Making editors for cricket games

[Cottager]

ok yeah, I'll give it a go with runs and get back to you

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

I just undestood what you want to achieve, I have just one question, isn't there a particular roster file or something like that in ICC, or the save file? Wouldn't it be a hell lot easier to edit the Save file itself?

 

[Cottager]

I can only assume not Kshitiz, as this has been the state of play for 6 years now - no editor. there isn't a roster file. there's a save file, but nobody knows how to read any of it

 

[barmyarmy]

Didn't Neil Pickup make a program called Magpie for editing the last release of ICC?

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

Well then I guess editing the save file might be a better way, because when you memory edit, 1- You have to have the game running, 2 - You have to save the file each time. Edit the save file directly and its all set.

Colin can help you best here, he has more experience than me in cracking file formats, as he made the .ros editor himself!

I'll try knock up a tutorial about memory editing anyways, but that approach I just said would be far better.

 

[Cottager]

Didn't Neil Pickup make a program called Magpie for editing the last release of ICC?

magpie was for icc2002. that's the last time it's been editable

 

[AbBh]

Whether you create a trainer or a save game editor, the process is similar. Generally, the data is stored in the game file in the same order that it is stored in the memory. Its easy to crack the format of these files since the file can be manipulated from within the game.

Try this.
1] Note down the value of a variable that you can modify(like runs).
2] Save the game.
3] Load the saved game and try to modify a single value(like runs) and save the game again(in a separate file).
4] Compare these two files using a good Hex Editor and search for the value that you noted down in the first step. A different value will be stored at the same address in the other file. This will help you to find the position of the variable.
You probably already know the position of most variables with respect to each other so it should be easy to find them once you know where one of them is stored.

 

[Cottager]

now that sort of sounds like a decent idea to me, but here's the problem that I'm having. say I note down joe denly's runs. save the game, open that up in a hex editor. which I have done. then I reopen the game, let him score a few runs. save the game as a different file, and then open that one up in the hex editor as well. how am I supposed to find the changes, in what is line after line of code?

or am I missing something

Cottager added 26 Minutes and 17 Seconds later...

ok so I gave it a bit of a better go this time. I downloaded a hex comparison program. I had a file saved where denly had 4500 runs. I saved copied this to a different location. then I opened up the game and used my normal artmoney method to change his runs to 4000. then I saved that game. so two files, one with him having 4000 runs and one with him having 4500 runs. I opened up the program to see the differences between the two files, and there's barely a similarity. most of the code has moved around between me opening, changing one value, and then saving again

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

now that sort of sounds like a decent idea to me, but here's the problem that I'm having. say I note down joe denly's runs. save the game, open that up in a hex editor. which I have done. then I reopen the game, let him score a few runs. save the game as a different file, and then open that one up in the hex editor as well. how am I supposed to find the changes, in what is line after line of code?

or am I missing something

Cottager added 26 Minutes and 17 Seconds later...

ok so I gave it a bit of a better go this time. I downloaded a hex comparison program. I had a file saved where denly had 4500 runs. I saved copied this to a different location. then I opened up the game and used my normal artmoney method to change his runs to 4000. then I saved that game. so two files, one with him having 4000 runs and one with him having 4500 runs. I opened up the program to see the differences between the two files, and there's barely a similarity. most of the code has moved around between me opening, changing one value, and then saving again

Rather actually, you don't have to compare the similarities between the two programs, you have to compare the disparities, to know which address in the file has changed. I guess it might be showing just that? :confused:

I know how it works on Hackman 7 though, it compares the addresses which have changed, only.

 

[Cottager]

well yeah it showed the things that had stayed the same in white and the things that had changed in green, and almost all of it was green

 

[Kshitiz_Indian]

What all had you exactly done in the game?

 

[Cottager]

is that asking what had I done to the save? if it's not, sorry....it just wasn't great english. but erm, I just edited joe denly's runs from 4500 to 4000

 

[AbBh]

If you did nothing except modifying his runs then the two files should be very similar. It could be that the save game file is encrypted. Maybe to prevent people from cheating? If that's the case its better to go back to your original idea of making a trainer.

If the file is not encrypted then you can try searching for 4000 in the file. Its 0F A0 in Hex and but the bytes are generally stored in reverse order so you'll have to search for A0 0F. I suspect there might be too many matches but its worth a try. In the other file try searching for 94 11. If you find A0 0F in the first file and 94 11 in the other file at the same address then you've found the address.

 

[Cottager]

nope, definitely encrypted

 

[AbBh]

It can only be decrypted by reverse engineering. Stick to the trainer. Try using the ArtMoney method for finding out the address of the pointer. There are other methods to do the same but they aren't as easy.