Table of Contents for
Gaming Hacks

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Gaming Hacks by Simon Carless Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2004
  1. Cover
  2. Gaming Hacks
  3. Credits
  4. Contributors
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Foreword
  7. Preface
  8. How to Use This Book
  9. How This Book Is Organized
  10. Conventions Used in This Book
  11. Using Code Examples
  12. Comments and Questions
  13. Got a Hack?
  14. 1. Playing Classic Games
  15. Legal Emulation
  16. Play Commodore 64 Games Without the C-64
  17. Play Atari ROMs Without the Atari
  18. Use Atari Paddles with Your PC
  19. Run Homebrew Games on the Atari 2600
  20. Create Your Own Atari 2600 Homebrew Games
  21. Play Classic PC Graphic Adventures
  22. Play Old Games Through DOSBox
  23. Play Reissued All-in-One Joystick Games
  24. Play Arcade Games Without the Arcade
  25. Add and Manipulate a MAME Frontend
  26. Keep Your ROMs Tidy and Organized
  27. Learn Game-Specific MAME Controls
  28. Filter Inappropriate MAME ROMs
  29. Autoboot into MAME Heaven
  30. Play Emulated Arcade Games Online
  31. Play Classic Pinball Without the Table
  32. Emulate the SNES on the Dreamcast
  33. 2. Playing Portably
  34. Play Games on Your iPod
  35. Mod Your Game Boy
  36. Take and Print Photos with Your Game Boy
  37. Compose Music on Your Game Boy
  38. Explore the GP32 Handheld Gaming System
  39. Take Your Console with You
  40. Explore the Bandai WonderSwan
  41. Play Real Games on Your PDA
  42. Install a PlayStation 2 in Your Car
  43. 3. Playing Well with Others
  44. Practice Proper MMORPG Etiquette
  45. Understand MMORPG Lingo
  46. Grind Without Going Crazy
  47. Make a Profit in Vana’diel
  48. Write MMORPG Macros
  49. Build an Effective Group
  50. Catch Half-Life FPS Cheaters Redhanded
  51. 4. Playing with Hardware
  52. Build a Quiet, Killer Gaming Rig
  53. Find and Configure the Best FPS Peripherals
  54. Adapt Old Video Game Controllers to the PC
  55. Choose the Right Audio/Video Receiver
  56. Place Your Speakers Properly
  57. Connect Your Console to Your Home Theater
  58. Tune Console Video Output
  59. Tune Your TV for Console Video
  60. PC Audio Hacking
  61. Optimize PC Video Performance
  62. Build a Dedicated Multimedia PC
  63. Use a Multimedia Projector for Gaming
  64. 5. Playing with Console and Arcade Hardware
  65. Play LAN-Only Console Games Online
  66. Hack the Nuon DVD Player/Gaming System
  67. Play Import Games on American Consoles
  68. Find a Hackable Dreamcast
  69. Play Movies and Music on Your Dreamcast
  70. Hack the Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit
  71. Unblur Your Dreamcast Video
  72. Use Your Dreamcast Online
  73. Host Dreamcast Games Online
  74. Burn Dreamcast-Compatible Discs on Your PC
  75. Burn Dreamcast Homebrew Discs
  76. Buy Your Own Arcade Hardware
  77. Configure Your Arcade Controls, Connectors, and Cartridges
  78. Reorient and Align Your Arcade Monitor
  79. Buy Cart-Based JAMMA Boards
  80. Programming Music for the Nintendo Entertainment System
  81. 6. Playing Around the Game Engine
  82. Explore Machinima
  83. Choose a Machinima Engine
  84. Film Your First Machinima Movie
  85. Improve Your Camera Control
  86. Record Game Footage to Video
  87. Speedrun Your Way Through Metroid Prime
  88. Sequence-Break Quake
  89. Run Classic Game ROM Translations
  90. Change Games with ROM Hacks
  91. Apply ROM Hacks and Patches
  92. Create PS2 Cheat Codes
  93. Hack Xbox Game Saves
  94. Cheat on Other Consoles
  95. Modify PC Game Saves and Settings
  96. Buff Your Saved Characters
  97. Create Console Game Levels
  98. 7. Playing Your Own Games
  99. Adventure Game Studio Editing Tips
  100. Create and Play Pinball Tables
  101. Put Your Face in DOOM
  102. Create a Vehicle Model for Unreal Tournament 2004
  103. Add a Vehicle to Unreal Tournament 2004
  104. Modify the Behavior of a UT2004 Model
  105. Download, Compile, and Create an Inform Adventure
  106. Decorate Your IF Rooms
  107. Add Puzzles to Your IF Games
  108. Add Nonplayer Characters to IF Adventures
  109. Make Your IF NPCs Move
  110. Make Your IF NPCs Talk
  111. Create Your Own Animations
  112. Add Interactivity to Your Animations
  113. Write a Game in an Afternoon
  114. 8. Playing Everything Else
  115. Tweak Your Tactics for FPS Glory
  116. Beat Any Shoot-Em-Up
  117. Drive a Physics-Crazed Motorcycle
  118. Play Japanese Games Without Speaking Japanese
  119. Back Up, Modify, and Restore PlayStation Saved Games
  120. Access Your Console’s Memory Card Offline
  121. Overclock Your Console
  122. Index
  123. Colophon

Modify PC Game Saves and Settings

Poke into the depths of your favorite PC game to give yourself the edge.

There’s a whole industry devoted to cheating and hacking game saves on consoles ( [Hack #75] ), but what about PC games? Shouldn’t that be as easy, if not easier, than console hacking? Yes! Console hacking may be more exotic and interesting because consoles are black boxes you’re not really supposed to open, but it’s easy to cheat with PC games; you control the hardware and software of a general-purpose computing device!

You can often find trainers (small executable patch files that add an up-front menu to the game in which you can select infinite lives, max ammo, and other fun options) that combine all the extras you want in a ready-made package. Some exploit debug modes that the programmers have left in the game. Others modify specific values in saved games. You can perform plenty of interesting hacks on PC games old and new.

PC Game Hacking Overview

There are several types of PC game hacking tools. All overlap in some way, and you’ll often have the best results by combining some or all of them:

Memory finders

Scan the PC’s memory while a game runs, allowing you to search for and replace certain variables to produce intended (or unintended!) effects.

Hex editors

Allow you to edit saved files, changing variables more permanently.

Code disassemblers

Tools that show you a partially human-readable version of the compiled code. This is a complicated approach to changing parts of the game code. If you have a basic understanding of assembly language and hex, this is the method for you.

Packet editors

Tools for network-aware games that help you understand the information sent out over the Net and how to change it.

If you’re looking for somewhere to start with regard to hacking PC games, the World Of Game Hacking (http://www.gamehacking.com/) is an amazing jumping-off point. Not only does it have plenty of free, ready-made trainers to download for existing PC games, it has massive download sections for all of these utilities and a big set of tutorials for both beginners and experts. Although they’re often rough and ready, these explain most of what you need to know.

PC Game Hacking Using Memory Finders

Using memory finders is by far the easiest and most fun way to hack, so we’ll devote the most time to it. For the purposes of this hack, we’ll use the WinHack 2.0 tool:

http://www.gamehacking.com/download.php?type=tools&file=memfinders/WH200.zip

It’s a freely distributable Windows program that allows you to look through memory on a particular file and see what’s changed, then change values based on that.

Tip

GameHack, also available on the GameHacking.com page, is another highly recommended Windows program along the same lines. Unfortunately, it’s a bit old, and it doesn’t seem to work properly in Windows NT environments, so it’s not very useful for modern-day PC hackers.

WinHack, showing all the initially changed memory locations

Figure 6-2. WinHack, showing all the initially changed memory locations

Changing the tag for the Minesweeper time

Figure 6-3. Changing the tag for the Minesweeper time

To start, load up your favorite game. We’ll use the example of the excellent WinHack tutorial (http://www.gamehacking.com/view.php?link=../tutorials/winhack.php) on Minesweeper, which ships with Windows.

  1. Load MineSweeper, and leave it on the startup screen without starting a game.

  2. Load WinHack. Select the MineSweeper application from the Process: window, and hit the Start New Search button.

  3. Start a game of MineSweeper, and wait until the timer has counted 10 seconds. Pause the game by minimizing its window.

  4. Now search Anything for the phrase “Changed to value of 10” selection, and hit Continue Search. This finds every memory location (Figure 6-2) whose contents have since changed to the value of 10—probably several places.

  5. Maximize MineSweeper again, and wait for the timer to reach 18. Then minimize again and change the Changed value to 18. You should receive only one result: the location of the timer variable. Now you can mess with it.

  6. Select Create A Tag From The Selected Address. Go to the Tag Lists menu, where you can change the value for that particular tag to anything you like (back to 1, for example) or freeze it so it doesn’t increment anymore. See Figure 6-3.

  7. Go back into the game and see that the timer has changed to your new value. Poof, instant MineSweeper cheating!

This type of hack isn’t necessarily permanent, though. You might be able to create a trainer using WinHack, but there’s no guarantee that the timer will occupy the same chunk of memory on every game.