Why hackers can not export games on PC?

[Aretasya]

I'm not talking about emulation, but just to do some reverse engineering, and to get the original code, then to compile it on x86 architecture. Why it's not possible ?

 

[Pacheko17]

I'm not talking about emulation, but just to do some reverse engineering, and to get the original code, then to compile it on x86 architecture. Why it's not possible ?

Because it's not that easy to reverse engineer a game.

 

[The Catboy]

Because it's not that easy. Reverse engineering isn't a simple task and hackers only have so much access and responses. I mean, it took 20 years to crack the Sega Saturn. This stuff isn't something that happens over night and often times isn't worth the effort to get so little out of it.

 

[Arras]

Even if they DID have the source code, porting a game to a different platform isn't nearly as easy as having the source code and pressing the "compile to pc" button. Especially for PC, considering all the different hardware setups.

 

[sj33]

I'm not talking about emulation, but just to do some reverse engineering, and to get the original code, the to compile it on x86 architecture. Why it's not possible ?

Let's flip the question - why do you think it's possible?

 

[Deleted User]

Like people can just flip Bloodborne into a .exe file and it works aight?

No, it's MUCH harder than that.

 

[migles]

Even if they DID have the source code, porting a game to a different platform isn't nearly as easy as having the source code and pressing the "compile to pc" button. Especially for PC, considering all the different hardware setups.

it takes a team and weeks\months to "make a port" even with the source code and another team for testing etc..
and you can see how ports are incredible shit full of problems when even the company makes them...

building a port is an enormous shit of work only to benefit from "happy gamers" while companies make "barely working" ports and charge 50 bucks each digital copy...

 

[sarkwalvein]

Let's flip the question - why do you think it's possible?

This. I am really interested in the answer to this question.

 

[nero99]

it takes a team and weeks\months to "make a port" even with the source code and another team for testing etc..
and you can see how ports are incredible shit full of problems when even the company makes them...

building a port is an enormous shit of work only to benefit from "happy gamers" while companies make "barely working" ports and charge 50 bucks each digital copy...

Like arkham knight? That game seems to only run decent if you have a high end cpu and a gtx 980 or better. That and the last update that was put out fixed up a good portion of those awful glitches. But either way, still a shit port to PC from ps4.

 

[BlueFox gui]

it's not some hacker magic, it takes a very long time depending what game you want

 

[migles]

Like arkham knight? That game seems to only run decent if you have a high end cpu and a gtx 980 or better. That and the last update that was put out fixed up a good portion of those awful glitches. But either way, still a shit port to PC from ps4.

wish is funny because they are both the same architecture (x86)

 

[flame1234]

Localization programmer Sara (basically a professional hacker) explains, in a medium amount of detail, how she ported Corpse Party PSP to PC. She had the source code:
http://xseedgames.tumblr.com/post/143762369655/corpse-party-pc-programming-blog

 

[gudenau]

I mean IN THEORY you could make something that abuses the x86 architecture of the PlayStation 4 and XBox One to create a hypervisor. You would either need to modify the code with some sort of JIT or catch the many exceptions it would raise to make it able to use the different hardware on the PC.

Then to get the software on the PC you could create a disk drive that has the specialized drives that the consoles use. The main issue with this is what prevents people from using those drives to copy the games? What prevents people from making a fake driver? From patching the runtime? Piracy becomes much easier because the host PC has access to all of the virtualized memory.

Still, probably a solid amount of man hours needed to do something like this. Even for Sony or Microsoft who have the full specifications of the consoles.

One way to do it, of course the other way would be for the developers to make the games in such a way that you could "plug and play" with different engine components for PC and console.

I am also interested in why you thought this was an easy task with just the binaries of the game.

 

[Joom]

wish is funny because they are both the same architecture (x86)

Direct console to PC ports tend to always be horribly optimized for the PC. See Watch_Dogs and GTA IV.

 

[RevPokemon]

Also a point to add is that projects is the issue of financing the process which can take a long time for little/no pay.

EDIT: Consider asking your self why don't all japan only games have English patches? Same reason more or less

 

[Deleted User]

Direct console to PC ports tend to always be horribly optimized for the PC. See Watch_Dogs and GTA IV.

Watch Dogs was a console to PC port? I had no problems playing it. But yeah GTA IV is a horrid mess.

 

[Joom]

Watch Dogs was a console to PC port?

Yes. AMD users specifically suffered greatly. Ubisoft also purposely degraded the quality of textures in the game, and using the proper textures requires(ed) some hacky shit to "unlock". Someone on Reddit found this out shortly after release, and released a collection of proper texture files for the game that didn't have Ubisoft's disabled parameters. I wish I could find the post, but that was quite a while back in Internet time.

Edit: Here's a bit of light on the subject. http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/06/see-watch-dogs-hidden-graphics-options-in-action/