Writing small programs/apps

[tiff_lee]

Just wondering if there are any people on here with any programming experience on windows?

I use lots of apps/freeware etc and have always wondered how someone would go about writing them, designing the gui etc and fancied perhaps trying something myself.

I consider myself very good with computers however I'm not looking to do anything serious just something small and simple as the last programming I did was with a +2 in the late 80's!

Any guides or tips people can throw my way would be appreciated.

Just to add, I do have something in mind which i'd like to do however I ain't got a clue how to do it and even though it probably been done already its just a learning experience for me.

[djinuk]

a long long time back i programmed a few bits using visual basic..

Myself id look for some tutorials on using that and go from there :)

[markey b]

i used to write programs on my BBC basic when i was a kid, save them on massive floppy disks, 5" or something i can't remember, all i remember was writing code in lines :laugh:

i used visual basic at school too, use to make crap games instead of doing school work

i've forgotten it all now though

[Scoff]

microsoft visual C++ (msvc) is maybe what you'd want to get into, since you won't hit limitations early on like you might do with less powefull higher level stuff. Expecially ideal if you ever learnt C++ when you were younger. Borland delphi is another option, especially if you ever coded in pascal or turbo pascal when you were younger.

There are stacks of other options too, you have to choose what you like the look of best or base the descision on whatever's closest to the language you know best already.

[tiff_lee]

I'll be pretty much starting from scratch as never done any kind of coding except on a +2 lol

I spoke to a guy on the widescreengaming forums about an app he had made and he recommended I learn c++ and use microsoft visual studios.
His app allows you to force custom widescreen resolutions for triple screen gaming and it works by changing variables in the memory once the game is loaded?

Obviously I don't know alot about this hence why I want to learn, what I want to do is make an app so I can set a custom field of view on Modern Warfare 2 for the PC. I have no real need for this app as I can already achieve this via loading a custom config file every time I want to play the game, however I just thought it be fun to have a try and see if I can do it.

[Scoff]

I fear you may be jumping in at the deep end! I have no real experience with anything overly graphical though, so that is just my intuition talking (which could well be B/S!). You should ask your friend for the source codes. Or find some source codes for programs with similar function to what you are trying to achieve, then see if you are able to digest what is happening in the source. backward engineering like that is how I learnt c++ and turbo pascal (since there was NO internet at those times to help me out !!) That and I stole books from the library, ofcourse..

[tiff_lee]

I don't think its so much graphical but more altering a preset value, perhaps I have it wrong.

The game's field of view is locked to 65degrees as per the console version (360/PS3), in MW1 this was simply changed via a console command and number for the desired fov but now that is not possible as the console has been deliberately been disable by Infinity Ward.

I have only just started looking into it but from what I understood in a tutorial video its similar to the say way hacks/trainers operate, you scan the memory for where the set value you wish to alter is stored (in this case fov 65) and change that value to what you want.

Nonetheless I will do as you suggested and reverse engineer something see how it works and once I have a good understanding can go forward from there.