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Old 07-04-2002, 10:35 AM   #11
Wyvern
Ironworks Moderator
 

Join Date: January 7, 2001
Location: Rural Paradise, MI
Posts: 5,701
Okay - Basic W&W hacking 101

Get yourself a nice hex editor - I use hexedit. You should be able to grab that online.

Backup any save file you plan on editing. Backup any save file you plan on editing. Backup any save file you plan on editing. Don't say I haven't warned you!!

What I generally do is put the incoming gamexx.sav files into a folder "Downloads" in my documents. I copy the gamexx.sav over to the W&W save directory (having moved all my own gamexx.sav s into a backup folder of their own).

I start up the game and load the players gamexx.sav and look over the names and the inventory.

What I'm looking for is some cheapo item that they're never going to miss. Ideally, this character should have only one such item in their iventory. If they have more than one - consider moving the others to another character and saving the game before hacking.
I write down the name of the character just so I don't forget.

IF the item to be hacked is the same size as the item I'm going to hack over - I just exit the game.

IF the item is larger than said cheapo item, I move it on the inventory screen so there is a nice amount of space around it - very useful when hacking larger items such as armor.

I've got my machine set up so that if I right click on a file name one of the options that pops up is HexEdit. You can just open your hex editor and load in the file from the W&W save directory.

Hex editors display the file in 2 columns. The left hand column is all the hex numbers (note that all the hex numbers are displayed in columns of 2, such as CF 00 00 00 04 00 00 00) and the right hand column (at least it is that way in HexEdit) is "readable". A lot of it really isn't readable but you'll notice names and item names in this section which are easy to read. Scroll almost all the way to the bottom of the file -

You need to click somewhere on the screen off the scroll bar in this area to get it to "hold" you place and not automatically start from the beginning of the file for the next move.

In HexEdit the command is ALT E (to get the edit menu) and F to get the find menu - type in the name of the character who has the item you're going to hack.

To check to see that you are in the last listing of this particular character (each gamexx.sav lists each character 3 times! but don't panic - you need only be concerned with the last listing) - hit the F3 key. The F3 key is a "find again" command, if it doesn't find the name again, you are in the right spot to start hacking. If it does find the name again- you are now in the correct spot to start hacking - a win win situation!

Slowly scroll down the screen under the character name looking for the item you are going to replace.
Found the name? Okay - here is what you have to do and where I will probably totally confuse you! lol!!

Place your cursor under the first letter of the item name - Type in the new item's name right over the old item's name.

If the new item's name is shorter than the old item's name you are going to have to correct that on the HEX side but this is an easy thing. Note while you are typing in the Text Column that there is a "mirror" cursor happening in the Hex Column. Using your mouse click on the hex side where the cursor is AFTER you have finished typing in the new name. If the values (hex numbers) are anything but "00" type in "00" (that is zero zero, not capital O capital O) until the old name on the TEXT side disappears. Just the name - don't 00 over anything else just yet!

Have I lost you yet? (don't worry, I will! )

Okay, move your cursor to the first letter of the new item name on the HEX side - the actual code for an item starts out 10 hex columns before the name of the item.

Here's an example:
CF 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00
47 6C 6F 77 73 74 6F 6E 65 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .......

CF = the item number, this defines the picture used
04 = is the item inventory space indicator, how much space in the inventory the item takes/type of item

47 6C 6F 77 73 74 6F 6E 65 = Hex for Glowstone
If you were to ask me for the code for Glowstones - I would send you it in this format:

CF 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 Glowstone 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .......
see below for more explanation

Following "Glowstone" you will see on the hex side a lot of "00"s until you see the start of the next item. Glowstones are an easy hack - there is no addition code needed to create them - the only thing you do have to look for is the space between their name and the beginning of the next item needs to be all "00"s.

I've never bothered to count out how many hex colums there are total for an item - it's always been easy for me to figure out where one item ended and another started. If you need me to count them out for you - let me know and I will.

Now something like an Assassin's Dagger has extra modifiers in the code.
I'm going to give you an example of my code shorthand so you might as well get used to how this works. Just remember that the first thing to replace is the NAME which you do on the TEXT side. okay??

The code for an Assassin's Dagger is this:

EC 00 00 00 0D 00 00 00 00 00 Assassin's Dagger 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 0F 00 00 00 0F 00 00 00 0F ...

This is the hex side ^ ... This is Text side ^ ... This is hex side ^

To edit any item - you will be starting in the TEXT side and then moving over to the HEX side to complete the edit.

Once you think you have all the changes correct - save the file and run W&W and load the game.

Check the character's inventory to see if they have the item. Check the item to see that it is named correctly and has the attributes you might expect it to have - Glowstones will tell you it's a key. Assassin's Dagger is going to list that it is a restricted item and the various damage it does, etc.
If everything looks good - zip it up and ship it back to the player.

If it doesn't look good, exit the game, delete the file you edited, copy over the original save game to the SAVE directory and start over.

I've got the code for many items, not all items. I can ferret out many more but I have a list of those I've hacked most often.

If this much makes sense to you - great, I've got some other tidbits I can fill you in on. If this doesn't make sense, well, it's a start. Where exactly did I loose you?? LOL!!!
Wyvern is online now   Reply With Quote