Abe's Oddyssey and Exoddus resolution SUPER FIX!

mashakos · 02-20-2011, 06:58 PM

DDHack - Abe Edition

Minimum Requirements: 2.6Ghz Dual core processor, 2Gb ram. Windows 7 or Vista. OpenGL 2.1.
Windows XP is not supported at the moment.
NOTE: Do not enable Compatibility mode! That will basically negate the fix.

Screenshots:
Abe's Oddyssey menu
Abe's Oddyssey cut-scene 1
Abe's Oddyssey cut-scene 2
Abe's Oddyssey in-game 1
Abe's Oddyssey in-game 2
Abe's Exoddus menu
Abe's Exoddus cut-scene 1
Abe's Exoddus in-game 1

I was mired in complex web portal development since the weekend, and thought I would unwind by tackling this thing that's been bugging me ever since new year's steam megasale - the resolution issues in Munch's Oddyssey and the classic abe games.

So here's what bugged me:
- The original abe games were never going to be updated to work with modern LCD's because they're so old the source is probably lost, and there's a remake coming up.
- Munch's Oddyssey was a botched port that is now JAW's headache. They have been great sports so far, but I'm getting a bit impatient for that 2nd patch

Now here's what I did about the classic Abe games

Instructions

Download my version of ddhack (Original source code created by Jari Komppa)
Paste the files in the directories of Abe's Oddyssey and Abe's Exoddus
e.g: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\oddworld abes oddysee
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\oddworld abes exoddus
That's it!

The patch will resize the game to whatever resolution you are running on now. You can alt+tab and it won't destroy your system!

NOTE:
This is ONLY meant for the Abe's Oddyssey and Abe's Exoddus games. Use it with other games at your own risk!

The games throw a crash error in Vista (tested on 64-bit) after you close them. This only happens AFTER you quit or alt+f4 the game.

Background
If you've read my Munch resolution fix thread, you will probably have guessed that I went right ahead and tried to use it on these old games.

No dice

The reason being that ENBSeries patches only work with DX8/DX9 games, while the clsasic abe games were DX7. So I needed a DX7 patch...

I remembered reading an article at Rock Paper Shotgun about a coder who developed a very robust DX7 hook dll.
I tried it first. It did change the resolution but there was one catch:
click to view

Luckily the original coder was kind enough to release the source code for his project.
A bit of browsing through the code yielded two conclusions:
the dll implemented 16-bit color as (15-bit) RGB555, which is what Wing Commander games operated on (unlike Abe games which ran on full 16-bit coolr mode)
Video scaling was widescreen while Abe games had letterbox video

An hour of monkey coding later, and I had a dll that worked perfectly with be's Oddyssey and Abe's Exoddus
Check out the results (shots are huge because I use a 30" monitor):
Abe's Oddyssey menu
Abe's Oddyssey cut-scene 1
Abe's Oddyssey cut-scene 2
Abe's Oddyssey in-game 1
Abe's Oddyssey in-game 2
Abe's Exoddus menu
Abe's Exoddus cut-scene 1
Abe's Exoddus in-game 1

I am adding the source code in case anyone wants to look at it:
http://www.myvo2.net/ddhabe/ddhack_abe_src.zip

To the programmers: Be nice! I was doing this for fun and just to get gaming on Abe. I reserve my ninja coding for the day job

Maybe someone can look into why the games throw an error after exiting?

Varrok · 02-21-2011, 02:51 AM

Works nicely (although the videos lag a bit [on my very fast PC])

I'm sure widescreen gamers will be thankful for that

sol_hsa · 02-21-2011, 07:15 AM

Cool! I love to see that someone has made something with the project.

Have you considered joining the ddhack developers here: https://code.google.com/p/ddhack/ ?

mashakos · 02-21-2011, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sol_hsa

Cool! I love to see that someone has made something with the project.

Have you considered joining the ddhack developers here: https://code.google.com/p/ddhack/ ?

That's an interesting idea. I don't know if I'm of any use to them, my graphics programming skills are a little rusty.
I might be able to help out on minor stuff.

EDIT: Oh hey, you're Jari right? Cool! Great work on ddhack btw.

Leon021851 · 02-23-2011, 08:08 PM

cheers for that +rep

03-10-2011, 09:02 AM

can anyone help i downloaded the demo for both oddysee and exodus and they both run fine just to far to the right, im missing about a third to half the screen so cant just shimmy it over?

Varrok · 03-10-2011, 09:44 AM

What's your screen resolution?

03-10-2011, 09:48 AM

1440x900, but when the games running 640x480.

mashakos · 03-10-2011, 09:09 PM

could u post a screenshot?

03-11-2011, 07:04 AM

its ok i managed to..... well work around my problem, i just use my second monitor which is a t.v and the game runs fine, just means i have to switch between primary monitors when i want to play unless anyone know a way to make it run on a secondary monitor? but as for now i don't mind time to buy the games and re-live my youth lol.

Durazno · 03-13-2011, 09:47 PM

didn't work for me, I launch it but it stays like locked up

Am I missing something? I run XP SP3 and I'm pretty sure I have everything updated.

Varrok · 03-13-2011, 11:37 PM

You mean you've got like just black screen? Can any sound be heard during that?

Durazno · 03-14-2011, 04:58 AM

Nope, no sound, the.. "window" doesn't go fullscreen either, it just stays locked up and I have to exit it through the task manager.

loinbread · 03-15-2011, 05:33 AM

Very nice work, you should give yourself a pat on the back!

mashakos · 03-15-2011, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Durazno

Nope, no sound, the.. "window" doesn't go fullscreen either, it just stays locked up and I have to exit it through the task manager.

Cool, problems! Let's start bug testing

Ok, can you describe your system for me? specs, resolution, how many monitors you have? Please mention what type of gpu you have and what are htedriver versions.
do you regularly update vc++ redistributables?
do you run any antivirus programs?
try deleting ddhack.cfg from the game folder, what happens?

Quote:

Originally Posted by loinbread

Very nice work, you should give yourself a pat on the back!

thanks!

02-20-2011, 06:58 PM	#1
mashakos Join Date: Aug 2010 Reputation: 24 Posts: 61	Abe's Oddyssey and Exoddus resolution SUPER FIX! DDHack - Abe Edition Minimum Requirements: 2.6Ghz Dual core processor, 2Gb ram. Windows 7 or Vista. OpenGL 2.1. Windows XP is not supported at the moment. NOTE: Do not enable Compatibility mode! That will basically negate the fix. Screenshots: Abe's Oddyssey menu Abe's Oddyssey cut-scene 1 Abe's Oddyssey cut-scene 2 Abe's Oddyssey in-game 1 Abe's Oddyssey in-game 2 Abe's Exoddus menu Abe's Exoddus cut-scene 1 Abe's Exoddus in-game 1 I was mired in complex web portal development since the weekend, and thought I would unwind by tackling this thing that's been bugging me ever since new year's steam megasale - the resolution issues in Munch's Oddyssey and the classic abe games. So here's what bugged me: - The original abe games were never going to be updated to work with modern LCD's because they're so old the source is probably lost, and there's a remake coming up. - Munch's Oddyssey was a botched port that is now JAW's headache. They have been great sports so far, but I'm getting a bit impatient for that 2nd patch Now here's what I did about the classic Abe games Instructions Download my version of ddhack (Original source code created by Jari Komppa) Paste the files in the directories of Abe's Oddyssey and Abe's Exoddus e.g: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\oddworld abes oddysee C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\oddworld abes exoddus That's it! The patch will resize the game to whatever resolution you are running on now. You can alt+tab and it won't destroy your system! NOTE: This is ONLY meant for the Abe's Oddyssey and Abe's Exoddus games. Use it with other games at your own risk! The games throw a crash error in Vista (tested on 64-bit) after you close them. This only happens AFTER you quit or alt+f4 the game. Background If you've read my Munch resolution fix thread, you will probably have guessed that I went right ahead and tried to use it on these old games. No dice The reason being that ENBSeries patches only work with DX8/DX9 games, while the clsasic abe games were DX7. So I needed a DX7 patch... I remembered reading an article at Rock Paper Shotgun about a coder who developed a very robust DX7 hook dll. I tried it first. It did change the resolution but there was one catch: click to view Luckily the original coder was kind enough to release the source code for his project. A bit of browsing through the code yielded two conclusions: the dll implemented 16-bit color as (15-bit) RGB555, which is what Wing Commander games operated on (unlike Abe games which ran on full 16-bit coolr mode) Video scaling was widescreen while Abe games had letterbox video An hour of monkey coding later, and I had a dll that worked perfectly with be's Oddyssey and Abe's Exoddus Check out the results (shots are huge because I use a 30" monitor): Abe's Oddyssey menu Abe's Oddyssey cut-scene 1 Abe's Oddyssey cut-scene 2 Abe's Oddyssey in-game 1 Abe's Oddyssey in-game 2 Abe's Exoddus menu Abe's Exoddus cut-scene 1 Abe's Exoddus in-game 1 I am adding the source code in case anyone wants to look at it: http://www.myvo2.net/ddhabe/ddhack_abe_src.zip To the programmers: Be nice! I was doing this for fun and just to get gaming on Abe. I reserve my ninja coding for the day job Maybe someone can look into why the games throw an error after exiting? Last edited by mashakos: 04-10-2011 at 02:12 PM.

02-21-2011, 02:51 AM	#2
Varrok Join Date: Aug 2009 Reputation: 51 Posts: 730	Works nicely (although the videos lag a bit [on my very fast PC]) I'm sure widescreen gamers will be thankful for that

02-21-2011, 07:15 AM	#3
sol_hsa Join Date: Mar 2009 Reputation: 0 Posts: 15	Cool! I love to see that someone has made something with the project. Have you considered joining the ddhack developers here: https://code.google.com/p/ddhack/ ?

02-23-2011, 08:08 PM	#5
Leon021851 Join Date: Apr 2010 Reputation: 0 Posts: 49	cheers for that +rep

03-10-2011, 09:02 AM	#6
drewbiedrewbie Guest Posts: n/a	can anyone help i downloaded the demo for both oddysee and exodus and they both run fine just to far to the right, im missing about a third to half the screen so cant just shimmy it over?

03-10-2011, 09:44 AM	#7
Varrok Join Date: Aug 2009 Reputation: 51 Posts: 730	What's your screen resolution?

03-10-2011, 09:48 AM	#8
drewbiedrewbie Guest Posts: n/a	1440x900, but when the games running 640x480.

03-10-2011, 09:09 PM	#9
mashakos Join Date: Aug 2010 Reputation: 24 Posts: 61	could u post a screenshot?

03-11-2011, 07:04 AM	#10
drewbiedrewbie Guest Posts: n/a	its ok i managed to..... well work around my problem, i just use my second monitor which is a t.v and the game runs fine, just means i have to switch between primary monitors when i want to play unless anyone know a way to make it run on a secondary monitor? but as for now i don't mind time to buy the games and re-live my youth lol.

03-13-2011, 09:47 PM	#11
Durazno Join Date: Nov 2008 Reputation: 31 Posts: 210	didn't work for me, I launch it but it stays like locked up Am I missing something? I run XP SP3 and I'm pretty sure I have everything updated.

03-13-2011, 11:37 PM	#12
Varrok Join Date: Aug 2009 Reputation: 51 Posts: 730	You mean you've got like just black screen? Can any sound be heard during that?

03-14-2011, 04:58 AM	#13
Durazno Join Date: Nov 2008 Reputation: 31 Posts: 210	Nope, no sound, the.. "window" doesn't go fullscreen either, it just stays locked up and I have to exit it through the task manager.

03-15-2011, 05:33 AM	#14
loinbread Join Date: May 2009 Reputation: 23 Posts: 297	Very nice work, you should give yourself a pat on the back!