Modding => Help! => Topic started by: Tigerspike on April 16, 2010, 12:45:45 pm
Title: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on April 16, 2010, 12:45:45 pm
So, I've been toying around with the idea of making my own patch for the game, but I've run into a snag. I want to create a focus type skill as a Mage's answer to accumulate. Would I need to hack an ability formula to be +MA_(Y)NS so that I can create this, or would I utilize the "055 Magic Song" effect in conjunction with a 100% formula?
To be honest, I would prefer a formula hack, as that would allow me the ability to alter the Y variable (and as a lesson on formula hacking). If anyone could help me with that, I would be very grateful.
Thanks!
EDIT: I guess the only way to achieve the effect that I want right now is to alter the Magic Song ability, since the effect is just the graphic.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: formerdeathcorps on April 16, 2010, 07:41:32 pm
You can use magic song for now. The formula hack you are asking for isn't hard to do in theory; all you'd need to do is co-opt the +PA_(Y) NS or +SP_(Y) NS formulas and change 3600 (PA) or 3800 (SP) to 3700 (assuming you don't want PA or SP modification in your game). For more information on what numbers reference what stats, please see: http://www.ffhacktics.com/wiki/Formula_Hacking (http://www.ffhacktics.com/wiki/Formula_Hacking). The problem is in actually finding where BATTLE.BIN actually references the formulas desired.
The crude way would be to search BATTLE.BIN's offsets starting from around 11A000 to around 122000 (where most of the weapon formulas are) for every instance of 3600 or 3800 until you find the correct formula. Naturally, the order in FFTPatcher of the damage formulas is not the actual order of the formulas themselves. You'd still need to know ASM or at least be able to recognize some patterns to find the desired formula, though. The other way to find the desired formula to replace is to use the formula you want to replace in battle, find its location on the disk with your debugger, and then use ASM to modify your formula. Zodiac had more details in his thread: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=953 (http://www.ffhacktics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=953).
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on April 17, 2010, 10:02:38 am
Wow, thanks formerdeathcorps!
That helps tremendously. I think I'll try to over-write +Brave_(Y) NS, since I would still have Praise.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: formerdeathcorps on April 18, 2010, 02:06:53 am
You still have quite a lot of trial and error unless you know ASM.
From 11A000 in BATTLE.BIN, you want to find the following: 24 00 22 A2 08 00 02 34 25 00 22 A2 58 00 02 92 24 00 02 92 24 00 40 10 FF 00 (*) 24 00 04 34 64 ED 04 0C 24 00 42 90 24 00 63 90 24 00 44 90 33 78 01 0C (*) 24 00 A3 90 19 80 04 3C (I think this may appear twice) 24 00 40 14 24 00 40 10 (found after the 24 00 40 10 FF 00)
In each case, change 24 to 37 individually and test each with cheer up. If it doesn't add MA, move on to the next one after changing 37 back to 24. I'd test the starred ones first because I suspect those are the likeliest ones.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on April 18, 2010, 10:09:41 am
Thanks again, and yes, I have quite a bit to learn in terms of ASM hacking, but the info you gave me helped set me in the right direction. Even with my limited knowledge, I figured out the 24 for brave (thanks again for pointing me to the right list). I learn best by trial and error, so I was going to try all instances of 24, but I will try out those instances you've starred first.
My only real issue right now is finding time--I have two kids that don't give me a lot of free time (but that's okay, because I love them).
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on April 21, 2010, 04:51:02 pm
Alright, so I've finally had a chance to try out some of the entries that you suggested. No luck on getting it to add MA, but here are the results so far:
24 00 22 A2 08 00 02 34 25 00 22 A2 58 00 02 92 --Nothing 24 00 02 92 --Caused every unit to gain 1 Br each turn. 24 00 40 10 FF 00 --Nothing 24 00 04 34 64 ED 04 0C --Nothing 24 00 42 90 --found it twice at 0x11EF10 (nothing) and 0x1253A0 (still gain Br, but turn into a chicken with both Cheer Up and Praise) 24 00 63 90 --Nothing 24 00 44 90 33 78 01 0C --Nothing 24 00 A3 90 19 80 04 3C --Nothing at either entry.
I'll try the other two sometime later, since I found that there are a total of 27 entries that match those, 11 of which are after 11A000.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: formerdeathcorps on April 21, 2010, 04:54:04 pm
Thank you. You just discovered where chicken triggers brave gain. Now I can make it so chickened units gain 4 brave per turn!
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Xifanie on April 21, 2010, 09:05:57 pm
Don't play with stuff when you have no idea what you're playing with. You can very easily screw up the game like that. If you want to change brave so badly it's: BATTLE.BIN 0x0011C290 XX000334 Change XX to whatever you like + 0x80 Example +4 brave is 0x84
Even there I'm not sure this is completely flawless, I just know that it doesn't seem to affect anything else. Oh and this affects the graphical display too.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on April 21, 2010, 11:49:27 pm
I've been careful to maintain an unedited copy of the BATTLE.BIN, so even if I were to screw something up, I could replace my mistake with the original file. I'm not really wanting to increase the amount of a brave gain ability, but instead change Cheer Up's formula from +Brave_(Y) NS into +MA_(Y) NS. I can increase the amount of brave gained through using FFTPatcher, I was hoping to create a formula so that I don't have to overwrite Magic Song.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on April 23, 2010, 02:35:56 pm
Why not use save states? You don't have to insert them back into the ISO, they aren't permanent, you can duplicate them by changing their name each time you make a change (and keep an unaltered safe copy around that you can open up when the game freezes), and it doesn't take much time to use.
Just take some hexes from around 0x11a000 in battle.bin and search for it in a save state.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on April 23, 2010, 03:58:55 pm
Thanks for the suggestion, I think that I might try that.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: formerdeathcorps on April 23, 2010, 06:48:31 pm
I'm willing to bet one of those offsets also code for brave up. That would be fun to test.
The hex fix I used in my recent update of my patch is the offset Zodiac found. It normally only affects chicken, but if you change 2400 to something else, you'll end up the game reasoning that if your MA (just as an example) < 10, then brave should be increased by 1. That's how Tigerspike got his strange results when he changed 2400 to something else.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: formerdeathcorps on May 09, 2010, 12:24:30 pm
OK, found the faith up offset.
Faith Up: x125124; you can change what stat it adds at x125164.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: philsov on May 09, 2010, 04:51:19 pm
Quote from: "formerdeathcorps"OK, found the faith up offset.
Faith Up: x125124; you can change what stat it adds at x125164.
omg, ty
@Zodiac, you too <3
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on May 10, 2010, 01:07:29 am
Sweet, thanks for all the help/work you've put into my request!
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: formerdeathcorps on May 10, 2010, 05:30:58 am
I'm not nearly done yet. [s:1krt6oad](This post is still in progress. I'll post more as I find out more).[/s:1krt6oad] It's more complicated than I initially realized; all the stat boost reactions are bundled up together. If you want BATTLE.BIN offsets, subtract 67000 in hex from the offsets given.
0018c064: 34100001 ori r16,r0,0x0001 0018c068: 34060032 ori r6,r0,0x0032 0018c06c: 3c058019 lui r5,0x8019 0018c070: 8ca52d98 lw r5,0x2d98(r5) 0018c074: 3c028019 lui r2,0x8019 0018c078: 8c422d90 lw r2,0x2d90(r2) 0018c07c: 34070001 ori r7,r0,0x0001 0018c080: a4b10028 sh r17,0x0028(r5) 0018c084: a4a3002c sh r3,0x002c(r5) 0018c088: 90440012 lbu r4,0x0012(r2) 0018c08c: 0c06355c jal 0x0018d570 0018c090: 24a50032 addiu r5,r5,0x0032 0018c094: 02028025 or r16,r16,r2 0018c098: 340600ff ori r6,r0,0x00ff 0018c09c: 00003821 addu r7,r0,r0 0018c0a0: 3c028019 lui r2,0x8019 0018c0a4: 8c422d90 lw r2,0x2d90(r2) 0018c0a8: 3c058019 lui r5,0x8019 0018c0ac: 8ca52d98 lw r5,0x2d98(r5) 0018c0b0: 90440013 lbu r4,0x0013(r2) 0018c0b4: 0c06355c jal 0x0018d570 0018c0b8: 24a50039 addiu r5,r5,0x0039 0018c0bc: 02028025 or r16,r16,r2 0018c0c0: 34060063 ori r6,r0,0x0063 0018c0c4: 34070001 ori r7,r0,0x0001 0018c0c8: 3c028019 lui r2,0x8019 0018c0cc: 8c422d90 lw r2,0x2d90(r2) 0018c0d0: 3c058019 lui r5,0x8019 0018c0d4: 8ca52d98 lw r5,0x2d98(r5) 0018c0d8: 90440014 lbu r4,0x0014(r2) 0018c0dc: 0c06355c jal 0x0018d570 0018c0e0: 24a50030 addiu r5,r5,0x0030 0018c0e4: 02028025 or r16,r16,r2 0018c0e8: 34060063 ori r6,r0,0x0063 0018c0ec: 34070001 ori r7,r0,0x0001 0018c0f0: 3c028019 lui r2,0x8019 0018c0f4: 8c422d90 lw r2,0x2d90(r2) 0018c0f8: 3c058019 lui r5,0x8019 0018c0fc: 8ca52d98 lw r5,0x2d98(r5) 0018c100: 90440015 lbu r4,0x0015(r2) 0018c104: 0c06355c jal 0x0018d570 0018c108: 24a50031 addiu r5,r5,0x0031 0018c10c: 02028025 or r16,r16,r2 0018c110: 34060064 ori r6,r0,0x0064 0018c114: 3c038019 lui r3,0x8019 0018c118: 8c632d98 lw r3,0x2d98(r3) 0018c11c: 3c028019 lui r2,0x8019 0018c120: 8c422d90 lw r2,0x2d90(r2) 0018c124: 24650024 addiu r5,r3,0x0024 (change 24 to change the stat added by brave up) 0018c128: 90670182 lbu r7,0x0182(r3) 0018c12c: 90440016 lbu r4,0x0016(r2) 0018c130: 000739c2 srl r7,r7,0x07 0018c134: 00073823 subu r7,r0,r7 0018c138: 0c06355c jal 0x0018d570 0018c13c: 30e7000a andi r7,r7,0x000a 0018c140: 02028025 or r16,r16,r2 0018c144: 34060064 ori r6,r0,0x0064 0018c148: 00003821 addu r7,r0,r0 0018c14c: 3c028019 lui r2,0x8019 0018c150: 8c422d90 lw r2,0x2d90(r2) 0018c154: 3c058019 lui r5,0x8019 0018c158: 8ca52d98 lw r5,0x2d98(r5) 0018c15c: 90440017 lbu r4,0x0017(r2) 0018c160: 0c06355c jal 0x0018d570 0018c164: 24a50026 addiu r5,r5,0x0026 (change 26 to change the stat boosted by faith up)
None of the above has anything to do with the actual triggering of any attack. Note that x80192d98 is the location where player stats are stored. I'd like to say that addiu r5, r5, x00XX always corresponds to a stat, but as we all know, x0032 is original speed (not speed), x0039 is undefined, x0030 is original PA (not PA), and x0031 is original MA (not MA). Similarly, it seems that r6 corresponds to the cap for a given stat (50 for original speed, 255 for x0039, 99 for original PA/MA, and 100 for faith/brave) and r7 corresponds to the minimum (1 for PA/MA/SP and x0039, 0 for Brave/Faith).
Fairly self-contained (jr r31 loops back to Part I). All I see is a mess of register comparisons and jumps, probably checks for maximums and minimums. Definitely not where Faith Up is adding 3 faith. This means the investigation goes into even more uncharted waters into areas where it jumps back either to x180XXX or x19eYYY. Either way, this seems to be wandering further and further away from my goal.
Finally found it! By Zodiac's example, you want to change 83 into XX where, XX = brave/faith gain + 80. The offsets are at 124090 for Brave Up and 1240A4 for Faith Up. Pickle, the best debugging method is to actually use the debugger + save states/breakpoints.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on June 16, 2010, 11:29:40 am
Sorry that it took me such a long time to get back this topic. Things are finally settling down enough to do serious work on this, although reading the ASM stuff is a good reminder how much I have to catch up on in terms of understanding what exactly to do. I used Tiny Hexer to help me generate a list of every instance of 24, and it gave me a huge list. I tried using the debugger, and to be quite honest, I have no idea what I was looking at when using it. If you're still willing to help me out, FDC, I would really appreciate it.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on June 16, 2010, 11:58:48 am
How many instances of 24 did you get?
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on June 16, 2010, 12:46:54 pm
Including the stuff only after 0x11a000, there are nearly 1544 instances of 24 (including all instances increases it to 2997). Just to be certain, I had Tiny Hexer generate a list based soley on the occurance of 24 in the battle.bin, that produced 1525 instances. I'm sure if I double check the list that it generated I can eliminate a few lines (such as the ones generated by formerdeathcorps), although it is still lengthy.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on June 16, 2010, 01:00:43 pm
That's pretty good. About 8 hours of work. I might try it tomorrow.
I did something like this with 2,300 hits, and it took me about 6 hours to find it.
F4, file save as, click to emulator, load save state,... I had dreams about it for a few weeks afterwards. Nothing like waking up from a dream where you're sitting in front of a computer.
Edit
I'm working on this, via save state. If anyone wants to help me do it this way, please download the patch, savestate, and search log in search.7z and post a reply. We can divide up the save state and search our assigned areas.
And tigerspike, there's a chance that my method might not work (the game doesn't load entire files all the time - it could just be a tiny chunk of battle.bin in this save state, and with almost 10,000 hits it'll take a month to go through all of it), so please continue with your method, which I believe is exporting, modifying, and importing battle.bin via cdmage and testing it. If you see anything you like in my method, feel free to adapt it to yours.
Edit, Friday, June 18, 0916 Hours
I got Cheer Up to increase MA instead of Brave in a save state, but I can't find the same data in battle.bin. So, I need you guys to flesh this out with your asm magic. Download search.7z (it's an archive), extract the files inside with 7zip (found here: http://www.7-zip.org/ (http://www.7-zip.org/) ), and follow the instructions to replicate my findings.
Things I thought while searching last night/this morning:
What exactly triggers Brave Up? I know that Throw Stone doesn't trigger it. I want to turn Brave Up into "Take HP Damage: Restore MP In Amount Of HP Damage, But Do Not Exceed Max MP". Finding the triggers will take care of the "Take HP Damage:" part. You guys already provided the "Restore MP". I could make it restore a set amount of MP, which is fine if there's no room, but it doesn't take care of the "But Do Not Exceed Max MP" part.
I looked at Formula Hacking on the Wiki, and I think I could find a lot of hardcoded stuff, like the Equipment Slots hardcoded to the Break and Steal ability slots.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on June 18, 2010, 10:27:59 am
Bump for progress.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on June 19, 2010, 10:30:06 am
Gameshark Code
Cheer Up Formula boosts MA instead of Brave d018c124-0024 8018c124-0037
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: LastingDawn on June 20, 2010, 10:01:17 am
Oh, I like that! Good work Death Before Awe! Was there also ROM modding that I missed?
EDIT: No, no there was not. Hmm... I wonder if it's not a constant... yes that could be a little difficult to search for, especially since the decoding of the Formulas are just about nil.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on June 20, 2010, 06:42:25 pm
Change Sunken State Effects
Gameshark Code d018afa7-005a 8018afa7-00??
BATTLE.BIN Offset (not tested yet, CDMage doesn't like my ISO) 0x123FA8
?? 57 = +1 PA (A Save) 58 = +1 MA (MA Save) 59 = +1 SP (Speed Save) 5A = Transparent (Sunken State) 5B = Defending (Caution) 5C = Reraise (Dragon Spirit) 5D = Regen (Regenerator) 5E = +3 Brave (Brave Up) 5F = +3 Faith (Face Up) 60 = Restore HP to max (HP Restore) 61 = Restore MP to max (MP Restore) 62 = Quick (Critical Quick) 63 = Deal damage to self in amount of max HP (Meatbone Slash)
There may be more effects that correspond to the other Reactions, but this is all I can do for now. As you can see, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Cheer Up Formula gains MA instead of Brave
Gameshark Code d018c124-0024 8018c124-0037
BATTLE.BIN Offset (not tested yet) 0x125124
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on June 24, 2010, 11:13:05 pm
Oh wow! Thanks a ton, Pickle Girl Fanboy! I took my girls camping for a few days to take a break from looking at numbers, and came back to this!
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on June 28, 2010, 11:08:25 am
I may be hallucinating, but I think if you change the Sunken State effects, it throws some of the other abilities on the list out of whack. I think I saw Speed Save boost MA.
Cheer Up should work okay, if that is the battle.bin offset. I will still show Brave gain in the animation, but you will gain MA.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on August 17, 2010, 01:10:17 pm
Alright, time to get back to work! I'll start by trying that offset you found, PGF, but I'll also check the full list (and post my results).
[s:3miivvjf]EDIT: PGF, 0x125124 was the correct offset for what I wanted to do. [/s:3miivvjf]
EDIT 2: Rats. Ok, tested 0x123FA8. It does change the effect of Sunken State, just as you had indicated. I tested it by changing the effects to Brave Up. It appears that the 0x125124 offset changes all forms of brave increasing abilities to increase MA instead, not just Cheer Up.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on August 18, 2010, 07:03:34 pm
God damn whoever stole SentinalBlade's laptop. God damn them.
Edit World filter.
So it seems that formulas are organized in bits and pieces... what I need to find is what references these bits, what organizes them together into coherent wholes. If I found that, I could maybe allow every formula to use elements and add statuses and take into account Zodiac compatibility.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on August 19, 2010, 02:46:43 pm
First--I updated the list. Looking for similar strings in the hex editor, I found two that crash the game.
Secondly, yes. Whoever stole SentinalBlade's laptop should be caught and beaten by the whole FFH community.
Third, if you could find the structure of the formulas that would be awesome. BTW, where did you get the gameshark codes (and find their BATTLE.BIN offsets)?
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on September 10, 2010, 12:56:14 pm
Some more updates to the list, sorry my progress is slow.
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on September 13, 2010, 05:44:09 pm
A gameshark code is just a RAM adddress with a prefix attached. If you know where something is in a save state, you can convert that address to a RAM address, and, presto chango, gameshark code.
I found those BATTLE.BIN offsets by hex hacking/searching save states. Do you want me to give you a few pointers on how to speed up hex hacking?
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Zozma on September 15, 2010, 05:46:35 pm
i want this cheer up change as well
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Tigerspike on September 16, 2010, 01:44:43 pm
@PGF--Any tips to speed up my hex hacking will be helpful.
@Zozma--Good! I was hoping that I wasn't the only one!
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Pickle Girl Fanboy on September 18, 2010, 11:23:32 am
Hex Editor and Save State
ROLL OF THE DICE
First, make a save state where you have everything configured and all you have to do is load it, hit a key, and test your ability or whatever. Name this savestate something like safety.psv.
Before you do anything, go to a point three-fourths of the way through the save state, record this (your starting location), open the Replace menu, and Replace all occurrences of the hex you are looking (record this) for with something else (record this too). Record how many hits you got.
For example: Replace all 0x1b with 0x1c Starting @ 0x11ea8 527 hits
Save this save state as something you'll recognize, like brave_search.psv, or test.psv, or dummy.psv, or delete_me.psv.
Load your modified save state and test it.
If it froze or otherwise screwed up so you can't test it, then pick a point closer to the end of the save state and repeat the procedure. If, after four or five tries you keep getting freeze ups, then start thorough searching from the beginning of the file or from the beginning of where you KNOW the data you're searching for is located. We don't search before a certain point in BATTLE.BIN for formula data because others have verified this for us, and we KNOW it. Don't waste effort, but don't skip things unless a reputable authority knows for sure.
If it worked, then record the results and immediately repeat the entire procedure and duplicate your results. If you can duplicate your results, then you have two options: 1. Open your original save state, go to the address where you began your Replace All, and begin thorough searching. 2. Open your original save state, go to a point halfway between where you began your Replace All and the end of the save state, repeat the entire procedure, and try to identify the smallest block of data where the thing you are searching can be found. Once you have the block narrowed down to a point where there are only 20 or so occurrences of the hex you are searching for, then begin thorough searching.
If it did not freeze, and it did not work, then move closer to the beginning of the save state and repeat the procedure, until it does work or it freezes up.
LIKE CUTTING DOWN A TREE WITH A SCALPEL
Above, I covered the fastest method of hex hacking. It works often enough, and it's fast enough, that you should do it EVERY TIME you begin searching for something new unless you know the data isn't near the end or you know it will freeze before you come across the data. There's no point in trying to cut a tree down with a scalpel if you haven't tried the chainsaw.
Now, the next fastest and effective method.
Go to your original save state. Go to a point where you KNOW the data is, or start from the beginning. Search for your hex value. You will come to an address. Record that address, and then go to the replace menu. Replace your hex value with what your are testing it against, and look at your hex editor. It should have something called "Replace Again Down", and a hotkey which does this automatically, usually F4. Hit F4, and record the address which you replaced. Do this until you have ten or so addresses, and then save your save state as your dummy save state, and test it.
Always double check that you loaded the correct save state in pSX.
If it didn't work and it didn't freeze, then record the failure to work and continue the procedure, using your dummy save state.
If it froze, then record the freeze. You now have two options: 1. Open your original save state and test every one of the addresses you recorded until it either works, freezes, or you reach the end of your list, or 2. Skip that block of data, continue searching other blocks, and save testing failed blocks for later.
It's entirely up to you. If you suspect that you're nowhere near the data, then there's no reason to go testing things, unless you start getting a lot of failures, in which case you should move on to a more through searching method until you stop getting failures.
I cannot stress how important it is to record everything, and record it so you can understand it a year from now. Especially considering you have a family, and opportunities for hacking will be few and far between.
OH ST. AJORA, LET IT END, LET IT END
Last of all, the slowest and most thorough method of hex hacking, the scalpel.
Open your original save state, and go to where you KNOW the data is, or the beginning, or where you stopped testing using other methods.
Search for your hex value. Record the address and manually replace it. Save your save state as the original save state.
Test it.
If it works, record it and duplicate it.
If it freezes, record it, then replace it with it's original value and find the next hex.
If it doesn't work and doesn't freeze, then type something quick, like fail or no or n. Replace the value you modified with its original value, and find the next hex.
From my own experience, you reach a rhythm after about 40 minutes, and the first few hours kind of blur together. I find that listening to music throws my rhythm off and I make mistakes. I talk to myself too, so don't do this when other people are around unless they're okay with you sounding like the Unabomber.
****
Hex Editor and RAM dump (*.BIN file).
Not very useful, except when searching for palette data in TileMolester or something.
****
Text Editor (notepad) and disassembly dump.
Can be very, very useful. When searching a save state for, let's say 0x2400 (because the values are reversed and you're really looking for 0x0024), then you'll find every occurrence of 0x2400 when you're really searching for when that value is used in a chunk of ASM.
This is useful for adjusting your aim, but, because you can't edit and load or reinsert disassembly dumps into pSX the same way you would a save state, it's usefulness is limited to helping your hex hacking. If this helps you, then post here and I'll see if I can get Vanya to add it to his hex hacking thread.
If anyone has any corrections or better methods, short of ASM, please post them.
****
TOOLS
http://lifehacker.com/238306/lifehacker ... er-windows (http://lifehacker.com/238306/lifehacker-code-texter-windows) ^Texter, a useful little tool that can cut down on the amount of time you spend typing. It allows you to hotkey chunks of text.
http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/f ... /xvi32.htm (http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm) ^xvi32, a good hex editor
http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/ (http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/) ^HxD, a very useful hex editor with the best copy and paste function I ever saw in a hex editor
http://www.hhdsoftware.com/free-hex-editor (http://www.hhdsoftware.com/free-hex-editor) ^Hex Editor Neo, which isn't actually free. If you wanna use it's more useful functions - like searching a directory of files for a specific value - then you need to either keep downloading it after your two week trial ends or buy a license for it.
http://backandneck.about.com/od/massage ... etraps.htm (http://backandneck.about.com/od/massagetechniques/ht/massagetraps.htm) ^How to give yourself a shoulder massage. You will need this, unless you have a woman (or a man).
Title: Re: Formula Hacking help please!
Post by: Xifanie on September 18, 2010, 11:25:56 am