A New DeNCS

[AmanoJyaku 184]

Shouldn't matter. The game doesn't have a problem with this, it's the decompilers that do. Guess it's a good idea to create a new one, after all.

[DarthParametric 3,795]

I went through some of K1CP's own scripts and found a few that won't decompile. Running them through ncsdis, cp_end_trasksp_d produces a message I haven't seen before - "WARNING: Script analysis failed Because: Unbalanced stack in block fork merge @00000464: 2 != 5". It looks like cp_tar_brejikatk is recursion, but that one is actually just a renamed vanilla file.

Non-decompile_additional.7z

[DrMcCoy 40]

To explain what this warning means:

ncsdis tries to run through the whole disassembly to analyze the stack. Essentially, how the stack looks after each operation: how many stack slots are allocated and what types (int, string, float, ...) are in there. When there is a fork, for example due to branching in an if-clause, ncsdis follows both paths. And when the paths merge again, for example after the if when the excution continues on linearly, the stack has to look the same for both paths. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to make out of this situation. (ncsdis only checks that the size of the stack matches, and ignores the types at the moments.)

In this case, for some reason ncsdis found that the stack sizes of two paths don't match. It's 2 slots for one path and 5 slots for another path. This might be a bug in ncsdis.

This could also be a bug in the compiler that produced the NCS in question. For example, IIRC I found the same message for one of the bugs I wrote about in my blog post, the one where the short-circuiting boolean OR. In that case, it didn't really matter that the stack is broken for one path, because that path was logically dead anyway, it would never have been called. So to work around this bug in the original compiler, I added a dead branch check, and the stack analysis won't follow dead branches.

It might be that this here is a similar problem and my dead branch check is not catches it and needs to be expanded. Or this script is broken after all. (Or it could still be a bug in ncsdis.) I'd need to check that, I'll add it to my TODO list. Or if anybody else would like to tackle this, feel free

[DarthParametric 3,795]

Here's the source if that helps. I removed an include function to see if that was it and it still fails to decompile. Also tried not declaring GetUserDefinedEventNumber() as an int and just popping it directly in the switch, but again still fails. Although the ncsdis error has now changed to Unbalanced stack in block fork merge @000001AB: 1 != 4

void main() {
	
	switch (GetUserDefinedEventNumber())
	{
		case 50:
			object oTrask = GetPartyMemberByIndex(1);
			object oPC = GetFirstPC();
			location lTraskSp = Location(Vector(16.34,20.5,-1.27), 180.0);
			
			DelayCommand(0.25, AssignCommand(oTrask, ActionDoCommand(SetFacingPoint(GetPosition(oPC)))));
			DelayCommand(0.6, AssignCommand(oTrask, ActionStartConversation(oPC, "", FALSE, CONVERSATION_TYPE_CINEMATIC, TRUE)));
			SetGlobalFadeIn(0.9, 0.5);
			break;
	}
}

Apologies AmanoJyaku for derailing your thread. I appreciate you confirming my suspicions regarding the problem being something to do with the includes by the way. It's nice to have that mystery finally resolved.

cp_end_trasksp_d.7z

[AmanoJyaku 184]

Not derailed at all. This is exactly what I will encounter when I get far enough. May actually be easier to troubleshoot than the parser and lexer I'm writing. 🤣

[DarthParametric 3,795]

I can confirm that your appraisal was correct. At least with the two files I have tried so far. If I hex edit them and replace 03 00 00 7E 21 05 00 00 EF 01 with 05 00 0E 44 45 43 4F 4D 50 5F 52 45 50 4C 41 43 45 (effectively replacing string RACE_DEFAULT = GetStringByStrRef(32289); with string TEST_REPLACE = "DECOMP_REPLACE";) then DeNCS decompiles them. Many thanks, this will open up a lot of previously closed doors.

[AmanoJyaku 184]

"Closed doors"

*AmanoJyaKreia, Dark Lord of the Script, mentors DarthParametric and boosts their security skill*

[DarthParametric 3,795]

In Dorak's little quiz, I was always more of the "bash the door down" type of guy rather than one of those "pick the lock" or "knock" losers.

[ebmar 893]

Greetings, thread master - and fellow Jedi as well!

Salute for the progress made regarding the development of the tool, and recent discovery concerning script's decompiling -- a promising future in script-modding indeed. Not to being off-thread and hoped what I've got here can provide an insights more so to the tool's development [and/or discussion].

So I found another script that failed to be decompiled by DeNCS, it's k_creditsplay; a script that fires the lightside credit sequence fired in STUNT_57 RIM/module. It had these with the bytecodes --

Spoiler

// k_creditsplay
// STUNT_57/Lightside ending ceremony

00000008 42 00000062              T 00000062
0000000D 1E 00 00000008           JSR fn_00000015
00000013 20 00                    RETN
00000015 04 05 0000 str           CONSTS ""
00000019 04 03 00000000           CONSTI 00000000
0000001F 05 00 0206 02            ACTION StartCreditSequence(0206), 02
00000024 04 03 00000001           CONSTI 00000001
0000002A 04 05 000A str           CONSTS "CREDITPLAY"
00000038 05 00 0243 02            ACTION SetGlobalBoolean(0243), 02
0000003D 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
00000043 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
00000049 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
0000004F 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
00000055 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
0000005B 05 00 02D0 05            ACTION SetGlobalFadeOut(02D0), 05
00000060 20 00                    RETN	

which in NSS could be --

Spoiler

// k_creditsplay
// STUNT_57/Lightside ending ceremony

void main()
{
	SetGlobalFadeOut(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
	StartCreditSequence(FALSE);
	SetGlobalBoolean("CREDITPLAY", TRUE);
}

Meanwhile, the other script which is slightly longer; k_stunt_end -- fires the darkside credit sequence fired in STUNT_55a RIM/module, can be decompiled and had these with the bytecode --

Spoiler

// k_stunt_end
// STUNT_55a/Darkside ending ceremony

00000008 42 000000BB              T 000000BB
0000000D 1E 00 00000008           JSR fn_00000015
00000013 20 00                    RETN
00000015 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
0000001B 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
00000021 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
00000027 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
0000002D 04 04 00000000           CONSTF 0.000000
00000033 05 00 02D0 05            ACTION SetGlobalFadeOut(02D0), 05
00000038 04 03 00000001           CONSTI 00000001
0000003E 04 05 0002 str           CONSTS "55"
00000044 05 00 0301 02            ACTION QueueMovie(0301), 02
00000049 04 03 00000001           CONSTI 00000001
0000004F 05 00 0302 01            ACTION PlayMovieQueue(0302), 01
00000054 2C 10 00000000 00000000  STORE_STATE 10, 00000000, 00000000
0000005E 1D 00 0000002B           JMP off_00000089
00000064 2C 10 00000000 00000000  STORE_STATE 10, 00000000, 00000000
0000006E 1D 00 0000000E           JMP off_0000007C
00000074 1E 00 00000021           JSR fn_00000095
0000007A 20 00                    RETN
0000007C 04 04 3D4CCCCC           CONSTF 0.050000
00000082 05 00 0007 02            ACTION DelayCommand(0007), 02
00000087 20 00                    RETN
00000089 05 00 0224 00            ACTION GetFirstPC(0224), 00
0000008E 05 00 0006 02            ACTION AssignCommand(0006), 02
00000093 20 00                    RETN
00000095 04 03 00000000           CONSTI 00000000
0000009B 05 00 0206 01            ACTION StartCreditSequence(0206), 01
000000A0 04 03 00000001           CONSTI 00000001
000000A6 04 05 000A str           CONSTS "CREDITPLAY"
000000B4 05 00 0243 02            ACTION SetGlobalBoolean(0243), 02
000000B9 20 00                    RETN

which in NSS will be --

Spoiler

// k_stunt_end
// STUNT_55a/Darkside ending ceremony

void ST_StartCreditSequence()
{
	StartCreditSequence(FALSE);
	SetGlobalBoolean("CREDITPLAY", TRUE);
}

void main()
{
	SetGlobalFadeOut(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
	QueueMovie("55", TRUE);
	PlayMovieQueue(TRUE);
	AssignCommand(GetFirstPC(), DelayCommand(0.05f, ST_StartCreditSequence()));
}

Therefore the question is --

• Why two similar scripts had different result, as in one can be decompiled while other isn't?

From my limited view and understanding, there's a difference in how the StartCreditSequence were called - observed by the bytecodes. k_creditsplay has --

00000013 20 00                    RETN
00000015 04 05 0000 str           CONSTS ""
00000019 04 03 00000000           CONSTI 00000000
0000001F 05 00 0206 02            ACTION StartCreditSequence(0206), 02

while k_stunt_end --

00000093 20 00                    RETN
00000095 04 03 00000000           CONSTI 00000000
0000009B 05 00 0206 01            ACTION StartCreditSequence(0206), 01

That's only far as I can go with what I've got - and much thanks for considering this.

[AmanoJyaku 184]

Not off-topic at all!!!

My guess is because the compiled script is wrong. Look at what it does:

//Simplified code
void main()
{
	StartCreditSequence();
	SetGlobalBoolean();
	SetGlobalFadeOut();
}

So, what's wrong? The very first function:

// 518: StartCreditSequence
void StartCreditSequence( int bTransparentBackground );

It takes one parameter, an integer. However, look at the byte code:

04 05 0000	//CONSTS - Place Constant String Onto the Stack, 0 characters
04 03 00000000	//CONSTI - Place Constant Integer Onto the Stack, value of 0
05 00 0206 02	//ACTION - Call an Engine Routine, 0x0206 [518, or StartCreditSequence(int)], with two arguments

Can you see what's wrong here?

 

Off-Topic: Sometimes the code blocks have colored code. Then, it goes white. Why???

[DarthParametric 3,795]

2 hours ago, ebmar said:

CONSTS ""

They tried to use a (blank) string instead of an int? Or a string and an int.

[JCarter426 1,220]

It's trying to call it like:

StartCreditSequence(0, "");

AmanoJyaku can correct me if I'm interpreting the bytecode incorrectly, being further along the get a degree in computer science in order to make better modding tools for a 15-year-old game career track, but I believe the number after the function is the number of arguments to call the function with, and then those arguments are taken off the stack. Things are taken off a stack last in, first out, so it takes the integer 0 and then the empty string.

My guess is that at some point in development, the function took two arguments - maybe the string was for the name of a movie file - but they changed how the function behaves sometime after this script was compiled, and never recompiled it.

17 hours ago, AmanoJyaku said:

Veeeery interesting. I'm seeing the same thing in all files, so I hope it's the culprit.

Basically, every NCS file I've worked on uses global variables initialized from constants. However, the files you've given me all include a global that's initialized from an engine routine! I'm wondering if DeNCS is choking on that.

That seems to be the case. I tested with the following:

int testInt() {
	return 1;
}

int TEST_INT = testInt();

And that will cause DeNCS to fail to decompile any script that includes it.

For completion's sake, I also tried it this way:

int testInt() {
	return 1;
}

int x;
x = testInt();

Interestingly, this would not even compile.

It seems the tools aren't very fond of variables with global scope, but I'm not sure why it would care whether one was initialized or not.

[AmanoJyaku 184]

1 hour ago, DarthParametric said:

Or a string and an int.

 

21 minutes ago, JCarter426 said:

It's trying to call it like:

StartCreditSequence(0, "");

 

Yep, the problem is the script is compiled so that StartCreditSequence(int) is told to accept two arguments, despite being defined as accepting one. DeNCS is failing to decompile, because the code doesn't match the function definition. It doesn't know what to do.

31 minutes ago, JCarter426 said:

It seems the tools aren't very fond of variables with global scope, but I'm not sure why it would care whether one was initialized or not.

Crappy coding. Given the fact that I've only just now seen a function call used to initialize a global, my guess is DeNCS was never written with that in mind. It's taking me forever to write my compiler/decompiler because I'm accounting for this and more. And, I still expect the finished product to have issues. 🤣

[DarthParametric 3,795]

4 hours ago, AmanoJyaku said:

DeNCS is failing to decompile

Per some discussion we were having about this in the Mod Development channel of the /r/kotor Discord, is it actually nwnnsscomp that is choking? I'm kind of hazy on how exactly it works, but my assumption is that DeNCS calls nwnnsscomp to decompile the NCS into bytecode, it then converts that into a script, then it calls nwnnsscomp to compile and decompile that and compares that bytecode back to the original's. I would be interested to know what DeNCS would do if you could feed it the bytecode from ncsdis, since that apparently is able to generate it from that script. But the recompiling step would be a roadblock.

Edit: Hrm, trying nwnnsscomp directly it seems not to be the case. It can apparently produce bytecode for those scripts just fine:

00000C67 02 05                    RSADDS
00000C69 04 03 00007E21           CONSTI 00007E21
00000C6F 05 00 00EF 01            ACTION GetStringByStrRef(00EF), 01
00000C74 01 01 FFFFFFF8 0004      CPDOWNSP FFFFFFF8, 0004
00000C7C 1B 00 FFFFFFFC           MOVSP FFFFFFFC

So I guess it really is all down to DeNCS.

Did you get a chance to have a look at that third set of non-decompiling scripts btw? Going through some of the Tatooine modules I also found some new ones that still fail after hex editing them to remove the GetStringByStrRef from the include (although I gather a couple of them could just be recursion):

Additional_04.7z

[AmanoJyaku 184]

One file has RSADDI in the _start() function, which I don't think is legal.

But, most files seem OK at first glance. Will have to investigate some more as this is beyond the capabilities of the current analyzer.

[AmanoJyaku 184]

Time for a monthly update. And what a month it's been...

 

The list of to-do's hasn't seen much progress, unfortunately:

•     Identifying iteration, selection and jump statements
•     Operator associativity and precedence
•     Type conversions
•     Byte code conversion to source code
•     Source code conversion to byte code
•     GUI
•     Setup new dev laptop (dropped current laptop last night, awaiting delivery of new one) 😢
•     Probably more stuff, but I don't know what I don't know, you know?

 

I was cursing my luck at having dropped my old laptop, but the timing couldn't have been any better. I got the new one right before deliveries started to be impacted due to COVID-19. Additionally, the laptop DOUBLED in price two weeks after I purchased mine. I won't be buying from that vendor again...

 

As for NCS byte code, the following progress has been made:

• Identifying iteration statements (do-while, while, and for)
• Identifying selection statements (if and switch)

Jump statements break and continue are still being worked on. Return is the only jump statement that is easily identified, because NWScript compiles each subroutine with only one RETN instruction. An NWScript function that has multiple returns:

Spoiler

//:: k_sup_galaxymap

void main()
{
    int nSelected = GetSelectedPlanet();
    int nPrevPlanet = GetCurrentPlanet();

    if(nSelected == -1) return;	//Explicit return;
	//More code

	//Implicit return;
}

 

Simply jumps from the basic block with the selection statement to the basic block that has the return.

 

In the category of "Probably more stuff", DarthParametric and I (and probably other people, fuzzy old man brain!) discovered another reason to replace DeNCS: it cannot decompile scripts that have global variables initialized by functions:

Spoiler

//Sample file

//Global variables
string RACE_DEFAULT = GetStringByStrRef(32289);
//End Global variables
void main()
{
	//Do something with RACE_DEFAULT
}

 

The example is perfectly valid code, but DeNCS doesn't like it. Replace GetStringByStrRef(32289) with a fixed string, e.g. "Amano's Test String", and DeNCS happily goes to work. The problem is not GetStringByStrRef() as DeNCS has no problem decompiling it inside functions. My decompiler isn't affected by this, but it's definitely something to be aware of.

A problem my current NCS analyzer does have is that I wasn't handling the STORE_STATE instruction correctly. My analyzer saw blocks of code as dead code, when in fact they were part of the STORE_STATE flow. I'll have to fix this.

 

I should be further along than this, but I've been sidetracked by:

• A demanding client, one of the few still in business due to COVID-19 (I need the money)
• My concern over weak healthcare and labor laws, which my country doesn't give a damn about (COVID-19 has made things really bad)
• My family and friends, who are all older and dealing with health issues and in many cases still working face-to-face (COVID-19!!!)
• My new obsession with assembly language, which I thought would help me with decompiling from NCS (it hasn't, and can't)
• Learning parsing and lexing, which will allow this work in progress to compile to NCS
• My new laptop, which allows me to play games that I haven't touched in months (I'm kind of stressed)
• This girl I've been seeing 😘

The work continues...

[DarthParametric 3,795]

54 minutes ago, AmanoJyaku said:

//Do something with RACE_DEFAULT

Note that since Bioware's compiler (and nwnnsscomp too) pull in all globals listed in listed includes, the script doesn't actually need to make any use of RACE_DEFAULT. Simply being in the global list is enough to bork it. Which is why half the Tatooine and Manaan scripts don't decompile, despite none of them appearing to actually make use of it (not that I have seen anyway). Doing this:

#include "k_inc_tat"

void main() {

}

is enough to choke DeNCS.

[AmanoJyaku 184]

It's been a while! I hope all is well.

First, as you can tell I'm not dead. (But, I may be a zombie.) Most important, I am still working on the decompiler and have been since the last update!

Back in May I was preparing a status update, but stopped because I didn't like the code. I couldn't say why, exactly. It worked, it was fast. But, for some reason I wasn't satisfied. So, I scrapped the code and started over. And I finally saw what the problem was: the original code wasn't written to be easily extended. Which was important, since it still needed features. (If I had to guess, I would say it was 5%-10% complete.)

 

Since then, I've made significant progress:

To do:

• Embedding NWScript function declarations into the binary
  • Complete (Yes, all 877! No nwscript.nss needed!!!)
• Identifying simple expressions (e.g. addition, assignment, bitwise operations, and function calls)
  • Complete
  • Fixed handling of STORE_STATE op code
• Identifying statements
  • Declarations
    • Complete
  • Assignment
    • Complete
  • Iteration, selection and jump statements
    • Still working
• Operator associativity and precedence
  • This is irrelevant at the byte code level
• Type conversions
  • This does not appear to exist in NWScript
• Byte code conversion to source code
  • Still working
• Source code conversion to byte code
  • Not started
• GUI
  • Not started
• Analysis of NCS file bugs
  • Still working

 

Given what I've learned over the last few months, I would say progress is now 30%. Here's an example of what the decompiler currently does:

02 03			[RSADDI, create a named variable of type int on the stack]
04 03 00000002		[CONSTI, Place a constant (i.e. temporary) value of type int onto the stack]
05 00 0300 01		[Action, Call the function 0x300, popping 1 argument off the stack]
01 01 FFFFFFF8 0004	[CPDOWNSP, Copy the result from the top of the stack to an existing variable]

This series of four operations is represented by the following psuedo-NWScript:

02 03			int I0;
04 03 00000002		2;
05 00 0300 01		int GetScriptParameter(int nIndex);	[Function 0x300 (768) returns an int onto the top of the stack!!!]
01 01 FFFFFFF8 0004	<some variable -8 bytes from the top of the stack> = <value at top of stack>;

Continued evaluation:

int I0;
I0 = GetScriptParameter(2);

We have a variable declaration, and then assignment of the function result to the declared variable. In C terminology, that's a variable definition:

int I0 = GetScriptParameter(2);

Some of the steps are omitted, but we see the following:

• Some NCS op codes translate directly to NWScript statements (e.g. RSADDx results in a named variable)
• Some NCS op codes translate directly to expressions (e.g. CONSTx places a constant, or literal, into the script, ADDxx places addition into the script)
• Multiple NCS op codes will need to be combined to make complex NWScript statements, as in the example above

 

At the moment, I have partially decompiled scripts. And, the binary does not choke on global variables initialized by functions the way DeNCS does! @Salk and @DarthParametric should be happy, since this means the swoop race scripts from Manaan and Tatooine can finally be decompiled! I'm also tallying errors I've found in scripts. Here's one in pseudo-code:

string S1 = "Blah";
string S2 = "Meh";
object(S1) == object(S2);

NWScript does not have casts!
Casts added to illustrate the problem!

What's wrong with this? NWScript is based on C, and C is a strongly-typed language. This means an entity of type string is different from an entity of type object! So, when NWScript is told to test for equality, it needs to compare the entities using their type information. That means strings should be compared byte by byte, up to the length of the shortest string.

But, we told NWScript that S1 and S2 are object types, which are pointers! The pointers are compared, but not the strings to which they point! Thus, they will likely never test correctly even when the strings have the same contents! This is a real bug I found, and while I don't think it breaks the script I found it in, it could explain weird issues I've had with the game over the years. (I once tried to leave Peragus, only to find the Ebon Hawk surrounded by 30-40 robots. There're supposed to be two or three!!!)

That's all for now. Hopefully, I'll have more progress by next week.

[DarthParametric 3,795]

6 hours ago, AmanoJyaku said:

No nwscript.nss needed

Do you have a game version toggle then, since some shared functions differ between K1 and TSL?

6 hours ago, AmanoJyaku said:

In C terminology, that's a variable definition:

I'll be curious to see how that goes when dealing with scripts using differing values for a given variable with a single declaration, like in while loops and so forth.

[AmanoJyaku 184]

9 hours ago, DarthParametric said:

Do you have a game version toggle then, since some shared functions differ between K1 and TSL?

Thanks, I was unaware of this. I've tested exclusively against K2 scripts, and will have to add K1 once I'm done.

I assume the differences are visible in the nwscript.nss files? If so, I may not even need a toggle...

 

9 hours ago, DarthParametric said:

I'll be curious to see how that goes when dealing with scripts using differing values for a given variable with a single declaration, like in while loops and so forth.

That's what I'm working on now. The following is from the script "a_other_set.ncs":

void main()
{
    string sParam = GetScriptStringParameter();
    int nParam = GetScriptParameter( 1 );
    int nParam2 = GetScriptParameter( 2 );

    int nTRUE;

    if ( nParam2 == -1 ) nTRUE = FALSE;
    else nTRUE = TRUE;

    SetLocalBoolean( GetObjectByTag(sParam),nParam,nTRUE );
}

You may recognize the code; the byte code in my previous post is the line "int nParam2 = GetScriptParameter( 2 );". I can decompile from the beginning to "if ( nParam2 == -1 )", stopping at the branch. Simply put, "int nTRUE;" is just a declaration since there is other code between the declaration statement and assignment statement:

//Note the lack of semicolons!
//These expressions are not yet merged into statements!!!

RSADDI				[int nTRUE]
CPTOPSP -8 4			[<copy nParam2 to top of stack>]
CONSTI 1			[<place constant value 1 on top of stack>]
NEGI				[<negate value on top of stack, 1 becomes -1>]
EQUALII				[nParam2 == -1]
JZ 32				[if (true)]

The jump-if-zero is what prevents nTRUE from becoming a definition. From now on, any value assigned to nTRUE is just assignment. Branching isn't a problem.

 

That reminds me, if I ever get around to writing the compiler I'll have to create a programming language. NWScript isn't fully documented enough to be usable.

Which declarations are valid, and why?

int i;
int I;
int 0;
int i0;
int I0;
int _i;
int _I;
int _0;
int _i0;
int _I0;

 

[DarthParametric 3,795]

2 minutes ago, AmanoJyaku said:

I assume the differences are visible in the nwscript.nss files?

Yeah. Perhaps you could create some sort of parser to autodetect differences or something. At least they were pretty good about flagging changes in comments, prefixed by xxx-OEI. An example of functions with added variables:

object CreateItemOnObject(string sItemTemplate, object oTarget=OBJECT_SELF, int nStackSize=1);

vs

object CreateItemOnObject(string sItemTemplate, object oTarget=OBJECT_SELF, int nStackSize=1, int nHideMessage = 0);

And of course they added entirely new functions that don't exist in K1, for example GetScriptStringParameter (which is not a thing in K1).

[DrMcCoy 40]

See also https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos-tools/blob/master/src/nwscript/game_kotor.h vs https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos-tools/blob/master/src/nwscript/game_kotor2.h .

Btw, @lachjamesis also currently working on a dencs. You might want to talk to each other to see if you can maybe combine your efforts.

As for me, just to lay my cards on the table, I'm also quite interested in this. With some caveats: I'd want to integrate it into the xoreos-tools package, written in C++ and targetting not just KotOR/KotOR2, but all the Aurora-derivate games that xoreos supports and of course based on the NCS disassembly code that already exists in xoreos-tools (which includes a few more opcodes for the two Dragon Age games, since those can do references and arrays). So what I'd like to do, once there is a working dencs that supports KotOR/KotOR2, is take that and port it to C++ and add it to the xoreos-tools. Provided there's sources, licenced compatibly with the GPLv3, and of course giving proper credits in the source file and AUTHORS text file. Probably not directly 1:1 either, but more seeing how you do things and redo them within the current framework in xoreos-tools.

[AmanoJyaku 184]

@DarthParametric Thanks! This is an easy problem to solve.

@DrMcCoy Thanks for letting me know, I'll reach out to them!

It is written in C++, so that's done. Once I get a working binary I'll test it against all files in the K1, K2, K1R, and TSLRCM. If it passes, we can work on integration with Xoreos.

Full disclosure: I am self-taught, so I cannot guarantee quality code. A few months ago I came across your site and passed on this because it was outside of my skill set!

[DrMcCoy 40]

There's also these discussions on the xoreos-tools issue tracker: https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos-tools/issues/56 , https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos-tools/issues/57 , that might give you some pointers and ideas. Also shows a case where the current control flow analysis in xoreos-tools' ncsdis fails

lachjames also wrote me a few thoughts and ideas on Discord, but since this is non-public 1:1 talk, I can't really paste this without permission. (Also a reason I generally prefer public conversations, to be frank. Information wants to be free and all that jazz.)

Edited July 21, 2020 by DrMcCoy
Linkify URLs

[AmanoJyaku 184]

@DrMcCoy It looks like some of the issues are due to the use of ncsdis for analysis. The binary I'm writing does its own analysis, so these issues might not affect me the same way.

I did anticipate these problems, and that's what I'm working on now. I also think I know why ncsdis is failing, but I'll reserve my opinion for when I produce a working solution. 😁