I would like to be able to break games down into their source code just for curiosity''s sake and to learn from also. Is there a utility i can get to do this?

Rather than flame you for suggesting such a thing...I suppose I''ll just answer your question.

Yes, there are decompilers, but it depends on the language. You won''t understand the code they generate. Variables will be given non-descriptive names (because variable names aren''t stored in the compiled program in MOST languages).

The problem is most games are written with optimized compilers. Optimized code is often harder to decompile, since it is no longer a simple pattern-matching problem.

So your best bet is to dissassemble the program, producing assembly language code. Once again, you won''t have useful variable names.

But be careful about what code you look at to ''learn from.'' There are laws which apply to software and there is a such thing as theft when it comes to code. Stick to public domain examples. You don''t want to get yourself into a legal situation down the road.

There....I answered the question without bringing my personal feelings on morality. *phew*

--TheMuuj

In that case, where can i download the quake source code? I know it is free somewhere out there.

search on this site, i know its somewhere on here.

quote:Original post by hpotter2
In that case, where can i download the quake source code? I know it is free somewhere out there.

ftp.idsoftware.com

quote:Original post by hpotter2
In that case, where can i download the quake source code? I know it is free somewhere out there.

Get Quake 2''s source if you can. The engine is far superior to Quake.

You may even get what little source of Quake 3 is available (which does not include, among other things, the core rendering engine).

Wait a few years and I''m sure Quake 3 will be GPLed too.

--TheMuuj