What should I learn to program for games

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Hello. I'm interested in building game mods (for example an auto-pot mode that detects when your character is low on health and drinks a potion). What should I learn in order to know how to alter game files or get the running game variables for my code in order to use them?
Thanks in advance.

Posted 9-Jul-14 20:46pm

Supraspinatus

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Richard MacCutchan 10-Jul-14 6:14am

It depends on what programming language you are using and what experience you have. Without knowing that it's impossible to answer your question with anything useful.

Supraspinatus 10-Jul-14 6:20am

c++ mostly. I don't have much experience besides a little WINAPI programming.

Richard MacCutchan 10-Jul-14 6:31am

I'm not sure what language most game developers use but I doubt that it's C++. However if you are just trying to modify the file contents, then it is fairly easy in C/C++, once you know the structure of the files.

Supraspinatus 10-Jul-14 6:46am

We are talking about games which are not open source, to which I want to add my own features, create mods and more. For this I need to be able to get information from the game itself, such as the health and mana bars of my character, the nearest monster or what ever, and should be able to insert my code into the game or make an outside code that will react to this information. I don't even think the programming language is too relevant. The question is how do I receive this information from a running game.
I hope I have explained myself in a better way and you could assist me with that.

Richard MacCutchan 10-Jul-14 7:57am

The only way you can find out that information is to know what language and framework the game is developed in, and what interfaces it makes available for the addition of mods or access to internal data. I suspect this information is not easy to discover since most game manufacturers do not publish technical materials for the subject.

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