How to do MODS/Patches for PC games?

[Shadolf]

Here I´m with another Modding topic. Now I´m asking about PC games.
There are some nice "older" shmups released for PC, but the graphics are out of date and could be way better these times.
A good example for this is Raiden III Digital Release and even Raiden IV Overkill could be optimised.

So what I would like to do:
- higher screen resolutions
- higher internal resolutions (like on can do with emulators like Demul)
- Anti Aliasing options (2x, 4x, 8x etc.)
- Shaders like blooming/xBRZ/scanlines etc.
- HD Textures
- HD Menu (letters)(maybe one could use a shader like x5BRZ)
- HD Wallpapers
- English Menu
- controll options and key for Brake/Pause
- ingame Menu for all these options

Can someone help? Are there some good forums especially for modding PC games like these?

[BareKnuckleRoo]

This is a really open-ended question. In order to do any kind of modification to a game you have to worry about things like:

* Encryption/Data Packaging - how is the data stored in the game, and is it easily accessible or does it have to be unpacked? In some games, texture/graphics changes are as easy as modifying image files sitting in plain sight in the program's directory, in other games, everything's been neatly packed away so as to not be easily accessible.

* Copy/Cheat Protection - is the game checking to see if any files have been changed? Will it crash if file checksums are wrong?

* Game Engine - well known game engines are documented and thus more easily to modify whereas proprietary code on a proprietary engine requires a whole lot more advanced programming know-how to mess with. It's not a case of "how do I mod X in a game" as PC games often operate very differently from one another.

These are really, really ambitious. Even if you had the original game's source code it'd be a great deal of work to do a lot of these, and in this case you're talking about a closed-source commercial PC game that could very well be running in an emulator environment. I don't really know what to suggest myself other than look into programming courses as a place to start.

[MintyTheCat]

I don't really know what to suggest myself other than look into programming courses as a place to start.

Your best bet is to attempt simple game mods at first with something like changing a palette or giving the player ten lives instead of three - that sort of thing.

However, you need to be familiar with programming in general and the machine/target in particular; and that encompasses the target's environment too.

If you are more into the pixel art side of things then it may be better to search for a developer who is interested/has experience in reverse-engineering and game mods in particular.

I would personally start with a simple machine like the nintendo NES/famicom and follow some of the guides but even then you need to understand the NES and its machine language and then how the APU functions to really make any progress.

But do not let this put you off - just give it a go