Cheat Engine Forum Index Cheat Engine
The Official Site of Cheat Engine
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 


Alternatives to memory scanning?

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Cheat Engine Forum Index -> Cheat Engine
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
navarone
Advanced Cheater
Reputation: 2

Joined: 29 May 2010
Posts: 72

PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:59 am    Post subject: Alternatives to memory scanning? Reply with quote

Tbh I find some values are near impossible to find with the memory scanner. for example,

-Values that change so fast, not giving you enough time to scan for them.
Like a countdown timer starts from 5 secs then kicks you from the game when reaching 0. (Not stored as 5 in the memory, and unkown initial value takes forever.)

-Values the keep changing addresses as soon the value itself changes.

-Static values almost throughout the game
(How the hell are you going to find the recoil address if you can only use 1 weapon throughout the game? Going back to menu to choose another weapon will cause recoil address to change Neutral)

I am facing a game that keeps doing the last 2. I think it would be very impractical if I kept using memory scanner?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dark Byte
Site Admin
Reputation: 457

Joined: 09 May 2003
Posts: 25262
Location: The netherlands

PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
-Values the keep changing addresses as soon the value itself changes.

Try a low level pointerscan for the value (preferably have the value bigger than 100)

as for recoil, no idea, try doing a textscan for recoil, perhaps the script engine is so stupid to put the text and the value near eachother

_________________
Do not ask me about online cheats. I don't know any and wont help finding them.

Like my help? Join me on Patreon so i can keep helping
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
XaLeX
Expert Cheater
Reputation: 0

Joined: 19 Aug 2008
Posts: 226

PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 4:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

for #1 i'd mess directly with the code. same goes for #2.
as regards #3, those values are most likely stored in an array of integers or of structs, so you'll have to find it in memory. try regions near stuff related with weapons (e.g. ammo).

There are two possible situations:
1:
Code:
//(unlikely)
enum weaponNames {P90, AK47, MP5};
char* names[3] = {"P90", "AK-47", "MP5"};
int ammo[3] = {50, 30, 30};

//code example:
currentWeaponAmmo = ammo[P90];
//and a theoretical
currentWeaponRecoil = recoil[P90];


and
Code:
//more likely
struct weapon {
char* name[10];
int ammo;
//..
};

weapon P90 = {"P90", 50}, AK47 = {"AK-47", 30} ...;

weapon *current = &P90;


in the first case values are stored sequentially in memory. that is, weaponName[0] weaponName[1] weaponName[2] ..;
ammo[0] ammo[1] ammo[2] ..;

in the second case, structs would be stored sequentially and each value would be at struct_base_address+weaponIndex*struct_size+var_offset
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
atom0s
Moderator
Reputation: 198

Joined: 25 Jan 2006
Posts: 8516
Location: 127.0.0.1

PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 6:20 am    Post subject: Re: Alternatives to memory scanning? Reply with quote

navarone wrote:
-Values that change so fast, not giving you enough time to scan for them.
Like a countdown timer starts from 5 secs then kicks you from the game when reaching 0. (Not stored as 5 in the memory, and unkown initial value takes forever.)


Pause the game while you scan. Or have Cheat Engine force the game to be frozen when scanning.

navarone wrote:
-Values the keep changing addresses as soon the value itself changes.


This is called DMA. (Dynamic Memory Allocation) There are tons of tutorials on the net about it and how to defeat it.

navarone wrote:
-Static values almost throughout the game
(How the hell are you going to find the recoil address if you can only use 1 weapon throughout the game? Going back to menu to choose another weapon will cause recoil address to change Neutral)


Does the game have an public SDK? If it does, you can do a lot of easy hacking then with that if you plan to program anything in the end. If not, it will take a bit more work to find things you need.

One method of finding recoil for guns would be to find other parts of the guns functionality. Not just values, but actual functions as well. Look for shooting functions, such as by looking for animations, ammo decreasing, and so on. If you're lucky in some cases you can trace things back to a function which will land up calling the function used to handle recoil for the weapon.

In some cases recoil wont be stored in the structure for each gun, it might be hard-coded per-weapon inside the function itself, or stored in a different structure of its own.

_________________
- Retired.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
navarone
Advanced Cheater
Reputation: 2

Joined: 29 May 2010
Posts: 72

PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:33 am    Post subject: Re: Alternatives to memory scanning? Reply with quote

Wiccaan wrote:

Pause the game while you scan. Or have Cheat Engine force the game to be frozen when scanning.


That's actually a pretty decent idea Smile. Hope pausing too much doesn't cause the game to *cough*disconnect*cough*.

So in a nutshell, there are basically no alternative to memory scanning that relies in a form of a tool and I can either:
-Look in the code section that's related to what I am looking for hoping I would find the code that controls recoil.
-Browse the memory region where (for ex) health is stored hoping I would find the ammo value stored a couple of addresses ahead.

I have no c++ experience, yet i had a pdf bookmarked that talked about arrays and how they are controlled in asm (indexed addressing?). Looks like I have some readings to do. Very Happy

I know I keep asking lots of questions lol but in all honesty thanks DarkByte, XaLex and Wiccaan, your posts where nothing but absolute help.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Dark Byte
Site Admin
Reputation: 457

Joined: 09 May 2003
Posts: 25262
Location: The netherlands

PostPosted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:55 pm    Post subject: This post has 1 review(s) Reply with quote

also another tip to find something like recoil:
find the address that holds the horizontal rotation (so move up and down changes that)

Then fire and check/traceback what changes that. Perhaps you can just edit the code so no recoil happens at all

_________________
Do not ask me about online cheats. I don't know any and wont help finding them.

Like my help? Join me on Patreon so i can keep helping
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Cheat Engine Forum Index -> Cheat Engine All times are GMT - 6 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group

CE Wiki   IRC (#CEF)   Twitter
Third party websites