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PPSSPP cheat creation - Turning Unknown values into pointers

 
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gondracorn
Newbie cheater
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Joined: 26 Jun 2015
Posts: 18

PostPosted: Sun May 05, 2019 3:47 pm    Post subject: PPSSPP cheat creation - Turning Unknown values into pointers Reply with quote

Hello. I am still new at pointer scans. I would like a full tutorial on how to do this for one game, so I can put the tutorial to use myself.

First off, each step need a full explanation of what's going on. If you can create a youtube video on doing it, that would be even better.

Second off, no step can be skipped or said "Oh, he knows this, I'll skip the step or explanation".

Now, for what I'm trying to do.

I'm running a Boundary Break for PPSSPP games. I've already done some boundary breaks for Dolphin and Desmume. I think I've done one or two for Project64. Fairly simple: Pause the game, Search for an unknown value with the program provided (not cheat engine, but instead, the actual program that runs the game), run the game again, search for a changed/unchanged value, rinse, cycle, repeat until you find the camera values. If the camera doesn't move, it's an unchanged value. If the camera does move, it's a changed value. Now, with those values, find an address that changes these values. Put a stop code on any address that changes these values to test if the camera does indeed stop. If the camera stops, it is the correct pointer. If it doesn't stop, then either: 1. It is the incorrect pointer... find the correct one. 2) it is a multilevel pointer... find the pointer to the pointer (Which, I have no idea how to do).

PPSSPP is a special emulator. It does NOT have an in-program memory search engine. In this case, I need to dump the ram and use cheat engine to find the code inside. Problem: I don't know if it's possible to locate a pointer. The problem with this is that with cheat engine and me, we are a real-time identifier, I make guesses and selections based on live data. If the data doesn't change constantly, I can't make a proper guess. For example, I see an address who's value changes based on the given frame. I take a look at another address who's value NEVER changes. I can't be certain if that value is dynamic (Changes based on the frame) or static (never changes). This becomes even more so of a problem when I'm dumping individual frames into ram dumps. The value could change in-between frames, in what I consider "Real-time", micro or nano seconds, and change back a split-second later, making them appear "static". When you take this and consider that you're dumping hundreds of ram dumps of every single frame, you could wind up with GBs or even TBs of data and not a single result.

Now, a simple solution which would work in an ideal world is to hook cheat engine to PPSSPP and run cheats that way. However, I've read that after restarting the PPSSPP, the said address changes to another address, making the cheat no longer valid, even when loading save states.

I guess I'm asking two questions in one: Is there a work around, and can you give me a full tutorial of this work around?

P.S. I'm using cheat engine to add cheats to the gamecheats.ini file supplied by the emulator to read cheats as they are supposed to be in the game, and not utilizing cheat engine all the time.

EDIT: I forgot to list the games in question (pick one):
1: Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner
2: YS Seven
3: Kingdom Hearts - Birth by Sleep
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cheaterboi2020
How do I cheat?
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Joined: 10 Nov 2020
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 1:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I honestly don't think you can do pointer scans in cheat engine for ppsspp games. Has not worked for any of the games I tried. I also haven't found anywhere the slightest indication that it works (such as a youtube video); not even one lousy screenshot on any forum. And believe me I've dug around pretty hard. Pretty sure by now that the CE pointer scans only work on PC games, and not even all. While cheat engine CAN be used to hack ppsspp games, the hack/cheat is only valid while you have the game running. As you pointed out yourself, once you restart the game the cheats are no longer valid (unless the game uses static memory allocation - don't quote me on that). I am assuming you have already come across this tutorial on youtube:
Tutorial: Using Cheat Engine to create cwcheat codes for PPSSPP
I can't post links or else I would've linked it for you. This is the best that CE will be able to accomplish for creating a permanent ppsspp cheat. But again, not for all games. If this tutorial doesn't work for your game then what you need to be looking into is code injections into the game's instructions using ppsspp's disassembly feature as well as something like ps2dis. Certainly no easy task and requires a decent background in mips architecture. Again, can't post url's here or I would've linked a guide I found. You can find it on github by searching for "creating cheats with ppsspp"

If performed properly, this will allow you to create a cheat code for the hack you would like done in the game and simply input the code into your cheats.db file and activate cheats in ppsspp. Again, easier said than done but this is the method i use to create my ppsspp cheats. The only problem I face with that is that an infinite health cheat (for example) for all the games I wanted also gave my enemies/opponents infinite health and I haven't been able to figure out how to filter the enemies out. And unless I am able to distinguish between my main player and the enemies and separate them, the cheat is obviously useless. This is where the aforementioned mips architecture knowledge is required. Anyhow my quess is the reason you still haven't received any responses on here a year and a half later is because cheat engine wasn't really designed to hack emulator games. Hope this helps a bit.
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