Id like to know something about modding old videogames

[+COTAY]

Hi guys!
First of all, I wanna say Im new to this forum. So if this topic doesn't belong to this section, tell me where should I send it to and pardon my ignorance, please

Ok, now Im going to introduce myself! --> Im Jamiann [JM] from Argentina, and I love PC and PS2 retro-gaming.
Some of my favorite old PC videogames are:
. Star Wars e1 Racer
. Star Wars e1 Battle for Naboo
. Star Wars e1 Tthe Phantom Menace
. Activision's Spider Man [only the first vgame from the series that was released back in 2000]
. Motocross Madness 2
. MX vs ATV Unleashed
. etc etc etc

OK, so now let's say I want to mod the first 3 old StarWars vgames.. Im talking about decompressing their core game data files in order to view\extract textures, extract sounds and music, edit DLLs to increase game's performance, edit their main exe's to be able to use hidden cheat codes, etc etc etc

Well, here goes my question:
What kind of knowledge do I have to learn and also what programs should I use in order to accomplish my goal?

I know modding vgames is not an easy thing, but if possible Id like you guys to tell me where to start.

Thanks in advance to all the ZenHAX community, and very special thanks to Luigi for giving us the chance to share and learn knowledge from his forum.

Regards,
+COTAY

[aluigi]

I guess the usual checklist is:

• dump files from archives (if used), quickbms has tons of scripts covering formats of various games
• check if exists a viewer for the files, if you are lucky they use known formats (png, dds, wav with known codecs and so on)
• probably you are unlucky and you have to find a way to decode the information in these files, check on a search engine with the correct keywords
• probably you have to check other games that use the same engine and formats (maybe game X doesn't give results, while game Y has tools and solutions)
• 3d models often use proprietary formats as far as I know, not my field, but usually people use noesis and hex2obj
• you need to edit/modify the files
• you need to put the modified files back in the archive (if used), quickbms has 2 reimport featutes that may help

Very generic and quick list, I know, but modding it's a hell if archives, proprietary formats, proprietary algorithms and non-pc versions are involved.

I'm not a modder so I hope other users and modders can provide more help and tools.

[+COTAY]

Thanks for your response, Luigi
I think I'll keep this thread updated with my progress so others can learn from what I be doing.
Cheers