Aaron Curley

Introduction

In part 1 of this mini-series, we saw how to diagnose and correct the issues preventing an old computer game (Star Trek Armada) from starting on modern (Windows 7) systems. In part 2 we saw how to find the game loop and introduce our own code to slow it down so that the game’s native timing code would work properly.

This third and final post brings closure to the STA reverse engineering by enabling multiplayer saves and presenting a combined diff file for all of the patches we have made in this and the previous posts.

Fix #4 – Enabling Multiplayer Saves

Star Trek Armada is buggy; merely allowing the game to minimize (say, due to a screensaver turning on or alt-tabbing to another program) can cause it to crash. The game also suffers from multiplayer synchronization issues. Ideally, if we could figure out how to save and load multiplayer games, it would allow players in a multiplayer match to continue from a recent point when a problem occurs during gameplay.

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Introduction

In part 1 of this mini-series, we saw how it was a relatively simple task to diagnose and correct the issues preventing an old computer game from starting on modern (Windows 7) systems. This post continues the reverse engineering and patching theme to correct additional runtime issues with Star Trek Armada on modern systems.

Fix #3 – Abnormal Simulation Speed

Once the game was starting correctly, it played just fine on my laptop. When I tried it on one of my family’s desktop machines; however, things were a different story.

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Making Armada Work On Modern Systems
(a.k.a. A Partial Guide to Ollydbg)

Being a professional in the Computer Science field, I don’t have that much time for video games anymore. As a result, when I choose to play games, I typically prefer to take a trip down memory lane and play something from my childhood. One of my favorite games is Star Trek Armada I. Unfortunately, Star Trek Armada I is rather poorly written (from a reliability standpoint) and generally doesn’t play very well (if at all) on most modern Windows systems. I could switch over to Star Trek Armada II, but I much prefer the original game for various design reasons.

Fortunately, modern IT professionals (and amateurs, in my case) are armed with a swath of debugging and reverse engineering tools, with which we can correct some of Star Trek Armada’s shortcomings. So, without further ado, let’s get started!

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