XCom programming language

[Azrael Strife]

Does anyone know in which language was the original X-Com UFO Defense coded?

[Quantifier]

In the old non patched version of UFO, one sound from sample2.cat file is missing. In patched version it is overwritten with some junk (part of makefile of some kind?):

del ufo2exe\ufo.exe
tasm /j.386p /w+ /ml /m /p /s /zi /d__WATCOMC__=900 apw_asm.s
tasm /j.386p /w+ /ml /m /p /s /zi /d__WATCOMC__=900 digit.asm
tasm /j.386p /w+ /ml /m /p /s /zi /d__WATCOMC__=900 timer32.s
wcc386 -ms -3r -d2 -oa sound.c
copy sound.obj ufo2exe
copy timer32.obj ufo2exe
copy digit.obj ufo2exe
copy apw_asm.obj ufo2exe
call mu

It would say it was programmed in C and assembler (you can see Watcom C compiler and Turbo Assembler above). We can only guess what's the proportion.

 

Looking into executables, in the tactical.exe and geoscape.exe you can find Watcom C compiler stamp, in the black.exe - Borland C++ compiler stamp.

[NKF]

black.exe was probably added on later, as an afterthought and as a means of bridging between tactical.exe and geoscape.exe almost look seamless rather than get sent back to the the dos console.

 

The Compiler was Watcom, and the language was C. A snippet of C code that accidentally overwrote the four-way connecting (+ shaped) corridor in alien bases in early floppy releases of the game seems to suggest that the compiler was able to compile C++, as it uses C++ style single-line comments //.

 

- NKF

[Bomb Bloke]

WATCOM C Run-Time system code is provided on an "as is" basis and is © Copyright by WATCOM International Corp. 1988-1993. All rights reserved.