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Scion, a WIP implementation of the Maxis Gonzo-Rizzo engine
simmaster07 posted a topic in SC4 Modding - Open Discussion
What is this? Scion is a (very work-in-progress) reference implementation of the Gonzo-Rizzo game engine used by Maxis in the late '90s and 2000s. You can find the code here: https://github.com/nsgomez/scion Who is this for? This project is mainly for programmers either developing DLL mods, or digging into the internals of 3D-era Maxis games. While this framework version is specifically based on SimCity 4 Deluxe, it might still be helpful for looking at different versions of the framework that were used in other Maxis projects, like: SimCity 3000 The Sims The Sims 2 Spore Since this is an SDK and not a standalone mod, it won't immediately benefit players. How is this different from gzcom-dll? gzcom-dll is a basic SDK for writing a DLL that the game engine will load, and for plugging into different parts of the game. It's mostly meant for making as many SC4 game interfaces accessible as possible. Scion is the game engine that would be loading DLLs and tying them all together. How does it work? (This section summarizes a lot of stuff that's been written about the game engine by myself, speeder, and Null 45, so if you're already familiar with DLL modding, this probably isn't news to you.) Gonzo-Rizzo is named for Muppets characters Gonzo the Great and Rizzo the Rat. As best I can tell, Gonzo ("GZ" in code), like his name suggests, is responsible for a lot of the main functionality: the core framework, graphics, sound, resource management, and so on. Rizzo ("RZ") mostly handles utilities like string parsing, filesystem access, thread synchronization, and reusable helpers. The game engine is modeled after Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM). At the core of the engine is the Framework, which provides: A GZCOM class registry, for registering component classes and creating new instances of registered classes; A registry of system services, which are singleton classes that can be used by components and do work on game ticks; Coordination for game ticks and framework hooks. Above the COM are directors, which act as framework hooks and can (and usually do) have their own registered classes, as well as child directors. The engine comes with prefabricated directors for doing graphics, sound, UI, and resource management, among other things. If you ever checked at the Apps folder in SimCity 3000 and saw a bunch of GZ*D files, that's what those are: GZSoundD.DLL, for example is the GZ Sound Director. Games build on top of the engine by doing the basic framework initialization and registering their own directors. For example, SimCity 4 has its own cSC4COMDirector to register its 3D renderer, simulator, lot developers, etc. SC3K has a bunch of SIM* DLLs that serve the same purpose, like SimTransit.dll, a GZCOM DLL director that implements transit networks. The game also takes responsibility for loading plugin DLLs, which is where expansion functionality comes in. (Aside: for any enterprising SC3K modders, those built-in DLLs might be a useful entry point for modding that game.) How far along is Scion? As of posting, the Scion implementation has a core GZCOM implementation that's mostly done with some scattered TODO items, and a mostly-done implementation of DBPF for resource management. There's still some more work to be done on the resource manager, and no work has started on the other core directors. The README on GitHub has a table showing the latest status.- 18 Replies
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