it generally won't work.
Put (very) simply, porting a game (or any other program) from console to PC or the other way around is fixing exactly that, adapting the source so it compiles for another architecture.

It's not a business decision by itself, it's just how things work. Business decisions only come into play when talking about exclusive deals or whether or not a port to a different console is worth the money invested.

Beside that, consoles are attractive for a variety of reasons to game developers. Piracy tends to be less of an issue, and all console users have the same hardware, so you can optimize your game for that specific set of hardware and be assured it runs and looks the same for everyone buying it. Just to name some.

Ah, I think I understand now. I thought human-readable language WAS machine language, such as C++ which I thought just about any machine could understand right off, but I guess that's why you've gotta download software to run things made in C++ ah? xD I need to take more computer science classes...

So, ultimately, was language do all machines understand? Just binary or something?

I figured on the business decisions. Nobody is going to go to the trouble of trying to pirate such a difficult thing (except here in China where everyone has chipped systems to run copy games. Mind you most console manufacturers refuse to do business with China for this reason), and yes the code is, so to say, "closer to the machine" isn't it?

Sorry if it kind of sounds like I'm talking out of my ass. I'm a motormouth, trying to act smart most of the time when I'm not (try to have something to be proud of I guess). At least I'm self-aware of it though I suppose.

LOL...

Majority of computer spare parts in my country were labeled "Made in China"..

Guess we got no choice then..