CE Hex Editing Help Needed

[Blistaflcl]

I really have read most of the forum topics regarding Hex Editing but I'm still completely lost.. I have Cheat Engine 5.5 and have tried searching hex strings from the Adjusted Item Properties but I can never find what I'm looking for. So far my only success was turning everything I had into a Unique. Which probably doesn't count for much, lol.

 All I'm trying to accomplish is taking a basic gun like the S-RAC, or any gun at the start of the game, and increase its damage. So if someone could give me a walk-through on how to accomplish this I would really appreciate it!  

 By the way, I'm running Win 7 64 bit so Hxd isn't something I can use.

[Berit]

Perhaps if you explain exactly what you are trying to do and exactly what you have done we might be able to help

[Blistaflcl]

All I'm trying to do is crank up the damage to any gun. I actually read through your post "Tutorial on 'hexing' your Character" and was able to turn my items into golds. But the tutorial didn't say much for CE so I had some figuring to do. Not that it was too difficult. So I decided to try some more stuff.

 After a few hours of playing around with CE I've gotten almost no results.. I don't understand what to look for when it comes to hex. Do I try to find a certain weapon or do I have to find a certain enhancement on a particular weapon? Almost always the search will show nothing or a ton or hits..

 I believe that my problem is that I'm rather new to CE and Hex Editing and my understanding for either is rather limited. Perhaps you can tell me what you are able to do with it and what you can't? "It" being Hex Editing.

[Harrowing]

 By the way, I'm running Win 7 64 bit so Hxd isn't something I can use.

This *64-bit*  will be your main issue when hex-editing.  Memory locations from what I understand change frequently in-game while playing or not (active) in the process...

[Leitner]

This answers a fair number of cheat engine questions http://www.hellgateaus.cyou/index.php?op ... &f=47&t=74

[Blistaflcl]

Thanks for the heads up Harrowing. I'll keep that in mind while I try to figure this out. I'll also look at the look Leitner posted tomorrow morning.

[Berit]

Even in the 64bit version YOU MUST remember to hit escape and bring up the in-game menu - this 'pauses' the game and FREEZES the memory locations ...

So ... Write down the item affix you want to change ... i.e. 6% shield penetration

- Exit out of your inventory

- Hit escape ONCE to bring up the in-game menu > DO NOT EXIT THE GAME OR CLICK ANYTHING ELSE ON THIS SCREEN! <

- ALT-TAB to you desktop and open your hex editing program - open the hellgate executable currently loaded in ram

- Open the AdjustedItemProperties.pdf file and look for the section on shield penetration (or whatever you are changing)

- In your hex editor, search the hellgate executable in memory for that variable but replace the 'xx' with the amount from in-game IN HEX
(i.e. 6 = 06, 50 = 32, 100 = 64

-Replace ALL INSTANCES (should be around 4 or 5) with your chosen affix <100% Shield Penetration or whatever> - now save those changes to memory

- ALT-TAB back to Hellgate (it should still be paused in the in-game menu. DO NOT go back into the game or it will either reset everything or crash the game) click on 'exit' to go back to the MAIN MENU (this 'saves' the information in ram to your character savegame, thus saving the changes you just made)

- Restart your character where you left off and you should now have the changed weapon/item

... THE MOST common reason why this doesn't work for some people is that they either do not hit escape to bring up the ingame menu, they do not change ALL instances of the memory address or they make an error when putting in the hex values (i.e. not reading/writing the hex pairs from right to left or not adding the '0' in three digit hex values) ... Be careful editing some things to high, or it will crash your game, delete the item or worse, you're character ... if you're not sure, just ask on here and we should be able to advise you

[Nightcaste]

This *64-bit*  will be your main issue when hex-editing.  Memory locations from what I understand change frequently in-game while playing or not (active) in the process...

I use Windows 7 64-bit as well.  HxD automatically crashes when I try to run it.  Cheat Engine works quite well though.

Even in the 64bit version YOU MUST remember to hit escape and bring up the in-game menu - this 'pauses' the game and FREEZES the memory locations ...

So ... Write down the item affix you want to change ... i.e. 6% shield penetration

- Exit out of your inventory

- Hit escape ONCE to bring up the in-game menu > DO NOT EXIT THE GAME OR CLICK ANYTHING ELSE ON THIS SCREEN! <

- ALT-TAB to you desktop and open your hex editing program - open the hellgate executable currently loaded in ram

- Open the AdjustedItemProperties.pdf file and look for the section on shield penetration (or whatever you are changing)

- In your hex editor, search the hellgate executable in memory for that variable but replace the 'xx' with the amount from in-game IN HEX
(i.e. 6 = 06, 50 = 32, 100 = 64

-Replace ALL INSTANCES (should be around 4 or 5) with your chosen affix <100% Shield Penetration or whatever> - now save those changes to memory

- ALT-TAB back to Hellgate (it should still be paused in the in-game menu. DO NOT go back into the game or it will either reset everything or crash the game) click on 'exit' to go back to the MAIN MENU (this 'saves' the information in ram to your character savegame, thus saving the changes you just made)

- Restart your character where you left off and you should now have the changed weapon/item

... THE MOST common reason why this doesn't work for some people is that they either do not hit escape to bring up the ingame menu, they do not change ALL instances of the memory address or they make an error when putting in the hex values (i.e. not reading/writing the hex pairs from right to left or not adding the '0' in three digit hex values) ... Be careful editing some things to high, or it will crash your game, delete the item or worse, you're character ... if you're not sure, just ask on here and we should be able to advise you

I have had numerous successful hacks go through without going to the in-game menu.  I would still recommend doing that though.  Having said that, I have never gotten a change to the actual damage of a weapon to go through.  What I have been able to do is add the "Weapon Damage increased by xx%".  I have never tried to put this value over 255% though.  

Blista, if this seems like something you would be interested in trying, you basically just have to get to covent garden, throw your newb weapon in the augmentrix, and change whatever property it gets to the one you want.

I understand what you mean about Cheat Engine being kind of difficult or non-intuitive to use.  I would be willing to go over it with you via AIM or something.  PM me with your handle on some chat program or another, and I'll walk you through it.

[Berit]

The author of HxD still refuses to commit to a 64bit version despite repeated requests ... But I guess you can't blame the guy, it IS a free program after all ...

I have had numerous successful hacks go through without going to the in-game menu.  I would still recommend doing that though.  Having said that, I have never gotten a change to the actual damage of a weapon to go through.  What I have been able to do is add the "Weapon Damage increased by xx%".  I have never tried to put this value over 255% though.  

On some things the memory locations won't change, so granted, escaping to the in-game menu isn't totally necesary, but it IS recommended

Blista, if this seems like something you would be interested in trying, you basically just have to get to covent garden, throw your newb weapon in the augmentrix, and change whatever property it gets to the one you want.

If your lucky enough to find an already enhanced item (green, blue or orange) you don't even need to wait until Covent Garden ... ... And the name of the device is 'Augmentrex' BTW (augmentrix always sounds like another name for a 'fluffer' in the adult film industry to me)

I understand what you mean about Cheat Engine being kind of difficult or non-intuitive to use.  I would be willing to go over it with you via AIM or something.  PM me with your handle on some chat program or another, and I'll walk you through it.

There is a thread on the board here http://www.hellgateaus.cyou/index.php?op ... &f=47&t=74 with a great deal of help and info on using Cheat Engine

[Blistaflcl]

I've read through the posts and am going to spend the next hour or two playing around with CE and Hellgate. I'll post again soon about my progress and any questions.

 Nightcaste - "Having said that, I have never gotten a change to the actual damage of a weapon to go through. What I have been able to do is add the "Weapon Damage increased by xx%". I have never tried to put this value over 255% though. "

 Thanks for pointing that out as this is what I was originally trying to do.

BTW, I'd like to thank you all for this help! Its very good to know that this community is full of willing and knowledgeable people.

*UPDATE*
 I've succeeded in modifying the weapon percentages! Thank you guys again for the help! So far I still don't know what I was doing wrong originally but that's no problem now. I'm going to list the steps I took just for reference.

- Open game and take note of the item property you want to change

- press ESC.

- Alt-Tab, Open Cheat Engine and open the hellgate process

- Look up the desired hex string in the adjusted item properties document

- use the Scan Type "Search for this array" and enter the hex string with the original value of the item's property.

- edit each instance with the desired value and go back to hellgate.

- exit the game to the main menu and open your character back up.

 Basically what Berit had posted but with some CE specific comments. I hope this helps anyone else that is new to Hex Editing Hellgate!