Quake 2 Source Code Question

[QuackToo]

So I downloaded MVS 2008 Express, downloaded the Q2 source code, went to open the visual studio projects contained in the source code in the hopes I can make a mod, and MVS fails to open the project files citing file corruption?

Any pointers please?

Alternatively, say I wanted to make a mod involving modifying the behaviour of AI or weapons, is there a way to simply export the contents of gamex86.dll (which I assume is where that relevant code is located), and recompile only the .dll post-modifications? I don't want to build the whole game if I'm only modifying specific files. And I may want to export Ground Zeros or the other expansion's game code specifically as they have improved AI.

If successful I may have further q2 programming-related questions in the future.

[QwazyWabbit]

Are you trying to start with the ORIGINAL Q2 source code as released by idSoftware? If so, the VC++ 6.0 project it used wasn’t convertible by VS2008. It was convertible by VS2010, however. I think 2008 had some serious deficiencies.

Microsoft no longer supports VS2008.

What do you have and what is your goal?

[QuackToo]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, that's a good point. I have the original source code as released by id. I'm not sure if I should, though. What is the community standard? Should I base my mod on a source port? Some advice on the standards and expectations of the Q2 fanbase in this regard would be great.

Right now I have nothing but ideas and motivation. My goal would be to improve AI and gunplay of the singleplayer campaign, at least to start with. And I don't really want to build the whole game engine to accomplish that, just the relevant files (gamex86.dll, correct me if I'm wrong).

[QwazyWabbit]

The game dll is the game, both single player and deathmatch. You will need to compile only the dll to mod the game but the dll and the executable must be compiled against the same runtime. The runtime is dynamically linked and if they are not the same for all components you can encounter strange bugs.

I would recommend using the R1q2 b8012 game source as a base because it fixes many issues but it lacks the cinematic support for the scene setups between segments of the single player game. The game module doesn’t actually perform them but the client does. AFAIK, r1ch didn’t change the functionality of the game dll in his version, it’s all about the client and server there.

Using VS2017 to convert the 3.21 code to a VS2017 project works without errors but it will want to build against the V140 libs vs v100 for VS2010 that the distributed client uses. You must tailor the project to use v100 runtimes in VS2017. You will get lots of errors and warnings to fix if you compile a converted 3.21 game in any current version of VS.

[ImperiusDamian]

I believe there's a tutorial somewhere on Youtube that does a 'update Q2 source to work with VS 2013'. I did it a while back and the edited sources work perfectly w/VS 2017 as well.

I can't track it down now, maybe it's no longer on Youtube, but I have a copy of it I downloaded, I can upload if needed?