Cheat search tools, anyone know of any good ones?
#11
Nah I don't mean any offence by it, when I check them for virus'es or whatever.

It's just a habit.
All I do is check the taskmgr and tcpview for anything suspicous.
I only check with an antivirus a few times a year.


Thanks for the tip about the pointer Smile.
I'll try it out in a little bit.

Btw, Am I correct in thinking that after I do this once I can apply the same exact thing to other art table files?
And no longer need to re-scan for one of my value's to redo the offset for all my codes everytime?

I mean, as long as I don't update pcsx2, in which case I would need to run phaste again and get the base offset, and the pcsx2 window title+exe name.


As for the speed of scanning a gig lol.
It's not to bad on this system, resonable.
But it does got me wishing I had more mem then 2gigs.
Especially when I end up trying to hack single player pc games.

But it will be nice to see an even faster scan with the 32meg limit in pcsx2 Smile.
Might even fix potential errors because I'll no longer be scanning area's I should'nt be.

I can't thank you guys enough for showing me these apps.
It's probably been 10 years since I've been able to hack in apps that don't have it built in.
I'll beable to hack ps1 again and saturn (castlevania sotn jp ver) as well.
When I get bored anyways.
Maybe now I'll actually go back and beat xenogears lol..., it won't be as boring.

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#12
(07-27-2010, 04:33 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: I mean, as long as I don't update pcsx2, in which case I would need to run phaste again and get the base offset, and the pcsx2 window title+exe name.

I'm not 100% sure about that but yes...my cheats work fine here.

PS.I'm changing the stats and the skills of my Personas on Persona 3 FES now Tongue2(I used the Death skill(the real last boss skill)to kill Elizabeth)
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#13
Cool Smile, I got persona 3 fes and I think it's either 2 or 4 for the ps2 as well.
I haven't played them yet though, just sitting on there dvd's right now.
(got them because they looked halfway interesting).


I hope this is clear enough, I'm tempted to make some screenshots to show it but my room is 80f right now and I don't feal like it this sec Smile.

I checked out what you said.
And it does indeed limit the ram to 32megs.

Prob is (no biggy), is that I found that phaste finds the main pointer at diff locations for every pcsx2 run I do, for xenosaga 1.
It's just slightly off each time.
I experimented for a while with artmoney's options until I realized the pointer was moving.

So I came up with an idea of sorts, not 100% because I'm back to a gig and a half limit...

I checked and double checked what I was getting, in xenosaga1 as my pointer in phaste.
Looking for a signature I could use.
The ptr offset value doesn't change, at least on that game.

So I needed to convert the sig (ptr value) from hex to dec to run a search in artmoney.
(Set to dec display, I like hex but dec is easier to deal with at the moment)

The value for the ptr sig was: "-46917019142291455".
I ensured my current codes offsets were set before I added this new pointer code.
I added the code, and saved the table.
So it's inline with the rest of my codes, on top for ease of use.

I made sure the the table's emu option was disabled to ensure it started at offset 0 to search from (for now, otherwise I might miss it).

One other thing.
Under options/additional I made sure the "save/load values in file table" was checked.
This saves the values Wink, kinda...

I tested 3 times...
A fresh run of pcsx2, and artmoney.
It won't matter if the game is running mid game or what, or if the emu just ran without starting the emulation yet...
The pointer code value is the same regardless, it doesn't change.

Now the tricky part kinda.
Run an integer search(it's picky with ptr search but integer worked well).
With a value type of custom, "8 byte integer" being the only one checked (custom will be the ptr searching value type).
Use the value I mentioned above (looks like a float value but the program treats it otherwise).

3 results will come up.
The 1st is the main pointer, offset 0 in ps2 memory I assume, like phaste comes up with on it's own.

Just apply the offsets to all with the pointer code selected and it will fix all of the offsets.

That's makes it easy to redo the offsets on every instance you run the emu.
Because the value is static and never changes, no need to search mid battle or whatever anymore.


Again, run phaste, and take the 1st 8 bytes it finds and use that as a code to search for in artmoney calling it pointer or whatever.
Making it a 1 step process to find the new offsets for all of your codes.
As longg as the limits are close to being corect, you won't cut off the last of the mem or begining of it (which could happen in emu mode if the ptr is wrong for that run instance).


Now the only problem is the limit of ram, needs to go back down to 32meg somehow without losing the pointer at the begining or a chunk of ram at the end.

Other then that, I haven't tested the value on other games yet.
It's probably the same though, depending on the emu ver and bios probably.
Hard to say, if it's not the same phaste will help locate and make a new one.

I'll experiment with the emu mode again to see if I can restrict the ram limits a bit.
Without an update to artmoney I don't think the limits can be hard set 100% correctly without re-write the emu file each time you run pcsx2, which takes a run of phaste as well.


Now some other stuff I figuered out about artmoney.
1st the save values option.
It will save values, but when you 1st run the emu and artmoney, freeze is not set in place.
So the codes can get reset.
But there's another prob, even if you freeze them quickly enough, they tend to get reset anyways (I think artmoney doesn't notice the freeze for a cycle).

But it might be possible to freeze before you run the game.
That seems to work but I haven't tested it much so I can't say 100%.
Might not be viable for everything, might lock bootups and stuff sometimes.
:\

Anyways, the pointer value doesn't change so you don't have to worry so much about losing that.
It'll be in the list of value's searched for, and being that it has a - sign in the front of it it's hard to miss.
But even if that was misplaced, the code it's self won't lose it's value so you can ref from that in you ever need to.

The stealth mode options for hiding the windows and proccess.
If you have them checked you can't alt tab to artmoney (it's probably the window option).
Just handy to know.


Edit:
What would be nice is, after the offsets are fixed in a run of pcsx2.
It would be nice to get artmoney to have the pointer code set as offset 0, telliing it that it's the pointer not just a normal code.
This might be possible, I don't know yet.
To get our ps2 mem standered offsets, without resorting to using the calculator to subtract the pointer from the rest of the codes, when sharing codes for others.

I think there's even something in it to have to auto search for the ptr value and do all that on it's own.
And therefor making it possible to auto set the 32meg limit again, maybe.
I haven't gotten that far yet though.

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#14
(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: Prob is (no biggy), is that I found that phaste finds the main pointer at diff locations for every pcsx2 run I do, for xenosaga 1.
It's just slightly off each time.

Probably the address you find is not the correct one for the cheat you search

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: The value for the ptr sig was: "-46917019142291455".
As far as I know pcsx2/ps2 don't use such values(signed)or at least I've never finded/see cheat using that kind of value.

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: One other thing.
Under options/additional I made sure the "save/load values in file table" was checked.
This saves the values Wink, kinda...

Yes,forgot about that option...it's not always good idea to save the values too because when you made a cheat and for some reason the address is changed,when you load that table,the saved values will change something that they are not supposed to.

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: With a value type of custom, "8 byte integer" being the only one checked (custom will be the ptr searching value type).
pcsx2 uses 4 bytes at max,if you use 8 bytes,you'll editing 16 addresses or in other words 2 4byte codes and when you place the code into pnach file,you will have two lines with adressess.

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: looks like a float value but the program treats it otherwise
With - is signed value and with dot/coma is floating value(something that pcsx2/ps2 don't use for cheating)for example 3.52(those most of the time are pain to find)

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: Now the only problem is the limit of ram, needs to go back down to 32meg somehow without losing the pointer at the beginning or a chunk of ram at the end.

..........If you put the base address correctly then you must be searching only thought the pcsx2 ram usage

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: Other then that, I haven't tested the value on other games yet.
It's probably the same though, depending on the emu ver and bios probably.
Hard to say, if it's not the same phaste will help locate and make a new one.

The base address is not changed if you start other game.

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: I'll experiment with the emu mode again to see if I can restrict the ram limits a bit.
Without an update to artmoney I don't think the limits can be hard set 100% correctly without re-write the emu file each time you run pcsx2, which takes a run of phaste as well.

Updating ArtMoney wont change the base address of the pcsx2 version you are using.


(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: Now some other stuff I figuered out about artmoney.
1st the save values option.
It will save values, but when you 1st run the emu and artmoney, freeze is not set in place.
So the codes can get reset.
But there's another prob, even if you freeze them quickly enough, they tend to get reset anyways (I think artmoney doesn't notice the freeze for a cycle).

Like I said,saving the values is not always good idea...the other cheating program don't have problems with remembering and loading values.

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: But it might be possible to freeze before you run the game.
That seems to work but I haven't tested it much so I can't say 100%.
Might not be viable for everything, might lock bootups and stuff sometimes.

First start pcsx2 and the game and then load the table after choosing the process.

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: The stealth mode options for hiding the windows and proccess.
If you have them checked you can't alt tab to artmoney (it's probably the window option).
Just handy to know.

Well there are games(not pcsx2...pc games)that have protection against cheating and those options help you bypass that protection.

(07-27-2010, 07:11 PM)NEOAethyr Wrote: Edit:
What would be nice is, after the offsets are fixed in a run of pcsx2.
It would be nice to get artmoney to have the pointer code set as offset 0, telliing it that it's the pointer not just a normal code.
This might be possible, I don't know yet.
To get our ps2 mem standered offsets, without resorting to using the calculator to subtract the pointer from the rest of the codes, when sharing codes for others.

Umm,maybe I didn't understand you correctly but ones you add the base address and find the cheat,if you highlight an address and click on it again,it will automatically convert the address to the address that you must put into pnach file to use the cheat without ArtMoney
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#15
I'll get back with ya in a few days.
I was looking for the wrong hex signature anyways lol.
I'll post with some screen shots next time to show what I'm talking about.

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#16
why not use cheat engine? i find the gui for artmoney to be rather ugly. but regardless, it would be better if pcsx2 supported cheat search internally like dolphin emulator. when you use these external programs like 'cheat engine', 'art money', 'phaste', etc. the stuff you found won't work the next time you start pcsx2.

what's worse is you spend like 30 min to find the health bar for say 'god of war' then pcsx2 crashes on you. all that time spent searching and narrowing down the values are gone on a crash.

unfortunately, i don't think pcsx2 supports all of the cheat code types for the various action replay cheats. things like 'inf health' code for 'god of war' doesn't work and will cause pcsx2 to log tons of errors (but you find and get inf health to work using an external memory search app as discussed earlier). so they would have to do that first i would think before even thinking about adding in a search engine. even dophin emulator doesn't support all code types for it's wii gecko codes.
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#17
kidaware Wrote:why not use cheat engine?
Because I don't like it

kidaware Wrote:i find the gui for artmoney to be rather ugly
The point is not how the program look like,it's what you can do with it,and if you ask me ArtMoney is much superior to Cheat Engine

kidaware Wrote:but regardless, it would be better if pcsx2 supported cheat search internally like dolphin emulator.
I don't use dolphin,in fact I've never tried it so I don't know what cheat engine that emulator have.
PCSX2 HAVE search engine but it's on the old gui,on the new gui it's still not added(that engine have all of the minimum "must have" features)

kidaware Wrote:when you use these external programs like 'cheat engine', 'art money', 'phaste', etc. the stuff you found won't work the next time you start pcsx2.
You obviously doing something wrong or Cheat Engine(if that's what you are using)is not working correctly.

The values of your search result can be changed(the address in not correct anymore)if you didn't find the correct address for the cheat or you are using different version of pcsx2 that the one that you used to create the cheats.

I have tons of codes and all of them work correctly if the base address of the pcsx2 version is the same as the version I used to search the cheats.

kidaware Wrote:what's worse is you spend like 30 min to find the health bar for say 'god of war' then pcsx2 crashes on you. all that time spent searching and narrowing down the values are gone on a crash.

Like I said,this doesn't happen here...for example start some game,create couple of cheats,turn off pcsx2 and ArtMoney and continue searching on the next day(all of the previous addresses for the codes are the same and they are working)

kidaware Wrote:unfortunately, i don't think pcsx2 supports all of the cheat code types for the various action replay cheats. things like 'inf health' code for 'god of war' doesn't work and will cause pcsx2 to log tons of errors (but you find and get inf health to work using an external memory search app as discussed earlier). so they would have to do that first i would think before even thinking about adding in a search engine. even dophin emulator doesn't support all code types for it's wii gecko codes.

Yes pcsx2 don't support all codes types but something so simple like inf health or money is not one of them,I have done tons of cheats like those.

For GoW search for Unknown value and when someone hit you,use "Value decreased" and when you recover,use "Value increased" and use "value was not changed"(when your health is not changed) on different locations and menus,this will reduce the funded results.I doubt that the value will be bigger than 1bit(0-255)but it's better to try with 2bit(0-65535)when you are not sure(or with both of them if your program allow it)

PS.Yesterday I was adding items and money to my save on MS Saga...I find how the game uses the addresses for items and then added the items I want(it uses special address for certain item,on that address you must use the correct value for that item and the item amount is slot based...you need you change those two addresses correctly to have the item)
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#18
well, artmoney costs money and doesn't nearly have all the features that cheat engine have. i think you get more features if you buy artmoney. plus cheat engine is open source. so you can look inside it's code to see what it's doing. it also allows you to change/mod the code to your liking. ultimately, it comes down to the individual user preference. Cool

the gui of an application plays a part in a program if presentation isn't clear. i find cheat engine gui nicer and more intuitive in layout than artmoney's gui. artmoney's gui just seems backwards and non-intuitive to me. Huh

i build and use nearly daily version of pcsx2 svn. so internal search would be better than having to update the base address every time. which i personally have not seen it retained the address between pcsx2 app closing even with the same version of pcsx2. i think it's due to the dynamic interpreter used in pcsx2's core. i'm not familiar with how pcsx2 handles the various memory location between runs so i can't say for certain. Blink

i guess i forgotten about the old gui version of pcsx2 having a search engine built in. i wonder why the devs haven't re-enabled the cheat search in the new versions of pcsx2? they're probably too busy with other areas of pcsx2. we'll just have to make do with what's available now. Glare
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