MissionForce: Cyberstorm rbxit patch compatibility w/ GOG.com version

[sfguer]

Any plans to make the rbxit patch compatible with the recently released digital version of MissionForce: Cyberstorm on GOG.com?
Thanks in advance.

[juanitogan]

Thank you for asking. That is an excellent question that I don't immediately know the answer to. Current guess is... probably.

I hadn't heard GOG had released this yet, so this is the first I've heard of it (I guess they don't care to notify all those who Community Wishlisted it... weird). Their timing is a little suspicious to me. Looks like they released almost exactly one month after I left a comment on their Community Wishlist and also reported all duplicated listings I found. I had also guessed that Hi-Rez had the rights but it looks like they found it with Activision.

Anyhow, I don't have a copy of their version yet and I'm busy with both looking for a job as well as working on GRITS Racing at the moment. So, no telling when I might get to looking at this.

I just read through their forum and I'm guessing you have the same primary complaint as most of the others. That is, they limit the game to 640x480 in a 800x600 window. Yeah, that was a truly idiotic and completely naive maneuver (as I'm sure you agree). As I've discussed with another on here, just because the menus were designed to be compatible down to 640x480, that doesn't mean that was the intended default mode. The box art shows the game at 1024x768, for example. Thus, 1024x768 would be the most obvious "default" mode for GOG. Who wants to relive the past as a peasant when we could relive it as a rock star? (I've said that before and I'm bound to say that again.) Limiting to 640x480 shows a severe lack of understanding of 1996 gaming. Someone dropped the ball there.

Anyhow, enough ranting here....... I think I'll jump over there and rant some more. 😏

Aside from ranting, my current recommendation for anyone who doesn't own the game yet would be to buy from GOG (to be legal about owning a copy) but don't download GOG's copy. Download one of the ISOs on the net instead and install my patch. I'm guessing that would be legal, but you be the judge.

If I do update my patch to work with GOG's copy, I will likely patch their copy to look exactly like one of my patched copies do now. Thus, it would only be a convenience for some users to avoid downloading an original ISO, etc. I'm guessing my patch doesn't work with GOG's files currently because they modified CSTORM.EXE with some wrapper code for their special game environment. Just a guess based on comments in the forum. If that's the case, considering that GOG is pretty good about releasing updates, keeping up with their updates could be a pain. Thus, why I need to think about this more.

Considering that I don't have time to build and support friendlier patchers, and that I don't have the rights to distribute prepatched files like GOG can, trying to support their version could generate more questions from novice users than I can handle. I've been hoping GOG would pick this game up, but it looks like they botched it. Ugh.

[juanitogan]

ℹ️ To whomever it concerns:

I have decided that I currently have no intention of trying to patch GOG versions to look like my patched versions. Primarily, I don't want to get involved with trying to make angry GOG customers happy (not that all are angry, but free is never free enough to some people). Secondly, GOG will likely release fixes to their fixes and I don't have time to support a moving target like this. If someone doesn't like GOG's version (and I can see why they wouldn't) then they should make GOG fix it.

Otherwise, my prior recommended workaround still holds: buy from GOG if you can find no other legal means of ownership; then find a copy of the original CD; then apply my patch to the CD copy.

[Watsong1]

Solution:

1. Install the G.O.G. version of Cyberstorm.
2. Download the Cyberstorm demo from the Internet.
3. Copy the file "CWARSDLL.dll" from the contents of the demo and overwrite the matching file in your G.O.G. version's Cyberstorm directory. (You may wish to backup the file first).
4. Install the "Homebrew" mod, (which contains the executable file "CSTORM.exe". Overwrite the matching file in your G.O.G. version's Cyberstorm directory. (You may wish to backup the file first).

As a reminder, the location of this mod is here: https://github.com/juanitogan/rbxit/releases/download/cs1.mod.r1/CyberStorm-12-HomebrewMod.zip

5. Download and run the RBXIT patch from your Cyberstorm folder.

6. Run the game and set the game options:
   "Game always fills entire screen"
   "Use extra screen real-estate for battle terrain"

Limitations:

1. Forces the use of the "Homebrew" mod, since this solution relies on its "CSTORM.exe" file.
2. Requires a copy of the Cyberstorm demo to source a copy of the file "CWARSDLL.dll".

[quantumpanic]

Hi. I've tried using the solution provided by Watsong1 to see if the homebrew mod can be made to play the game audio files by patching it with the RBXIT patcher. The general issue for me is that GOG's version can play the game music (the OGG files), but the homebrew version can't. On the flip side, GOG's version is forced to run in 800x640 mode, whereas the homebrew mod supports the "fill the entire screen with battleground" feature. Is there a workaround to getting it to both run the homebrew version as well as play in-game music? I'm starting to feel I'm on a wild goose chase trying to get this to work as intended.

Thanks

[juanitogan]

@quantumpanic : See the wiki: https://github.com/juanitogan/rbxit/wiki/CyberStorm-1#music, and follow the link about playing BGM from Enhanced CDs.

Basically, it sounds like GOG uses their own mod of WINMM.DLL and you'll need to edit (with a hex editor) the homebrew CSTORM.EXE to use GOG's mod of WINMM.DLL (whatever they call it--I wouldn't know--and assuming it works as expected) or follow the ogg-winmm instructions to use that mod of WINMM.DLL instead.

[Watsong1]

Solution (with music addition):

1. Install the G.O.G. version of Cyberstorm.
2. Download the Cyberstorm demo from the Internet.
3. Copy the file "CWARSDLL.dll" from the contents of the demo and overwrite the matching file in your G.O.G. version's Cyberstorm directory. (You may wish to backup the file first).
4. Install the "Homebrew" mod, (which contains the executable file "CSTORM.exe". Overwrite the matching file in your G.O.G. version's Cyberstorm directory. (You may wish to backup the file first).

As a reminder, the location of this mod is here: https://github.com/juanitogan/rbxit/releases/download/cs1.mod.r1/CyberStorm-12-HomebrewMod.zip

5. Download and run the RBXIT patch from your Cyberstorm folder.
6. Open the file "CSTORM.EXE" using a hex editor software, (e.g. "Hex Workshop").
7. Modify "WINMM.DLL" to read "_INMM.DLL". (This enables the replay of the .ogg music tracks using "GOG.com WinMM wrapper").

Image: A side by side comparison of unedited, (left), and edited, (right), versions of "CSTORM.EXE".

8. Run the game and set the game options:
   "Game always fills entire screen"
   "Use extra screen real-estate for battle terrain"

Limitations:

1. Forces the use of the "Homebrew" mod, since this solution relies on its "CSTORM.exe" file.
2. Requires a copy of the Cyberstorm demo to source a copy of the file "CWARSDLL.dll".

[quantumpanic]

Thanks! the music is working for me now.

If you don't mind me asking a rather off-topic question, is there a way that I can get a more detailed peek into the game logic? I'm intrigued to know how the game calculates things like chance to hit and whatnot.