[General Battuta]

GB, I certainly hope the code undergoes a total rewrite to make it simpler.  Getting custom ships in FS2 could be much easier, and I hope that if the code is re-written making FS2_Open easier for modders to understand and mod for is a priority, although to be fair there isn't all that much documentation on a lot of the stuff which makes things hard as well.

Hahaha, wow. This game is about a billion times easier to mod than any other (slight hyperbole.)

Want to get started on that total code rewrite? I'll chip in to buy you some starter's books on C++.

[stuart133]

Hahaha, wow. This game is about a billion times easier to mod than any other (slight hyperbole.)

Want to get started on that total code rewrite? I'll chip in to buy you some starter's books on C++.

Talking about starter books in C++, can you recommend any??

[General Battuta]

Er, no. 

[stuart133]

Er, no. 

Um ok, cheers 

[General Battuta]

I don't actually know C++.

[SpardaSon21]

How about I just kill myself from humiliation, okay?

[General Battuta]

Nothing personal. It's just that the 'total code rewrite' thing comes up every so often, and the coders tend to get really pissed at difficulty estimates from non-coders. So it's kind of a social taboo in these parts.

But, yeah, didn't mean to drive you to suicide.

[stuart133]

Yeah, being a rather second rate python coder I know how much effort goes into even a medium size programme, let alone the ENTIRE freespace code. Also does anyone know what language it is written in??
Also where I can find it - It would be nice to look at it and crawl into a small ball in fright 

[The E]

FS2 is written in C and C++.

[Mongoose]

If you have time to kill, follow these directions to check out a copy of the source.

[deathfun]

I would never have the patience to code. Not even with actionscript in Flash

If I wanted to spend months on something, I'd go write a thesis and get my doctorate.

[CP5670]

If you have time to kill, follow these directions to check out a copy of the source.

I looked at it once out of curiosity. I use C/C++ for computational software, but it's one thing to be able to do that and quite another to have experience with game development. On top of that, it would probably take several months just to familiarize yourself with the code.

[Mongoose]

Yeah, I learned C and C++ myself in college, but the most complex stuff I ever did with it was command-line-based reading and editing files.  I have the source downloaded, but I wouldn't even know where to start looking at it.

[Goober5000]

Yeah, I learned C and C++ myself in college, but the most complex stuff I ever did with it was command-line-based reading and editing files.  I have the source downloaded, but I wouldn't even know where to start looking at it.

The sexp system is probably the most well-organized part of the code.  That's where I started, following daveb's instructions.  (Note that some things, such as CATAGORY, have been changed/fixed since that was written.)

[mxlm]

Talking about starter books in C++, can you recommend any??

http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkcpp/

In general, how to think like a computer scientist is pretty great for entry-level stuff (python and so on as well).

[Thaeris]

I'm actually learning C++ now in school. So much nicer than MATLAB...

The text I'm using is C++ for Engineers and Scientists. That won't make you a game/sim coder any time soon, but it's well scripted educational material.

[redsniper]

MATLAB

[Mongoose]

I'm actually learning C++ now in school. So much nicer than MATLAB...

I'm kind of surprised you think so, because at least as far as I used it, MATLAB's syntax and usage was very similar to C/C++.

[Zantor]

Out of curiosity, does anyone actually have a figure on what they are asking other than "a lot"?

Riptide, to answer your question which seems to not have been answered, Interplay would be asking for several million dollars to sell the rights to any of the games they own. They sold the Fallout rights, for what, 5 million or something like that? FS2 could well be the same or higher. I really don't think such a plan is going to get Interplay out of debt; they're probably going to go under and all the intellectual assets they own would be bought up at low prices, or become abandonware.

[karajorma]

Bear in mind that selling the Fallout rights got them sued as a result. They might ask for more/not be willing to do it at all now.

The sexp system is probably the most well-organized part of the code.  That's where I started, following daveb's instructions.  (Note that some things, such as CATAGORY, have been changed/fixed since that was written.)

I did much the same thing and I agree with Goober that it is a great place to start. That said both of us already had a very good understanding of how SEXPs work from using them in FRED.