How? Seriously, how can firms be so clumsy to not have back ups of back ups & back ups of those!?

http://www.pcgamer.com/icewind-dale-2-cant-be-enhanced-because-the-source-code-is-lost/?utm_content=bufferee500&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer-pcgamertw

Even my basic programming on CMB64 & Amiga's, I always had back ups & those weren't for some big business, just stuff for my peace of mind.

And many early Doctor Who episodes were lost because the BBC re-used the VHS and taped stuff over them.

So yeah. Facepalm happens.

I'm not a programmer, but it seems to me like it ought to be possible to reverse engineer a game. I mean, knowing that it was developed on a certain operating system, with a certain engine, at a certain time period, etc. Am I off base?

Unfortunately, reverse engineering is not easy.

Decompiling the executable back into C/C++ (the language Infinity Engine games were written in if I'm not mistaken) will take time. And assuming you manage to do it, that resulting code will be different and will definitely *not* be something you could easily use in a project. All comments, macros definitions... etc will be gone. If you want to use that code in a game project that you plan to update and maintain, you might as well start from scratch.

Given that other enhanced Infinity Engine games are already available (Baldur's Gate, IWD1), it would take orders of magnitude less manhours to simply use those as a starting point to recreate Icewinde Dale 2 rules anew than to reverse engineer the actual code.

EDIT:
Also, while on the subject, here is an interesting read:
https://www.wired.com/2012/04/prince-of-persia-source-code/

The problem is the following: Those who worked on the code directly and actually care about it tend to be mere employees and don't actually own it.

Those who own it are probably at least 2 levels removed from the product, consider it a cash-making cow and would probably prefer to burn it to the ground rather than allow anyone else to profit from it in any way, get it from free or distribute it in any way that would dilute their rights.

This is the reality of many types of intellectual properties, not just games. So much IP is owned by money-obsessed control freaks who would rather bury what they own and never let it see the light of day again than compromise on distribution and ownership. And sometimes, when it's not generating the kinds of revenue they'd like, they can't be bothered making the pittance of an investment necessary to preserve the material at source. If there is no $$$ involved, they just don't care.

I don't care. I wouldn't buy one of those stupid enhanced editions anyway, and IWD2 was by far the weakest of the Infinity engine games. The prologue and the first act were interesting, did something none of the other games had done (war setting...the fights at the palisade in the prologue and then the Orc fortress were pretty cool), but much of the rest of the game was poorly designed, repetitive and simply not fun. Even an enhanced edition couldn't make good those flaws.

The dark engine source code was nearly lost, but someone found it with a Dreamcast dev kit. That apparently went on to become the foundation for the unofficial patching of System Shock 2 and the first two Thief games.

Official retention of source material is the exception, not the rule. Just look at Homeworld: Cataclysm.

When I was a child I used my old cannon fodder's 3/4 " disks for whatever over the games itself... T_T I can't find them (I bet I gave away). I still have the big box.

Sorry for the offtopic but the anecdotic case of Dr Who episodes brought me back that memory

It's just weird for Icewind Dale 2 to be alone after all the others were pulled and "containered".

That's good news!

If beamdog was a good company, they could take opensource gemrb project and help them with the implementation of Icewind Dale 2 port.

They would get praise of the community and release their EE version.

I dont think so. Beamdog already used a widescreen mod to "enhance" baldurs gate. Nothing they do from now on will save their reputation, there is only so far you can push a blatently, unrepentant, talentless cash grab before it is noticed, and the likes of gemrb would do well to steer clear of this company.

Saved by being lost, what irony.

true :D

They are just "playing politics" here so when they finally make it they can double-charge it with an excuse "oh, it was so hard and expensive but we did it for the fans". xD

Well, imagine that I give you a digital photo collage with hundreds of photos in it, like this one:
http://www.shapecollage.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/collage-valentine.jpg

And you would like to change the order of some pictures. You pretty much need the whole picture, the digital image that was at the base of it, as in the collage form, many pictures are cut, and the rest of the picture does not exist. You might try to redo the lost parts of the photos, but that it's almost impossible, and the results wouldn't be anywhere near the original photos.


With straight code, it's the same principle as when you translate in different languages and then try to come back to the original language. In most cases, the result will be totally different from the original input.

It would probably be easier to start from scratch than to start to do reverse engineering on a game like Icewind Dale.