GeometryWars Patcher

This tool currently addresses two problems:

1. The startup crash for CPUs with a high core count, discussed here. This problem is caused by a buffer overflow in a debug string that lists the properties of each CPU core. This patch null terminates the template string early.
2. Incidentally, it also fixes the common "Failed to find Steam"/Steam.dll copy issue discussed here (just because GeometryWars.exe is replaced with testapp.exe when patching).

The plan is to add more patches if I find more fixes for common issues.

How to use

1. Download the patcher in the bin directory of this repository.

2. When you run the patcher, you may see the following error. Just browse to your Geometry Wars steam directory if so:

   

   If you're not sure where your Geometry Wars directory is: Go to your Steam library, right click on "Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved" and select "Properties...", then click "LOCAL FILES", then click "Browse":

   

3. Once you've browsed for your Geometry Wars directory, just click "Patch".

   

4. That's it! Either run GeometryWars.exe or launch it from your Steam library.

5. If you want to undo the patch, just delete the patched GeometryWars.exe and rename the backup (GeometryWars.exe.original).

Compile from source

Build requirements

• Windows XP+ (links gdiplus)
• CMake 3.19+
• Tested against MSVC 19.29+ (Visual Studio 2019)
• Optional: MinGW & windows-build-tools

How to build

First, clone this repository with submodules:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/bdero/geometrypatch.git

If you have MinGW or Git Bash and have windows-build-tools, just run build.sh.

Otherwise, you can just use CMake normally:

1. Make a build directory and generate VS 2019 files in it.

   mkdir build
   cd build
   cmake .. -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

2. Open build/geometrypatch.vcxproj with Visual Studio 2019 and build the project in release mode.

License (MIT)

Copyright © 2021 Brandon DeRosier

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.