I see a lot about source codes being leaked and I’m wondering how it that you could make something like an exact replica of Super Mario Bros without the source code or how you can’t take the finished product and run it back through the compilation software?
Not all of what is used in the source materials actually ends up in the final result. The compiler gets rid of any unnecessary components and anything that can be simplified, repeated, or condensed, it will strip away as well.
Take the recent GTA V leak. The source code was some 1.2 TB of raw data and source material. Then add on the fact that there are probably thousands of code libraries to pull in bits and pieces from. And somehow we get a ~150GB playable version of that.
In that process to be more efficient, it will also strip away anything representing a variable name, commenting, spaces and new lines.
Last, it crunches that all down to assembly so only the hardware on your computer has any real chance of making sense of it.
The way modders make their tools is by poking software at the RAM and identifying chunks of memory used for certain things. If I’m not mistaken, these have to be hand-labeled after the fact as any reference names used internally by Rockstar would be lost along the way.