Cheat Engine

chris17585 · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:31 am Post subject: find pointer from base address

Hey guys I have been following a cheat table, doing a bit of learning. I like finding the addresses and codes myself, and using the table only if I'm struggling. To see what code was used by the table creator, and were I may have gone wrong. I have been doing the dead space 3 table by alice0725, and I noticed he has a code for resources which gets the base address for resources. I had that functioning fine no problem at all, pointing to the same address as his code was. My question is though, how would you use that base to get the pointed addresses for the resources, i.e the pointed addresses for scrap metal, somatic gel etc?

Thanks

Chris

++METHOS · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 1:17 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure if I understand what you are asking. You will have to find the pointer addresses and offsets for the other values, as they will be different. If you are asking about finding the addresses that hold the value for the other items, you can try dissecting data structure and comparing two or more items to see if you notice any patterns.

Just use the pointer scanner function for finding the pointers...it's really so easy.

chris17585 · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:43 pm Post subject:

Well he has used this method of saving the base address, code below is made up:-

mov [edx+54],eax

becomes

mov [resources_base],eax

then jump to originalcode

I did the same thing without peeking at his code. When I added my address to the table to find the base it was always, 034B7490. No changes, when spending or obtaining resources. I checked his pointers, thinking the code was fine, and sure enough they all pointed from the same base 034B7490. My question is, knowing the base address, is there a way to get to the pointed value. Using some function within cheat engine. Or is this simply useful, because it gives us the final static address when manually finding the pointer?

Thanks again,

Chris

++METHOS · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:11 pm Post subject:

Without seeing the script and your cheat list, it's hard to say what you are really dealing with and/or trying to accomplish.

Have you considered the possibility that the address that you are referring to, contains the instruction that writes to the address where the resources value is stored in memory?

Obviously, the address that actually stores the resources value is always going to change - otherwise, you wouldn't have any pointer addresses.

chris17585 · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:25 pm Post subject:

I'm not having problems with code, everything there is fine. I just wanted to know if it was possible to get a pointer out of a base address. We go backwards, starting with the DMA address, then point through until we get to the base.

If we already know the base though, and the DMA address. Is there not some way of using that to our advantage?

He must also be using this code for a reason, all I see it doing is storing the base of the resources. Which never changes, even though the offsets do. Is he using it purely to find the base for when manually pointing, and that's it?

++METHOS · Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:07 pm Post subject:

The offsets should not be changing...but the pointer addresses will change with the DMA address. As far as determining where the base address will point to, I'm sure there is a massive algorithm behind that that would not be beneficial to explore.

Knowing the base address (and) the offset values, gives us the advantage of not having to search for the resources value every time.

Does that answer your question?

chris17585 · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 8:53 am Post subject:

Yeah thanks, I just wanted to know what advantage it would give, other than knowing the address and not needing to scan. If that's it though, then I understand it's just to save time, not needing to re-scan for the value/s.

Thanks again

Chris