tsf@drutx.UUCP (05/23/84)
Telegram from Atlantis, (#2) dated Wed May 23 07:05:05 1984 I have the source for the empire game. But before you get all unglued let me explain what that means. We were using a large software package in day-to-day operations that was supplied in object form. Our supplier would not part with the source. Bribes, threats - nothing was effective. I decided to find out what it would take to "decompile" an optimized object back to C. Well the "impossible" isn't so bad. In the time it took me to experiment with the idea, our needs w.r.t the software package were satisfied. Remembering that a friend of mine in ihux-land had gotten a start on decompiling the empire game (and being an incurable empire fanatic myself), I started in on the job of decompiling empire. The symbol tables, header files and thorough knowledge of the game - along with a crude "decompiler" made it fairly easy to recover the source. Now - this source is something only a decompiler could love ! But the C compiler is quite happy with it. My friend and I hacked away at it off and on for about a year, and now we have it running on a 5.0 VAX (and I think he has it running on a 5.0 3b20). It's been running on the VAX for about 8 months. This version is one that Peter sent out around 1978 for 3.0 ? 11/70s. It has the orthogonal grid, no nukes, no food (agribusiness was a valid sector type but not implemented). It has everything you need for a good WW2 scrap. I sympathize with mr-frog and others that might have tried to patch fly.o to fix the Aircraft Carrier Bug. It took me just as long to patch the object as it did to decompile it and fix the source. Fly.c was the hardest command to decompile by far. It even has an unreachable code segment with an interesting printf which suggests the evolving nature of Peter's code. Yes, all you empire fanatics, the source exists outside of PSL's hands, but perhaps not the version you love. If you read this Peter, and wonder how anyone could be so crazy - remember what you wrote in that manual page: "Although no goal is explicitly stated, players rapidly derive their own." How about recovering the source as a goal ?! For the interested, I have a list of the bugs fixed, and the bugs remaining. drutx!tsf [20:254] Command : bye
tsf@druxn.UUCP (FisherTS) (11/07/85)
There have been a few requests for empire source lately, so I am reposting this article (of 10/3/85) in case you're looking for Old Empire. I am in the process of packaging the visual empire tool that I have been using with this version for a long time. I'll post that to net.games.emp in the next couple weeks. -TSF Version 1.1 Old Empire (Empire Classic ?) source (!!) is ready for distribution. In my article in late June, I promised that if there were enough bugs reported (and I had the time to fix them !) there would be another release ready about now. So.... For the uninitiated, here are a few excerpts from the original article. > Old Empire is a version of Peter Langston's empire game as it looked > around 1980. The source for this version was obtained by > decompiling the optimized PDP-11/70 object code. > > The empire source is about 11K lines of C. The output from the > decompiler is ugly and shouldn't be discussed in front of young kids. > There are zillion goto statements where you would normally find > 'for' and 'while' loops (I straightened a few things out when doing > the final editing of the decompiler output, but there are still a lot > of goto's). There might be a few "original" bugs left, but I know > there are an equal number introduced by the decompilation and triple > porting operations. > > This version has the rectangular grid, unimplemented agribusiness, no > nukes, and only the original 7 ship types (batt, carr, dest, sub, tend, > pt, and freight). No new bells or whistles have been added. In fact, > every effort was made to restore the game to its original condition, > but with bugs exterminated. > > The distribution comes with Buglist and README files. I can post the > Buglist to the net if people want to see it. It runs on a 5.0 VAX, > 5.2 Amdahl UTS, and 5.2.2 3b [and now 4.2BSD]. The makefiles aren't > the greatest, but I find them useful [now they're much better]. > > Please direct all Old Empire flames and bug reports to me. I'll > respond to bug reports as I find time. Version 1.1 has the following improvements over Version 1.0: 1) It uses buffered I/O - faster 2) torp command gets mobility right, doesn't allow torp'ing from subs you don't own, doesn't allow torp'ing sunken ships. 3) only tenders can tend 4) only capitals you own can build BTUs (in Version 1.0 an unowned fort at 0,0 will do the trick!) 5) The shell command accepts more than one command 6) The shell command works! 7) redirection and piping work 8) dependencies on fcntl.h, time.h, termio.h are fixed so that it is more compatible with 4.2BSD. 9) A new sread function for 4.2BSD 10) calls to rand() are fixed so that they will work regardless of 16 or 32-bit results. (Random() is better on 4.2, but it isn't available on SysV). 11) checkpoints are cleared on collection 12) makefiles for SysV and 4.2 BSD are much better. 13) contracting research and tech centers works 14) ... and 12 other miscellaneous bug fixes. If you want this fine antique, send a tape (200' will do) in a reusable mailer (padded Jiffy, Dennison, Jet-pak, etc.), and sufficient return postage (or check to cover the amount) to: Tom Fisher AT&T-ISL Room 31G32 11900 N. Pecos St. Denver, CO 80234 Tom Fisher ihnp4!druxn!tsf (303)-538-4642
ccrdan@ucdavis.UUCP (Dan Gold) (11/10/85)
> There have been a few requests for empire source lately, so I am > reposting this article (of 10/3/85) in case you're looking for Old Empire. > I am in the process of packaging the visual empire tool that I have > been using with this version for a long time. I'll post that to > net.games.emp in the next couple weeks. -TSF > If you prefer to receive a copy of the sources via E-mail I have a shar'ed version that you send for merely by asking. These are the same sources as Tom's. It comes in tweleve files that are all under 60Kbytes to avoid mail hassles. Dan Gold ...ucbvax!ucdavis!minnie!ccrdan
tsf@drutx.UUCP (FisherTS) (11/12/85)
Many thanks to Dan Gold [ ...ucbvax!ucdavis!minnie!ccrdan ] for the help in distributing Old Empire Version 1.1 sources. Happy emp'ing! **BLAMMO** And watch this space for Old Empire visual empire.. Tom Fisher ihnp4!druxn!tsf
vch@rruxd.UUCP (Kerro Panille) (03/09/86)
I understand that there is a copy of old empire source floating around.
Could someone send me a copy?? I'm on SysVr2, but I'll take any version
I can get my hands on. The copy that we have is soooo buggy (it's *really*
old) and it makes playing tough.
One of the nasty bugs that we have is if you designate a sector, say a harbor,
with nothing in it (1 civ or mil, nothing else), and don't update for three
days or so, then set up a delivery route from a neiboring sector (127 civs, no
threshold), and then update, it does the delivery FIRST, then the sector update.
The result is the sector update assumes that the civs where there all the while.
Instant 100% harbor. The updates can be done in chains: when something is moved
from a sector (or even if you say move, and then tell it to move 0 civs), the
current sector is updated, and it delivers the civs. Do this to the next sector
along the delivery route, and so on, for a long route, you can give yourself
several 100% sectors. Not very fair. The game goes from sancturies to huge
countries in a matter of days. Again, not much fun - and too much work for
the diety, if he cares to stop it.
Thanks in advance!
--
Vince Hatem +----------------------------------------+
Bell Communications Research ! "..., isn't that right, Daniel?" !
Raritan River Software Systems Center ! "When you get that look on your face, !
444 Hoes Lane ! Marty, I go prune my roses." !
4D-340 ! -Frank Herbert !
Piscatway, NJ 08854 ! Chapterhouse: Dune !
(201) 699-4869 ! pg 459 !
{rrux?, pyux?, bellcore, topaz, +----------------------------------------+
ihnp4}!rruxo!vch