hotdsd_gorepatch

This is a fan-made modding tool for the arcade horror game "House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn." SEGA developed three gore effects for the game during production but disabled all of them before release. This patch re-enables one of those effects using code that was already present in the game but switched off.

The patch works by modifying a single large game data file called a pak file. It flips a few binary flags inside the game's internal scripts from false to true, which re-activates the gore logic. It also reconnects a 3D model of burned flesh that ships inside the game but was never wired up to actually appear on screen. With the patch applied, enemies show flesh damage through bullet holes while alive, and their body collapses to a skeleton at death.

Everything in the patch is calculated from scratch based on analysis of the original game bytes. No game assets or original code are included in the repository itself. When you run the tool against your own copy of the game file, it computes all the changes and applies them. There is also a revert command that undoes the changes and restores the original file exactly.

The tool is a single C source file that compiles with one command and only requires zlib, a widely available compression library. You can run it in check mode first to see what changes it would make without modifying anything.

The patch is specific to one particular version of the game and will not work correctly on a different release build. It is an unofficial fan creation, not endorsed by or affiliated with SEGA. The code is released under the MIT License.